最新美国发明专利第2013-10-01期 - 专利汇|PatentHub专利检索|专利查询网|发明专利查询分析

Document	Document Title
US08548177B2	Methods and systems for source tracking Methods and systems are provided herein for signal source tracking. A signal emitted over time from a moving source is a collection of small sub-signals that were emitted by the source at different positions along its path. If the source is traveling at a slower speed than the signal, the sub-signals will arrive at a given sensor in the same order that they were released. By identifying the locations and times of the releases of several of these sub-signals, the path and velocity of the moving source can be estimated.
US08548176B2	Apparatus including microphone arrangements An apparatus includes first and second microphone arrangements, arranged to output first and second signals respectively and is operable in a first mode and a second mode. In the first mode, an output signal is generated based on the second signal and a third signal, where the second signal and, optionally, the first signal, can be used to compensate for ambient noise, for example, for noise cancellation when a telephone call is relayed through a speaker. In the second mode, an output signal is generated based on the first and second signals. In this manner, the combination of the first and second microphone arrangements provides a directional sensitivity that can pick up sound from a remote source, for example, in an audio or video recording session. The apparatus may include a sensor to allow automatic switching between one or more of modes, directional sensitivity patterns and types of recording session.
US08548175B2	Method for recognizing ear phone in portable terminal and apparatus thereof Disclosed is an apparatus for recognizing an earphone of a portable terminal that includes an interface unit which is connected to the earphone; a controller which performs a switch operation by determining whether a switch key of the earphone is inputted, according to a change of a current of a first port and a voltage of a second port, when the connection of the earphone is sensed; and an audio processing unit that outputs an audio signal to the earphone under the control of the controller.
US08548172B2	Secure dissemination of events in a publish/subscribe network Various embodiments of systems and methods to securely disseminate events in publish/subscribe network are described herein. One or more subscribers are authorized to receive events from a publisher through an authorize protocol carried out between the publisher, a trusted party and the one or more subscribers. A security token specific to a product associated with an event is provided, by the publisher, to the authorized one or more subscribers. Further, the event is encrypted using a public key of the trusted party, a security key of the publisher and a secret key of the publisher. The encrypted event is disseminated, by the publisher, in a publish/subscribe network. Furthermore, the encrypted event is received by the authorized one or more subscribers. The encrypted event is decrypted using the security token and an authorization key by the authorized one or more subscribers.
US08548171B2	Pair-wise keying for tunneled virtual private networks In an embodiment, a method for generating and distributing keys retains the scalability of a group VPN, but also provides true pair-wise keying such that an attacker who compromises one of the devices in a VPN cannot use the keys gained by that compromise to decrypt the packets from the other gateways in the VPN, or spoof one of the communicating gateways. The method is resistant to collusion when co-operating attackers overtake several VPN gateways and observe the keys stored in those gateways. In an embodiment, a VPN gateway comprises a cryptographic data processor configured to encrypt and to decrypt data packets; group key management logic; and Key Generation System logic. In one approach a gateway performs, in relation to adding a group member, receiving in a security association (SA) message secret data for use in the KGS; and derives keys for secure communication with one or more peer VPN gateways using the secret data.
US08548170B2	Document de-registration A document accessible over a network can be registered. A registered document, and the content contained therein, cannot be transmitted undetected over and off of the network. In one embodiment, a plurality of stored signatures are maintained in a signature database, each signature being associated with one of a plurality of registered documents. In one embodiment, the signature database is maintained by de-registering documents by removing the signatures associated with de-registered documents. In one embodiment, the database is maintained by removing redundant and high detection rate signatures. In one embodiment, the signature database is maintained by removing signatures based on the source text used to generate the signature.
US08548167B2	System for traceable decryption of bandwidth-efficient broadcast of encrypted messages and security module revocation method used for securing broadcasted messages The present invention makes use of techniques such as those described by Boneh and Franklin to allow for the realization of a pseudo-asymmetric encryption scheme whereby one public encryption corresponds to a plurality of private decryption keys. This scheme therefore provides a solution to the problem of inefficient use of bandwidth in asymmetrical encryption schemes which inherently require that a plurality of encryptions of data be broadcast to a plurality of receivers. The invention further ensures that the advantage of traceability, typical found in asymmetric encryption schemes, is maintained due to the characteristic that each receiver uses a unique traceable decryption key. The traceability thus achieved by the present invention allows for the revocation of a security module which has been involved in the abusive use of conditional access data, particularly by means of clones of security modules whose security has been compromised.
US08548162B2	Method and a device for performing torus-based cryptography At CRYPTO 2003, Rubin and Silverberg introduced the concept of torus-based cryptography over a finite field. The present invention extends their setting to the ring of integers modulo N, thus obtaining compact representations for cryptographic systems that base their security on the discrete logarithm problem and the factoring problem. This can result in small key sizes and substantial savings in memory and bandwidth. However, unlike the case of finite field, analogous trace-based compression methods cannot be adapted to accommodate the extended setting of the invention when the underlying systems require more than a mere exponentiation. The invention finds particular application in a torus-based implementation of the ACJT group signature scheme. Also provided is a processor.
US08548160B2	Determination of pairings on a curve using aggregated inversions One or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed that provide for determining mathematical pairings for a curve for use in cryptography. A plurality of inversions used for determining the mathematical pairings for the curve are aggregated (e.g., into a single inversion in respective levels of a binary tree representation of elements of the computation). The mathematical pairings for the curve are determined in affine coordinates from a binary representation of a scalar read from right to left using the aggregated plurality of inversions.
US08548158B2	Network based timed ring suppression After a communications device receives an incoming communication and an alert is activated to produce an initial incoming communications alert, the alert of the communications device may selectively be deactivated for subsequent alerts until the initiating party terminates the incoming communication or until the incoming communication is further processed.
US08548145B2	System and method for call handling A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a call processing element in a communication system having a controller to detect an incoming call directed to a called party, retrieve presence information associated with a plurality of communication devices of the called party, retrieve presence information of a calling party initiating the incoming call, and determine from the presence information of the called party, the presence information of the calling party, and a call processing profile of the called party how to respond to the incoming call. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US08548144B2	Apparatus, system, and method for automated call initiation Apparatus, system, and methods for automated call initiation. In some implementations, the method for automated call initiation includes initiating an automated call to a destination using a communication line, initiating a call status determination that automatically determines when a person answers the call, and sending an audio signal generated at the destination to an agent and/or assigning the automated call to an agent during the call status determination. The agent may thereby be able to monitor the call and assume a natural response to the person without unnatural delay as the conversation begins.
US08548142B2	Universal point of contact identifier system and method A subscriber to a universal point of contact service designates a preferred point of contact at which a communication initiator, such as a telephone caller, can contact the subscriber. Such an initiator desiring to contact the subscriber uses the subscriber's email address to establish a communication session with a device associated with the subscriber's preferred point of contact. The subscriber's email address is input to an initiating device, preferably a telephone or facsimile machine, using an entry device capable of entering an email address. A requestor unit, receiving the email address, locates a repository of the subscriber's point of contact information, and requests that information. The repository sends the point of contact information the subscriber has designated as preferred, and the requester unit uses that information to control a telephone switch to establish a communication session between the initiating device and the subscriber's preferred point of contact device.
US08548140B2	Providing audio announcement to called parties The present disclosure describes a system, method, and computer-readable medium for providing audio announcement of communications to a called party in a communication network. The method includes receiving communication from a calling party and performing a lookup of information relating to the calling party in a database via an Internet Protocol connection based on an identifier of at least one of the calling party and the called party. The information comprises one or more audio files. The method then provides the audio announcement to a called party based on the audio files.
US08548138B2	Method and system for presenting billing information according to a customer-defined hierarchal structure Presenting data received from service providers includes receiving billing data from each of the service providers and formatting, by at least one processor, the billing data in a standardized format. A single bill that consolidates the billing data in the standardized format for each of the service providers, and displays the billing data in the standardized format according to a user-defined organizational relationship for a billed entity, is outputted.
US08548137B2	Generic fraud detection model A method for dynamically updating a model is described. The method includes accessing a model that specifies expected characteristics for a transaction. The model includes variables associated with fraud. The method also includes receiving at least one value for each of the variables while monitoring transactions, and updating a distribution of values for each variable based on the received value. The received value is compared with the updated distribution to determine a deviation from a threshold value associated with a percentile of the updated distribution that is indicative of fraud.
US08548136B2	Communication apparatus A communication apparatus includes: a first determining unit that determines whether specific identification information designated as a transmission destination of object data to be transmitted is identification information assigned to an internal device within a LAN including the communication apparatus; a deciding unit that decides a specific guaranteed band to be used for transmission of the object data, from a plurality of guaranteed bands, based on the determination result; and a first communication unit that transmits the object data by performing IP communication using the specific identification information and the specific guaranteed band. If the specific identification information is the identification information assigned to the internal device, the deciding unit decides the specific guaranteed band using a first deciding method. If the specific identification information is not the identification information assigned to the internal device, the deciding unit decides the specific guaranteed band using a second deciding method.
US08548132B1	Lawful intercept trigger support within service provider networks The invention is directed to techniques for initiating lawful intercept of packets associated with subscriber sessions on a network device of a service provider network based on identification triggers. A law enforcement agency may send an intercept request for a subscriber to an administration device of the service provider network. The administration device may then configure one or more identification triggers for the subscriber based on the intercept request. The techniques described herein initiate lawful intercept when one or more subscriber sessions on a network device match the one or more identification triggers. The techniques described herein include configuring trigger rules that include identification triggers for subscribers on a network device via a command line interface (CLI) of the network device. In addition, the techniques described herein include configuring identification triggers in a subscriber profile on an authentication device connected to a network device.
US08548131B1	Systems and methods for communicating with an interactive voice response system Embodiments of the present invention provide a communication device. The communication device comprises a processor. Further, the communication device comprises a memory coupled to the processor. The memory comprises a database comprising at least one visual Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menu associated with at least one IVR system. Further, the memory comprises instructions executable by the processor for sending a first section of a data packet to a second communication device. The first section comprising first information is sent based on a visual IVR menu associated with the second communication device. Further, the memory comprises instructions executable by the processor for receiving an acknowledgement message from the second communication device based on the first section of the data packet. Furthermore, the memory includes instructions executable by the processor for sending a second section of the data packet to the second communication device based on the acknowledgement message. The second section comprises second information.
US08548130B2	Providing missed call and message information Information associated with messages and/or missed calls is provided to a subscriber. Calls received but not answered by the subscriber may be monitored. Each monitored call is classified as one of a missed call and a message. The monitored calls may be summarized based on a customizable rule set to create a summary. The summary is provided to the subscriber via, for example, a voice notification.
US08548129B2	System and method for enhanced message notification Enhanced message notification is provided by an enhanced notification function element and a subscriber preference profile database. The enhanced notification function element queries the subscriber preference profile database to obtain subscriber communication terminal capabilities information, which it uses to select a message notification technology. The enhanced notification function element may then format an enhanced notification that is delivered to a communication terminal through a delivery system architecture appropriate for the selected message notification technology. The enhanced notification may contain: a message type indicator; an identifier of the party leaving the message; a date and time that the message was deposited; multimedia objects; and other enhanced information. The enhanced notification function element may also query a terminal roaming status database in order to determine if the enhanced message should be sent when the terminal is roaming. The enhanced notification function element ma also provide content adaptation for the enhanced notification.
US08548125B2	Call re-establishment Method and user terminal for handling a call over a communications network between a first user terminal, usable by a first user, and at least one other user terminal, usable by a respective at least one other user, wherein a client is executed at the first user terminal for participation in the call. The client determines a condition of a respective at least one network connection used in the call between the first user terminal and the at least one other user terminal over the communications network. The client also determines that the call has been dropped, and responsive to the determination that the call has been dropped, the client automatically attempts to re-establish the call in dependence upon the determined condition of the at least one network connection.
US08548123B2	Method and apparatus for using an area X-ray detector as a point detector in an X-ray diffractometer An area detector used in a two-dimensional system is used as a point detector in Bragg-Brentano and other geometries by providing the area detector with a mask the limits the area through which X-rays can enter the detector. Secondary X-ray optics and a monochromator that are part of the diffractometer geometry are attached to the area detector mask to allow a fast and easy switch between the two-dimensional detector mode and the point detector mode. A concave detector mask is used with a spherical detector in order to reduce the secondary beam path and increase detector efficiency and the opening in the detector mask can be offset from the mask center to achieve high 2θ angle measurements. Single channel bypath electronics are used to disregard the dimensional position of each X-ray count to increase the efficiency and speed of the system.
US08548119B2	Multi-slice CT detector with tileable packaging structure A CT system is disclosed that includes detector modules positioned on a rotatable gantry configured to receive x-rays attenuated by an object. Each detector module includes a module frame, a plurality of tileable sub-modules on the module frame aligned along a Z-axis thereof to receive the x-rays attenuated by the object and convert the x-rays to digital signals, and an electronics board connected to the plurality of sub-modules to receive the digital signals. Each sub-module further includes an array of detector elements to receive x-rays attenuated through the object and convert the x-rays into analog electrical signals, an ASIC electronics package coupled to the array of detector elements to receive the analog electrical signals and convert the analog electrical signals to digital signals, and a flex circuit connected to the ASIC electronics package to receive the digital signals and transfer the digital signals to the electronics board.
US08548117B2	Semicircular inversed offset scanning for enlarged field of view 3D A computed tomography acquisition method, an imaging system, a computer readable medium provides laterally displacing a radiation detector (204) from a position with centered detector geometry with a centered transverse field of view to a first offset position (212); emitting first radiation by the radiation source (202), detecting the first radiation by the radiation detector (204) and acquiring projection data indicative of the first radiation; rotating the support around the rotational axis (214) by 180°; emitting second radiation by the radiation source (202), detecting the second radiation by the radiation detector (204) and acquiring projection data indicative of the second radiation; displacing the radiation detector (204) from the first offset position to a second offset position (226), with opposite direction and double length of the first displacement (a); emitting third radiation by the radiation source (202), detecting the third radiation by the radiation detector (204) and acquiring projection data indicative of the third radiation; rotating the support around the rotational axis (214) by 180°; and emitting fourth radiation by the radiation source (202), detecting the fourth radiation by the radiation detector (204) and acquiring projection data indicative of the fourth radiation.
US08548107B1	Advanced multi-user detector A method for detecting multi-user signals including conducting a first energy burst detection detecting a first plurality of user signals as a first energy burst, attempting to decode a user signal from the first plurality of signals within the first energy burst, cancelling out a first user signal from the first energy burst if the first user signal is successfully decoded from the first energy burst, determining a second user signal to be discarded if the second user signal is not successfully decoded from the first energy burst, conducting a second energy burst detection detecting a second plurality of signals as a second burst, and iteratively cancelling out the first user signal successfully decoded from the first energy burst from the second energy burst, wherein the second energy burst detection is conducted when all user signals within the first energy burst are either cancelled out or determined to be discarded.
US08548106B2	Crosscorrelation interference mitigating position estimation systems and methods therefor Provided is a method that includes dynamically adjusting a GPS signature code to minimize the interference (e.g., the cross-correlation interference) experienced due to one or more other GPS signals. Further provided is a method that includes adjusting the complexity of an adaptive solution to reduce the time and processing power associated with tracking a GPS signal.
US08548102B2	Tail-biting convolutional decoding Methods and apparatuses for enhanced processing of received channels in a mobile communications system is described. Particularly, convolutionally encoded tail biting data in a mobile communications system is efficiently decoding by replicating the received encoded signal N times, where N equals a number of iterations. A Viterbi decoding algorithm is applied and a most likely survivor path is obtained. The ensuing decoding window is set as a fixed decoding window and placed at a mid-section of the most likely survivor path. Simulations have shown codeword accuracy to be comparable to MLSE with less complexity. A high degree of accuracy has been obtained for N=3.
US08548101B2	Demodulation method and demodulator for orthogonal frequency multiplexing—multiple input multiple output system A demodulation method and a demodulator for an OFDM MIMO system are provided, and by using a received reference signal, the channel estimation value at the reference signal sub-carrier in each channel is obtained by estimation; by using the channel estimation value, an equalization matrix at the reference signal sub-carrier is obtained; by using the obtained equalization matrix to carry out the interpolation calculation, equalization matrixes are obtained; by using the data signals in various paths and corresponding equalization matrixes, an intermediate estimation value is obtained by calculation; by using a precoding matrix to carry out de-precoding on the intermediate estimation value, a final estimation value is obtained. The demodulator comprises an OFDM demodulation module, a frame parsing module, a precoding matrix generation module, a partial channel estimation module, a partial equalization matrix generation module, an equalization matrix interpolation module, a MIMO demodulation module and a de-precoding module.
US08548099B2	Device for reading information on a digital bus without a wire connection to the network A device for reading information recovers signals exchanged on a digital data communications bus (4a, 4b) and processes these signals clips (5a, 5b) connect to multiplexed networks without a wire (galvanic) connection yet are configured for recovering the signals transmitted on the digital data communications bus.
US08548096B2	Controllable frequency offset for inphase and Quadrature (IQ) imbalance estimation Embodiments of user equipment and methods for determining IQ imbalance parameters are described. In some embodiments, a method for determining in-phase (I) and Quadrature (Q) imbalance (IQ imbalance) parameters based on a known signal in a dual-carrier receiver using at least one controllable frequency offset includes receiving a known signal modulated onto a first radio frequency (RF) carrier frequency and a second RF carrier frequency different than the first RF carrier frequency; downconverting the known signal to a baseband signal for the first and second carriers by conversion from the respective RF carrier frequencies to an intermediate frequency (IF) using a common RF local oscillator (LO) and by further conversion from IF to baseband using carrier specific IF LOs, wherein as a controllable frequency offset is used as a part of the conversion from at least one of RF to IF and IF to baseband through the LOs; removing any controllable frequency offset from the baseband signal for the first and second carriers to produce representations of the received signals of the first and second carriers; and deriving IQ imbalance parameters for each representation of the received signals of the first and second carriers using a least square estimate.
US08548094B2	Transmission device and modulation method A transmission device includes an RQAM modulating unit that has an S/P that divides a transmitting signal indicating information to be transmitted into a first signal and a second signal, a mapping unit that maps the first signal into a first in-phase component and a second in-phase component and the second signal into a first orthogonal component and a second orthogonal component by a predetermined mapping system, a P/S that generates a first modulated signal including the first in-phase component and the first orthogonal component and a second modulated signal including the second in-phase component and the second orthogonal component, an IFFT that transmits the first modulated signal and the second modulated signal, a DAC, an LPF, a Mixer, a BPF, and a LOCAL OSCILLATOR.
US08548092B2	Method and apparatus for reducing peak to average power ratio using peak windowing A method and apparatus for reducing a Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) using peak windowing is provided. In the apparatus, an absolute value calculator calculates an absolute value of an input signal, a subtractor subtracts a predetermined clipping threshold level from the absolute value, a smoothing unit performs smoothing on the subtracted signal according to a predetermined smoothing scheme and outputs a first smoothed signal, an adder adds the first smoothed signal to the clipping threshold level, an inverse calculator outputs a second smoothed signal by multiplying the clipping threshold level by an inverse of the added signal, and a multiplier outputs a final PAPR-reduced signal by multiplying the input signal by the second smoothed signal. The method and apparatus address an overcompensation problem while processing signals having a large bandwidth and a high data rate without delay, thereby minimizing the clipping influences on Bit Error Rate (BER) and Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio (ACLR) performances.
US08548091B2	Measuring and correcting errors in a transmit chain with an IQ up-converter and IQ down-converter A transmit chain comprises a transmit path with a quadrature up-converter which up-converts quadrature signal components to RF. An observation path samples a portion of the RF signal and a quadrature down-converter down-converts the RF signal to baseband quadrature signal components. A local oscillator signal source provides the up-converter and the down-converter with a local oscillator signal and is operable in two states. In a second of the states the local oscillator signal is applied to the up-converter and the down-converter and a phase shift is made to the signal applied to up-converter or the down-converter compared to the first of the states. A processor monitors properties of the down-converted signal while the local oscillator signal source is operating in the first state and the second state. The processor calculates a correction to apply to the baseband observation signal to correct for errors introduced by the observation path. The processor also calculates a correction to apply to the input signal to correct for errors introduced in the transmit path.
US08548084B2	Method for transmitting data in a radio communication system A method for transmitting data in a wireless communication system comprises: receiving synchronization signals and midambles transmitted through a plurality of antennas; and estimating each channel of the plurality of antennas by using the synchronization signals and the midambles, wherein the synchronization signals and the midambles are transmitted such that the channels of the plurality of antennas are combined. Respective channel states of a plurality of antennas can be estimated by using the synchronization signals and the midambles, and data can be effectively transmitted.
US08548078B1	Ranging code detection A ranging code present in a transmission from a transmitter to a receiver can be detected, and hence a time offset can be determined. For each of the possible ranging codes in a transmitted signal, a correlation is formed between a received signal and the ranging code for multiple subcarriers in the received signal. For multiple adjacent ranging subcarriers, the correlation is multiplied by a conjugate of the correlation of an adjacent ranging subcarrier in order to form a differential phase value. At least one ranging code in the transmitted signal can then be determined based on the differential phase values for said plurality of subcarriers. A time offset in the transmission from the transmitter to the receiver can then be determined, based on the differential phase values for the subcarriers, and based on the determined ranging code.
US08548075B2	Apparatus and methods for symbol timing error detection, tracking and correction Systems and methods for adjusting timing in a communication system, such as an OFDM system are described. In one implementation an error signal is generated to adjust the timing of a variable rate interpolator so as to adjust FFT timing. The error signal may be based on detection of significant peaks in an estimate of the impulse response of the channel, with the peak locations being tracked over subsequent symbols and the system timing adjusted in response to changes in the peaks.
US08548074B2	Apparatus and method for generating synchronization channel in a wireless communication system A Synchronization Channel (SCH) transmission method includes generating a Primary SCH (P-SCH) sequence according to supplementary information. The supplementary information includes at least one of Base Station (BS) type information, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) size information, BandWidth (BW) information, group information, sector information, and carrier type information. The method also includes modulating the P-SCH sequence and mapping the modulated P-SCH sequence to subcarriers within a predefined subcarrier set. The subcarriers are included in the subcarrier set being spaced one subcarrier interval apart. The method further includes generating a P-SCH symbol by Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)-modulating the P-SCH sequence mapped to the subcarriers, and transmitting the P-SCH symbol.
US08548069B2	Data transmission system capable of transmitting interrupt signal without interrupt gate period A data transmission system comprises: a pair of transmission lines connecting a plurality of apparatuses; a bridge termination resistor connected between the transmission lines and having a resistance value matching a differential impedance of the transmission lines; a first switch connecting the bridge termination resistor to the transmission lines when being turned on, and disconnecting the bridge termination resistor from the transmission lines when being turned off; pull-up/down resistors connected between the transmission lines and a fixed voltage node, and having resistance values respectively matching characteristic impedances of the transmission lines, the fixed voltage node being a power supply or a ground; and second switches connecting the pull-up/down resistors between the transmission lines and the fixed voltage node when being turned on, and disconnecting the pull-up/down resistors from the transmission lines when being turned off.
US08548068B2	Method for transmitting discrete electrical signals The invention relates to methods for transmitting information, and specifically to communication interfaces of electronic devices. The method makes it possible to increase the permissible number of transmitters power-supplied from a communication line, raise the distance and reliability of communication, and obtain better conditions of signal reception from differently located transmitters owing to switching off the current of power supply of transmitters and, accordingly, separating the current of signal transmission from the total current running along the communication line. Each transmitter is provided with its internal secondary power supply charged from the communication line. The voltage of the communication line power supply is decreased prior to signal transmission and restored upon completion of signal transmission.
US08548067B2	Single sensor radio scene analysis for packet based radio signals using 2nd and 4th order statistics We consider a problem of radio frequency (RF) signal analysis where one sensing node observes a frequency band possibly used by multiple packet based radio transmitters. Analysis of the received signal includes two steps. In the first step we use a spectrogram to perform temporal segmentation of the received nonstationary signal. This task may be formulated as a clustering problem. In the second step we compute a certain 2-D slice of the fourth order spectrum for each of the segments found in the first step. These fourth order spectrum slices are arraigned in a three-way array. One aspect of the second step is to use uniqueness properties of the low rank decomposition of the three-way array to recover spectra and associated activity sequences of individual components in the received signal. We derive a numerical algorithm for the low rank decomposition, which computes estimates of the spectra and activity sequences by optimizing certain weighted least squares criterion under application specific constraints. Certain embodiments are illustrated with simulation examples involving signals used in 802.11a/b/g and Bluetooth networks. The disclosed methods and related systems can be used as spectrum analysis tools, providing crucial information needed for achieving efficient utilization of radio spectrum and elimination of mutual interference between the coexisting systems.
US08548066B2	Multi-directional comb filtering in a digital video decoder A multi-directional comb filtering in a digital video decoder is provided. Some embodiments of the present invention provide for a method of filtering, using a multi-directional comb filter, pixel data from a sequence of fields of pixel data, wherein the fields of pixel data comprise a previous field, a current field and a next field, and wherein each of said fields includes a previous line, a current line, a next line.
US08548064B2	Video encoding method and decoding method by using selected parallax for parallax compensation, apparatuses therefor, programs therefor, and storage media for storing the programs A video encoding method for encoding video images as a single video image by using parallax compensation which performs prediction by using parallax between the video images, and a corresponding decoding method. The number of parameters as parallax data used for the parallax compensation is selected and set for each reference image. Data of the set number of parameters is encoded, and parallax data in accordance with the number of parameters is encoded. During decoding, parallax-parameter number data, which is included in encoded data and designates the number of parameters as parallax data for each reference image, is decoded, and parallax data in accordance with the number of parameters is decoded, where the parallax data is included in the encoded data.
US08548063B2	Video receiver providing video attributes with video data A device and method for receiving a compressed video bit stream, and providing decoded video pixels and associated video attributes synchronously to a video processor are disclosed. A compressed video bit stream is received and decoded. The decoded pictures have associated video attributes. A subset of the video attributes is provided to a video processor interconnected to a display. The video attributes are provided synchronously with the picture or pixel data so that the attributes are available to video processor before the associated picture is displayed.
US08548060B2	Apparatus for encoding and decoding image using adaptive DCT coefficient scanning based on pixel similarity and method therefor The present invention discloses an encoding apparatus using a Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) scanning, which includes: a mode selection means for selecting an optimal mode for intra prediction; an intra prediction means for performing intra prediction onto video inputted based on the mode selected in the mode selection means; a DCT and quantization means for performing DCT and quantization onto residual coefficients of a block outputted from the intra prediction means; and an entropy encoding means for performing entropy encoding onto DCT coefficients acquired from the DCT and quantization by using a scanning mode decided based on pixel similarity of the residual coefficients.
US08548059B2	Image information encoding method and encoder, and image information decoding method and decoder An image processing method includes decoding encoded image data to generate a decoded image signal including a luma signal and a chroma signal. The method further includes detecting a condition that a reference field has a different parity from a current field and that the number of chroma pixels is vertically different from the number of luma pixels. The method further includes shifting a phase of the chroma signal in the reference field in a vertical plus direction according a value of a motion vector in a vertical direction under the detected condition so that the reference field will coincide in phase of the chroma signal with a current field. The method also includes performing a motion compensation of the decoded image signal using the reference field.
US08548055B2	Encoding of multimedia data Methods and apparatus for coding multimedia data such as video data are disclosed. In some embodiments, such methods and apparatus determine an appropriate quantization parameter to be used for effectively coding such multimedia data.
US08548054B2	Method for predicting an image In the method for predicting an image, a current image block is predicted using first and second image blocks, display order information for a current picture and display order information for at least one reference picture related to one of the first and second image blocks.
US08548053B2	Method for predicting a bi-predictive block of a moving picture In the method for predicting a bi-predictive block of a moving picture, first and second distinct motion-compensated blocks are obtained using first and second motion vectors respectively. The bi-predictive block of the moving picture is predicted using first and second variable weight factors associated with the first and second distinct motion-compensated blocks, respectively.
US08548051B2	Media coding for loss recovery with remotely predicted data units An improved loss recovery method for coding streaming media classifies each data unit in the media stream as an independent data unit (I unit), a remotely predicted unit (R unit) or a predicted data unit (P unit). Each of these units is organized into independent segments having an I unit, multiple P units and R units interspersed among the P units. The beginning of each segment is the start of a random access point, while each R unit provides a loss recovery point that can be placed independently of the I unit. This approach separates the random access point from the loss recovery points provided by the R units, and makes the stream more impervious to data losses without substantially impacting coding efficiency. The most important data units are transmitted with the most reliability to ensure that the majority of the data received by the client is usable. The I units are the least sensitive to transmission losses because they are coded using only their own data. While they provide the best coding efficiency, the P units are the most sensitive to data loss because the loss of one P unit renders useless all of the P units that depend on it. The remotely predicted units are dependent on the I unit, or in an alternative implementation, on another R unit.
US08548050B2	Video coding method with selectable black and white mode A video coding method applied to an input signal consisting of a sequence of frames represented by one luminance matrix and two chrominance matrices generates a coded bitstream in which each data item is described by a bitstream syntax allowing any decoder to recognize and decode all the segments of the content of the bitstream. The syntax includes a flag provided for indicating at a high level description the presence, or absence, of chrominance components in the coded bitstream, and therefore allowing to deliver, at the decoding side, the information according to which chrominance descriptive elements have to be decoded, or not.
US08548041B2	Adaptive filter A video encoder that utilizes adaptive loop filtering for coding video data includes: a prediction unit, for performing prediction techniques according to original video data and reconstructed video data to generate predicted samples; a reconstruction unit, for reconstructing the predicted samples to form the reconstructed video data; a reference picture buffer, for storing the reconstructed video data; a filter parameter estimator, for estimating filter parameters according to the original video data and the reconstructed video data; and an adaptive filter, for utilizing the stored filter parameters to perform filtering on the reconstructed video data.
US08548037B1	Method and implementation for efficiently adapting channel filter characteristics Automatic recalculation of tuner filter coefficients are made in order to compensate for changes in signal properties due to processing functionality in the tuner. The architecture compensates for processing changes, such as a large continuous range of clock frequency shifts, while not sacrificing bandwidth response characteristics of the channel filter. Embodiments may calculate coefficients in order to obtain response characteristics while utilizing a completely on-chip architecture, which does not require accessing off-chip software driver programs, and does not require complex look-up tables containing filter coefficients stored in onboard memory.
US08548035B2	Powerline communicator (PLC) modem employing an analog magnetic transducer A PLC cable modem is provided which includes an analog electromagnetic field transducer for generating an electromagnetic field based on an analog electrical signal and also for generating an analog electrical signal based on an electromagnetic field. The PLC cable modem also includes an analog signal processing unit operatively coupled to the analog electromagnetic field transducer and a digital signal processing unit for processing signals received from (or to be sent to) the analog signal processing unit. An interface port is provided for communicating digital signals to and from a data transmission or receiving device.
US08548031B2	Antenna diversity system with frame synchronization A tuner circuit includes circuitry to produce a first DSP frame based on a first RF signal and includes an inter-chip receiver circuit coupled to an inter-chip link and configured to receive an inter-chip frame. The inter-chip receiver circuit is configured to detect a start of frame symbol of the inter-chip frame and to extract a DSP offset and data related to a second DSP frame from the inter-chip frame. The tuner circuit further includes a digital signal processor coupled to the circuitry and to the inter-chip receiver circuit. The digital signal processor synchronizes the first DSP frame with the second DSP frame based on the start of frame symbol and the digital signal processor offset. The digital signal processor performs a selected antenna diversity operation on the first and second DSP frames to produce an output signal.
US08548030B2	Relay apparatus A relay apparatus, comprises a reception section that receives real-time data, a monitoring section that periodically detects quality of a transmission path to be used for transmitting the real-time data toward a destination thereof, a determination section that determines a length of an interleaving cycle according to the quality of the transmission path, an interleaving section that interleaves the real-time data in the interleaving cycle having the determined length, and a transmission section that transmits the interleaved real-time data to the transmission path.
US08548027B2	Multi-ary error-correcting code transmitting and receiving apparatuse, data transmission system, and relevant method The embodiments of the present invention disclose an apparatus for transmitting multi-ary error-correcting codes, an apparatus for receiving multi-ary error-correcting codes, a data transmission system, and relevant methods to simplify operations. The apparatus for transmitting multi-ary error-correcting codes includes: a multi-ary channel encoder, adapted to perform multi-ary coding for source data frames of a user to obtain encoded sequences; a symbol mapper, adapted to perform symbol mapping for the encoded sequences to obtain symbol sequences; and a spreading and interleaving unit, adapted to spread and interleave the symbol sequences. Moreover, a corresponding apparatus for receiving multi-ary error-correcting codes, a data transmission system, and relevant methods are provided.
US08548022B2	Single-frequency distributed feedback laser diode with complex-coupling coefficient and transparent conductive cladding layer The illustrated embodiments provide a system and a method of manufacture for a complex-coupled distributed feedback laser diode. The improved laser diode has a complex-coupled metal grating to enforce the laser to emit in a longitudinal single-frequency and suppress dynamical instabilities. In addition, the improved device uses a transparent conductive cladding layer over the metal grating and makes therefore the need for re-growth redundant.
US08548015B2	Wavelength-tunable external cavity laser module Provided is a wavelength-tunable external cavity laser module. The wavelength-tunable external cavity laser module includes: a gain medium generating light; an optical waveguide combined with the gain medium and including a Bragg grating and a thin film heater adjusting a temperature of the Bragg grating; and a high frequency transmission medium delivering a high frequency signal to the gain medium, wherein the high frequency transmission medium controls an operating speed of the light.
US08548013B2	Fiber laser This fiber laser is provided with: a signal light source that outputs a signal light; a rare earth-doped fiber that amplifies and outputs the signal light from the signal light source; a Raman amplifying fiber that is routed as a portion of an optical transmission path in order to output the output light from the rare earth-doped fiber to an outside thereof; and a wavelength selecting element that is provided in the optical transmission path from the Raman amplifying fiber to the signal light source and does not allow transmission of a Stokes light that is generated in the Raman amplifying fiber.
US08548012B2	Method and apparatus for reducing redundant traffic in communication networks A capability is provided for reducing or even eliminating redundant traffic in cellular wireless networks. A method is provided for encoding a target packet in a manner for reducing redundancy of information in the target packet. The method includes identifying a region of the target packet that matches a region of a stored packet, removing, from the target packet, the identified region of the target packet from the target packet, and inserting, within the target packet, an encoding key comprising a hash of the stored packet. A method is provided for reconstructing a packet from an encoded packet that is encoded in a manner for reducing redundancy of information in a network. The method includes identifying an encoding key within the encoded packet, wherein the encoding key comprises a hash of a stored packet, retrieving the stored packet using the hash of the stored packet, removing the encoding key from the encoded packet, and inserting information from the stored packet within the encoded packet.
US08548009B2	Frequency combiner system and related methods A combiner system for frequency combining and related methods. Implementations may include a plurality of combiner stages each including a deinterleaver, at least one filter, a frequency downconverter, and a frequency upconverter all operatively coupled together. Each of the plurality of combiner stages may be adapted to receive a complex interleaved input signal including two or more input signals each including a bandwidth, to output a complex stage output signal including the two or more input signals, and to alternately place the bandwidth of each of the two or more input signals in an upper portion and in a lower portion of an output bandwidth of the complex stage output signal. The upper portion and lower portion of the output bandwidth may be contiguous within the output bandwidth and joined at a center of the output bandwidth.
US08548002B2	Systems and methods for adaptive multi-rate protocol enhancement A method of processing a codec sample is provided. The method includes: removing from a first portion of the codec sample, a first number of first information bits. The first information bits are indicative of frame information associated with the codec sample. The method also includes inserting at the first portion of the codec sample from a second portion of the codec sample, a second number of data bits. The first number of the first information bits is greater than or equal to the second number of the data bits. The method also includes removing the second portion of the codec sample. The method may also include encrypting and decrypting the codec sample. In some embodiments, the codec sample is an adaptive multi-rate codec sample. In some embodiments, the adaptive multi-rate codec sample is a 5.15 mode adaptive multi-rate codec sample.
US08547987B2	Broadcasting receiver and broadcast signal processing method A digital broadcasting system which is robust against an error when mobile service data is transmitted and a method of processing data are disclosed. The mobile service data is subjected to an additional coding process and the coded mobile service data is transmitted. Accordingly, it is possible to cope with a serious channel variation while applying robustness to the mobile service data.
US08547986B2	System and method for resource block-specific control signaling A system and method is disclosed for resource block-specific control signaling in a communication system. Communication data is transmitted using a transmission channel comprising a plurality of resource blocks defined by allocating time-frequency slots in a transmission resource. Resource block control information is transmitted in a “feed-forward” manner to a user end (UE) or group of UEs using channels physically mapped into scheduled resource blocks (RBs) for that user or group of users. Embodiments of the invention provide an RB-specific control channel that comprises RB control elements that are embedded within scheduled resource blocks. The invention, therefore, reduces the amount of control information that must be transmitted by common or shared control channels.
US08547983B2	Method and system for utilizing a broadband gateway to provide energy efficient management in a home network A broadband gateway may provide energy management service within a home network. The energy management service may enable reducing and/or enhancing energy consumption within the home network. The energy management service may comprise managing one or more devices in the home network by the broadband gateway. The energy management service may be performed based on energy-related information associated with devices, and the information may be stored by the broadband gateway. At least some of the energy-related information may be acquired from the managed devices. The energy management service may comprise controlling and/or configuring the managed devices, and/or communications between the managed devices within the home network. The broadband gateway may track actual energy usage by the managed devices. Information corresponding to energy-related activities and/or usage may be displayed via a user interface. The information may also be reported to entities external to the home network.
US08547982B2	Wireless sensor network with energy efficient protocols The wireless sensor network with energy efficient protocols includes a network of external sensors in communication with a data sink. The network utilizes an algorithm integrating a modified S-MAC (an algorithm for medium access control) protocol for decreasing energy usage in operating the node and associated sensors. A routing protocol is further integrated into the algorithm, the routing protocol being based upon cluster head rotation.
US08547978B2	Method for providing MBS service in a WAN network, and system thereof A system and method for providing Multicast/Broadcast Service (MBS) service to a mobile terminal in an MBS service provisioning system in a Wide Area Network (WAN) network are provided. An authentication server sends a message for requesting resource reservation, in which a Quality-of-Service (QoS) policy is included, when a registration procedure of the mobile terminal is performed. A base station stores the message sent from the authentication server, forwards the message to the mobile terminal, and sets up a channel to the mobile terminal upon receiving from the mobile terminal a request for channel setup based on the QoS policy.
US08547971B1	Multi-stage switching system A multi-stage switching system comprises a first stage including a plurality of groups of switching devices. Each group of switching devices includes more than one switching device, and each group of switching devices is associated with a corresponding single device identifier (ID). A second stage includes a plurality of switching devices. The switching devices of the first stage are coupled to the switching devices of the second stage via a plurality of uplinks. Switching devices of the first stage are configured to associate a target device ID and a target port ID to a data unit received via a front port of the switching system. The switching devices of the first stage and the switching devices of the second stage are configured to direct the data unit through the switching system using the target device ID and a target port ID.
US08547965B2	Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture to provide uniform resource identifier portability Example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture to provide uniform resource identifier (URI) portability for communication networks are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes receiving a first communication session initiation message identifying a called party, identifying a URI associated with the called party, querying a global URI database based on the URI to identify a domain name associated with a service provider network based on the URI, and sending a second communication session initiation message including the URI to the service provider network via the domain name.
US08547961B2	Policy-based network-initiated secondary datalink flows with quality-of-service in cellular packet data networks A method of creating a network-initiated secondary packet data service instance includes sending a content request for application data from a mobile station to an application function through an access network. The method further includes sending a request for a secondary packet data service instance from the application function to a policy function, and evaluating the request for a secondary packet data service instance and determining one or more operational attributes from the evaluation. The method also includes creating the secondary packet data service instance between the application function to the mobile station by arranging one or more network components as a function of the one or more operational attributes. The method further includes transmitting the application data from the application function to the mobile station via the secondary packet data service instance.
US08547959B2	Establishing channels between a domain manager and managed nodes A device associated with a network receives a register request from a managed node connected to the network, where the register request requests registration of the managed node. The device also establishes a command channel, for sending one or more commands, with the managed node based on the register request, and establishes a notification channel, for sending one or more notifications, with the managed node based on the register request.
US08547948B2	Antenna management system A system maintains quality of service of a wireless network. The system includes a first layer, a second layer, and a third layer. The first layer configures a directional antenna to transmit and receive in particular sectors based on antenna gain, transmission power, and beam width. The second layer communicates a direction and range to the first layer. The third layer maintains information summarizing connectivity between a plurality of nodes. The third layer determines whether to extend the range of the signal from a predetermined default range to an extended range.
US08547947B2	Wireless communication apparatus and control method therefor When a wireless communication network is built in an ad hoc mode, it is possible to appropriately build the wireless communication network regardless of start timings of wireless communication functions of image capturing apparatuses. In order to achieve the object, there is provided the image capturing apparatus which is capable of building a wireless communication network by wirelessly connecting to another image capturing apparatus in an ad hoc mode, and which is capable of switching between a function as a creator and a function as a joiner, including a start unit configured to start as the creator, a unit configured to execute a scan process, and a unit configured to determine based on a result of the scan process whether to function as the creator and to function as the joiner, and to control the image capturing apparatus in accordance with the determination result.
US08547943B2	Systems and methods for wireless networking A first device may communicate by joining a wireless mesh network that includes at least one wireless device configured to operate a wireless routing protocol, discovering a group of other wireless devices configured to participate in the wireless mesh network, and accessing an interest metric for a second wireless device in the group of other wireless devices. The interest metric is based in part on a network topology from the wireless mesh network. The interest metric is related to an interest threshold and it is determined whether relating the interest metric to the interest threshold supports enabling messaging communications. If so, messaging communications may be enabled.
US08547938B2	Data flow transfer between wireless connections A method and apparatus taught herein provide for transfer of a data flow between two mobile nodes from a cellular connection supported by a cellular communication network to a non-cellular, ad-hoc connection between the mobile nodes. In one embodiment, a network node configured for operation in the cellular communication network detects that the two mobile nodes have moved within an ad-hoc communication range and transfers the data flow from the cellular connection to the ad-hoc connection responsive to the detection. The network node may include a control circuit to perform the detection, and a communication interface to send control signaling to effectuate the transfer. As a non-limiting example, the network node is a base station in the cellular communication network.
US08547937B1	System and method for providing selective voice call continuity A method for selectively establishing a voice call continuity link between a mobile device and a voice call continuity application server includes the steps of receiving a request to establish a voice over IP call connection at the voice call continuity application server from the mobile device, the request including mobile device location information for the mobile device. The method determines at the voice call continuity application server whether the voice call continuity link is needed between the voice call continuity server and the mobile device responsive to the mobile device location information within the request and network location information stored within a database associated with the voice call continuity application server. The method establishes the voice call continuity link between the mobile device and the voice call continuity application responsive to a determination that the voice call continuity link is needed.
US08547931B2	Conserving call logic during handoff Conserving call logic during handoff may be provided. First, a call may be received at a first server. Next, the first server may determine that it cannot handle the call. Then the call may be transferred by the first server to a second server with enough information so that the second server can take up the call where the first server left off. Transferring the call to the second server with enough information so that the second server can take the call up where the first server left off may comprise placing the information in a REFERRED-BY header and sending the REFERRED-BY header to the second server.
US08547929B1	Sounding reference signal transmission A wireless device transmits a first sounding reference signal on a first cell of a first cell group in parallel with transmission of at least one of a first random access preamble in a second cell group, and a first uplink data packet on a second cell. The wireless device drops a second sounding reference signal in a symbol of the first cell if at least one of the following conditions is satisfied: a second random access preamble is transmitted overlapping the symbol in the first cell group, and a second uplink packet is transmitted overlapping the symbol in the first cell.
US08547926B2	Method for transmitting and receiving system information elements in a wireless access system A method for configuring system information, a method for transmitting system information, and a method for transmitting resource ratio information are disclosed. A method for receiving system information elements includes receiving a first message including a fixed-size system information element from a base station, and receiving a second message including an variable-size system information element from the base station.
US08547921B2	Method of transmitting preamble for supporting relay system The present invention relates to a frame structure and method for supporting a relay. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for transmitting a preamble from a network supporting a relay includes transmitting a first preamble for establishing synchronization with at least one of a mobile station and a relay station, and transmitting a second preamble including supplemental information for accurately establishing synchronization with at least one of the mobile station and the relay station.
US08547919B2	Method for allocating communication bandwidth and associated apparatuses The present invention relates to a method for allocating communication bandwidth between a first terminal of a plurality of terminals and a network device. Wireless communication between the first plurality of terminals and the network device is carried out using a plurality of carrier channels. The communication defines a first bandwidth. The method comprises the steps of receiving the request for change of bandwidth from the first terminal, evaluating current load on carrier channels in use by the first terminal, evaluating priority between all terminals using the carrier channels currently in use by the first terminal, evaluating capacity of all carrier channels available to the first terminal, and allocating a second bandwidth between the network device and the first terminal by allocating a new number of carrier channels. The present invention further relates to a network device and a device for communication.
US08547918B2	Multiple-user multiple-input and multiple-output for high-speed packet access systems A method for providing multiple-user multiple-input and multiple-output in a high-speed packet access system is described. Channel quality indicators are received from a plurality of dual stream capable wireless communication devices. A preferred beam and a secondary beam are determined for each wireless communication device using the channel quality indicators. Wireless communication devices with preferred beams orthogonal to each other are paired. A wireless communication device pair is selected. Data streams for the selected wireless communication device pair are scheduled in the same transmission time interval using an orthogonal variable spreading factor code.
US08547916B2	Channel allocations in a communications system Systems and techniques for communications include forming a data packet, selecting a plurality of transmission parameters for the data packet, generating information having one of a plurality of codes identifying the transmission parameters, and transmitting the data packet on a first channel and the information on a second channel. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract which will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or the meaning of the claims.
US08547915B2	Method for scheduling distributed virtual resource blocks A method for efficiently scheduling virtual resource blocks to physical resource blocks is disclosed. In a wireless mobile communication system, for distributed mapping of consecutively allocated virtual resource blocks to physical resource blocks, when nulls are inserted into a block interleaver used for the mapping, they are uniformly distributed to ND divided groups of the block interleaver, which are equal in number to the number (ND) of physical resource blocks to which one virtual resource block is mapped.
US08547914B2	Method for transmitting packet downlink ACK/NACK information in a wireless communication system and apparatus for the same Various methods and apparatuses for transmitting packet downlink ACK/NACK information in a wireless communication are disclosed. A method of transmitting ACK/NACK information in Fast ACK/NACK reporting (FANR) mode in a wireless communication system is presented. The method comprises receiving a command from the network to operate in FANR mode, determining the ACK/NACK state for a number of uplink data blocks, transmitting an ACK/NACK signal for a downlink data block in an uplink control message, if it was determined that the ACK/NACK state is not an ACK state for at least a predetermined number of uplink data blocks.
US08547908B2	Methods, systems, and computer readable media for enriching a diameter signaling message Methods, systems, and computer readable media for enriching a Diameter signaling message are disclosed. In one example, the method comprises receiving, at a Diameter routing node, a Diameter signaling message that is associated with a mobile subscriber and includes mobile subscriber related information and querying a Diameter binding repository (DBR) using the mobile subscriber related information to select a network service node from a plurality of network service nodes configured to process the Diameter signaling message. The method further includes obtaining DBR information associated with the mobile subscriber from the DBR, wherein the DBR information includes an identifier associated with the selected network service node and modifying the Diameter signaling message to include at least a portion of the DBR information.
US08547906B2	Apparatus and method for redundant connectivity and multi-channel operation of wireless devices A wireless network includes leaf nodes (such as wireless sensors or other wireless devices) and infrastructure nodes (such as access points). The leaf nodes communicate data messages to the infrastructure nodes. The infrastructure nodes communicate the data messages to gateway infrastructure nodes, which transmit the data messages over a wired network. The leaf nodes may communicate data messages to multiple infrastructure nodes in various ways. For example, the leaf nodes may transmit multiple messages, one at a time, to multiple infrastructure nodes. The leaf nodes may also broadcast a single message to multiple infrastructure nodes. In addition, the leaf nodes may communicate a single message containing a group identifier (such as a multi-cast group address) associated with multiple infrastructure nodes. In this way, communications from the leaf nodes may be more reliable. This may be particularly useful, for example, in networks such as 802.11-based networks.
US08547904B2	Supporting communication devices with different technologies within the same communication channel A method and apparatus for support communication devices with different communication technologies within the same communication channel includes establishing a common frame structure for the communication channel, the frame having a fixed length and having downlink and uplink portions split between different first and second communication technologies. A next step includes providing different control messages for the respective different technologies in the frame. A next step includes decoding downlink data in a downlink subframe of the frame using the different technologies utilizing information in the control messages. A next step includes supplying uplink data in an uplink subframe of the frame using the different technologies utilizing information in the control messages.
US08547902B2	Method and apparatus for enabling IP mobility with high speed access and network intelligence in communication networks An architecture for network layer mobility support, using always on broadband high speed access and a network-based mobility manager, termed as a network server or gateway is disclosed. The present invention obviates the need of MIP for IP mobility.
US08547900B2	Method for processing radio protocol in mobile telecommunications system and transmitter of mobile telecommunications An apparatus and method for performing procedures (protocols) of a PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) layer and an RLC (Radio layer in an E-UMTS (Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) which has evolved from UMTS, among radio protocols of a mobile communication system. The PDCP layer performs ciphering on data (i.e., PDCP SDU) received from an upper layer, generates an indicator discriminating ciphered data and non-ciphered data (i.e., an ROHC feedback packet directly generated by the PDCP layer), and transmits the same to a lower layer (i.e., MAC layer). A PDCP SN (Sequence Number) is defined as an algorithm for ciphering the data in the PDCP layer to perform ciphering in the PDCP layer.
US08547898B2	Estimating absolute power level in a MUROS system An apparatus and method for estimating an absolute power level in a Multiple Users Reusing One Single time slot (MUROS) system are provided. The absolute value of power level of the MUROS user is received by the MUROS user from a Base Transceiver Station (BTS). The MUROS user also determines the mean value of its own signal strength. The absolute value of power level of the other user paired with the MUROS user is estimated using the received absolute value of power level of the MUROS user and the determined mean value of signal strength. The estimated absolute value of power level of the other user and the absolute value of power level of the MUROS user are further used by the MUROS user to estimate its channel. Information about the estimated channel of the MUROS user is provided to the BTS by the MUROS user and the BTS uses this information to allocate power to the two users which are paired for MUROS.
US08547897B2	Coherent power combining for signals through multiple satellite communications channels A communication system and method that allows a transmitter segment (ground end of uplink segment) to dynamically combine power from a plurality of propagation channels (transponders) to improve power levels of signals being transmitted, without affecting the receiver segment (user end of downlink segment) and the propagation segment (space segment), and without modifying propagation apparatus configurations (satellite). Specifically, the transmitter segment generates mixtures of input signals by using Wavefront-Multiplexing and transmits wavefront-multiplexed (WFM) signals through propagation channels to a receiver segment that coherently separates the mixtures of received WFM signals by using adaptive equalization and Wavefront-De-Multiplexing. The WFM signal mixtures allow an operator, or automated system, at the transmitter segment to dynamically allocate equivalent channel (transponder) powers according to continuously changing market demands by dynamically including change of relative input powers into ratios of the WFM signal mixtures being transmitted.
US08547894B2	Pilot signal transmitting method, base station, mobile station and cellular system to which the method is applied A transmitting method in a mobile communication system, which has a base and mobile station that performs radio communication with the base station in a cell of a radio communication area formed by the base station, and mixes, allocates unicast data and broadcast/multicast data to subframes in a radio frame, and transmits the radio frame as downstream data from the base station to the mobile station, by the base station, multiplexing cell-specific pilot signals corresponding to the unicast data to a first subframe to where data is allocated, while multiplexing cell-specific pilot signals to a second subframe to where data is allocated, where the number of the cell-specific pilot signals allocated to the second subframe is different from the number of the cell-specific pilot signals allocated to the first subframe; setting a difference between the various start phase of cell-specific pilot signals transmitted in the various subframes.
US08547890B2	System and method for power saving for in-body and on-body communication A system for power saving in communication with a plurality of sensor apparatuses that are located in-body or on-body to sense bioinformation, a management apparatus that performs synchronization by transmitting a beacon signal to the plurality of sensors at each predetermined period, and a sensor apparatus that includes a sensor receiving a first beacon signal, grasps how much time remains until the second beacon signal is received when the sensor is activated to sense the bioinformation, and determines the operation state of the sensor based on the grasped time are provided.
US08547886B2	Method, base station, and user terminal for implementing uplink resource indication A method and a user terminal for implementing an uplink resource grant (ul grant) are provided. The method includes a user terminal receiving an ul grant from a base station, the ul grant including an uplink resource index; the user terminal identifying from the received uplink resource index, a corresponding group of at least one uplink subframe, by referring to a pre-defined relationship between the uplink resource index and the corresponding group, the received uplink resource index having one of a plurality of values, the pre-defined relationship correlating each value of the uplink resource index with a respective one of a plurality of groups, each group having a unique uplink subframe grouping; and sending to the base station, by the user terminal, data on each of the at least one uplink subframes in the identified group.
US08547885B2	Apparatus and method for selection of communication method for communicating with an external apparatus Disclosed herein is a signal processing apparatus including a plurality of frame head detection sections configured to determine whether a frame head complying with any one of a plurality of different communication methods is detected by comparing the waveform of a signal sent from an external apparatus with a plurality of predetermined different symbol patterns; a communication method selection section configured to select the communication method for communicating with the external apparatus based on results of the determination by the frame head detection sections and on the priority of each of the plurality of communication methods; and a priority changing section configured such that if a second communication method different from an initially selected first communication method is selected anew, then the priority changing section changes the priority of each of the plurality of communication methods based on the newly selected second communication method.
US08547884B2	Methods and apparatus for flexible use of frequency bands Methods and systems are disclosed for communicating in a wireless communications system utilizing a plurality of frequency bands for downlink (DL) transmission and a plurality of frequency bands for uplink (UL) transmission. In an embodiment, a mobile device receives a DL signal via a DL frequency band. The DL signal contains DL-UL frequency-band association information. The DL signal is decoded to obtain the DL-UL frequency-band association information which is used to determine a UL frequency band for UL transmission. The mobile device configures its radio-frequency (RF) circuitry to operate in the UL frequency band for UL transmission.
US08547881B2	Method, apparatus and system for transmitting ACK response in bidirectional data transmission It is provided a method, device and system for transmitting an ACK response in bidirectional data transmission. When receiving windows on both sides of a transmission are simultaneously full, no new information frames can be transmitted to the other side before the ACK timer times out. This situation is called an ACK interlock delay. In the present disclosure, a communication device actively transmits a control frame carrying an ACK response to an opposite communication terminal when it detects that the local receiving window and the receiving window of the opposite communication terminal are both full, thus avoiding ACK interlock delays, avoiding wasting time, and improving the rate of transmission and link establishment.
US08547880B2	Method and system for replaying a portion of a multi-party audio interaction A method for replaying a portion of a multi-party audio interaction to a participant of the audio interaction. A participant of a multi-party audio interaction, such as a conference call or a gaming session, can request a replay of a portion of the audio interaction. A conference processor can provide an outgoing audio stream to the participant that includes a replay audio stream that includes the requested replayed portion of the multi-party audio interaction and a real-time audio stream that includes the ongoing multi-party audio interaction. The replay audio stream can be aurally positioned at an aural position that is different from the real-time audio stream to enhance the participant's ability to distinguish between the two audio streams.
US08547877B2	RSTP tracking On a first network element to support rapid spanning tree protocol (RSTP) for a plurality of virtual local area networks (VLANs) in a network, receiving a packet from a second network element in the network; identifying a VLAN associated with the packet by checking for a tag in the packet; determining whether the VLAN associated with a packet is a master VLAN or a client VLAN, wherein the master VLAN and client VLAN are in a group of VLANs with identical topologies, such that a spanning tree can be maintained for the group of VLANs that are represented by the master VLAN; deriving forwarding information from the master VLAN associated with the client VLAN, in response to determining that the VLAN is a client VLAN; and forwarding the packet according to the forwarding information derived from the master VLAN, whereby separate spanning trees for each group of VLANs serviced by the first network element are efficiently maintained.
US08547874B2	Method and system for learning network information A method and system for learning network information through a plurality of network devices is provided. The plurality of network devices are configured for IPsec. The method enables negotiation between the network devices to set up a security association and provide network information between the configured network devices. This network information includes a plurality of sub-network routes.
US08547873B2	Establishment of ad-hoc networks between multiple devices A method of configuring an ad-hoc wireless network between an authenticator and a plurality of wireless devices seeking authentication includes assigning a wireless device as the authenticator and receiving a first setup message transmitted from a first device seeking authentication to the authenticator and initiating a first handshake process between the authenticator and the first device seeking authentication. The method also includes receiving a second setup message transmitted from a second device seeking authentication to the authenticator. The second setup message is received by the authenticator prior to completion of the first handshake process. The method further includes initiating a second handshake process between the authenticator and the second device seeking authentication. The second handshake process is initiated prior to completion of the first handshake process. Moreover, the method includes completing the first handshake process and completing the second handshake process.
US08547872B2	Verifiable and accurate service usage monitoring for intermediate networking devices Various embodiments are disclosed for a services policy communication system and method. In some embodiments, an intermediary networking device provides a service intermediary or intermediate connection between a network and one or more communications devices; implements a service policy set for assisting control of the intermediate networking device use of a service on the network, in which the service policy set includes one or more service policies, each policy being associated with either the intermediate networking device or a communications device; and monitors use of the service based on the service policy set; and in which the one or more of the communication devices include a service usage notification capability, and the implementation of the first service policy set is verified.
US08547861B2	Optimizing downlink communications between a base station and a remote terminal by power sharing A method of optimizing downlink communications between a base station and mobile stations in a wireless communication system involves: identifying users that have a modulation control scheme (MCS) power value greater than a reference power value as high power users; for each of the high power users, calculating a power difference being a difference between a geometry value associated with each of the high power users and a reference geometry value associated with the reference power value respectively; summing the power differences in a power pool; identifying users that have an MCS power value below the reference power value as low power users; associating increased geometry values with at least some of the low power users while depleting the power pool by corresponding amounts until the power pool is depleted; and determining new MCSs for at least some of the low power users based on the increased geometry values.
US08547859B2	System, method, and computer-readable medium for authentication center-initiated authentication procedures for a mobile station attached with an IP-femtocell system A system, method, and computer readable medium that facilitate authentication center-initiated authentication procedures for a mobile station attached with a femtocell system are provided. A femtocell system may generate a registration identification of a mobile station from one or more mobile station authentication parameters. A convergence server located in a core network receives an authentication procedure request from an authentication center for the mobile station attached with the femtocell system and generates an authentication procedure request message that includes the registration identification assigned to the mobile station. The convergence server then transmits the authentication procedure request message to the femtocell system and receives a response to the authentication procedure request message from the femtocell system. The authentication procedure request may comprise a unique challenge, a shared secret data update procedure, or a call history count update procedure.
US08547856B2	Communication system with state dependent parameters In one embodiment, an apparatus can include: a status detector configured to determine a status associated with an input stream; a parameter controller configured to adjust a parameter in response to a change in the status; and a rendering controller configured to receive the input stream, and to provide a rendered stream in response to the input stream and the parameter.
US08547853B2	Adaptive periodic power-save (PS) polling In accordance with at least some embodiments, a system includes an access point and a station in communication with the access point. The station selectively implements adaptive periodic Power-Save (APPS)-Polling logic for communications between the station and the access point. The APPS-Polling logic is configured to determine a timer value for periodic PS-Polling by monitoring a periodicity of arrival packets for at least a threshold amount of time.
US08547851B1	System and method for reporting traffic information for a network A system and method identifies the costs to be assigned to each link in a network that can more evenly balance the utilization of links in the network.
US08547844B2	System and method for balancing IP gateway services A method and system are disclosed for distributing load in a network. A set of routers are configured for providing IP gateway services to a set of hosts where each router in the set of routers all back up all the other routers in the same set. Each router in the set utilizes identical load distribution policies, load distribution properties and load distribution arrangement. A Load Distribution Function (LDF) master router is determined for the set of routers, wherein each one of the set of routers is a backup for the LDF master router. Every router in the set of routers utilize the same algorithm to compute load distribution and the LDF master router provides balancing information to all the other routers by including that information in VRRP advertisement messages to all the routers.
US08547838B2	Buffer status reporting methods for machine type communication data transmission and related mobile communication devices A mobile communications device with a wireless module and a controller module for performing a buffer status reporting procedure is provided. The wireless module performs wireless transmissions and receptions to and from a cellular station of a service network. The controller module receives machine type communication (MTC) data, determines whether to trigger a buffer status report (BSR) according to a comparison result of the data size of the MTC data and a threshold value when the MTC data arrives at an empty transmission buffer, and if so, transmits the BSR to the cellular station via the wireless module.
US08547836B2	Device, method and system of dual-mode wireless communication Some demonstrative embodiments include devices, systems and/or methods of dual-mode wireless communication. Some embodiments include a wireless dual-mode transceiver capable of operating at first and second wireless communication modes during first and second time periods, respectively, wherein at the first communication mode the transceiver is capable of performing wireless-local-area-network communications over a wireless-local-area-network link, and wherein at the second communication mode the transceiver is capable of performing wireless video communications over a wireless video communication link. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08547833B2	Systems and methods for determining bitloading A method can include calculating an indication of signal quality for a communications channel based on a message from a node over a communications channel of a network. The calculated indication of signal quality can be adjusted based on a prior indication of signal quality to provide an adjusted indication of signal quality. Bitloading for the communications channel can be determined based on the adjusted indication of signal quality.
US08547832B2	Distributing ethernet alarm indication signal information to multiple virtual local area networks Ethernet Alarm Indication Signal (ETH-AIS) information for multiple Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) is consolidated and distributed to the multiple VLANs in a single Ethernet frame. Note, as used herein, “Alarm Indication Signal (ETH-AIS)” refers to an IEEE 802.x or ITU-T Y.1731 Ethernet Alarm Indication Signal. A device receiving the Ethernet frame with the consolidated ETH-AIS information typically forwards the frame out each port that communicates traffic for one of the VLANs included in the consolidated ETH-AIS information.
US08547829B1	Dynamically enhanced network performance for distributed wireless local area network (WLAN) architecture A device receives topology and capability information associated with an access point, access devices, and aggregation devices of a wireless local area network (WLAN), and determines, based on the topology and capability information, a nearest capable access device or aggregation device to the access point. The device also provides an instruction that instructs the access point or the nearest capable access device or aggregation device to create a tunnel between the access point and the nearest capable access device or aggregation device. The access point or the nearest capable access device or aggregation device creates the tunnel between the access point and the nearest capable access device or aggregation device based on the instruction.
US08547825B2	Switch fabric management Techniques are disclosed for managing a switch fabric. In one embodiment, a server system is provided that includes a midplane, one or more server cards, switch modules and a management controller. The midplane may include a fabric interconnect for a switch fabric. The one or more server cards and the switch modules may be operatively connected to the midplane. The switch modules may be configured to switch network traffic for the one or more server cards. The management controller may be configured to manage the switch modules via the fabric interconnect.
US08547824B2	Systems and methods for orthogonal frequency divisional multiplexing Systems and methods for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing are provided. In one embodiment, a multi-carrier modem comprises: a transmitter configured to modulate symbols onto at least one of a plurality of the spectrally overlapping carrier signals; a processor coupled to the transmitter, wherein the processor outputs data for transmission by the transmitter, wherein the processor applies an inverse Fourier transform to the data transmitted by the transmitter; the processor modulating a first carrier of the plurality of spectrally overlapping carrier signals based on a first modulation scheme while modulating a second carrier of the plurality of spectrally overlapping carrier signals based on a second modulation scheme.
US08547822B2	AAS direct signaling framing methodologies to support high capacity wireless links A new frame structure applicable to the IEEE 802.16 OFDMA wireless waveform is described, for the purposes of increasing base station capacity, increasing subscriber link rates and extending base station range. The frame structure provides the necessary constructs so that advance signal processing technologies such as Stacked Carrier Spread Spectrum and adaptive antenna technology may be used in combination with these constructs in order to realize these gains. These concepts are equally applicable in other advanced wireless waveforms based on OFDM or OFDMA such as LTE or UMB.
US08547821B2	Method and apparatus for investigating whether a given signal is received in a given set of OFDMA resource elements A method for investigating a signal in an OFDMA transmission is disclosed. The method comprises receiving the OFDMA transmission and obtaining a resource grid comprising resource elements of the transmission; determining a set of pairs of the resource elements, wherein the resource elements of the pair are disjoint; for each pair, comparing signals of the resource elements of the pair; determining a statistical test value based on the comparisons; and processing the statistical test value to obtain a desired output about the signal. A computer program for implementing the method, a receiver arrangement adapted to perform such investigation, and a communication apparatus using such receiver arrangement are also disclosed.
US08547820B2	Adaptive pilot insertion for a MIMO-OFDM system A transmitting entity transmits a “base” pilot in each protocol data unit (PDU). A receiving entity is able to derive a sufficiently accurate channel response estimate of a MIMO channel with the base pilot under nominal (or most) channel conditions. The transmitting entity selectively transmits an additional pilot if and as needed, e.g., based on channel conditions and/or other factors. The additional pilot may be adaptively inserted in almost any symbol period in the PDU. The receiving entity is able to derive an improved channel response estimate with the additional pilot. The transmitting entity sends signaling to indicate that additional pilot is being sent. This signaling may be embedded within pilot symbols sent on a set of pilot subbands used for a carrier pilot that is transmitted across most of the PDU. The signaling indicates whether additional pilot is being sent and possibly other pertinent information.
US08547817B2	Methods and apparatus for merging pre-rendered and dynamic optical-storage label indicia An optical storage disc label recorder includes a first memory portion adapted for storing a first set of track-marking data, the first set of track-marking data defining one or more pre-defined images, each pre-defined image having one or more pre-defined fields for dynamic text content, a second memory portion for storing a second set of track-marking data including the dynamic text content, and a digital processor adapted for combining the first and second sets of track-marking data.
US08547816B2	Information storage medium, recording method, and recording apparatus According to one embodiment, an information storage medium in which layer 0 and layer 1 are arranged from a read surface, a system lead-in area, data lead-in area, data area, and middle area are arranged from an inner circumference of the layer 0, and a system lead-out area, data lead-out area, data area, and middle area are arranged from an inner circumference of the layer 1. A guard track zone is arranged on a side of the data area in the data lead-out area, and a reference code zone, R physical format information zone, recording management zone, and drive test zone are arranged in the data lead-in area of the layer 0 and padding of the guard track zone of the data lead-out area is performed after padding of the drive test zone of data lead-in area and recording of the recording management zone.
US08547815B2	Optical pickup device and optical disc apparatus Optical pickup device including: semiconductor laser diode emitting optical flux; objective lens converging flux emitted from the diode and radiating flux to an optical disc; diffraction grating branching an optical flux reflected from the disc; and a photodetector receiving flux branched by the grating and has a plurality of light receiving parts, wherein: the grating has areas A, B and C; among diffracted beams diffracted by a track of the optical disc, only a 0-th order diffracted beam becomes incident upon area A, and 0-th and ±1-st order diffracted beams become incident upon area B; the photodetector detects a reproduction signal from optical fluxes diffracted in areas A, B and C; the plurality of light receiving parts which detect the +1-st order diffracted beam or the −1-st diffracted beam diffracted in area A are aligned in a direction substantially perpendicular or parallel to a track direction of the disc.
US08547804B2	Thermally-assisted recording head and magnetic recording system In a magnetic recording head including an optical waveguide for guiding a laser beam to a surface of a magnetic recording medium, a shield is provided in the vicinity of at least one portion changing discontinuously in structure of the optical waveguide to absorb or reflect non-propagating light leaking from the discontinuous portion to the outside of the optical waveguide.
US08547800B2	Clock display device There is provided a clock display device including: a central processing unit; a liquid crystal display section; a clock information generating section; a converting section that converts the clock information into character data for display at the liquid crystal display section; a direct memory access section that fetches the character data for display without going through the central processing unit, and transfers the fetched character data for display without going through the central processing unit; a display register that stores the character data for display; a programmable display allocating section that allocates correspondences between respective bits of the character data for display that is within the display register, and respective display segments of the liquid crystal display section; and a display control section that, on the basis of results of the allocation, visibly displays the clock information at the liquid crystal display section.
US08547796B2	Seismic data recording A seismic survey is conducted by positioning an array of remote acquisition units (RAUs) (10). Each of the RAUs (10) records seismic data derived from one or more geophones in digital form in local memory. The data is collected by a harvester unit traversed across the survey territory as by an aircraft (24) using point-multipoint communications, and subsequently transferred from the harvester unit to a central control unit (26).
US08547795B2	VSP imaging of acoustic interfaces A method to generate images of acoustic contrasts for structures located between at least one acoustic source and at least one receiver, said structures converting a part of the compressional energy to shear.
US08547788B2	Methods for making acoustic anisotropy logging while drilling measurements A method for determining an acoustic anisotropy of a subterranean formation includes measuring acoustic wave slownesses at three or more toolface angles while rotating a logging while drilling tool in a borehole. Compressional, shear, and/or guided wave slownesses may be measured. The measured slownesses are fit to a mathematical model to obtain maximum and minimum slownesses. The maximum and minimum slownesses are processed to determine the acoustic anisotropy of the formation.
US08547783B2	Method and apparatus for evaluating submarine formations A method and apparatus for evaluating submarine formations, such as geological formations located generally under a body of water. Multiple hydrofoils (130), responding to moving water, hydrodynamic, or Bernoulli forces, provide controllable orientation and separation for multiple receivers (135) as they are towed (125) through water (110) in the course of a geophysical survey such as a controlled source electromagnetic survey. The inventive method can be used to provide mutual orthogonality for three antennas in a multiple component electromagnetic receiver.
US08547779B2	Memory circuits, systems, and method of interleavng accesses thereof An interleaved memory circuit includes a memory bank including at least one first memory cell for storing a charge representative of a first datum, the first memory cell being coupled with a first word line and a first bit line. The interleaved memory circuit further includes a local control circuit coupled with the memory bank. The interleaved memory circuit further includes a global control circuit coupled with the local control circuit, an interleaving access including a clock signal having a first cycle and a second cycle for accessing the first memory cell, where the second cycle is capable of enabling the local control circuit to trigger a first transition of a first read column select signal RSSL for accessing the first memory cell.
US08547777B2	Nor logic word line selection A NOR architecture for selecting a word line driver in a DRAM is disclosed. Complements of separately decoded addresses in the low, mid and high ranges are used to select a final word line driver. The output of the word line driver is at a potential negative with respect to ground for a deselected word line and a positive potential more positive than the power supply potential for a selected word line.
US08547774B2	Hierarchical multi-bank multi-port memory organization A memory system includes multiple (N) memory banks and multiple (M) ports, wherein N is greater than or equal to M. Each of the memory banks is coupled to each of the ports. Access requests are transmitted simultaneously on each of the ports. However, each of the simultaneous access requests specifies a different memory bank. Each memory bank monitors the access requests on the ports, and determines whether any of the access requests specify the memory bank. Upon determining that an access request specifies the memory bank, the memory bank performs an access to an array of single-port memory cells. Simultaneous accesses are performed in multiple memory banks, providing a bandwidth equal to the bandwidth of one memory bank times the number of ports. An additional level of hierarchy may be provided, which allows further multiplication of the number of simultaneously accessed ports, with minimal area overhead.
US08547772B2	Memory power supply circuit A memory power supply circuit is used for providing power to a first memory module received in a first memory slot and a second memory module received in a second memory slot, and comprises a logic circuit and a switching power supply. The logic circuit comprises a first input terminal electrically connected to the first memory slot, a second input terminal electrically connected to the second memory slot, and a first signal terminal. The switching power supply comprises a first power terminal, a second power terminal, and a second signal terminal electrically connected to the first signal terminal. When the first memory slot and the second memory slot receive the first memory slot and the second memory module, the switching power supply turns on the first power terminal and the second power terminal; otherwise, the switching power supply turns off the first power terminal or the second power terminal.
US08547770B2	Semiconductor apparatus and its control method Semiconductor apparatus includes first power supply line and second power supply line, first sub power supply line, first switch circuit, first logic circuit and first control circuit. First switch circuit is disposed between first power supply line and first sub power supply line, and controlled based on first signal. First logic circuit is disposed between first sub power supply line and second power supply line and comprises first input node and second input node receiving second signal and third signal respectively, and output node. First logic circuit outputs an active voltage associated with a logical level of second signal to output node in active state, and outputs a standby voltage associated with a voltage of second power supply line to output node regardless of the logical level of second signal in non-active state. First control circuit generates third signal based on first signal and fourth signal independent of first signal, and letting first logic circuit transit from non-active state to active state by providing third signal to second input node of first logic circuit.
US08547769B2	Energy efficient power distribution for 3D integrated circuit stack Multiple dies can be stacked in what are commonly referred to as three-dimensional modules (or “stacks”) with interconnections between the dies, resulting in an IC module with increased circuit component capacity. Such structures can result in lower parasitics for charge transport to different components throughout the various different layers. In some embodiments, the present invention provides efficient power distribution approaches for supplying power to components in the different layers. For example, voltage levels for global supply rails may be increased to reduce required current densities for a given power objective.
US08547767B2	Chip, multi-chip system in a method for performing a refresh of a memory array A chip includes a memory array and a refresh counter. The refresh counter is configured to receive refresh trigger signals. The refresh counter is configured or configurable to initiate a refresh of the memory array only once per i of the received refresh trigger signals where i is a number greater than 1.
US08547759B2	Semiconductor device performing refresh operation To provide a semiconductor device including a temperature detection circuit that detects a temperature of the semiconductor device and outputs temperature information, a counter circuit that takes a count of repeated inputs of a refresh command and outputs count information, a comparison circuit that activates a match signal when the temperature information matches the count information, and a refresh control circuit that controls whether to perform a refresh operation according to activation of the refresh command based on the match signal. According to the present invention, a refresh cycle can be finely adjusted because the repeated inputs of the refresh command are thinned out based on the temperature information. With this configuration, power consumption caused by the refresh operation can be reduced.
US08547757B2	Programmable keeper for semiconductor memories A method includes receiving a memory code identifying a number of logic zeroes and logic ones to be stored in a semiconductor memory, determining a number of bit cells of a first type that are to be coupled to a first bit line of the semiconductor memory from the memory code, and selecting a first keeper circuit from a plurality of keeper circuits based on the number of bit cells of the first type that are to be coupled to the first bit line. An electronic representation of a layout of the semiconductor memory is stored in a non-volatile machine readable storage medium.
US08547756B2	Semiconductor memory device having an electrically floating body transistor A method for performing a holding operation to a semiconductor memory array having rows and columns of memory cells, includes: applying an electrical signal to buried regions of the memory cells, wherein each of the memory cells comprises a floating body region defining at least a portion of a surface of the memory cell, the floating body region having a first conductivity type; and wherein the buried region of each memory cell is located within the memory cell and located adjacent to the floating body region, the buried region having a second conductivity type.
US08547755B2	Method and apparatus of performing an erase operation on a memory integrated circuit Various discussed approaches include an improved grouping of edge word lines and center word lines of an erase group during erase verify and erase sub-operations of an erase operation. In another approach, changed voltage levels of edge word lines to address the over-erase issue of the erase group, and also improve erase time performance. Another approach uses dummy word lines.
US08547752B2	Method of reading data in non-volatile memory device, and device thereof A method of reading data in a non-volatile memory device. The method includes reading a plurality of memory cells of a first page in a memory cell array using a first read level, reading a plurality of memory cells of a second page adjacent to the memory cells of the first page using a second read level, determining whether a state of each memory cell of the first page has been changed based on the first read level to verify a threshold voltage of each memory cell of the second page based on the second read level, and revising the state of each memory cell of the second page according to a result of the determination.
US08547749B2	Multi-pass programming in a memory device A method for programming a memory device, a memory device, and a memory system are provided. According to at least one such method, a first programming pass generates a plurality of first programming pulses to increase the threshold voltages of target memory cells to either a pre-program level or to the highest programmed threshold. A second programming pass applies a plurality of second programming pulses to the target memory cells to increase their threshold voltages only if they were programmed to the pre-program level. The target memory cells programmed to their respective target threshold levels during the first pass are not programmed further.
US08547748B2	Programming rate identification and control in a solid state memory Memory devices adapted to receive and transmit analog data signals representative of bit patterns of two or more bits facilitate increases in data transfer rates relative to devices communicating data signals indicative of individual bits. Programming of such memory devices includes determining a rate of programming (i.e., rate of movement of the respective threshold voltage) of the memory cells and biasing the corresponding bit line with a programming rate control voltage that is greater than the bit line enable voltage and less than the inhibit voltage. This voltage can be adjusted to change the speed of programming. A capacitor coupled to the bit line stores the programming rate control voltage in order to maintain the proper bit line bias for the duration of the programming operation or until it is desired to change the programming rate.
US08547745B1	Host-managed logical mass storage device using magnetic random access memory (MRAM) A mass storage device includes a storage media with magnetic random access memory (MRAM) devices and a NAND flash interface and NAND flash memory devices that are coupled to the MRAM devices. The storage media has partitions (Logical Units (LUNs)) made of a combination of MRAM and NAND flash memory and further includes a controller with a host interface and a NAND flash interface coupled to the MRAM and NAND flash memory devices through a flash interface. A host is coupled to the controller through the host interface and the storage media communicates attributes to the host, an attribute being associated with one of the partitions, where the host uses the partition based on their attributes to optimize its performance.
US08547741B2	Nonvolatile stacked NAND memory A NAND string of memory cells has stacks of split word lines (gates), with resulting increased bit density. Variants add a top assist gate to the NAND string, a bottom assist gate to the NAND string, or both a top assist gate and a bottom assist gate to the NAND string.
US08547740B2	Adaptive estimation of memory cell read thresholds A method for operating a memory (28) that includes a plurality of analog memory cells (32) includes storing data in the memory by writing first storage values to the cells. Second storage values are read from the cells, and a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the second storage values is estimated. The estimated CDF is processed so as to compute one or more thresholds. A memory access operation is performed on the cells using the one or more thresholds.
US08547735B2	Memory element and memory device A memory element capable of simultaneously satisfying the number of repeating operation times and a low-voltage operation characteristic which are in a tradeoff relation is provided. The memory element has a high-resistivity layer and an ion source layer between a bottom electrode and a top electrode. The high-resistivity layer is made of an oxide containing Te. Any of elements other than Te such as Al, Zr, Ta, Hf, Si, Ge, Ni, Co, Cu, and Au may be added. In the case of adding Al to Te and also adding Cu and Zr, the composition ratio of the high-resistivity layer is preferably adjusted in the ranges of 30≦Te≦100 atomic %, 0≦Al≦70 atomic %, and 0≦Cu+Zr≦36 atomic % except for oxygen. The ion source layer is made of at least one kind of metal elements and at least one kind of chalcogen elements of Te, S, and Se.
US08547732B2	Hybrid superconducting-magnetic memory cell and array In one embodiment, the invention is a hybrid superconducting-magnetic memory cell and array. One embodiment of a memory cell includes a magnetoresistive element and at least one superconducting element wired in parallel with the magnetoresistive element. In a further embodiment, memory cells of the disclosed configuration are arranged to form a memory array.
US08547727B2	Memristive device A memristive routing device includes a memristive matrix, mobile dopants moving with the memristive matrix in response to programming electrical fields and remaining stable within the memristive matrix in the absence of the programming electrical fields; and at least three electrodes surrounding the memristive matrix. A method for tuning electrical circuits with a memristive device includes measuring a circuit characteristic and applying a programming voltage to the memristive device which causes motion of dopants within the memristive device to alter the circuit characteristic. A method for increasing a switching speed of a memristive device includes drawing dopants from two geometrically separated locations into close proximity to form two conductive regions and then switching the memristive device to a conductive state by applying a programming voltage which rapidly merges the two conductive regions to form a conductive pathway between a source electrode and a drain electrode.
US08547721B2	Resistive memory device Disclosed is a resistive memory device. In the resistive memory device, at least one variable resistance region and at least one switching device may be horizontally apart from each other, rather than being disposed on the same vertical axis. At least one intermediate electrode, which electrically connects the at least one variable resistance region and the at least one switching device, may be between the at least one variable resistance region and the at least one switching device.
US08547720B2	Non-volatile memory having 3D array of read/write elements with efficient decoding of vertical bit lines and word lines A three-dimensional array of memory elements is formed across multiple layers of planes positioned at different distances above a semiconductor substrate. The memory elements reversibly change a level of electrical conductance in response to a voltage difference being applied across them. The three-dimensional array includes a two-dimensional array of pillar lines from the substrate through the multiple layers of planes. A first set of pillar lines acts as local bit lines for accessing the memory elements together with an array of word lines on each plane. A second set of pillar lines is connected to the word lines. An array of metal lines on the substrate is switchable connected to the pillar lines to provide access to the first and second sets of pillar lines, thereby to provide access respectively to the bit lines and word lines of the three-dimensional array.
US08547712B2	Power circuit and direct current to direct current converter thereof A power circuit is applicable to a Direct Current (DC) to DC converter. The power circuit includes a gate driver circuit and a High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT). The gate driver circuit functions as a Sigmoid (S) function and controls a gate and a source of the HEMT with a cross voltage of the sigmoid (S) type function. Accordingly, an overall characteristic curve of the HEMT and the gate driver circuit is like a characteristic curve of a single rectifier diode, so as to achieve a rectifying, freewheeling, or reversing effect. In addition, since an energy loss is low when the HEMT is conducted, the energy loss of the whole power circuit is much less than that of a conventional diode.
US08547711B2	LLC converter active snubber circuit and method of operation thereof An active snubber circuit for a power converter, a method of operating the same and an inductor inductor capacitor converter incorporating the circuit or the method. In one embodiment, the circuit includes: (1) a series-coupled first capacitor and diode associated with a secondary-side switch in the power converter and coupled to an output thereof and (2) an active snubber circuit switch coupled in parallel with the diode and configured to receive a control signal that closes the active snubber circuit switch during at least a portion of a time during which the secondary-side switch is open.
US08547708B2	Electronic apparatus An electronic apparatus includes a card board on which a card slot at least a part of which is formed of metal and into which a recording medium can be inserted is mounted, and a memory board on which memories are mounted. The card board is disposed facing to a surface of the memory board on which the memories are mounted, and the card slot and at least a part of the memories are disposed so as to be overlapped when viewing from a direction orthogonal to the board surface of the card board.
US08547703B2	Card-type peripheral apparatus Disclosed herein is a card-type peripheral apparatus including: a case body configured to accommodate an electronic package including a circuit board between a first surface and a second surface that are opposite to each other; a first electronic package including a memory mounted on the circuit board; a second electronic package including an electronic part for controlling the memory mounted on the circuit board; a first thermal conductive material arranged inside the case body, the first thermal conductive material in contact with a surface of at least one of the first electronic package and the second electronic package; and a second thermal conductive material formed with the first surface and the second surface of the case body, wherein the first thermal conductive material and the second thermal conductive material are in contact with each other inside the case body.
US08547698B2	Cooling structure of capacitor and inverter device A cooling structure of a capacitor includes a snubber capacitor in which lead terminals are joined to external electrodes of a laminated ceramic electronic component; a circuit board which is for mounting the snubber capacitor and semiconductor switching elements; and a heat dissipation plate which is made of metal that dissipates the heat generated in the circuit board. The cooling structure of the capacitor is configured such that an insulating member having a high coefficient of thermal conductivity intervenes between the snubber capacitor and the heat dissipation plate.
US08547696B2	Latch module and electronic device using the same A latch module and an electronic device using the same are provided. The electronic device includes the latch module as well as first and second bodies that are opened and closed relative to each other. The latch module in the first body includes a pressing member, a linking member, and a latch. The pressing member is movably configured in and passes through the first body along a first axis. The linking member is pivoted to the first body. The pressing member leans against the linking member. The latch is configured in the first body along a second axis. The linking member leans against the latch. The pressing member moves relative to the first body along the first axis to press and rotate the linking member relative to the first body. Thus, the linking member presses the latch to move relative to the first body along the second axis.
US08547695B2	Apparatus for protecting a smart device A removable pad kit for a smart device, such as an iPhone®, an iPad®, a Samsung Galaxy®, a Samsung Galaxy Tab®, or the like, is disclosed. The removable kit may comprise a removable pad. The removable pad is configured to at least partially cover a home button, or the like, of the smart device to protect the home button and prevent accidental or intentional tapping on the home button.
US08547683B2	Laminated ceramic electronic component with directly plated external terminal electrodes and manufacturing method therefor In a method for manufacturing a laminated ceramic electronic component, after a plating layer for an external terminal electrode is formed by applying copper plating to an end surface of a component main body at which respective ends of a plurality of internal electrodes primarily including nickel are exposed, when a heat treatment at a temperature of about 800° C. or more is applied in order to improve adhesion strength and resistance to moisture of the external terminal electrode, voids may occur in the plating layer. The step of applying a heat treatment at a temperature of about 800° C. or more to a component main body with plating layers formed thereon includes not only a step of maintaining a top temperature of about 1000° C. or more but also a step of maintaining a temperature of about 600° C. to 900° C. at least once before the step of maintaining the top temperature.
US08547682B2	Multilayer ceramic electronic component including directly plated external electrodes In a multilayer ceramic electronic component including directly plated external electrodes, in an exposed area defined by exposed portions of a plurality of internal conductors, an area ratio of the exposed portions in an end section of the exposed area is smaller than an area of exposed portions in a center section of the exposed area.
US08547681B2	Decoupling capacitor An electronic device package includes first and second electrodes of a package substrate. The first electrode has fingers formed from a first metal level and is configured to operate at a first DC potential. The second electrode has fingers formed from the first metal level interdigitated with the fingers of the first electrode. A via conductively connects the second electrode to a second metal level. The second metal level is configured to operate at a second DC potential. The first and second DC potentials are thereby capacitively coupled through the interdigitated electrodes.
US08547675B2	Solid state power controller with lightning protection A method of controlling a solid state power controller includes determining whether a voltage across a switch of the solid state power controller is within a predetermined voltage threshold. If the voltage is outside of the predetermined voltage threshold, the current is limited to a non-zero current. As result of this method a SSPC in Offstate stays off and a SSPC in Onstate stays on during lightning events.
US08547673B2	Electrical switching apparatus with overvoltage protection An electrical switching apparatus includes a first terminal, a second terminal, a neutral conductor, separable contacts electrically connected between the terminals, an operating mechanism to open and close the contacts, a fused varistor electrically connected between the first terminal and the neutral conductor; and a trip mechanism including a trip coil cooperating with the operating mechanism to trip open the contacts. A second varistor is electrically connected in series with the trip coil between the first terminal and the neutral conductor. A thyristor is electrically connected in parallel with the second varistor. An overvoltage detection circuit is electrically interconnected with and causes the thyristor to energize the trip coil and cause the trip mechanism to trip open the contacts responsive to overvoltage between the first terminal and the neutral conductor.
US08547669B2	Arc fault mitigation for photovoltaic systems Systems, methods, and devices are presented for mitigating arc fault events in a photovoltaic system. An aspect of this disclosure is directed to a photovoltaic system for generating electrical power. The photovoltaic system includes one or more solar panels, and one or more shuttering assemblies, each of which is configured to selectively limit the quantity of light received by one or more of the solar panels. One or more sensing devices detect characteristics of an arc fault event in the photovoltaic system, and output signals indicative thereof. A control module is operatively connected to the shuttering assemblies and the sensing devices. The control module is configured to direct the one or more shuttering assemblies to reduce the quantity of light received by at least one of the one or more solar panels in response to the output signals indicating there is an arc fault event in the photovoltaic system.
US08547667B1	Method and system for providing a hard bias structure in a magnetic recording transducer A method and system for providing a magnetic transducer is described. The method and system include providing a seed layer and providing at least one adjustment layer on the seed layer. The method and system also include providing a hard bias structure on the at least one adjustment layer. The seed layer has a first template including a first template dimension and a first texture. The at least one adjustment layer has a second template including a second template dimension and a second texture. The hard bias structure has a third template including a third template dimension and a third texture. The second template is between the first template and the third template.
US08547665B2	Magnetic head having a material formed in one or more recesses extending into the media support surface of at least one of the substrate and the closure In one embodiment, a magnetic head includes a substrate having a media support surface; a gap coupled to the substrate, the gap having at least one of a magnetoresistive (MR) sensor and a writer; a closure coupled to the gap on a side thereof opposite the substrate, said closure forming a portion of the media support surface; and a material formed in one or more recesses extending into the media support surface of at least one of the substrate and the closure.
US08547662B2	Magnetic recording head and magnetic recording apparatus An example magnetic writing head includes a main magnetic pole, a coil to generate an ampere magnetic field to magnetize the main magnetic pole to cause the magnetized main magnetic pole to generate a magnetic field, and a laminated body. The laminated body includes a first magnetic layer having a coercivity lower than the magnetic field applied by the main magnetic pole and a second magnetic layer having a coercivity lower than the magnetic field applied by the main magnetic pole.
US08547659B1	System for providing a transducer having a main coil and an additional coil separated from the main pole by a write shield A method and system for providing a magnetic recording head is described. The magnetic recording head has an air-bearing surface (ABS) configured to reside in proximity to a media during use. The head includes a first coil, a second coil, a main pole, and a third coil. The first coil has a first plurality of turns and is configured to carry a first write current in a first direction. The second coil has a second plurality of turns and is configured to carry a second write current in a second direction. The main pole is between the first coil and the second coil. The third coil has a third plurality of turns configured to carry a third write current in a third direction.
US08547653B2	Lens barrel and optical instrument The present invention provides a miniaturized lens barrel and optical instrument. The lens barrel (1) is constituted to be provided with a lens (L2) which is retained in a retaining frame (82) pivotally supported by a shaft portion (83) parallel to the optical axis (A), and which moves between a first position and a second position in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis by rotation of the retaining frame about the shaft portion; a protuberance (85) formed to protrude in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis; and a moving member (70) which is moveable with respect to the retaining frame and which includes a retaining face portion (70a) which, in a state where it abuts the protuberance, retains the lens in the first position, and a recessed portion (72) formed at one portion of the retaining face portion; and is constituted such that the protuberance moves between a state where it abuts the retaining face portion, and a state where it is accommodated in the recessed portion, in accordance with movement of the moving member, and the lens is retained in a second position in the state where the protuberance is accommodated in the recessed portion.
US08547649B2	Five-piece optical lens system A five-piece optical lens system is provided with, in order from the object side to the image side: a stop, a first lens element with a positive refractive power having a convex image-side surface, one of the object-side surface and an image-side surface being aspheric; a second lens element with a negative refractive power having a concave image-side surface, one of the object-side surface and an image-side surface being aspheric; a third lens element with a positive refractive power having a convex image-side surface, one of an object-side surface and the image-side surface being aspheric; a fourth lens element having a concave object-side surface, one of the object-side surface and an image-side surface being aspheric; a fifth lens element with a negative refractive power having a convex image-side surface, one of an object-side surface and the image-side surface being aspheric.
US08547644B2	Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus with zoom lens A zoom lens includes a first lens unit having a negative refractive power and which is provided at a location closest to an object side, a lens unit LP having a positive refractive power, which is provided at a location closest to an image side, and which is stationary during zooming, and a lens unit LN having a negative refractive power, which is provided adjacent to the lens unit LP on the object side of the lens unit LP, and which is configured to move during zooming. In the zoom lens, optical parameters fp, fn, fw, ft, fni and νdni are appropriately set.
US08547641B2	Line-projection apparatus for arrays of diode-laser bar stacks In optical apparatus for illuminating a mask-plane with a line of light, a light source includes four fast-axis stacks of laser diode bars with fast and slow axis collimating arrangements providing four collimated beams of diode-laser light. A combination of a lens element and two diffraction gratings collects the four collimated beams and spreads the beams in the fast-axis direction such that the spread beams overlap in the mask plane to form a line of light having a length in the fast-axis-direction and a width in the slow-axis direction of the diode-laser bar stacks.
US08547640B2	Grating comprising sub-gratings with light-diffusing patterns A transparent substrate including at its surface a grating of parallel lines of patterns separated by zones with a refractive index different from that of the patterns, the grating diffusing light and including at least 4 sub-gratings, each sub-grating including plural blocks of identical patterns with a width, each block including 2 to 10 of the patterns. Centers of gravity of neighboring patterns inside a block are separated by a constant period, the distance between neighboring blocks vary in a non-monotonic manner when passing from one edge of the sub-grating to the other edge of the sub-grating.
US08547638B2	Color distribution in exit pupil expanders The specification and drawings present a new apparatus and method for providing color separation in an exit pupil expander system that uses a plurality of diffractive elements for expanding the exit pupil of a display in an electronic device for viewing by introducing a selectively absorbing area or areas in the exit pupil expander.
US08547637B2	Optical film composite for brightness enhancement including a birefringent polymer layer The present invention provides an optical film composite that includes a linear, reflective polarizing film; a first polymeric substrate layer having birefringence, which is placed on the reflective polarizing film; and a second polymeric substrate layer placed beneath the reflective polarizing film, wherein the optical axis of the first polymeric substrate layer is oriented with respect to the transmission axis of the reflective polarizing film to have of 0° to 25° of an angular difference between the axes. The optical film composite can be employed in LCD devices to improve optical performance.
US08547636B1	Tunable magnet structure An axially symmetric permanent magnet structure with tunable longitudinal fields is described wherein selected radial magnet sectors in a truncated Halbach array configuration are tiltable. The tunable magnet structure is particularly useful in Faraday devices, such as Faraday rotators, Faraday mirrors, optical circulators and optical isolators.
US08547635B2	Lenses for 3D eyewear Eyewear for viewing three-dimensional (3D) images is disclosed. In some embodiments, the eyewear can include lenses that include circularly polarizing filters. The right lens can block light that is circularly polarized in a first direction, and the left lens can block light that is circularly polarized in a second, opposite direction. The circularly polarizing filters can be attached to a surface (e.g., the front surface) of a lens body using an adhesive or by lamination. The lenses can have one or more surfaces that conform to the surface of a sphere, a cylinder, or another geometric shape. In some embodiments, the surface of the lens to which the circularly polarizing filter is applied is cylindrical. In some embodiments, the lenses can have a tapered thickness to provide for optical correction of the lenses.
US08547634B2	Optical arrangement for photomanipulation The invention is directed to an optical arrangement for photomanipulation of a sample comprising a sample holder for receiving the sample, an illumination device comprising an illumination light source and an illumination beam path for illuminating the sample with a light sheet. It further comprises a detection device for detecting light that is radiated from the sample and imaging optics which image the sample on the detection device by means of an imaging objective in an imaging beam path, wherein the light sheet is substantially planar in the focus of the imaging objective, and wherein the imaging objective has an optical axis which intersects the plane of the light sheet at an angle different from zero. Further, the arrangement also has means for photomanipulation of the sample.
US08547631B2	Semiconductor optical amplifier It is desirable to provide a semiconductor optical amplifier from which it becomes able to obtain a higher output power. A semiconductor optical amplifier in comprises an active wave guiding layer which comprises a passive core region that is formed of a semiconductor, and active cladding regions that are located at both sides of the passive core region and each of that is comprised of an active layer which is formed of a semiconductor and which has an index of refraction to be lower than that of the passive core region, wherein a light is wave guided with being amplified in the active wave guiding layer. Moreover, it is desirable for the active wave guiding layer to be formed of a compound semiconductor, and to be formed by integrating the passive core region and the active cladding regions to be monolithic on to a substrate that is formed of a compound semiconductor by making use of a process of a butt joint growth.
US08547629B2	Gain and signal level adjustments of cascaded optical amplifiers An optical amplification device which includes first and second optical amplifiers, and a controller. The first optical amplifier receives a light and amplifies the received light. The second optical amplifier receives the light amplified by the first optical amplifier, and amplifies the received light. When a level of the light received by the first optical amplifier changes by Δ, the controller controls a level of the light received by the second optical amplifier to change by approximately −Δ. In various embodiments, the controller causes the sum of the gains of the first and second optical amplifiers to be constant. In other embodiments, the optical amplification device includes first and second optical amplifier and a gain adjustor. The gain adjustor detects a deviation in gain of the first optical amplifier from a target gain, and adjusts the gain of the second optical amplifier to compensate for the detected deviation.
US08547626B2	Mechanical layer and methods of shaping the same A method of shaping a mechanical layer is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises depositing a support layer, a sacrificial layer and a mechanical layer over a substrate, and forming a support post from the support layer. A kink is formed adjacent to the support post in the mechanical layer. The kink comprises a rising edge and a falling edge, and the kink can be configured to control the shaping and curvature of the mechanical layer upon removal of the sacrificial layer.
US08547623B2	Dual-mode electrowetting display device An electrowetting display device that features dual-mode operation. The display device can operate in either a low-power consumption bistable mode, or a higher-power consumption fast switching (video-rate) mode.
US08547622B2	Thin-film coatings, electro-optic elements and assemblies incorporating these elements Electro-optic elements are becoming commonplace in a number of vehicular and architectural applications. Various electro-optic element configurations provide variable transmittance and or variable reflectance for windows and mirrors. The present invention relates to various thin-film coatings, electro-optic elements and assemblies incorporating these elements.
US08547617B2	Quantum logic component and a method of controlling a qubit A component comprising a qubit and a controller for said qubit, said component comprising a quantum dot and an excitation portion configured to produce a neutral exciton state in said quantum dot to form said qubit, the component further comprising a measuring unit to make an optical measurement relating to the orientation of said state, wherein said controller comprises voltage source coupled to electrical contacts configured to apply a modulated electric field across said quantum dot, wherein the modulation is faster than the decay time of said neutral exciton state.
US08547613B2	Compensating for print engine change in a document reproduction device What is disclosed is a novel system and method of inheriting intended GCR into a 4-to-4 cascaded LUT to compensate for print engine change which adversely impacts the quality of an output print. The present method uses the device link transform to generate starting LUT nodes for the inverse of the drifted printer model by inputting CMYK or RGB into the device link at a color space resolution sufficient to determine output nodes. Lab and CMYK values are derived from this process, and a “starting LUT” is created at the Lab destination nodes. An iterative control begins with this starting LUT to produce an inverse drifted printer model that contains a close approximation for the intended GCR. The present method captures the intent of the device link transform for a fleet and generates the cascaded LUT for drift, specific printer, side1/side2, and other modes leading to special GCRs.
US08547612B2	Image processing apparatus, image forming apparatus, and image processing method that read color image data from a document An image processing apparatus includes an image reading unit that reads an image of a document as color image data including pieces of color component data; a dot-component removing unit that removes dot components by smoothing each color component data; a high-frequency-color identifying unit that identifies, of colors represented by dot-removed color component data obtained by the smoothing, a high-frequency color satisfying a predetermined high-frequency condition; an individual-density-conversion-information generating unit that generates, for each high-frequency color, individual-density conversion information for converting each color component data such that a color near the high-frequency color becomes substantially the same as the high-frequency color; and a color-component-data converting unit that converts, based on the individual-density conversion information, each color component data in a part of the color image data, the part being data in which a color represented by the dot-removed color component data is a color near the high-frequency color.
US08547608B2	Scanning apparatus with circuit board overlapping platen A scanning apparatus includes: a transparent platen having a first edge and a second edge opposite the first edge, the first and second edges being separated along a scan direction; a frame including: a holder for the transparent platen; and a control panel located proximate the first edge of the transparent platen; a scan bar assembly including a scan element; a motor for moving the scan bar assembly along the scan direction; and a circuit board connected to the control panel, the circuit board including: a plurality of electrical components; a first edge located adjacent a side of the frame; and a second edge opposite the first edge, wherein the second edge of the circuit board is configured to overlap the first edge of the transparent platen.
US08547606B2	Optical scanning apparatus provided with resonance-driven swing mirror and image forming apparatus An optical scanning apparatus capable of suppressing a track error is provided. The apparatus includes a swing mirror supported by a torsional vibration system having a first natural frequency and a second natural frequency that is a double of the first natural frequency, and a driving unit applying a swing torque to the vibration system. The apparatus can detect passage of an optical beam at two locations and output track information of the swing mirror, and perform feedback control. When the feedback control is performed, the apparatus sequentially switches target tracks of scanning in a forward and a backward direction, the phases of the second natural frequency of the target tracks being mutually reversed, calculates an amount of offset compensation based on a difference between the predetermined target track and the track for each scanning in the forward and backward direction, and reflects the amount in the feedback control.
US08547604B2	Cable arrangement structure and image scanner employing the same A cable arrangement structure is provided with a movable body configured to reciprocally move relative to a base member, and a flexible cable transmitting electrical signals. One end of the flexible cable is fixedly connected to the base member, and another end is connected to the movable body. The flexible cable has a curved portion, and both ends of the flexible cable being located on a same side with respect to the curved portion. A tension applying unit configured to contact the curved portion of the flexible cable from an inner side of a curvature of the curved portion to apply tension to the flexible cable when the curved portion is located on a front direction of the movable body as moved. Application of the tension to the flexible cable is controlled in mechanical association with movement of the movable body.
US08547603B2	Transparency imaging systems and methods Transparency imaging systems and methods. One embodiment of the transparency imaging system comprises an imaging surface and a cover mounted adjacent the imaging surface. A media adapter is provided as part of the cover, and a chamber is formed in the media adapter. At least one template is receivable within the chamber formed in the media adapter, the at least one template loading the transparency media in the media adapter adjacent the imaging surface for an imaging operation.
US08547602B2	Image processing apparatus and control method thereof An image processing apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a storage unit for storing image data; a readout unit for reading out the image data from the storage unit, while dividing the image data into a plurality of image data; image processing units for respectively performing image processing on the image data read out by the readout unit; an image combining unit for combining the received image data after deleting an unnecessary pixel; a control unit for shifting the plurality of image data, instructing the readout unit to read out image data to include an overlapping region such that the plurality of image data partially overlap each other, and instructing the image combining unit to delete the unnecessary pixel according to the shift; and an output unit for outputting the image data combined by the image combining unit.
US08547601B2	Facsimile to E-mail communication system A fax to E-mail system and related method are shown, whereby a hardcopy document is sent via a fax device to its recipient via electronic mail through a data network (such as the Internet), and is delivered in such a manner that it can be retrieved by the recipient at an E-mail device, in the ordinary course of retrieving the E-mail, and displayed on the screen of the E-mail device. The invention provides for and accomplishes the delivery of a document, which begins as a hardcopy, as an electronic file retrieved through E-mail recipient's terminal and displayed on the computer screen of the E-mail recipient's terminal. The system and method also provides for an interface device which connects to a conventional fax device for communicating E-mail addresses and routing hardcopy documents to the E-mail network. The invention provides a means for embedding the functions of the interface device into conventional fax devices. The system can also be used in cooperation with Internet Web service for reporting, accounting, information services, and user interaction.
US08547600B2	Printing setting apparatus, printing apparatus, and recording medium A printing setting apparatus is disclosed that includes a first part to establish a connection to a printing apparatus; a second part to make a setting with respect to printing of printing data; a third part to add a first ground pattern to the printing data in response to the second part making a first setting for adding the first ground pattern; a fourth part to obtain information indicating whether a second setting for adding a second ground pattern is made in the printing apparatus; and a fifth part to disable the second part from accepting the first setting in response to the fourth part obtaining the information indicating that the second setting is made in the printing apparatus, and enable the second part to accept the first setting in response to the fourth part obtaining the information indicating that the second setting is not made in the printing apparatus.
US08547596B2	Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and computer program product An image forming apparatus includes a first density correction unit that corrects density correction characteristics in correcting density of print image data to be output by using a density correction patch formed in an image forming process; a second density correction unit that corrects the density correction characteristics by using a density correction patch printed on a recording sheet; an image inspection unit that compares an image density of inspection image data obtained by scanning a printed output image with an image density of the print image data to be output, thereby inspecting a magnitude of a density change in the printed output image; and a density control unit that selects one from the first and second density correction units according to the magnitude of the density change and causes the density correction characteristics to be corrected by the selected one from the first and second density correction units.
US08547591B2	Image processing apparatus and program for generating size-reduced image data with reduction ratio of chroma component greater than luminance component An image processing apparatus performing image processing on image data stored in a temporary storage area, is provided. The image processing apparatus includes: a size-reducing unit that reduces a size of original image data, wherein the size of the original image data is reduced according to a parameter of the original image data such that a size-reduction ratio of a chroma component is greater than a size-reduction ratio of a luminance component, to perform the image processing; and a storage control unit that stores size-reduced image data in the temporary storage area to perform the image processing.
US08547588B2	Method and article for providing layout flexibility The present invention is drawn to an article of manufacture and an associated method for providing layout flexibility. The article of manufacture includes a computer readable storage medium with a computer readable program code capable of accepting an optimal layout and a first modified layout, each within a visual frame of a graphic art program. Each of the optimal layout and the first modified layout include a plurality of visual elements and a variable data element. The computer readable program code is further capable of determining dimensional and layout parameters associated with each of the optimal layout and the first modified layout. Further, the computer readable program code is capable of interpolating variations between the optimal layout and the first modified layout for modifications of the variable data element ranging from the optimal layout to the first modified layout.
US08547587B2	Image processing apparatus including an input unit that receives plural images An image processing apparatus stores an input image and an image ID for identifying the image in association with each other, stores a medium ID for identifying a recording medium on which the image is printed n, a unit ID for identifying a print unit having a plurality of recording media, and an image ID of an image included in the print unit in association with each another, detects a plurality of medium IDs from at lease one recording medium, obtains image IDs of all images included in the print unit identified by the unit ID associated with the medium ID, obtains images associated with obtained image IDs, and outputs obtained images.
US08547586B2	Scanner device utilizing an internal storage unit and an external storage unit corresponding to header information A scanner device may create original data in an internal storage unit. The original data may include header information and actual image data representing a scan target object. The header information may include a first value as size information. The size information may indicate a size of image data corresponding to a scanning direction. In a case where the size of the actual image data is smaller than the first value, the original data may further include specific image data such that the size of entire image data including the actual image data and the specific image data is identical to the first value. The scanner device may calculate a digest value by utilizing the original data so as to create purpose data in an external storage unit by utilizing the original data and the digest value.
US08547585B2	Apparatus, program, and method for high speed image reading using a sheet feeding device An image reading apparatus includes: a sheet feeding device; a sheet feeding control section that controls transport of an original document performed by the sheet feeding device; a reading section that reads the original document so as to output image data; a reading control section that allows the reading section to perform the reading by repeatedly outputting a reading signal to the reading section; a buffer that temporarily stores the image data; and a monitoring section that monitors a volume of the image data stored in the buffer. When the monitoring section determines that the volume of the image data is less than a predetermined first threshold value, the sheet feeding control section accelerates the transport of the original document and maintains the transport at a predetermined speed, and the reading control section starts the output of the reading signal when the transport of the original document is started.
US08547584B2	Information processing apparatus, image forming system, image forming method, and medium storing program thereof, for transferring a file whenever a first destination cannot be accessed An information processing apparatus searches for an apparatus that has a transmission destination that can be accessed from an image forming apparatus on a network when a transmission destination of file transmission processing cannot be accessed from the image forming apparatus, generates a process flow including processing in which the image forming apparatus transmits a file to the transmission destination in the apparatus found through the search and transmits the generated process flow to the image forming apparatus, and generates a process flow including processing for moving the file from the transmission destination in the apparatus found through the search to a designated transmission destination and stores the generated process flow in the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus executes the generated process flow when the end of the processing is notified from the image forming apparatus.
US08547577B2	Mutualistic engine controller having sensor communication A printing device includes at least one printing engine that has many sensors (first sensors and second sensors) and at least one engine controller operatively connected to the printing engine. The engine controller uses software to control operations of the printing engine. Also, at least one non-volatile memory is operatively connected to the engine controller. The non-volatile memory stores values used by the engine controller to control operations of the printing engine. At least one adapter card is operatively connected to the non-volatile memory and to the first sensors and second sensors. The first sensors correspond to the design of the controller and are items designed as original equipment of the printing device. To the contrary, the second sensors correspond to the design of the adapter card and are items designed to be installed in the printing device after the printing device is in post production, customer service. The adapter card receives feedback from the first sensors and the second sensors and the adapter card reads and modifies incoming print jobs before the print jobs are delivered to the controller.
US08547571B2	Print control apparatus for performing preprocessing of image data In response to a print instruction of a specified print object image, the print control apparatus of the invention corrects print object image data representing the specified print object image with a preset correction parameter set for improving picture quality of the specified print object image and prints the specified print object image according to corrected print object image data. A print object image specification module of the print control apparatus specifies the print object image as a printing object. A preprocessing execution module of the print control apparatus performs predetermined preprocessing of the print object image data representing the specified print object image to set the correction parameter used for correcting the specified print object image. In response to specification of the print object image by the print object image specification module, a preprocessing management module of the print control apparatus instructs the preprocessing execution module to implement advanced preprocessing of the print object image data representing the specified print object image, prior to the print instruction. This arrangement of the invention desirably shortens a time period elapsed before start of required image processing for printing the specified print object image.
US08547567B2	Image formation apparatus capable of reducing power consumption, method of controlling image formation apparatus, and storage medium An image formation apparatus having a plurality of function units includes: a first power management unit configured to perform power management; a plurality of components under the power management, provided in each function unit and each supplied with power to implement a corresponding function; and a second power management unit provided for each function unit. The second power management unit is configured to determine whether each component has an operational status satisfying a first predetermined condition, to stop supplying power to the component satisfying the first predetermined condition, if the component satisfies the first predetermined condition, to determine whether the plurality of components have a power supply status satisfying a second predetermined condition, and to change the first predetermined condition in content, if the second predetermined condition is satisfied. The first power management unit sets to a power saving mode the function unit of which components are all unsupplied with power.
US08547563B2	Mobile device scan for printing devices Methods and systems provide a user with an option, on a graphic user interface of a printing device, for scanning a self-illuminated display of a portable device (such as a cell phone, PDA, camera, etc.). In response to the user selecting the option for scanning a self-illuminated display of their portable device, the illumination source of the printing device is deactivated and the responsiveness of the light sensor of the printing device is increased. The process of increasing of the responsiveness of the light sensor changes the responsiveness to an increased level above a base level that is used when the illumination source is active. Then, while the illumination source is deactivated and while the responsiveness of the light sensor is at the increased level, the light sensor is used to scan the self-illuminated display of the portable device to acquire an image displayed on the self-illuminated display of the portable device.
US08547559B2	Detection method and detection apparatus A detection method of detecting a position of an uppermost substrate of a plurality of substrates stacked on each other includes applying illumination to a region covering a portion of an edge of the uppermost substrate and a portion of a lower substrate stacked with the uppermost substrate, identifying a position of the edge of the uppermost substrate based on a position of a step-like portion present in the region due to a step formed between the uppermost substrate and the lower substrate, and identifying a position of the uppermost substrate based on the position of the edge of the uppermost substrate.
US08547556B2	Methods of analyzing a reservoir fluid sample using a multivariate optical element calculation device A method of analyzing a fluid sample from a reservoir comprises: collecting the sample in a sampling container, wherein the sample container includes a sample receptacle, and wherein the step of collecting comprises allowing or causing the sample to flow into the sample receptacle; and determining at least one property of the sample, wherein the step of determining comprises using a multivariate optical element (MOE) calculation device, and wherein the step of determining is performed during the step of collecting and wherein the MOE calculation device is located at one end of the sample receptacle, or the step of determining is performed after the step of collecting. The sample is analyzed as the sample flows into the sample container or as the sample is being transferred from the sample container into a container.
US08547551B2	Lithographic apparatus and contamination detection method A lithographic apparatus includes a vessel that encloses a component with a test surface to be probed for contamination control; and an optical probe configured to transmit and receive an optical probing beam. The vessel includes a first optical port configured to transfer the optical probing beam towards the test surface, and a second optical port configured to receive a reflected optical probing beam. The optical probe includes a light source configured to provide the optical probing beam, a polarization conditioner configured to provide a predefined polarization state to the probing beam, and a spectral analyzer. The polarization conditioner is preset to provide a minimal transmission for a minimal transmission wavelength, and the spectral analyzer is arranged to detect a wavelength shift of the minimal transmission wavelength in response to a polarization change due to the presence of contamination.
US08547549B2	Substrate for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) A substrate for Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS). The substrate comprises at least one nanostructure protruding from a surface of the substrate and a SERS active metal over the at least one nanostructure, wherein the SERS active metal substantially covers the at least one nanostructure and the SERS active metal creates a textured layer on the at least one nanostructure.
US08547548B1	Final defect inspection system Disclosed is a final defect inspection system, which including a host device, a microscope, a bar code scanner, a support tool, a signal transceiver and an electromagnetic pen. The bar code scanner scans a bar code on a circuit board provided on the support plate. The host device selects data and a circuit layout diagram from the database corresponding to the bar code. The signal transceiver and the electromagnetic pen are electrically connected to the host device. The electromagnetic pen is used to make a mark on a scrap region of the circuit board where any defect is visually found through the microscope. The signal transceiver receives and transmits the positions of the mark to the host device such that the host device calculates the coordinate of a scrap region based on a relative position between an original point and the positions of the mark.
US08547543B2	Angle-measuring device An angle-measuring device includes a first group of components and a second group of components that are rotatable relative to each other about an axis. The first group includes a carrier element for enclosing a shaft and on which a graduation disk is secured, a connecting element, and a device for affixing the connecting element relative to the carrier element. The second group includes a sensor element for scanning the graduation disk. The carrier element and the connecting element are arranged such that the connecting element is able to be brought into operative connection with the carrier element so that torque is transmittable with positive locking between the connecting element and the carrier element about the axis. The connecting element is able to be brought into a positive-locking position by axial displacement by the device for affixing the connecting element, and is able to be prestressed radially against the shaft.
US08547540B2	System and method for combined raman and LIBS detection with targeting A system and method for locating and identifying unknown samples. A targeting mode may be utilized to scan regions of interest for potential unknown materials. This targeting mode may interrogate regions of interest using SWIR and/or fluorescence spectroscopic and imaging techniques. Unknown samples detected in regions of interest may be further interrogated using a combination of Raman and LIBS techniques to identify the unknown samples. Structured illumination may be used to interrogate an unknown sample. Data sets generated during interrogation may be compared to a reference database comprising a plurality of reference data sets, each associated with a known material. The system and method may be used to identify a variety of materials including: biological, chemical, explosive, hazardous, concealment, and non-hazardous materials.
US08547539B2	System and method for detection of flexible pipe armor wire ruptures A system and method for detecting breakage, rupture or malfunctioning of a pipe or cable structure, including sensing elements for monitoring the structure and placed in, on or around the structure for monitoring the breakage, rupture or malfunctioning of the structure. The sensing elements provide sensing data regarding events related to breakage, rupture or malfunctioning and are placed near the structure so as to perform a breakage, rupture or malfunction detection function, and within a distance sufficient to obtain a measureable strain, tension, torsion, vibration, acceleration, and/or temperature response signal based on the breakage, rupture or malfunctioning of the structure. One of the sensing elements is based on Coherent Rayleigh Noise (CRN) sensing techniques, and the system is configured to interpret the sensed data for determining the breakage, rupture or malfunctioning of the structure.
US08547538B2	Construction of reference spectra with variations in environmental effects A method of generating a library of reference spectra includes storing at least one reference spectrum, storing a plurality of different transmission curves, and for at least two transmission curves from the plurality of different transmission curves, calculating a modified reference spectrum from the reference spectrum and the transmission curve to generate a plurality of modified reference spectra. The transmission curves represent distortion to a spectrum introduced by variations in components in an optical path before a substrate surface.
US08547537B2	Object authentication A device detects multi-spectral imaging by using scan elements. The device may include an illumination module and a detection module to detect light scattered from an object illuminated by the illumination module. The device may also include an array of light sources to produce light at a plurality of different wavelengths, and create a line of illumination with each of the different wavelengths. The light detection may be applied to authenticate and validate documents, such as banknotes moving along a document conveyer.
US08547535B2	Component measurement apparatus A component measurement apparatus includes a laser that emits non-collimated laser light, an objective lens that condenses the non-collimated laser light emitted from the laser in order for the laser light to illuminate internal tissue of an object of measurement without collimating the laser light, a half mirror that redirects reflected light reflected by the internal tissue of the object of measurement and refracted by the objective lens, a pin hole through which the reflected light redirected by the half mirror passes, a light-receiving element that receives the reflected light having passed through a pin hole, and a data analyzer section that measures a component of the object of measurement in accordance with data output from the light-receiving element.
US08547532B2	System and method for determining range in 3D imaging systems A system and method of imaging an object. An array of detectors is mounted in an image plane. Each detector in the array of detectors is connected to a timing circuit having an interpolator, wherein the interpolator includes a first circuit which charges a first capacitor at a different rate than it discharges. An optical pulse is transmitted toward an object so that a portion of the optical pulse is reflected from the object as a reflected pulse and a first value representative of when the optical pulse was transmitted toward the object is recorded. The reflected pulse is detected at one or more detectors and a pulse characteristic of the pulse and a second value representative of when the reflected pulse arrived at the detector are recorded. Range to the object is then calculated as a function of the first and second values and the reflected pulse characteristic.
US08547523B2	Fluid handling structure, lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method A fluid handling structure has a plurality of openings acting as a meniscus pinning system operating on the gas drag principle and a gas knife outwardly of the meniscus pinning system to break-up any film of liquid left behind. The separation between the gas knife and the meniscus pinning system is selected from the range of 1 mm to 5 mm. Desirably the underside of a barrier member in which the gas knife and the meniscus pinning system are provided is continuous, e.g. has no openings, between the gas knife and the meniscus pinning system.
US08547522B2	Dedicated metrology stage for lithography applications A system and method are used to detect parameters regarding an exposure portion or an exposure beam. The system comprising a substrate stage and a metrology stage. The substrate stage is configured to position a substrate to receive an exposure beam from an exposure portion of a lithography system. The metrology stage has a sensor system thereon that is configured to detected parameters of the exposure system or the exposure beam. In one example, the system is within a lithography system, which further comprises an illumination system, a patterning device, and a projection system. The patterning device patterns a beam of radiation from the illumination system. The projection system, which is located within the exposure portion, projects that pattered beam onto the substrate or the sensor system.
US08547520B2	Exposing method, exposure apparatus, and device fabricating method An exposure apparatus comprises: a first detection apparatus, which detects the temperature of a liquid after the liquid contacts a prescribed object; and a processing apparatus that detects the relationship between the temperature of the liquid and the temperature of the object based on the detection result of the first detection apparatus.
US08547519B2	Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method An immersion lithographic projection apparatus is disclosed in which liquid is provided between a projection system of the apparatus and a substrate. The use of both liquidphobic and liquidphilic layers on various elements of the apparatus is provided to help prevent formation of bubbles in the liquid and to help reduce residue on the elements after being in contact with the liquid.
US08547502B2	Light source module It is to provide a light source module capable of downsizing an edge-light type backlight in thickness and reducing the usage amount of resin. A method of manufacturing a light source module includes a process of preparing a substrate with a first reflector including a reflecting surface mounted thereon, a process of mounting a plurality of light emitting elements on the substrate, a process of mounting a wiring board having an electrode on the substrate, a process of connecting the electrode of the light emitting element and the electrode of the wiring board with metal wire, a process of mounting a second reflector having a reflecting surface on the wiring board, and a process of filling the space between the first reflector and the second reflector, with resin.
US08547501B2	Backlight assembly and display apparatus having the same A backlight assembly includes a light source generating light and a first optical member diffusing the light. The first optical member includes a first diffusion member provided on an exit surface of the first optical member, from which the light exits, to diffuse the light. The first diffusion member includes a plurality of edges each having a curved shape and extending between the exit surface and a vertex of the first diffusion member. Accordingly, the light exiting through the exit surface is effectively diffused by the edges of the first diffusion member.
US08547499B2	Lighting device, display device and television receiver The present invention provides an art of properly fixing a light source board without using any screw. A backlight unit 12 according to the present invention includes an LED board 18 with an LED 17 as a light source, a chassis 14, an optical member 15, and a supporting member 20. The chassis 14 stores the LED board 18 therein and has an opening 14b through which light from the LED 17 exits. The optical member 15 is arranged so as to face the LED board 18 and to cover the opening 14b. The supporting member 20 supports the optical member 15 from the side of the LED board 18. The supporting member 20 is fixed to the chassis 14 such that the LED board 18 is sandwiched between the supporting member 20 and the chassis 14.
US08547497B2	Liquid crystal display module and liquid crystal display device having the same A liquid crystal display module includes fastening members which fix a printed circuit board to a bottom chassis via support members including receipt parts into which the fastening members are inserted such that head parts of the fastening members are not protruded from an upper surface of the printed circuit board, thereby preventing the fastening members from damaging structures provided around the fastening members.
US08547495B2	Display device and method for manufacturing thereof Disclosed is a display device. The display device comprises a frame receiving at least one of a liquid crystal panel and a backlight unit, an adhesive layer coupling the liquid crystal panel to the backlight unit, and wherein the adhesive layer comprises at least one of an adhesive sheet for light diffusion and a polarizer film.
US08547493B2	Semiconductor device with indium or zinc layer in contact with oxide semiconductor layer and method for manufacturing the semiconductor device An object is to reduce contact resistance between an oxide semiconductor layer and source and drain electrode layers electrically connected to the oxide semiconductor layer in a thin film transistor including the oxide semiconductor layer. The source and drain electrode layers have a stacked structure of two or more layers. In this stack of layers, a layer in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer is a thin indium layer or a thin indium-alloy layer. Note that the oxide semiconductor layer contains indium. A second layer or second and any of subsequent layers in the source and drain electrode layers are formed using an element selected from Al, Cr, Cu, Ta, Ti, Mo, and W, an alloy containing any of these elements as a component, an alloy containing any of these elements in combination, or the like.
US08547492B2	Active matrix substrate, liquid crystal panel, liquid crystal display device, liquid crystal display unit and television receiver Provided is an active matrix substrate including a capacitance electrode (47a) electrically connected to a pixel electrode (17a), in which a storage capacitance wiring (18p) is formed in the layer between the capacitance electrode (47a) and the pixel electrode (17a), the capacitance electrode (47a) and the storage capacitance wiring (18p) overlap through a first insulating film and the storage capacitance wiring (18p) and the pixel electrode (17a) overlap through a second insulating film. With this configuration, in the active matrix substrate, the storage capacitance value can be increased without lowering the aperture ratio.
US08547484B2	Communication system for synthesizing and outputting a plurality of pieces of video data, device for determining quality of video data to be synthesized and output, control method thereof, and program A communication system that transmits a plurality of pieces of video data to be synthesized and output to a plurality of output apparatus after dividing into a plurality of pieces of video having different qualities, in which, in a case where the plurality of pieces of video data are transmitted to the plurality of apparatus to synthesize and output the data, it is so configured that a difference in video quality is made so as not to be remarkable even when each apparatus cannot receive the video data having the same quality, wherein a reception state of the video data in each output apparatus of the plurality of output apparatus is determined and the quality of the video data to be synthesized and output is decided according to the reception state of the video data in each output apparatus, thereby outputting the video data having thus decided quality.
US08547483B2	Image processing method and image processing apparatus An image processing method includes receiving an image data including a first pixel, a second pixel and a third pixel, the second pixel being between the first pixel and the third pixel; calculating a difference between two initial chrominance values of the first pixel and two initial chrominance values of the second pixel to determine a first difference, and calculating a difference between the two initial chrominance values of the second pixel and two initial chrominance values of the third pixel to determine a second difference; comparing the first difference with the second difference to select either the first pixel or the third pixel as a target pixel; and determining two adjusted chrominance values of the second pixel according to at least two initial chrominance values of the target pixel.
US08547482B2	Display system and method for a freeze frame feature for streaming video An embodiment may include a method or system for capturing still images from a video stream. The embodiment may operate in a playback mode and a capture mode. Operating in playback mode may include decoding and playing the input video stream at a first resolution. Operating in capture mode may include showing a still video frame from the input video stream while decoding and playing the input video stream at a second resolution. The embodiment may include a display, a control device, a video decoder, and a signal receiver. The embodiment may also include a buffer for storing decoded images for capture and display during video playback.
US08547481B2	Apparatus and method for black bar detection in digital TVs and set-top boxes This invention is a preprocessor apparatus and method algorithm facilitating black bar detection in video frames or fields. The preprocessing marks a sharp discontinuity between pixels a predetermined distance apart on each line. On first detection of this discontinuity the location and pixel value is stored. The location and pixel value is also stored for the last discontinuity in the line. This data enables software to detect top horizontal bars, bottom horizontal bars, left vertical bars and right vertical bars.
US08547480B1	Coordinating distributed graphics rendering in a multi-window display Multi-window display operations may be optimized in an electronic device. The electronic device comprises a screen that may be operable to provide a multi-window display by enabling configuring of a plurality of display regions, where video content corresponding to one or more of the plurality of applications is displayed in each of the plurality of display regions. Optimizing multi-window display operations may comprise monitoring updates of video content for each of the plurality of display regions of the screen, and generating a frame comprising video content for all of the plurality of display regions when one or both of the following occurs: all pending video content updates are completed and a frame generation deadline is reached.
US08547476B2	Image sensor including real-time automatic exposure control and swallowable pill including the same An imager and a method for real-time, non-destructive monitoring of light incident on imager pixels during their exposure to light. Real-time or present pixel signals, which are indicative of present illumination on the pixels, are compared to a reference signal during the exposure. Adjustments, if necessary, are made to programmable parameters such as gain and/or exposure time to automatically control the imager's exposure to the light. In a preferred exemplary embodiment, only a selected number of pixels are monitored for exposure control as opposed to monitoring the entire pixel array.
US08547471B2	Camera module and method of manufacturing the camera module A camera module includes an image sensor chip including a substrate having first and second opposite surfaces and a ground pad on the first surface, a housing surrounding the sides of the image sensor chip but which leaves the second surface of the image sensor chip exposed, an electromagnetic wave-shielding film united with the housing, and an electrical conductor electrically connected to the ground pad. The camera module also has an optical unit disposed on the first surface of the image sensor chip in the housing to guide light from an object to the image sensor chip. The electrical conductor extends through a side of the housing. The conductor also contacts the electromagnetic wave-shielding film to electrically connect the ground pad and the electromagnetic wave-shielding film.
US08547468B2	Image pickup apparatus that shoots subject viewed through viewfinder, control method therefor, and storage medium An image pickup apparatus that reduces the likelihood that when a user operates a display screen with a fingertip while not looking through a viewfinder, the user's fingertip will be falsely detected, and makes it less likely that erroneous operation resulting from the false detection will occur. When an eye proximity sensor detects an object approaching, the light emission luminance of a display unit is reduced, or display on the display unit is turned off. When the eye proximity sensor has not detected an object approaching, first-type display objects that execute assigned functions in response to touch operations are displayed farther away from the eye proximity sensor on a display surface of the display unit than second-type display objects that do not execute assigned functions even when touched. When a touch on any of the first-type display objects is detected, a function assigned to the first-type display object is executed.
US08547461B2	Analog-to-digital converter having a comparison signal generation unit and image sensor including the same An analog-to-digital converter includes a comparison signal generation unit and a control unit. The comparison signal generation unit determines a logic level of a comparison signal by comparing an input signal with a selected reference signal based on a switch control signal in a first comparison mode, and by comparing a difference voltage with a ramp signal based on the switch control signal in a second comparison mode. The difference voltage is generated based on the input signal and the selected reference signal such that a level of the difference voltage is lower than a fine voltage level corresponding to a voltage level of the selected reference signal in the second comparison mode. The control unit generates the switch control signal based on the comparison signal and a mode selection signal.
US08547459B2	Solid-state imaging device, manufacturing method of solid-state imaging device and electronic apparatus A solid-state imaging device, includes: plural unit pixels including a photoelectric conversion portion converting incident light into an electrical signal, and a waveguide having a quadratic curve surface at an inner surface and introducing the incident light to the photoelectric conversion portion.
US08547458B2	Solid-state image pickup device A solid-state image pickup device includes a pixel array having a plurality of photodiodes that are disposed in a matrix, electric charge transfer gates, and a floating diffusion (FD), and further includes a reset transistor and an amplifier transistor each shared by the four adjacent photodiodes. In the solid-state image pickup device, the photodiodes include first to fourth photodiodes. In a state where the amplifier transistor is activated, electric charge transfer gates connected respectively to the first to fourth photodiodes are sequentially turned ON and electric charges accumulated in the photodiodes are sequentially read out through the FD. Accordingly, a readout blanking period can be minimized to and signal charges can be read out at high speed. Moreover, readout signal lines need only to be provided for every two columns of the photodiodes, so that openings of the photodiodes can be increased in size.
US08547451B2	Apparatus and method for obtaining high dynamic range image Provided is an apparatus and method for obtaining a high dynamic range (HDR) image. The apparatus includes an image sensor generating a first image by applying different exposure times for units of different predetermined regions, an image separating unit separating the first image into images, each of which is composed of regions having an identical exposure time, an image restoring unit restoring the separated images in such a way that each of the separated images has a resolution that is the same as a resolution of the first image, and an image synthesizing unit synthesizing the restored images into a second image.
US08547448B2	Image processing device and image processing method to generate a plan map An image processing device for displaying a planar map which can be easily viewed by a user without increasing the amount of processing. A planar map generating device (103) is provided with: an image acquisition section (301) for acquiring images wherein objects are imaged and the three-dimensional coordinates of the objects can be calculated; a coordinate acquisition section (302) for extracting the upper surface of a first object existing on a reference surface from the images to acquire the coordinates of the feature point of the extracted upper surface; and a first planar map generating section (303) for generating a first planar map by adjusting the size and position of the upper surface so that the values of the coordinates equivalent to the direction perpendicular to the reference surface become the same as those of the reference surface by using the acquired coordinates.
US08547446B2	Fully-differential amplifier, photoelectric conversion apparatus including fully-differential amplifier, and image-pickup system In a known fully-differential amplifier, it has been difficult to set a power voltage VDD to a low level while maintaining the signal amplitude and increase the amplitude of an output signal without increasing the power voltage VDD. The present invention provides a fully-differential amplifier including a voltage-current conversion unit, a first current-voltage conversion unit, and a second current-voltage conversion unit, where a resistance element included in the voltage-current conversion unit, a resistance element included in the first current-voltage conversion unit, and a resistance element included in the second current-voltage conversion unit are connected in parallel with one another.
US08547442B2	Method and apparatus for motion blur and ghosting prevention in imaging system A method and apparatus for motion blur and ghosting prevention in imaging system is presented. A residue image is computed by performing spatial-temporal filter with a set of absolute image difference of image pairs from input images. A noise adaptive pixel threshold is computed for every pixel based on noise statistics of image sensor. The residue image and the noise adaptive pixel threshold are used to create a motion masking map. The motion masking map is used to represent motion and non-motion pixels in pixels merging. The pixels merging step is performed to generate an output image by considering the motion pixels where the motion pixels are performed separately. The resulting output image having no or less motion blur and ghosting artifacts can be obtained, even the input images having different degree of motion blur between each of the image, while the complexity is low. It is preferred that the current invention is applied in the Bayer raw domain. The benefit is reduced computation and memory because only 1 color component is processed for each pixel. Another benefit is higher signal fidelity because processing in the Bayer raw domain is unaffected by demosaicing artifacts, especially along edges. However, the current invention can also be applied in RGB domain.
US08547440B2	Image correction for image capturing with an optical image stabilizer In one exemplary embodiment, a method includes: capturing, by a camera, first image data for at least one first image, where the first image data is captured with an optical image stabilizer of the camera deactivated; capturing, by the camera, second image data for at least one second image, where the second image data is captured with the optical image stabilizer of the camera activated; obtaining an optical image stabilizer correction based on a comparison between the first image data and the second image data; and applying the optical image stabilizer correction to the second image data in order to correct at least one effect of the optical image stabilizer on the second image data.
US08547436B2	Data processing apparatus A method of configuring data processing apparatus for automatically determining the real size of an object in an image of a scene is provided. The method includes responding to user input by displaying in the image of the scene displayed on the display screen a virtual object representative of a real size object to establish a first datum position, and storing data defining the first datum position; varying a size of the virtual object in the image; storing data representative of a horizontal and vertical size of the virtual object relative to the displayed image at the first datum position; displaying said virtual object at a second datum position in said image; varying the size of the virtual object on the display screen at the second datum position; and storing data representative of the vertical and horizontal size of the virtual object at the second datum position.
US08547433B2	Extended life video camera system and method It is disclosed an extended-life video detector assembly (VDA) directable at a viewing region. The VDA includes a video camera module having a normally inactive state, and a passive detection module (PDM) for selective activation of the video camera module. A battery powers the VDA for an extended period of at least two years. The VDA may include a control panel assembly (CPA) positioned within a communication range from the VDA for sending and receiving wireless signals to and from the VDA, and a central monitoring station located remotely from the CPA and communicating with it. Also the VDA includes a recording module, for recording video information. The PDM discriminates movement of an object in the viewing region and consequently activates the video camera module, based on characteristic parameters like temperature, size, movement direction, and movement speed.
US08547432B1	Surveillance system A surveillance system for observing a scene clandestinely includes a concealment device having a wall at least part of which is formed from a glass or plastic that appears substantially opaque to the human eye but is permeable to the passage of infrared light, and a camera positioned within the concealment device at the visually opaque wall to enable viewing or recording of the scene.
US08547431B2	Method and apparatus for generating an event log A method of generating an event log of game events associated with elements in a sporting event. The method includes tracking, within a sequence of video images, image features which correspond to respective elements in the sporting event and selecting, from the tracked image features, a first image feature which corresponds to one of the elements so as to designate that element as a selected element. The method further includes selecting a game event from an event list of possible game events for association with the selected element, and associating the selected game event with the selected element so as to generate the event log.
US08547430B2	System and method for marking discrepancies in image of object In a method for marking discrepancies of a captured image of an object, an image is captured and compared to a standard image. A discrepant image showing any discrepancies of the captured image is generated, and is separated into an R grayscale image, a G grayscale image, and a B grayscale image. An R channel matrix group, a G channel matrix group, and a B channel matrix group are created. R channel negative matrixes, G channel negative matrixes, and B channel negative matrixes are determined from the RGB channel matrix groups. RGB pixel groups are calculated based on the R channel negative matrixes, the G channel negative matrixes, and the B channel negative matrixes. A target pixel group to be marked is determined by calculating an intersection of the RGB pixel groups. The discrepancies of the digital image are marked out according to the target pixel group.
US08547425B2	Fluorescence observation apparatus and fluorescence observation method The diagnosability of diseased parts is improved by precisely correcting fluorescence images without being affected by specular reflection and without being affected by thick blood vessels. Provided is a fluorescence observation apparatus that includes a light source unit that radiates, onto an observation target site, illumination light that is in the wavelength band absorbed by a blood vessel, first excitation light that includes the wavelength band of the illumination light and generates autofluorescence by exciting an autofluorescent substance in the blood vessel, and second excitation light that is in a different wavelength band from the first excitation light and generates agent fluorescence by exciting fluorescent dye that selectively stains normal tissue and abnormal tissue; an image-acquisition unit that obtains respective images by capturing reflected light, autofluorescence, and agent-fluorescence, obtained by radiating the illumination light, and the first and the second excitation light onto the same observation target site; and an image processing unit that extracts a blood-vessel image from the obtained reflected-light image, obtains a reference image by applying interpolation to an area in the autofluorescence image corresponding to the extracted blood-vessel image, and corrects the agent-fluorescence image, obtained by the image-acquisition unit, based on the obtained reference image.
US08547421B2	System for adaptive displays A display includes an integrated imaging sensor and a plurality of pixels. The imaging sensor integrated within the display includes a plurality of individual sensors each of which provides an output. The content of the display is modified based upon the sensed content.
US08547419B2	Method for determining a three-dimensional representation of an object using points, and corresponding computer program and imaging system The method of the invention includes: determining a set of points of a space and a value of each of these points at a given moment, the set of points including the points of the object in the position thereof at the given moment; selecting a three-dimensional representation function that can be parameterized with parameters and an operation that gives, using the three-dimensional representation function, a function for estimating the value of each point in the space; and determining parameters, such that, for each point in the set, the estimation of the value of the point substantially gives the value of the point.
US08547418B2	Method and system for processing and displaying video in three dimensions using a liquid crystal display Herein described are at least a method and a system for generating three dimensional stereoscopic video. The system and method may be used to drive pixels in a liquid crystal display (LCD) to generate such 3-D video. The method comprises processing received video by way of inserting black data into the video wherein the black data is displayed by main pixels and/or sub-pixels of a liquid crystal display (LCD). The method further comprises sequentially transmitting the processed frames to a display for viewing the video in three dimensions. An exemplary system comprises one or more circuits for performing the aforementioned method.
US08547415B2	Method, device, and computer-readable medium for establishing simultaneous incoming integrated services digital network calls A method, device, and computer-readable medium for establishing simultaneous incoming connections from at least two remote video conferencing endpoints using a video conferencing device in a circuit switched network, the video conference device receiving calls on a first protocol layer from the at least two remote video conferencing endpoints.
US08547408B2	Printing method and apparatus A thermal transfer printer comprises a print head drive mechanism that is configured to reciprocally move a print head parallel to movement of a carrier ribbon past the print head. A controller is configured to control the print head drive mechanism to move the print head in a first direction along the carrier ribbon to transfer ink material from the carrier ribbon to a substrate to print a first portion of an image on a first area of the substrate. The controller is also configured to control movement of the print head in a second direction opposite to the first direction as the carrier ribbon and substrate are also moved in the second direction to position the print head relative to the carrier ribbon so that a second portion of the image is printed on a second are of the substrate adjacent to the first area of the substrate.
US08547406B2	Display element and a method for driving a display element Display element with at least one color-generating cell of the first type which has an emissive light source, and with at least one color-generating cell of the second type which has a reflective and/or transmissive and/or transflective light source, whereby each cell of the second type can be driven so that it makes visible one of the chromatic colors red, green, blue, magenta, cyan and yellow and the achromatic colors white and black, to compensate at least partly for the absence of the color impression created by at least one color-generating cell of the first type on account of the ambient light of the display element.
US08547404B2	Liquid crystal display apparatus A liquid crystal display apparatus enables image display with optimum quality corresponding to the genre of an image to be displayed. The liquid crystal display apparatus controls the emission luminance of a backlight according to the APL of an image signal measured at an APL measuring portion 14. Upon emission luminance control, the display apparatus sets the follow performance of a change of the backlight emission luminance in following a change in a characteristic quantity of the image signal according to a genre so that the display image can be viewed without an odd feeling. Specifically, the APL of the image signal measured at the APL measuring portion 14 is put into a filter 15, and the rate of a change in the APL on the time axis is controlled through weighted averaging to control the follow performance of the emission luminance control on the backlight. At this time, the genre of image to be displayed is determined, and a constant used for weighted averaging on the filter 15 is changed according to the determined genre to optimize display quality for each genre.
US08547403B1	Smart Graphics objects A method for receiving, via a computer, a selection of a drawing line is provided. The drawing line has a first end point and a second end point. The drawing line is displayed in a display area of a display device. The computer receives a selection of a change to the first end point and the second end point. The drawing line and a line end tool are then redisplayed in the display area of the display device based on an orientation of the drawing line.
US08547402B2	Displaying computer-aided detection information with associated breast tomosynthesis image information Methods, systems, and related computer program products for processing and displaying computer-aided detection (CAD) information associated with medical breast x-ray images, such as breast x-ray tomosynthesis volumes, are described. An interactive graphical user interface for displaying a tomosynthesis data volume is described that includes a display of a two-dimensional composited image having slabbed sub-images spatially localized to marked CAD findings. Also described is a graphical navigation tool for optimized CAD-assisted viewing of the data volume, comprising a plurality of CAD indicator icons running near and along a slice ruler, each CAD indicator icon spanning a contiguous segment of the slice ruler and corresponding in depthwise position and extent to a subset of image slices spanned by the associated CAD finding, each CAD indicator icon including at least one single-slice highlighting mark indicating a respective image slice containing viewable image information corresponding to the associated CAD finding.
US08547396B2	Systems and methods for generating personalized computer animation using game play data Systems, methods, and computer storage media for generating a computer animation of a game. A custom animation platform receives game play data of the game and determines at least one scene based on the game play data. Then, one or more frames in the scene are set up, where at least one of the frames includes at least one non-game pre-production element of the game. Subsequently, the frames are rendered and the rendered frames are combined to generate a computer animation.
US08547394B2	Arranging and processing color sub-pixels An electro-optic display device includes a display matrix of display pixels. Each display pixel may include two or more first sub-pixels and a second sub-pixel. Each first sub-pixel may have two or more display states and a color filter. The second sub-pixel may have two or more display states and a white filter. The first sub-pixels may be arranged in rows and columns in a repeating pattern, and each first sub-pixel may be horizontally adjacent and vertically adjacent to one or more second sub-pixels. In addition, a display controller may include a data switch, a color correction module, an image filtering module, a color linearization module, an image dithering module, and a saturation adjustment module. The modules may be configured to perform operations at first and second pixel resolutions.
US08547393B1	Colorspace conversion based on ambient light detection Embodiments provide methods, apparatus, and systems for environmental lighting compensation in imaging devices. Environmental characteristics, including ambient light, may be accounted for in order to optimize an output.
US08547392B2	Apparatus and method for achromatic and chromatic color conversion A signal processing apparatus and a signal processing method are disclosed. The signal processing apparatus includes a correction block and a division correction block. The correction block receives grayscale data comprising achromatic color grayscale data or chromatic color grayscale data to create corrected grayscale data. The division correction block receives the corrected grayscale data to create first division grayscale data and second division grayscale data having a grayscale value less than or equal to a grayscale value of the first division grayscale data. The correction block includes a first correction block and a second correction block. The first correction block receives the grayscale data and includes a one-dimensional lookup table to create corrected create achromatic color grayscale data. The second correction block includes a three-dimensional lookup table and an interpolator.
US08547384B2	Checkerboard buffer Methods and apparatus for storing and retrieving data in parallel but in different orders. In one implementation, data for pixels is stored according to a checkerboard pattern, alternately between two memory devices, forming a checkerboard buffer. In one implementation, a checkerboard buffer includes: a data source, providing data in a first order; a data destination, receiving data in a second order; at least two memory devices, each memory device having a plurality of memory locations, where data is stored in parallel to the memory devices and retrieved in parallel from the memory devices; a first data switch connected to the data source and each of the memory devices, where the first data switch controls which data is stored to which memory device; and a second data switch connected to the data destination and each of the memory devices, where the second data switch controls providing data to the data destination according to the second order.
US08547375B2	Methods for transferring points of interest between images with non-parallel viewing directions A method for identifying within a working image of a scene a point of interest designated within a designation image of a scene, the designation image being taken along a first viewing direction and the working image being taken along a second viewing direction, the second viewing direction being significantly non-parallel to the first viewing direction, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining a designation image of the scene; obtaining a working image of the scene; correlating said designation image and said working image with each other, directly or by correlating each of said designation image and said working image with a common reference image, so as to derive an interrelation between said designation image and said working image; and employing said interrelation between said designation image and said working image to derive a location within said working image of a point of interest designated within said designation image, characterized in that the method further comprises: obtaining a secondary designation image taken along a viewing direction displaced from, but similar to, the first viewing direction; and co-processing said designation image and said secondary designation image to derive range information relating to a plurality of pixels in said designation image, thereby defining a partial relative three-dimensional model of a portion of the scene relative to the viewing direction of said designation image, wherein said partial relative three-dimensional model is used in said step of correlating.
US08547374B1	Detection and reconstruction of 3D objects with passive imaging sensors A 3D reconstruction technique using integral imaging, which does not require computing point correspondences. The technique has been demonstrated that it can effectively estimate the surface of an object, and reconstruct the surfaces of partially occluded objects. Reconstruction can be performed from either an array of imaging sensors, or a single moving imaging sensor with known positions. The technique relies on the concept that each view is allowed to vote on the contents of the scene via ray tracing. Various sharpness metrics are utilized for estimating the locations of visible surfaces in the views, and reconstruction is posed as an optimization problem.
US08547372B2	Pixel circuit and organic light emitting diode display device using the same A pixel circuit and an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device using the same are provided. The pixel circuit compensates for a threshold voltage of a driver transistor and for a voltage drop, and separately drives an initialization time to improve a contrast ratio. The pixel circuit further suppresses a leakage current caused by a data voltage using a fixed power source so that current variation caused by the leakage current can be reduced or minimized to improve crosstalk, and the duty of an emission control signal can be adjusted to remove motion blur. The pixel circuit also compensates for a leakage current generated in a turn-off state of a transistor with an increase in a drain-source voltage.
US08547371B2	Display apparatus, driving method of display apparatus and electronic equipment Prior to increasing the voltage level of an input signal to be sampled in a step-by-step manner and writing a signal voltage Vsig at a desired voltage level, a precharge is performed which writes a precharge voltage Vpre, lower than the signal voltage Vsig, so as to apply the same voltage Vpre to the gate of a drive transistor in advance. This not only provides a reduced gate-to-source voltage of the drive transistor at the time of writing of the signal voltage Vsig but also extends a mobility correction time required for a mobility correction operation. The extension of the mobility correction time required for the mobility correction operation ensures a relatively smaller variation in the correction time, thus suppressing the variation in brightness. The extension also permits a write pulse to be set to the optimal pulse width.
US08547370B2	LCD voltage generating circuits In a voltage generating circuit and a display apparatus, a driving voltage generator receives an input voltage to output a first driving voltage and a second driving voltage that is inversely proportional to a temperature in response to a feedback voltage. A temperature compensator generates the feedback voltage as a function of the temperature and the second driving voltage and applies it to the driving voltage generator. A gate-on voltage generator pumps the second driving voltage to generate a gate-on voltage, and a gamma voltage generator outputs a plurality of gamma voltages, each having a different voltage level that is disposed between the first driving voltage and a ground voltage. The gate-on voltage, which is inversely proportional to the temperature, is applied to the gate driver, and the gamma voltages, which are maintained at constant levels, prevent the response speed of the display apparatus from varying with temperature.
US08547368B2	Display driving circuit having a memory circuit, display device, and display driving method A display driving circuit of the present invention includes: a source driver (20) which outputs a source signal; a gate driver (30) which outputs a gate signal for turning on a switching element on a row; and a CS driver (40) which outputs a CS signal (CSOUT) whose electric potential is switched in a predetermined direction (low to high or high to low) in accordance with a polarity of the source signal. A CS driver (CSn) on an n-th row outputs a CS signal (CSOUT) to the n-th row in accordance with a gate signal (GLn) for the n-th row outputted from a gate driver (Gn) provided on the n-th row. This makes it possible to provide a display driving circuit which enables CC driving with a simple configuration.
US08547362B2	Stylus A stylus includes a stylus barrel, a electrically conductive stylus head connecting to the stylus barrel, a rod assembly and a shaft. The rod assembly includes a swing block and an elastic member connecting the end of the swing block. The rod assembly is assembled in stylus barrel, the shaft is secured on the stylus barrel and passes through the swing block, making the swing block enable to tilt about the shaft, an end of the stylus head rotatably connects the other end of the swing block relative to the elastic member, the other end of the stylus head exposed to the stylus barrel, the elastic member provides an elastic force to cause the stylus head return to the original position after the stylus is moved into a tilted position.
US08547344B2	Display device with touch screen A display device with touch sensor input has a touch sensor structure on top of the display layer. The touch sensor structure includes a first and second array of electrodes, the electrodes in the first array being non-parallel to the electrodes in the second array. The first and second arrays of electrodes occupy different fractions of a touch sensor area. These asymmetric fill factors give improved sensitivity.
US08547341B2	Touch-sensitive sheet member, input device and electronic apparatus A touch-sensitive sheet member contains a body having predetermined hardness and a sheet shape and a sense-of-touch-representing unit that represents a sense of touch. The sense-of-touch-representing unit has a predetermined size and is arranged at positions of the body or at a predetermined position of the body. The touch-sensitive sheet member also contains a medium-supplying unit that supplies medium to the sense-of-touch-representing unit.
US08547339B2	System and methods for raised touch screens A touch sensitive display assembly includes a touch screen and a button array. The touch screen is configured to display one or more input keys. The button array includes one or more buttons corresponding to the one or more input keys. The button array is formed by a substrate attached to a button membrane thereby creating a set of button cavities corresponding to the input keys. The button cavities are configured to be inflated and deflated by a pump coupled to a fluid reservoir. The cavities can be inflated/deflated together, in subsets, and/or individually. In some embodiments, the button array is sandwiched between a touch sensing layer and a display of the touch screen. In other embodiments, the button array can be located either above or below the touch screen.
US08547337B2	Device for inputting english characters for a mobile communication terminal, and method for same According to the present invention, an alphabet input device of a mobile communication comprises a keypad input including a plurality of keys for inputting alphabets; a display for displaying alphabets inputted by said keypad input; an alphabet combiner for reading the alphabet corresponding to the input of the keypad input from pre-stored database and providing the display with said alphabet from said database; and, a controller coupled to said keypad input, said display and said alphabet combiner so as to control thereof, wherein said keypad input has a 3×4 matrix which includes numeric keys distinguished by the numbers ‘0’ to ‘9’ and function keys distinguished by the characters ‘’ and ‘#’, and said numeric keys for ‘1 ’ to ‘9’ are assigned with a plurality of alphabet buttons for inputting alphabets, wherein said numeric key for ‘0’ is assigned with a space button for inputting a blank, wherein one of said function keys for ‘’ and ‘#’ is assigned with a last button for successive inputting of the alphabet and a special character button for inputting a special character, wherein the other of said function keys that does not assigned with said last button and said special character button is assigned with a shift button, which performs a function of character input mode-setting and word-shifting for setting a character input mode so as to allow inputting of the capital/small letter of alphabet and for shifting a word inputted beforehand between the capital letter and the small letter, and a function of character-shifting for shifting characters inputted beforehand one at a time.
US08547336B1	Circuit and method for determining motion with redundant comb-arrays An optical navigation system and method are provided. In one embodiment, the method includes: (i) generating for a first group of photosensitive elements a first quasi-sinusoidal signal at a first time, and a second quasi-sinusoidal signal at a second time in response to motion of light received thereon in a first direction; (ii) computing from the first and second quasi-sinusoidal signals a phase angle change; and (iii) computing from the first and second quasi-sinusoidal signals a radius value. Other embodiments are also described.
US08547333B2	Optical navigation device with haptic feedback An optical joystick is connected to a vibratory transducer such as a piezoelectric transducer, where the vibratory transducer produces vibration which may be perceived upon a surface of the optical joystick. The vibration is perceived primarily at the surface of the optical joystick, and not upon a case of the computing device, and is distinguishable from other vibrations which may be induced in the computing device. Vibrations are created to indicate scrolled items in a list, selected items, or navigation within certain displayed zones.
US08547329B2	Handheld electronic device and method for performing spell checking during text entry and for integrating the output from such spell checking into the output from disambiguation A handheld electronic device includes a reduced QWERTY keyboard and is enabled with a disambiguation routine that is operable to disambiguate text input. In addition to identifying and outputting representations of language objects that are stored in the memory and that correspond with a text input, the device is able to perform a spell check routine during input of a text entry, with the output from the spell check routine being visually integrated into the output from the disambiguation routine.
US08547327B2	Proximity object tracker Object tracking technology, in which controlling an illumination source is controlled to illuminate while a camera is capturing an image to define an intersection region within the image captured by the camera. The image captured by the camera is analyzed to detect an object within the intersection region. User input is determined based on the object detected within the intersection region and an application is controlled based on the determined user input.
US08547326B2	Handheld electronic device having gesture-based control and a method of using same The present disclosure describes a handheld electronic device having a gesture-based control and a method of using the same. In one embodiment, there is provided a method of controlling a handheld electronic device, comprising: receiving a motion signal as input from a motion detection subsystem in response to a movement of the device; determining from the motion signal a cadence parameter associated with the movement of the electronic device; determining whether the cadence parameter is greater than or equal to a cadence reference level; performing a first command when the cadence parameter is greater than or equal to the cadence reference level; and performing a second command is performed when the cadence parameter is less than the cadence reference level.
US08547325B2	Driving method and system for electrofluidic chromatophore pixel display An electronic display is disclosed comprising a plurality of electrofluidic chromatophore (EFC) pixel cells. The display comprises a controller executing the steps of: storing the present cell display properties of the pixel cells displaying the present image content, comparing the present cell display properties with next cell display properties of the pixel cells, determining still-image pixels displaying still-image content wherein the present cell display properties of the pixels are substantially identical to the next cell display properties of the pixels, and providing a still-image drive scheme. The still-image drive scheme involves addressing a voltage to another one pixel cell terminal of the still-image pixels, the still image voltage being derived from the stable supply voltage that stabilizes the cell display properties of the still-image pixels so as to display still-image content in an energy efficient manner.
US08547323B2	Control of light-emitting-diode backlight illumination through frame insertion System(s) and methode s) are provided to regulate backlighting in a light emitting diode (LED)-based display through a sequence of alternate pulse-width-modulation (PWM) frame or sub-frame insertions. Alternate PWM frames or sub-frames can be black or non-black. A plurality of pixels in the display is partitioned into at least one zone including one or more rows of pixels; the at least one zone determines sub-frame period based on refresh frequency of the display. A sequence of alternate PWM sub-frames includes at least one alternate sub-frame and at least one normal sub-frame. Alternate PWM frames or alternate PWM sub-frames include a phase delay during which a backlight unit is turned off, and a PWM sequence in which the backlight unit is turned on with a finite duty cycle for the remainder of the PWM frame or sub-frame.
US08547320B2	Liquid crystal display controller and liquid crystal display device In conventional liquid crystal display controllers, the display is reduced in the stand-by state but the liquid crystal display duty is not changed, i.e., even the common electrodes of the rows that are not producing display are scanned, and the consumption of electric power is not decreased to a sufficient degree in the stand-by state. A liquid crystal display controller includes a drive duty selection register capable of being rewritten by a microprocessor, and a drive bias selection register. When the display is changed from the whole display on a liquid crystal display panel to a partial display on part of the rows only, the preset values of the drive duty selection register and of the drive bias selection register are changed, so that the display is selectively produced on a portion of the liquid crystal display panel at a low voltage with a low-duty drive.
US08547318B2	Driving method for display device A liquid crystal display includes pixels each having an switching element, drain drivers and gate drivers for operating the switching elements and the pixels, and drain lines and gate lines supplying signals from the drain drivers and the gate drivers to the switching elements being formed on one of a pair of substrates sandwiching a liquid crystal layer. Wiring lines are formed on the one of a pair of substrates for transferring display data signals and a clock signal to the gate drivers.
US08547313B2	Driving apparatus for photo-addressing type display element, driving method and photo-addressing type display apparatus A driving apparatus includes a voltage applying unit, a light irradiation unit and a resistance control unit. The voltage applying unit forms a voltage applying circuit together with a pair of electrode layers of a photo-addressing type display element. The voltage applying unit applies a voltage between the pair of electrode layers. The light irradiation unit irradiates the photo-addressing type display element with addressing light. The resistance control unit controls a resistance to a current which flows in a direction to reduce a potential difference between the pair of electrode layers to be larger than that during a period in which the voltage applying unit is applying the voltage.
US08547309B2	Organic light emitting diode display and driving method An OLED display including a display panel having a plurality of R, G, and B pixels formed and at least one of a high-potential and low-potential driving voltage supply line disposed; a data driving circuit; a gamma reference voltage generating circuit for generating gamma reference voltages for R, G, and B by dividing voltages of high-potential gamma power sources; a current estimating circuit for generating digital estimated current values for R, G, and B; a current sensing circuit for generating digital sensing current values for R, G, and B; and a gamma power source control circuit for controlling the high-potential gamma power sources by comparing the digital estimated current values for R, G, and B with the digital sensing current values for R, G, and B so that driving currents corresponding to the respective digital estimated current values flow in the respective R, G, and B pixels.
US08547307B2	Display device and method for controlling the same A display device includes an organic EL element and a capacitor. A driving transistor is connected to an anode of the organic EL element and passes a current to the organic EL element. The current corresponds to a voltage held in the capacitor. A first switch is between the capacitor and a data line, and the data line supplies the voltage to the capacitor. A voltage detector is connected to the data line for detecting an anode voltage applied to the organic EL element. A second switch is between the anode and the data line. A controller turns on the first switch, causes the organic EL element to emit light, and causes the voltage detector to detect the anode voltage by turning off the first switch and turning on the second switch while the organic EL element is emitting light.
US08547306B2	Display device and driving method thereof The present invention enhances a display quality of a display device as a task. As means for solving such a task, the present invention provides a display device including a light emitting element and a switching element in a pixel, wherein the switching element is provided for supplying a power source to the light emitting element and is constituted of a first switching element and a second switching element. The first switching element and the second switching element are configured to be operated, in response to inputting of data signals into the inside of the pixel, one switching element assumes a positive bias state and another switching element assumes a reverse bias state, and the bias states are alternately changed over between the first switching element and the second switching element in response to time-sequential inputting of the data signals, and the supply of the power source to the light emitting element is performed by way of either one of the first switching element and the second switching element.
US08547305B2	Organic electroluminescent display device and method of driving the same An organic electroluminescent display device includes an organic electroluminescent diode receiving a driving voltage and a first ground voltage; first and second driving thin film transistors for providing a driving current to the organic electroluminescent diode, each of the first and second driving thin film transistors receiving one of the driving voltage and the first ground voltage; a first switching thin film transistor receiving a data voltage and switched by an nth scan signal to output the data voltage; a second switching thin film transistor switched by a current providing signal to provide the one of the driving voltage and the first ground voltage to the second driving thin film transistor; a third switching thin film transistor receiving a second ground voltage and switched by a selection signal to output the second ground voltage to an output terminal of the first switching thin film transistor; a fourth switching thin film transistor disposed among an output terminal of the second switching thin film transistor, a gate terminal of the first driving thin film transistor and a gate terminal of the second driving thin film transistor and switched by the selection signal; and a first capacitor disposed among the output terminal of the first switching thin film transistor, the gate terminal of the first driving thin film transistor and the gate terminal of the second driving thin film transistor, wherein “n” is a positive integer.
US08547297B1	Enhanced color resolution display screen using pixel shifting In an exemplary embodiment, the color resolution of a first image display screen is increased by assembling the first display screen with a second image display screen in an overlaid manner. Transmissive color filter elements are provided associated with addressable sub-pixels of the display screens. A first set of sub-pixels of the first screen and a second set of sub-pixels of the second screen are cooperatively addressed to display an image pixel of the display assembly, where the first set of sub-pixels addressed is spatially offset from the second set of sub-pixels addressed along the planar surfaces of the display screens. The exemplary display assembly formed by the display screens thereby enables the use of more than three colors to define a broadened color space relative to that defined by the display screens separately.
US08547295B2	Motion simulator and display system typically using light-emitting diodes A light-emissive module (114), typically utilizing one or more LEDs (132R, 132G, and 132B), is configured so that the maximum intensity of the module's light emission occurs along a direction (138) materially non-perpendicular to the back surface (136) of the module's supporting body (130). An active image-generating screen (102) contains a plurality of block facets (112), each containing a plurality of the light-emissive modules arranged so that their maximum light-intensity directions are largely the same. The block facets are configured to approximate a curved surface. The maximum light-intensity directions (158) of the block facets are thus materially slanted to one another. The image-generating screen presents a video image. A display system suitable for a motion simulator, such as a flight simulator, is formed by combining the screen with a reflective collimator (104).
US08547292B2	Communication device with embedded antenna A communication device with an embedded antenna includes a printed circuit board and an embedded antenna including at least one radiating unit, at least one feeding unit, where each feeding unit is coupled to a corresponding one of the at least one radiating unit and the printed circuit board, and a connecting unit coupled to the at least one radiating unit including a first connecting portion and a second connecting portion. The connecting unit and the at least one radiating unit form a loop structure such that the embedded antenna is capable of covering one side of the printed circuit board.
US08547289B2	Multimode antenna structure A multimode antenna structure transmits and receives electromagnetic signals in a communications device.
US08547286B2	Metamaterial antennas for wideband operations Metamaterial antennas provide spatially varying electromagnetic coupling that enables impedance matching conditions for different operating frequencies of the MTM antennas so that such antennas can operate at different frequencies for wideband applications, including ultra wideband applications.
US08547285B2	Unit comprised of a glidepath aerial and a support member A unit includes a glidepath aerial and a support organ designed to be mounted on the front landing gear of an aircraft, with the landing gear forming an electrically conductive ground plane. The aerial is mounted on the support organ and is electrically insulated from this support organ by insulating elements. The support organ has a longitudinal dimension at least equal to around one quarter of the wavelength λ at which the aerial functions, so that the distance separating this aerial and the ground plane is greater than λ/4, and the aerial also has a transmission line designed to connect the aerial to a receiver in the aircraft. The transmission line is surrounded by an electromagnetic shielding element serving as a faradization screen for the transmission line, and designed to be electrically connected to the ground plane.
US08547279B2	Incoming wave classifying and distinguishing device, incoming wave classifying and distinguishing method, originating position estimating device and originating position estimating method Provided are a device and a method that can classify an incoming wave and can correctly distinguish the position of an originating device, even in a multipath environment. A principal vertically polarized wave arrival direction sensing unit (104-1) and a principal horizontally polarized wave arrival direction sensing unit (104-2) respectively sense the arrival direction of a principal wave by sensing the arrival direction in which the maximum reception level is obtained. An incoming wave classifying decision unit (108) determines that a direct wave has arrived when the difference between the principal wave arrival direction sensed by the principal vertically polarized wave arrival direction sensing unit (104-1) and the principal wave arrival direction sensed by the principal horizontally polarized wave arrival direction sensing unit (104-2) is within a prescribed threshold value, and determines that a direct wave has not arrived when the difference is greater than the threshold value.
US08547278B2	Sensing device having multi beam antenna array A sensing device may include an antenna. The antenna may include a top wafer and a bottom wafer coupled to the top wafer. The antenna may further include an air cavity between the top wafer and the bottom wafer. The sensing device may further include a substrate and an interposer disposed between the antenna and the substrate.
US08547270B1	Systems for sub digital-to-analog converter gain trim in successive-approximation-register analog-to-digital converters A system for a successive-approximation-register analog-to-digital converter (SAR ADC) includes a gain trim module and an SAR control module. The gain trim module is configured to selectively trim a gain of a sub capacitive digital-to-analog converter (DAC) of the SAR ADC. The SAR control module controls the gain trim module based on an accumulated error associated with a main capacitive DAC of the SAR ADC.
US08547267B2	Idle tone suppression circuit A hysteretic digital filter includes a first multi-bit flip-flop having an input for receiving a series of multi-bit sigma-delta ADC codes, a clock input for receiving a clock signal and an output; a second multi-bit flip-flop having an input coupled to the output of the first multi-bit flip-flop, an output for providing an output code of the digital filter, and an input for receiving a latch control signal, the second multi-bit flip-flop latching its input to its output under control of the latch control signal; and a control circuit. The control circuit is configured to selectively provide the latch control signal to trigger latching by the second multi-bit flip-flop dependent on a running comparison of the output code of the digital filter and the value of individual ones of the multi-bit sigma-delta ADC codes from the series of multi-bit sigma-delta ADC codes.
US08547265B2	Power supply apparatus for test apparatus A power supply apparatus is provided for a test apparatus configured to supply a power supply signal to a DUT. An A/D converter performs analog/digital conversion of an analog observed value that corresponds to a power supply signal so as to generate a digital observed value. A digital signal processing circuit generates, by means of digital processing, a control value adjusted such that the digital observed value received from the A/D converter matches a predetermined reference value. A D/A converter performs digital/analog conversion of the control value, and supplies the resulting value to the DUT as the power supply signal. A digital signal processing circuit is configured to be capable of changing the content of its signal processing.
US08547263B2	Lighting apparatus having analog-to-analog signal converter The invention provides a system of generation of multi-channel analog output signals, from a single analog input signal, and the controlled activation of peripheral devices responsive to the multi-channel analog output signals. A single-channel to multi-channel analog-to-analog converter is provided to convert the single analog input signal to multiple output channels. Uni-directional coupling is used for coupling and mixing the multi-channel outputs and transferring the mixed outputs to a data bus. Signals on the data bus are used to drive the multiple peripheral devices.
US08547262B2	Lighting apparatus having plural analog outputs The invention provides a system of generation of multi-channel analog output signals, from a single analog input signal, and the controlled activation of peripheral devices responsive to the multi-channel analog output signals. A single-channel to multi-channel analog-to-analog converter is provided to convert the single analog input signal to multiple output channels. Uni-directional coupling is used for coupling and mixing the multi-channel outputs and transferring the mixed outputs to a data bus. Signals on the data bus are used to drive the multiple peripheral devices.
US08547259B1	Buffer offset modulation One or more techniques for buffer offset modulation or buffer offset cancelling are provided herein. In an embodiment, an output for a sigma-delta analog digital converter (ADC) is provided using an output of a first chop-able buffer (FB) and an output of a second chop-able buffer (SB). For example, the output of the FB is associated with a first offset, the output of the SB is associated with a second offset, and the output of the ADC includes an ADC offset associated with the first offset and the second offset. In an embodiment, buffer offset modulation is provided by modulating the ADC offset using an offset rotation. In an example, the offset rotation is based at least in part on a reference clock and the output of the ADC. The buffer offset modulation mitigates the first offset or the second offset, where such offsets are generally undesired.
US08547253B2	Method of determining vehicle location from key fob A method of indicating a proximity value representative of the distance between a key fob (202) and a vehicle (102) includes transmitting (304, 406, 504) at least one locate signal from the key fob (202) to the vehicle (102), transmitting (364, 468, 562) at least one response signal from the vehicle (102) to the key fob (202) in response to the at least one locate signal, performing (362, 462, 510) RSSI measurements of either the at least one locate signal or the at least one response signal, and displaying (318, 412, 514) the proximity value on the key fob (202) based on the RSSI measurements.
US08547252B2	Adapting selective terrain warnings as a function of the instantaneous maneuverability of a rotorcraft A method of generating a terrain avoidance warning for a rotary wing aircraft including generating an avoidance trajectory including a proximal segment representative of a transfer time and an avoidance curve including at least one distal segment of a conic section curve following on from the proximal segment, wherein the proximal segment extends in continuation from a predicted trajectory over a distance representing an applicable reaction time, the applicable reaction time being minimized as a function of a route sheet for the aircraft, and wherein the generating includes calculating the at least one distal segment as a function of an instantaneous maneuverability of the aircraft.
US08547249B2	Method for avoiding collision The present invention relates to a method for avoiding a collision between a vehicle and another traffic participant. According to the inventive method, a cell phone carried by the traffic participant sends a signal including a position of the traffic participant. A processing unit processes the signal including the position of the traffic participant for a position or evaluation history. The processing unit determines an estimation of a future position of the traffic participant on the basis of the position or evaluation history. The processing unit evaluates a likelihood of a collision between the vehicle and the traffic participant on the basis of the estimated future position of the traffic participant and an estimation of a future position of the vehicle. An acceleration of the traffic participant is sensed by an acceleration sensor of the cell phone. This acceleration sensor is multifunctionally used by using the sensor also for a manipulation of the operating state of the cell phone by moving the cell phone. An action for avoiding a collision is automatically initiated in case that a distance of the future position of the traffic participant and the vehicle is smaller than a safety distance. According to the invention, the safety distance depends on the acceleration which is sensed by the acceleration sensor of the cell phone.
US08547246B2	Telemetry system for slickline enabling real time logging A system for communicating with a slickline tool is disclosed. The system includes a closed-loop electrical circuit including a surface module, a forward path, a tool, and a return path. The forward path includes a slickline cable.
US08547243B2	Electronic toll collection transponder orientation device and method An electronic toll collection transponder containing an orientation sensor for measuring the orientation of the transponder is described. The transponder measures its orientation and stores orientation data in memory. The transponder may report the stored orientation data as part of a response signal sent to the ETC system in reply to a trigger or polling signal. The transponder may assess whether it is correctly oriented based on a comparison of the orientation data to ranges or thresholds and may output an indicator of incorrect orientation or may disable communications with the ETC system during incorrect orientation.
US08547241B2	Human waste bag overflow alarm An alarm unit for signaling impending overflow of a urine or ostomy (waste) bag includes an external magnet held at the end of an arm. An internal ferrous armature attracts the magnet which provides flux holding a switch element open when the magnet provides at least a predetermined flux to the switch. A clamp allows the user to fasten the unit to an edge of the waste bag with the bag walls between the magnet and the armature. When the bag contents reach the magnet, fluid force of the bag contents separates the magnet and the armature, causing the switch element to close and conduct power from a power supply to a signal element. The arm may be flexible. The switch element preferably comprises a reed switch controlling an electronic power switch.
US08547235B2	Security device and security system determining if the user can hear an audible alarm This security device includes a control portion determining whether or not a user can hear an alarm sound for informing the user of an abnormality when the abnormality occurs and informing the user of the abnormality by generating the alarm sound, or illuminating or blinking a light in a house of the user, depending on determination whether or not the user can hear the alarm sound.
US08547234B2	Alarm system for a loading dock A safety system for a truck loading dock with an elevated platform provides an alarm that warns of a hazard at the loading dock such as a forklift operating inside the truck or a falling hazard that may exist due to the dock door being open while a truck is not present at the dock. In cases where a dock's open doorway is protected by a barrier that can be opened or closed, the alarm can be de-activated by closing the barrier. In some embodiments, the safety system includes a remote body sensor that detects when someone or something is near the doorway. In response to the body sensor, a second, more pronounced alarm can warn of more imminent danger where someone on the platform may be too close to an open doorway when a truck is not present.
US08547232B2	Method and apparatus for transferring data via radio frequency (RF) memory tags An approach is presented for transferring data via radio frequency (RF) memory tags. The UE manager receives a request, at a device, to grant access for interaction between a first RF memory tag and a second RF memory tag, the first RF memory tag associated with one or more trusted storage. Further, the UE manager determines an accessibility state of the first RF memory tag, the one or more trusted storage, or a combination thereof. Then, the UE manager causes, at least in part, granting of the access based, at least in part, on the accessibility state. The access is via a connection between the first RF memory tag and the second RF memory tag.
US08547229B2	Multi-attach disposable tag A multi-attach disposable security tag that is attached to an article in two stages. In a first stage, an attachment clip is coupled to an article, such as but not limited to clothing, to be protected by a manufacturer or assembler. This attachment clip is durable to withstand harsh manufacturing environments. Once the article with the attachment clip is ready for presentation, for example, at a retail establishment, during a second stage, the attachment clip is then permanently secured in a locking mechanism of a housing containing a deactivatable security element therein. The security element may comprise EAS (including AM, RF, EM and microwave), RFID (including LF, HF and UHF) elements or any combination thereof. A preferred embodiment of the security tag uses all non-ferrous components including its locking mechanism. Thus, the security tags combine the qualities of being non-ferrous, light-weight, low cost, deactivatable, secure, visually-deterring, and installable in two stages to the article it is meant to protect.
US08547228B2	Multi-attach reusable tag A multi-attach reusable security tag (MARST) that is attached to an article in two stages. In a first stage, an attachment clip is coupled to an article, such as but not limited to clothing, to be protected by a manufacturer or assembler. This attachment clip is durable to withstand harsh manufacturing environments. Once the article with the attachment clip is ready for presentation, for example, at a retail establishment, during a second stage, the attachment clip is then secured in a releasable locking mechanism of a housing containing a security element therein. The security element may comprise EAS (including AM, RF, EM and microwave), RFID (including LF, HF and UHF) elements or any combination thereof. Alternatively, a fluke element can be used to secure the attachment clip to the releasable locking mechanism and wherein this fluke element permits the attachment clip to swivel outside of the housing. A preferred embodiment of the security tag uses all non-ferrous components including its locking mechanism. Thus, the security tags combine the qualities of being non-ferrous, light-weight, low cost, deactivatable, secure, visually-deterring, and installable in two stages to the article it is meant to protect.
US08547226B2	Remote monitoring system A temperature monitoring service in which remote monitoring units are distributed to customers who then set up monitoring as desired at their facilities. The devices may be registered through a web site using the Internet. Monitoring information may be communicated using a publicly available, wireless network, such as a cellular telephone network. The service may be provided with a system, including a server, which can deliver high levels of monitoring functionality. The server may support streaming monitoring information to a customer for analysis or sending a command activating a device connected to a remote unit. Remote units associated with the same location may be in a pool, comprising one active unit and one or more spare units, in which the server automatically identifies the active unit. The server may support analyzing monitoring information according to an expected cycle pattern of a ventilation system at the monitored facility.
US08547223B2	System and method for location detection and management of uncertain information thereof The system provides approximations of a person's location to interested parties wherein the approximations are based upon a detection device's location and inherent inaccuracies related to that detection device. The system can evaluate location information from multiple detectors and approximate the location using and combining that information. The system can provide a confidence level for that determination. The system can also degrade confidence levels assigned to the location as a function of time. Each location can include a hierarchy of subtypes with each subtype including a precision level, the precision level associated with an accuracy level of a detector involved for placing a person within that particular location. When a detector receives location information, the system described herein can traverse through the locations and their associated precision levels to approximate the correct type of location within the hierarchy using the accuracy level of the detector.
US08547220B1	Ultrasonic compliance zone system A system is provided for establishing a compliance zone and monitoring interactions therewith. The system includes a compliance zone designator and a wearable device. The compliance zone designator transmits an ultrasound signal to establish the compliance zone. The ultrasound signal may be encoded with information on the compliance zone. The compliance zone designator is configured for placement at a location in which the compliance zone is desired. The wearable device is separate from the compliance zone designator. The wearable device includes a compliance zone recognition component configured to recognize the compliance zone and identify one or more pre-defined interaction criteria for the compliance zone. When the wearable device is within the compliance zone, the compliance zone recognition component recognizes the compliance zone and identifies the interaction criteria of the compliance zone. Based on the interaction criteria the wearable device determines and records compliance with the interaction criteria. The recorded data is optionally used to set off real-time alerts. The recorded data is also optionally used in subsequent analysis and documentation of compliance with protocols.
US08547218B2	Vehicle approach notification control apparatus for electric motorcycle To provide a vehicle approach notification control apparatus for an electric motorcycle, which can output notification sound for notifying a walker or the like of approach of an electric motorcycle with an appropriate sound volume. The vehicle approach notification control apparatus for an electric motorcycle includes a speaker for generating notification sound equivalent to engine sound of an engine driven motorcycle of a vehicle category that is the same as a vehicle category of the electric motorcycle in response to a motor speed of an electric motor or a vehicle speed. The vehicle approach notification control apparatus includes a pseudo engine sound volume storage device configured to store sound volume data of engine sound with respect to the entire running sound upon running of the engine driven vehicle, and a control unit for controlling the notification sound.
US08547216B2	Tire temperature measurement system A system and method for a tire temperature measurement system is disclosed. An instantaneous temperature value of a tire may be requested through an input device. At the time of a temperature measurement request a control unit may retrieve tire temperature from a sensor and determine an instantaneous temperature value of a tire. The instantaneous temperature value of a tire may be displayed, stored and transmitted to a remote device.
US08547215B2	Information presentation apparatus and system An information presentation apparatus for a vehicle is disclosed. The apparatus includes: a stimulator device located on a steering wheel of the vehicle and configured to generate stimulation at multiple sites on the steering wheel to provide skin sensation to a driver gripping the steering wheel; a direction information acquisition device configured to acquire direction information; and a controller configured to cause, in accordance with the acquired direction information, the stimulator device to successively generate the stimulation through the plurality of sites on the steering wheel to invoke an apparent movement that appears to the driver as if the skin sensation moves in a way indicative of a direction according to the direction information.
US08547214B2	System for preventing handheld device use while operating a vehicle Techniques for preventing a driver of a moving vehicle from using a handheld device while driving. An example system of the invention includes a plurality of biometric sensors configured to receive biometric data from the driver and a user of the handheld device. Contemporaneously with operation of the vehicle and the handheld device, the biometric data is analyzed in order to determine a match between the identity of the vehicle driver and the user of the handheld device. A controller is configured to selectively interrupt operation of the vehicle or handheld device upon detecting the match.
US08547209B2	Alarm suspend system An alarm suspend system utilizes an alarm trigger responsive to physiological parameters and corresponding limits on those parameters. The parameters are associated with both fast and slow treatment times corresponding to length of time it takes for a person to respond to medical treatment for out-of-limit parameter measurements. Audible and visual alarms respond to the alarm trigger. An alarm silence button is pressed to silence the audible alarm for a predetermined suspend time. The audible alarm is activated after the suspend time has lapsed. Longer suspend times are associated with slow treatment parameters and shorter suspend times are associated with fast treatment parameters.
US08547203B2	Dynamic control containment unit The present invention is a dynamic control containment unit for holding a plurality of discrete items, including a signal emitting mechanism associated with each of the plurality of discrete items, an enclosed housing having at least one receptacle accessible by a user and having at least one of the plurality of items contained therein, a passive signal receiving mechanism in communication with the receptacle for receiving signals emanating from the signal emitting mechanism and a securement system configured to prevent unauthorized access to the dynamic control containment unit. A controller is in communication with the signal receiving mechanism and initiates actions based upon the signal content.
US08547198B2	Semiconductor ceramic composition for NTC thermistors and NTC thermistor Disclosed is a semiconductor ceramic composition for NTC thermistors, which has low dependency on firing temperatures, reduced variations in the resistance values after a resistance-adjusting operation, and reduced changes in resistance in high-temperature environments. The semiconductor ceramic composition contains Mn, Ni and Fe, wherein the molar ratios of Mn and Ni are in ranges of 70 to 80 mol % and 20 to 30 mol %, respectively, relative to the total content (100 mol %) of Mn and Ni, and the Fe content is in a range of 15 parts by mole to 25 parts by mole, both inclusive, relative to the total molar amount (100 parts by mole) of Mn and Ni. Preferably, Co is additionally present in an amount of 2 parts by mole to 40 parts by mole, both inclusive, relative to the total molar amount (100 parts by mole) of Mn and Ni.
US08547193B2	Stationary induction apparatus In a stationary induction apparatus, an inter-partial-coil insulating plate and a plurality of inter-partial-coil spacer insulators form a refrigerant flow path in conjunction with each other. A space having an inter-partial-coil insulation dimension for withstanding an abnormal voltage is formed between a pair of partial coils. The inter-partial-coil insulating plate and the inter-partial-coil spacer insulators support both the pair of partial coils at an insulated state so as to maintain the inter-partial-coil insulation dimension. The insulators are arranged so as to be overlapped with each other in the direction in which mutually adjacent partial coils are opposed to each other.
US08547192B2	Electromagnetic actuator In an electromagnetic actuator, an electromagnetic drive section forms a flux path between a plunger and an inner yoke, each member being made of magnetic material, and which drives the plunger in an axial direction through electromagnetic force, an operation section has a dog movable between a connection position where it is connected with a mating part and a release position where it is apart from the mating part in the axial direction, and which restrains movement of the mating part in a circumferential direction when the dog is at the connection position, and a retaining ring is interposed between the plunger and the dog such that relative movement of the dog to the plunger in the circumferential direction is permitted and relative movement of the dog to the plunger in the axial direction is restricted.
US08547191B2	Damping device capable of providing increased stiffness Damping device to impose a reaction to the displacement of a manual operating device (28), said device comprising at least one chamber containing the magneto-rheological fluid, one or two means of generating a variable magnetic field (6.1, 6.2) in the magneto-rheological fluid so as to modify its apparent viscosity, one element (4) free to move in translation capable of shearing the magneto-rheological fluid and designed to be mechanically connected to the manual operating device (28), said mobile element (4) comprising a blade with a longitudinal axis (Y) comprising holes and/or recesses and/or projections.
US08547187B2	Printed circuit board impedance matching step for microwave (millimeter wave) devices An impedance matching ground plane step, in conjunction with a quarter wave transformer section, in a printed circuit board provides a broadband microwave matching transition from board connectors or other elements that require thin substrates to thick substrate (>quarter wavelength) broadband microwave (millimeter wave) devices. A method of constructing microwave and other high frequency electrical circuits on a substrate of uniform thickness, where the circuit is formed of a plurality of interconnected elements of different impedances that individually require substrates of different thicknesses, by providing a substrate of uniform thickness that is a composite or multilayered substrate; and forming a pattern of intermediate ground planes or impedance matching steps interconnected by vias located under various parts of the circuit where components of different impedances are located so that each part of the circuit has a ground plane substrate thickness that is optimum while the entire circuit is formed on a substrate of uniform thickness.
US08547182B2	Oven controlled crystal oscillator Provided is an oven controlled crystal oscillator which can reduce an occurrence of cracks in an applied solder of a large-sized circuit component and improve reliability. It is an oven controlled crystal oscillator in which a slit is formed in a periphery or below a lower surface of a large-sized circuit component provided on the substrate, further, a plurality of small-sized circuit components, which are smaller than the large-sized circuit component, are disposed around the large-sized circuit component, as necessary, and for the plurality of small-sized circuit components, an electronic component, which is electrically connected, and a dummy electronic component, which is not electrically connected, are used.
US08547181B2	Oscillator with ohmically adjustable oscillation frequency An oscillator with adjustable oscillation frequency includes an active device showing a negative input resistance at a terminal, an oscillator circuit coupled to the terminal of the active device showing the negative input resistance, and an element with adjustable ohmic resistance by which the oscillation frequency of the oscillator is adjustable.
US08547180B2	Package, piezoelectric vibrator and piezoelectric oscillator A package is configured to accommodate a piezoelectric element. The package includes a guide part having a plurality of spaces into which electrodes of the piezoelectric element is inserted, respectively. The plurality of spaces of the guide part are separated from each other.
US08547175B2	Output circuit Provided is an output circuit capable of allowing a more sufficient output current to flow. When a drain current of a PMOS transistor (12) is large, a PMOS transistor (13) operates in the non-saturation region. At this time, gate voltages of NMOS transistors (14 and 17) have risen to around a power supply terminal voltage. Therefore, a gate-source voltage of an NMOS transistor (17) increases, and a sufficient output current flows.
US08547174B1	Broadband linearizer with combined second and third order generation with adjustable tilt Systems and methods can provide an improved broadband linearizer that includes a distortion generator with a bypass path for generating both composite triple beat (CTB) and composite second order (CSO) distortions suitable for linearizing a laser. The linearized laser can be suitable for injection into a communications network such as, for example, a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network, among others.
US08547169B2	Programmable noise filtering for bias kickback disturbances A system and method are disclosed for reducing the kickback disturbance in an electronic circuit. The system is based on the coupling of a programmable noise filter between bias blocks. In one embodiment the programmable noise filter includes capacitors, resisters and switches and forms a C-R-C circuit structure. By selecting the resistance and capacitance values and the status of the switches, the performance of the programmable noise filter is determined. Also disclosed is a system and method to reduce kickback disturbances comprising N+1 bias blocks, N programmable noise filters, and a bias reference generator, wherein N is equal to or greater than one.
US08547166B2	Temperature compensation circuit and temperature compensated metal oxide semiconductor transistor using the same A temperature compensation circuit, applied on a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor, with a threshold voltage varying with respect to a temperature value of the MOS transistor, for having the MOS transistor corresponding to an equivalent threshold voltage substantially with a constant value throughout a temperature range, comprises a voltage generator. The voltage generator provides a voltage proportional to absolute temperature (VPTAT) to drive the body of the MOS transistor in such way that a variation of the threshold voltage due to temperature variation of the MOS transistor is substantially compensated with a variation of the threshold voltage due to body-source voltage variation of the MOS transistor, so that the MOS transistor corresponds to the equivalent threshold voltage that is temperature invariant.
US08547164B2	Closed loop adaptive voltage scaling An integrated circuit is provided with a set of sensors for scaling voltage based on performance of the integrated circuit. The set of sensors are monitored, and sensor provides an output value indicative of a performance metric of the integrated circuit. The output values from the set of sensors are combined using a calibrated model to determine when a threshold value is reached. A change to an operating voltage for a portion of the integrated circuit is initiated in response to reaching the threshold.
US08547163B2	Temperature sensor device Provided is a temperature sensor device operable at a lower voltage. The temperature sensor device detects temperature based on an output voltage of a forward voltage generator for generating a forward voltage of a PN junction. The forward voltage generator includes a level shift voltage generation circuit, and an output voltage of the temperature sensor device is given based on the forward voltage of the PN junction and a voltage of the level shift voltage generation circuit.
US08547158B2	Distributive resistive mixer The invention relates to devices comprising field effect transistors to detect the power of an electromagnetic high frequency signal VRF. According to the prior art, the high frequency signal is coupled into the gate G and via a capacitor CGD into the drain D of the field effect transistor FET, the gate G being biased with a direct voltage Vg which corresponds to the threshold value of the FET transistor. The resulting current at the source S contains a direct current portion Ids which is proportional to the square of the amplitude of the high frequency signal. The operating frequency of said power detectors is limited to a few gigahertz (GHz) by the discrete arrangement and especially by the predetermined gate length of the field effect transistor. The aim of the invention is to improve a resistive mixer in such a manner that it can be operated at high gigahertz and terahertz frequencies. For this purpose, the resistive mixer comprises a line which has a first and a second electrical conductor having respective connecting contacts so that an electrical high frequency signal can be coupled into the line, the first conductor having a plurality of series-connected voltage-dependent resistor elements (R) and at least one capacitive element (C) being interposed between the first and the second conductor.
US08547140B1	Apparatus and method for generating a bias voltage Disclosed is a high-swing voltage-mode transmitter or line driver. The transmitter can operate over a wide range of supply voltages. Increasing the available output swing merely involves increasing the supply voltage; the circuit adapts to maintain the desired output impedance. This allows for a tradeoff between output amplitude and power consumption. Another advantage of the proposed architecture is that it compensates for process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) and mismatch variations so as to keep rise and fall times matched. This feature reduces common-mode noise and hence EMI in systems in which the transmitter is used.
US08547139B2	CMOS logic integrated circuit A CMOS logic integrated circuit includes a level shifter and a CMOS logic circuit. The level shifter converts a signal of a first logic level to a signal of a second logic level. The signal of the first logic level changes between a first low potential and a first high potential higher than the first low potential. The signal of the second logic level changes between the first low potential and a second high potential higher than the first high potential. The CMOS logic circuit includes a first N-channel type MOSFET and a second N-channel type MOSFET. The second N-channel type MOSFET is connected in series with the first N-channel type MOSFET. A first signal of the first logic level is input into a gate of the first N-channel type MOSFET. A second signal of the second logic level has an inversion relationship with the first signal.
US08547135B1	Self-modulated voltage reference A self-modulated voltage reference circuit may generate a reference voltage by receiving an internal reference voltage of a programmable device at a first input of a comparator block of the programmable device, receiving a feedback voltage at a second input of the comparator block, generating a pulse density modulated (PDM) signal based on a difference between the reference voltage and the feedback voltage, outputting the PDM signal at a digital output pin of the programmable device, and filtering the PDM signal to generate the output reference voltage.
US08547134B1	Architecture for high speed serial transmitter A system provides for a serial transmitter with multiplexing and driving functionality that is combined into a single stage to increase the overall speed of the serial transmitter. The single stage includes a dynamic impedance that is configured in parallel with a multiplexing driver to reduce the input capacitance and set the correct output impedance. The single stage can be implemented as a stacked or cross-coupled XOR logic circuit or a stacked or cross-coupled multiplexer (“mux”) as the multiplexing driver. In an embodiment where a mux is used as the multiplexing driver, a clock can be injected into the mux driver to overcome inter-symbol interference.
US08547132B2	Circuit board and method for testing component built in the circuit board A circuit board includes an active device, a signal pad on a surface of the circuit board, at least one passive device electrically connecting the active device to the signal pad, and at least one test pad on the surface of the circuit board and electrically connected to a connection point between the active device and the at least one passive device. When a first passive device and a second passive device and a first test pad and a second test pad are provided, the first passive device and the second passive device are connected in series between the active device and the signal pad in this order, the first test pad is connected to a connection point between the active device and the first passive device, and the second test pad is connected to a connection point between the first passive device and the second passive device.
US08547131B2	System and method for observing threshold voltage variations A system and method for observing threshold voltage variations are provided. A ring oscillator circuit comprises a plurality of inverters arranged in a sequential loop, a plurality of test circuits having devices under test, each coupled between a respective one of the inverters and a power supply. Each test circuit has a bypass field effect transistor (FET) having a first channel coupled between the power supply and a respective one of the inverters responsive to an individual enable signal, and a FET device under test having a second channel arranged in parallel to the first channel. A method is described for determining the threshold voltage of the device under test by disabling, for one of the inverters in the ring oscillator, the first FET device such that the device under test is coupled between the power supply and the respective inverter and affects the operating frequency of the ring oscillator.
US08547128B1	Contact probe with conductively coupled plungers A contact probe comprises conductively coupled plungers and a coil spring. The plungers have coupling means which enable them to be slidably and non-rotatably engaged. The spring is attached to the plungers in a manner that prevents rotation of the spring's ends. A desired magnitude of torsional bias is generated by twisting the spring a predetermined angle prior to attachment of the spring to the plungers. An additional torsional bias is generated by the tendency of the spring to twist when the spring is axially displaced. The resultant torsional bias rotatably biases the coupling means of the plungers against each other, generating contact forces for a direct conductive coupling between the plungers. The plungers are self-latching or are retentively attached to the spring using the torsional bias of the spring. Plungers with hermaphroditic coupling means can be fabricated from a sheet metal or a profiled stock by stamping or machining.
US08547127B2	Probe block There is provided a probe block comprising a probe including first contact portions, second contact portions, and beams connecting the first contact portion to the second contact portion and a guide where the probe is inserted and supported, wherein the probe block is installed in a probe card for inspecting a semiconductor chip.
US08547119B2	Dynamic quantity detection device A dynamic quantity detection device includes a detection portion, a signal process portion, and an operation mode switch portion. The detection portion detects a dynamic quantity applied from an outside and generates a sensor signal in accordance with the dynamic quantity. The signal process portion processes the sensor signal from the detection portion to have a property suitable for an external device. When the sensor signal output from the detection portion is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold value, the operation mode switch portion sets an operation mode to a power save mode by stopping an operation of the signal process portion. When the sensor signal output from the detection portion is greater than the predetermined threshold value, the operation mode switch portion switches the operation mode to a normal mode by activating the signal process portion.
US08547118B1	Multi-frequency scan for multi-sensor electrode An apparatus includes multiple capacitive sensing elements coupled through a filter network. The apparatus can include a control device configured to excite the capacitive sensing elements with different scanning frequencies and determine capacitances corresponding to each of the capacitive sensing elements based on sensor responses to the excitation of the capacitive sensing elements with the different scanning frequencies and a configuration of the filter network.
US08547116B2	Position detector To enable position or distance of sensing target making approach, etc. to the range of sensing area to be detected securely with simple configuration at low cost and improve latitude of designing, position detector includes capacitance sensor unit and detecting circuit unit. Capacitance sensor unit includes first and second sensing electrodes and dielectric material therebetween. Dielectric material has range L of sensing area defined on its sensing surface. Detecting circuit unit includes selector switches SWA and SWB, capacitance sensing circuits, A/D converters, and arithmetic processing circuit. Arithmetic processing circuit judges and detects the position of sensing target in range L of sensing area based on detected values of capacitances C1 and C2 sensed by first and second sensing electrodes under switching control on selector switches SWA and SWB.
US08547114B2	Capacitance to code converter with sigma-delta modulator An apparatus and method for converting a capacitance measured on a sensor element to a digital code. The apparatus may include a switching capacitor as a sensor element of a sensing device, and a sigma-delta modulator coupled to the sensor element to convert a capacitance measured on the sensor element to a digital code. The switching capacitor is in a feedback loop of the sigma-delta modulator. The method may include measuring a capacitance on a sensor element of a sensing device using a sigma-delta modulator, and converting the capacitance measured on the sensor element to a digital code.
US08547112B2	Introduced in monitoring system of dielectric state of high voltage equipments with capacitive insulation, such as condensive bushings, current transformers, potential transformers and similar A system and method for monitoring a dielectric state of high voltage equipment. A leakage current is measured and compared to a programmed limit value. An alarm is activated if the leakage exceeds the limit value to indicate that insulation has seriously deteriorated. The leakage current measurement is verified using a comparison of individual leakage currents with a change in a vector sum of leakage currents.
US08547111B2	Array element circuit and active matrix device An active-matrix device is provided which includes a plurality of array element circuits arranged in rows and columns; a plurality of source addressing lines each shared between the array element circuits in corresponding same columns; a plurality of gate addressing lines each shared between the array element circuits in corresponding same rows; a plurality of sensor row select lines each shared between the array element circuits in corresponding same rows, wherein each of the plurality of array element circuits includes: an array element which is controlled by application of a drive voltage by a drive element; writing circuitry for writing the drive voltage to the drive element, the writing circuitry being coupled to a corresponding source addressing line and gate addressing line among the plurality of source addressing lines and gate addressing lines; and sense circuitry for sensing an impedance presented at the drive element, the sense circuitry being coupled to a corresponding sensor row select line; and a row driver and a column driver.
US08547110B2	Impedance sensing systems and methods for use in measuring constituents in solid and fluid objects Devices and methods of the invention can be used in many industries, including, but not limited to, utilities, agriculture, food, textile, pharmaceutical, photovoltaic and semiconductor, medical devices, chemical and petro-chemical, material science, and defense, where monitoring and/or analysis of various properties of materials are desired. Sensors and methods of using same are provided for measuring at least one impedance of an object under test (or a tested object) at a predetermined frequency and/or a predetermined frequency range, particularly where resonance conditions are provided for such measurement.
US08547107B2	Self-diagnostic apparatus for electrical storage system A startup self-diagnostic apparatus for an electrical storage system including an electrical storage device, a charge and discharge switch device disposed to be connected to the electrical storage device, an electrical storage device breaker disposed between the electrical storage device and the charge and discharge switch device, and a load side breaker disposed between the charge and discharge switch device and an external load comprises a state monitoring unit for the electrical storage device breaker, a state monitoring unit for the load side breaker, a converter diagnosing unit, a switching device diagnosing unit, and an electrical storage device monitoring unit, for diagnosing peripheral diagnostic items which may be diagnosed without using the electrical storage device.
US08547104B2	Self power for ignition coil with integrated ion sense circuitry A self power circuit for ion sense circuitry is provided. The self power circuit is configured to supply the voltages required to generate and measure an ion current flow in a combustion chamber of an engine. The power circuit stores power from the current flow in the ignition coil secondary circuit during at least a portion of a sparking period for use during the ion current measurement period between sparking events. Ion current generation voltage as well as positive and negative sensor circuit power supply voltages are generated in one embodiment.
US08547103B2	Multiple depths of investigation using two transmitters An apparatus and method for estimating a parameter of interest of an earth formation, particularly relating to borehole logging methods and apparatuses for estimating electrical resistivity properties at multiple depths of investigation. The apparatus may include two or more transmitters for introducing electrical current to the earth formation. The apparatus may include a controller configured to deliver an electrical signal to the two or more transmitters either simultaneously or sequentially. The controller may deliver an electrical signal to two or more transmitters at the same frequency for estimating depth of investigation. The apparatus may include one or more receivers responsive to electric signals from the earth formation at one or more frequencies to provide data from one or more depths of investigation. The method may include steps for using the apparatus to obtain data that may be used to estimate the parameter of interest.
US08547102B2	Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus In a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to an embodiment, a transmitting coil applies a radio-frequency magnetic field to a subject placed in a static magnetic field. A receiving coil receives a magnetic resonance signal emitted from the subject owing to an application of the radio-frequency magnetic field. A balun is connected to the receiving coil, and suppresses an unbalanced current induced in the receiving coil. An overheat protection circuit indicates that the balun is abnormal when a temperature of the balun exceeds a temperature threshold. An imaging control unit stops imaging when the overheat protection circuit indicates an abnormality of the balun.
US08547100B2	Magnetic resonance gradient coil iso-plane backbone for radiation detectors of 511Kev An imaging system comprises: a magnetic resonance scanner (30) having a cylindrical bore (36) defining a cylinder axis (DA), the magnetic resonance scanner having a gradient coil (10, 10′) defining an isocenter (64) within the bore and an isoplane (66) passing through the isocenter and oriented transverse to the cylinder axis; a ring of radiation detectors (60a, 60b, 60′) arranged concentric with the cylindrical bore and configured to detect radiation emanating from within the bore; and a generally annular electronic circuit board (62, 62′) arranged concentric with the cylindrical bore and centered on the isoplane, the generally annular electronic circuit board operatively connected with the ring of radiation detectors to generate electrical signals indicative of detection of radiation by the ring of radiation detectors.
US08547097B2	SAR calculation for multichannel MR transmission systems In a device and a method to determine SAR for a magnetic resonance tomography transmission system with multiple antenna elements, a single-column cross-correlation matrix of an antenna element matrix of antenna element values of multiple antenna elements of the magnetic resonance tomography transmission system is determined for each of multiple points in time or time periods. These single-column cross-correlation matrices are added into a sum cross-correlation matrix over a summation time period and the sum cross-correlation matrix is multiplied with a hotspot sensitivity matrix. The hotspot sensitivity matrix represents the sensitivities in at least one direction at a number of hotspot points in a subject located in the magnetic resonance tomography transmission system. The product of the sum cross-correlation matrix and the hotspot sensitivity matrix is multiplied with a value representing the dielectricity at least one hotspot point in order to determine a respective SAR value for hotspot points. If at least one SAR value exceeds a predetermined upper limit, the voltage applied to at least one antenna element or the current flowing in at least one antenna element is reduced or deactivated.
US08547095B2	Detection of magnetic resonance signals using a magnetoresistive sensor A method and apparatus are described wherein a micro sample of a fluidic material may be assayed without sample contamination using NMR techniques, in combination with magnetoresistive sensors. The fluidic material to be assayed is first subject to pre-polarization, in one embodiment, by passage through a magnetic field. The magnetization of the fluidic material is then subject to an encoding process, in one embodiment an rf-induced inversion by passage through an adiabatic fast-passage module. Thereafter, the changes in magnetization are detected by a pair of solid-state magnetoresistive sensors arranged in gradiometer mode. Miniaturization is afforded by the close spacing of the various modules.
US08547094B2	Method for determining an attenuation map for use with positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance magnetic field homogeneity from a single three dimensional gradient echo sequence A method is disclosed for determining an attenuation map for use in positron emission tomography and for the use of homogeneity information relating to the magnetic resonance magnetic field, in particular for the purpose of determining shim settings, within the scope of a single magnetic resonance image recording. In at least one embodiment of the method, a first and a second image data record are firstly recorded with a three-dimensional gradient echo sequence during a first and a second echo time, respectively, with the phase difference between the water and the fat signal amounting to zero during the first echo time and amounting to 180 degrees during the second echo time. The attenuation map is determined from fat/water ratios obtained from the image data records by way of a Dixon technology, in particular a 2-point Dixon technology. In at least one embodiment, all voxels with a signal intensity below a first threshold value are excluded at least for the second image data record by using a mask and only the non excluded voxels of the first and second image data record are taken into consideration in order to determine the homogeneity information from the phase differences of adjacent voxels.
US08547092B2	Proton precession magnetometer sensor measurable in all direction A “proton precession magnetometer sensor capable of all-direction measurement” according to the present invention, in which frequency of current induced in a coil by flowing and then breaking current in the coil is measured to calculate strength of an external magnetic field, is characterized in that the coil is a toroid coil. Alternatively, the coil may be achieved by two solenoid coils connected perpendicularly, or N solenoid coils connected in the form of a polygon, where N is an integer of 3 or more. The proton precession magnetometer sensor is capable of measuring the external magnetic field in all directions since there is no dead band, and is convenient since there is no need of adjusting the sensor to a certain direction when measuring magnetic force. Further, the present invention will bring accumulation of key original technology applicable to various cases in practice through development of improved impedance matching and power consumption optimization in future practice.
US08547088B2	Encoded scale body with encoding material on support band Encoded scale bodies for position/displacement measuring systems and position/displacement measurement systems including scale bodies are disclosed. An encoded scale body includes a support band and at least one encoding layer made of encoding material. The encoding layer is arranged on the support band. The encoded scale body further includes a cover band which covers the encoding material towards an outside space. The cover band is formed by the support band. The support band/cover band is elastically flexible. The support band, which is the mechanical holder for the encoding material, may serve to mechanically stabilize the encoded scale body. The cover band covers the encoding material and may protect the encoding layer from external effects such as, in particular, mechanical forces. The flexible support band/cover band may permit the encoded scale body to be used as band material, and for example, a roll material.
US08547084B2	Voltage reference selector for use in conjunction with a multi-meter in taking electrical measurements from an electrical control panel A voltage reference selector, used in conjunction with a multi-meter, allows user selection of a reference voltage used by the multi-meter from three different reference voltages of an electrical control panel when taking electrical measurements from the electrical control panel via the multi-meter. A portable voltage reference selector is electrically connected to a multi-meter and temporarily electrically connected to voltage reference points of an electrical control panel for taking electrical measurements from the control panel with the multi-meter. In this form, a test lead from the multi-meter obtains electrical measurements from the control panel. A permanent voltage reference selector is permanently connected to voltage reference points of an electrical control panel and is electrically connectable to a multi-meter for taking electrical measurements from the control panel with the multi-meter. In this form, a test lead of the voltage reference selector obtains electrical measurements from the control panel.
US08547078B2	Methods for light load efficiency improvement of a buck boost voltage regulator Methods are proposed for a buck boost voltage regulator to monitor the output voltage or both the inductor current and the output voltage of the buck boost voltage regulator to control the buck boost voltage regulator to reduce the switching times of the power switches of the buck boost voltage regulator to improve the light load efficiency of the buck boost voltage regulator.
US08547077B1	Voltage regulator with adaptive miller compensation A voltage regulator with adaptive Miller compensation includes a first amplifier and a second amplifier. An adaptive compensation circuit includes serially connected compensation capacitor and a compensation transistor coupled to the second amplifier. A bias circuit generates a proper bias control voltage to dynamically control the adaptive compensation circuit in a manner that the adaptive compensation transistor operates in a deep triode region with weakly-inverted channel or strongly-inverted channel. An output circuit generates an output voltage according to which the feedback voltage is generated. The resistance of the compensation transistor varies according to a load of the voltage regulator under control of the bias control voltage. The bias circuit generates a mirror current that copies at least a portion of a current flowing in the output circuit, and the bias control voltage is then generated according to the mirror current.
US08547076B1	Multiphase control systems and associated methods A control system for regulating an output voltage of a DC-DC converter having N phases, where N is an integer greater than one, includes a pulse generator and a frequency divider. The pulse generator generates a stream of fixed on-time pulses, each pulse triggered in response to current through an alternating one of the N phases falling to a threshold value. The frequency divider divides the stream of fixed on-time pulses into N phase signals for controlling the N phases. A method for regulating an output voltage of a DC-DC converter having N phases, includes the following steps: (1) generating a stream of fixed on-time pulses, each pulse triggered in response to current through an alternating one of the N phases falling to a threshold value, and (2) dividing the stream of fixed on-time pulses into N phase signals for controlling the N phases.
US08547071B2	Rotary electric machine improved to carry out load-dump protection In a rotary electric machine, a load-dump protector turns on a switching element as a low-side rectifying element for at least one of plural-phase stator windings when the output voltage exceeds a first threshold voltage due to load dump. The load dump protector determines a turnoff timing of the switching element as the low-side rectifying element for the at least one of the plural-phase stator windings after the output voltage, which exceeded the first threshold voltage once, falls below a second threshold voltage. The second threshold voltage is set to be lower than the first threshold voltage. The load dump protector turns off, at the determined turnoff timing, the switching element as the low-side rectifying element for the at least one of the at least two-phase stator windings.
US08547069B2	Safety switch for secondary battery module for electric vehicle and charging and discharging system for secondary battery module for electric vehicle using the same A safety switch of a secondary battery module for an electric vehicle includes a cutting member attached to one surface of one secondary battery cell in the secondary battery module for the electric vehicle configured by connecting at least two secondary battery cells and having a cutting body and a cut member attached to one surface of the other secondary battery cell while facing the cutting member and including a cut body configured to approach the cutting body of the cutting member and be cut by the approaching cutting body to electrically disconnect the secondary battery cells, when the secondary battery cells are expanded due to the swelling phenomenon.
US08547064B2	Battery cell tab monitor A battery cell tab monitoring apparatus includes a conductive element electrically connected between two battery cells. The conductive element is connected to a sensing circuit including a pull-down current source connected to pull current from the conductive element and/or a pull-up current source connected to drive current into the conductive element. A voltage measuring circuit is connected to sense voltages during operation of the pull-down current source and the pull-up current source to be used to determine the status of the conductive element. For instance, voltages beyond certain fixed or variable thresholds indicate that the conductive element is flexing or cracking, which can be a precursor to its breaking. Voltages beyond other fixed or variable thresholds indicate that the conductive element is fully disconnected. The current sources used to push and pull the sensing currents may be used to bring the battery cells into balance when an imbalance is detected.
US08547060B2	High output battery pack and method of controlling the high output battery pack A battery pack and a method of controlling the battery pack. The battery pack includes a battery cell and a capacitor connected in parallel to the battery pack. Accordingly, the battery power and the distance travelled by an electric transport device that requires an instantaneous high power output, such as an E-bike, may be increased.
US08547056B2	One-piece car charger A one-piece car charger includes an enclosure and a circuit board. The circuit board is received in the enclosure and is electrically connected to a power output port. The enclosure is integrally formed as a one-piece configuration. The one-piece enclosure helps reducing manufacturing time (and is applicable to automatized manufacturing process). There is no need for operators to manually assemble the enclosures one by one so that the assembling time is shortened and mistakenly assembling incorrect parts is eliminated.
US08547053B2	Alternating current chopper circuit with low noise An alternating current chopper circuit with low noise is disclosed. The circuit includes a switching circuit, a first freewheel circuit, and a second freewheel circuit. The switching circuit has a control switching unit, which turns on and or off accordingly to a control signal. The first freewheel circuit and the second freewheel circuit are for providing a current-conducting path to the motor, when the control switching unit is turned off.
US08547051B2	Controller and method for transitioning between control angles A system includes a control module that controls a motor based on a first rotor angle and an angle determination module that generates the first rotor angle. An estimator module determines an estimated rotor angle of the motor. A transition module generates a transition signal in response to convergence of the estimator module. The angle determination module initially generates the first rotor angle based on an open loop angle. In response to the transition signal, the angle determination module switches to generating the first rotor angle based on the estimated rotor angle and an offset value. The offset value is based on a difference between the estimated rotor angle and the open loop angle at the time when the transition signal is generated.
US08547044B2	Determining the rotor angle of a synchronous machine at standstill with the aid of iterative test pulses A method for determining the angular position of a synchronous machine having a magnetically anisotropic rotor includes an (m) iteration stage and an (n) iteration stage. The (m) iteration stage encompasses: generating an (m) magnetic field of an (m) angular direction and acquiring an (m) peak value of the current pulse generated by the (m) voltage pulse; and providing at least two further (m+i) peak values in different (m+i) angular directions that differ from the (m) angular direction. The (n) iteration stage includes: ascertaining the angular directions (n) and (n+1) in which the two highest or the two lowest peak values from a peak value group occur; and providing an (n) angular direction, which resides between the (n+1) angular direction and the (n+2) angular direction, as an angular position output.
US08547042B2	Method and device for determining the motor constant of an electric motor A method and device for determining the motor moment constant kM of an electric motor by measuring motor parameters on the running motor. For reduction of the previously considerable measuring effort it is proposed that firstly the generator voltage UEMK produced by the motor is measured, and in that the motor moment constant kM is calculated by division of the generator voltage UEMK and the speed of rotation fMot of the motor, taking into consideration at least one further constant. The method and the device are suitable for DC motors and for 3-phase synchronous motors.
US08547040B2	Control apparatus of electric vehicle A control apparatus of an electric vehicle, which is operable to be driven by supplying electric power from a battery to an electric motor to drive the electric motor and operable to perform regeneration charge, includes: a request torque calculating unit calculating a request torque of the electric motor; a motor control unit controlling the electric motor based on the request torque; and a torque suppression unit performing a feed forward control for setting the request torque based on a rotational angular speed of the electric motor so that an integrated value of a torque and a rotational angular speed of the electric motor at time when the electric motor is driven or the regeneration charge is performed is identical to an integrated value of the torque and the rotational angular speed stored at a point of time when the battery voltage or the battery current reaches the limit level.
US08547038B2	High pressure discharge lamp lighting device A high-pressure discharge lamp lighting device is used for projector devices that allow controlling the mean electric power at a desired value with a slow processing speed. A color wheel rotates and disperses the beam from lamp into each of the color components, such that the electric power supplied to the lamp is controlled at different levels for each segment of the color wheel and the power feeding device control part finds the mean electric power by sampling the electric power supplied.
US08547037B2	Liquid-cooled LED lighting device A liquid-cooled LED lighting device can be provided in which a temporal increase in the temperature of the tubing and the circulation pump when the LED light sources are turned off is prevented to ensure high reliability. The liquid-cooled LED lighting device can include an LED light source, a liquid cooling system including a heat receiving jacket and a radiator, an LED light source-driving power supply for supplying power to the LED light source, and a liquid cooling system-driving power supply for supplying power to the liquid cooling system. The LED lighting device can include a control unit, such as a timer circuit. The control unit can maintain supply of the power to the liquid cooling system for a predetermined period of time after supply of the power to the LED light source is stopped.
US08547034B2	Trailing edge dimmer compatibility with dimmer high resistance prediction In at least one embodiment, an electronic system includes a controller, and the controller provides compatibility between an electronic light source and a trailing edge dimmer. In at least one embodiment, the controller is capable of predicting an estimated occurrence of a trailing edge of a phase cut AC voltage and accelerating a transition of the phase cut AC voltage from the trailing edge to a predetermined voltage threshold. In at least one embodiment, the controller predicts an estimated occurrence of the trailing edge of the phase cut AC voltage on the basis of actual observations from one or more previous cycles of the phase cut AC voltage.
US08547033B2	LED string driver with power factor corrector and current governor A solid state lighting controller arranged for use with a single stage power factor correction switched mode power supply, a light emitting diode (LED) string and a current sense element arranged to sense current through the LED string, the solid state lighting controller constituted of: a current governor in series with the LED string exhibiting a governor differential amplifier and a governor electronically controlled switch responsive to the output of the governor differential amplifier, the current governor arranged to limit current flow through the LED string responsive to a current limit reference; and a feedback circuit exhibiting an error amplifier, the feedback circuit arranged to feedback a signal to the power factor correction switched mode power supply controller whose value is a function of the difference between the current through the LED string sensed by the current sense element and a target current signal.
US08547032B2	Method and device for driving light-emitting diode by alternating current input voltage A method for driving a light-emitting diode based upon an AC input voltage includes receiving and full-wave rectifying the AC input voltage to generate a full-wave rectified input voltage, generating a pulse width modulation signal according to the full-wave rectified input voltage and a luminance signal, and generating a driving voltage according to the pulse width modulation signal and the full-wave rectified input voltage, and applying the driving voltage to the light-emitting diode.
US08547027B2	LED drive circuit An object of the invention is to provide an LED drive circuit that can suppress the generation of harmonic noise. The LED drive circuit includes a rectifying circuit an LED array, and a current supply circuit which includes a capacitor and a time constant adjusting element, wherein the discharge time constant of the current supply circuit is set longer than the charge time constant of the current supply circuit, and wherein during a period of time when the magnitude of AC commercial power supply voltage is larger than the light emission threshold of the LED array, current to the light-emitting circuit is supplied mostly from the rectifying circuit, and during a period of time when the magnitude of AC commercial power supply voltage is not larger than the light emission threshold of the LED array, current to the light-emitting circuit is supplied from the current supply circuit.
US08547024B2	Efficient electrically-isolated power circuits with application to light sources Solid state light sources are compatible with AC phase-cut dimmers. The light sources may have switching mode power supplies having primary and secondary sides that are in first and second circuit parts that are electrically isolated from one another. Information regarding a waveform of input electrical power is extracted in the first circuit part and passed to a controller in the second circuit part by way of a galvanic isolator. Additional isolated paths may be provided to provide bi-directional exchange of information between the first and second circuit parts and/or to provide for the exchange of additional information relevant to control. The signal path from the first side to the second side may have a low latency.
US08547020B2	Control of a plurality of plug coils via a single power stage A radiofrequency plasma generating device including: a supply circuit including a switch controlled by a control signal for applying a voltage on an output of the control circuit at a control frequency; at least two plasma-generating circuits connected in parallel at the output of the supply circuits, each circuit having its own resonance frequency and being capable of generating plasma when a high voltage level is applied to the output of the supply circuit at a frequency substantially equal to the resonance frequency of the plasma generation circuit; and a supply control device determining the control frequency from the resonance frequencies of the plasma generation circuits to selectively control each circuit according to the control frequency used.
US08547018B2	Control system for vehicle headlights A control system for vehicle headlights includes a navigation device and a control unit which controls the illumination characteristics of the headlights depending on geographic location information received by the navigation device. The illumination characteristics are adapted in compliance with predefined illumination settings if the acquired geographic location information shows that the vehicle headlights are being operated on public roads. The illumination characteristics are adapted with further consideration of illumination settings specified by the driver if the location information shows that the vehicle headlights are being operated on non-public roads.
US08547016B2	Electric discharge lamp unit As an aspect of an embodiment, an electric discharge lamp unit includes a casing which houses an integrated circuit for lighting an electric discharge lamp, and a support member which supports the electric discharge lamp and is integrated with the casing. The casing is filled with filler. The center of the support member in the vertical direction is higher than the center of the casing in the vertical direction and the center of the integrated circuit in the vertical direction.
US08547012B2	Organic electroluminescent element and light-emitting apparatus using the same An organic EL element includes a first electrode, an organic compound layer, and a second electrode on a substrate. The second electrode includes a first metal layer and a second metal layer in this order from the substrate side. The second metal layer contains Ag and has a thickness of 5.0 nm or more and 20 nm or less. The first metal layer contains Mg and Ag and has a thickness of 1.0 nm or more and 5.0 nm or less.
US08547011B2	Layered product, luminescence device and use thereof A layered product comprising: sealing film comprising a laminate of at least one organic film and at least one inorganic film, and transparent resin substrate; in which the organic film is made from fluorine compound or alicyclic structure containing polymer and metallic simple substance or metallic compound as raw material, and in which the inorganic film is made from metallic simple substance or metallic compound as raw material. A luminescence device comprising: substrate, and lower electrode layer, luminescent-material layer, upper electrode layer and sealing film which are laminated in turn on the substrate; in which the substrate and the sealing layer comprises the layered product.
US08547008B2	Material having laser induced light redirecting features The present invention discloses a display panel 10 having a substrate 12 with one or more surfaces and one or more features 30 within the substrate 12. When one or more surfaces of the substrate 12 are illuminated, the features 30 redirect the illumination to form an image.
US08547005B1	Multi-layer heater for an electron gun The electron emission portion of a cathode for an electron gun has layers of substrate material formed from a ceramic powder such as Aluminum nitride. The substrate layers have conductive traces formed on them, the conductive traces made from sintered tungsten or alternatively a refractory foil. When current is passed through the conductive traces, heat is coupled to a cathode which is thermally coupled to the heater assembly. In another embodiment of the invention, one of the layers of the heater includes a thermionic emission material and optionally a work function lowering material such as BaO, which allows the outer layer of the multi-layer heater to directly emit electrons. In another embodiment of the invention, a control grid is formed on a layer above the thermionic cathode layer, which provides for a complete electron gun assembly having a heater, cathode with a reduced work function material, and control grid to be fabricated as a single unit at the same time.
US08547003B2	Heat-dissipating module and LED lamp having the same A heat-dissipating module includes a plurality of cooling fins arranged radially, spaced apart from each other, and connected annularly in a manner that a hollow core is formed centrally in the heat-dissipating module. The cooling fins each bend at a preset position thereof and in a first direction, such that the cooling fins each include a first flap and a second flap. The first flap and the second flap together form a preset included angle therebetween.
US08546999B2	Housing arrangements for ultrasonic surgical instruments In one general aspect, various embodiments are directed to an ultrasonic surgical instrument that comprises a transducer configured to produce vibrations along a longitudinal axis at a predetermined frequency. In various embodiments, an ultrasonic blade extends along the longitudinal axis and is coupled to the transducer. In various embodiments, the ultrasonic blade includes a body having a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the distal end is movable relative to the longitudinal axis by the vibrations produced by the transducer.
US08546994B2	Dynamoelectric machine An automotive dynamoelectric machine that achieves disposing of permanent magnets and thickening of field coil wire by ensuring outlet space for field coil lead wires. In the dynamoelectric machine, trough portions are formed on portions of yoke portions between respective circumferentially adjacent claw-shaped magnetic pole portions. Magnet holders are disposed so as to span over all of the trough portions on a pole core body at a rear end excluding a predetermined trough portion, and permanent magnets are held in each of the magnet holders. A field coil lead wire is led out from the rotor so as to pass through the trough portion over which a magnet holder is not disposed.
US08546991B2	Synchronous generator and synchronous generator system for reducing distortion of current waveform A synchronous generator 1 including a rotor having a field winding placed in the slots thereof and a stator having an armature winding placed in the slots thereof, wherein the value of the number of slots per two poles in stator minus the number of slots per two poles in rotor is equal to or greater than +9, or equal to or smaller than −9.
US08546988B2	Magnetic gear arrangement A magnetic gear arrangement having a first gear member for generating a first magnetic field and a second gear member for generating a second magnetic field. An interpole member is provided between the first and second gear members for coupling the two magnetic fields and controlling the gear ratio between the two gear members. The interpole member includes a unitary body of magnetizable material and associated control wiring, and is arranged such that when current is passed through the wiring, space regions of the unitary body are magnetized by an electrically-induced magnetic field. Discrete interpoles, the number and spacing of which define the gear ratio, are then formed in the unitary body between adjacent magnetized regions.
US08546984B2	Pump motor control assembly A pump motor assembly operable to provide driving power to a fluid pump includes a rotor, a stator, a case housing the rotor and the stator, and a control assembly mounted to the case and operable to control motor operation. The control assembly includes an information display and a cover overlying the display, with a window section in general alignment with the display. The control assembly also includes a filler plate underlying the window section to prevent any air gap along an underside thereof, allowing the display to be visible while reducing the risk of condensation buildup. The control assembly further includes a low voltage housing with the display disposed in a first compartment defined thereby, and a high voltage housing with a high voltage component disposed in a second compartment defined thereby. The low voltage housing includes a thermal and fluid barrier that substantially fluidly separates the first and second compartments to reduce the risk of liquid electrical conduction therebetween and to reduce heat transfer into the low voltage housing.
US08546979B2	Self-matching pulse generator with adjustable pulse width and pulse frequency Pulse-generator circuits that permit independent control of pulse widths and the delays between successive pulses. In several embodiments, a pulse-generator subcircuit includes a transmission-line segment comprising first and second conductors, configured such that the first conductor is coupled to a first DC potential. The pulse-generator subcircuit further includes a terminating resistor coupled to a first end of the second conductor of the first transmission-line segment; this terminating resistor is matched to the characteristic impedance of the transmission-line segment. The pulse-generator subcircuit further includes first and second switches, controlled by first and second timing signals, respectively, and configured to selectively and independently connect respective first and second ends of the first conductor to a second DC potential. This second potential may be ground, in some embodiments, while the DC potential supplied to the pulse-generator subcircuit by the power-supply subcircuit may range from a very small voltage to voltages exceeding a kilovolt.
US08546977B2	Voltage based switching of a power supply system current Systems and methods of voltage based switching of a power supply system current are disclosed. In one embodiment, a power supply system includes a power bus to supply electrical power to a system load. A power supply is coupled to the power bus. The power supply provides current to the power bus and generates a voltage α. In addition, the system includes an additional power supply coupled to the power bus. The additional power supply generates a voltage β that is lower than the voltage α. An oring module restricts the additional power supply from providing current to the power bus, until a power bus voltage θ is greater than a threshold voltage.
US08546976B2	System and apparatus for power transfer to vessels A system for supplying electric power from an AC power source to ships, each of the ships moored at a respective berth of a quay, the system including a rectifier, having an AC and DC side, for converting AC electric power from the AC power source to DC power, the AC side arranged to be connected to the AC power source, and a plurality of ship connection arrangements for supplying electric power to a respective ship, each of the ship connection arrangements placed at one of the berths and including an inverter configurable to output AC power at a first or a second frequency and a ship connector for connecting the ship. A DC distribution network connected to the DC side of the rectifier and the rectifier is placed at a distance from the quay and each of the inverters is connected to the DC distribution network is also contemplated.
US08546975B2	Power supply device A power supply device for an electronic device includes a power supply module, a sampling module, a pulse width modulation (PWM) controller, and a processor. The PWM controller controls the power supply module to be switched on. The sampling module samples current generated by the power supply module and generates sampling signals correspondingly. The PWM controller receives the sampling signals and transmits the sampling signals to the processor. The processor calculates values of the current according to the sampling signals.
US08546969B2	Ribbon drive power generation and method of use The ribbon drive generation apparatus is comprised of a ribbon-like curved shape, composed either of metal or other suitable material, attached to a containment tube, peripheral rings, shaft, or porous central tube, with the complete apparatus being contained in a tube having a constant diameter for the length of the tube. The ribbon can be peripherally mounted to the containment tube and optionally to a central porous tube. In this form the containment tube rotates and can form part of a rotor for a generator apparatus. The optional central porous tube can also be used as a bearing surface or, if attached to the inside edge of the ribbon, a power take-off shaft.
US08546968B2	Wind turbine generator, active damping method thereof, and windmill tower A wind turbine generator, an active damping method thereof, and a windmill tower in which vibrations of the wind turbine generator itself or the windmill tower can be reduced at low cost are provided. The acceleration is detected with an accelerometer attached to the nacelle. In an active damping unit, a pitch angle of windmill blades for generating a thrust is calculated on the basis of the acceleration, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command δθ* for damping. In a pitch-angle control unit, a pitch angle of the windmill blades for controlling the output, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command θ* for output control. The blade-pitch-angle command δθ* for damping is combined with the blade-pitch-angle command θ* for output control using a subtracter. The pitch angle of the windmill blades is controlled on the basis of the resulting blade-pitch-angle command after combining.
US08546967B2	Control system and a method for controlling a wind turbine A control system for controlling operation of a wind turbine, a wind turbine having such a control system and a method for controlling a wind turbine are disclosed. The control system comprises a first sensor device and a second sensor device, each being arranged for measuring the same control parameter used for controlling operation of the wind turbine. The first sensor device has a first set of operating failure conditions, and the second sensor device has a second set of operating failure conditions. The first set of operating failure conditions comprises at least one operating failure condition which does not form part of the second set of operating failure conditions. The system further comprises a third sensor device for detecting an operating failure condition of the first sensor device and/or of the second sensor device. The control system is adapted to select between controlling operation of the wind turbine on the basis of control parameters measured by the first sensor device or on the basis of control parameters measured by the second sensor device, based on measurements performed by means of the third sensor device. Thereby a redundant system for measuring the control parameter is obtained, allowing reliable measurements of the control parameter, even under conditions where the first sensor device fails.
US08546966B1	Continuous motion fluid flow torque generator A fluid flow torque generator unit is composed of an impeller assembly, a housing, and a supporting frame. The housing contains one half of the impeller assembly and is configured to divide the force of the oncoming fluid flow into three components which work together to increase the force on the front of the impellers and to create a suction effect on the back of the impellers increasing torque output. One unit powering an electric generator can produce sufficient electricity for residential or commercial use. One unit or multiple units working together can be incorporated into an assembly that includes a source of compressed air to provide an air flow when the wind subsides, insuring a continuous output of electricity. The basic unit operates equally well in response to underwater currents. The dimensions and number of units are determined by the fluid flow source and the desired output.
US08546964B2	Reciprocal vibration type power generator equipped with a moving inner columnar magnetic block surrounded by at least one coil set, and a moving outer annular magnetic block that surrounds the at least one coil set A reciprocal vibration type generator includes a cylindrical housing, a coil set seat, and a coil set surrounding an end of the coil set seat, such that an annular space is formed between the coil set seat and an inner wall of the housing, and a cylindrical space extends into the coil set seat. A motion block has a cup-shaped structure from which extends an outer magnetic member, a center column from which extends a columnar magnet, and an inner annular space formed between the cup-shaped structure and the center column. The coil set seat and coil set extend into the inner annular space, the center column and columnar magnet extend into the cylindrical space, and the outer magnetic member extends into the annular space to enable axial reciprocating movement of the motion block relative to the coil set.
US08546963B2	Generator frame with grappling attachment feature and theft deterring weight receptacle An improved generator frame includes a grappling attachment feature and theft-deterring weight receptacle for adding weight on-site. In one method of using the improved generator frame, concrete or metal components may added to the weight receptacle to increase the overall weight of a generator assembly to deter its theft.
US08546962B2	Mark structure and method for measuring alignment accuracy between former layer and latter layer A mark structure for measuring the alignment accuracy between a former layer and a latter layer with electron beam inspection (EBI) is described. The mark structure includes multiple divisions, each of which includes at least one region that includes multiple parts each disposed with a pair of a pattern of the former layer and a pattern of the latter layer. In each region, all of the parts have the same distance in a direction between the pattern of the former layer and the pattern of the latter layer. The distance in the direction is varied over the regions of the divisions of the mark structure.
US08546957B2	Integrated circuit packaging system with dielectric support and method of manufacture thereof A method of manufacture of an integrated circuit packaging system includes: providing a package substrate having an outer pad at a substrate top side; forming a resist layer directly on the substrate top side, the resist layer having a resist top side with a channel array adjacent the outer pad exposed from the resist layer; mounting an integrated circuit having an active side facing the resist top side, the integrated circuit having a non-horizontal side adjacent the outer pad; and forming a dielectric between the active side and the resist top side, the dielectric having a fillet extended from the non-horizontal side to the substrate top side inside an inner extent of the channel array.
US08546954B2	Stacked semiconductor package having electrical connections or varying heights between substrates, and semiconductor device including the stacked semiconductor package A stacked semiconductor package has a first semiconductor package including a first package substrate and a first semiconductor chip mounted on the first package substrate, a second semiconductor package including a second package substrate and a second semiconductor chip mounted on the second package substrate, and a plurality of connections electrically connecting the first and second semiconductor packages. The connections are disposed on an outer region of the first package substrate outside the first semiconductor chip. The connections are disposed along opposite first longer sides and opposite shorter second sides of the first package substrate. The heights of those connections disposed along each longer first side gradually vary from a central to an outer region (i.e., the ends) of the longer first side.
US08546952B2	Electrical test structure applying 3D-ICS bonding technology for stacking error measurement A 3D integrated circuit including a first wafer and a second wafer is provided. The first wafer includes a first conduction pattern. The second wafer includes a second conduction pattern which is electrically connected to the first conduction pattern. A displacement between the first wafer and the second wafer is determined by a resistance of the first conduction pattern and the second conduction pattern.
US08546949B2	Semiconductor device having wirings formed by damascene An insulating film is formed over a semiconductor substrate. A wiring trench formed in the insulating film reaches partway in a thickness direction of the insulating film. A via hole is disposed at an end of the wiring trench. A barrier metal film covers inner surfaces of the wiring trench and via hole. A bottom of the wiring trench and a sidewall of the via hole are connected via an inclined plane. A length of a portion of the inclined plane having an inclination angle range of 40° to 50° relative to a surface of the semiconductor substrate is equal to or shorter than a maximum size of a plan shape of the via hole, in a cross section which is parallel to a longitudinal direction of the wiring trench, passes a center of the via hole and perpendicular to the surface of the semiconductor surface.
US08546948B2	Silicon structure having bonding pad A silicon structure includes a silicon substrate having an electric element; a wiring conductor and a bonding pad, connecting the electric element and an external circuit; a protective layer disposed on the silicon substrate; and a pad opening pattern provided in the protective layer to exposed the bonding pad, wherein a probe mark position and a wire bonding position differ, without increasing the size of the bonding pad in plan view. A substrate exposure part, which is not covered with the protective layer, is provided at part of an outer edge of the bonding pad disposed inside the pad opening pattern in the protective film, and the wiring conductor is not exposed through substrate exposure part.
US08546945B2	Pillar structure having a non-planar surface for semiconductor devices A conductive pillar for a semiconductor device is provided. The conductive pillar is formed such that a top surface is non-planar. In embodiments, the top surface may be concave, convex, or wave shaped. An optional capping layer may be formed over the conductive pillar to allow for a stronger inter-metallic compound (IMC) layer. The IMC layer is a layer formed between solder material and an underlying layer, such as the conductive pillar or the optional capping layer.
US08546942B2	Flip-chip semiconductor device having anisotropic electrical interconnection and substrate utilized for the package Disclosed is a flip-chip semiconductor device having isotropic electrical interconnection, primarily comprising a chip and a substrate. The chip has at least a first bump and a plurality of second bumps. The substrate has a plurality of bump pads disposed on the top surface and an isotropic connecting mechanism disposed inside the substrate consisting of a plurality of terminals electrically isolated from each other and a flexible vertical pad protruded from the top surface, wherein the disposition locations of the terminals circle around the flexible vertical pad as a disposition center. When the second bumps of the chip are bonded onto the corresponding bump pads, the first bump presses and bends the flexible vertical pad in a specific horizontal direction so that the flexible vertical pad selectively and electrically connect to a selected one of the terminals.
US08546941B2	Multi-direction design for bump pad structures An integrated circuit structure includes a semiconductor chip having a first region and a second region; a dielectric layer formed on the first region and the second region of the semiconductor chip; a first elongated under-bump metallization (UBM) connector formed in the dielectric layer and on the first region of the semiconductor chip and having a first longer axis extending in a first direction; and a second elongated UBM connector formed in the dielectric layer on the second region of the semiconductor chip and having a second longer axis extending in a second direction. The first direction is different from the second direction.
US08546939B2	RF module including control IC without the aid of a relay pad A technology is provided so that RF modules used for cellular phones etc. can be reduced in size. Over a wiring board constituting an RF module, there are provided a first semiconductor chip in which an amplifier circuit is formed and a second semiconductor chip in which a control circuit for controlling the amplifier circuit is formed. A bonding pad over the second semiconductor chip is connected with a bonding pad over the first semiconductor chip directly by a wire without using a relay pad. In this regard, the bonding pad formed over the first semiconductor chip is not square but rectangular (oblong).
US08546938B2	Stacked package including spacers and method of manufacturing the same A stacked package and method of manufacture are provided. The stacked package may include a first semiconductor package, a second semiconductor package, plugs and spacers. The second semiconductor package may be stacked on the first semiconductor package. The plugs may electrically connect the first semiconductor to the second semiconductor package. The spacer may be interposed between the first semiconductor package and the second semiconductor package to form a gap between the first semiconductor package and the second semiconductor package, thereby preventing an electrical short between the plugs.
US08546937B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor devices includes a first die pad having the conductivity connected to one end of a DC power source, a second die pad having the conductivity connected to the other end of the DC power source, a first switching element provided on the first die pad, receiving DC power from the DC power source via the first die pad, and having a terminal opposite to the first die pad connected to a first output terminal, and a second switching element provided on the second die pad, receiving the DC power from the DC power source via the second die pad, and connected to the first output terminal, and having a terminal opposite to the second die pad.
US08546935B2	Semiconductor packages The invention includes semiconductor packages having grooves within a semiconductor die backside; and includes semiconductor packages utilizing carbon nanostructures (such as, for example, carbon nanotubes) as thermally conductive interface materials. The invention also includes methods of cooling a semiconductor die in which coolant is forced through grooves in a backside of the die, and includes methods of making semiconductor packages.
US08546925B2	Synchronous buck converter having coplanar array of contact bumps of equal volume A packaged power supply module (100) comprising a chip (110) with a first power field effect transistor (FET) and a second chip (120) with a second FET conductively attached side-by-side onto a conductive carrier (130), the transistors having bond pads of a first area (210) and the carrier having bond pads of a second area (230) smaller than the first area. Conductive bumps (114, 115, 124, 125) attached to the transistor bond pads and conductive bumps (126) attached to the carrier bond pads have equal volume and are coplanar (150), the bumps on the transistor pads having a first height and the bumps on the carrier pads having a second height greater than the first height.
US08546923B2	Rigid power module suited for high-voltage applications Method for manufacturing a rigid power module with a layer that is electrically insulating and conducts well thermally and has been deposited as a coating, the structure having sprayed-on particles that are fused to each other, of at least one material that is electrically insulating and conducts well thermally, having the following steps: manufacturing a one-piece lead frame; populating the lead frame with semiconductor devices, possible passive components, and bonding corresponding connections, inserting the thus populated lead frame into a compression mold so that accessibility of part areas of the lead frame is ensured, pressing a thermosetting compression molding compound into the mold while enclosing the populated lead frame, coating the underside of the thus populated lead frame by thermal spraying in at least the electrically conducting areas and overlapping also the predominant areas of the spaces, filled with mold compound.
US08546915B2	Integrated circuits having place-efficient capacitors and methods for fabricating the same An integrated circuit having a place-efficient capacitor includes a lower capacitor electrode having a surface area comprised of an inner surface area of a partial opening and a via opening formed in a patterned dielectric layer on a semiconductor substrate, a capacitor insulating layer overlying the lower capacitor electrode, and an upper capacitor electrode including a metal fill material filling the partial opening and the via opening and having a surface area that includes the inner surface area of the partial opening and via opening.
US08546912B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device such as an ID chip of the present invention includes an integrated circuit using a semiconductor element formed by using a thin semiconductor film, and an antenna connected to the integrated circuit. It is preferable that the antenna is formed integrally with the integrated circuit, since the mechanical strength of an ID chip can be enhanced. Note that the antenna used in the present invention also includes a conducting wire that is wound round circularly or spirally and fine particles of a soft magnetic material are arranged between the conducting wires. Specifically, an insulating layer in which fine particles of a soft magnetic material are arranged between the conducting wires. Specifically, an insulating layer in which fine particles of a soft magnetic material are included is arranged between the conducting wires.
US08546910B2	Semiconductor structure and method for manufacturing the same The present invention provides a semiconductor structure, which comprises a substrate, a semiconductor base, a cavity, a gate stack, sidewall spacers, source/drain regions and a contact layer; wherein, the gate stack is located on the semiconductor base, the sidewall spacers are located on sidewalls of the gate stack, the source/drain regions are embedded within the semiconductor base and located on both sides of the gate stack, the cavity is embedded within the substrate, and the semiconductor base is suspended over the cavity, the thickness in the middle portion of the semiconductor base is greater than the thicknesses at both ends of the semiconductor base in a direction along the gate length, and both ends of the semiconductor base are connected with the substrate in a direction along the gate width; the contact layer covers exposed surfaces of the source/drain regions. Accordingly, the present invention further provides a method for manufacturing a semiconductor structure, which is favorable for reducing the contact resistance at the source/drain regions, enhancing the device performance, lowering the cost and simplifying the manufacturing process.
US08546908B2	High efficiency amplifier with reduced parasitic capacitance A semiconductor amplifier is provided comprising, a substrate and one or more unit amplifying cells (UACs) formed on the substrate, wherein each UAC is laterally surrounded by a first lateral dielectric filled trench (DFT) isolation wall extending at least to the substrate and multiple UACs are surrounded by a second lateral DFT isolation wall of similar depth outside the first isolation walls, and further semiconductor regions lying between the first isolation walls when two or more unit cells are present, and/or lying between the first and second isolation walls, are electrically floating with respect to the substrate. This reduces the parasitic capacitance of the amplifying cells and improves the power added efficiency. Excessive leakage between buried layer contacts when using high resistivity substrates is avoided by providing a further semiconductor layer of intermediate doping between the substrate and the buried layer contacts.
US08546904B2	Integrated circuit with temperature increasing element and electronic system having the same To provide an integrated circuit with functionality under environment with temperature lower than a working condition, the integrated circuit is designed to include a heating element incorporated with signal pins on a carrier, such as a lead frame, that supports a chip die and controlled by a heating control unit to increase temperature of the chip die. The heating control unit provides voltage for the heating element when a detecting unit detects that the temperature of the chip die falls below a predetermined temperature and a power control unit provide operation power for the chip die when the temperature of the chip die detected by the detecting unit reaches or falls above the predetermined temperature.
US08546902B2	Photoelectric conversion device and manufacturing method thereof The present invention, in a photoelectric conversion device in which a pixel including a photoelectric conversion device for converting a light into a signal charge and a peripheral circuit including a circuit for processing the signal charge outside a pixel region in which the pixel are disposed on the same substrate, comprising: a first semiconductor region of a first conductivity type for forming the photoelectric region, the first semiconductor region being formed in a second semiconductor region of a second conductivity type; and a third semiconductor region of the first conductivity type and a fourth semiconductor region of the second conductivity type for forming the peripheral circuit, the third and fourth semiconductor regions being formed in the second semiconductor region; wherein in that the impurity concentration of the first semiconductor region is higher than the impurity concentration of the third semiconductor region.
US08546901B2	High sensitivity image sensors including a single electron field effect transistor and methods of operating the same A high sensitivity image sensor including a pixel, the pixel including a single electron field effect transistor (SEFET), the SEFET including a first conductive type well in a second conductive type substrate, second conductive type source and drain regions in the well and a first conductive type gate region in the well between the source and the drain regions.
US08546898B2	Optoelectronic light exposure memory An optoelectronic memory cell has a transparent top electrode, a photoactive layer, a latching layer, and a bottom electrode. The photoactive layer absorbs photons transmitted through the top electrode and generates charge carriers. During light exposure, the latching layer changes its resistance under an applied electric field in response to the generation of charge carriers in the photoactive layer.
US08546896B2	Magnetic tunneling junction elements having magnetic substructures(s) with a perpendicular anisotropy and memories using such magnetic elements A method and system for providing a magnetic substructure usable in a magnetic device, as well as a magnetic element and memory using the substructure are described. The magnetic substructure includes a plurality of ferromagnetic layers and a plurality of nonmagnetic layers. The plurality of ferromagnetic layers are interleaved with the plurality of nonmagnetic layers. The plurality of ferromagnetic layers are immiscible with and chemically stable with respect to the plurality of nonmagnetic layers. The plurality of ferromagnetic layers are substantially free of a magnetically dead layer-producing interaction with the plurality of nonmagnetic layers. Further, the plurality of nonmagnetic layers induce a perpendicular anisotropy in the plurality of ferromagnetic layers. The magnetic substructure is configured to be switchable between a plurality of stable magnetic states when a write current is passed through the magnetic substructure.
US08546893B2	Devices, components and methods combining trench field plates with immobile electrostatic charge N-channel power semiconductor devices in which an insulated field plate is coupled to the drift region, and immobile electrostatic charge is also present at the interface between the drift region and the insulation around the field plate. The electrostatic charge permits OFF-state voltage drop to occur near the source region, in addition to the voltage drop which occurs near the drain region (due to the presence of the field plate).
US08546891B2	Fin profile structure and method of making same A FinFET device may include a first semiconductor fin laterally adjacent a second semiconductor fin. The first semiconductor fin and the second semiconductor fin may have profiles to minimize defects and deformation. The first semiconductor fin comprises an upper portion and a lower portion. The lower portion of the first semiconductor fin may have a flared profile that is wider at the bottom than the upper portion of the first semiconductor fin. The second semiconductor fin comprises an upper portion and a lower portion. The lower portion of the second semiconductor fin may have a flared profile that is wider than the upper portion of the second semiconductor fin, but less than the lower portion of the first semiconductor fin.
US08546888B2	Isolation regions Methods and apparatus are provided. An isolation region is formed by lining a trench formed in a substrate with a first dielectric layer by forming the first dielectric layer adjoining exposed substrate surfaces within the trench using a high-density plasma process, forming a layer of spin-on dielectric material on the first dielectric layer so as to fill a remaining portion of the trench, and densifying the layer of spin-on dielectric material.
US08546887B2	Semiconductor devices A semiconductor device including a driving region and a dummy region disposed at both side of the driving region includes a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of active regions spaced from each by equal distances in the driving region, a dummy active region in the dummy region, and a guard ring region surrounding the active regions and the dummy active regions. The distance between the dummy active region and the active region nearest to the dummy active region is substantially the same as each distance between adjacent ones of the active regions, and is smaller than the distance between the dummy active region and a portion of the guard ring region nearest to the dummy active region.
US08546885B2	Metal gate electrode of a field effect transistor An integrated circuit fabrication is disclosed, and more particularly a field effect transistor with a low resistance metal gate electrode is disclosed. An exemplary structure for a metal gate electrode of a field effect transistor comprises a lower portion formed of a first metal material, wherein the lower portion has a recess, a bottom portion and sidewall portions, wherein each of the sidewall portions has a first width; and an upper portion formed of a second metal material, wherein the upper portion has a protrusion and a bulk portion, wherein the bulk portion has a second width, wherein the protrusion extends into the recess, wherein a ratio of the second width to the first width is from about 5 to 10.
US08546883B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a second conductive-type deep well configured above a substrate. The deep well includes an ion implantation region and a diffusion region. A first conductive-type first well is formed in the diffusion region. A gate electrode extends over portions of the ion implantation region and of the diffusion region, and partially overlaps the first well. The ion implantation region has a uniform impurity concentration whereas the impurity concentration of the diffusion region varies from being the highest concentration at the boundary interface between the ion implantation region and the diffusion region to being the lowest at the portion of the diffusion region that is the farthest away from the boundary interface.
US08546882B2	Terminal structure for superjunction device and method of manufacturing the same A terminal structure for superjunction device is disclosed. The terminal structure comprises from inside out at least one P type implantation ring and several P type trench rings formed in an N type epitaxial layer to form alternating P type and N type regions. A channel cut-off ring is formed at the border of the device. The P type implantation ring is formed adjacent to the active area of the device and covers at least one trench ring. A terminal dielectric layer is formed to cover the P type implantation ring and the trench rings. A plurality of field plates are formed above the terminal dielectric layer. Methods of manufacturing terminal structure are also disclosed.
US08546881B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a second conductive-type well configured over a substrate, a first conductive-type body region configured over the second conductive-type well, a gate electrode which overlaps a portion of the first conductive-type body region, and a first conductive-type channel extension region formed over the substrate and which overlaps a portion of the gate electrode.
US08546879B2	High density lateral DMOS with recessed source contact The present disclosure discloses a lateral DMOS with recessed source contact and method for making the same. The lateral DMOS comprises a recessed source contact which has a portion recessed into a source region to reach a body region of the lateral DMOS. The lateral DMOS according to various embodiments of the present invention may have greatly reduced size and may be cost saving for fabrication.
US08546875B1	Vertical transistor having edge termination structure Described herein are embodiments of a vertical power transistor having drain and gate terminals located on the same side of a semiconductor body and capable of withstanding high voltages in the off-state, in particular voltages of more than 100V.
US08546873B2	Integrated circuit and method of fabrication thereof A method of forming an integrated circuit structure comprising the steps of forming a first and second device region on a surface of a wafer, forming a spacer of a first width on a sidewall of a first gate stack in the first device region, forming a spacer of a second width on a sidewall of a second gate stack in the second device region, with the first width being different from the second width.
US08546871B2	Non-volatile memory cell and fabricating method thereof A non-volatile memory cell includes a substrate, two charge trapping structures, a gate oxide layer, a gate and two doping regions. The charge trapping structures are disposed on the substrate separately. The gate oxide layer is disposed on the substrate between the two charge trapping structures. The gate is disposed on the gate oxide layer and the charge trapping structures, wherein the charge trapping structures protrude from two sides of the gate. The doping regions are disposed in the substrate at two sides of the gate.
US08546866B2	Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device capable of preventing a silicide short A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention including, a first gate electrode formed above a semiconductor substrate via a first insulating film, having a projecting part which projects in upper direction with a certain width; a second gate electrode formed beside a side surface of the first gate electrode via a second insulating film; two side walls having insulation properties formed on a side surface of the second gate electrode and a side surface of the projecting part respectively; and a silicide layer formed on an upper surface of the projecting part and a part of a surface of the second gate electrode, wherein a width of the projecting part is smaller than a width of the first gate electrode below the projecting part.
US08546865B2	Nonvolatile memory device having stacked semiconductor layers and common source line adjacent to bit line plug Provided is a nonvolatile memory device having a three dimensional structure. The nonvolatile memory device includes a plurality of stacked semiconductor layers and a plurality of memory cell transistors which is formed on each of a plurality of semiconductor layers and serially connected. Memory cell transistors disposed on different semiconductor layers are serially connected to include one cell string forming a current path in a plurality of semiconductor layers, a first selection transistor serially connected to one edge portion of the cell string and a second selection transistor serially connected to the other edge portion of the cell string.
US08546863B2	Nonvolatile memory cell comprising a nanowire and manufacturing method thereof A memory cell, the memory cell comprising a substrate, a nanowire extending along a vertical trench formed in the substrate, a control gate surrounding the nanowire, and a charge storage structure formed between the control gate and the nanowire.
US08546862B2	Memory cell, an array, and a method for manufacturing a memory cell A memory cell (100) comprising a transistor, the transistor comprising a substrate (101), a first source/drain region (102), a second source/drain region (112), a gate (104) and a gate insulating layer (103) positioned between the substrate (101) and the gate (104), wherein the gate insulating layer (103) is in a direct contact with the substrate (101) and comprises charge traps (131) distributed over an entire volume of the gate insulating layer (101).
US08546860B2	Stress engineering to reduce dark current of CMOS image sensors This disclosure relates to an active pixel cell including a shallow trench isolation (STI) structure. The active pixel cell further includes a photodiode neighboring the STI structure, where a first stress resulted from substrate processing prior to deposition of a pre-metal dielectric layer increases dark current and white cell counts of a photodiode of the active pixel cell. The active pixel cell further includes a transistor, where the transistor controls the operation of the active pixel cell. The active pixel cell further includes a stress layer over the photodiode, the STI structure, and the transistor, and the stress layer has a second stress that counters the first stress exerted on the substrate, and the second stress reduces the dark current and the white cell counts caused by the first stress.
US08546858B2	Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the same. According to the present invention, a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: forming a recess on a semiconductor substrate; forming a first gate electrode material and a hard mask layer on an entire surface including the recess; etching the hard mask layer and the first gate electrode material to form the first gate electrode pattern on a lower portion of inside of the recess; forming a second gate electrode material on an entire surface including the recess; and etching the second gate electrode material and separating the second gate electrode material.
US08546856B2	Shallow trench isolation for a memory In some embodiments, a gate structure with a spacer on its side may be used as a mask to form self-aligned trenches in a microelectronic memory, such as a flash memory. A first portion of the gate structure may be used to form the mask, together with sidewall spacers, in some embodiments. Then, after forming the shallow trench isolations, a second portion of the gate structure may be added to form a mushroom shaped gate structure.
US08546854B2	Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same A semiconductor device includes an isolation layer formed on a semiconductor substrate; an active region defined by the isolation layer; at least one gate line formed to overlap with the active region; at least one first active tab formed on a first interface of the active region which overlaps with the gate line; and a first gate tab formed on a second interface facing away from the first interface in such a way as to project from the gate line.
US08546853B2	Materials, systems and methods for optoelectronic devices A photodetector is described along with corresponding materials, systems, and methods. The photodetector comprises an integrated circuit and at least two optically sensitive layers. A first optically sensitive layer is over at least a portion of the integrated circuit, and a second optically sensitive layer is over the first optically sensitive layer. Each optically sensitive layer is interposed between two electrodes. The two electrodes include a respective first electrode and a respective second electrode. The integrated circuit selectively applies a bias to the electrodes and reads signals from the optically sensitive layers. The signal is related to the number of photons received by the respective optically sensitive layer.
US08546848B2	Nitride semiconductor device A nitride semiconductor device includes: a main semiconductor region comprising a first nitride semiconductor layer having a first band gap, and a second nitride semiconductor layer having a second band gap larger than the first band gap, a heterojunction being formed between the first nitride semiconductor layer and a the second nitride semiconductor layer such that two-dimensional electron gas layer can be caused inside the first nitride semiconductor layer based on the heterojunction; a source electrode formed on the main semiconductor region; a drain electrode formed on the main semiconductor region and separated from the source electrode; a third nitride semiconductor layer formed on the first nitride semiconductor layer and between the source electrode and the drain electrode; and a gate electrode formed on the third nitride semiconductor layer. The third nitride semiconductor layer has a third band gap smaller than the first band gap.
US08546847B2	Semiconductor device and power conversion apparatus using the same A semiconductor device provides a gate electrode formed on a lateral face of a wide trench, and thereby the gate electrode is covered by a gate insulating layer and a thick insulating layer to be an inter layer. Therefore, a parasitic capacitance of the gate becomes small, and there is no potential variation of the gate since there is no floating p-layer so that a controllability of the dv/dt can be improved. In addition, the conductive layer between the gate electrodes can relax the electric field applied to the corner of the gate electrode. In consequence, compatibility of low loss and low noise and high reliability can be achieved.
US08546844B2	Process for forming an organic light-emitting diode luminaires having a single light-emitting layer with at least two light-emitting dopants There is provided n organic light-emitting diode luminaire. The luminaire includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a light-emitting layer therebetween. The light-emitting layer includes a small molecule host material having dispersed therein a first dopant having a first emitted color and a second dopant having a second emitted color. The overall emission color is white.
US08546843B2	Light emitting devices Light-emitting devices are provided, the light-emitting devices include a light-emitting structure layer having a first conductive layer, a light-emitting layer and a second conductive layer sequentially stacked on a first of a substrate, a plurality of seed layer patterns formed apart each other in the first conductive layer; and a plurality of first electrodes formed through the substrate, wherein each of the first electrodes extends from a second side of the substrate to each of the seed layer patterns.
US08546842B2	LED chip assembly, LED package, and manufacturing method of LED package Provided is a highly reliable LED package with significantly improved heat radiating properties, manufacturing method of the LED package, and an LED chip assembly used in the LED package. The LED package is characterized in that the LED chip assembly (10) is bonded to a circuit board (11) created by forming metal circuitry (3) on a metal substrate (5) with an insulation layer (4) therebetween, whereas an LED chip (1) of the LED chip assembly and the metal circuitry (3) of the circuit board are connected via an electrical connection member (9), and at least the LED chip assembly and the electrical connection member are encapsulated with resin encapsulant (8) including fluorescent material.
US08546839B2	Light emitting diode A light emitting diode includes a substrate, a first semiconductor layer, an active layer and a second semiconductor layer. The first semiconductor layer, the active layer and the second semiconductor layer are stacked on one side of the substrate in that order. The first semiconductor layer is oriented to the substrate. A number of channels are defined between the first semiconductor layer and the substrate.
US08546833B2	LED package and light emitting device having the same An exemplary LED package includes first and second electrodes, an LED die and an encapsulation. An inner wall of each first and second electrode includes a first oblique plane. The LED die is surrounded by and electrically connected to the first and second electrodes. The LED die includes an outputting surface. The encapsulation is filled between the first electrode ant the second electrode and covers the LED die, and includes opposite first and second outer surfaces, wherein the second outer surface acts as an outputting surface of the LED package. A reflective layer is coated on the first outer surface of the encapsulation. The first oblique plane of the electrode structure is light reflective and extends aslant from the outputting surface of the LED die towards the outputting surface of the LED package along a direction away from the LED die.
US08546828B2	Semiconductor light emitting device having heat dissipating vias The device includes a first ceramic layer; a second ceramic layer on the first ceramic layer and having a light emitting element mounting area; a reflective layer so formed on a surface of the second ceramic layer that the reflective layer covers at least the mounting area; a protective layer which covers the reflective layer; a semiconductor light emitting element mounted on the protective layer positioned above the element mounting area; and at least one heat dissipation via passing through the first ceramic layer. The heat dissipation via is disposed in a position that does not overlap with the element mounting area in a direction in which the ceramic layers are stacked.
US08546825B2	Light emitting device A light emitting device is provided which can prevent a change in gate voltage due to leakage or other causes and at the same time can prevent the aperture ratio from lowering. A capacitor storage is formed from a connection wiring line, an insulating film, and a capacitance wiring line. The connection wiring line is formed over a gate electrode and an active layer of a TFT of a pixel, and is connected to the active layer. The insulating film is formed on the connection wiring line. The capacitance wiring line is formed on the insulating film. This structure enables the capacitor storage to overlap the TFT, thereby increasing the capacity of the capacitor storage while keeping the aperture ratio from lowering. Accordingly, a change in gate voltage due to leakage or other causes can be avoided to prevent a change in luminance of an OLED and flickering of screen in analog driving.
US08546820B2	Display device for controlling an organic light emitting layer thickness A display device includes an array of light emitting cells. Each of the light emitting cells includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and an organic light emitting layer located between the first electrode and the second electrode. Banks are above the first electrode that partition the organic light emitting layer to define each of the light emitting cells. The light emitting cells include a peripheral light emitting cell that is located in a peripheral region of the array. The banks include first and second banks that each border the peripheral light emitting cell. The first bank is closer to a periphery of the array than the second bank. An inclination angle of an innermost sidewall of the first bank that is adjacent the peripheral light emitting cell is greater than an inclination angle of an outermost sidewall of the second bank that is adjacent the peripheral light emitting cell.
US08546819B2	Light emitting device and fabrication method thereof A method of fabricating a vertical light emitting diode including: growing a low doped first semiconductor layer on a sacrificial substrate; forming an aluminum layer on the low doped first semiconductor; forming an AAO layer having a large number of holes formed therein by anodizing the aluminum layer; etching and patterning the low doped first semiconductor layer using the aluminum layer as a shadow mask, thereby forming grooves; removing the aluminum layer remaining; sequentially forming a high doped first semiconductor layer, an active layer and a second semiconductor layer on the low doped first semiconductor layer with the grooves; forming a metal reflective layer and a conductive substrate on the second semiconductor layer; separating the sacrificial substrate; and forming an electrode pad on the other surface of the low doped first semiconductor layer, the electrode pad filled in the grooves and in ohmic contact with the high doped first semiconductor.
US08546807B2	Off-set top pixel electrode configuration A semiconductor device architecture where the top pixel electrode is deposited in an off-set configuration, such as to overlap the COM electrode, and also the gate electrode of the neighboring device.
US08546805B2	Two-beam laser annealing with improved temperature performance Systems and methods are disclosed for performing laser annealing in a manner that reduces or minimizes wafer surface temperature variations during the laser annealing process. The systems and methods include annealing the wafer surface with first and second laser beams that represent preheat and anneal laser beams having respective first and second intensities. The preheat laser beam brings the wafer surface temperate close to the annealing temperature and the anneal laser beam brings the wafer surface temperature up to the annealing temperature. The anneal laser beam can have a different wavelength, or the same wavelength but different orientation relative to the wafer surface. Reflectivity maps of the wafer surface at the preheat and anneal wavelengths are measured and used to select first and second intensities that ensure good anneal temperature uniformity as a function of wafer position.
US08546803B2	Organic light-emitting display and method of manufacturing the same In an organic light-emitting display having superior image quality and device reliability, and a related method of manufacturing the organic light-emitting display, the organic light-emitting display comprises: a gate electrode formed on a substrate; an interlayer insulating film formed on the substrate so as to cover the gate electrode; and a transparent electrode formed on the interlayer insulating film. The interlayer insulating film comprises multiple layers having different refractive indices.
US08546801B2	Semiconductor apparatus manufacturing method and semiconductor apparatus Provided is a semiconductor apparatus which may check a state of connection of a penetrating electrode in a semiconductor substrate with ease. A semiconductor apparatus manufacturing method includes: forming in a semiconductor substrate at least three kinds of the through-holes each having a large area, a middle area, and a small area of openings; forming a conductive layer on an inner surface of the at least three kinds of the through-holes having different areas of the openings to form the penetrating electrodes; and measuring resistance values of the penetrating electrode including the through-hole having the large area of the opening and the penetrating electrode including the through-hole having the small area of the opening among the three kinds of the penetrating electrodes to determine states of connection of the penetrating electrodes.
US08546799B2	Organic light emitting display apparatus An OLED apparatus including a substrate with a lower active layer thereon and including an oxide semiconductor for generating current in response to light; an etching prevention layer on an upper portion of the lower active layer and including a contact hole; a source/drain electrode on the etching prevention layer and electrically connected to the lower active layer through the contact hole; an upper charging electrode on the etching prevention layer and overlapping the lower active layer; a light emitting layer contacting the upper charging electrode for generating light; and a cathode electrode facing the upper charging electrode, wherein the light emitting layer is configured to be driven and emit light in response to a driving voltage applied to the upper charging electrode, and the lower active layer is configured to store current in the oxide semiconductor in response to the driving voltage applied to the upper charging electrode.
US08546797B2	Zinc oxide based compound semiconductor device In a ZnO based compound semiconductor device, nitrogen (N) doped (Mg)ZnO:N layer is inserted as a diffusion barrier layer 9 between a ZnO based n-type layer 3 to which n-type dopants are doped and an active layer 4 or a p-type layer 5. The diffusion barrier layer 9 prevents diffusion of the n-type dopants to the active layer 4 or the p-type layer 5. Crystalline quality of the active layer 4 of the ZnO based compound semiconductor device is not deteriorated by the diffusion of the n-type dopants.
US08546790B2	Memory device and semiconductor device The present invention is to provide a semiconductor device in which the step can be simplified, the manufacturing cost can be suppressed, and the decrease in yield can be suppressed. A semiconductor device of the present invention includes an antenna, a storage element, and a transistor, wherein a conductive layer serving as an antenna is provided in the same layer as a conductive layer of the transistor or the storage element. This characteristic makes it possible to omit an independent step of forming the conductive layer serving as an antenna and to conduct the step of forming the conductive layer serving as an antenna at the same time as the step of forming a conductive layer of another element. Therefore, the manufacturing step can be simplified, the manufacturing cost can be suppressed, and the decrease in yield can be suppressed.
US08546789B2	Volatile negative differential resistance device using metal nanoparticles Disclosed herein is a volatile negative differential resistance device using metal nanoparticles, the device includes an organic layer disposed between two metal electrodes, in which the organic layer includes uniformly dispersed metal nanoparticles having a diameter of about 10 nm or less in an organic material. The device of this invention exhibits a volatile negative differential resistance phenomenon at room temperature upon application of a voltage and is thus suitable for use in various switching devices and logic devices, with excellent reproducibility and simple inexpensive processing.
US08546781B2	Nitrogen doped aluminum oxide resistive random access memory A resistive random access memory (RRAM) device is provided that includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a resistance-change film disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, where the resistance-change film includes an atomic ratio of aluminum, oxygen and nitrogen.
US08546775B2	Method and arrangement for the stabilization of the source location of the generation of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation based on a discharge plasma The invention is directed to a method and an apparatus for stabilizing the source location during the generation of EUV radiation based on a discharge plasma. The object of finding a novel possibility for stabilizing the source location during the generation of EUV radiation which allows changes in position of the source location to be compensated in a simple manner during the operation of the radiation source is met according to the invention in that a first beam aligning unit (7), a second beam aligning unit (4), and a beam focusing unit (5) are arranged in the vaporization beam (3) and are connected to first to third measuring devices (8, 9, 10) and can be adjusted in order to acquire and compensate for direction deviations and divergence deviations of the vaporization beam (3) with respect to reference values.
US08546772B2	Compensator for multiple surface imaging A system and method for imaging biological samples on multiple surfaces of a support structure are disclosed. The support structure may be a flow cell through which a reagent fluid is allowed to flow and interact with the biological samples. Excitation radiation from at least one radiation source may be used to excite the biological samples on multiple surfaces. In this manner, fluorescent emission radiation may be generated from the biological samples and subsequently captured and detected by detection optics and at least one detector. The detected fluorescent emission radiation may then be used to generate image data. This imaging of multiple surfaces may be accomplished either sequentially or simultaneously. In addition, the techniques of the present invention may be used with any type of imaging system. For instance, both epifluorescent and total internal reflection methods may benefit from the techniques of the present invention.
US08546766B2	Sensing UV dosage of a fluid stream Devices and Methods for sensing UV dosage of a fluid stream are described. In a first aspect, a device 22 has a first sensor arrangement 44 for measuring a flow speed of the fluid and a second sensor arrangement 50 for measuring an intensity of UV light radiation. A dosage calculation unit 36 calculates a dosage value from measurements of the sensor arrangements 44, 50. The first sensor arrangement includes a resistive electrical component 32 in thermal contact with the fluid. The electrical component 32 may be heated by an electrical current and has a temperature dependent electrical resistance. Thus, the first sensor arrangement may be used to determine the flow speed of the fluid from a cooling rate of the resistive electrical component 32. According to a second aspect, a device 70 includes at least one UV sensor component 76 for measuring an intensity of UV light irradiation. A data storage 82 for storing intensity or dosage values and an electrical power storage 88 are provided. The device is adapted to freely float within the fluid stream. As such, the device 70 may be inserted into a fluid flowing through a channel, and a dosage value may be determined from data stored in the data storage after the device 70 has passed through the channel.
US08546765B2	High dynamic range X-ray detector with improved signal to noise ratio An x-ray detector and its pixel circuit are described, that allow to cover a large dynamic range with automatic selection of the sensitivity setting in each pixel, thus providing improved signal to noise ratio with all exposure levels. X-ray detectors are required to cover a large dynamic range. The largest exposure determines the required pixel capacitance. However, a large pixel capacitance gives a bad signal to noise ratio with small exposures e.g. in the dark parts of the image. This invention disclosure describes several approaches to provide automatic sensitivity selection in the pixels. This ensures that low signals are stored in a small capacitor or read out with a high sensitivity with corresponding good signal to noise ratio, while larger signals are stored in larger capacitors or are read out with lower sensitivity so that no information is lost.
US08546764B1	Active X-ray sensing circuit and the sensing method thereof The present invention provides an active X-ray sensing circuit and the sensing method thereof, it is applied in X-ray panel. The X-ray sensing circuit comprises two row of pixel circuit, and the two row of pixel circuit shares one scan line, and each data line connects with two switches. It is compensated the threshold voltage when it switches to the current source. It operates reading when it switches to amplifier. By applying specific scan line signal, the last-row pixel circuit is compensated and the next-row pixel row is read at the same time, so that the sensing circuit array can compensate and sense in one scan to avoid the effect of the leakage current.
US08546761B2	Bellows actuated infrared (IR) stage The embodiments of the present invention are directed to addressing the complexity, sample geometry, and even pressure feedback issues associated with mechanical-only mechanisms. In particular, by utilizing one or more bellows capsules in an attenuated total internal reflection (ATR) instrument as a pressure vessel that can expand, contract, and tilt in all directions, the mechanisms disclosed herein can substantially apply uniform pressure to an interposed sample surface to include non-orthogonal sample surfaces, and thus conform to any sample geometry within such instruments. The result of the novel arrangements described herein is to provide a user with a convenient and simple interface for operating the interrogating ATR optical instrument.
US08546753B2	Method and apparatus for multiple electrospray emitters in mass spectrometry An electrospray ion source apparatus comprises: a plurality of emitter capillaries, each comprising an internal bore for transporting a portion of a liquid sample from a source, an electrode portion for providing a first applied electric potential and an emitter tip for emitting a cloud of charged particles generated from the liquid sample portion; a counter electrode for providing a second applied electric potential different from the first applied electric potential; and at least one shield electrode disposed at least partially between the counter electrode and the emitter tip of at least one of the emitter capillaries for providing a third applied electric potential intermediate to the first and second applied electric potentials, wherein the at least one shield electrode is configured such that provision of the third applied electric potential to the at least one shield electrode minimizes electric field interference effects between the plurality of emitter capillaries.
US08546752B2	Solid-phase extraction (SPE) tips and methods of use Methods and systems for extraction of analytes from samples for analysis using mass spectrometers are described herein.
US08546749B2	Intrinsic radioactivity in a scintillator as count rate reference Methods and related systems are described for the detection of nuclear radiation. The system can include a scintillator material that intrinsically generates radiation and a photodetection system coupled to the scintillator material and adapted to generate electrical signals based on light emitted from the scintillator material. A processing system adapted and programmed to receive the electrical signals, to generate a count rate reference value based at least in part on electrical signals generated in response to the light emitted from the scintillator material due to the intrinsically generated radiation.
US08546747B2	Rotary encoder and optical apparatus The rotary encoder includes a rotary scale in which a spiral pattern is formed, and a sensor unit including a light source and a first light-receiving part that detects light entering via the spiral pattern. A first reading area where the first light-receiving part reads the spiral pattern includes at least one cycle of the spiral pattern in a radial direction over an entire rotational angle range of the rotary scale. The first light-receiving part outputs sinusoidal signals corresponding to a radial cycle of the spiral pattern. The signal processor produces a first phase signal from two phase sinusoidal signals produced based on the sinusoidal signals output from the first light-receiving part, and produces, based on the first phase signal, a rotational angle signal showing a rotational angle of the rotary scale.
US08546745B2	Optoelectronic position measurement device having a guided beam path in the interior of a code carrier and optoelectronic position measurement method An optoelectronic position measurement device having a code carrier that carries at least one optically registered position code and that is illuminated with optical radiation from a radiation source. At least one portion of the optical radiation is registered by at least one registration element, by means of which a signal dependent on the position code can be created and a position of the code carrier relative to the registration element can thus be registered. the code carrier is movable relative to the registration element with a degree of freedom. the optical radiation couples into the code carrier and is guided at least partially in a beam path in the interior of the code carrier lying in the extension level of the code carrier. The decoupling of the optical radiation occurs in a decoupling zone such that the registration element is illuminated by a substantially homogenous intensity distribution.
US08546743B2	Encoder in which the relative displacement between the encoder scale and encoder head is detected An encoder detects a relative displacement between an encoder scale and an encoder head. The encoder head incorporates a light source, a light-receiving element to receive light from the light source via the encoder scale, and a signal-processing circuit to process an electrical signal from the light-receiving element. The encoder has a signal detection unit, a signal discrimination unit, and a switching unit. The signal detection unit is activated selectively in accordance with setting. When activated, the signal detection unit detects one or more signals having an almost sinusoidal waveform from the encoder head. The signal discrimination unit is activated selectively in accordance with setting. When activated, the signal discrimination unit determines the waveform of one or more signals having an almost sinusoidal waveform from the signal detection unit. The switching unit switches the current to be supplied to the light source to one of various magnitudes.
US08546742B2	Array of nanowires in a single cavity with anti-reflective coating on substrate An embodiment relates to image sensor comprising one or more nanowires on a substrate of a cavity, the nanowire being configured to transmit a first portion of an electromagnetic radiation beam incident on the sensor, and the substrate that absorbs a second portion of the electromagnetic radiation beam incident on the sensor, wherein the first portion is substantially different from the second portion. The substrate could have a anti-reflective material. The ratio of a diameter of the cavity to a diameter of the nanowire could be at less than about 10.
US08546739B2	Manufacturing method of wafer level chip scale package of image-sensing module A manufacturing method of a wafer level chip scale package of an image-sensing module is provided. The method includes providing a wafer having a plurality of die regions, and a plurality of sensing units is formed on a surface of the wafer in each die region. A plurality of lens units is formed on the sensing units, wherein each lens unit includes a lens and an edge wall that are integrally formed. A light-shielding film is also formed on a surface of at least one edge wall of at least one lens units. A dicing process is then performed on the wafer to form a plurality of image sensor chips.
US08546735B2	Microwave oven A microwave oven is provided. A barrier member prevents airflow provided by a fan assembly from being introduced again to the fan assembly. A separation member divides the airflow provided by the fan assembly to cool a first component and a second component. Thus, the components are efficiently cooled.
US08546734B2	Adjustable magnetic separator A magnetic separator for spacing a plurality of workpieces in face-to-face relationship includes upper and lower guide plates that define a passage having an inlet opening and an outlet opening for workpieces moving through the separator, with the inlet opening having a funnel-shaped configuration adapted to admit and align any misaligned workpieces moving into the passage. Upper and lower pole pieces adjacent the upper and lower guide plates provide a magnetic field operative to orient workpieces in the passage. The upper guide plate has an intermediate portion that extends between an inlet and outlet end portions of the upper guide plate, with the inlet end portion extending transverse to the intermediate portion of the upper guide plate. The passage has an intermediate portion disposed between the inlet opening and outlet openings, with the inlet opening being substantially larger in cross-sectional area than the intermediate portion of the passage.
US08546725B2	Laser beam machining device and method for adjusting the focal position A laser beam machining device includes at least one laser beam source for acting upon at least one workpiece using an annular laser focus. Means are provided for imaging the laser radiation reflected from the workpiece on a sensor unit. A method for adjusting the focal position of an annular laser focus in relation to at least one workpiece is also provided.
US08546724B2	Apparatus and method for controlling laser cutting through surface plasma monitoring The apparatus and method for controlling laser cutting through surface plasma monitoring provides real-time monitoring and control of laser cutting quality. Laser cutting of a workpiece is controlled through monitoring of surface plasma generation, particularly during a laser gas-assisted cutting process. The apparatus includes a Langmuir probe positioned adjacent the impingement point of the laser beam on the workpiece. The Langmuir probe is in communication with a signal analyzer for measuring electrical voltage generated by plasma generated by the cutting of the workpiece. A controller is provided for comparing the measured electrical voltage with a desired threshold voltage. Control signals are generated to selectively adjust output power of the laser responsive to the compared measured electrical voltage and the desired threshold voltage to minimize plasma generation.
US08546723B2	Forming holes using laser energy A method for generating via-hole interconnections by laser ablation, wherein the layers to be removed and ablated from the substrate are essentially transparent to the laser radiation, but the laser light is absorbed in an underlying absorbing layer with a sufficiently high optical density at the laser wavelength.
US08546717B2	Electron beam layer manufacturing A process and apparatus for free form fabrication of a three-dimensional work piece comprising (a) feeding raw material in a solid state to a first predetermined location; (b) depositing the raw material onto a substrate as a molten pool deposit under a first processing condition; (c) monitoring the molten pool deposit for a preselected condition; (d) comparing information about the preselected condition of the monitored molten pool deposit with a predetermined desired value for the preselected condition of the monitored molten pool deposit; (e) solidifying the molten pool deposit; (f) automatically altering the first processing condition to a different processing condition based upon information obtained from the comparing step (d); and repeating steps (a) through (f) at one or more second locations for building up layer by layer a three-dimensional work piece. The apparatus is characterized by a detector that monitors a preselected condition of the deposited material and a closed loop electronic control device for controlling operation of one or more components of the apparatus in response to a detected condition by the detector.
US08546714B2	Button assembly and electronic device having the same An electronic device includes a panel, a button assembly, and a circuit board. The panel defines an opening. The button assembly is mounted to the rear surface of the panel, and includes a button partially received in the opening of the panel, a base plate fixed to the rear side of the button, and a substantially U-shaped balance bar. The button includes a push portion and two protrusions rearwards extending through the base plate. An end of the balance bar is movably connected to the rear side of the base plate, and an opposite end of the balance bar is pivotably connected to the protrusions of the button. The circuit board is fixed behind the button assembly, and includes a switch aligning with the push portion of the button. When the button is pressed, the balance bar restricts the button to just move linearly to the switch.
US08546709B2	Structure for preventing misoperation of flashlight A structure for preventing misoperation of a flashlight is configured to prevent a flashlight from being unintentionally turned on. The structure includes a safety pin and a slide power switch slidably provided on the flashlight. The slide power switch has a recess for removably receiving the safety pin. An embrasure-like channel is provided at a lower part of the safety pin for matching a T-shaped base in an accommodating area of the flashlight. A retaining portion is provided at the T-shaped base for retaining a bulge formed inside the channel of the safety pin when the structure is not in use. When the safety pin is pushed toward the slide power switch, the bulge climbs over the retainer and is then engaged with the recess of the slide power switch. Thereby, the flashlight not in use is secured from misoperation, namely being unintentionally turned on.
US08546707B2	In-vehicle input device An in-vehicle input device includes a housing including a supporting member; an operating knob including a shaft hole (supported part) and supported by the supporting member in such a manner that the operating knob rocks; and a switch (a moving contact of a bulge and a fixed contact of a main substrate) operated by rocking the operating knob, wherein the operating knob has a notch defining an opening intersecting with a rocking axis on a first side intersecting with the rocking axis, and wherein a rotary knob, which is an operating (second operating knob) corresponding to another switch, is disposed in the notch.
US08546702B2	Ultrasonic bonding of discrete plastic parts to metal Electronic devices and other apparatuses that include plastic parts ultrasonically bonded to metal parts are disclosed. A first component or part includes a metallic surface region having a surface roughness with one or more surface irregularities. A second component or part formed from a plastic material that can include an energy director is attached to the metallic surface region via an ultrasonic bond, such that a portion of the plastic material is melted or otherwise formed into the surface irregularities to attach the two components or parts together. The parts can be housings, internal components or other items. The surface irregularities can be formed as a result of a chemical etching process, a machining process, or a combination thereof, and can result in the creation of undercuts or cavities in the metallic surface region.
US08546693B2	Cable with twisted pairs of insulated conductors and filler elements A cable includes twisted pairs of insulated conductors. Each twisted pair includes two insulated conductors twisted together in a helical manner. The twisted pairs are grouped together to define a central core of the cable. An inner filler element is wrapped helically around the twisted pairs of the central core. An outer filler element is wrapped helically around the twisted pairs of the central core. The outer filler element is wrapped over the inner filler element.
US08546692B2	Strippable semiconductive composition comprising low melt temperature polyolefin The present invention relates to a semiconductive polymer composition having easily controllable stripping characteristics, especially for an electric power cable. The semiconductive polymer composition has an ethylene copolymer having polar co-monomer units, wherein the amount of the polar co-monomer units in the ethylene copolymer is 10 wt. % or more, based on the total weight of the ethylene copolymer; an olefin copolymer having propylene monomer units and ethylene monomer units, wherein the olefin copolymer has a melting point of 110° C. or less, and carbon black in an amount of from 10 to 50 wt. %, based on the total weight of the semiconductive polymer composition, wherein the olefin copolymer (B) is prepared by using a metallocene polymerization catalyst.
US08546691B2	Differential signal transmission cable A differential signal transmission cable includes a pair of differential signal lines arranged in parallel to each other, an insulation for bundle-covering the pair of differential signal lines, and a shield conductor wound around an outer periphery of the insulation. The insulation is configured such that an outer circumference thereof in a cross section perpendicular to a longitudinal direction thereof has an oval shape formed with a continuous convex arc-curve. The oval shape has a width in a first direction along the arrangement direction of the pair of differential signal lines being larger than a width in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction.
US08546683B2	Electrically conductive glass and photoelectric conversion element using the same The electrically conductive glass is obtained by providing a transparent electrically conductive film 12 such as ITO or FTO on a glass plate, and providing a grid including a film of a passivated metal on this transparent electrically conductive film. An insulating, fine oxide film formed on the surface of the passivated metal prevents leakage current from flowing from the grid to an electrolyte. In addition, leakage current is prevented from flowing from the transparent electrically conductive film to the electrolyte by providing a diffusion-preventing film including titanium or titanium oxide between the transparent electrically conductive film and the grid.
US08546680B2	Energy efficient micro combustion system for power generation and fuel processing An integrated micro-scale power converter converts hydrocarbon fuel into electricity. The integrated micro-scale power converter includes a micromachined combustor adapted to convert hydrocarbon fuel into thermal energy and a micromachined thermoelectric generator adapted to convert the thermal energy into electrical energy. The combustion reaction in the combustor flows in a path in a first plane while the thermal energy flows in a second plane in the generator the second plane being nearly orthogonal or orthogonal to the first plane. The fuel handler in the combustor is adjacent and thermally isolated from the thermoelectric generator. The fuel handler may include a nozzle and gas flow switch, where the frequency of activation of the gas flow switch controls the amount of the fuel ejected from the nozzle.

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