| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08621661B2 |
Electrical-mechanical complex sensor for nanomaterials
Disclosed is an electrical-mechanical complex sensor for nanomaterials, including: a detector having a piezoelectric film therein, for measuring a mechanical property of a nanomaterial when a bending or tensile load is applied to the nanomaterial; a first detection film formed at an end of the detector to measure the mechanical property and an electrical property of the nanomaterial) in real time at the same time, when the nanomaterial contacts the first detection film; and a support to which one end of the detector is integrally connected, for supporting the detector. |
| US08621658B2 |
Magnetic field observation device and magnetic field observation method
A magnetic-field-observation device and method for measuring magnetic force near a magnetic material specimen's surface with high resolution and detecting the polarity of the magnetic pole of specimen's surface. The device including: a probe; excitation mechanism that excites it; scanning mechanism that relatively moves the probe and specimen; alternating magnetic field generation mechanism to make the probe periodically undergo magnetization reversal and apply thereto an alternating magnetic field having magnitude not making the specimen undergo magnetization reversal; and modulation measurement mechanism for measuring degree of periodical frequency modulation of the probe's oscillation caused by its apparent spring constant periodically changed by force of periodically changed intensity and applied to the probe by alternating force through magnetic interaction between magnetizations of the probe and specimen, by frequency demodulation or by measuring intensity of one sideband wave spectrum among spectrums generated by the frequency modulation. The method performed using the device. |
| US08621657B2 |
Device and method for protecting an electronic system against unauthorized access
The invention relates to an electronic system comprising a printed circuit contained in a package. The system comprises a protection device comprising conducting tracks carried by the printed circuit and each having a free end; a first integrated circuit connected to the conducting tracks and adapted for detecting a variation in the capacitance seen by each conducting track; and a second integrated circuit, optionally merged with the first integrated circuit, comprising a configurable memory for selecting certain of the conducting tracks. The second integrated circuit is adapted for determining that an authorized or unauthorized access has occurred on the basis of the detection of the variation of the capacitance seen by at least one of the selected conducting tracks. |
| US08621646B2 |
Method and system for authenticating a user receiving device into a primary service provider system to communicate with a partner service provider
A method and system for authenticating a user receiving device to communicate with a partner service device includes a primary service provider. A user receiving device generates a request for a first encrypted token. The user receiving device communicates the request for the first encrypted token to an authentication web service of the primary service provider. The authentication web service generates the first encrypted token. The primary service provider communicates the first encrypted token to the user receiving device. The user receiving device communicates the first encrypted token to the partner service provider. The partner service provider communicates data to the user receiving device after receiving the first encrypted token. |
| US08621645B1 |
Providing information based on context
A method, apparatus, and computer readable medium that receives a request to output content with a computing apparatus in a vehicle. Privacy information associated with the content is identified. Environmental data associated with the vehicle is determined, the environmental data including at least a number of occupants present in the vehicle. At least a portion of the content is modified and/or suppressed based on the privacy information and the environmental data. The modified content and/or any portion of the content not suppressed is output by the computing apparatus in the vehicle. |
| US08621641B2 |
Systems and methods for authorization of information access
Systems and methods according to the present invention provide a proactive approach to controlling access to information that may be correlated with a governmentally issued personal identifier. Included are systems and methods for proactive control of information access and liability incursion. Further included are systems and methods for emulating information access to an authorized person. Generally, a method according to the present invention includes the steps of requesting verification from a subscriber at any time that information is requested from registered information holders and any time that liability may be incurred through registered information holders. In this way, the subscriber, rather than reacting to invasive information or identity theft, may proactively control access to such information, thereby preventing the theft in the first place. |
| US08621638B2 |
Systems and methods for classification of messaging entities
Methods and systems for operation upon one or more data processors for biasing a reputation score. A communication having data that identifies a plurality of biasing characteristics related to a messaging entity associated with the communication is received. The identified plurality of biasing characteristics related to the messaging entity associated with the communication based upon a plurality of criteria are analyzed, and a reputation score associated with the messaging entity is biased based upon the analysis of the identified plurality of biasing characteristics related to the messaging entity associated with the communication. |
| US08621636B2 |
Systems, methods, and computer program products for collecting and reporting sensor data in a communication network
A system for collecting and reporting sensor data in a communication network includes a microprocessor coupled to a memory and an electronic storage device. The microprocessor receives sensor data from sensors, and stores the sensor data for each sensor in the electronic storage device. The microprocessor also receives, via the communication network, a data reporting instruction defining a data reporting technique corresponding to the sensor data associated with one or more of the sensors. The data reporting instruction is stored in the electronic storage device, and the microprocessor transmits, to a trust mediator over the communication network, at least a portion of the sensor data based on the data reporting instruction. The trust mediator maintains an acceptable level of security for data throughout the communication network by adjusting security safeguards based on the sensor data. |
| US08621633B2 |
Mobile terminal to prevent virus infection and method of controlling operation of the mobile terminal
A mobile terminal and a method of controlling operation of the mobile terminal may be provided that include outputting a sensing signal corresponding to a detected attempt to make a call, connecting the call when user input indicates that it is allowed to connect the call, and if the user input indicates that it is not allowed to connect the call, shutting down the detected attempt. Accordingly, suspicious operation that may have been caused by a virus may be shut down to prevent damage to a mobile terminal caused by a virus. |
| US08621632B1 |
Systems and methods for locating malware
A computer-implemented method for locating malware may include identifying a malicious behavior in a computing system. The computer-implemented method may also include determining that the malicious behavior arises from a set of interrelated executable objects. The computer-implemented method may further include identifying an executable object recently added to the set of interrelated executable objects. The computer-implemented method may additionally include attributing the malicious behavior to the recently added executable object based on when the recently added executable object was added to the set of interrelated executable objects. The computer-implemented method may also include performing a security action on the recently added executable object. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed. |
| US08621625B1 |
Methods and systems for detecting infected files
A computer-implemented method for detecting infected files may include identifying a set of known-clean files. The method may also include identifying a set of characteristics of an unchecked file. The method may further include determine that the unchecked file is related to a clean file in the set of known-clean files. The determination may be based on the set of characteristics of the unchecked file. The method may additionally include determining whether the unchecked file is functionally equivalent to the clean file. This determination may be based on the set of characteristics of the unchecked file. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed. |
| US08621624B2 |
Apparatus and method for preventing anomaly of application program
An apparatus and method for preventing an anomaly of an application program are provided. More particularly, an apparatus and method for preventing an anomaly of an application program that detect and stop an anomaly on the basis of a behavior profile for an application program are provided. The apparatus includes a behavior monitor that detects behavior of an application program in operation, an anomaly detector that determines whether the detected behavior of the application program is an anomaly on the basis of a behavior profile of the application program in operation, and an anomaly stopper that stops the behavior of the application program determined as an anomaly by the anomaly detector. Possible application program behavior is stored according to its purpose in a behavior profile and an anomaly is detected and stopped on the basis of the behavior profile, thereby decreasing a false-positive rate of anomaly detection and simultaneously solving a problem of a conventional security programs being incapable of defending against attacks using the authority of a program trusted by a user. |
| US08621623B1 |
Method and system for identifying business records
False or spam business listings may be identified by searching reviews associated therewith. The associated business reviews may be searched for one or more keywords that suggest the business listing is spam. Moreover, business listings may be categorized based on a type of business in the listing, and the associated reviews for business listings in each category may be searched for characteristics particular to that category. Further business reviews may be searched for hits matching portions of business reviews associated with known spam business listings. Once a business listing is identified as potential spam using these techniques, the listing may be flagged for further review. |
| US08621622B2 |
Generation and delivery of multimedia content-adaptation notifications
A method for conditioning multimedia containers to be compatible with decoding facilities of receivers of diverse types is disclosed. Content of a multimedia container may include components of different encoding formats. Container conditioning also detects and, where feasible, removes undesirable insertions within each content component of a multimedia container. A content component of a container may be filtered, re-encoded, or deleted. Notifications indicating conditions of a container and any modifications performed are appended to the container. A notification may be presented in at least one form compatible with characteristics of a respective receiver. An editing engine implementing the method is associated with a network entity to which multimedia containers are directed. The editing engine accesses a receiver database storing information on several types of receivers and a repository of notification templates encoded in several forms. |
| US08621621B1 |
Security content injection
A computing device may receive content from a content source. The content may include software code that is executable by a web browser, and may be directed to another computing device. The computing device may inject security content into the content. The security content may include software instructions to enable the web browser to detect malicious software content within the content. The computing device may communicate the content to the other computing device. |
| US08621617B2 |
Method of securing execution of a program
A method of securing execution of a main program that implements nested functions, the method comprising the steps of executing a security management program arranged to update a list of current functions, informing the security management program of the beginning of execution of each function of the main program and updating the list of current functions, informing the security management program of the end of execution of each function, and, after being informed of each end of execution of a function, verifying that the function is indeed the function that was begun the most recently. |
| US08621612B2 |
Control system and protection method for integrated information security services
A control system and protection method for integrated information security services are provided, which include protecting data packets of a user end device by a protecting device; generating an event log according to the protection result and transmitting the recorded event log to a collective control platform for standardizing and analyzing association by the collective control platform; detecting and transmitting abnormal information by the collective control platform to a service platform for integrating the information with network status information; displaying the integrated information on a webpage interface and transmitting the same to the user end device, thereby providing direct information on network security to save the high costs of purchasing, configuring and maintaining an information security protection system by the user. |
| US08621610B2 |
Network service for the detection, analysis and quarantine of malicious and unwanted files
A system is provided for detecting, analyzing and quarantining unwanted files in a network environment. A host agent residing on a computing device in the network environment detects a new file introduced to the computing device and sends the new file to a network service for analysis. The network service is accessible to computing devices in the network environment. An architecture for the network service may include: a request dispatcher configured to receive a candidate file for inspection from a given computing device in the network environment and distribute the candidate file to one or more of a plurality of detection engines, where the detection engines operate in parallel to analyze the candidate file and output a report regarding the candidate file; and a result aggregator configured to receive reports from each of the detection engines regarding the candidate file and aggregates the reports in accordance with an aggregation algorithm. |
| US08621606B1 |
Systems and methods for identifying external functions called by untrusted applications
A computer-implemented method for identifying external functions called by an untrusted application may comprise loading an untrusted application into an emulated computing environment, executing a first computer-readable instruction of the untrusted application within the emulated computing environment, intercepting a request to access an external-function-specific region of memory, and identifying, by analyzing the request, an external function to be called by the first computer-readable instruction. The method may also comprise identifying an address associated with the external function and/or identifying a name associated with the external function. The name associated with the external function may be used to recreate an import table for the untrusted application. Corresponding systems and computer-readable media are also disclosed. |
| US08621602B2 |
One-time authentication system
An authentication system includes a plurality of electronic tags (120, 122, 124) that are each associated with a respective unique identity ID. The tags include a memory (220) with a first memory location (222) for storing a pre-computed challenge and a second memory location (224) for storing a pre-computed response that is associated with the challenge. The first memory location (222) is non-readable from outside the tag. An access circuit (210) only provides the response after having received a challenge that matches the challenge stored in the first memory location. A reader station (110) obtains the identity associated with a tag. It then determines a corresponding challenge and sends the challenge to the tag. It receives a response from the tag and verifies the authenticity of the tag by comparing the received response to a response that corresponds to the challenge. |
| US08621601B2 |
Systems for authentication for access to software development kit for a peripheral device
A set of code for a peripheral device is installed on a host device. The set of code is used to control access to the peripheral device from the host device. The set of code also contains one or more subsets of code that can be used by software entities on the host device for access to the peripheral device. A software entity on a host device must be successfully authenticated with the set of code installed on the host device. Once the software entity is successfully authenticated, the set of code will provide access to the one or more subsets of code specific to the software entity. The one or more subsets of code can be used by the software entity to access the peripheral device. |
| US08621598B2 |
Method and apparatus for securely invoking a rest API
An embodiment of the present invention provides a system that enables a user to securely invoke a REST (Representational State Transfer) API (Application Programming Interface) at an application server. A client can establish a secure communication channel with an application server, and can send a request to the application server to invoke the REST API. The client can then receive a security token from an authentication system in response to authenticating the user with the authentication system. Next, the client can receive a nonce and a timestamp from the application server. The client can then determine a security token digest using the security token, the nonce, and the timestamp. Next, the client can resend the request to the application server to invoke the REST API with the security token digest. The application server can invoke the REST API if the security token digest is valid. |
| US08621597B1 |
Apparatus and method for automatic self-erasing of programmable logic devices
Programmable logic devices (PLDs), programmable logic arrays (PLAs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), (collectively referred to as “PLDs”) can include circuitry for performing automatic erasing or “zeroization” of security information including data and programming. Such circuitry detects the occurrence of a possible security event, selects and/or forms one or more appropriate erase commands, and causes the command(s) to be executed against PLD memory. The circuitry prevents security information from being compromised under certain situations. |
| US08621595B2 |
System and method for authenticating a network gateway
A method of network gateway authenticating involves a network gateway receiving an authentication request from a communications terminal. The communications terminal is in communication with an identity token. The authentication request includes a token cryptogram generated from a cryptographic key stored on the identity token. The network gateway transmits the authentication request to a communications network, and receives an authentication response from the communications network in accordance with a validity of the token cryptogram. The authentication response includes a gateway authentication certificate. The gateway authentication certificate is configured to authenticate the network gateway to a network device of the communications network. |
| US08621594B2 |
Method and system for secure communication
A method and system for secure communication is presented. A virtual private proxy is generated based on an agreement between a first entity and a second entity. A first virtual private proxy is associated with the first entity and a second virtual private proxy is associated with the second entity. Data associated with the first entity is monitored at the virtual private proxy. Whether the data violates the agreement is determined and communication of the data from the first virtual private proxy to the second virtual private proxy is disallowed when the data violates the agreement. |
| US08621587B2 |
Systems and methods for facilitating distributed authentication
A method for facilitating distributed authentication includes the step of requesting, by a user of a client machine residing in a first domain, access to a resource residing in a second domain. The client machine authenticates the user to an intermediate machine. The intermediate machine impersonates the client machine. The intermediate machine impersonating the client machine requests access to the second domain from a domain controller residing in the second domain. The domain controller authorizes the requested access, responsive to a determination that the impersonated client machine is trusted for delegation. The domain controller transmits to an application server residing in the second domain, authentication data associated with the impersonated client machine. The application server transmits, to the intermediate machine, a launch ticket uniquely identifying a logon token. The client machine provides, to the application server, the launch ticket to access the resource residing in the second domain. |
| US08621585B2 |
Invitation service for multi-device application sessions
Methods and apparatuses for handling an invitation to a multi-device networked-application session are disclosed. In one such method, a client device receives a pushed invitation notification from an invitation server. The pushed invitation notification indicates that an inviter user has invited an invitee user to join a multi-device session of a networked application, but the pushed invitation notification omits an invitation payload to enable the invitee user to join the multi-device session. The client device notifies the user of the client device, and the user indicates to accept the invitation. The client device responds to the invitation server, authenticates the user, and receives from the invitation server an invitation payload, according to which the client device attempts to join the multi-device session. |
| US08621584B2 |
Credential provider that encapsulates other credential providers
Systems, methods, and computer readable media for encapsulating multiple Windows® based credential providers (CPs) within a single wrapping CP are described. In general, CP credentials and fields from two or more encapsulated or wrapped CPs may be enumerated and aggregated in such a way that the order of fields from each CP is preserved, fields that may be used only once are identified and appear only once, and fields are given a new unique field identifier. The union of all such fields (minus duplicates of any one-use-only fields) may be used to generate a mapping so that the wrapping CP and CP credential may “pass-through” calls from the operating system's logon interface to the correct wrapped CP and CP credential. The disclosed techniques may be used, for example, to provide single sign-on functionality where a plurality of sign-on credentials may be used (e.g., user name/password and smart card PIN). |
| US08621583B2 |
Sensor-based authentication to a computer network-based service
Sensor-based authentication technique embodiments are presented which generally employ sensor readings captured by a user's computing device (such as a mobile computing device like a cell phone, smart phone, PDA, and so on) to authenticate the user's access to a computer network-based service (such as a web-service) that is secured with traditional textual passwords. These traditional passwords are saved in an off-device password repository service. The aforementioned sensor readings are not cached on the user's computing device and are immediately streamed to the password repository service, where they are validated against a pre-arranged, known sensor-based password. If the validation succeeds, access to the password protected service is brokered by the password repository service on behalf of the user using the appropriate traditional password, and the user's computing device is granted access. |
| US08621578B1 |
Methods and systems for protecting website forms from automated access
Systems and methods to tell apart computers and humans using image recognition task having a dynamic graphical arrangement of randomly selected images. The images can be arranged as a grid or matrix for presentation on a device display for authentication of a user as human. The kinds of graphical images can be derived from a selected category for the image recognition task. A series of randomly generated access codes corresponding to the images can be displayed with the images. The user may enter the access codes corresponding to images from the selected category. An authentication server can compare the access code entry to an authentication reference code corresponding to the particular arrangement of images. The selection of images, their arrangement and their corresponding access codes, may dynamically change in between verification sessions. |
| US08621577B2 |
Method for performing multiple pre-shared key based authentication at once and system for executing the method
A method and apparatus for performing a multiple Pre-Shared Key (PSK) based authentication in a single procedure is described, where the multiple PSK based authentication generates a combined credential in a terminal by using a plurality of credentials including a user identifier and the PSK, and authenticates the terminal in an authentication server by using the combined credential. |
| US08621574B2 |
Opaque quarantine and device discovery
Embodiments described herein provide communication control features and functionality, but are not so limited. In an embodiment, a computing environment includes an access control component that can use a number of access states to control access to computing data and/or services. In one embodiment, a server computer can control access to data and/or services using a number of access states including, but not limited to: an allowed state, a blocked state, a device discovery state, and/or a quarantined state. Other embodiments are available. |
| US08621570B2 |
Access through non-3GPP access networks
When setting up communication from a user equipment UE (1), such as for providing IP access for the UE in order to allow it to use some service, information or an indication or at least one network properly relating to a first network, e.g. the current access network (3, 3′), is sent to the UE from a node (13) in a sue and network such as the home network (5) of the subscriber ask UE. The information or indication can be sent in a first stage of an authentication procedure being part of the setting up of a connection from the UE. In particular, the network property can indicate whether the access network (3, 3′) is trusted or not. |
| US08621569B1 |
Intercluster relationship management
Data storage and management systems can be interconnected as clustered systems to distribute data and operational loading. Further, independent clustered storage systems can be associated to form peered clusters. As provided herein, methods and systems for creating and managing intercluster relationships between independent clustered storage systems, allowing the respective independent clustered storage systems to exchange data and distribute management operations between each other while mitigating administrator involvement. Cluster introduction information is provided on a network interface of one or more nodes in a cluster, and intercluster relationships are created between peer clusters. A relationship can be created by initiating contact with a peer using a logical interface, and respective peers retrieving the introduction information provided on the network interface. Respective peers have a role/profile associated with the provided introduction information, which is mapped to the peers, allowing pre-defined access to respective peers. |
| US08621565B2 |
Authentication apparatus, authentication method and computer readable information recording medium
An authentication apparatus authenticates an information processing apparatus in cooperation with an external authentication apparatus. The authentication apparatus responds to a request from the information processing apparatus to carry out authentication and obtain item values, and carries out authentication for a required account; responds to the authentication being carried out, and obtains from the external authentication apparatus an item value corresponding to an item name that is set as an item to be synchronized each time; updates an item value in a local database by the obtained item value; obtains a set of item values including the updated item value; and returns to the information processing apparatus a result of the authentication having been carried out and the obtained set of item values. |
| US08621559B2 |
Adjusting filter or classification control settings
Methods and systems for managing data communications are described. The method includes receiving a data communication; analyzing the data communication to determine a particular type of sender or recipient activity associated with the data communication based at least in part on an application of a plurality of tests to the data communication; assigning a total risk level to the data communication based at least in part on one or more risks associated with the particular type of sender or recipient activity and a tolerance for each of the one or more risks; comparing the total risk level assigned to the data communication with a maximum total acceptable level of risk; and allowing the data communication to be delivered to a recipient in response to the comparison indicating that the total risk level assigned to the data communication does not exceed the maximum total acceptable level of risk. |
| US08621557B2 |
Information processing system judging whether manipulation is possible or not based on access control policy and method of operation thereof
An information processing system includes a first information processing device and a second information processing device. The first information processing device stores a first object group and an additional access control policies. The second information processing device stores access control policies applied to each of second objects. The additional access control policies indicate a changed object group for the each first object. The changed object group is a group of second objects whose access control policy is same as that of the first object. When the second information device obtains an operation request for the first object, the second information device accesses the additional access control policy and determines the changed object group. The second information system judges whether or not the operation request is feasible for the changed object group based on the access control policy, and determines whether or not the target first object is processed. |
| US08621556B1 |
Dynamic resolution of fully qualified domain name (FQDN) address objects in policy definitions
Dynamic resolution of Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) address objects in policy definitions is provided. In some embodiments, dynamic resolution of Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) address objects in policy definitions includes receiving a network policy that includes a domain name (e.g., the network policy can include a network security rule that is based on the domain name); and periodically updating Internet Protocol (IP) address information associated with the domain name by performing a Domain Name Server (DNS) query. In some embodiments, dynamic resolution of Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) address objects in policy definitions includes dynamically performing a first local Domain Name Server (DNS) lookup for a first VSYS using a first DNS server on a first domain name for implementing a network policy based on the first domain name; dynamically performing a second local DNS lookup for a second VSYS using a second DNS server on the first domain name for implementing the network policy based on the first domain name; in which the network policy includes a network security rule that is based on the first domain name, and the network policy includes a network security rule that is based on the second domain name. |
| US08621555B2 |
Access control method and system for packet data network, PCRF entity
An access control method and system for packet data network, Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) entity, the method includes: a policy and charging rules function entity receiving an indication of gateway control session establishment from a bearer binding and event report function entity, wherein the indication of gateway control session establishment carries a session identifier, and the session identifier is used to identify whether a user equipment accesses the same packet data network again or the bearer binding and event report function entity relocation occurs; the policy and charging rules function entity receiving the indication of gateway control session establishment, acquiring the session identifier, and judging whether the user equipment accesses the same packet data network again or the bearer binding and event report function entity relocation occurs according to the session identifier. |
| US08621553B2 |
Model based security for cloud services
Applications, such as cloud services, may be deployed within a network environment (e.g., a cloud computing environment). Unfortunately, when the applications are instantiated within the network environment, they have the ability to compromise the security of other applications and/or the infrastructure of the network environment. Accordingly, as provided herein, a security scheme may be applied to a network environment within which an application is to be instantiated. The security scheme may comprise one or more security layers (e.g., virtual machine level security, application level security, operating system level security, etc.) derived from an application service model describing the application and/or resources allocated to the application. |
| US08621552B1 |
Method, a system, and a computer program product for managing access change assurance
A method for evaluating a deployment of a network access change request, the method includes: (a) formatting a network access change request to provide a formatted network access change request; wherein the formatted network access change request includes multiple formatted request items; wherein the multiple formatted request items includes a requested access type, an address of an access source, an address of an access destination; (b) determining multiple relationships between the multiple formatted request items and corresponding items of at least one entity out of a network model and a current network policy; and (c) responding to the network access change request in response to the multiple determined relationships. |
| US08621543B2 |
Distributed statistical multiplexing of multi-media
A method of distributed statistical multiplexing of video data. The method includes generating a plurality of blocks forming a pre-processed video media corresponding to an original video media, the plurality of blocks including, for one or more sub-portions of the original video media, a plurality of interchangeable blocks that represent the sub-portion. Optionally, at least some of the blocks are transmitted to at least one multiplexer and reconstructed by the at least one multiplexer, for a plurality of communication channels, from at least some of the transmitted blocks. |
| US08621536B1 |
Systems and methods for conducting transactions with a customer using text messages
The illustrative embodiments described herein provide systems and methods for conducting transactions with a customer using text messages. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a first text message from a mobile communication device associated with a customer. The first text message includes a request from the customer to receive one or more text messages from a vendor. The method also includes adding the customer to a set of consenting customers in a customer database in response to receiving the first text message. The set of consenting customer including customers that consent to receiving text messages from the vendor. The method also includes sending a second text message to the mobile communication device. The second text message is associated with a service offered by the vendor. |
| US08621535B2 |
Control apparatus, content transmission system and content transmission method
A control apparatus accepts a request for transmission of a content from a content transmission apparatus to the control apparatus, passes on the request to the content transmission apparatus by way of a communication network allowing a transmission quality to be reserved, and issues a request to a content accounting server to carry out a content accounting process according to the substance and content quality. The control apparatus receives a specified substance of the content and transmits a request to the content transmission apparatus to transmit the content, determines a transmission quality and an optimum content quality, makes a reservation for the determined transmission quality of a transmission line based on the transmission quality, and issues a request to a transmission-quality accounting server to carry out an accounting process according to the transmission quality. |
| US08621533B2 |
Fast-start streaming and buffering of streaming content for personal media player
Systems and methods allow playback of a media stream received via a network. The media stream is received and stored in a buffer prior to playback. Responsive to receiving the user command to change the content of the media stream, the buffer is flushed prior to receiving the changed content in the media stream. |
| US08621532B2 |
Method of transmitting layered video-coded information
Video-coded information is transmitted over a network at a priority level that is determined based on feedback from the network. In an embodiment, the feedback comprises a response to a request for information on whether the network currently has the available capacity to transmit additional high priority traffic. In an embodiment, a candidate base layer frame is transmitted over a network as a base layer frame if permission to send high priority data was granted and is transmitted over the network as an enhancement layer frame if permission to send high priority data was denied. In a further embodiment, the candidate base layer frame is deleted if permission to send high priority data was denied. |
| US08621530B1 |
Method and system for controlling user devices in an aggregated content distribution system
A method and system for controlling a group of user receiving devices includes a local headend in communication with the group of user receiving devices through a local network. A management control system of the local headend generates a control signal and simultaneously communicates the control signal to the group of user receiving devices through the local network. The group of user receiving devices is controlled in response to the control signal. |
| US08621527B2 |
Aircraft in-flight entertainment system with robust daisy-chained network
An aircraft in-flight entertainment system includes a plurality of seat electronic units (SEUs) that are daisy chained through a packet data network (PDN) loop to a content server containing media content. The SEU includes a power supply, a communication switch, a processor, a communication interface, and a power control circuit. The power supply supplies power to the communication switch, the processor, and the communication interface. The communication switch selectively routes packets containing media content through the processor and the communication interface to the video display unit, or through a segment of the PDN loop to a downstream electronic unit. The power control circuit responds to the power supply supplying less than a threshold level of power by supplying power to the communication switch from the segment of the PDN loop connected to the upstream electronic unit and/or the downstream electronic unit. |
| US08621525B2 |
Signal injection via power supply
Multiple systems for delivering satellite video signals are disclosed. An embodiment of the present invention comprises a module comprising a multiswitch, the multiswitch selectively directing the satellite video signals to a plurality of outputs of the multiswitch, an interface for delivering the satellite video signals to at least one receiver, and a power inserter, coupled between the interface and the at least one receiver, for controlling the flow of signals between the multiswitch and the at least one receiver, wherein the power inserter continuously flows the satellite video signals to the at least one receiver while selectively flowing commands between the module and the at least one receiver. |
| US08621520B2 |
Delivery of selective content to client applications by mobile broadcast device with content filtering capability
Methods and systems enable application content for use by an application running on a receiver device to be broadcast by a mobile multimedia broadcast network for energy-efficient reception and use by receiver devices. Information about application content that will be broadcast is broadcast in application metadata messages. Receiver devices may receive such application metadata messages in a broadcast receiver client which passes the information to the application. The application may inform the broadcast receiver client of particular application content or filtering attributes to use in selecting application content to be received. The broadcast receiver client receives the indicated application content at the designated broadcast time and passes the received content to the application for processing. In an embodiment the application is a Mobile Billboard Advertising (MobAd) application, the application metadata includes attributes about ad content and the broadcast application content includes ad content. |
| US08621519B2 |
Method and system for acquiring electronic programming guide signals
A system and method for use in a cable network to acquire electronic programming guide (EPG) content signals from one or more EPG vendors. The system includes a set-top box (STB) for receiving cable signals and EPG signals from a headend controller so that the STB can output the signals to a media output device for display. A conversion table is provided to each STB for use by the STB in determining source IDs associated with a given channel for each EPG vendor, the source IDs for use in acquiring the EPG content signals. |
| US08621516B2 |
Apparatus, systems and methods for providing travel information related to a streaming travel related event
Systems and methods for providing travel information associated with a presently viewed media content event. An exemplary method receives a selection for a media content event, receives a media content stream corresponding to the selected media content event, communicates the selected media content event to a media presentation device, communicates to the media presentation device a travel indicator during communication of the media content event, receives a user selection associated with the travel indicator, and presents travel information to the user based on the received user selection. The travel information is based on an analysis of content of the EPG information. The media content event is paused after receiving the user selection of the travel indicator. The travel information associated with the media content event is saved after receiving the user selection of the travel indicator. |
| US08621513B1 |
Broadcasting channels of streaming media content in a wireless telecommunications network
Systems, methods and media are provided for presenting a group of available broadcast channels utilizing a wireless network upon initiation of a channel-viewing graphical user interface (GUI). The group comprises channels that can be broadcast most efficiently to the mobile device. After initiating the channel-viewing GUI on the mobile device, requests are communicated to elements on the network to retrieve lists of currently broadcast channels in the area and currently viewed channels throughout the wireless network. A list also is retrieved of recently viewed channels on the mobile device. At least a portion of each list is then presented on the channel-viewing GUI. The lists can be sent by a first video media proxy (VMP) server and a broadcast management server (BMS). |
| US08621511B2 |
System and method to control distribute processing and memory resources among applications in a television terminal
A television converter system (16) comprises a receiver (94) for receiving a transmission signal from a transmission signal source. A processor (24) in the converter is capable of executing a plurality of independently executable application programs. A first one of the plurality of programs has a focused execution state. The remaining one or more application programs have a defocused execution state. The processor generates an application program output signal from the application program that currently has the focused execution state. An output provides either the transmission signal or the application program output signal for display on a television display. An input is received, requesting a transfer of focus from the first one of the plurality of programs to a second one of the plurality of application programs. The focus is transferred from the first application program to the second one of the plurality of programs for display on the television display. |
| US08621510B1 |
Television scripting language
Provided is a method and system for television channel selection, including a television controller operatively connected to an electronic memory and configured to process a video selection script. The television controller is also operatively connected to the television and to a television network comprising a plurality of channels. Also provided is a script authoring tool for authoring a video selection script in a Web-based scripting language by a viewer. The television controller is further configured to select a channel to display on the television based on the video selection script and to dynamically update the video selection script based on the occurrence of an event. |
| US08621508B2 |
Encapsulated, streaming media automation and distribution system
Disclosed are systems and methods for creating and distributing programming content carried by a digital streaming media to be a plurality of remote nodes located over a large geographic area to create customized broadcast quality programming at the remote nodes. At the remote nodes, a multi-window screen display simultaneously shows different programming including national programming and local programming content. The remote nodes utilize a remote channel origination device to assemble the customized programming at the remote location that can be controlled from a central location. An encapsulated IP and IP encryption system is used to transport the digital streaming media to the appropriate remote nodes. Also disclosed is a graphical user interface (“GUI”) providing a software control interface for creating and editing shows or programs that can be aired or played on a remote display device having a multi-window display. The intuitive GUI Software provides the user the ability to easily manage and assemble a series of images, animations and transitions as a single broadcast quality program to be displayed on a remote display device. Another application software system is capable of automating the production of audio narration reports. The disclosed audio concatenation engine automates the creation of audio narration using prerecorded audio segments to minimize the requirement for live, on-air personnel to record audio narration segments. |
| US08621506B2 |
System and method for approximating characteristics of households for targeted advertisement
According to one embodiment of the invention, a method of operation involves two operations. The first operation involves receiving feedback information from a viewing audience concerning a displayed video content. After receipt of the feedback, substituting portions of a downloaded data stream with video content selected based on the feedback information. |
| US08621505B2 |
Method and system for closed caption processing
Methods and systems for closed caption processing are described. In an embodiment, a source signal may be accessed. The source signal may include a video signal and closed caption information embedded within the video signal. The closed caption information may be extracted from the source signal. A content request may be received over a network from an access device. A caption setting associated with the access device may be accessed. The video signal may be provided in a video stream over the network to the access device. The closed caption information may be provided over the network in a caption stream in accordance with accessing of the caption setting. Additional systems and methods are disclosed. |
| US08621501B2 |
System and method for encouraging viewers to watch television programs
Methods and apparatus for encouraging viewers to pay attention to commercials by incentivizing viewers to watch. Viewers are notified that they can receive rewards for answering one or more questions during or at the conclusion of the commercial. To verify that the viewer paid attention to the commercial, the answer to the question may be based on the content of the commercial. A sponsor might ask, for example, that the viewer identify the name of the sponsor or the color of an announcer's shirt. A correct answer indicates that the viewer watched the commercial, and the viewer is therefore entitled to some reward. For example, viewers who watch the commercial may be entered in a prize drawing, or may receive prize points, such as frequent-flier miles. In other embodiments, viewers may verify that they watched a given program by selecting an icon or pressing a button on a remote control. |
| US08621494B2 |
Managing processes within suspend states and execution states
One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for suspending logically related processes associated with an application, determining whether to resume a suspended process based upon a wake policy, and/or managing an application state of an application, such as timer and/or system message data. That is, logically related processes associated with an application, such as child processes, may be identified and suspended based upon logical relationships between the processes (e.g., a logical container hierarchy may be traversed to identify logically related processes). A suspended process may be resumed based upon a wake policy. For example, a suspended process may be resumed based upon an inter-process communication call policy that may be triggered by an application attempting to communicate with the suspended process. Application data may be managed while an application is suspended so that the application may be resumed in a current and/or relevant state. |
| US08621492B2 |
Application level contexts
A call for an application programming interface can be received from an application component at a context checking module, and a current application context of the application component within which the call for the application programming interface was generated can be determined. A context token of the application programming interface can be compared with the current application context, and if the context token does not match the context token, a remedial action can be executed. Related methods, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed. |
| US08621490B2 |
Method and system for user-designed application deployment
Embodiments of a method and system for utilizing user-designed applications are disclosed. A user-designed application that utilizes at least one high-level API available within a system may be received. The user-designed application may be deployed server-side within the system. A user request may be processed server-side for the user-designed application in the system. |
| US08621487B2 |
Virtual processor methods and apparatus with unified event notification and consumer-producer memory operations
The invention provides, in one aspect, a virtual processor that includes one or more virtual processing units. These virtual processing units execute on one or more processors, and each virtual processing unit executes one or more processes or threads (collectively, “threads”). While the threads may be constrained to executing throughout their respective lifetimes on the same virtual processing units, they need not be. The invention provides, in other aspects, virtual and/or digital data processors with improved dataflow-based synchronization. A process or thread (collectively, again, “thread”) executing within such processor can execute a memory instruction (e.g., and “Empty” or other memory-consumer instruction) that permits the thread to wait on the availability of data generated, e.g., by another thread and to transparently wake up when that other thread makes the data available (e.g., by execution of a “Fill” or other memory-producer instruction). |
| US08621486B2 |
Significance level automation
Techniques for using action significance levels in an automation system are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, an automation system includes an event detector, and event analyzer, and a player. The event detector is configured to detect an event affecting execution of an application being monitored by the automation system. The event analyzer is configured to analyze a detected event and determine importance of an action causing the event to operation of the application. Based on the determined importance, the event analyzer assigns one of a plurality of predetermined significance levels to the action. The player is configured to reproduce each action assigned a significance level at least as high as a selected replay level and to not reproduce any action assigned a significance level lower than the replay level. |
| US08621484B2 |
Handling potential deadlocks and correctness problems of reduce operations in parallel systems
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for executing a first reduction operation on data in an input buffer, executing a second reduction operation on the data, where the second reduction operation has a higher reliability than the first reduction operation, and comparing the first and second results. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08621483B2 |
Methods, apparatuses and computer program products for provisioning applications to in vehicle infotainment systems with secured access
An apparatus for providing one or more applications to an IVI client device(s) may include a processor and memory storing executable computer code causing the apparatus to at least perform operations including providing an application(s) and associated data to a device in response to receipt of an indication of a selection associated with the application(s). The computer program code may further cause the apparatus to enable the application(s) to access requested data via a plurality of application programming interfaces during execution of the application. The computer program code may further cause the apparatus to provide the requested data to the application in response to receipt of a message(s) generated by a first application programming interface of the interfaces that received a request for the requested data from a second application programming interface of the interfaces. Corresponding methods and computer program products are also provided. |
| US08621482B1 |
Deciding whether to cache a generic plan for executing a request based on a system performance metric
A method, computer program, and database system are disclosed. A plurality of instances of a request to a database system are received. All instances of the request have a same set of variables to use in executing the request. The values of the variables are supplied by data in a data source. A specific plan for executing one instance of the request is generated. Generating the specific plan includes taking into account data in the data source. The specific plan is executed on the database system. A system run-time metric and a parsing time for executing the specific plan are captured and saved. A generic plan is generated and cached based on a comparison of the system run-time metric and the parsing time for executing the specific plan. |
| US08621481B2 |
Apparatus and method for performing a rebalance of resources for one or more devices at boot time
An apparatus and a method for performing a resource rebalance during a boot operation of a computer is provided. The apparatus includes a resource manager that is coupled to a plurality of devices. The resource manager is configured to receive a signal indicative of a desired set of requested resources from each of the plurality of devices and to determine that a first child device requires more resources than an amount previously assigned thereto. The resource manager is configured to locate a lowest common parent device to the first child device, which forms a lowest common subtree and to determine a resource range and to calculate a resource requirement request for the lowest common subtree. The resource manager is further configured to compare the resource requirement to the resource range to determine if a first range of resources is adequate to satisfy a second range of requested resources. |
| US08621475B2 |
Responsive task scheduling in cooperative multi-tasking environments
Task scheduling in cooperative multi-tasking environments is accomplished by a task scheduler that evaluates the relative priority of an executing task and tasks in a queue waiting to be executed. The task scheduler may issue a suspend request to lower priority tasks so that high priority tasks can be executed. Tasks are written or compiled with checks located at opportune locations for suspending and resuming the given task. The tasks under a suspend request continue operation until they reach a check, at which point the task will suspend operation depending on specific criteria. By allowing both the task and the task scheduler to assist in determining the precise timing of the suspension, the multi-tasking environment becomes highly efficient and responsive. |
| US08621474B2 |
Computer system and control method thereof capable of changing performance mode using dedicated button
A computer system having a process running unit which runs processes of a plurality of programs; a user input unit through which a command of a user to select one of a plurality of performance modes is inputted; and a controller which controls the process running unit to run a process of a program of the programs, which are currently being executed, according to a priority order corresponding to the performance mode selected by the command of the user if the command of the user is inputted. |
| US08621472B2 |
Job scheduling with optimization of power consumption
A scheduler is provided, which takes into account the location of the data to be accessed by a set of jobs. Once all the dependencies and the scheduling constraints of the plan are respected, the scheduler optimizes the order of the remaining jobs to be run, also considering the location of the data to be accessed. Several jobs needing an access to a dataset on a specific disk may be grouped together so that the grouped jobs are executed in succession, e.g., to prevent activating and deactivating the storage device several times, thus improving the power consumption and also avoiding input output performances degradation. |
| US08621469B2 |
Image processing job control system with access control ticket including function restriction based on user, time of request and upper limit on exceptional output count
An ACT generation unit (208) in an access control apparatus generates an ACT in a form in which the ACT includes function restriction information based on the time period. At this time, in response to an ACT request from a client PC, a list (401) which describes function restriction information based on the time period is referred to based on user information (404) and time information (405) representing the request time. A regular time ACT (410) and overtime ACT (411) are generated in accordance with the request time. By replying the ACT to the client PC, a print job is transferred together with the ACT to a printing apparatus, allowing access control based on the time period. |
| US08621466B2 |
Progress management for projects
Project progress management technology is made more objective by excluding as much human subjectivity as possible. Consideration is given to levels of importance of check items and tasks. A more accurate grasp of the progress of a project is enabled even if a significant change occurs in the middle of the project. An indication of a “complete” or “incomplete” state is used as a progress indicator of the lowest order tasks of the project, and progress of a high order task is based on the progress of the lowest order tasks. |
| US08621453B2 |
Apparatus and method for installing software using a software dependency map
A virtual installation map, and method involving installing a software functionality using the same, the virtual installation map including a first software installation map including a plurality of software elements representative of a related software file, the software elements also including at least one dependency to another software element. The virtual installation map further including a second software installation map also including a second plurality of software elements representative of related software file along with related dependencies. The first and second software installation maps may be hosted in separate databases and may relate to software products provided by different vendors. One or both software installation maps may include a pointer or other reference to the other installation map thereby providing a virtual installation map, in one example. |
| US08621451B1 |
Responsiveness of a computing device in connection with software distribution
A computing device configured for improving the responsiveness of a computing device in connection with software distribution is described. The computing device includes a processor and executable instructions stored in memory that is in electronic communication with the processor. The computing device receives a return code and package information from a remote computing device. The computing device also looks up a code mapping in a cache, wherein the code mapping is based on the return code. The computing device further stores the package information in a database. The computing device furthermore displays the code mapping and the package information. |
| US08621443B2 |
Processor emulation using speculative forward translation
A method and apparatus for processor emulation using speculative forward translation are disclosed. A potential candidate for forward translation is identified from one or more portions of target system code. A priority for forward translation is assigned to the potential candidate. It is determined whether the potential candidate is a valid candidate for forward translation. If valid, the potential candidate is translated with a host system to produce one or more corresponding blocks of translated code executable by the host system. |
| US08621442B2 |
Quicker translation of a computer program source code
Embodiments of methods and systems for managing translation of a source code of a computer application, at a processing device, are described. A pre-translation analysis of the source code may be performed to determine a plurality of look-alike code snippets. Thereafter, a report may be generated for indicating at least one parameter associated with the plurality of look-alike code snippets. Subsequently, at least one of the plurality of look-alike code snippets may be modified with at least one pre-stored code snippet, based on the at least one parameter. |
| US08621436B2 |
Computer readable medium, verification support method and verification support apparatus
A computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process for verification support, the process includes: acquiring information of a timing of transmission of a process request for operating a program to-be-verified; acquiring first record information of a transfer process in a time zone corresponding to the acquired timing of the transmission, from a transfer device which transfers the process request to any of a plurality of information processing devices capable of running the program to-be-verified and which records the transfer process; specifying the information processing device to which the process request has been transferred, on the basis of the acquired first record information of the transfer process; and acquiring second record information of a process in the time zone corresponding to the timing of the transmission, from the specified information processing device. |
| US08621435B2 |
Time debugging
A design time debugging tool provides debugging information available from the compiler during design time, as if a user were debugging code that provided the debugging information, by exposing information available from the compiler without initiation of a debugging session and without executing the program being debugged. |
| US08621433B2 |
Managing version information for software components
A system manages version information for a group of software components by maintaining a version repository containing version information for all of the components. The system determines a baseline for the components, modifies data in the repository in connection with updating software components, and accesses the data in the repository to determine version information for the components. The system described herein also determines if a group of software components correspond to a particular baseline by maintaining baseline information in the version repository. The system obtains the particular baseline for the group of components, compares the version information for each of the components with a corresponding minimum version provided in connection with the baseline, and determines whether a group of software components correspond to the particular baseline. |
| US08621431B2 |
Method to recognize GUI object in globalized environment
A method for identifying GUI widgets of software are provided, comprising: during runtime of the software, determining a GUI window object and an ID thereof; determining all GUI widgets or all GUI widgets belonging to a same type in the GUI window object; partitioning the display area of the GUI window object into a plurality of areas such that each of the GUI widgets is uniquely contained in one area; specifying a unique ID for each area containing a GUI widget; and, identifying a GUI widget using the ID of the GUI window object and the ID of the area where the GUI widget resides, or the ID of the GUI window object, the ID of the type to which the GUI widget belongs and the ID of the area where the GUI widget resides, as the ID property of the GUI widget. |
| US08621428B2 |
Semantic-based, service-oriented system and method of developing, programming and managing software modules and software solutions
Methods, systems, frameworks, and software products are disclosed for building well-defined software modules through the optionally nested, aggregation of other similar modules at any depth. The invention provides visual methods of aggregation and nesting of software interfaces within composite software services with an automated runtime platform. Other aspects of the invention include, but are not limited to, innovative methods for routing the flow of invocation, inter-service communication, and exception handling. Industry standards are leveraged to integrate the methods discussed in this invention to any computer system, programming language or software platform. The semantic-based and visual nature of the inventions discussed can significantly reduce the complexity of building, maintaining and deploying computer systems and software products. |
| US08621425B1 |
Generating code based at least on one or more output arguments designated as not being present
In an embodiment, code may be acquired that calls a first function defined to return a plurality of output arguments. The code may designate, with a designator, one or more output arguments, in the plurality of output argument, that are not present. Processing logic may generate a second function based at least on the designated one or more output arguments being designated as not present. |
| US08621417B2 |
Rule merging in system for monitoring adherence by developers to a software code development process
In a rule-based system for monitoring process adherence, first and second processing patterns are received and merged to provide a merged processing pattern. Each processing pattern, which may be expressed in a state graph representation, embodies at least a portion of a desired software code development process. Optionally, the merged processing pattern may be presented to a subject-matter expert to obtain feedback thereon. The merged processing pattern may then be converted into an executable process verification rule for use in monitoring process adherence. In an embodiment, development process event data is compared to the executable process verification rules. Violations of the rules result in the generation of failure indications that may be stored and subsequently reported as needed. In this manner, efficiency of automated process adherence monitoring systems may be improved when determining the level of compliance by developers with one or more software code development processes. |
| US08621413B1 |
System, method, and computer program product for reducing a deactivation function utilizing an optimal reduction
A system, method and computer program product are provided for reducing a deactivation function utilizing an optimal reduction. In use, a deactivation function is identified. Additionally, reductions for the deactivation function are calculated. Further, an optimal reduction of the calculated reductions is determined. Moreover, the deactivation function is reduced, utilizing the optimal reduction. |
| US08621405B2 |
Incremental elmore delay calculation
Systems and techniques for incrementally updating Elmore pin-to-pin delays are described. During operation, an embodiment receives a representation of a physical topology of a routed net that electrically connects a driver pin to a set of load pins. The embodiment then computes a set of incremental Elmore delay coefficients based on the representation. Next, using the Elmore delay coefficients, the embodiment computes a set of delays based on the representation, wherein each delay in the set of delays corresponds to a delay between the driver pin and a corresponding load pin in the set of load pins. As load pin capacitances change during circuit optimization, the set of incremental Elmore delay coefficients can then be used to update the delays between the driver pin and the load pins in a very computationally efficient manner. |
| US08621401B2 |
Method of selecting a set of illumination conditions of a lithographic apparatus for optimizing an integrated circuit physical layout
The invention relates to a method of selecting a set of illumination conditions of a lithographic apparatus, in a process for transferring an integrated circuit layout to a target substrate. The layout is comprised of a number of polygon patterns having a predetermined geometrical relation relative to each other. An initial set of illumination conditions is provided and a plurality of polygon patterns requiring illumination conditions critical for circuit functionality. For the initial set of illumination conditions a local cost number is calculated, defining a difference measure of at least one critical dimension, between the polygon pattern and a transferred polygon pattern as a function of illumination condition. For each polygon pattern the cost numbers are aggregated; and the illumination conditions are varied so as to select an optimal set of illumination conditions having an optimized aggregated cost number. Polygon patterns are identified as predefined complex circuit elements and wherein the cost numbers are expressed as circuit element cost number functions that are individually associated with said identified complex circuit elements, so as to express circuit design intent. The cost number functions can further have interdependencies in multiple critical dimensions of the polygon patterns so as to take the two dimensional nature into account. |
| US08621400B2 |
Method of evaluating systematic defect, and apparatus therefor
In order to enable an evaluation of systematic defects, a method of evaluating systematic defects was configured so as to sample a circuit pattern of a specific layer of a semiconductor device, evaluate the state of superimposition between the sampled circuit pattern and circuit patterns of layers other than the specific layer, using design data, classify the state of superimposition, calculate the ratio thereof as a reference ratio, evaluate the state of superimposition between a pattern in design data corresponding to a defect of the specific layer detected by another inspection apparatus and patterns at positions corresponding to the defects in layers other than the specific layer, classify the evaluated state of superimposition, calculate the ratio of the classification as inspection-result ratio, compare the calculated reference ratio and the calculated inspection-result ratio, and evaluate systematic defects by the comparison between the calculated reference ratio and the calculated inspection-result ratio. |
| US08621397B2 |
Mobile terminal and method of controlling communication data transmission and communication list display therein
A mobile terminal including at least a first identity module and a second identity module; a wireless communication unit configured to transceive communication data; a touchscreen configured to receive a touch input on a predetermined touch area for selecting one of the first and second identity modules; and a controller configured to control the wireless communication unit to transmit the communication data using the one of the first and second identity modules based on the touch input performed on the predetermined touch area. |
| US08621395B2 |
Predictive hover triggering
A method of triggering a hover event for a pointer in a user interface on a display device begins by predicting a future position of the pointer on the user interface. A likelihood that the pointer will hover over a screen object is determined based on the predicting. Finally, a hover event for the screen object is triggered based on the determined likelihood that the pointer will hover over the screen object. |
| US08621392B2 |
Method of navigating items at a media player
A media player stores, or has access to, a set of media items. The player presents a first of the media items. The set of media items are ordered according to at least one criterion indicative of similarity of the media items to the first media item. The player determines what amount of the first media item was presented before an input is received from a user control. A second media item is selected for presenting using the determined amount as a measure for selecting the second media item from the ordered set of media items. A single user input (e.g. from a single button) can be used both to control the selection of the next item, and to determine the similarity of the next item. The ordering can be based on similarity of features or similarity of metadata. |
| US08621388B2 |
Image forming apparatus for displaying information on screen
An image forming apparatus includes an operation panel serving as a display apparatus and an input apparatus for accepting a request for performing processing and a control unit for controlling display on the operation panel. The control unit performs determination processing for determining whether a time period required for the processing requested to be performed is predictable or not, provides animation display by continuously displaying two or more windows relating to the processing when it is determined that the time period required for the processing is predictable, and provides pop-up display by displaying one window relating to the processing when it is determined that the time period required for the processing is not predictable. |
| US08621387B2 |
User interface for multiple display regions
User interfaces for multiple display regions are described. One embodiment provides an array of non-overlapping windows that are created from a set of overlapping windows, and a user can select one of the non-overlapping windows to obtain an enlarged view of that selected window while keeping the other windows in their non-overlapping state. In one embodiment, the array of non-overlapping windows can include minimized windows or windows in other virtual desktops (e.g. windows in other “Spaces”) or both. In one embodiment, only windows of a selected application are shown in non-overlapping mode while opened windows of other applications are not shown. |
| US08621384B2 |
Information delivery service system, in-train information delivery method, and in-train information display apparatus
To obtain an information delivery service system, an in-train information delivery method, and an in-train information display apparatus that can deliver many pieces of information simultaneously. In an information delivery service system applied to a passenger train to display an image for delivering information to passengers, an in-train information display apparatus that groups a plurality of windows of the passenger train and uses the grouped windows as one display area, and a display information processor that outputs image information to the in-train information display apparatus are provided, thereby displaying an image on a horizontally long and large screen. |
| US08621380B2 |
Apparatus and method for conditionally enabling or disabling soft buttons
A method of operating a multifunction device includes displaying a soft keyboard having a plurality of unconditionally enabled buttons and one or more conditionally enabled buttons, detecting a first input with a first button at a first time, and responding to detecting the first input by activating the first button. In response to detecting a second input with a second button at a second time, when the first button is an unconditionally enabled button and the second button is an unconditionally enabled button, the second button is activated. When the second button is a conditionally enabled button, and when the period of time between the first and second times is above a predefined threshold, the second button is activated; and when the period of time between the first and second times is equal to or below the predefined threshold, the second button is prevented from being activated. |
| US08621377B2 |
Configurable HVAC controller terminal labeling
A configuration tool for a programmable HVAC controller is provided. The configuration tool may accept user input, and may generate a corresponding configuration profile based on the user input. The configuration profile may be downloaded to a programmable HVAC controller, which may, among other things, reconfigure the I/O terminals of the programmable HVAC controller. The configuration tool may generate a terminal diagram that labels at least some of the I/O terminals of the programmable HVAC controller based on the particular configuration profile. In some cases, the configuration tool may output the terminal diagram in a format that can be printed on a label, with the label being suitable for adhering to the programmable HVAC controller. |
| US08621376B2 |
Developer interface and associated methods for system for querying and consuming web-based data
A graphical user interface (GUI) for a system for querying web data includes a query entry component defined to receive textual input of a query language (QL) statement. The QL statement identifies one or more QL tables associated with one or more web data sources. The GUI also includes a results data display component defined to visually display results data obtained from execution of the QL statement present in the query entry component. The GUI further includes a QL web service universal resource locator (URL) conveyance component defined to visually and electronically convey a QL web service URL defined to access one or more QL tables identified in the QL statement through the Internet and retrieve direction from the one or more QL tables regarding access and retrieval of data from the one or more web data sources associated with the one or more QL tables. |
| US08621366B1 |
Self-creation of comic strips in social networks and other communications
Communications to be shared on social networks and other electronic modes of communication are presented in comic strip form. The comic strips are created with a simplified user interface and are formatted to be well-suited for display on a selected social network or other electronic facility. The comic strips are displayed in an embedded form directly in the social network or other facility, without the need for a user to go to a separate site to view the comic strip. |
| US08621364B2 |
Deleting a browser's history when a different web application is selected
This invention provides an information processing apparatus capable of more reliably preventing inconvenience to the user, that may occur upon a transition of the Web page using the display history of a Web browser. The information processing apparatus can communicate with a Web server via a network and displays, in a Web browser, a screen provided by the Web server. A holding unit holds the display history of a Web page that is previously displayed in the Web browser. A determination unit refers to the display history held in the holding unit to determine whether a Web application different from that activated at the latest time via the Web browser is activated. A deletion control unit deletes the display history held in the holding unit if the determination unit determines that the different Web application is activated. |
| US08621362B2 |
Mobile screen methods and systems for collaborative troubleshooting of a device
This disclosure provides collaborative communication systems and methods to facilitate troubleshooting of a device. Specifically, the disclosed systems and methods include a dynamic virtual representation of a device from the perspective of a user of the device which is shared with a remote troubleshooter. The dynamic virtual representation is based on the position of the user. |
| US08621361B2 |
Network-management device, network-management method, and computer program product
A network-management device includes a map storing unit and a map state storing unit. The map storing unit stores therein a map created based on information on network devices. The map state storing unit stores therein a creation state indicating that creation of the map is in process or completed in association with the map. When creation of the map is in process, disclosure of the map is prohibited, and all the network devices are notified that creation of the map is in process. When creation of the map is completed, it is checked whether all the network devices are laid out on the map. When all the network devices are laid out on the map, disclosure of the map is permitted. |
| US08621357B2 |
Light table for editing digital media
A system in accordance with the present invention may include one or more processors, memory that receives instructions from the one or more processors according to a clock operating at a frequency, one or more programs stored in the memory, with instructions to: access media content, wherein the media content is associated with meta data, media characteristics, or other media-related data; couple certain of the media content to a style; and, organize the coupled certain of the media content according to the style and the meta data, media characteristics, or other media-related data. |
| US08621356B1 |
Video editing method and digital device therefor
A method for editing the playback speed of a partial sequence of video and a digital device therefor are disclosed. A video editing method includes providing a timeline interface corresponding to a video sequence, receiving a first user input for specifying a first location on the timeline interface and a second user input for specifying a second location on the timeline interface, setting an editing interval between the first location and the second location of the timeline interface, receiving a third user input with respect to the editing interval, adjusting at least one of the thickness and length of the editing interval in response to the third user input, and editing playback attributes of the partial sequence based on the adjusted thickness and length of the editing interval. |
| US08621354B2 |
Non sequential automated production by self-interview kit of a video based on user generated multimedia content
A computer (2) is used to prepare a script (4) of prompts for a media capture device (6) such as a cell phone or a self interview kit. Discrete prompts of the script arc displayed. A camera (14) then captures video clips or other assets with each video clip corresponding to one or more displayed prompt. A clip storage module (18) stores each recorded video clip in a storage unit (20) so as to be related to its corresponding discrete prompts. The clip to prompt relationship provided by the storage module (18) facilitates the editing of the clips into a sequence to produce a complete video presentation or movie. The final video sequence compilation can be performed automatically using the script to define the order of each clip. The automatically edited video sequence may be ordered non-sequentially with respect to the order of the presentation of the discrete prompts. This reflects the non-sequential filming of scenes in film making to avoid going back and forth between locations, where the final edit assembles the clips in a different order to that in which the filming takes place. |
| US08621350B2 |
Pay-per-play audiovisual system with touch screen interface
An audiovisual reproduction system triggered by payment from a user is developed around a microprocessor device. The system includes memory containing, in compressed digital form, audio and visual information, and a display and digital audio reproduction unit, for creating a multimedia environment. The display includes a video monitor and an interactive user interface which reacts to external events and translates the external events for a multitasking operating system as events activating, via a graphical module of a library of integrated tools and services, a display of windows or frames providing control of physical operating parameters of the audiovisual reproduction system. The external events includes at least a down-event where the user contacts a representation displayed on the touch screen, selecting a parameter to modify, and an up-event where the use breaks contact with the screen, which triggers modification of the selected parameter, saving the parameter in the memory. |
| US08621343B2 |
Apparatus, system and method for selecting a media enhancement
The present invention is and includes a device, system and method for providing an image enhancement widget. The device, system and method include a javascript component that, upon execution, obtains at least one subject of primary content on a networked page, and at least one permission for enhancement of the primary content, ones of a plurality of content produced remotely from the javascript component and according to the javascript component, and an enhancement widget. The enhancement widget may be a flash widget. |
| US08621342B2 |
System and method for XML registry re-parsing
A system and method can provide a re-parsing mechanism that is plugged into a delegation layer that is transparent to the XML applications. The re-parsing mechanism can perform one or more XML parsing operations based on a local document type definition or schema file. If an error is detected during one or more XML parsing operations based on the local document type definition or schema file, the re-parsing mechanism allows for retrieving an updated document type definition or schema file from a remote application server and performing the one or more XML parsing operations again based on the updated document type definition or schema file. |
| US08621338B2 |
Method and system for converting interactive animated information content for display on mobile devices
A method and system for converting interactive animated information content for display on handheld or mobile devices is presented. Information content that includes files with frames intended to be sequentially played out for display may be converted into a single frame or a smaller collection of frames for display on a device, so that a user of a device may have access to some of the content contained in the file. A server may receive a request for information content that includes a file with frames for playout, and the server will playout the file in an accelerated manner so as to arrive at one or more selected frames quickly. The server will then send the selected frames, or intermediary frames reached during playout, to a client device that requested the web page, for example. |
| US08621337B1 |
Detecting memory corruption
A device identifies, based on a program code instruction, an attempted write access operation to a fenced memory slab, where the fenced memory slab includes an alternating sequence of data buffers and guard buffers. The device assigns read-only protection to the fenced slab and invokes, based on the attempted write access operation, a page fault operation. When a faulting address of the attempted write operation is not an address for one of the multiple data buffers, the device performs a panic routine. When the faulting address of the attempted write operation is an address for one of the multiple data buffers, the device removes the read-only protection for the fenced slab and performs a single step processing routine for the program code instruction. |
| US08621335B2 |
Optimized Viterbi decoder and GNSS receiver
A Viterbi decoder which is based on a special instruction set implemented in the processor, enabling it to handle the Viterbi processing with a much lower CPU loading without significantly increasing the hardware complexity. By careful application of appropriate design constraints specific to the SV navigation and analysis of the Viterbi algorithm an optimised architecture can be realized for embedding Viterbi acceleration logic efficiently into a GNSS chipset. |
| US08621333B2 |
Encoding device, controller and system including the same
An encoding device includes an encoder and a puncturing unit. The encoder generates parity bits based on information bits. The puncturing unit punctures the parity bits based on a puncturing pattern complying with a first criterion determining a period of the puncturing pattern and a second criterion determining positions of remaining parity bits. |
| US08621329B2 |
Reconfigurable BCH decoder
An apparatus generally having a port, a first circuit and a second circuit is disclosed. The port may be configured to receive a current length of a codeword. The current length may be less than a maximum length of the codeword that the apparatus is designed to decode. The first circuit may be configured to calculate in parallel (i) a sequence of intermediate syndromes from the codeword and (ii) a sequence of correction values based on the current length. The second circuit may be configured to generate a particular number of updated syndromes by modifying the intermediate syndromes with the correction values. The particular number is generally twice a maximum error limit of the codeword. |
| US08621328B2 |
Wear-focusing of non-volatile memories for improved endurance
Storing data in memory using wear-focusing techniques for improved endurance. A method for storing the data includes receiving write data to be written into a memory that is logically divided into a plurality of regions. The plurality of regions includes a first region and a second region that are implemented by the same memory technology. The memory is subject to degradation as a result of write operations. The write data is classified as dynamic data or static data. The write data is encoded using a first type of encoding in response to the write data being classified as dynamic. The write data encoded using the first type of encoding is stored in the first region of the memory. The write data is encoded using a second type of encoding and stored in the second region of the memory in response to classifying the write data as static data. |
| US08621326B2 |
Error correction circuit and error correction method
An error correction circuit 1 in accordance with an aspect of the invention includes an associative memory 20, a logic circuit 10 disposed in parallel with the associative memory 20, and selection unit 30 that receives an output signal from the associative memory 20 and an output signal from the logic circuit 10 as an input. The associative memory 20 includes a table that handles an input signal as a word and holds an output signal related to the word and an error correction code used to correct the output signal as data. The associative memory 20 further includes error correction unit that outputs a signal in which an error was corrected based on data related to a word corresponding to an input signal. The selection unit 30 selects and outputs one of an output signal from the associative memory 20 and an output signal from the logic circuit 10. |
| US08621323B2 |
Pipelined data relocation and improved chip architectures
The present invention presents methods and architectures for the pipelining of read operation with write operations. In particular, methods are presented for pipelining data relocation operations that allow for the checking and correction of data in the controller prior to its being re-written, but diminish or eliminate the additional time penalty this would normally incur. A number of architectural examples are described to facilitate these methods, including: introducing two registers on the memory where each is independently accessible by the controller; allowing a first memory register to be written from while a second register is written to; introducing two registers on the memory where the contents of the registers can be swapped. |
| US08621321B2 |
System and method for multi-dimensional encoding and decoding
A system and method for using a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) to evaluate error corrections. A set of data and initial CRC values associated therewith may be received. The set of data by changing a sub-set of the data may be corrected. Intermediate CRC values may be computed for the entire uncorrected set of data in parallel with said correcting. Supplemental CRC values may be computed for only the sub-set of changed data after said correcting. The intermediate and supplemental CRC values may be combined to generate CRC values for the entire corrected set of data. The validity of the corrected set of data may be evaluated by comparing the combined CRC values with the initial CRC values. |
| US08621320B2 |
Per-image forward error correction
Some embodiments provide a method for encoding digital video. The method receives a digital video image. The method encodes the digital video image. The method generates error correction information for the encoded digital video image using only data from the encoded digital video image. The method transmits the generated error correction information with the encoded digital video image. In some embodiments, the method determines a level of error protection for the encoded digital video image based on an image type of the encoded digital video image. |
| US08621315B2 |
LDPC coding systems for 60 GHz millimeter wave based physical layer extension
LDPC coding systems for 60 GHz millimeter wave based physical layer extension. LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) encoding in cooperation with sub-carrier interleaving, in the context of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), and appropriate symbol mapping is performed in accordance with transmit processing as may be performed within a communication device. In a receiving communication device, receive processing may be performed on a received signal based on the type of LDPC, sub-carrier interleaving, and symbol mapping thereof. The LDPC code employed in accordance with such LDPC encoding may have a partial-tree like structure. In addition, appropriate manipulation of the bits assigned to respective sub-carriers may be performed to ensure that the bits emplaced in the MSB (Most Significant Bit) location of various symbols has some desired diversity (e.g., from different codewords, from appropriately different locations within a given codeword, etc.). |
| US08621306B2 |
Panel driving circuit that generates panel test pattern and panel test method thereof
A panel driving circuit that produces a panel test pattern and a method of testing a panel are provided. The driving circuit includes a pattern generation unit and a selection unit. The pattern generation unit responds to a system clock and produces pattern test data and pattern test signals. The selection unit responds to a test signal and selects and outputs either (a) the pattern test data and the pattern test signals that are outputted from the pattern generation unit, or (b) the pattern test data and pattern test signals that are directly applied from the outside. The driving circuit and the method of the panel test generates the panel test data, the horizontal synchronizing signal, the vertical synchronizing signal, and the data activating signal within the driving circuit using a system clock so that the testing of the panel can be carried out without using a separate test device. |
| US08621305B2 |
Methods systems and apparatus for determining whether built-in-test fault codes are indicative of an actual fault condition or a false alarm
Methods and apparatus are provided for determining whether a built-in-test fault code (BITFC) data sequence generated by a built-in-test (BIT) of a particular module of a complex system is indicative of an actual fault condition. A regression function is generated for the particular module based on stored BITFC data sequences generated by the BIT and stored repair data for that module from a fault history database. Later, during operation of the particular module, the BIT generates a new BITFC data sequence. A processor can then load the new BITFC data sequence and execute the regression function with respect to the new BITFC data sequence to determine whether the new BITFC data sequence is indicative of an actual fault condition at the particular module or is indicative of a false fault condition at the particular module. |
| US08621300B2 |
State machine moving from test control register update to idle
Functional circuits and cores of circuits are tested on integrated circuits using scan paths. Using parallel scan distributor and collector circuits for these scan paths improves test access of circuits and cores embedded within ICs and reduces the IC's power consumption during scan testing. A controller for the distributor and collector circuits includes a test control register, a test control state machine and a multiplexer. These test circuits can be connected in a hierarchy or in parallel. A conventional test access port or TAP can be modified to work with the disclosed test circuits. |
| US08621299B2 |
IR outputting mode-1 and ATC enable; ATC gating of update-1
In a first embodiment a TAP 318 of IEEE standard 1149.1 is allowed to commandeer control from a WSP 202 of IEEE standard P1500 such that the P1500 architecture, normally controlled by the WSP, is rendered controllable by the TAP. In a second embodiment (1) the TAP and WSP based architectures are merged together such that the sharing of the previously described architectural elements are possible, and (2) the TAP and WSP test interfaces are merged into a single optimized test interface that is operable to perform all operations of each separate test interface. |
| US08621297B2 |
Scan path switches selectively connecting input buffer and test leads
The peripheral circuitry (350, 360, ESD, BH) of an integrated circuit die on a wafer is tested without physically contacting the bond pads of the die. |
| US08621296B2 |
Integrated circuit devices having selectively enabled scan paths with power saving circuitry
An integrated circuit device includes first and second latches (e.g, D-type flip flops) responsive to a clock signal. Each of the first and second latches respectively includes a data input terminal, a scan input terminal, a scan enable terminal and an output terminal. A combinational logic circuit may be provided, which is configured to receive the signal from the output terminal of the first latch and configured to generate a signal at the data input terminal of the second latch. A scan path is also provided, which is responsive to a scan enable signal. The scan path is configured to selectively pass a signal from the output terminal of the first latch to the scan input terminal of the second latch when the scan enable signal is active. A power saving switch is also provided. This switch, which is responsive to the scan enable signal, includes a first current carrying terminal electrically coupled to the scan path. The switch is configured to disable the scan path from passing the signal from the output terminal of the first latch to the scan input terminal of the second latch when the scan enable signal is in an inactive state. |
| US08621294B2 |
Apparatus, methods, and system of NAND defect management
Various embodiments comprise a method, the method comprising determining whether each of a plurality of memory blocks in a memory device is defective, wherein the plurality of memory blocks are organized into memory block groups, and one of the memory block groups comprises a base memory block group; forming a grouping of non-defective memory blocks; forming a remapped grouping of memory blocks that includes a non-defective memory block from the base memory block group and at least one non-defective memory block in another memory block group that includes a defective memory block; and storing a mapping of the remapped grouping in at least one of the memory device and a processor coupled to the memory device. |
| US08621292B2 |
Device and method for testing semiconductor device
A device for testing a semiconductor memory device, the device including a code table that is configured to store at least a first received code and a second received code received via a host interface, a pattern generation engine that is configured to determine a third code based on at least one of the first and the second received codes stored in the code table and to output the third code, in response to a request to perform a test operation, received via the host interface, and a signal generation unit that is configured to generate control signals for testing the semiconductor memory device, based on the third code received from the pattern generation engine. |
| US08621291B2 |
Semiconductor device and data processing system including the same
To provide a write amplifier that is connected to bit lines, a read amplifier that is connected to the bit lines via a first switch, and a relief memory element that includes a write port that is connected to the bit lines via a second switch, and a read port that is connected to the read amplifier via a third switch. When there is a request to access a defective memory cell, during a write operation, the second switch is turned on and write data is supplied from the write amplifier to the relief memory element via the bit lines, and during a read operation, the first switch is turned off and the third switch is turned on, and then read data read from the relief memory element is supplied to the read amplifier without being routed via the bit lines. |
| US08621290B2 |
Memory system that supports probalistic component-failure correction with partial-component sparing
A memory system that facilitates probabilistic error correction for a failed memory component with partial-component sparing. The memory system accesses blocks of data, each block including an array of bits logically organized into R rows and C columns. The C columns include (1) a row-checkbit column containing row-parity bits for each of the R rows, (2) an inner-checkbit column containing X=R−S inner checkbits and S spare bits, and (3) C-2 data-bit columns containing data bits. Each column is stored in a different memory component. When the memory system determines that a memory component has failed, the memory system examines the pattern of errors associated with the failed component to determine if the failure affects a partial component associated with S or fewer bits. If so, the memory system corrects and remaps data bits from the failed partial component to the S spare data bits in the inner-checkbit column. |
| US08621285B2 |
Request based logging
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with event logging are described. One example method includes collecting request-based event log data associated with processing a request and temporarily storing the event log data in a memory. In the event of an error, the event log data is transferred to a storage device. |
| US08621284B2 |
Operations management apparatus, operations management system, data processing method, and operations management program
An operations management apparatus which acquires performance information for each of a plurality of performance items from a plurality of controlled units and manages operation of the controlled units includesa correlation model generation unit which derives a correlation function between a first element and a second element of the performance information, generates a correlation model between the first element and the second element based on the correlation function, and obtains the correlation model for each element pair of the performance information, anda model searching unit which searches for the correlation model for each element between an input element and an output element among elements of the performance information in series, and predicts a value of the output element from a value of the input element based on the searched correlation model. |
| US08621283B2 |
Systems, methods, and apparatus to debug a network application by utilizing a cloned network and an interactive debugging technique
A method includes instantiating a cloned network that includes a second set of virtual service nodes. The second set of virtual service nodes includes at least one cloned virtual service node that is a clone of a corresponding virtual service node in a first set of virtual service nodes. The at least one cloned virtual service node has access to a history of events that occurred at the corresponding virtual service node in the first set of virtual service nodes. The method includes initiating an interactive debugging session that includes processing of the events of the history of events. |
| US08621282B1 |
Crash data handling
Systems and methods for handling a crash of a process running on an operating system (OS) of a client are provided. In some aspects, a method includes generating crash data based on a dump file associated with the crash of the process. The crash data is associated with a first user logged in to the OS at the time of the crash. The method also includes storing the crash data in a cryptographically secure location on the client such that the crash data persists across reboot of the client. The method also includes preventing the crash data from being sent to an analysis server when the first user is not logged in to the OS. |
| US08621281B2 |
Information processing apparatus and control method
A processing apparatus includes: first and second register files, the latter holding a part of data in the former; an operation unit to operate on data in the second register file and to output data; an instruction unit to issue a write instruction to write, to both register files, the output data and an error detection code for it, and first and second occurrence instructions; a first control unit to issue a first generation instruction when receiving the write instruction and the first occurrence instructions; and a first generation unit to generate a first simulated fault data to output it to the first register file when receiving the first generation instruction, and to output the output data and the error detection code to the first register file in absence of the first generation instruction. Similar second control and generation units are also provided mutatis mutandis. |
| US08621279B1 |
System and method for generating emulation-based scenarios for Error Handling
A system for processing of errors, including an emulator configured for replicating a state of a computer system so as to trigger an application execution error, and obtaining a cause of the error; an expert system configured for generating a scenario for processing of the error based on the cause; and updating a database that contains an identifier of the error, the cause, the state of the computer and the scenario, including updating an error tree that maintains cumulative information about the errors; and an error processor configured for identifying an occurrence of the error, loading the scenario from the database, and running the scenario. |
| US08621269B2 |
Identifying a slice name information error in a dispersed storage network
A method begins by a processing module sending list digest requests to a set of dispersed storage (DS) units. The method continues with the processing module receiving list digest responses from at least some of the set of DS units and determining whether an inconsistency exists between first and second list digest responses of the list digest responses. The method continues with the processing module requesting at least a portion of each of the slice name information lists from first and second DS units of the set of DS units and identifying a slice name information error associated with the inconsistency based on the at least a portion of each of the slices name information lists of the first and second DS units when the inconsistency exists between first and second list digest responses of the list digest responses. |
| US08621265B2 |
Computing core application access utilizing dispersed storage
A computing core includes a processing module, main memory, and a memory controller. The memory controller receives a request to store a data result from a processing module and determines whether to store the data result in an error encoded format. When the memory controller determines to store the data result in the error encoded format, it facilitates encoding the data result in accordance with a dispersed storage error coding function to produce one or more sets of encoded data slices. The memory controller then determines where to store the one or more sets of encoded data slices and provides the one or more sets of encoded data slices to one or more identified memories for storage. |
| US08621263B2 |
Automated node fencing integrated within a quorum service of a cluster infrastructure
A quorum service within a cluster infrastructure layer of a cluster environment comprising a plurality of nodes automatically triggers at least one automated fencing operation integrated within the quorum service, to reliably maintain a node usability state of each node of the plurality of nodes indicating an availability of each node to control and access at least one shared resource of the cluster. The quorum service reports the node usability state of each node as a cluster health status to at least one distributed application within an application layer of the cluster environment, to provide a reliable cluster health status of the plurality of nodes to the at least one distributed application for a failover of said at least one shared resource from control by a failed node from among the plurality of nodes to another node from among the plurality of nodes. |
| US08621262B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit and method for controlling semiconductor integrated circuit
A semiconductor integrated circuit, including a first master circuit, a second master circuit, a first slave circuit assigned to the first master circuit, and determines that an access request signal is sent from the first master circuit when an identification information is a first value, a first bus coupled to the first master circuit, the second master circuit, and the first slave circuit, a bus controller is configured to transmit the access request signal to the first slave circuit via the first bus, a system controller directs the bus controller to substitute the first value for a second value on the identification information of the access request signal received from the second master circuit when the first master circuit is in the deactivated state. |
| US08621257B2 |
Device for powering an electronic circuit, in particular a digital circuit, and associated method
A device for powering an electronic circuit that applies at least a first voltage or a second voltage, different from the first voltage, to the electronic circuit. The device includes a performance monitor that receives an item of information defining a constraint and determines a first duration and a second duration, such that the operation of the electronic circuit at a first frequency associated with the first voltage for the first duration, and at a second frequency associated with the second voltage for the second duration, complies with the constraint. The device applies the first voltage and the first frequency to the circuit for the first duration and the second voltage and the second frequency for the second duration. |
| US08621255B2 |
System and method for loop timing update of energy efficient physical layer devices using subset communication techniques
A system and method for loop timing update of energy efficient physical layer devices using subset communication techniques. During a quiet period during which a subset of communication channels are transitioned from an active mode to a low-power mode, circuitry in the active channel can be designed to track, on behalf of the inactive channels, the phase drift due to the frequency offset. This tracking of the frequency estimation error would reduce the time required to perform a timing update for the communication channels when transitioning back to the active mode. |
| US08621253B1 |
Processor boost based on user interface demand
A method and system for boosting a clock frequency for a processor in a mobile device based on user interface (UI) demand are described. In response to a user interaction through a UI in the mobile device, a vertical synchronization pulse request is made by an application and an indication of such request can be provided to a governor. The governor can adjust a clock frequency of a processor in the mobile device based on the generated indication. The processor can be a central processing unit or a graphics processing unit. The clock frequency can be boosted to a higher frequency to increase the processing capabilities of the mobile device to handle the computational requirements of the user interaction. Some time after boosting the clock frequency of the processor, the governor can return to normal operations in which the clock frequency scaling is typically based on a measured system load. |
| US08621251B1 |
Device operation in a reduced operational mode
A computing device may operate in various modes, which may include a full operational mode and a reduced operational mode. When operating in the reduced operational mode, the computing device may reduce power, reduce radiation output, and/or power off various components to achieve operation in accordance with an operational policy. While operating in the reduced operational mode, the computing device may restrict user access to or adjustment of the impacted components thereby preventing the user from restoring the computing device to the full operational mode, at least temporarily. In some aspects, the device may initiate or terminate the reduced operational mode in response to a signal from a beacon, parameters from a monitored environment, or in response to user commands. In various aspects, the device may provide messaging to inform the user about the modes of operation. |
| US08621250B1 |
Variable power over Ethernet based on link delay measurement
According to example implementations, a power source device provides power to a powered device over a network link. The power source device may include a controller and a transceiver configured to transmit and receive data via a network link with the powered device. The controller may be configured to receive one or more network data packets from the powered device indicating a network delay associated with the network link, determine an amount of power to be supplied to the powered device based on the network delay indicated by the one or more network data packets, and control a power supply to supply the determined amount of power to the powered device through the network link. |
| US08621249B2 |
Facilitating communication and power transfer between electrically-isolated powered device subsystems
A system employing power over Ethernet (PoE) technology may include at least one powered device and power sourcing equipment (PSE). The powered device may include a first powered device (PD) subsystem and a second powered device (PD) subsystem that is electrically isolated from the first PD subsystem. The powered device may also include an interface connecting the first PD subsystem and the second PD subsystem. The PSE may be operable to provide power to one or more of the PD subsystems through a link connecting the PSE to the powered device. Also, the first PD subsystem may be operable to receive a communication from and transfer power to the second PD subsystem through the interface while maintaining the electrical isolation. |
| US08621244B1 |
Method and apparatus for matching consumers
In some embodiments, a method includes receiving a first record set from a first compute device and a second record set from a second compute device. Each record from the first record set has a first attribute string; and each record from the second record set has a first attribute string. The method includes defining a third record set to include each record from the first record set that has a first attribute string equal to a first attribute string of a record from the second record set. The method also includes repeating the above steps for a fourth record set from the first compute device and a fifth record set from the second compute device to further define the third record set. Each record from the fourth record set has a second attribute string and each record from the fifth record set has a second attribute string. |
| US08621242B2 |
Display of a verification image to confirm security
A handheld device 300 generates a verification image to indicate that the device is operating in a secure domain. The verification image is generated in dependence upon secure data stored within a secure region 324 of a memory 310 and user input data captured from a user input device 314, 316, 320. The secure data may be data defining a three-dimensional object. The user image data may be captured from accelerometers 314 defining a viewpoint of the secret three-dimensional object. |
| US08621241B1 |
Storage and recovery of cryptographic key identifiers
Example embodiments provide various techniques for storing and recovering a cryptographic key identifier that may be used to recover encrypted data. The cryptographic key identifier may be stored with the encrypted data itself. In an example, the cryptographic key identifier may be stored in particular blocks on a logical disk that are specifically designated to store the cryptographic key identifier. To store the cryptographic key identifiers in the designated blocks, the data within the blocks is compressed to fit the cryptographic key identifiers within the blocks. This cryptographic key identifier can be recovered at a later time by locating the designated blocks and retrieving the cryptographic key identifier from the blocks. |
| US08621239B2 |
Method for strengthening the implementation of ECDSA against power analysis
A method of inhibiting the disclosure of confidential information through power analysis attacks on processors in cryptographic systems. The method masks a cryptographic operation using a generator G. A secret value, which may be combined with the generator G to form a secret generator is generated. The secret value is divided into a plurality of parts. A random value is generated for association with the plurality of parts. Each of the plurality of parts is combined with the random value to derive a plurality of new values such that the new values when combined are equivalent to the secret value. Each of the new values is used in the cryptographic operation, thereby using the secret generator in place of the generator G in the cryptographic operation. The introduction of randomness facilitates the introduction of noise into algorithms used by cryptographic systems so as to mask the secret value and provide protection against power analysis attacks. |
| US08621237B1 |
Protecting against cryptographic key exposure in source code
A technique protects source code and is performed in an electronic device. The technique involves performing, on the source code, a scanning operation which provides a scanning result indicating whether the source code includes a cryptographic key. The technique further involves performing a remedial operation (e.g., alerting an administrator, deleting the key, replacing the key, combinations thereof, etc.) to prevent undesired exposure of the cryptographic key when the scanning result indicates that the source code includes a cryptographic key. The technique further involves refraining from performing the remedial operation when the scanning result indicates that the source code does not include a cryptographic key. |
| US08621234B2 |
Information interchange system and apparatus
To overcome the drawback of difficulties when interchanging a patient's health record among different health information management systems and yet keep the patient's privacy, this invention proposes a method comprising the steps of: extracting, from a certificate, a signature of a first service provider and a first identifier; generating a second identifier corresponding to the first identifier; sending a request to any one of a second identifier manager and the first service provider so as to request a record associated with the first identifier; receiving the requested record from any one of the second identifier manager and the first service provider; and associating the requested record with the second identifier. Use of the proposed method provides the advantage that there is no need to unify all health information management systems adopting the same pseudonymization service, and makes it easy to share health information among different health information management systems without disclosing the patient's privacy. |
| US08621230B2 |
System and method for secure verification of electronic transactions
The present invention relates to a system and method for secure verification of electronic transactions, and in particular secure processing of personal identification numbers when third party processors are involved. In an embodiment, a variable length PIN associated with a credit card or debit card is encrypted, then hashed using a one-way hash algorithm before it is passed along to and stored by a third party processor. The encrypted-hashed PIN always remains in an encrypted form while in the hands of the third party processor. At the third party processor, secure cryptographic hardware is used to store the one-way hash algorithm. Encrypted PIN values received for verification are converted and hashed using the one-way hash algorithm, and the resulting hashed-encrypted value is compared against the hashed-encrypted PIN values previously stored at the third party processor. As the PIN has a variable length, and the third party processor has no access to the hash algorithm, the encrypted PIN values are highly resistant to reverse engineering or decryption. |
| US08621229B2 |
System and method of facilitating the identification of a computer on a network
A system and method for facilitating identification of an attacking computer in a network is provided. A user attempting to login to a network application may be presented with a screen prior to the login which lists preconditions of gaining access to the application. If a user concurs with the preconditions, a security module is downloaded to the user's computer and executed which gathers various configuration settings and transmits the gathered information to a predetermined destination. The security module may also attempt to place a call to a predetermined destination over a modem in the computer to cause registration of caller-ID data when answered at the predetermined destination. Once the security check is completed, login may proceed with the network application. Any data gathered by the security module may be stored for later recall and use to identify the computer in the event of an attack. |
| US08621227B2 |
System and method for cryptographic key exchange using matrices
Two parties can establish a cryptographic key using a matrix based key exchange protocol, for secure communications without any prior distribution of secret keys or other secret data, and without revealing said key to any third party who may have access to all of the transmissions between them. A common matrix M, shared in advance, is multiplied by a random matrix K on the sending side, and a different random matrix N on the receiving side. The matrix product KM is sent from the sending side to the receiving side, and the matrix product MN is sent from the receiving side to the sending side. Both sides produce the common matrix product KMN, and use it for producing a symmetric key for encrypted communications. |
| US08621224B2 |
Alert options for electronic-paper verification
A system and method to control the writing on electronic paper (e-paper). An e-paper device may incorporate authentication indicia as part of informational data written on e-paper material. The informational data is protected by a security methodology that is accessible to authorized entities. A reader device may be used to help make a verification determination of whether encrypted or encoded data has been altered. In some instances an output alert operably coupled to the reader device serves as a verification status indicator. |
| US08621218B2 |
Method and apparatus for mutual authentication in downloadable conditional access system
Disclosed is a mutual authentication method and apparatus in a CAS including a headend system and DCAS host. In particular, example embodiments relate to a mutual authentication method and apparatus in DCAS, wherein the mutual authentication is performed between an authentication server of the headend system and an SM of a DCAS host, and then CAS software is downloaded to the SM. According to the example embodiments, there is provided a mutual authentication protocol between the authentication server of the headend and the SM of the DCAS host in a cable network, and also provided a mutual authentication method and apparatus in the DCAS where a substantial authentication based on a hardware, such as a smart card or a cable card, is not needed. |
| US08621217B2 |
Method and apparatus for trusted branded email
A trusted branded email method and apparatus in one aspect detects branded electronic messages and performs validation before it is sent to a recipient. In another aspect, an electronic messages is branded by embedding branding assets and validation signatures. Algorithms that generate validation signatures are dynamically selected to further strengthen the security aspects. Branding assets are presented to a user using a distinct indicia that represents to the user that the branding assets are secure. |
| US08621210B2 |
Ad-hoc trust establishment using visual verification
Methods for ad-hoc trust establishment using visual verification are described. In a first embodiment, a visual representation of a shared data is generated on two or more devices and the visual representations generated can be visually compared by a user. This method can be used to verify that the correct devices are involved in a negotiation, when pre-existing trust relationships do not exist between the devices. The visual representation may, for example, comprise a picture with a number of different elements, each representing a part of the shared data. In another embodiment, a method of secure key exchange is described in which, before sharing the keys, the parties exchange information which encapsulates the key. This information can be used subsequently to check that a party has not changed the key that they are using and prevents a man in the middle attack. |
| US08621207B2 |
System and method for handling cross-platform system call with shared page cache in hybrid system
A system and associated method for handling a cross-platform system call with a shared page cache in a hybrid system. The hybrid system comprises a first computer system and a second computer system. Each computer system has a respective copy of the shared page cache, and validates an entry in the respective copy of the shared page cache for pages available in the respective computer system. The cross-platform system call is invoked by a first kernel to provide a kernel service to a user application in the first computer system. The cross-platform system call has a parameter referring to raw data in the first computer system. The cross-platform system call is converted to be executed in the second computer system and the raw data is copied to the second computer system only when a page fault for the raw data occurs while executing the cross-platform system call. |
| US08621202B2 |
Externally managed security and validation processing device
An externally managed security and validation processing device includes a cryptographic processing subsystem configured for performing security or validation services; an application interface configured for communicating security or validation services with an application system; and a secure management interface configured for communicating information, including configuration information for the cryptographic processing system for performing said security or validation services, with a service profile system external to the apparatus without passing said configuration information through the application system. The service profile system can typically also migrate security services provided by one apparatus to another apparatus. |
| US08621201B2 |
Short authentication procedure in wireless data communications networks
In a wireless communications network including at least one authenticator and at least one authentication server, wherein the authenticator is adapted to interact with the authentication server for authenticating supplicants in order to conditionally grant thereto access to the wireless communications network, a short authentication method for authenticating a supplicant, the method including: providing a shared secret, shared by and available at the supplicant and the authentication server; having the supplicant provide to the authenticator an authentication token, wherein the authentication token is based on the shared secret available thereat; having the authenticator forward the authentication token to the authentication server; having the authentication server ascertain an authenticity of the received authentication token based on the shared secret available thereat; in case the authenticity of the authentication token is ascertained, having the authentication server generate a first authentication key based on the shared secret available thereat, and provide the generated authentication key to the authenticator; having the supplicant generate a second authentication key based on the shared secret; and having the supplicant and the authenticator exploit the generated first and the second keys for communicating with each other. The short authentication method is particularly useful in situations of handoff of the supplicant from an authenticator to another. |
| US08621193B2 |
Booting a computer system at start-up by transferring a first part of instructions using a second bus and transferring a second part of instructions using a first bus where the second bus is configured to transfer instructions at a faster rate than the first bus
A computing device is provided that includes a computing unit, which has a working memory and a processing unit, and a boot memory having control instructions for operating the computing device. The control instructions are stored in boot memory and are to be transferred to the computing unit at start-up of the computing device. A boot control unit is connected to the computing unit by at least a first and a second interface and connected to the boot memory by a third interface. The boot control unit is configured to transfer a first part of the control instructions from the boot memory via the first interface to the computing unit and to transfer a second part of the control instructions from the boot memory via the second interface to the computing unit. |
| US08621190B2 |
System and method for changing a particular system setting during a pre-extensible firmware interface initialization (PEI) phase based on a command from a PEI module (PEIM)
A method of manipulating a system setting when booting an information handling system can include providing an update request repository that includes a plurality of entries. Each of the plurality of entries can correspond to a particular system setting. A system setting value associated with each entry can be included in a handoff block (HOB) of a plurality of handoff blocks associated with a cache. The method also includes receiving a command from a PEI module (PEIM) indicating a change to be made to a particular system setting at the information handling system. The method also includes creating or changing a particular entry of the update request repository based on the command. |
| US08621189B2 |
System and method for hardware strengthened passwords
A cryptographic module and a computing device implemented method for securing data using a cryptographic module is provided. The cryptographic module may include an input component for receiving a password, an output component for outputting data to the computing device, a random number generator for generating a random number and a module processor operative to generate at least one cryptographic key using the generated random number, and to record an association between the received password linking the received password with the at least one cryptographic key in a data store accessible to the cryptographic module. |
| US08621184B1 |
Effective scheduling of producer-consumer processes in a multi-processor system
A novel technique for improving throughput in a multi-core system in which data is processed according to a producer-consumer relationship by eliminating latencies caused by compulsory cache misses. The producer and consumer entities run as multiple slices of execution. Each such slice has an associated execution context that comprises of the code and data that particular slice would access. The execution contexts of the producer and consumer slices are small enough to fit in the processor caches simultaneously. When a producer entity scheduled on a first core completed production of data elements as constrained by the size of cache memories, a consumer entity is scheduled on that same core to consume the produced data elements. Meanwhile, a second slice of the producer entity is moved to another core and a second slice of a consumer entity is scheduled to consume elements produced by the second slice of the producer. |
| US08621178B1 |
Techniques for data storage array virtualization
Described are techniques for performing data storage system management. The data storage system is divided into a plurality of virtual partitions. A plurality of policy sets are specified where each of the policy sets includes one or more policies. One of the plurality of policy sets is assigned to each of the plurality of virtual partitions. Each of the plurality of policy sets includes an access control policy that assigns a portion of data storage of the data storage system as a resource for exclusive use in one of the plurality of virtual partitions that is assigned said each policy set. |
| US08621172B2 |
System and method for reclaiming unused space from a thinly provisioned data container
A method for operating a computer storage system maintains a client computer interacting with the storage system, the client computer storing data on a data storage device of the computer storage system. Locating, by a client-side agent executing on the client computer that examines metadata of the client computer, one or more sets of blocks allocated and then deleted, hereinafter referred to as deleted blocks, within the computer storage system. Sending a command to the storage system, the command to identify the deleted blocks within the computer storage system. Deallocating, in response to receiving the command, the identified deleted blocks within the computer storage system. |
| US08621171B2 |
Compaction planning
An illustrative embodiment of a computer-implemented process for compaction planning selects a source region from a set of regions to form a selected source region, initializes process data using information from the selected source region and responsive to a determination that a current destination is not NULL and not full, determines whether to atomically consume from a destination. Responsive to a determination to atomically consume from a destination, the computer-implemented process plans to evacuate into a consumed extent and updates the process data and responsive to a determination that the source region is empty, determines whether more work remains. Responsive to a determination that more work does not remain, the computer-implemented process generates a relocation table. |
| US08621168B2 |
Partitioning the namespace of a contactless smart card
Systems, methods, computer programs, and devices are disclosed herein for partitioning the namespace of a secure element in contactless smart card devices and for writing application data in the secure element using requests from a software application outside the secure element. The secure element is a component of a contactless smart card incorporated into a contactless smart card device. A control software application resident in the same or a different secure element provides access types and access bits, for each access memory block of the secure element namespace, thereby portioning the namespace into different access types. Further, a software application outside the secure element manages the control software application by passing commands using a secure channel to the secure element, thereby enabling an end-user of the contactless smart card device or a remote computer to control the partitioning and use of software applications within the secure element. |
| US08621167B2 |
Using DMA for copying performance counter data to memory
A device for copying performance counter data includes hardware path that connects a direct memory access (DMA) unit to a plurality of hardware performance counters and a memory device. Software prepares an injection packet for the DMA unit to perform copying, while the software can perform other tasks. In one aspect, the software that prepares the injection packet runs on a processing core other than the core that gathers the hardware performance counter data. |
| US08621157B2 |
Cache prefetching from non-uniform memories
An apparatus is disclosed for performing cache prefetching from non-uniform memories. The apparatus includes a processor configured to access multiple system memories with different respective performance characteristics. Each memory stores a respective subset of system memory data. The apparatus includes caching logic configured to determine a portion of the system memory to prefetch into the data cache. The caching logic determines the portion to prefetch based on one or more of the respective performance characteristics of the system memory that stores the portion of data. |
| US08621156B1 |
Labeled cache system
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for labeled caching techniques. In one aspect, a method includes placing a plurality of items into a cache, each item having a label based on metadata associated with the item. A number of accesses are performed to respective items in the cache. A per-label stack distance histogram is determined for each label, including, for each label, determining a plurality of stack distances for accesses to items having the label. The cache is adjusted using the per-label stack distance histograms. |
| US08621154B1 |
Flow based reply cache
A flow based reply cache of a storage system is illustratively organized into one or more microcaches, each having a plurality of reply cache entries. Each microcache is maintained by a protocol server executing on the storage system and is allocated on a per client basis. To that end, each client is identified by a client connection or logical “data flow” and is allocated its own microcache and associated entries, as needed. As a result, each microcache of the reply cache may be used to identify a logical stream of client requests associated with a data flow, as well as to isolate that client stream from other client streams and associated data flows used to deliver other requests served by the system. The use of microcaches thus provides a level of granularity that enables each client to have its own pool of reply cache entries that is not shared with other clients, thereby obviating starvation of entries allocated to the client in the reply cache. |
| US08621152B1 |
Transparent level 2 cache that uses independent tag and valid random access memory arrays for cache access
A system comprising a processor, a first cache, and a second cache. The processor is configured to perform a processing task according to data stored in a main memory and output a command associated with the processing task. The first cache is located between the processor and the main memory and is configured to store a first portion of the data stored in the main memory and provide a first indication of whether the command has been completed at the first cache. The second cache is located between the first cache and the main memory and is configured to store a second portion of the data stored in the main memory and provide a second indication of whether the command has been completed at the second cache. The processor is configured to perform the processing task in response to receiving both the first indication and the second indication. |
| US08621151B2 |
Active memory processor system
In general, the present invention relates to data cache processing. Specifically, the present invention relates to a system that provides reconfigurable dynamic cache which varies the operation strategy of cache memory based on the demand from the applications originating from different external general processor cores, along with functions of a virtualized hybrid core system. The system includes receiving a data request, selecting an operational mode based on the data request and a predefined selection algorithm, and processing the data request based on the selected operational mode. |
| US08621148B2 |
Hierarchical memory architecture to connect mass storage devices
A hierarchical memory storage using a concentrator device that is located between a processor and memory storage devices to provide a succession of memory devices and enable attachment of a memory depth to a processor controller with a limited pin count. |
| US08621141B2 |
Method and system for wear leveling in a solid state drive
A method and system for wear leveling in a solid state drive by mapping the logical regions of the solid state drive that hold static content or information into the physical regions of the solid state drive that have erase counts more than an average erase count of all of the physical regions. By doing so, it allows the solid state drive to wear level itself naturally through continued usage. In one embodiment of the invention, the erase count of each physical region is incremented with every erasing operation of each physical region. The physical regions that have a high count of erase count operations are mapped with content of the logical regions with static content so that the possibility of future erase operations of these physical regions is reduced. |
| US08621139B2 |
Data writing method for writing data into block of multi-level cell NAND flash memory by skipping a portion of upper page addresses and storage system and controller using the same
A data writing method for a multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory and a storage system and a controller using the same are provided. The flash memory includes a plurality of blocks. Each of the blocks includes a plurality of page addresses. The page addresses are categorized into a plurality of upper page addresses and a plurality of lower page addresses. The writing speed of the lower page addresses is faster than that of the upper page addresses. The data writing method includes receiving a writing command and data and writing the data into a page address. The page address is skipped when it is an upper page address and a corresponding lower page address stores a valid data written by a previous writing command. Thereby, the accuracy of the data written by the previous writing command is ensured when a programming error occurs to the flash memory. |
| US08621138B2 |
Flash storage controller execute loop
In a storage controller connected to a flash memory module, an execute loop used to carry out tasks related to reading or writing data from the module. The loop includes reading a data structure from a queue and carrying out a task specified by the data structure, unless resources required by the task are not available, in which event the loop moves on to another data structure stored in another queue. Data structures bypassed by the loop are periodically revisited, until all tasks required are completed. Data structures store state information that is updated when tasks are completed. |
| US08621135B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and information data processing apparatus including the same
A semiconductor memory device includes a plural number of data input/output pins, a plural number of banks, in each of which a plural number of the information data is stored, a selector and a control circuit. In a first access mode, the control circuit simultaneously accesses the multiple banks in response to a single read-out command or to a single write-in command from outside. In the first access mode, the selector coordinates a plurality of data input/output pins with the multiple banks in a predetermined relationship. |
| US08621128B2 |
Methods and systems for reliable link startup
Link startup systems, methods and devices associated with interconnects are described. Asymmetric lane connections are supported by, for example, independent renumbering of the connected lanes after an initial discovery process. Low-power, hibernating states of devices are supported by, for example, initialing alternating between transmission of startup and wakeup sequences over the interconnect between devices. |
| US08621120B2 |
Stalling of DMA operations in order to do memory migration using a migration in progress bit in the translation control entry mechanism
A mechanism for temporarily stalling selected Direct Memory Access (DMA) operations in a physical input/output (I/O) adapter in order to permit migration of data between physical pages that are subject to access by the physical I/O adapter. When a request for a DMA to a physical page in system memory is received from an I/O adapter, a migration in progress (MIP) bit in a translation control entry (TCE) pointing to the physical page is examined, wherein the MIP bit indicates whether migration of the physical page referenced in the TCE to another location in system memory is currently in progress. If the MIP bit indicates a migration of the physical page is in progress, the DMA from the I/O adapter is temporarily stalled while other DMA operations from other I/O adapters to other physical pages in system memory are allowed to continue. |
| US08621118B1 |
Use of service processor to retrieve hardware information
Various techniques and hardware are described for retrieving information in a processing system. In one embodiment, a method is provided for retrieving information in a processing system that includes a central processing unit and a service processor. Here, the service processor retrieves central processing unit information from the central processing unit and resets the processing system after the retrieval of the central processing unit information. |
| US08621117B2 |
Intelligent configuration system for power distribution feeder reclosers and switches
An exemplary method for configuring an intelligent electronic device in a power delivery system includes receiving identification data for the intelligent electronic device, based on the received identification data and on capabilities of the intelligent electronic device, generating a configuration profile for the intelligent electronic device, receiving operating parameters for the intelligent electronic device, determining a coordination of the intelligent electronic device with the power delivery system based on the received operating parameters, displaying the determined coordination, modifying the configuration profile based on the received operating parameters and the determined coordination, and configuring the intelligent electronic device with the modified configuration profile. |
| US08621109B2 |
Adaptable management in sync engines
Synchronization of two or more items can be optimized through the use of parallel execution of synchronization tasks and adaptable processing that monitors and adjusts for system loading. Two or more synchronization tasks required to be performed for an item can, if not inherently serial in nature, be performed in parallel, optimizing synchronization of the item. Even if multiple synchronization tasks required for one item must be serially executed, e.g., download the item prior to translating the item, these synchronization tasks can be executed in parallel for different items, optimizing a download request involving two or more items. Moreover, multiple threads for one or more synchronization tasks can be concurrently executed when supportable by the current operating system resources. Rules can be established to ensure synchronization activity is not degraded by the overextension of system resources. |
| US08621107B2 |
State-mediated data signaling used for compression in telecommunication services
The invention relates to message-based communication between at least two units (100; 200) participating in a communications session. A first communications unit (100) generates and stores a state (10) comprising unit-associated data applicable for multiple messages to be communicated between the unit (100) and a second unit (200). A copy of this state (10) is then transmitted to the second unit (200), where it is stored. The state (10) and state copy can now be used in message processing for the purpose of reducing the message size and reducing utilization of communications resources. Data contained in the state (10) or state copy and found in the message (m1) is removed from the message prior transmission thereof. The resulting reduced-size message (m1′USD) is transmitted to the receiving unit, where the message (m1′USD) is anew processed by re-entering the data, removed by the transmitting unit, into the message (m1′USD) using the state copy or state. The original message (m1) is then recreated. |
| US08621106B2 |
Content delivery network
A content delivery system for providing content from a content delivery network to end users may include a plurality of delivery servers that host one or more content items and an inventory server having an inventory of content. The inventory of content can indicate which of the delivery servers host the content items. The inventory server may receive a request for a content item from an end user system and may access the inventory of content to determine one or more delivery servers that host the content item. In response to this determination, the inventory server may redirect the request for the content item to a selected one of the delivery servers. The selected delivery server can then serve the content item to the end user system. |
| US08621105B2 |
Systems and methods for routing VPN traffic around network distribution
Methods for using a client agent to route client requests among a plurality of appliances using transport layer information include the steps of: establishing, by a client agent executing on a client, a first transport layer connection with a first appliance of a plurality of appliances, the first appliance providing access to one or more servers; establishing, by a client agent executing on the client, a second transport layer connection with a second appliance of a plurality of appliances, the second appliance providing access to one or more servers; intercepting, by the client agent, a packet transmitted by the client; selecting, by the client agent, one of the connections to transmit the intercepted packet based on a characteristic of at least one of: the transport layer connections, the plurality of appliances, or the servers; and transmitting the intercepted packet via the selected connection. |
| US08621103B2 |
Network node and method of routing messages in an IP-based signaling network
A method of routing messages in an IP-based signaling network is provided. Further, a network node (201) for performing such a routing of messages in an IP-based signaling network, is provided. The network node (201) comprises at least two interfaces (214, 215) and a processing unit (302) configured to route an incoming message received at a first of the at least two interfaces to a second interface of the at least two interfaces. Further, a relay network comprising plural of such network nodes as relay nodes is provided. |
| US08621102B2 |
Automated routing of media through a media exchange network
Aspects of the invention provide a method and system for communication of information in a distributed media network. The communication of information in a distributed media network may include automatically transferring one or more of media, data and service to a view of a first media processing system and/or a first personal computer within the distributed media network. The transferred media, data and/or service may be subsequently routed from the view of the first media processing system and/or the first personal computer to a view of a second media processing system and/or a second personal computer. The routed media, data and/or service may be consumed by the second media processing system and/or the second personal computer. A consumption rule, transfer rule and/or routing rule may control consumption, transfer and routing of the media, data and/or service. Transfer and/or routing of the media, data and/or service may be scheduled. |
| US08621098B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing media content using a mobile device
A method and an apparatus for providing media content using a mobile device as a media server. For example, the method discovers at least one target mobile device, and determines whether the at least one target mobile device is capable of supporting wireless streaming media. The method streams the media content to the at least one target mobile device using the mobile device if the at least one target mobile device is determined to be capable of supporting wireless streaming media. |
| US08621094B2 |
User status reports provided by an entertainment access system
An entertainment access system is provided that enables a user to request and receive status reports that present current information concerning a wide variety of items pertaining to the user's devices, entertainment content and usage rights in a standard, predictable and consistent manner. In some illustrative examples, the user can request the status report from one of his devices that is registered with the entertainment access system. The entertainment access system responds by collecting and formatting the status information so that is can be conveniently displayed or otherwise rendered on the registered device. For instance, if the request is received from a device having a small screen, the information may be presented in a relatively abbreviated format. On the other hand, if the request is received from the user's personal computer, the information may be presented to the personal computer in a more detailed or entirely different format. |
| US08621093B2 |
Non-blocking of head end initiated revocation and delivery of entitlements non-addressable digital media network
A system, apparatus, and method are directed towards managing entitlement/right revocation and delivery to be performed within a non-addressable media network. Such networks may include for example a client device behind a network address translation (NAT) device, employs non-addressable satellite components, or so forth. A server notifies clients that entitlements, revocations, or the like are available by sending a request for communications with the client. The client initiates a connection to receive the entitlements, or the like, and then disconnects from the server. If the client fails to initiate a connection, the server may continue to send a request for a connection, or even change encryption keys to the content to prevent access by the client. In one embodiment, failure to receive an acknowledgement response from the server of a connection with the client, or from the client, may result in invocation of a revocation failure action. |
| US08621090B2 |
System and method for providing sequenced anonymous communication sessions over a network
A method for facilitating a sequenced, anonymous communications session in a communications environment is provided in one example that includes receiving, from a first endpoint, an anonymous, sequenced request for a communication session involving a second endpoint. The communication session is sequenced to occur at designated periods provided by the end user(s) and/or an administrator, while maintaining end user(s) anonymity. |
| US08621089B2 |
Method and system for providing supplemental visual content
An approach is provided for transmitting supplemental visual content to a user. A command is received to retrieve visual content associated with a transaction conducted with a user over a source device. In response to the command, the visual content is retrieved for presentation to the user via a target device. |
| US08621068B2 |
System and method for monitoring advertisement assignment
A method is disclosed which emulates accessing web sites by a simulated web visitor. The characteristics of the web user may be controlled as may be the timing and number of visits and the nature of the web sites visited. During the emulated visits cookies of the web visitor are modified. The emulated visits may be directed to a sub-group of web sites which are engaged in agreements granting them reward for the provision of data indicative of the nature of past web visits, and to a sub-group of web sites which are not engaged in such agreements. Comparison of the exposure of the emulated web visitor to advertisements in each of the sub groups may be analyzed to indicate whether the agreements are properly executed and the reward is properly given. |
| US08621062B1 |
Push signaling to run jobs on available servers
Embodiments are directed towards push signaling to run jobs on available servers. Users may provide jobs or job instructions to a job control node. Job control node may determine one or more available job target nodes from among a plurality of managed nodes associated with the job control node. The job target nodes may be determined based on information included in the provided job instructions. If there are available job target nodes, the job control node may provide the job instructions to each available job target node. Further, the job control node may receive communications from one or more available job target nodes that indicates that the job target node is prepared and ready to execute the received job instructions. Next, the job control node may issue a job start command that triggers the prepared job target nodes to begin executing the provided job instructions. |
| US08621057B2 |
Establishing relationships among elements in a computing system
Establishing relationships among elements in a computing system, the computing system including one or more servers, one or more switches, the one or more servers and one or more switches forming one or more local area networks and also forming one or more virtual local area networks, including: identifying, for each server in the computing system, physical topology data; identifying, for each server in the computing system, virtual topology data; and creating, in dependence upon the physical topology data and the virtual topology data, a system map. |
| US08621048B2 |
Method and system for processing published content on the internet
Disclosed is a method for processing content published on-line so as to identify each item in a unique manner. In some implementations, an RSS feed is received from a publisher and a unique identifier is identified for each item in the feed. Each item then has third party content or advertisements associated with the item based on the unique identifier. The feed is then stored and, when appropriate, updated. The augmented feed, which contains the third party content and the items in the feed, is provided to user devices. |
| US08621047B2 |
System and method for managing images over a communication network
A program storage device and method for creating an electronic icon containing information unique to a category and to a network address including information for associating the icon with a digital image and sending the digital image over a network to the network address. |
| US08621046B2 |
Offline advertising services
Methods and apparatus for provision of offline advertising services are described. In one embodiment, content data is stored in a local memory of a computing device prior to going offline. Once offline, the stored content is provided from the local memory, while the metrics regarding the provided content is collected and later transmitted to a remote server. Other embodiments are also described. |
| US08621042B2 |
Anycast redirect to unicast content download
A method and system for delivering content with a content delivery network (CDN) to a user computer is disclosed. After an initial request to a point of presence (POP) of the CDN for the location of the content object, an Anycast Internet protocol (IP) address is assigned. The user computer requests the content object which may find its way to the same or a different POP depending on what is closer in Internet terms. The request returns a POP-specific IP in a redirect such that the request resolves to the POP referenced in the immediately preceding sentence. One or more edge servers deliver the content object to the user computer. |
| US08621038B2 |
Incompatible network gateway provisioned through DNS
A first packet of a first protocol version type that includes an incoming request for an action to be performed on an identified resource is received from a client at a proxy server as a result of a DNS request resolving to a network address of the proxy server. The proxy server transmits an outgoing request for the action to be performed on the identified resource to a network address of the destination origin server in a second packet that is of the second protocol version type. The proxy server receives a third packet that includes an incoming response from the destination origin server, the third packet being of the second protocol version type. The proxy server transmits a fourth packet to the client, the fourth packet being of the first protocol version type, wherein the fourth packet includes an outgoing response that is based on the incoming response. |
| US08621036B1 |
Secure file access using a file access server
A secure file access system and method are disclosed which comprises a file access module executed on a processor of a computing device. The file access module receives a request to access an encrypted file from a computer program executed on the computing device and sends an access query including an encrypted first segment of the encrypted file and a user identifier to a file access server via a communication network. The access query enables the file access server, after decryption of the encrypted first segment using a first decryption key, to authorize or deny access to the encrypted second segment based, at least in part, on the user identifier and file access permission data. The file access module decrypts the encrypted second segment using a second decryption key obtained from the file access server to enable the computer program to access the second segment of the file. |
| US08621032B2 |
Method and apparatus for intuitively administering networked computer systems
A method and apparatus intuitively to administer all components of a networked computer system by use of real multi-dimensional views of any component or any set of components, including components related to a specific business interest, and with customizable and fully extensible functionality, across heterogenous platforms and applications. Navigation and configuration tools are provided, with an intelligent cursor, to travel to and address any component part thereof, or subset of components, with status and abnormalities identified, monitored and controlled, and by hierarchical filtration, and aggregation correlation with asynchronous notification. Graphical presentation tools are also provided employing an enhanced zooming graphical display. |
| US08621030B2 |
Techniques to copy an operating system
Techniques are described that can be used to enable a transfer of an operating system from one machine to another. The transfer permits the operating system to be available to the target machine at buffers that are accessible to one or more application or other logic. In some implementations, information related to an operating system migration is stored in a buffer that is accessible to an application that is to use the information and thereby avoids a copy of such information from an intermediate buffer to an application buffer. |
| US08621027B2 |
Automatically providing identity information for a network appliance
A method and system for activating a network appliance. The method may include providing a user interface for a network appliance, and allowing a user to request an activation of the network appliance via the user interface, without requiring the user to specify the identity of the network appliance. The method may further include sending an activation request to a server, receiving a response triggering an activation process on the network appliance from the server, and performing the activation process on the network appliance. |
| US08621026B2 |
Batching notifications to optimize for battery life
In one embodiment, a notification server 110 may batch together notifications to reduce power consumption. A notification server 110 may receive a power consumption profile 430 from a client device 120. The notification server 110 may assign a notification batch schedule at a notification server 110 based on the power consumption profile 430. |
| US08621019B2 |
Live content sharing within a social networking environment
Example systems and methods of content sharing within a social networking environment are presented. In one example, a first user device that is available to provide live media content is detected. A second user related to a first user of the first user device is identified within a social network. A notification of the availability of the first user device is transmitted to a second user device being operated by the second user. The notification is presented within a social networking website of the social network. In response to the notification, a request to receive the live media content is received from the second user device. In response to the request, transmission of the live media content provided by the first user device to the second user device is initiated, the live media content being presented within the social networking website. |
| US08621012B2 |
Active e-mails
A computer-implemented method can include accessing a micro-blog to retrieve a real-time copy of the micro-blog thread and delivering the real-time copy of the micro-blog thread for display in an e-mail message. |
| US08621010B2 |
Method and system for protecting messaging consumers
The present invention is directed to a system, method, and computer-program product for protecting messaging consumers. According to one embodiment of the invention, a method for protecting messaging consumers can be provided. The method can include intercepting a message prior to arrival at a destination, comparing the message to one or more known message structures to determine the message structure, and determining if a message has a valid message structure for the destination. Intercepting a message prior to arrival at a destination may intercepts a message on a queue before the message is consumed by a consumer. Comparing the message to known message structures compares a message to message schemas, for example, XML schema, Java object definition or C structure format. |
| US08621004B2 |
Method and system for transfer of calls from an IP based phone
A system for and method of providing a call transfer is presented. In one exemplary embodiment, the system and method of providing a call transfer may comprise receiving, via a network interface, a call at an IP based phone, the call originating from outside a network of the IP based phone, parsing one or more portions of call information to identify a unique network interface indicator associated with the network interface, receiving a request to transfer the call, and transferring the call to the network interface using the unique network interface indicator. |
| US08621003B2 |
Enhanced application-layer multicast for peer-to-peer conferencing
An application-layer multicast-based (ALM-based), peer-to-peer conferencing system is disclosed that leverages the differing capabilities of the participating peer nodes. A conference call can be set up among peer nodes of three different types. A bridging node is capable of mixing individual audio signals that are associated with a call into a composite audio signal and of providing the composite audio signal to another node. A mixing-capable node is capable of mixing the individual audio signals that are associated with a call, but not of relaying those signals to another node. A mixing-incapable node does not support the mixing of individual audio signals. The conferencing architecture of the illustrative embodiment is able to account for the differences between the three types of nodes that are to participate in a conference call, resulting in an optimal allocation of bandwidth and processing resources. |
| US08621002B2 |
System and method for dynamically changing the content of an information display
A host Web page includes an evolving interactive dialog box wherein an Internet user may enter user data to be processed. When the user completes entering user data in a first revolution of the interactive dialog box, the first revolution is replaced with a second revolution of the evolving interactive dialog box without disturbing or affecting any other part of the host Web page being displayed. Beneficially, the first and second revolutions may be communicated to a user computer together with and at a same time as the host Web page. Also, the second revolution may include a variety of data which is selected or customized to match the user data submitted in the first revolution. Each revolution of the evolving interactive dialog box may be comprised of any combination of general textual data entry fields, category (pull-down) menus, contact information data entry fields, and opt-in/opt-out buttons. |
| US08620994B2 |
System and method for scheduling content updates in a content-based application
Described are various mechanisms and techniques for influencing or controlling a content update schedule for a content-based software application on a mobile device. A content server issues one or more commands to the mobile device that establish a content update schedule for the mobile device. The mobile device then performs content update sessions with the content server based on that schedule. During any one or more refresh sessions, the content server delivers another command to establish a new content update schedule. This system provides the advantage of allowing the content server to regulate how frequently the mobile device retrieves new content. |
| US08620993B2 |
Activity monitoring system and method for transmitting information for activity monitoring
An activity monitoring system and method are disclosed to reduce the size of an activity sensor device to reduce its power consumption and smoothly transmit activity and occupancy information from the activity sensor device and an occupancy sensor device to an activity monitoring server to monitor an individual's activity and occupancy information. The activity monitoring system includes: an activity sensor device configured to detect a physical activity of a user, classify the detected physical activity, and transmit activity classification information as a result along with user identification information; one or more occupancy sensor devices configured to receive the activity classification information and the individual's identification information from the activity sensor device, and transmit the received information along with occupancy information; and an activity monitoring server configured to manage the activity classification information, the occupancy information, and the individual's identification information received from the occupancy sensor devices. |
| US08620992B2 |
Method, system and device for reporting user agent profile information
A method, system, and device for reporting User Agent Profile (UAP) information are disclosed. In the embodiments of the invention, UAP information is associated with an attribute group label, and a client identifies the attribute group label and reports UAP attribute information associated with the identified attribute group label to a server side according to the identified attribute group label, thereby avoiding reporting all UAP attribute information and further saving network resources. Moreover, in the case that a change occurs in the value of a device capability UAP attribute of a terminal or in the attribute group label of the server side, if such a change affects an existing service, the client only needs to send the changed device capability UAP information to the server side, thereby further avoiding transmitting a large volume of UAP information and further saving the network resources. |
| US08620989B2 |
System and method for exchanging information among exchange applications
In a system and method for processing messages in a gateway, a gateway message is received at the gateway, the gateway message including a gateway message header and a payload, the gateway message header including a unique message identifier block, a target block identifying where the gateway message is going, and a history block providing a log of what has happened to the gateway message. Each block in the gateway message header is processed by the gateway in accordance with a message type, the processing including determining a target application for receiving the payload. The payload is provided to the determined target application. Each block includes one or more values. |
| US08620987B2 |
Multi-regime detection in streaming data
Systems and methods for multi-regime detection in streaming data are disclosed. An example method includes generating vectors for each sample of the streaming data. The method also includes inducing mean independence of the vectors to find an embedded data trajectory. The method also includes comparing the embedded data trajectory with known data trajectories. The method also includes issuing an alert if the embedded data trajectory corresponds to a known data trajectory indicating an anomaly in the streaming data. |
| US08620986B2 |
Peer-to-peer network connectivity status
The embodiments disclosed herein provide a system, apparatus, and method for managing requests in a peer-to-peer network. A processor determines whether to reduce an amount of checks for connectivity for the device in the peer-to-peer network in response to a device being in the peer-to-peer network. The processor configures the device to send a message indicating a status of the device to a number of other devices in the peer-to-peer network without receiving a request for the status of the device in response to a determination to reduce the amount of checks for connectivity for the device in the peer-to-peer network. |
| US08620982B2 |
Identification of integrated circuits
Techniques are generally described for generating an identification number for an integrated circuit (IC). In some examples, methods for generating an identification of an IC may comprise selecting circuit elements of the IC, evaluating measurements of an attribute of the IC for the selected circuit elements, wherein individual measurements are associated with corresponding input vectors previously applied to the IC, solving a plurality of equations formulated based at least in part on the measurements taken of the attribute of the IC for the selected circuit elements to determine scaling factors for the selected circuit elements, and transforming the determined scaling factors for the selected circuit elements to generate an identification number of the IC. Additional variants and embodiments may also be disclosed. |
| US08620980B1 |
Programmable device with specialized multiplier blocks
A specialized multiplier block in a programmable device incorporates multipliers and adders, and is configurable as one or more types of finite impulse response (FIR) filter including a Direct Form II FIR filter. The specialized multiplier block further includes input and output registers to allow chaining of Direct Form II FIR filters into longer Direct Form II FIR filters. An output accumulator also allows the specialized multiplier block to operate as a time-division multiplexed FIR filter, performing several filtering operations during each clock cycle of the programmable device. |
| US08620977B1 |
Modular digital signal processing circuitry with optionally usable, dedicated connections between modules of the circuitry
Digital signal processing (“DSP”) circuit blocks are provided that can more easily work together to perform larger (e.g., more complex and/or more arithmetically precise) DSP operations if desired. These DSP blocks may also include redundancy circuitry that facilitates stitching together multiple such blocks despite an inability to use some block (e.g., because of a circuit defect). Systolic registers may be included at various points in the DSP blocks to facilitate use of the blocks to implement systolic form, finite-impulse-response (“FIR”), digital filters. |
| US08620975B2 |
Persistent file replacement mechanism
An original file of a versioned WPAR, that are incompatible with a global operating system, can be persistently replaced with a corresponding replacement file that is compatible with the global operating system. For this, the original file can be renamed and a symbolic link file can be created to reference the replacement file instead of the original file. A software maintenance program can also be persistently replaced to preserve the replacement file and to maintain compatibility with the global operating system regardless of new instances of the original file delivered by the software maintenance program. The replacement file that corresponds to the original file can be identified and renamed. In response to detecting a new version of the original file, the new version of the original file can be renamed. A reference to the new version of the original file can be updated to reference the replacement file. |
| US08620974B2 |
Persistent file replacement mechanism
An original file of a versioned WPAR, that is incompatible with a global operating system, can be persistently replaced with a corresponding replacement file that is compatible with the global operating system. For this, the original file can be renamed and a symbolic link file can be created to reference the replacement file instead of the original file. A software maintenance program can also be persistently replaced to preserve the replacement file and to maintain compatibility with the global operating system regardless of new instances of the original file delivered by the software maintenance program. The replacement file that corresponds to the original file can be identified and renamed. In response to detecting a new version of the original file, the new version of the original file can be renamed. A reference to the new version of the original file can be updated to reference the replacement file. |
| US08620972B1 |
Random order digital file format
A system for creating a random order file format, wherein randomization occurs at the sub-file level, the system having a data storage unit that stores a plurality of data pieces and at least one RODFF file that is created from said data pieces, where the RODFF files and data pieces are stored according to commands received by a software application; a microprocessor configured by the software application and operatively connected to the data storage unit whereby the microprocessor is configured to execute the software application and enable the RODFF files to be created, according to a set of predetermined methods from the plurality of digital data pieces, and also enables the RODFF files to be stored on and retrieved from the data storage unit. |
| US08620970B2 |
Methods and apparatus for changing versions of a filesystem
A filesystem can be converted to a different version by creating a new data structure according to a new format of the different version and transforming the data from the filesystem to the new data structure. Transforming the data can include changing the format of the data in the filesystem to be compatible with the new data structure format. The data may be incorporated into the new data structure by copying the data, or creating indirect reference mechanisms to point to the original data. |
| US08620969B2 |
Presenting intelligent tagging suggestions for a photograph
Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for presenting intelligent tagging suggestions for a photograph are provided. Embodiments include identifying, by a tagging module, contextual information indicating circumstances in which the photograph was taken; based on the contextual information, selecting, by the tagging module, candidate profiles from a plurality of friend profiles associated with a profile of a user; and suggesting, by the tagging module to the user, the selected candidate profiles as potential friends to tag in the photograph. |
| US08620967B2 |
Managing metadata for occurrences of a recording
A method and a system are provided for managing metadata for occurrences of a recording. In one example, the system receives a recording. The recording includes computer readable media data. The system generates an internal identifier of the recording. The internal identifier is a signature that uniquely identifies the recording. The system then adds the internal identifier to metadata that are associated with at least one occurrence of the recording. The metadata are data that describe the recording. |
| US08620964B2 |
Ontology construction
Disclosed are methods in which ontologies are automatically (i.e., with little or no human interaction) constructed from data. The constructed ontology may be provided for use by an application or device. An ontology may be constructed as follows. Firstly, a lexical graph is constructed. Secondly, a concept-detection process is performed on the lexical graph to detect concepts (prominent terms) in the lexical graph. Thirdly, a clustering method is performed on the lexical graph to form groups of concepts. Fourthly, relationships between the concepts are determined based on the interconnections of the concepts in the groups. Lastly, the concepts and detected relationships therebetween are structured using a formal ontology specification. |
| US08620958B1 |
Dimensionally constrained synthetic context objects database
A processor-implemented method, system, and/or computer program product generate and utilize a dimensionally constrained hierarchical synthetic context-based object library for multiple synthetic context-based objects. A non-contextual data object is associated with a context object to define a synthetic context-based object, where the non-contextual data object ambiguously relates to multiple subject-matters, and where the context object provides a context that identifies a specific subject-matter, from the multiple subject-matters, of the non-contextual data object. The synthetic context-based object is then associated with at least one specific data store, which includes data that is associated with data contained in the non-contextual data object and the context object. A dimensionally constrained hierarchical synthetic context-based object library for multiple synthetic context-based objects is then constructed for handling requests for data stores, where a requester requests data stores that are associated with a same dimension of the dimensionally constrained hierarchical synthetic context-based object library. |
| US08620956B2 |
Educational entity architecture and object model
Described is a technology in which a set of objects represent educational entities of an educational model, with relationships between objects. For example, a course object instance may have a relationship with a task instance and a user instance (such as representing a student). Other objects may include user credentials objects, group objects, degree program objects, course plan objects, institution objects, school objects, and/or department objects. The set of objects may be pre-defined and maintained in a persistent storage; this pre-defined set may be extended with an extended object that has relationships with pre-defined objects. The educational entities of an object model may be maintained in rows of a table, with each row having a field that identifies which entity is represented by that row. The table is accessed to determine relationships between an instantiated object for an entity and at least one other instantiated object for another entity. |
| US08620955B2 |
Unified file access across multiple protocols
Apparatus, systems, and methods may operate to construct a file system tree that includes files to be accessed according to a plurality of custom access control list (ACL) access mechanisms registered by a corresponding plurality of applications, or a default ACL access mechanism. To access the files, metadata can be read/written using a multiple protocol file system cache engine and one of the ACL access mechanisms. In some embodiments, operations may include registering, in response to a request by an application, a selected one of the plurality of custom ACL access mechanisms with a library coupled to a multiple protocol file system cache engine. Further operations may include accessing a file system through the multiple protocol file system cache engine using the selected one of the plurality of custom ACL access mechanisms, or a default ACL access mechanism. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed. |
| US08620954B2 |
Query optimization in a multi-tenant database system
The present invention provides techniques for managing process space on a multi-tenant database system that features a method that provides to multiple users of two or more organizations, over a network, access to information stored in a database repository shared by the two or more organizations. The database repository implements security protocols to restrict a set of first users to a first sub-portion of the information. The set of first users belongs to one of the two or more organizations. The first sub-portion of the information is different from a second sub-portion accessible by users from another organization. Access of the information by the multiple users is monitored. A first processing space for the set of first users is generated in response to the access of the database repository. The first processing space is distinct from a second processing space for the users from the other organization. |
| US08620950B1 |
Regional indexes
A corpus of documents is identified, such as a large corpus of web documents. A quality score is applied to each, and at least some of the documents in the corpus of documents are identified based on their respective quality scores. At least one query characteristic, for instance, the language of a query, associated with a plurality of search queries is identified. A subset of documents in the corpus of documents is identified that satisfy the at least one query characteristic. An index is built that includes the identified at least some documents and the identified subset of documents. |
| US08620946B2 |
Storage and searching of temporal entity information
A system may include determination of a plurality of data structures associated with an entity, each of the plurality of data structures associated with a respective validity period, determination of a plurality of non-overlapping time periods based on the validity periods, the plurality of non-overlapping time periods collectively spanning all of the validity periods, determination, for each of the plurality of non-overlapping time periods, of a composite data structure based on each of the data structures associated with a validity period including the non-overlapping time period, assignment of a respective document identifier to each composite data structure, each document identifier indicating the entity, and indexing of the composite data structures within an index. |
| US08620939B2 |
System and method for summarizing data
Described are computer-based methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, for removing redundant data from a storage system. In one example, a data delineation process delineates data targeted for de-duplication into regions using a plurality of markers. The de-duplication system determines which of these regions should be subject to further de-duplication processing by comparing metadata representing the regions to metadata representing regions of a reference data set. The de-duplication system identifies an area of data that incorporates the regions that should be subject to further de-duplication processing and de-duplicates this area with reference to a corresponding area within the reference data set. |
| US08620938B2 |
Method, system, and apparatus for routing a query to one or more providers
A method and system for routing a query to one or more providers. The system may include a search interface for presenting a service list including one or more services offered by the one or more providers, permitting selection of one or more of the one or more services, and a query entry for receiving input of the query. A search processor is capable of receiving and parsing the query. A service recognizer for a particular provider is capable of receiving and analyzing one or more terms of the query to determine if the particular provider is a match for the query. A query router can route the query to the particular provider if the particular provider is determined to be a match and block the query to the particular provider if the particular provider is determined not to be a match. A results interface presents results of the query. |
| US08620936B2 |
System and method for a data dictionary
In accordance with one or more embodiments, a system for facilitating transfer of data and information over a network includes a database component for storing data and information related to a machine and at least one part thereof, a communication component adapted to communicate with a user via a user device over the network, and a processing component adapted to receive a request for data and information from the user over the network via the user device and process the request by retrieving data and information from the database component related to the machine or the at least one part thereof specified by the user passed with the request. The communication component is adapted to transfer the data and information related to the machine or the at least one part thereof from the database component to the user device for viewing by the user on the user device. |
| US08620934B2 |
Systems and methods for selecting data elements, such as population members, from a data source
Systems and methods for selecting data elements, such as population members, from a data source include translating the data source into a reverse schema. The reverse schema includes one or more data objects, each data object having a reverse access identifier and at least one unique identifier from the data source corresponding to the reverse access identifier. In some embodiments, access to data elements is provided using the reverse schema translation. A user may select a filter represented by a reverse access identifier in order to exclude those data elements associated with that reverse access identifier. In response, information associated with non-excluded data elements, such as population size, is provided for display. |
| US08620929B2 |
Context based resource relevance
A resource context system (“context system”) computes a contextual profile for a resource based on selection data for the resource and contextual profiles of other resources that are identified as relevant to the resource. The contextual profile includes values that specify measures of relevance of the resource to each of a plurality of corresponding topics. The contextual profile is provided to a processing system, such as an advertisement management system or a search system that can identify topics for which the resource is relevant based on the contextual profile. |
| US08620927B2 |
Unguided curiosity in support of entity resolution techniques
Provided are techniques for receiving data comprising an entity having at least one feature; determining how the entity correlates with an existing entity, identifying an additional feature to increase confidence of the entity resolution, searching a data source for the additional feature to obtain an observation containing the additional feature, and performing the entity resolution using the at least one feature and the additional feature. |
| US08620926B2 |
Using a hashing mechanism to select data entries in a directory for use with requested operations
In association with a data processing system that includes one or more servers, one or more clients and a partitionable distributed directory contained in a database, a computer implemented method is provided for selectively processing data entries that reside in the directory. The method comprises the steps of generating a request to perform an operation on each data entry in a specified group of intended entries, and specifying a hashing control index that uniquely identifies each entry of the specified group, and excludes all other entries. The requested operation is applied only to data entries in the directory that are identified by the specified hashing control index. |
| US08620923B1 |
System and method for storing meta-data indexes within a computer storage system
Instead of using a separate database to store meta-data for computer files, the file system itself is used to store the meta-data associated with computer files and meta-data index files that allow searches to be performed quickly on meta-data values. The meta-data index files may store the filenames of computer files having a particular meta-data value. The filenames stored within the meta-data index file may also be sorted according to another meta-data type in order provide additional information. When adding a new computer file to a particular meta-data index file, that computer file may be added to a meta-data index appendix file that is not sorted. Periodically, the meta-data index appendix file will be integrated into the main meta-data index file. This may occur when the meta-data index appendix file reaches a particular size. |
| US08620918B1 |
Contextual text interpretation
Among other disclosed subject matter, a computer-implemented method includes receiving a plurality of electronic documents associated with a domain at a server. Each of the plurality of electronic documents includes meta-data and textual content. The method includes identifying one or more text strings in the textual content that are to be processed differently than an identical or similar text string in other electronic documents, and associating, with the electronic document, data indicating that each of the identified text strings is to be processed differently than an identical or similar text string in other electronic documents. The method also includes performing an analysis of the electronic documents to identify one or more subsets of the electronic documents that include related subject matter. A plurality of degrees of relatedness can be associated with text strings associated with data indicating that each of the text strings is to be processed differently. |
| US08620913B2 |
Information management through a single application
Automatic capturing and recording of data in a single application is provided. The data can be obtained from multiple sources and over a short time or over an extended time. Personalized notations can be annotated with the data to provide a user with more personal information relating to why the particular data was captured and recorded. Selection of the single application can be a function of a type of the data, a user preference, or combinations thereof. |
| US08620909B1 |
Contextual personalized searching across a hierarchy of nodes of a knowledge base
Information retrieval systems face challenging problems with delivering highly relevant and highly inclusive search results in response to a user's query. Contextual personalized information retrieval uses a set of integrated methodologies that can combine automatic concept extraction/matching from text, a powerful fuzzy search engine, and a collaborative user preference learning engine to provide accurate and personalized search results. The system and method can normalize documents or information objects into a graph of relationships between concepts (e.g., a knowledge base) and can normalize a search query into the same graph as a set of search criteria. The search can be executed using this graph and using indexes of concepts of the graph, and the results can be scored and presented to the user. User feedback (e.g., explicit and implicit feedback) can be collected to improve future searches. |
| US08620906B2 |
Detecting competitive product reviews
One embodiment provides a system for recommending products. The system may include a search engine to retrieve, from a collection of product reviews, product review results using at least two input product names. The system may also include a template builder to build comparative sentence templates to define relationships between at least two product names, in which each comparative sentence template has a weight as a function of the defined relationship, and the search engine extracts one or more snippets matching at least one of the comparative sentence templates within each product review result. The system may further include a review ranking device to rank the product review search results based on the one or more extracted snippets, in which each snippet has a same weight as its matched comparative sentence template. |
| US08620905B2 |
Proximity-based method for determining concept relevance within a domain ontology
Embodiments are directed towards providing a device and method of identifying media items from a media library maintained by a media server that are similar to a designated media item. The media server stores a controlled vocabulary which is represented as a hierarchically linked set of nodes wherein a plurality of nodes correspond to concepts and a library of media items. Each media item corresponds to a record in the media library and the record includes at least one metadata field with assigned keywords. The media server receives a designation of a media item from a user computer, retrieves the keywords assigned to the media item, obtains all related concepts from the controlled vocabulary, computes a search weight for each related concept, and queries the media library to identify media items that match the designated media item and provides the results to the user computer. |
| US08620904B2 |
Multi-dimensional search results adjustment system
A search based on one or more search terms is performed, and a subset of the returned search results is displayed. It is determined that a user has altered the position of an object located in multidimensional space. A first dimension of the multi-dimensional space corresponds to a variation in degree of a first filter criterion, and a second dimension corresponds to a variation in degree of a second filter criterion. The first and second filter criterion are different from the search terms and are not determined based on the search results. A value corresponding to each of the filter criteria is identified based on the position of the object in the first and second dimension, respectively. The search results are filtered based on each value to generate a second subset of the search results. |
| US08620903B2 |
Database distribution system and methods for scale-out applications
Systems and method are disclosed for query optimization in a scale-out system with a single query processing machine and a distributed storage engine to store data by receiving a query rewritten for an internal schema; optimizing a query execution plan for the query; and executing the plan and returning result to an application. |
| US08620902B2 |
Computer program products and methods for query collection optimization
Computer program products and methods for query collection optimization and executing a query collection against one or more electronic documents are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a method of executing a query collection having a plurality of full term queries against an electronic document includes receiving the query collection, determining common terms, and searching the electronic document for the common terms in accordance with a frequency that the common terms appear in the query collection. The method further includes, for each common term found in the electronic document, searching the electronic document for full term queries that include the common term that was found in the electronic document. The method further includes, for each common term not found in the electronic document, preventing a search of the electronic document for the full term queries that include the common term that was not found in the electronic document. |
| US08620898B2 |
Proxy server for application on mobile device
The present document describes a method for presenting modified information obtained from the internet on an application on a mobile device. The mobile device is set to communicate with the internet through a proxy server. A user of the mobile device is registered on a social network from which indexed search content specific to the user's connections on the social network are obtained. The method comprises: modifying, based on the indexed search content specific to the user's connections, an output for the application from an internet server to produce a modified output for the application; and sending the modified output for the application to the mobile device for presentation in the application on the mobile device. |
| US08620897B2 |
Indexing and searching features including using reusable index fields
Indexing and searching features are provided including associated system, methods, and other implementations. A computing system of an embodiment is configured to reuse or repurpose physical index fields for different tenants as part of providing efficient and scalable indexing and searching services. A method of one embodiment operates to provide an indexed data structure that includes a number of reusable index fields that are shared and used to index information associated with a plurality of tenants. Other embodiments are included. |
| US08620892B2 |
Collecting and scoring online references
One example embodiment includes a method for indexing online references of an entity. The method includes identifying one or more channels of the Internet to be searched for references to an entity and identifying one or more signals to be evaluated within each of the one or more channels. The method also includes crawling the Internet for online references to the entity, wherein crawling the Internet comprises searching the one or more channels of the Internet for references to the entity and evaluating the one or more signals. The method further includes constructing a reverse index of the references, wherein the reverse index is based on each channel in which a reference is found and the one or more signals evaluated for the reference. |
| US08620891B1 |
Ranking item attribute refinements
Systems and methods for enabling refinement of information sets utilize recorded instances of user behavior in connection with information units of the information sets. Information units are each associated with one or more attributes and provided to users in ranked information sets. Instances of user selection of information units are used to determine how refining search result sets according to attributes would have improved the positions of the selected information units. Information is accumulated accordingly to determine how to present representations of attributes to users to enable the users to refine information sets. |
| US08620890B2 |
System and method of semantic based searching
A computer-implemented method is provided for searching documents containing complex bodies of knowledge, such as patents and research papers. The computer-implemented method and related hardware and software provides methodology to interpret the intent of the searcher (the meaning of the searcher's query) into a MetaLanguage, including but not limited to the use of Fundamental Nature Attributes, Fundamental Action Attributes and Weighting of these attributes as it pertains to the intent of the searcher. The invention relates to semantic based searches. The same methodology that is used on the searcher's query is also used to mine and store the existing databases of patents and research papers into databases of MetaLanguage for the purpose of producing search results that better match search inquiries. |
| US08620889B2 |
Managing data transfer between endpoints in a distributed computing environment
A file fetcher manager provides commonly-utilized management and resource allocation for multiple file fetchers that each implement a different type of mechanism or protocol for transferring data files between peer endpoints in meshes associated with a cloud-computing service. Each file fetcher is configured with both client-side and server-side components to retrieve and serve out data files. The file fetcher manager encapsulates the file fetchers to provide an abstract interface to callers while hiding the underlying details of the file fetchers. The file fetcher manager is arranged for managing simultaneous operations of the multiple file fetchers to route requests from the callers to the appropriate file fetchers, and for scheduling work items for the file fetchers so that data transfers efficiently utilize available resources while keeping the entire transfer process coherent and organized. |
| US08620888B2 |
Partitioning in virtual columns
Techniques are described herein for partitioning a database table using a virtual column as the partitioning key. A virtual column is defined by the database to contain results of a defining expression. Partitioning can be performed using a variety of partitioning schemes, such as range partitioning and hash partitioning. The partitions are automatically updated to reflect changes to the values in the base columns upon which the virtual column depends. Partition pruning and parallel-wise partition joins can be performed on database tables which have been partitioned on virtual columns. |
| US08620883B2 |
Apparatus and methods of reconciling different versions of an ordered list
Apparatus and methods are operable to receive a first and second version of an ordered list having a first and second plurality of ordered entries, wherein each of the plurality of ordered entries has a corresponding order index. Further, the apparatus and methods are operable to compare respective ordered entries from the first and second versions of the ordered list at a respective order index. Also, the apparatus and methods are operable to assign a penalty to each possible current list resulting from reconciling the first version and the second version of the ordered list when the comparing identifies a difference between respective ordered entries at the respective order index. Moreover, the apparatus and methods are operable to generate, based on the comparing, at least a portion of all possible current lists, and select and store one of the possible current lists as the current list based on the penalties. |
| US08620877B2 |
Tunable data fingerprinting for optimizing data deduplication
The present invention provides a method and system of performing de-duplication for at least one computer file in a computer system. In an exemplary embodiment, the method and system include (1) tuning a rolling-hash algorithm for the de-duplication, (2) chunking the data in the file into chunks of data by using the tuned algorithm, (3) producing a content identifier for each of the chunks, and (4) processing the chunks that are unique, the content identifier for each of the chunks that are unique, and references to the chunks that are unique. In an exemplary embodiment, the computer system includes a de-duplication-enabled data store. In an exemplary embodiment, the computer system includes (a) a transferor computer system that is configured to transfer the file to a de-duplication-enabled computer system and (b) the de-duplication-enabled computer system. |
| US08620875B2 |
Fraud analysis in a contact database
A system and method of identifying fraudulent data in a contact database is disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a set of contact records is received where each of the contact records includes a set of contact field values corresponding to a set of contact fields. Some embodiments determine whether a similar content pattern exists in the contact records using at least one of the set of contact field values. In some embodiments, a determination is made as to whether an unusual content pattern exists in the contact records using at least one of the set of contact field values. The set of contact records is flagged when at least one of the similar content pattern or the unusual content pattern is determined to exist in the contact records. |
| US08620870B2 |
Efficient data management improvements, such as docking limited-feature data management modules to a full-featured data management system
Software, firmware, and systems are described herein that permit an organization to dock previously-utilized, limited-feature data management modules with a full-featured data management system. By docking limited-feature data management modules to a full-featured data management system, metadata and data from the various limited-feature data management modules can be integrated and utilized more efficiently and effectively. Moreover, additional data management features can be provided to users after a more seamless transition. |
| US08620868B2 |
Database hierarchical inheritance
A database system comprising a plurality of access keys stored in a first data memory device sector, each access key associated with a node value stored in a second data memory device sector. An access key processor configured to receive an input value and return the associated node value for the input value if the input value matches an access key stored in the first data memory device sector. The access key processor is configured to generate a revised input value if the input value does not match an access key stored in the first data memory device; a default node value stored in the second data memory device sector and associated with a portion of the input value, wherein the access key processor is configured to return the default node value as part of the revised input value. |
| US08620865B2 |
System and method for providing a unified storage system that supports file/object duality
Methods and systems that permit file protocols and object protocols to co-exist using a file namespace and an object namespace in a unified storage system are disclosed. Data stored in the unified storage system are file-objects that preserve the behaviors expected by both file clients and object clients. |
| US08620857B1 |
Querying multidimensional data with independent fact and dimension pipelines combined at query time
Separate subsystems are dedicated to handle fact and dimension data storage and retrieval in an optimized manner. Each subsystem acquires, processes, and stores its data separately in a manner appropriate to the characteristics of that data. A query engine combines the data from each subsystem at query time. When a user queries the system, the query engine interacts with each of the subsystems to fetch the data needed to generate a single result set. |
| US08620856B2 |
Method and system for providing a data exchange service provider interface
A computer program product comprises a computer useable medium. The computer useable medium has a computer readable program such that when the computer readable medium is executed on a computer, the computer is caused to provide a data interface between an adapter component and one or more application interface components for a runtime application. Further, the computer is caused to establish a cursor that iterates over a plurality of data objects within a data set of the runtime application. In addition, the computer is caused to establish an accessor that provides access to a data element of the data object. The computer is also caused to provide the cursor and the accessor to the adapter component so that the adapter component accesses data through the one or more application interface components of the runtime application. |
| US08620853B2 |
Monitoring method using kernel regression modeling with pattern sequences
A method for monitoring the condition of an object includes obtaining reference data that indicates the normal operational state of the object, and obtaining input pattern arrays. Each input pattern array has a plurality of time-ordered input vectors, while each input vector has input values representing a plurality of parameters indicating the current condition of the object. Then at least one processor generates estimate values based on a calculation that uses an input pattern array and the reference data to determine a similarity measure between the input values and reference data. The estimate values are compared to the corresponding input values so that resulting values from the comparison can be used to determine the condition of the object. |
| US08620852B1 |
Systems, methods, and computer program products for predictive accuracy for strategic decision support
Provided are improved systems, methods, and computer programs to facilitate predictive accuracy for strategic decision support using Continuous Time Bayesian Networks. A simple semantic is provided for both probabilistic and temporal relationships that can be automatically translated into functioning Bayesian and Continuous Time Bayesian Network formalisms and applied by a user for reasoning analysis, such as to assess a hypothesis or respond to a query with a probabilistic and temporal prediction of a future event. |
| US08620851B2 |
System and method for determining fuzzy cause and effect relationships in an intelligent workload management system
The system and method for determining fuzzy cause and effect relationships in an intelligent workload management system described herein may combine potential causes and effects captured from various different sources associated with an information technology infrastructure with substantially instantaneous feedback mechanisms and other knowledge sources. As such, fuzzy correlation logic may then be applied to the combined information to determine potential cause and effect relationships and thereby diagnose problems and otherwise manage interactions that occur in the infrastructure. For example, information describing potential causes and potential effects associated with an operational state of the infrastructure may be captured and combined, and any patterns among the information that describes the multiple potential causes and effects may then be identified. As such, fuzzy logic may the be applied to any such patterns to determine possible relationships among the potential causes and the potential effects associated with the infrastructure operational state. |
| US08620850B2 |
Dynamically manipulating an emoticon or avatar
Graphical user representations, such as emoticons or avatars, used to convey mood and emotion, can be dynamically modified and manipulated, e.g. by squeezing, rotating, distorting, coloring, etc. This enables a user to customize or tailor an existing emoticon to better reflect the user's current mood or emotion. For example, a user may insert a smiley face emoticon into a text message and then manipulate or distort the face or a component of the face (e.g. the smile) to broaden the smile into a grin, or twist the smile into an ironic smile, etc. This enables the user to personalize the emoticon rather than having to select the most appropriate emoticon from a palette of predefined emoticons. Another aspect is device hardware (e.g. dedicated or shared user interface elements or specific touchscreen gestures) for recognizing the squeezes or other gestures that are meant to modify or manipulate the emoticon. |
| US08620846B2 |
Method and system for improving personal productivity in home environments
Method and system for improving personal productivity in home environments may store state information associated with an environment and one or more users in a knowledge base, detected activity of a user, infer location of the user based on the detected activity, and suggest one or more tasks to be performed based on the inferred user location. |
| US08620840B2 |
Distributed scalable incrementally updated models in decisioning systems
In one embodiment, first weight information indicating a first set of delta values is obtained, where the first set of delta values includes a first delta value for each weight in a set of weights, the set of weights including a weight for each of a set of one or more parameters of a model. In addition, second weight information indicating a second set of delta values is obtained, where the second set of delta values includes a second delta value for each weight in the set of weights. Combined weight information including a combined set of delta values or a combined set of weights is generated based, at least in part, upon the first weight information and the second weight information. |
| US08620837B2 |
Determination of a basis for a new domain model based on a plurality of learned models
In a machine learning system in which a plurality of learned models, each corresponding to a unique domain, already exist, new domain input for training a new domain model may be provided. Statistical characteristics of features in the new domain input are first determined. The resulting new domain statistical characteristics are then compared with statistical characteristics of features in prior input previously provided for training at least some of the plurality of learned models. Thereafter, at least one learned model of the plurality of learned models is identified as the basis for the new domain model when the new domain input statistical characteristics compare favorably with the statistical characteristics of the features in the prior input corresponding to the at least one learned model. |
| US08620835B2 |
Method for implementing the π/8 gate in a genus=1 ising system
Disclosed herein is a protocol that enables the π/8-gate in chiral topological superconductors in which superconducting stiffness λ has been suppressed. The protocol enables a topologically protected π/8-gate in any pure Ising system that can be fabricated into genus=1 surface. By adding the π/8-gate to previously known techniques, a design for universal topologically protected quantum computation which may be implemented using rather conventional materials may be obtained. |
| US08620834B2 |
Forecasting through time domain analysis
Embodiments include methods, apparatus, and systems for forecasting using a time domain analysis. One embodiment is a computer implemented method that receives plural cycle lengths identified in time series data and builds a model using a time domain analysis of the time series data. The model is used to predict future events or future data points. |
| US08620827B1 |
Systems and methods for providing a real estate and rental marketplace
An environment provided by a financial entity in which buyers and sellers may be brought together to initiate and complete a transaction for the purchase of a property for sale or rental. The environment enables sellers to list items together with relevant information that buyers may need to understand the item. Buyers may apply for financing, insurance or other related services to receive approval to purchase properties. A mechanism by which the seller and buyer may communicate enables a negotiation process, scheduling and other processes associated with the sale or rental. After an agreement is reached between the buyer and seller, components associated with the environment, such property and casualty and banking may complete the necessary paperwork, etc. to close the deal. |
| US08620824B2 |
Pin protection for portable payment devices
A method and system of encrypting a Personal Identification Number (PIN) using a portable payment device includes a portable payment device in communication with a network and a payment processor, and may be configured to receive a first encryption key from the payment processor, to receive a PIN, to encrypt the PIN using the first key, and to provide the encrypted PIN to the payment processor in a form useable to process a payment authorization message or transaction request. The first key may be protected by cryptographic camouflaging using a password. The password may be received by the device and used to decamouflage the first key, and the decamouflaged first key may be used to encrypt the PIN. In one configuration, the first key may be a symmetric key, such that a PIN encrypted by the first key may be of a standard format usable in existing payment systems. |
| US08620821B1 |
Systems and methods for secure parcel delivery
A method and system for secure package delivery utilizing digital signatures is described. In one configuration, data regarding the weight, dimensions and origination are cryptographically processed to create an authentication digital signature with message retrieval capability. The data is read and independently verified at the package destination. |
| US08620820B2 |
Management of dynamic assembly and licensing of appliances
Methods and arrangements for assembly and licensing of appliances. A base image is created, the base image corresponding to a combination of an operating system and hardware. A purchasing medium client is embedded into the base image, and a provisioning request for a pay-per-use license is developed. A provisioned instance is started, and a product bundle plan is executed. The license is requested from a purchasing medium. |
| US08620819B2 |
Remote feature activator feature extraction
A database record controls a license to use a computational component. An input receives an order identifier associated with an order related to a computational component and an interface retrieves order information associated with the identifier. The order information comprises at least one material code. A material code mapping agent compares the material code with at least one material code mapping table to identify corresponding computational component information associated with the material code. In another configuration, a transaction record includes first information associated with the order, the order relates to at least a first computational component and/or feature thereof, a configuration file includes second information different from the first information, the configuration file relates to at least one telecommunication switch/server, and a configuration file processing agent compares some of the first information with some of the second information to form a system record having both first and second information. |
| US08620817B2 |
Method and system for creating license management in software applications
A method and system for creating license management in software applications are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving an installer package associated with a software application to be run on a computer, the installer package not including license administration functionality. One or more executable files are extracted from the installer package. One or more license-enabled executable files are generated with the one or more executable files and a license wrapper. A new installer package is created with the one or more license-enabled executable files, the new installer package supporting the license administration functionality. |
| US08620815B1 |
Systems and methods for document management
A user retains access to a document previously generated or received by an institution system and stored in encrypted form in storage of the institution system or another entity associated with the institution system. However, the institution system does not have access to the document (in readable form) after an expiration of an amount of time. The document is encrypted in such a manner that only the user can decrypt the document, but the institution system cannot decrypt it. In this manner, the institution system may meet business or regulatory requirements or policies directed to discarding (i.e., purging) the document after a predetermined amount of time, but can still provide secure storage of the document in encrypted form to the user independent of the business or regulatory requirements or policies that mandate purging the document. |
| US08620809B2 |
Integrated technology money transfer system
Money transfer method and system for quickly and easily sending cash from one party via electronic mediums such as phones and computer modems using one of a credit card, debit card, ATM (automated teller machine) card, and/or a bank card and/or bank checking account and/or bank savings account, to another party who accesses an electronic retrieval site using a specialized card, credit card, debit card, ATM card account, or debit card account. Simultaneous money transfers from human sender's available and accessible funds debit card accounts to human recipient's receiving debit card accounts are processed by computer without the necessity of a pre-established relationship between the sending and receiving accounts, and the method and system repeats simultaneous money transfers between other senders and receivers. |
| US08620805B2 |
Methods and systems for processing payments globally over one of a plurality of processing paths
Methods and systems of processing payments globally over one of a plurality of payment processing paths employ computer hardware and software for receiving a request to access a global payment utility, presenting a plurality of payment options by the global payment utility, and receiving information by the global payment utility consisting at least in part of a source of payment, a payment destination, and a user-designated payment vehicle. Upon receiving the information, one of a plurality of payment processing paths for the payment is selected according to a clearing rules aspect of a rules engine of the global payment utility, and the payment is routed for processing via the selected payment processing path. |
| US08620802B1 |
Consumer-level financial performance analysis
A method of evaluating customers is provided. The method is used for customers of two or more divisions of a business. The method involves collecting information indicative of the customer's influence on division performance metrics of several divisions of a business, where the division performance metrics each influence a business performance metric of the business. After it is collected, the information is electronically stored. The method includes the step of periodically calculating a customer division profit indicator for each of the divisions based on the information. The method also includes the step of periodically calculating a customer business profit indicator based on the customer division profit indicators, where the customer business profit indicator indicates a net influence of the customer on profits of the business. One or more of the customer division profit indicators and the customer business profit indicator are transmitted for display on a display device. |
| US08620801B2 |
Total structural risk model
The present invention generally relates to financial data processing, and in particular it relates to credit scoring, consumer profiling, consumer behavior analysis and modeling. More specifically, it relates to risk modeling using the inputs of credit bureau data, size of wallet data, and, optionally, internal data. |
| US08620798B2 |
System and method using predicted consumer behavior to reduce use of transaction risk analysis and transaction denials
An apparatus and method for processing a transaction authorization request to reduce the need for a transaction risk assessment as part of the authorization process. The invention reduces both the data processing burden on the payment processor and the number of transactions for which authorization is denied. In some embodiments, the invention uses predictive or behavior modeling techniques to generate predictions of the transactions the consumer may engage in. If the consumer does engage in a predicted transaction, then a risk analysis process is not performed for that transaction. |
| US08620795B2 |
System and method for providing a futures/forward tradable market and bidded price negotiation for internet advertising
A system of advertising on the Internet, including: an on-line system for sellers of future advertising space to create advertising contracts; an on-line system for presenting the advertising contracts to purchasers of advertising space; an on-line system for the purchasers of future advertising space to select the sellers' advertising contracts; a system to integrate purchased advertising contracts to a delivery mechanism that displays purchasers' advertising in the sellers advertising space; and a system for transferring funds from the purchasers to the sellers after completion and audit of the advertising contracts. |
| US08620794B2 |
System and method for chart based order entry
Systems and methods for chart-based order entry are described. According to one example method a chart is used to display historical market data corresponding to a tradeable object. An order entry interface is displayed in relation to the chart. The order entry interface includes a plurality of price objects for selecting price levels to be used for trade orders to buy or sell the tradeable object. According to one example method, the price levels corresponding to the price objects depend on a location of the interface in relation to the chart, and as the interface is moved in relation to the chart, the price levels are automatically updated. Upon selection of the price level on the interface, a trade order to buy or sell is submitted to a matching engine at an electronic exchange. |
| US08620793B2 |
Workflow management system
A network clearinghouse may be provided that brings together organizations (subjects) requiring outsourcing of a service and service providers (operators). The clearinghouse manages the bidding and awarding of contracts, by collecting and authorizing requests for proposals (RFPs), sending bid invitations to operators that meet the requirements of the subject, sending a notification that the contract has been awarded, and collecting payment from the subject and paying the operator. |
| US08620791B1 |
Method of brokering tax liens
Uncollected tax liens are made collateral for a loan to a public authority who buys the tax liens from the taxing district. The public authority assigns its right to receive monies obtained through the normal collections/property sale channels by the taxing district to the lender to payoff the outstanding note. Collection procedures remain unchanged except that the taxing district forwards receipts to the lender in satisfaction of the debt. Any questionable collections can be devalued/exempted from the total and up to 103% of the basis amount loaned to the taxing district. The taxing district agrees to repurchase unredeemed claims after a fixed period. The loan can be renewed annually by substituting the most recent year's liens for the oldest year's to re-figure the basis. An optional re-acquisition provision is included enabling the taxing district to repurchase of unpaid liens for 10% of face value, once the lender has been repaid. |
| US08620789B2 |
Using accounting data based indexing to create a low volatility portfolio of financial objects
A system, method and computer program product creates an index based on accounting data, or a portfolio of financial objects based on the index where the portfolio is weighted according to accounting data. Indexes may be built with metrics other than market capitalization weighting, price weighting or equal weighting. Financial and non-financial metrics may be used to build indexes to create passive investment systems. A combination of financial non-market capitalization metrics may be used with non-financial metrics to create passive investment systems. Once built, the index may be used as a basis to purchase securities for a portfolio. Specifically excluded are widely-used capitalization-weighted and price-weighted indexes, in which price of a security contributes in a substantial way to calculation of weight of that security in the index or the portfolio, and equal weighting weighted indexes. The indexes may be constructed to minimize volatility. |
| US08620788B2 |
System and method for dynamic financial account management
A predictive financial data management system for efficiently and intelligently administering and managing allowance and diversionary accounts and associated sub-accounts based on third party transaction data and user defined sub-account prioritizations. The system is configured to interface with third party data to conduct the financial administration and management and rebalancing of the allowance and diversionary accounts based on input from a predictive model and historical transaction data. |
| US08620787B2 |
Processor-based systems and computer-implemented methods for identification, sourcing, and acquisition of distressed debt
Disclosed herein are processor-based systems and computer-implemented methods for identification, sourcing, and acquisition of distressed debt. At least one embodiment provides amalgamated debt information associated with an indebted entity, which may owe debt to multiple disparate lending entities. Often, debt information involving these lending entities is maintained in a number of unassociated and disparate data sources, to which access may be restricted on a subscriber basis. To provide amalgamated debt information associated with the indebted entity, a computer platform is programmed to carry out at least one of searching and receiving debt information that is associated with the indebted entity and that identifies some or all of the multiple disparate lending entities. The platform is programmed to amalgamate and organize the debt information, and to present the amalgamated-and-organized debt information via a user interface, providing consolidated access to the unassociated and disparate data sources. |
| US08620785B1 |
Systems and methods for aggregating data for real-time financial plan
Aggregation processes and systems acquire user data from many internal and external sources, such as a host financial institution, external institutions, and publicly available websites and databases. The data aggregation may be used to pre-populate the fields in a questionnaire that would otherwise have to be manually populated by the user. A financial plan based on the data is generated and provided to the user. After presenting the financial plan to the user, additional information may be requested from the user. After the additional information is received, the financial plan may be revised and provided to the user. |
| US08620782B2 |
Inter-network electronic billing
Systems and methods for electronic billing activation are provided. A request on behalf of a payer to activate electronic billing from a biller for the payer is received by a first electronic financial service provider (EFSP) that supports a first of a plurality of electronic financial service networks (EFSNs) from a second EFSP that supports a second of the plurality of EFSNs. Each of the plurality of EFSNs includes a respective plurality of billers or payers, and the biller is associated with the first EFSN and not associated with the second EFSN, while the payer is not associated with the first EFSN. In response to the received request, activation confirmation information is transmitted by the first EFSP to the second EFSP. The electronic billing activation enables subsequent electronic transmission of a bill from the biller for the payer. |
| US08620778B2 |
Document vault and application platform
Online document storage and/or retrieval techniques are described. In an implementation, one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that are executable to provide a web service application programming interface (API). The web service API is configured to accept a document and information specified by the document's provider. The information specifying which of a plurality of tabs in a user interface at least a portion of data included in the document is to be associated with for display in which at least one of the tabs pertains to billing data and another one of the tabs does not pertain to billing data. |
| US08620773B1 |
Product building and display system
Systems, methods and computer program products provide e-commerce capabilities that enable integration of manufacturers, dealers and customers. An application may be utilized by a dealer to integrate manufacturer and customer information, including cost information, into a coordinated application. The e-commerce application may also be utilized to quickly and efficiently construct customer-specific web-based homepages that custom-tailor the display of information to a customer's needs or perceived needs. Further, the invention provides for the integration of information amongst multiple manufacturers, dealers and customers. The e-commerce application may also be utilized to provide numerous other features and aspects, as set out more fully herein. |
| US08620770B1 |
Inferring user intent based on hybrid navigation paths
Paths followed by a plurality of devices are recorded. Devices of the plurality have sent content requests similar to a current content request. Behaviors exhibited by respective ones of the plurality of devices after sending content requests are recorded. The respective ones of the plurality of devices into intent groupings. A path followed by a device is assembled. The assembling the path comprises recording a plurality of physical location readings generated with respect to the device prior. An intent grouping matching the path is identified. The intent grouping is associated with an expected behavior. Content calculated to facilitate the expected behavior is identified. |
| US08620768B1 |
Method and system for price suggesting using item-specific attributes
Disclosed are various embodiments for suggesting item prices using item attributes specific to an item classification. One or more input values are received for a set of attributes corresponding to a selected item classification. A user interface is rendered that includes a suggested price range. The suggested price range is determined from a set of historical transaction prices for multiple items that are classified under the selected item classification and match the input value(s) for the set of attributes. |
| US08620767B2 |
Recommendations based on items viewed during a current browsing session
Various processes are disclosed for discovering item relationships between particular items, such as products represented in an electronic catalog, based on monitored user behaviors (e.g., item viewing activities, item purchases, shopping cart activities, etc.). The discovered item relationships may, for example, be used to generate personalized item recommendations for users, and/or to supplement item detail pages of an electronic catalog with lists of related items. Also disclosed are processes for generating personalized item recommendations based on users' search activities and browse node visits. |
| US08620766B2 |
Methods for selecting, ordering and purchasing glass products
The present invention relates to a system, apparatus and method for facilitating the selection, purchasing and ordering glass products. The apparatus includes a processor which is controlled by software to facilitate a selection process which integrates the comparison of glass products and their properties, as well as, including particular properties of particular components of a glass product. The apparatus can work with a user input device and is programmed to display graphics associated with selections and potential selections for glass products. The system and method providing selection menus for display on a display device and an animation graphic associated with a selection presented to the user. The system, apparatus, and method integrates the glass product selection information, and makes selections for the user, based on the user's previous choices and specified target performances to present to the user potential glass products. |
| US08620765B2 |
Promoting offers through social network influencers
Mechanisms are provided to facilitate buying and selling products utilizing social pricing. Sellers initiate sale of a product with volume discounts for a limited time. In other words, the more people that buy a product, the lower the price for the group. Buyers have a real incentive to become prosumers that not only purchase a product but also promote purchase by others. A social pricing system brokers interaction between sellers and buyer groups, and provisions mechanisms to aid promotion of products by consumers utilizing social networks and other online activities. |
| US08620764B2 |
Method for providing a recommendation such as a personalized recommendation, recommender system, and computer program product comprising a recommender computer program
A recommendation engine of a recommender system provides a mobile device user with a personalized recommendation based on, at least in part, the user's current situation. In some embodiments, the recommender system determines the user's current situation by obtaining information identifying the user's present context(s) (e.g., location context, noise context, time context, etc.). For example, assume the user presently has the location context of “at home” and the noise context of “TV on.” From these contexts, the recommender system can categorize the user as being in the “at home relaxing” situation. |
| US08620763B2 |
System, method and computer program product for demand-weighted selection of sales outlets
In embodiments disclosed herein, a computer may operate to determine, for each member in a set and each non-member under consideration for the set, an expected revenue to be passed to a parent organization. The expected revenue may be determined utilizing a plurality of weighted features. Members in the set may be ranked according to their expected revenues. Top performing members in the set may be protected to ensure their expected revenues. Bottom performing members may be removed from the set and/or replaced with new members outside of geographical protective areas of the top performing members. The optimization process can be repeated until the set of members can satisfy an existing demand while maximizing revenue for the parent organization. |
| US08620762B2 |
Shipping address population using online address book
A method for automatically generating a custom name list for use in an order form which can be submitted to an Internet shopping site to complete an order. The method utilizes address book data, stored primarily online utilizing a third party service. In one method according to the invention, names and addresses are read from an address book database and incorporated into a form which enables the user to easily select recipients for one or more gifts. |
| US08620758B2 |
System for marketing goods and services utilizing computerized central and remote facilities
A system for shopping for goods and services includes central communications facilities and remote communications facilities connected by communications links and means permitting data communications between them. Central communications facilities offer goods and services in competition with each other. Each central communications facility stores, in addition to data, graphics in the form of video, and audio in the form of computerized voice and music. Computer input devices at each remote communications facility permit customers to access the data, graphics and audio. Computers at each remote communications facility also enable that facility to receive and download the data, graphics, and audio. Each remote communications facility is adapted to enable a customer, after viewing the data, graphics, and audio, to electronically negotiate a price for the purchase of the goods and services. Each central communications facility can generate and transmit to the remote facility transaction specific paperwork relative to the price so negotiated. |
| US08620757B2 |
System for providing an online account statement having hyperlinks
A computer system including at least one computer-readable medium has software to provide online account statements for accounts of customers of a company. The at least one computer-readable medium includes: a transaction database comprising a transaction history for an account of a customer of the company; a merchant database comprising variations of merchant names for merchants; software to compare the merchant name of the transaction entry of the transaction history from the transaction database with the variations of merchant names from the merchant database; software to provide a hyperlinked special offer indicia if a match occurs between the merchant name from the transaction database and one of the variations of merchant names from the merchant database; and software to provide an online account statement web page to the customer via the network. |
| US08620754B2 |
Remote transaction processing using authentication information
A method and system for conducting an online payment transaction through a point of sale device. The method includes receiving input from a user selecting an item for purchase through the point of sale device; calculating a total purchase amount for the item in response to a request from the user to purchase the item; and sending payment authorization for the total purchase amount from the point of sale device to a payment entity, in which the payment authorization is sent to the payment entity via a mobile communication device of the user. The method further includes receiving a result of the payment authorization from the payment entity through the mobile communication device; and completing the payment transaction based on the result of the payment authorization. |
| US08620753B2 |
Restaurant management system and method
A restaurant management system and method interface is provided. In accordance with the invention, data from various restaurant operations is collected and stored for processing. The data is processed into useful metrics, such as those indicative of various categories of restaurant staffing, efficiency, performance and quality. The useful metrics can be displayed as a human-readable chart, graph or report. The data can be processed in real time, permitting managers to promptly make adjustments and to alert restaurant workers or crew members of deficiencies so that prompt and effective remedial action can be taken to improve restaurant performance. Reports may be generated that provide the performance of restaurants individually and as a combined group. |
| US08620750B2 |
Method and system for targeting messages to travelers
A computer-implemented method of targeting electronic messages to travelers, comprising performing processing associated with: utilizing geographic information comprising itinerary information, to determine where the travelers are currently and/or are projected to be during a given time period; creating a list of travelers which categorizes the geographic information and/or traveler information about the travelers on the list; electronically notifying a merchant with information related to the list and the current geographic information and/or current traveler information of the travelers on the list; receiving an electronic request from the merchant to transmit an electronic targeted message to some or all of the travelers on the list; and transmitting the electronic targeted message to some or all of the travelers on the list. |
| US08620748B1 |
Multi-dimensional method for optimized delivery of targeted on-line brand advertisements
A method of delivering targeted on-line advertising to an end user of a computer network system comprises creating an advertisement campaign having a plurality of dimensions associated therewith, obtaining end user data based upon engagement of the end user with the network system, profiling advertisement content available on the network system to identify specific items of advertisement content that are compatible with the advertising campaign, for each item of compatible advertisement content, utilizing the end user data and metrics associated with the plurality of dimensions associated with the advertisement campaign to develop an effectiveness measurement, and utilizing the effectiveness measurements to select at least one item of compatible advertisement content for display to the end user. |
| US08620747B2 |
Method, system and computer code for content based web advertising
An internet target marketing system, method, and computer program for distributing online advertising to viewers based upon the viewers' interests is provided. The system, method, and computer program may involve identifying one or more document-related concepts derived from analysis of content of a web document capable of being displayed to the user, identifying one or more advertisement-related concepts relevant to an advertising, comparing the one or more document-related concepts to the one or more advertising-related concepts to determine a relevance, and selecting the advertising based on the relevance. |
| US08620746B2 |
Scoring quality of traffic to network sites
A software and/or hardware facility for scoring the quality of traffic to a site accessible via the Internet or other network. The facility may evaluate traffic based on multiple agent actions in order to detect bogus agent actions. The agent actions may be generic agent actions that are applicable to substantially all network sites. The facility may characterize the quality of an agent's interaction with the network site based on whether one or more of the multiple agent actions occurred during the agent's interaction. The facility may generate non-binary generic and custom scores, classifying traffic as fraudulent if its custom score is substantially higher than its generic score. The facility may characterize the quality of traffic to a network site based on dual algorithms. A first algorithm may be applied to traffic that is statistically significant, while a second algorithm may be applied to traffic that is not statistically significant. |
| US08620744B2 |
Systems and methods for list ranking and ads placement using interaction features
Systems and methods for placing ads in a block on a webpage are disclosed. Generally, two ranking models are trained using a first and second ads data set. The first model predicts a first click probability for each ad in the first ads data and rank the ads based on the eCPM. The second model is trained using the second ads data set comprising a subset of the first ads data set and interaction features related to ad position in the block. The second model predicts a second click probability for each ad in the second ads data set. An overall expected revenue for each arrangement of ads in the second ads data set is then calculated. The computer system selects the arrangement with maximum computed overall expected revenue and places the ads in the block on the webpage according to the selected arrangement. |
| US08620740B2 |
Offer delivery system
An offer delivery system provides a mechanism for coordinating presentation of offers to customers that may originate from multiple different sources and that may be delivered to the customers over different channels. The systems makes use of rules to prioritize, select, and time the delivery of offers to any particular customer, allocate limited resources in the channels to deliver offers to a set of customers, and provide mechanisms for users or their agents to limit the delivery of offers, for example, by their frequency or type. |
| US08620732B2 |
Method and system for presenting banners having direct link to user profile information
A method and system for generating electronic advertisement, such as banner ads, based on user profile information and other information are disclosed. An online promotion service may receive profile information, location information and other information from a user. The user may also define a proximity preference which may include a range of distance the user is willing to travel to redeem one or more promotions. A service or product provider or other authorized entity may define a proximity preference which may include a target range of advertisement exposure. The online promotion service may present advertisements for incentives and other promotions based on user profile information as well as proximity preference information where the proximity preference is defined by the user, the provider, or both. The user may activate a user identifier displayed on the advertisement which provides a direct link to user profile information to enable the user to easily and quickly modify and update user profile information. |
| US08620731B2 |
Inverted tier rebate system
An inverted tier award system for financial alternatives to currency is presented, wherein a consumer using the financial alternative to currency is rewarded based on the purchases made by the consumer within a given time frame. Award rates can vary based on the total value of purchases made within a given time frame, with higher award rates assigned to lower value ranges to motivate those consumers to increase their purchases made using the financial alternative to currency. Additionally, higher award rates at lower value ranges can increase consumer loyalty and provide consumers access to their awards more quickly and more often. The award rates or award access can be modified to achieve greater profitability or to further other goals of the implementing organization. |
| US08620729B2 |
Methods for supply chain management incorporating uncertainty
A robust method for solving in a computer, optimization problems under uncertainty including the steps of: specifying the uncertainty as a hierarchical series of sets of constraints on parameters, with the parameters restricted to each constraint set forming an ensemble, and the hierarchy of constraints, represented as mathematical sets forming a hierarchy of ensembles, said hierarchy being based on subset, intersection or disjoint relationships amongst them; utilizing optimization techniques to create effective identify minimum and maximum bounds on the each objective function, said bounds depending on the constraints comprising each ensemble of parameters and being computed for each of the assumptions about the future; estimating a volume of candidate ensembles and relating the volume to one or more information theoretic measures; and utilizing information theoretic measures to analyze and improve the candidate iteratively refine the ensembles and associated by changing a specificity of the bounds on the objective function. |
| US08620724B2 |
Integration framework for enterprise content management systems
Integration framework for enterprise content management systems, in which a request related to performing an operation associated with enterprise content management is received from a customer relationship management application. In response to the request, a standard user interface is provided and user input that is entered into the standard user interface and that requests performance of an enterprise content management operation is received. In response to the user input, a particular enterprise content management system to perform the enterprise content management operation is identified from among multiple, different enterprise content management systems and a particular connector component configured to interface with the particular enterprise content management system is selected from among multiple, different connector components. The particular connector component is used to interface with the particular enterprise content management system and control the particular enterprise content management system to perform the enterprise content management operation. |
| US08620722B2 |
System and method for organizing an enterprise
A system, method and program product are provided for organizing a store into a department store having shops associated therewith. The method includes receiving a designation of at least one store as being a department store. The department stores of the enterprise defining a department store organizational level. A designation of at least one shop having a type and being a member of the department store is received. A shop organizational level is defined by each shop in the enterprise. The shop operates as a component of the associated department store. |
| US08620721B1 |
System and method for determining relative preferences for marketing, financial, internet, and other commercial applications
A method analyzes preferences of one or more participants. Each of the participants may be presented with a plurality of evaluation items that illustrate various marketing options. Response data from the participants that indicates at least an approach, if any, toward the evaluation items is obtained. An approach entropy value may be generated for the marketing options based on the response data for each participant. A relative preference order for each participant for the marketing options may be determined from the generated approach entropy values. |
| US08620718B2 |
Industry specific brand benchmarking system based on social media strength of a brand
A brand monitoring platform (BMP) for brand benchmarking based on a brand's social media strength is provided. The BMP acquires input information on the brand and identifies industries related to the brand and competing brands. The BMP acquires social media information related to the brand and the competing brands from multiple social media sources via a network, dynamically generates categories in one or more hierarchical levels in each of the industries based on an independent analysis of the social media information, and sorts the social media information into the categories using a sorting interface. The BMP generates an aggregate score using an audience score determined by measuring an aggregate reach of the brand and the competing brands based on weighted audience score metric parameters, and an engagement score determined by measuring interaction between the brand and the competing brands and their followers based on weighted engagement score metric parameters. |
| US08620713B2 |
Mechanism to control delegation and revocation of tasks in workflow system
A method to revoke a task includes receiving task data, the task data including information regarding a task to be performed. The method further includes receiving delegation data, the delegation data including information identifying a delegator of the task and a delegatee to perform the task. The method further includes receiving revocation task data, with the revocation task data having as its object at least aspects of the task. |
| US08620712B1 |
Method and system of intelligent matching for meetings
A method of scheduling at least one meeting for a consumer involves matching the consumer to a first professional of a plurality of professionals based on information associated with the consumer and the plurality of professionals, where the first professional is qualified to provide service to the consumer, scheduling a first meeting between the consumer and the first professional, and notifying the consumer and the first professional about the first meeting using information associated with the first meeting. |
| US08620711B2 |
Inmate visitation scheduling and management
A computerized visitation registration and scheduling system provides the department of corrections the ability to have inmates and visitors schedule visits through an automated interface, such as a telephone interface, or the internet. The system allows, for example, the ability for potential visitors to perform a registration process with little to no manual overhead requirements of department of corrections employees. Secondly, potential visitors, once approved, are able to schedule inmate visits without necessarily having to burden department of corrections employees. |
| US08620703B1 |
Full-kit management in projects: checking full-kit compliance
Methods and apparatuses are described for creating and using full-kit tasks, monitoring the progress of full-kit tasks, determining full-kit dates, checking compliance of release conditions associated with full-kit tasks, and/or computing and reporting full-kit task delays. A full-kit task can be used in the project plan to represent the preparations that are required or recommended to be performed before executing a set of tasks. The full-kit task can be a zero-duration task that has a full-kit date and that includes a list of items which need to be completed by the full-kit date. The full-kit task is capable of being in one of the following states: not started, in progress, released, and completed. In some embodiments, the set of tasks associated with the full-kit task can only be started if the full-kit task is either in the released state or the completed state. |
| US08620699B2 |
Heavy influencer media recommendations
A system and method for providing media recommendations, such as music recommendations, based on information identifying media recently played by a select group of heavy influencers for a subscription fee are provided. The group of heavy influencers may be a group of one or more celebrities or other persons whose media selections may heavily influence media selections of the users of the system. |
| US08620695B2 |
Increasing a policy value account of a life insurance policy based on an economic value of the policy
The present disclosure describes, among other things, an example method for maintaining an account for a life insurance policy. The method may include determining an amount to apply to the account, the amount based at least in part on i) a plurality of first factors based on data for life insurance policies in a class of policies, wherein the class of policies includes the life insurance policy, and ii) a plurality of second factors based on data for an individual, wherein the individual is a policy holder of the life insurance policy. The method may include increasing at least a portion of the account by the amount. |
| US08620687B2 |
Systems and methods for health care credit transactions
Systems, methods, and computer program media for creating, managing, backing, and transferring health care credits are described. Health care credits may be implemented as freely transferable financial instruments whose initial value can be based on costs or savings generated by an individual, or by a health care provider, that are associated with a health-related metric or a health benefiting behavior(s). |
| US08620686B1 |
Method for dynamic geospatial analysis with collaborative decision making
A computer assisted method that enables multiple users with client devices to simultaneously connect via a network to a processor and data storage with computer instructions to use the computer instructions to identify contextual awareness situations, identify contextual awareness compliance specifications, calculate data specifications to meet the compliance specifications, collect raw data related to the contextual awareness, compare the collected raw data with the data specifications to meet compliance specifications, generate a visualization of the contextual awareness for defined time periods including times in the future, and formulate an integrated composite decision plan that accelerates decision making for compliance regarding the contextual awareness by stakeholders. |
| US08620683B2 |
System and method for providing a multi-dimensional contextual platform for managing a medical practice
A system and method is provided for generating a multi-dimensional contextual platform that may be used to manage, diagnose, and communicate with patients in a medical practice. In particular, the system may provide a website that may provide dynamic, avatar-based interfaces that include a doctor interface and a patient interface. A doctor may create a subscription with an operator of the website in order to find new patients and view patient health records across multiple dimensions. A patient may create a subscription with the operator to locate a doctor and maintain open communications with the doctor. Once subscribed, the doctor and patient may use the website to enhance the overall healthcare experience by using social networking aspects of the website to facilitate doctor and patient communication in real-time. |
| US08620682B2 |
Smart clinical care room
Methods, computer systems, and computer readable media for transitioning a clinical care room from a first scene to a second scene in order to facilitate completion of a real-world activity are provided. The first scene in the clinical care room is presented where the clinical care room has one or more zones. The first scene is associated with a first group of setting for components within the one or more zones. An input corresponding to the real-world activity is received. Incident to receiving the input, the second scene is provided. The second scene is associated with a second group of settings for the components. The second group of setting is optimized to facilitate completion of the real-world activity. |
| US08620678B2 |
Medical information query system
A query system is provided for retrieving information from a medical information system, or its databases. A user interactive query wizard facilitates creation of query scripts for retrieval of information from the medical information system. Queries may be performed across a set of patients, hospitals or clinical resources. Query results are presented via an output device, such as a computer display. These results may be exported to other applications, such as known office or desktop applications, or other systems, such as database systems. |
| US08620670B2 |
Automatic realtime speech impairment correction
Automatic correcting of user's speech impairment in speech may include obtaining the audio signal of a given user's speech, and analyzing the obtained audio signal to identify artifacts caused by the user's impairment. The obtained audio signal may be modified by eliminating the identified artifacts from it. The modified audio signal may be provided, e.g., to be played or broadcast or transmitted. |
| US08620669B2 |
Automated sentence planning in a task classification system
Disclosed is a task classification system that interacts with a user. The task classification system may include a recognizer that may recognize symbols in the user's input communication, and a natural language understanding unit that may determine whether the user's input communication can be understood. If the user's input communication can be understood, the natural language understanding unit may generate understanding data. The system may also include a communicative goal generator that may generate communicative goals based on the symbols recognized by the recognizer and understanding data from the natural language understanding unit. The generated communicative goals may be related to information needed to be obtained from the user. The system may further include a sentence planning unit that may automatically plan one or more sentences based on the communicative goals generated by the communicative goal generator with at least one of the sentences plans being output to the user. |
| US08620665B2 |
Method and system of speech evaluation
A method is provided for user speech performance evaluation with respect to a reference performance for which a phoneme mark-up is available. The method includes capturing input speech from the user and formatting it as frames. For a respective frame of the input speech, the method generates probability values for a plurality of phonemes, generates a probability value for a phoneme class based upon the generated probability values for a plurality of phonemes belonging to that phoneme class. For a plurality of frames of the input speech, the method further includes averaging the phoneme class probability values corresponding to the plurality of frames of the input speech. The method also includes calculating a user speech performance score based upon the average. |
| US08620664B2 |
Open architecture for a voice user interface
A system and method for processing voice requests from a user for accessing information on a computerized network and delivering information from a script server and an audio server in the network in audio format. A voice user interface subsystem includes: a dialog engine that is operable to interpret requests from users from the user input, communicate the requests to the script server and the audio server, and receive information from the script server and the audio server; a media telephony services (MTS) server, wherein the MTS server is operable to receive user input via a telephony system, and to transfer the user input to the dialog engine; and a broker coupled between the dialog engine and the MTS server. The broker establishes a session between the MTS server and the dialog engine and controls telephony functions with the telephony system. |
| US08620659B2 |
System and method of supporting adaptive misrecognition in conversational speech
A system and method are provided for receiving speech and/or non-speech communications of natural language questions and/or commands and executing the questions and/or commands. The invention provides a conversational human-machine interface that includes a conversational speech analyzer, a general cognitive model, an environmental model, and a personalized cognitive model to determine context, domain knowledge, and invoke prior information to interpret a spoken utterance or a received non-spoken message. The system and method creates, stores, and uses extensive personal profile information for each user, thereby improving the reliability of determining the context of the speech or non-speech communication and presenting the expected results for a particular question or command. |
| US08620656B2 |
Converting partial word lists into a phoneme tree for speech recognition
The present invention discloses converting a text form into a speech. In the present invention, partial word lists of a data source are obtained by parsing the data source in parallel or in series. The partial word lists are then compiled to obtain phoneme graphs corresponding, respectively, to the partial word lists, and then the obtained phoneme graphs are combined. Speech recognition is then conducted according to the combination results. According to the present invention, computational complexity may be reduced and recognition efficiency may be improved during speech recognition. |
| US08620644B2 |
Encoder-assisted frame loss concealment techniques for audio coding
Encoder-assisted frame loss concealment (FLC) techniques for decoding audio signals are described. A decoder may discard an erroneous frame of an audio signal and may implement the encoder-assisted FLC techniques in order to accurately conceal the discarded frame based on neighboring frames and side-information transmitted from the encoder. The encoder-assisted FLC techniques include estimating magnitudes of frequency-domain data for the frame based on frequency-domain data of neighboring frames, and estimating signs of the frequency-domain data based on a subset of signs transmitted from the encoder as side-information. Frequency-domain data for a frame of an audio signal includes tonal components and noise components. Signs estimated from a random signal may be substantially accurate for the noise components of the frequency-domain data. However, to achieve highly accurate sign estimation for the tonal components, the encoder transmits signs for the tonal components of the frequency-domain data as side-information. |
| US08620636B2 |
Interpreting well test measurements
Based on measurements that are obtained from a well test, a pressure in the well is modeled as a function of at least a skin effect factor that varies with time. The results of the modeling may be used to estimate at least one well parameter, such as a formation parameter and/or a well pressure, as examples. |
| US08620630B2 |
Methods for accurate use of finite dynamic range measurement data in radio path loss propagation model calibration
Methods for accurately predicting radio propagation from signal strength measurements. Dynamic range limitations in the measurement data are explicitly taken into account. The resulting propagation models accurately predict signal strength for calculation of coverage and interference. |
| US08620627B2 |
Composite information display for a part
A method and apparatus for processing a model of a part. A number of locations are identified in the model of the part in response to receiving a request from a client application for information about the number of locations on the part. A section cut is created at each of the number of locations to form a number of section cuts. Data is obtained for layers in each of the number of section cuts. The model with the number of section cuts is changed to form a formatted model with a format used by the client application. The layers in each of the number of section cuts in the formatted model are associated with the data for the number of layers in the each of the number of section cuts. The formatted model and the data for the layers is returned to the client application. |
| US08620625B2 |
Above bed sensor
A monitoring system for monitoring a patient in a patient-support apparatus includes a detector, a standard, and a controller. The detector detects electromagnetic radiation in a field. The standard conveys a predetermined electromagnetic signature to the detector. The controller monitors the electromagnetic radiation in the field and compares the electromagnetic radiation to the standard to determine the position of a patient supported on a patient-support apparatus positioned in the field. |
| US08620620B1 |
Method for testing a circuit card assembly
A method(s) of testing AN/ULQ-21 (Hydra) Circuit Card Assembly(ies) (CCAs), which involve providing software to perform automated tests on Hydra CCAs that make up the Hydra Countermeasures Set and employ commercial off the shelf equipment (such as signal generators, spectrum analyzer, Data Acquisition Device(s), oscillators, etc. as applicable depending on the test and CCA being evaluated). |
| US08620617B2 |
Methods and systems for interactive goal setting and recommender using events having combined activity and location information
A method for generating recommendations for achieving goals is described. The method includes receiving a goal for a user account. The goal is associated with an activity that is trackable via a monitoring device. The method further includes receiving tracking data associated with the monitoring device. At least part of the tracking data is associated to the activity. The method includes receiving geo-location data associated with the monitoring device. The geo-location data is correlated to the tracking data. The method includes analyzing the received tracking data and geo-location data to characterize a current performance metric for the activity and generating a recommendation for the user account. The recommendation identifies the current performance metric and a suggested action and location for increasing the current performance metric to achieve the goal. |
| US08620610B2 |
Crane jib attitude and heading reference system and method
Methods and apparatus are provided for determining the attitude and heading angle of a crane jib. Crane jib angular velocity, crane jib roll angle, crane jib pitch angle, crane jib specific force, and magnetic field in the local operating environment of the crane jib are all sensed and supplied to a processor. All of these measurements are processed, in a processor, to estimate the attitude and heading angle of the crane jib. |
| US08620607B2 |
Systems and methods for metering and analyzing energy consumption of events within a portable device
System and methods to determine the energy consumption per event type from usage data of portable devices are described. An example method includes determining a first plurality of linear equations representative of energy expended in a portable device for a second plurality of functions, the second plurality of functions including at least one software function of the portable device, the first plurality being more than the second plurality, and determining, using a processor, energy values corresponding to the second plurality of functions by applying a statistical method to the first plurality of linear equations. |
| US08620606B2 |
Transmitter power monitor
The invention provides an in-line power monitor for an RF transmission line that is capable of being calibrated in-line during live conditions at the exact power level and frequency where it is used. This device uses forward and reflected directional couplers and a non-directional coupler to sample the RF voltage on the transmission line. The RF voltage of the forward and reflected channels are each split into two paths, one going to a test port and the other leading to additional circuitry which prepares the signals of the forward and reflected channels for output to power displays. Additionally, the monitor allows the user to compensate for any voltage offsets introduced by various circuitry components. Further, the monitor also allows to user to individually calibrate the output of the forward and reflected channels by applying an adjustable gain ratio correction to each channel. |
| US08620605B2 |
Method for improving fault detection and positioning precision using reflectometry in a wired electrical network
A method for detecting and determining a position of faults using reflectometry in a wired electrical network including: injecting a test signal e(t) into a cable in the electrical network, a timing of successive injections being controlled by a synchronization module that generates an emission clock signal and a reception clock signal; retrieving a reflected signal on the cable; sampling the reflected signal at a frequency Fe=1/Te, where Te is a sampling period; counting a number of samples obtained for the reflected signal and comparing the number of samples obtained with a number n predefined as a function of a length of the cable or the electrical network to be diagnosed, where n is an integer; repeating the injecting, the sampling, and the counting steps N times, shifting the emission clock signal by a duration δ; reconstituting the reflected signal from n*N samples obtained; and analyzing the reconstituted reflected signal to detect a fault. |
| US08620604B2 |
Generating a composite vibration profile for a computer system
Some embodiments of the present invention provide a system that generates a composite vibration profile in a frequency range for a computer system. First, a vibration spectrum in the frequency range is measured for a test computer system in each configuration in a set of configurations. Then, the composite vibration profile for the computer system is generated based on the measured vibration spectra. |
| US08620601B2 |
Gas cutoff apparatus
An object is to detect an abnormality when the inside of a gas cutoff apparatus is submerged.A flow rate computing unit 15 computes an instantaneous flow rate from a detected value of a flow rate detecting unit 8 for measuring a flow rate, and an amplification degree determining unit 18 determines signal amplification adjusted by the flow rate detecting unit 8, and timing is started when the amplification degree is a predetermined value or more, and a measurement condition setting unit 16 sets a measurement condition of the flow rate detecting unit 8 from the flow rate obtained by the flow rate computing unit 15, and a measurement ratio computing unit 20 obtains a measurement condition ratio during predetermined time from a time measuring unit 19 and the measurement condition setting unit 16, and it is determined that the flow rate detecting unit 8 is abnormal when the measurement ratio is a predetermined ratio or more, and a cutoff unit 22 breaks supply of gas. |
| US08620598B2 |
Bushing press-fitting inspection device, method, and program, and bushing press-fitting apparatus
A bushing press-fitting inspection device that can perform an inspection in any state between the beginning of press-fitting and the end of press-fitting as to whether or not the press-fitting has been satisfactorily performed is provided. The bushing press-fitting inspection device is used in a bushing press-fitting apparatus that, using a press-fitting mechanism, supports a bushing at an end of the bushing press-fitting apparatus and that press-fits, over a certain stroke at a certain load, the bushing into a bushing press-fitting portion formed in part of a structure in a cylindrical shape that is included in a workpiece. The bushing press-fitting inspection device includes setting means, storage means, input means, judgment means, and output means. |
| US08620596B2 |
System and method for sorting data
A method and apparatus that enables a user to sort data from one or more sample lots, which may be obtained via a network, such as the Internet, into a composite parameter structure. The composite parameter structure is a function of one or more parameters corresponding to one or more characteristics associated with one or more sample lots. The composite parameter structure representation may be printed, stored, or transmitted to another location. A server device that is coupled and working in conjunction with a client device may implement the present invention. |
| US08620591B2 |
Multivariate residual-based health index for human health monitoring
Ambulatory or in-hospital monitoring of patients is provided with early warning and prioritization, enabling proactive intervention and amelioration of both costs and risks of health care. Multivariate physiological parameters are estimated by empirical model to remove normal variation. Residuals are tested using a multivariate probability density function to provide a multivariate health index for prioritizing medical effort. |
| US08620590B2 |
Dose surface method for determination of analyte ratios
Methods, systems, and apparatus for accurately determining a proportion (ratio) of two analytes is provided, as well as provide a concentration of a first analyte from a determined concentration of a second analyte and from a proportion of the analytes to each other. In one aspect, a surface model (called a “dose surface” herein) relating the concentrations of the two analytes to the proportion can be used to obtain accurate values for one of the variables (e.g. a concentration or the proportion) when the other two variables have previously been obtained. The dose surface can be a three-dimensional surface and be non-linear. The dose surface model can include multiple regression functions. For example, measured responses can be individually converted to concentrations using two dose-response curves, and the concentrations can be input to a dose surface function to obtain the proportion. |
| US08620587B2 |
Methods, apparatus, and systems for generating electronic records of locate and marking operations, and combined locate and marking apparatus for same
Systems, methods and apparatus for generating electronic records of locate operations and marking operations. Exemplary systems and apparatus include marking devices that generate, store and/or transmit electronic records of marking information, locate devices that generate, store and/or transmit electronic records of locate information, locate devices and marking devices that communicate with each other (and optionally with other devices or systems) to share/exchange locate information and marking information, and a combined locate and marking apparatus that constitutes an integrated device capable of various functionality germane to respective locate and marking devices, and configured for generating electronic records of both locate information and marking information. An exemplary method for analyzing and processing locate information and marking information includes a computer-implemented method for visually rendering (e.g., in a display field of a display device) various aspects of locate and marking operations. |
| US08620586B2 |
Navigation based on popular user-defined paths
A device receives, from one or more user devices, one or more user-defined paths associated with a starting point and a destination point, and receives, from the one or more user devices, information associated with the one or more user-defined paths. The device also aggregates the one or more user-defined paths and the associated information, and determines one or more popular paths based on the aggregation of the one or more user-defined paths and the associated information, where the one or more popular paths are capable of being utilized by the one or more user devices for selection of a path for navigation. |
| US08620584B2 |
Navigation device and method for exchanging data between resident applications
In one embodiment of the present invention, navigation software is integrated with other kinds of software running on the same device so that capabilities of the navigation software can be made available from within the other applications. In one example embodiment, those applications can export street, city or postcode format address data to the navigation software. The address data can then be converted to a co-ordinate system based address by the navigation software, which can then automatically be set as the destination address used by the navigation software in calculating the route and/or automatically marked on a map generated and displayed by the navigation software. |
| US08620583B2 |
Sending location information from within a communication application
A method in a wireless communications device for transmitting current location information representing a current location of the wireless communications device. The method entails, from within a communication application executing on a processor of the wireless communications device, causing the wireless communications device to obtain the current location information representing the current location of the wireless communications device, including the current location information in a communication generated from within the communication application, and transmitting the communication that includes the current location information. The method optionally entails a further step of performing a reverse look-up of GPS coordinates representing the current location to determine address information for including in the communication. Location information, such as maps or URLs to maps can be sent directly from an e-mail application or instant messenger without having to separately launch a mapping application. |
| US08620581B2 |
Time synchronization method for vehicles having navigation device
Provided is a method of performing time synchronization using a navigation device. The method includes: (a) performing time synchronization between a GPS satellite and a navigation device by receiving GPS signals by a navigation device from at least one GPS satellite; (b) establishing an interface between the navigation device and a time-using device; (c) setting conditions for transmitting time information to the navigation device; and (d) performing time synchronization between the navigation device and the time-using device by transmission of time information from the navigation device to the time-using device. |
| US08620578B1 |
Centralized location storage system and method
The present invention provides a system and method that enables a user to save locations (e.g., addresses, landmarks, etc.) to a central storage location system from within third party applications and then automatically have access to saved location information on registered, client devices, including navigational devices. Third party applications send saved locations, as well as information identifying the applicable users, to a central storage location system. The central storage location system stores location information associated with each saved location in a database (e.g., address and corresponding geocodes). Each location is saved in association with a unique ID corresponding to the user that saved the location. The central storage location system provides each saved location to registered client devices associated with the user that saved the location. |
| US08620571B2 |
Driving assistance apparatus, driving assistance method, and driving assistance program
A method and apparatus for providing driver assistance are provided. The apparatus includes a road recognition unit, an eligibility acquisition unit, an other vehicle recognition unit, an other vehicle eligibility acquisition unit and a guidance unit. The road recognition unit determines if a host vehicle is traveling on a restricted road having a lane with travel eligibility restrictions. The eligibility acquisition unit obtains information regarding travel eligibility of the lanes on the restricted road. The other vehicle recognition unit determines if the other vehicle is traveling in an adjacent lane and the other vehicle eligibility acquisition unit obtains travel eligibility information of the other vehicle. Based on the travel eligibility of the other vehicle, the other vehicle traveling lane or the host vehicle traveling lane, the guidance unit determines whether to provide guidance information. |
| US08620568B2 |
Navigation system with congestion estimation mechanism and method of operation thereof
A method of operation of a navigation system includes: receiving a real-time traffic flow of road links; determining congestion candidate links from the road links by thresholding the real-time traffic flow of the road links; smoothing spatially the real-time traffic flow of the congestion candidate links; calculating a flow confidence of the real-time traffic flow of the congestion candidate links; determining a congested segment by tracking the real-time traffic flow and the flow confidence of the congestion candidate links over a time period; and generating a congestion message for the congested segment for displaying on a device. |
| US08620565B2 |
Control system and method for limiting engine torque based on engine oil pressure and engine oil temperature data
A control system (36) for comparing engine speed data to an engine speed threshold above which the engine is considered to be running (40), for comparing engine temperature data to an engine temperature threshold (60), and once engine speed data has become greater than the engine speed threshold, for causing engine torque to be limited to an engine torque limit until the first to occur of: engine temperature data exceeding the engine temperature threshold, a first timer (44), started upon engine speed data having become greater than the engine speed threshold, having timed to a time that is a function of engine temperature data, and a second timer (54), started upon engine speed data having become greater than the engine speed threshold and engine oil pressure data having become greater than an engine oil pressure threshold, having timed to a time that is also a function of engine temperature data. |
| US08620564B2 |
Abnormality detection apparatus and abnormality detection method for multi-cylinder internal combustion engine
An abnormality detection apparatus for a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine changes a fuel injection quantity of a predetermined target cylinder to detect an abnormality of an internal combustion engine based on values of rotational variations relating to the target cylinder detected before and after the change of the fuel injection quantity. The abnormality detection apparatus corrects the values of the rotational variations relating to the target cylinder detected before and after the change of the fuel injection quantity based on at least one of the number of revolutions of the engine and an engine load at a corresponding detection time. |
| US08620561B2 |
Control for internal combustion engine provided with cylinder halting mechanism
A control for an internal combustion engine having a fuel injection valve for directly injecting fuel to a combustion chamber of the engine, an ignition device for burning an air-fuel mixture containing the fuel injected from the fuel injection valve, and a variable cylinder management mechanism that is capable of changing the number of operating cylinders is provided. The control includes making a transition to an operating mode where the number of operating cylinders is decreased through the variable cylinder management mechanism. It is predicted based on an operating condition of the engine that an air-fuel ratio of an exhaust atmosphere of the engine becomes lean due to a stop of the fuel injection into one or more cylinders to be halted by the transition. If it is predicted that the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust atmosphere of the engine becomes lean, additional fuel is injected from the fuel injection valve to the one or more cylinders to be halted after ignition performed by the ignition device in a combustion cycle where the prediction is made. |
| US08620558B2 |
Method and module for controlling a velocity of a vehicle
A method for regulating a vehicle's speed including the steps of: determining a horizon by means of position data and map data of an itinerary made up of route segments with length and gradient characteristics for each segment; calculating threshold values for the gradient of segments according to one or more vehicle-specific values, which threshold values serve as boundaries for assigning segments to various categories; comparing the gradient of each segment with the threshold values and placing each segment within the horizon in a category according to the results of the comparisons; and, for each segment within the horizon which is in a category indicating a steep upgrade or a steep downgrade, calculating the vehicle's final speed vend after the end of the segment, based inter alia on the entry speed vi to the segment; and determining the entry speed vi for said segment based on the calculated final speed vend for the segment, which determination is defined by rules for said segment's category, so that the vehicle's final speed vend is within the range defined by vmax and vmin for the vehicle's current reference speed vset, on the supposition that vi is determined within the same range; and regulating the vehicle's speed according to speed set-point values vref based on the entry speeds vi to each segment. |
| US08620556B2 |
Correction method for the correction of characteristic curves for analogized hydraulic valves in motor vehicle braking systems
A correction method in which characteristic curves and/or correction values are produced, by way of which the drive current for one or more electrically activated hydraulic values operated in an analog fashion is measured during a pressure regulation in such a way that, during the operation of an anti-lock regulation, one or a respective characteristic curve is first prescribed and then the prescribed characteristic curve is corrected, particularly in a learning process, wherein, after a pressure build-up phase, the current pressure model value (Pmod) is compared to and/or analyzed using a model locking pressure level (Pmax). |
| US08620554B2 |
Accelerator reaction force control apparatus
An accelerator reaction force control apparatus has an accelerator position detecting device that detects an accelerator position and a reaction force varying device that varies a reaction force of an accelerator. The reaction force varying device increases the accelerator's reaction force beyond a base reaction force in response to the accelerator position being equal to or larger than a reaction force increase threshold, and decreases the accelerator's reaction force toward the base reaction force in response to the accelerator position becoming equal to or smaller than a reaction force increase cancellation threshold after the reaction force has been increased beyond the base reaction force. The reaction force varying device varies a reaction force decrease rate at which the accelerator's reaction force is decreased based on an accelerator position change condition existing at a time when the accelerator position becomes equal to or smaller than the reaction force increase cancellation threshold. |
| US08620553B2 |
System and method for establishing a network across a locomotive consist or other vehicle consist
A method for establishing a network across a plurality of locomotives in a consist includes designating one locomotive of the plurality of locomotives as a network lead locomotive and designating the other of the plurality of locomotives as network trail locomotives. |
| US08620547B2 |
Methods and systems for controlling braking of a vehicle when the vehicle is stationary
A method for controlling braking of a vehicle includes the steps of calculating a first pressure based on a driver request, and providing pressure that does not exceed a predetermined pressure threshold if the vehicle is stationary and the first pressure is less than the predetermined pressure threshold. |
| US08620545B1 |
Method and apparatus of physically moving a portable unit to view an image of a stationary map
A background map remains stationary while a portable unit moves within a plane parallel to the screen of the portable unit. As the user moves the unit, images of the background map appear on the screen of the portable device. The user scans the stationary map presented on the screen of the portable unit. This has several benefits since now relative distances and angular displacements within the plane between objects that are outside of the range of the screen of the handheld unit can be immediately be located and placed into view on the screen of a portable unit. The handheld unit is like a Sliding Window which provides a view of this image of a stationary map lying in the background of the portable unit. |
| US08620543B2 |
System and method for estimating torque in a powertrain
A vehicle includes a powertrain having first and second rotatable members, speed sensors, and a controller. The speed sensors generate output signals encoding the speeds of the respective first and second rotatable members. The controller calculates a rotation angle of the members using the output signals and estimates a torque value in the powertrain as a function of the rotation angles. The sensors may count the teeth of respective first and second toothed gear elements and encode the count as the output signals. The controller may estimate the torque value as a function of a linear coefficient and the present gear ratio of the sensors. The controller may also detect a commanded upshift of the transmission and detect a fill event of an oncoming clutch of the transmission as a function of the corresponding rotation angles for the rotatable members. The members may be input, output, or intermediate members. |
| US08620541B2 |
Vehicle driving-force control device
In a vehicle driving-force control device, when a brake switch is turned on, a transmission control unit determines a currently-selected engine mode and sets a deceleration determination value by referring to a determination-value table corresponding to the currently-selected engine mode, using a vehicle speed as a parameter. Then, the transmission control unit compares an absolute value of a deceleration with an absolute value of the deceleration determination value, and shifts down the gear stage if the absolute value of the deceleration exceeds the absolute value of the deceleration determination value. |
| US08620539B2 |
Continuously-variable transmission for vehicle
A continuously-variable transmission for a vehicle includes a belt-type continuously-variable transmitting mechanism connected to a drive source and configured to continuously vary a speed ratio of the belt-type continuously-variable transmitting mechanism; an auxiliary transmitting mechanism provided in series with the belt-type continuously-variable transmitting mechanism and configured to attain a plurality of shift steps for a forward running of the vehicle; and a speed-increasing gear mechanism provided upstream from the auxiliary transmitting mechanism and configured to increase an input rotational speed of the auxiliary transmitting mechanism. |
| US08620538B2 |
System and method for detecting vehicle movement based on driveline torque sensor
A system and method for detecting vehicle movement based on the measurement of the torque value on a vehicle drivetrain is disclosed. The system includes a torque sensor for measuring the torque on a vehicle drivetrain. This measured torque is utilized by a control module, with various other measured vehicle parameters, to determine if the conditions are such that vehicle movement may occur or has already begun. Possible vehicle movement is indicated when either the measured torque value exceeds a threshold value and changes towards zero, or big noise spikes are present in the torque sensor output signal. |
| US08620536B2 |
Controlling a digging operation of an industrial machine
Controlling a digging operation of an industrial machine that includes a dipper, a crowd motor drive, and a controller. The crowd motor drive is configured to provide one or more control signals to a crowd motor, and the crowd motor is operable to provide a force to the dipper to move the dipper toward or away from a bank. The controller is connected to the crowd motor drive and is configured to monitor a characteristic of the industrial machine, identify an impact event associated with the dipper based on the monitored characteristic of the industrial machine, and set a crowd motoring torque limit for the crowd motor drive when the impact event is identified. |
| US08620530B2 |
System for controlling a multimachine caravan
A control system is disclosed. The control system includes a first set of operator input devices and a laser target located on a first machine. The control system also includes a first laser measurement system located on a second machine and configured to measure a distance to the laser target. The control system further includes a communications system configured to selectively communicate a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation. In the first mode of operation, the second machine follows the first machine based on the measured distance. In the second mode of operation, the second machine moves based on a signal from the first set of operator input devices. |
| US08620524B2 |
Vehicle damping control device
A correction torque command is outputted to a driving/braking torque producing means in accordance with a correction torque to suppress vehicle body spring vibration. When a state of the correction torque amplitude being greater than a predetermined amplitude continues for a given predetermined time, a control apparatus outputs a hunting time correction torque command smaller than a normal time correction toque command. When a state of the correction torque amplitude being smaller than or equal to the predetermined amplitude continues for a first predetermined time, the control apparatus returns the output of correction torque command from the hunting time correction torque command to the normal time correction torque command. The control apparatus continues the output of the hunting time correction torque command if the state in which the correction torque amplitude exceeds the predetermined amplitude continues for the given predetermined time, before the expiration of the first time period. |
| US08620520B2 |
Method for controlling devices, and a device in a communications network in a motor vehicle
A method for managing a plurality of devices interconnected as a communications network in a motor vehicle via one or a plurality of interconnected bus systems is presented, the method including recognizing and generating a device specific control component for newly attached devices. The method includes operating a generic control module to operate upon data stored in a newly attached device to generate the device-specific control component, which is used to control the device. The device-specific control component either can be added to the generic control module or can be stored independently of the generic control module in the respective device. The generic control module is used in a gateway or a system manager of the communications network. A human-machine interface adapts to the device-specific control component. The network is interconnected by a bus system, preferably embodied according to IEEE 1394. |
| US08620517B2 |
Vehicular platooning using distributed receding horizon control
This disclosure relates to distributed control of a platoon of vehicles with nonlinear dynamics. Distributed receding horizon control algorithms are presented to derive sufficient conditions that guarantee asymptotic stability, leader-follower string stability, and predecessor-follower string stability, following a step speed change in the platoon. Vehicles compute their own control in parallel, and receive communicated position and velocity error trajectories from their immediate predecessor. Leader-follower string stability requires additional communication from the lead car at each update, in the form of a position error trajectory. Communication from the lead car is required only once at initialization. Provided an initially feasible solution can be found, subsequent feasibility of the algorithms are guaranteed at every update. The theory is generalized for nonlinear decoupled dynamics, and is thus applicable to fleets of planes, robots, or boats, in addition to cars. |
| US08620507B2 |
Hybrid vehicle
A hybrid vehicle is driven by a power unit which includes: a first rotating machine including a first rotor, a first stator, and a second rotor, wherein the number of magnetic poles generated by an armature row of the first stator and one of the first rotor and the second rotor are connected to a drive shaft; a power engine, wherein an output shaft of the power engine is connected to the other of the first rotor and the second rotor; a second rotating machine; and a capacitor. A traveling mode of the hybrid vehicle includes an EV traveling mode and an ENG traveling mode, wherein the hybrid vehicle travels with a motive power from at least one of the first rotating machine and the second rotating machine in the EV traveling mode, and the hybrid vehicle travels with a motive power from the power engine in ENG traveling mode. The hybrid vehicle includes: an EV traveling mode predicting unit that predicts a switching from the ENG traveling mode to the EV traveling mode; and a controller that controls a remaining capacity of the capacitor in accordance with prediction result obtained by the EV traveling mode predicting unit so as to change a target value of the remaining capacity. Accordingly, it is possible to achieve reduction in the size and cost of the power unit and enhance the driving efficiency of the power unit. |
| US08620506B2 |
Method and system for thermal management of a high voltage battery for a vehicle
A method for thermal management of an electric vehicle and the vehicle are provided. A controller is configured to regulate the temperature of a traction battery to within an operating temperature range when the vehicle is operating. The temperature of the battery is regulated to within a charging temperature range when the battery is connected to the charger and power source and the ambient temperature is outside an environmental temperature range. The battery is preconditioned to a battery drive temperature when the ambient temperature is outside the environmental temperature range and the battery is connected to the charger and power source. The cabin in the vehicle is preconditioned to a cabin temperature when the vehicle is connected to the charger and power source and the ambient temperature is outside the environmental temperature range. |
| US08620504B2 |
Device and method for controlling vehicle
An ECU executes a program including the steps of: setting a target boost voltage to a maximum value when a request for changing a sub power supply is made; temporarily increasing discharge electric power of a main power supply and then restricting discharge electric power of the sub power supply before switching; shutting off a gate of a converter on the sub power supply side; performing processing for shutting off an SMR corresponding to the sub power supply before switching; connecting an SMR corresponding to a sub power supply after switching when an absolute value of a current is equal to or lower than a predetermined value; canceling shut-off of the gate of the converter on the sub power supply side; canceling temporary increase in discharge electric power of the main power supply and restriction of discharge electric power of the sub power supply; and canceling the setting of the maximum value as the target boost voltage. |
| US08620497B2 |
Computer interlocking system and code bit level redundancy method therefor
A code bit level redundancy method for a computer interlocking system is provided. The method includes: (1) controlling the output in parallel, and (2) sharing the collected information. |
| US08620496B2 |
Systems and method of controlling a spacecraft using attitude sensors
A system for damping nutation and removing wobble of a spacecraft spinning about a given axis is provided. The system includes a sensor configured to determine three dimensional attitude measurements of the spacecraft, a processor operatively coupled to the sensor and configured to execute a process that facilitates aligning the spin axis with a spacecraft momentum vector. The processor, when executing the process, is programmed to receive spacecraft attitude data from the sensor, determine a torque command using the received attitude data, and control a momentum storage actuator on the spacecraft using the determined torque command such that an angular deviation about the given axis is reduced. |
| US08620493B2 |
Electric taxi auto-guidance and control system
An auto-guidance and control method and system is provided for use in conjunction with an aircraft electric taxi system. Aircraft status data is obtained, and airport feature data accessed. A processor generates taxi path guidance and control information including at least taxi speed guidance information, and sends commands derived from the taxi speed guidance information by the processor directly to an electric taxi controller to regulate the taxi speed of the aircraft. |
| US08620489B2 |
Robotic drive system modularity
The subject disclosure is directed towards a robot device including a computational intelligence system that can be coupled to/decoupled from different interchangeable mobility mechanisms at different times. The robot may operate with its intelligence portion detached from the mobility portion, whereby the intelligence portion may be easily to interact therewith out lifting the (typically dirty) mobility mechanism. The robot may operate according to a coupled state, a decoupled state, or in a transition state when being moved for purposes of coupling or decoupling. |
| US08620485B2 |
Electrical tagging device
An electronic tag (8) displays and monitors a maintenance state of an associated electrically-powered device. The tag includes data storage (2) for storing data indicative of the maintenance state, the data comprising information defining an expiry date for the maintenance state. A data processing unit (3) monitors a remaining duration to the expiry date and a display (4) displays information indicative of the maintenance state. A cut-out unit (7) controllably enables transmission of electrical power to the associated electrically powered device dependent on the remaining duration. |
| US08620479B2 |
Lubricator device and a lubricator system
One aspect of the invention provides a lubricator device for dispensing a lubricant to a lubrication point of a machine. The device includes an electric dispensing mechanism including an electronic control circuit. The control circuit includes an RF receiver for receiving control signals, e.g. signals incorporating a lubrication schedule to be adopted by the control circuit, and an RF transmitter for transmitting operational signals incorporating an ID code of the device and at least one operational parameter of the device. Such at least one operational parameter may include one indicative of an amount of lubricant dispensed or one indicative of an error condition. Another aspect of the invention provides a lubrication system including a plurality of lubricator devices, as referred to, and a computer in communication with them for monitoring their operation via operational signals received from them and for controlling their operation via control signals transmitted to them. |
| US08620478B2 |
Apparatus and method for protecting a building
There is provided an apparatus (1) and method for protecting a building (3) from pests or other nuisances in the vicinity of buildings. The apparatus (1) comprises a monitor (7) having the ability to acquire environmental condition information relating to environmental conditions in a vicinity of the building (3), and a treatment controller (9) which is capable of using the environmental condition information received from the monitor (7) to provide an amount of treatment agent which, for those environmental conditions, remains below a safety threshold for habitation of the building (3) and reduces a population of the pests. The present invention circumvents the need to evacuate inhabitants of the buildings before any treatment agent is administered to the ground lying therebeneath. Further, near-continuous protection and treatment of buildings is also possible. |
| US08620476B2 |
Method and apparatus for smart climate control
A method and apparatus for controlling climate within a building. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a smart climate unit for (i) obtaining distributed generator (DG) information pertaining to operation of a DG that generates power for the building, and (ii) controlling at least one climate condition within the building based on at least one of the DG information, local input, or remote input. |
| US08620475B2 |
Operating system for roller blinds with protection against excessive wind
A control method is described, said method being used within an operating system (10) for roller blinds (20) or the like having an output shaft (SH) of a motor (M) which transfers rotational movement to a drum (40) onto which the roller blind is wound, said method comprising the following steps: —(i) detecting directly or indirectly the force acting on the drum, or on a member connected thereto, and/or the relative position of the drum, or of a member connected thereto, with respect to a part which is fixed and/or integral with the operating system; —(ii) obtaining from the detection operation performed in step (i) a zero value (RZ) representing a stable rest condition of the roller blind; —(iii) starting an automatic closing movement of the roller blind should said force and/or said relative position (RR) vary, with respect to the value (RZ) obtained during step (ii), beyond a predefined threshold (T). The method simplifies the constructional design and installation of the operating system, while providing it with protection against wind and impacts. |
| US08620469B2 |
Carrier system and method for handling carried object using the same
A processing equipment unit performs a predetermined process to a carried object. A case accommodates the carried object. A carrier carries the carried object in the case. An opener is configured to enable the carrier to mount the case on the opener. The opener includes an opener control unit configured to exchange a signal with the carrier to control elevation of the case. The carrier is configured to exchange a signal with the opener control unit thereby to mount the case on the opener. The opener is equipped to the processing equipment unit. |
| US08620460B2 |
Controller interface with multiple day programming
A controller equipped with a user interface having multiple-day programming capabilities, including methods of programming such devices, are disclosed. The user interface may include one or more menus or screens that can be used to program a schedule for one or more selected days during the week. An illustrative method of programming the controller may include the steps of entering a scheduling routine, selecting multiple days for schedule modification, changing the schedule parameters for one or more periods during the selected days, and then exiting the scheduling routine. |
| US08620458B1 |
Active fixation medical lead and related method and system
An implantable medical lead of the invention comprises an electrically active helix electrode extendable and retractable relative to a distal tip of the lead, an electrically conductive mapping collar disposed at the lead's distal tip and a proximal end carrying an electrical connector assembly. The electrical connector assembly comprises a first terminal connected to the helix electrode and a second terminal separately connected to the mapping collar. An advantage of the independent helix electrode and mapping collar circuits is that the implanting physician can confirm from separate electrode impedance readings that the helix is in fact extended and fully embedded within the myocardium. Further, the independent mapping collar and helix electrode circuits may be used, in conjunction with a configurable or programmable switch network, to provide the implanting physician with a choice of electrode impedances. |
| US08620456B2 |
Assembly for pain suppressing electrical stimulation of a patient's spinal cord
An assembly for pain suppressing electrical stimulation of a patient's spinal cord, the assembly including lateral, medial, and oppositely lateral series of contact plates; a lateral panel, a medial panel and an oppositely lateral panel, the electrical contact plates being fixedly attached to the panels; living hinges pivotally attaching the lateral and oppositely lateral panels to the medial panel; proximally extending wires electrically communicating with the contact plates; a proximally extending insulator attached to the medial panel, the insulator having a hollow bore and the wires being embedded within the insulator; a proximally opening traction socket fixedly attached to the medial panel; and a semi-rigid stay which is extendable through the hollow bore, the semi-rigid stay being engageable with the proximally opening traction socket. |
| US08620450B2 |
Minimally invasive lead system for vagus nerve stimulation
A system including two neurostimulation leads can be used for stimulating a select region of a nerve within a nerve bundle. For example, two leads can be used to stimulate a select region of the vagus nerve located within a patient's carotid sheath. The first neurostimulation is positioned within the carotid sheath and the second neurostimulation lead is positioned external to the carotid sheath. Each of the first and second neurostimulation leads includes at least one electrode defining an electrode array about the select region of the nerve. The electrode array, and more particularly, the different possible electrode vector combinations provided by the first and second neurostimulation leads facilitate steering of stimulation current density fields as needed or desired between the electrodes to effectively and efficiently treat a particular medical, psychiatric, or neurological disorder. |
| US08620449B2 |
Implantable medical device antenna
This disclosure is directed to a three-dimensional antenna that may be used for an implantable medical device (IMD). The antenna includes a first antenna portion that includes a plurality of segments arranged substantially parallel to one another in a first plane. The antenna further includes a second antenna portion that includes a plurality of segments arranged substantially parallel to one another in a second plane that is substantially parallel to the first plane. The antenna further includes a third antenna portion that includes a plurality of segments arranged substantially parallel to one another in a third plane. The plurality of segments of the third portion are coupled between segments of the first and second portions. The third plane is arranged substantially perpendicular to the first plane and the second plane. |
| US08620448B1 |
Non-invasive, wireless, portable device applicable to the finger to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome and reduce the risk of apnea, slower heart rate, and heart arrest in all age groups
A non-invasive, wireless, portable device is applicable to the finger in order to reduce the risk of the sudden infant death syndrome and to reduce the risk of apnea, slower heart rate, and heart arrest in all age groups. The device is placed tightly on the distal end of a user's finger. As it is placed on the finger, this device may be inside a fabric cap attached to a glove of different sizes. This device measures blood oxygen saturation and heart rate through a sensor that is preferably a pulse oximeter. When any of these parameters falls below certain user-predetermined thresholds, an electric discharge is delivered to stimulate the user's reaction and a local and/or remote alarm is fired. In certain applications, the device is adequate to make the sleeping user react, and in others to prevent the user from falling asleep. |
| US08620445B2 |
Optimizing pitch allocation in a cochlear implant
Errors in pitch allocation within a cochlear implant are corrected in order to provide a significant and profound improvement in the quality of sound perceived by the cochlear implant user. The disclosure provides a tool for determining the implant fitting curve for cochlear implant system to correct pitch warping. The method presents familiar musical tunes to determine the implant fitting slope (relative alignment). In addition, in one embodiment, speech sounds may be used to determine the offset of the fitting line (absolute alignment). The use of music and speech to determine the implant fitting curve (line) and the slope is facilitated by using techniques to implement virtual electrodes to more precisely direct stimuli to the location or “place” on the cochlea. |
| US08620444B2 |
Implant sensor and control
An implant includes a humidity sensor for generating a signal indicative of humidity within the implant. A controller within the implant receives the signal indicative of humidity, and controls the implant based on the signal indicative of humidity. |
| US08620441B2 |
Sub-threshold stimulation to precondition neurons for supra-threshold stimulation
In order to generate the smallest phosphenes possible, it is advantageous to selectively stimulate smaller cells. By hyperpolarizing the somas of the large cells selectively with sub-threshold anodic ‘pre-pulse’ stimuli (making them more difficult to stimulate) and then selectively depolarize the smaller cells one can selectively stimulate smaller cells. Alternatively, one can hyperpolarize the dendrites of the cells with larger dendritic fields by applying sub-threshold anodic currents on surrounding electrodes and then depolarizing the smaller cells in the center. Further, one can manipulate the phases of an individual biphasic wave to affect selective stimulation resulting in more focal responses. It is possible to increase resolution with the ‘pre-pulse’ described above. One can also effect resolution by modifying the pulse order of the cathodic and anodic phases. Further, one can isolate the effect of the phases by separating them in time (long inter-phase interval) or by making one of the phases long and low amplitude—always keeping equal total charge for the two phases. As an example, one can preferentially stimulate smaller ganglion cells by providing a longer sub-threshold anodic pulse balanced with a shorter supra-threshold cathodic pulse. Preferentially stimulating the smaller ganglion cells will allow stimulation of different brightness levels while maintaining high spatial resolution. |
| US08620438B1 |
Method and apparatus for applying neuromuscular electrical stimulation
A method and apparatus for applying neuromuscular electrical stimulation to an agonist/antagonist muscle pair to move a limb about a joint includes generating a first pattern of neuromuscular electrical stimulation pulses for output through a first channel to a first pair of electrodes and generating a second pattern of neuromuscular stimulation pulses for output through a second channel to a second pair of electrodes. The first pair of electrodes are attached to the agonist muscle of the agonist/antagonist muscle pair, and the second pair of electrodes are attached to the antagonist muscle. A first pattern of electrical stimulation pulses is transmitted through the first pair of electrodes to the agonist muscle at a first intensity level to initiate contraction of the agonist muscle, and then at a second intensity level which is less than the first intensity level to continue contraction of the agonist muscle. A second pattern of electrical stimulation pulses is transmitted through the second pair of electrodes to the antagonist muscle at a first intensity level to reduce the acceleration of the limb, and then at a second intensity level which is less than the first intensity level to regulate the movement of the limb. |
| US08620436B2 |
Current generation architecture for an implantable stimulator device having coarse and fine current control
Disclosed herein is a current generation architecture for an implantable stimulator device such as an Implantable Pulse Generator (IPG). Current source and sink circuitry are both divided into coarse and fine portions, which respectively can provide a coarse and fine current resolution to a specified electrode on the IPG. The coarse portion is distributed across all of the electrodes and so can source or sink current to any of the electrodes. The coarse portion is divided into a plurality of stages, each of which is capable via an associated switch bank of sourcing or sinking a coarse amount of current to or from any one of the electrodes on the device. The fine portion of the current generation circuit preferably includes source and sink circuitry dedicated to each of the electrode on the device, which can comprise digital-to-analog current converters (DACs). The DACs also receives the above-noted reference current, which is amplified by the DACs in fine increments by appropriate selection of fine current control signals. When the coarse and fine current control circuitry are used in tandem, ample current with a fine current resolution can be achieved at any electrode and in a space- and power-efficient manner. |
| US08620431B2 |
Prophylactic bactericidal implant
A medical implant system is described for inhibiting infection associated with a joint prosthesis implant. An inventive system includes an implant body made of a biocompatible material which has a metal component disposed on an external surface of the implant body. A current is allowed to flow to the metal component, stimulating release of metal ions toxic to microbes, such as bacteria, protozoa, fungi, and viruses. One detailed system is completely surgically implantable in the patient such that no part of the system is external to the patient while the system is in use. In addition, externally controlled devices are provided which allow for modulation of implanted components. |
| US08620427B2 |
Heart failure management
Various system embodiments comprise a stimulator adapted to deliver a stimulation signal for a heart failure therapy, a number of sensors adapted to provide at least a first measurement of a heart failure status and a second measurement of the heart failure status, and a controller. The controller is connected to the stimulator and to the number of sensors. The controller is adapted to use the first and second measurements to create a heart failure status index, and control the stimulator to modulate the signal using the index. Other aspects and embodiments are provided herein. |
| US08620419B2 |
Multi purpose criteria based adaptive training system
A system and method include a computer implemented training framework that adapts its behavior to different types of training goals. The system utilizes a measured neuro-physiological state of a student to provide at least one of self regulation feedback and training environment feedback to optimize a learning experience for one or more different types of scenarios. |
| US08620417B2 |
Graphic user interface for physical parameter mapping
A method, including measuring values of a physical parameter at multiple locations in an organ of a subject, and analyzing the measured values to identify a range of the values, including at least one sub-range containing one or more values that were not measured. The method further includes receiving a selection from a user of a value in the sub-range, and, responsive to the selection, displaying a candidate location for further measurement. |
| US08620416B2 |
System and method for ischemia classification with implantable medical device
An implantable medical device monitors ST segment data collected from EGM. ST trends are established and monitored over time. The IMD is able to discern whether the data indicate supply ischemia, demand ischemia, or other physiological causes. The IMD is then able to provide appropriate information and alerts. |
| US08620414B2 |
Detection of T-wave alternans phase reversal for arrhythmia prediction and sudden cardiac death risk stratification
An implantable medical device and associated method for classifying a patient's risk for arrhythmias by sensing a cardiac electrogram (EGM) signal and selecting a first pair of T-wave signals and a second pair of T-wave signals. A first difference between the two T-wave signals of the first pair is compared to a second difference between the two T-wave signals of the second pair. A T-wave alternans phase reversal is detected in response to comparing the first difference and the second difference, and the patient's arrhythmia risk is classified in response to detecting the phase reversal. |
| US08620413B2 |
Adaptive watch
A watch or other type of portable electronic console that employs a number of different functions in order to improve its usability. The watch may, for example, allow a user to connect the watch to one or more remote electronic devices, such as an electronic performance sensor or MP3 player. The watch then displays information related to the connected electronic devices. Still further, the watch may allow a user to control the operation of one or more connected remote electronic devices. Thus, if the watch is connected to a remote speed/distance monitor employing a calibration variable, then the watch may allow the user to adjust the calibration variable. |
| US08620412B2 |
Apparatus for detecting the position of a percutaneously-inserted intravenous catheter
An apparatus that is able to detect the position of a catheter. The apparatus utilizes a catheter filled with electrically-conductive physiological saline and a connector for establishing an electrical connection between the saline of the catheter and an input of a controller. The controller includes at least one output connectable to a standard ECG lead connector, wherein the controller includes circuitry for generating a low impedance output signal. The controller provides an output which replicates the input a standard ECG patient lead connector is configured to receive. The apparatus provides a more convenient and cost effective solution for providing specialized ECG functions without having to replace a hospital's existing ECG beside monitoring equipment. |
| US08620411B2 |
Method of assessing skin and overall health of an individual
The present invention relates to a method of determining skin health of an area of skin and overall health of an individual by exposing the area of skin to a first exposure radiation to induce the area of skin to emit a first fluorescent emission, measuring the intensity of the first fluorescent emission, exposing the area of skin to a second exposure radiation to induce the area of skin to emit a second fluorescent emission, measuring the intensity of the second fluorescent emission, calculating a ratio of these intensities, and comparing the ratio to a control ratio. |
| US08620407B2 |
Patient support
A patient support includes an upper support plate which is provided with a headrest. A base plate is arranged below, and separate from the upper support plate, by a floating mounting. A single narrow, narrow support column is provided, in the region of the headrest, between the support plate and the base plate. An upper face of the support plate consists of a forward zone, a mid-zone and an end zone. A width of the support plate reduces continuously from a widest point in the forward zone to a narrow space in the mid-zone and then widens continuously to the end of the support plate. Left and right sections of the patent support are formed and run horizontally arranged symmetrically about a longitudinal and symmetrical axis of the support plate. |
| US08620406B2 |
Medical devices visible by magnetic resonance imaging
Medical devices that are visible by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and optionally, other imaging techniques, are described. In some embodiments, a medical device adapted for insertion into the body includes an elongated shaft and an electrically conductive path extending spirally about a portion of the shaft. The conductive path is capable of being connected to a current source. The medical device can further include one or more contrast agents (such as MRI contrast agents, radiopaque materials, and/or ultrasound visible materials), which can be arranged in a predetermined manner. |
| US08620404B2 |
System and method of high-frame rate, time-resolved, three-dimensional magnetic resonance angiograpy
A system and method for generating time-resolved 3D medical images of a subject includes acquiring a time series of two-dimensional (2D) data sets from a portion of the subject using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system and reconstructing the time series of 2D data sets into a 2D time series of images of the subject having a given frame rate. The process also includes acquiring a time-independent, 3D volume of the portion of the subject and combining the 2D time series of images of the subject with the time-independent 3D volume of the subject to generate a set of time-dependent 3D volume images of the portion of the subject at the given frame rate. |
| US08620397B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining an analyte concentration in a sample having interferents
A method and apparatus are described that permit an analyte concentration to be estimated from a measurement in the presence of compounds that interfere with the measurement. The method reduces the error in the analyte concentration in the presence of interferents. The method includes the use of a set of measurements obtained for a large population having a range of known analyte and interfering compound concentrations. From a sample measurement, which may or may not be one of the population, likely present interferents are identified, and a calibration vector is calculated. |
| US08620393B2 |
Optimizing battery life and network resources during position location tracking scenario
An apparatus and method for optimizing battery life and network resources during position tracking is disclosed. The position of a target being tracked is compared with a predefined geofence boundary. If the position of the target is far from the geofence boundary, position fix of the target is calculated using low quality of service (QoS) parameters. If the position of the target is not far from the geofence boundary, position fix of the target is calculated using high quality of service (QoS) parameters. |
| US08620390B2 |
Mail handling apparatus and method for handling e-mail
An in-vehicle hands-free apparatus transfers, from a cellular phone to the hands-free apparatus, information regarding all the e-mails received from a communication network and stored in the cellular phone, right after the connection of a Bluetooth (BT) communication channel between the cellular phone and the hands-free apparatus. Thus, received e-mails that are received by the cellular phone from the communication network during a BT communication channel disconnection time can be synchronized between the cellular phone and the in-vehicle hands-free apparatus, thereby allowing the user to handle, on the hands-free apparatus, the received e-mails that have been received by the cellular phone while the BT communication channel is absent between the cellular phone and the hands-free apparatus. |
| US08620388B2 |
Noise suppressing device, mobile phone, noise suppressing method, and recording medium
A noise suppressing device receives sound signals through a plurality of sound-receiving units and suppresses noise components included in the input sound signals. The noise suppressing device includes a detecting unit which detects a usage pattern of the noise suppressing device from a plurality of usage patterns in which positional relationships of the plurality of sound-receiving units and/or positional relationships between the plurality of sound-receiving units and a target sound source are different from each other, a converting unit which converts using environment information used in a noise suppressing process to each of the sound signals inputted by the plurality of sound-receiving units into using environment information in accordance with a usage pattern detected by the detecting unit and a suppressing unit which performs the noise suppressing process using the using environment information converted by the converting unit to the sound signals. |
| US08620386B2 |
Communication terminal
Each of the cases C1 and C2 is formed in a plate. A sliding mechanism SL1 is slidably coupled with the case C1 and the case C2. A Felica circuit 24 is provided with an antenna (24a), and is contained in the case C2. A magnetic sensor 28 is contained in the case C2. A magnet 30 is contained in the case C1. A main LCD monitor 32 is attached to a top surface of the case C1. A CPU (22) determines whether an open position or a closed position from the output value of the magnetic sensor 28. In the closed position, an assist mark (36) is displayed on the main LCD monitor 32 at a position of the antenna (24a) with respect to the main LCD monitor 32. |
| US08620379B2 |
Windows portable devices interface for Bluetooth low energy devices
A method and system are provided in which a Windows Portable Devices (WPD) driver installed and executed on a central device enables one or more applications on that device to interface with a peripheral device, such as a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) device. The peripheral device may utilize a Generic Attribute Profile (GATT) to interface with the WPD driver. Through the WPD driver, the central device may access, transmit, receive, and/or modify information associated with the peripheral device and/or control the peripheral device. The information associated with the peripheral device may include services, characteristics, and/or descriptors. A WPD device and objects that logically or virtually represents the peripheral device may be generated to map attributes of the WPD device to services and/or characteristics associated with the peripheral device. More than one WPD device may be available when multiple peripheral devices are represented in the central device. |
| US08620378B2 |
Communication system, Femto Access Point and communication method
A Femto Access Point includes determination means for determining whether or not called side user equipment is accommodated in the Femto Access Point; and communication control means for, if the determination means has determined that the called side user equipment is accommodated in the Femto Access Point, sending out a Ring Back Tone to calling side user equipment. |
| US08620368B2 |
Method and system for 60 GHz antenna adaptation and user coordination based on base station beacons
A first device wirelessly transmits and/or receives swept 60 GHz beacon signals to and/or from other devices. Beacon signals indicate angle of reception and/or relative direction with respect to other devices. Knowing reception angle and/or relative direction enables beamforming of adaptive and/or steered antennas for communication. 60 GHz beacons are swept over one or more angles. Identity information, configuration information, timing information and/or spatial information are communicated via 60 GHz beacons. Control and/or coordination information are transmitted and/or received. Reception angle, relative direction and/or distance between devices are determined based on 60 GHz beacons. Adaptive and/or steered antennas used for communication are initialized and/or undergo beamforming for 60 GHz, based on the angle, direction and/or distance between devices. Devices are mobile and/or stationary. Devices comprise mobile stations, base stations, wireless phones, access points, set-top-boxes, computers, game consoles, video servers, video recorders, video playback devices, residential gateways and internet browsing devices. |
| US08620364B2 |
Mixed-mode interaction
A user of a wireless device, such as a mobile phone, can make purchases or obtain information via a network, such as the Internet, using both voice and non-verbal methods. Users can submit voice queries and receive non-verbal replies, submit non-verbal queries and receive voice replies, or perform similar operations that many the voice and data capabilities of modern mobile communication devices. The user may provide notification criteria indicating under what conditions a notification should be sent to the user's wireless device. When purchasing opportunities matching the selected notification criteria become available, the user is notified. The user can respond to the notification, and immediately take advantage of the purchasing opportunity if he so desires. Mixed-mode interactions can also be used by sellers to more advantageously control the marketing of distressed, time sensitive, or other merchandise/services. |
| US08620362B2 |
Method and apparatus for selective message service blocking
A method of processing message service requests to a subscriber's communication device in a communication network is provided. The method includes receiving a message service request from a sender at a network element, wherein the message service request includes a message and is directed to the directory number of the communication device; accessing a centralized database that stores message service blocking data for the subscriber; retrieving the message service blocking data for the subscriber; and analyzing the data retrieved from the centralized database and determining whether the message service request should be permitted or denied. |
| US08620360B2 |
Outgoing binary SMS messaging for vehicle communication with a call center
A system and method for making vehicle originated calls to a telematics service provider or other call center. The method includes identifying a call type associated with a desired wireless communication of speech or data to the call center, and then carrying out one of a number of different call connection processes depending on the call type. For voice channel cellular connections, an in-band modem cellular connection is preferably established in most instances using a connection retry strategy that includes primary, secondary, and possibly tertiary connection attempts each of which utilize at least one of a number of different voice and data call origination processes. The system and method can be carried out in connection with various cellular system technologies, but is especially suited for use with GSM systems. |
| US08620359B2 |
System and method for enhanced message delivery
Coincident with the evolution, maturation, etc. of wireless messaging ecosystems an infrastructure that provides for intelligent and dynamic alternate Multimedia Message Service (MMS) message delivery channels. Occasions may arise where a Mobile Subscriber would like to use their Wireless Device to exchange (for example, MMS) messages but circumstances may prohibit or limit same. On such occasions the MMS messages may be appropriately processed and then routed through one or more alternate message delivery channels such as, possibly inter alia, E-Mail. The infrastructure may optionally leverage the capabilities of a centrally-located Messaging Inter-Carrier Vendor. |
| US08620356B2 |
Paging signal transmission method, radio base station, and network device
A paging signal transmission method which transmits the paging signal to a position registration area of a mobile station in response to incoming to the mobile station. When a wireless base station managing a cell belonging to the position registration area of the mobile station does not permit access to the mobile station, the method does not transmits the paging signal to the cell. |
| US08620354B2 |
Method and system for selectively limiting wireless communication in a motor vehicle
The present invention relates to a communication system that selectively limits functionality of one or more portable electronic communication devices. More particularly, in one embodiment the apparatus for selectively limiting functionality may comprise a transmission device comprising a transmitter configured to transmit an activation signal to an activation radius. The transmission device may further comprise one or more motion sensors configured to provide power from a battery to the transmission device upon physically detecting activity (e.g., motion, vibration) of a vehicle. The activation signal allows the transmission device to communicate with a plurality of portable electronic communication devices that detects a condition of the portable electronic communication devices and that execute a control software application that limits functionality if the detected condition violates the predetermined safety condition and if the activation signal indicates that the portable electronic communication device should have a limited functionality. |
| US08620353B1 |
Automatic sharing and publication of multimedia from a mobile device
Multimedia from a mobile device is automatically distributed to multiple and various types of shares specified by a default destination. The mobile device generates a media package from the multimedia and sensor meta data. The media package is transmitted to a server that optimizes the multimedia before distributing the multimedia to the shares. Alternatively, the multimedia may be distributed to shares specified in a different destination that is input through the mobile device. Delivery instructions corresponding to the shares for the different destination are included in the media package. In another aspect, the mobile device sends share identifiers to the server to define the default destination for the user account. |
| US08620349B2 |
Mobile communication device with improved network connectivity
Methods and systems for applying power to a mobile device responsive to user actions are disclosed. An exemplary method includes detecting, while a mobile device is powered down, actions made by a user in connection with the user handling the mobile device without pressing a power button of the mobile device. A prediction is then made that the user is about to power up the mobile device based upon particular actions made by the user. And before the user presses the power button, power is applied to processing and network communication components of the mobile device so that if the user presses the power button, the processing and network communication components are already powered; thus reducing an amount of time it takes for the mobile device to access a network with the mobile device. |
| US08620346B2 |
Integrity monitoring in a position location system utilizing knowledge of local topography
A system for and method of deriving a position estimate of a receiver from a plurality of parameter measurements is provided. Each measurement is derived from a correlation function, which in turn is derived by correlating a signal received at the receiver with an identification code uniquely identifying a transmitter visible to the receiver. A plurality of position estimates are derived, each from a different subset of the plurality of measurements. Based on local topography, one of the position estimates is selected as the best estimate of the position of the receiver. |
| US08620345B2 |
Determining time zone based on location
Methods, program products, and systems of determining a time zone based on location is disclosed. In general, in one aspect, a mobile device can store one or more geometric shapes using latitude and longitude coordinates. The geometric shapes can be associated with time zones. The mobile device can determine a current location. The mobile device can identify a geometric shape in which the mobile device is currently is located. The mobile device can determine the time zone associated with the identified geometric shape. |
| US08620343B1 |
Inexpensive position sensing device
Inexpensive position sensing devices that allow widespread use and availability of position information are disclosed. One embodiment of the position-sensing device acquires, down converts and extracts raw position data from position signals. Then, the position-sensing device wirelessly transmits the raw position data to a position-computing device, which converts the raw position data into the position of the device. The position-computing device can also receive auxiliary information from auxiliary sensors, and perform analyzes based on the position and the auxiliary information. The position-computing device can re-transmit the position and auxiliary information to a remote site for further analysis and/or central storage. The remote site can also download information to the position-computing device. The position-computing device can also control an actuator to perform an operation. |
| US08620340B2 |
Interference avoidance in mobile communication network employing distributed antenna system
There is provided a solution for improving the efficiency of a mobile communication network applying a distributed antenna system. The solution includes avoiding inter-cell interference with only a limited amount of backhaul information exchange between the base stations of the distributed antenna system, and applying beamforming techniques according to determined user allocation. |
| US08620339B2 |
System and method for providing quality of service mapping
A system and method for providing quality of service mapping including a first receiver to receive location data of a mobile device, a transmitter to transmit the location data to one or more servers of a service provider, and a second receiver to receive signal quality information based on the location data. The signal quality map be used to provide at least a signal quality map, a coverage area map, an availability map, and turn-by-turn directions for optimized signal quality or availability, based on the signal quality information. The signal quality map be also be used to improve overall service in the event of signal loss or signal degradation. |
| US08620338B2 |
Radio terminal, radio base station, channel signal forming method and channel signal receiving method
A radio terminal, radio base station, channel signal forming method and channel signal receiving method wherein when an upstream unit band and a plurality of downstream unit bands associated therewith are used to perform communications, the quality of downstream assignment control information can be prevented from being degraded. In a base station (100), the PDCCH signals including upstream assignment control information are limited to ones that are placed in some of the downstream unit bands. This can reduce the probability of performance of zero padding to downstream assignment control information having greater importance. Also in the base station (100), the PDCCH signals of the downstream unit bands other than the basic unit band include only downstream resource assignment information. For this reason, in the individual regions of the downstream unit bands other than the basic unit band, the bandwidth of the downstream unit bands is always used as a reference of size adjustment and hence requires no information size adjustment. As a result, there is no need of performing zero padding to the downstream assignment control information, so that the quality of downstream assignment control information can be prevented from being degraded. |
| US08620335B2 |
Methods and apparatus for resource management in a multi-carrier telecommunications system
The embodiments of the present invention relate to apparatuses and methods for resource management in a multi-carrier system wherein a plurality of component carriers (CCs) is defined per cell. According to a method in an apparatus corresponding to a radio base station, a message is assembled comprising information on the structure of the cell served by the radio base station; the information including one or more CCs used in the cell that is/are available for a user equipment for performing initial access in the cell. The method also comprises, transmitting the assembled message to the user equipment and indicating to the user equipment to what resources to use for random access in the cell. The exemplary embodiments of the present invention also relates to a method in the user equipment, to a radio base station and to a user equipment. |
| US08620332B2 |
Wireless timing and power control
The use of multiple states of mobile communication device operation to allow a single base station to support a relatively large number of mobile nodes is described. The various states require different amounts of communications resources, e.g., bandwidth. Four supported states of operation are an on-state, a hold-state, a sleep-state, and an access-state. Each mobile node in the on-state is allocated communication resources to perform transmission power control signaling, transmission timing control signaling and to transmit data as part of a data uplink communications operation. Each mobile node in the hold-state is allocated communication resources to perform transmission timing control signaling and is provided a dedicated uplink for requesting a state transition and a shared resource for transmitting acknowledgements. In the sleep state a mobile node is allocated minimal resources and does not conduct power control signaling or timing control signaling. Data may be received in the on and hold states. |
| US08620330B2 |
Relay of delayed transmitter identity across an audio patch
A communication system, console, and method of patching a PTT call are provided. An audio stream and control messages are provided to the console, which patches the either or both to target devices. The identity of the audio stream source is embedded only in the audio stream. Initially, when the audio stream is first patched, the identity is not provided. While the audio stream is being patched, the identity is extracted and the control messages updated so that the identity is immediately relayed through the console without having to wait for the next periodic transmission of a control message from the console. |
| US08620329B2 |
Method and apparatus for performing switching in mobile communication system
Disclosed is a method for performing switching between a macro evolved Node B (eNB) and a home eNB (HeNB) in a mobile communication system including broadcasting, by the HeNB, a length of an HeNB ID to a UE; notifying, by the UE, an HeNB indication information containing the length of the HeNB ID to the macro eNB; transmitting, by the macro eNB, a switching request message to a mobile station mobility management entity, the message including a target ID; finding, by the MME, the HeNB or an HeNB gateway according to the target ID, and performing a switching process from the macro eNB to the HeNB. With the described switching method for the mobile communication system, UE can move between the macro eNB and the HeNB. |
| US08620326B2 |
Handover processing method and device
A handover processing method includes obtaining, by a relay station, information, where the information is used for determining whether a mobility management entity (MME) of a user equipment is in a mobility management entity pool (MME pool) to which a neighboring eNB belongs; and determining, by the relay station, that an X2 interface between a serving eNB of the relay station and the neighboring eNB cannot be used for handover if the MME of the user equipment is not in the MME pool to which the neighboring eNB belongs. The foregoing solutions enable the relay station to initiate a correct handover procedure. |
| US08620324B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining handover in mobile communication system
A method and an apparatus of a serving base station for determining handover of a terminal in a mobile communications system are provided, including determining whether a measurement report message is received from a User Equipment (UE); when receiving the measurement report message, determining whether a channel status value of the UE satisfies a preset condition during a certain time; and determining whether to hand over the UE according to the determination result. |
| US08620322B2 |
Method and system of handover based on channel quality and loading
A base station may decide to initiate a handover of a communication with a mobile station from a first wireless link to a new wireless link and identify one or more wireless links for the handover. For each identified wireless link, the base station may then determine a channel-quality metric, a wireless-link loading metric, and perhaps a coverage-area loading metric. In turn, the base station may then select the new wireless link based on the channel-quality metric and one or both of the wireless-link loading metric and the coverage-area loading metric. For example, the base station may apply a linear function that includes as variables the channel-quality metric and the wireless-link loading metric, and the base station may select the identified wireless link that best satisfies this function. The base station may then facilitate the handover of the communication from the first wireless link to the selected new wireless link. |
| US08620318B2 |
Advanced user interface operations in a dual-mode wireless device
A system and method are provided for mobile stations for enhancing the ease of use of a mobile station. An example method includes connecting with a first wireless network and displaying a first indicator associated with the first network. The example method includes connecting with a second wireless network while connected to the first wireless network and displaying a second indicator associated with the second network. The example method includes selecting one of the first network and the second network to place a voice call and placing the call using the selected network. |
| US08620312B2 |
Combined background and 20/40 coexistence scan
A scanning module within a non-AP station receives first scan parameter values for performing a first type of scan to obtain a first type of information, and receives second scan parameter values for performing a second type of scan to obtain a second type of information. From the first and second parameter values the scanning module determines combined scan parameter values that satisfy scan requirements for both types of scans. The combined scan parameter values are used to control a sequence of combined scans. A combined scan yields both the first and second type of information. In one example, an IEEE 802.11(n) non-AP station receives 20/40 coexistence scan parameters. The 20/40 parameters and locally-generated background scan parameters are used to determine parameters for performing combined background and 20/40 scans. Reducing the number of scans using combined scans has advantages including increasing data throughput, freeing processing resources, and reducing power consumption. |
| US08620310B2 |
Quantity of antennas designating a time-frequency resource block
A method, device and system for sending and acquiring information is provided, which relates to the field of communication, for solving the problem that user equipment (UE) cannot determine whether information transmitted in a time-frequency resource block is pilot measurement information or other information, such as communication data, that result in inaccurate detection on signal quality of a neighboring cell by the UE. Antenna configuration information of the neighboring cell is acquired, and a message is sent carrying the antenna configuration information of the neighboring cell to the UE. The embodiments of the present invention can be applied in a wireless communication network. |
| US08620309B2 |
Policy enabled roaming gateway in a communication network
Systems, methods, and apparatus for centrally managing service related information within a roaming environment are presented herein. A decision component can be configured to decide, based on information associated with a service level agreement, whether to accept, reject, or dynamically negotiate a communication service requested via a mobile device roaming within a visited network. Furthermore, an analysis component can be configured to map one or more parameters related to a quality of the communication service to one or more service policies as a function of the information. Moreover, a distribution component can be configured to distribute the one or more service policies to one or more policy servers of the network; or forward information of the one or more service policies to another network. |
| US08620307B2 |
Selection of access interface
A method for automated selection of an access interface and a source address for communication between a communication device and a network node in a communication system, comprising: executing a first selection routine for considering at least one first policy on access interface allocation; and executing a second selection routine for considering at least one second policy on source address allocation; wherein at least one first output of the first selection routine is inputted into the second selection routine or at least one second output of the second selection routine is inputted into the first selection routine. |
| US08620304B2 |
Systems and methods for determining potential locations for new cellular transmitter sites
This technology herein relates to methods and systems for determining cellular and other radio transmitter mappings based upon calculated and actual values. Cellular and other radio transmitter mappings are calculated based upon factors including transmitter locations, projected signal strength maps, and signal strength measurements. This technique can be used to determine prospective and actual locations of communications towers, and which communications providers would be interested in leasing space on those towers. |
| US08620302B2 |
Configuring relay cell identities in cellular networks
The technology in this application identifies a relay cell serviced by a relay radio node in a radio access network (RAN) of a cellular communications system in which there is a radio connection between the relay radio node and a donor radio base station. The donor radio base station is identified by a RAN donor radio base station cell identifier. A RAN relay cell identifier is determined that uniquely identifies the relay cell within the RAN, the RAN relay cell identifier including a relay cell identifier and a donor base station identifier. The RAN relay cell identifier is then provided or used as needed so that the relay radio node can transmit the RAN relay cell identifier to uniquely identify the relay cell to one or more radio terminals in the RAN. |
| US08620297B2 |
System and method of connection control for wireless mobile communication devices
Systems and methods of connection control for wireless mobile communication devices enabled for communication via a plurality of communication connections are provided. Connection control information associates software applications with communication connections. When a connection request specifying a requested connection is received from a software application, it is determined whether the requested connection is permitted by the connection control information. Where the requested connection is permitted by the connection control information, the requested connection is opened. If the requested connection is a first connection opened by the software application, then the software application is associated with the requested connection in the connection control information. |
| US08620291B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for digital voice call redirection
Apparatus, systems, and methods provide digital voice call redirection. A configuration module associates a phone number with a first identifier of a first voice terminal device and a second identifier of a second voice terminal device provided by an address module. A location module determines whether the first device is within a predefined proximity to the second device, such as by detecting connectivity between the devices, over a personal area network (“PAN”). A routing module redirects a digital voice call to a call module of the first device using the first identifier when the first device is not within the predefined proximity to the second device. Otherwise the routing module directs the call to a call module of the second device using the second identifier. |
| US08620288B2 |
Targeted mobile content insertion and/or replacement
A method is provided for altering content of a webpage served from a content provider's server (32). The method includes: receiving a data request at a proxy server (22) over a wireless telecommunication network (20), the data request being initiated by a mobile device (10) served by the wireless network (20); forwarding the request from the proxy server (22) to the content provider's server (32) over the Internet (30) such that the content provider's server (32) returns a webpage with original content contained therein in response to the forwarded request; receiving the returned webpage at the proxy server (22); altering the original content of the webpage received by the proxy server (22); and, forwarding the webpage with the altered content to the mobile device (10) initiating the data request. |
| US08620287B2 |
Food tracking system with mobile phone uplink
A tracking system for food products includes labeled food product packages and labeled containers for transporting the labeled packages to harvest sites. A data-clearing center receives mobile phone communications from the harvest sites for uploading the container codes. Ancillary information collected from the mobile phone communications including the time, date, location, and phone identification is associated with the container codes for linking the labeled food product packages to details of their harvest. |
| US08620286B2 |
Method and system for promoting and transferring licensed content and applications
In accordance with the invention, digital content is able to be better promoted on mobile phones and other electronic devices. The digital content and/or references to the digital content are stored on a server device which is accessible by the mobile phones or electronic devices. In operation, a user of a mobile device acquires digital content. When the user obtains a second mobile device, to facilitate and promote the same or similar digital content on the second mobile device, the digital content or references stored on a server device are able to be used to present the possibility of acquisition of the digital content for the second mobile device. |
| US08620282B2 |
In-call, audible call waiting
A handsfree device is disclosed that offers additional wireless telephone services to the user of a wireless device in a minimally distracting manner. A call-waiting notification of a second call is presented acoustically via the handsfree device to a user. A responsive action by the user to request caller-ID information yields an audible presentation of caller-ID information related to the second call. The user may then elect to answer the second call. |
| US08620277B2 |
Method and device for backing up unread short message
The present invention provides a method and a device for backing up an unread short message, both of which can store a new short message received by a mobile communication terminal in a terminal storage and back up the new short message to a subscriber identity card, and delete, when a user reads or deletes an unread short message stored in the terminal storage, a backup unread short message, which stored in the subscriber identity card, corresponding to the new short message. The method and the device of the present invention can synchronize the unread short message in the terminal storage and the subscriber identity card, so that the user will not lose the unread short message even when changing the mobile communication terminal. |
| US08620272B2 |
Capability model for mobile devices
A server receives an application update request from a mobile device. The request can include a specification of the mobile device and a license. The server can identify an available hardware component of the mobile device based on the specification. The server can identify an access privilege of the hardware component based on the license. The server can further identify an application that utilizes the available hardware component of the mobile device and is accessible under the identified access privilege. The server can recommend the application in response to the application update request. |
| US08620271B2 |
Compact form factor integrated circuit card and methods
A compact form factor integrated circuit card. In one embodiment, a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card is disclosed. In one embodiment, the SIM card has overall dimensions optimized for a particular application; e.g., 12.30 mm (±0.10 mm)×8.80 mm (±0.10 mm)×0.67 mm (+0.03/−0.07). In another embodiment, the SIM card has overall dimensions of 11.90 mm (±0.10 mm)×8.80 mm (±0.10 mm)×0.70 mm (maximum). Multiple complementary SIM card adapters and methods of use are also disclosed. |
| US08620270B2 |
System and method providing interoperability between cellular and other wireless systems
A method and corresponding apparatus for providing a cellular subscriber with access to a WLAN are provided. They involve identifying a multimode mobile terminal, which corresponds to the subscriber and the WLAN from an access request. Based on the identification, the WLAN is authorized to provide the mobile terminal with access. The mobile terminal is then provided with access to the WLAN as a cellular subscriber and enables interoperability between the two networks. For example, the subscriber does not have to supply a credit card to pay for WLAN access directly. Instead, the subscriber pays a cellular network provider, and, in turn, the cellular network provider pays a WLAN provider for the access. |
| US08620269B2 |
Defining a boundary for wireless network using physical access control systems
A system and method for defining a boundary within a wireless coverage area using a physical access control system (PACS) and limiting access to the wireless network to devices located within the boundary area is provided. The system includes a PACS for controlling access to a secured area defined by the boundary to authorized personnel and a wireless network generating system for generating a wireless network. Access to the wireless network is limited to devices associated with an authorized personnel when the authorized personnel is determined to be within the secured area and denied to devices associated to personnel determined to be outside the secured area. |
| US08620268B2 |
Secure system for programming electronically controlled locking devices by means of encrypted acoustic accreditations
The invention relates to a system implementing a mobile telephone (20) to which a master user authorized to program a lock (22) has access. A remote management site (10) includes a database (12) of locks and authorized users, having, for each lock, a list of authorized users with corresponding access rights, as well as an accreditation data generator (14). The accreditations are encrypted acoustic accreditations in the form of single-use audio signals, suitable for programming locks indexed in the database by the access rights indexed in the database and/or by additional data. The system includes a means for securely transmitting the encrypted acoustic accreditations from the management site to the mobile telephone of the master user. The lock (22) includes an electro-acoustic transducer (54) that is suitable for picking up acoustic accreditations reproduced by the telephone placed beforehand near the lock, as well as a means for recognizing, analyzing and authenticating the picked-up acoustic accreditations, and for programming access rights and/or additional data upon recognizing a compliant accreditation. |
| US08620267B2 |
Identification of a manipulated or defect base station during handover
A method of and arrangement for detecting a manipulated or defect base station of a communication network is disclosed, wherein a target base station, having selected one or more algorithms on the basis of a prioritized algorithm list (PAL) and a UE security capabilities (SCAP), reports UE SCAP related information to a core network node. The core network node having knowledge of the UE SCAP compares this information or parts of this information with the retrieved UE SCAP related information in order to be able to identify a manipulated or defect base station when a comparison fails to match. |
| US08620266B2 |
Security for mobile communications device
A mobile communications device for communicating with a wireless network, including an electronic storage having data stored thereon, a processor connected to the storage for accessing the data, a communications sub-system connected to the processor for exchanging signals with the wireless network and with the processor, a user input interface connected to send user input signals to the processor in response to user action, and a security module associated with the processor for detecting a trigger condition and automatically taking a security action if a bypass user action is not detected after detection of the trigger condition. |
| US08620265B1 |
Handset awareness and tracking of subscription plan
A portable electronic device that promotes user awareness of approaching a usage limit is provided, comprising a processor, a memory, and an application. When executed by the processor, the application installs a file describing a subscription plan documenting availability of at least one of wireless voice and data services, the subscription plan comprising a usage limit. The application also records a first usage of a first unit of a first service provided under the plan and increments a count of units of usage of the first service during a first usage period based on the record of the first usage. The application also detects the count of units of usage reaching a first predetermined threshold wherein the threshold is less than the usage limit. The application also presents a first message, the message providing notification of the count of units of usage reaching the threshold. |
| US08620262B2 |
Advice of charging (AoC) services in IMS networks
IMS networks, subscriber databases, and methods are disclosed for providing AoC services in IMS networks. The subscriber database is provisioned with AoC indicators for IMS users that subscribe to AoC services. An S-CSCF in an IMS network receives a first register message from an IMS user, and transmits a second register message to the subscriber database. In response to the second register message, the subscriber database identifies an AoC indicator for the IMS user that is registering, inserts the AoC indicator in a third register message, and transmits the third register message to the S-CSCF. The S-CSCF then stores the AoC indicator for the IMS user. If a signaling message is received for a session involving the IMS user, then the S-CSCF will forward the AoC indicator for the IMS user to an AoC application server, which collects the appropriate AoC information and provides the information to the IMS user. |
| US08620260B2 |
Payment application download to mobile phone and phone personalization
A method and system of personalizing a mobile phone over a wireless network is provided. The method is fast, reliable, and eliminates the need for an uninterrupted online connection to a host server in order to achieve successful download of user information. With the method and system, a mobile phone can be personalized for various purposes, such as for conducting financial transactions. |
| US08620258B2 |
Wireless service upgrade enablement
A method includes selecting user equipment based at least on tracked information related to a wireless service in a geographic region, and messaging the selected user equipment to offer upgraded wireless service relative to a current wireless service. The offer for the upgraded wireless service is contingent on users of the user equipment meeting criteria. In response to the one or more users of the user equipment meeting the criteria, performing one or more of the following: indicating to a new operator that contracts for wireless service for users of the user equipment may be transferred from current operators to a new operator; or transmitting to the user equipment a commitment to deploy new wireless infrastructure to provide, within a specific time interval, coverage over of the geographic region; or indicating to corresponding current operators that contracts for wireless service for users associated with the user equipment should be updated. |
| US08620251B2 |
Electronic device with adjustable filter and associated methods
An electronic device includes an adjustable filter with a first filter element, and a second filter element coupled to the first filter element. The second filter element includes a field effect transistor (FET) including a source terminal, a drain terminal, and a gate terminal. The source terminal and the gate terminal are coupled to a reference voltage. A control circuit is coupled to the drain terminal and is configured to apply a control voltage thereto to vary a capacitance between the source and drain terminals to adjust the adjustable filter. |
| US08620250B2 |
Resonator-based filtering
A filter may be constructed from multiple acoustic elements in parallel. A filtering method may comprise passing a signal to be filtered through such parallel acoustic elements. Such filtering may be applicable to communication devices. |
| US08620248B2 |
Multichannel receiver system and method for multichannel receiver monitoring
A multichannel receiver system comprises a first plurality of receiver circuits, each having a first input connected to a corresponding one of a second plurality of input lines, each being arranged to provide a corresponding one of a third plurality of received signals; a second input connected to a local oscillator arranged to provide a local oscillator signal; and an output arranged to provide a corresponding one of a fourth plurality of output signals; and an upconversion mixer having a first mixer input for receiving a reference signal; a second mixer input connected to the local oscillator; and a mixer output providing an upconverted reference signal to a fifth plurality of directional couplers, each directional coupler connected to a corresponding one of the second plurality of input lines. |
| US08620247B2 |
Adaptive impedance matching module (AIMM) control architectures
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure can include, for example, determining from nodal voltages sampled at an input port of a matching network an impedance of a variable load coupled to an output port of the matching network, generating at least one control signal according to the nodal voltage, and tuning the matching network with the at least one control signal. Additional embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08620245B2 |
Mobile device having at least two antennas and operation control method thereof
A mobile device having at least two antennas can circumvent transmission problems caused by a user's grasp of the device. A sensor unit is disposed at a specific location of a device body and creates a sensor signal by detecting the contact or proximity of a particular object such a user's hand. When receiving the sensor signal, a control unit selects one of the antennas depending on the sensor signal and establishes a communication path based on the selected antenna. The selected antenna involved in the communication path is typically relatively free from degradation in transmission caused by a user's grasp of the mobile device. The radiation property of the mobile device, which may be degraded due to a user's grasp, can exhibit relatively little or no degradation as compared to the typical degradation in performance when the mobile device is being grasped. |
| US08620242B2 |
High performance transmitter preamplification chain with calibration feedback
According to one embodiment, an improved preamplification chain for implementation in a transmitter comprises a frequency conversion stage for up-converting a baseband signal to a transmit signal, a variable gain control power amplifier driver for preamplifying the transmit signal, and a differential feedback calibration stage receiving first and second differential outputs of a current steering unit of the power amplifier driver and providing calibration feedback to a baseband signal generator of the transmitter. In one embodiment, the frequency conversion stage includes an adjustable low-pass filter for filtering the baseband signal, a passive mixer for up-converting the baseband signal to the transmit signal, and a clock conversion unit configured to convert a fifty percent (50%) duty cycle clock input to a twenty-five percent (25%) duty cycle clock output for driving the passive mixer. |
| US08620241B2 |
Method and apparatus for optimizing output power levels in power amplifiers
Some embodiments discussed relate to an apparatus comprising a power amplifier module. The power amplifier module includes a plurality of sensors, and a first digital communication port configured to provide a monitor signal from at least one of the plurality of sensors. The apparatus includes a transceiver module coupled to provide an signal to an input of the power amplifier the transceiver module including a second digital communication port configured to receive the monitor signal from the first digital communication port, a processing unit configured to generate at least one of a bias control signal and a back-off signal dependent upon the monitor signal, and a power controller to receive the at least one of bias control signal and the back-off signal and provide at least one further input signal to the power amplifier based on at least one of the bias control signal and the back-off signal. |
| US08620239B2 |
Dynamic DC-offset determination for proximity sensing
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to dynamically determining DC-offset used for proximity sensing of a mobile device. |
| US08620238B2 |
Method of power amplifier switching power control using post power amplifier power detection
Various embodiments described herein relate to a power management block and one or more amplification blocks used in the transmitter of a communication subsystem. The power management block provides improved control for the gain control signal provided to a pre-amplifier and the supply voltage provided to a power amplifier, both of which are included in a selected one of the amplification blocks. The power expended by the power amplifier is optimized by employing a continuous control method in which one or more feedback loops are employed to take into account various characteristics of the transmitter components and control values. Post power amplifier transmission power is detected for input into the one or more feedback loops executed in the power management block. A controller for the power amplifier is design to stabilize the system with respect to gain expansion in the power amplifier. |
| US08620235B2 |
Thermal management for data modules
A data module operable in a wireless communication system is provided. The data module comprises a plurality of circuit components, one or more temperature sensors, and a thermal management unit. The temperature sensors are configured to determine the temperature of a corresponding circuit component. The thermal management unit is configured to determine one or more thermal characteristics of the data module based on the temperature determinations, and to generate one or more power control point signals indicating whether to adjust corresponding operating characteristics of a target component based on the determined thermal characteristics. |
| US08620234B2 |
High efficiency linearization power amplifier for wireless communication
A predistortion system for linearizing the output of a power amplifier includes a first signal representative of an RF modulated signal and a feedback signal representative of nonlinear characteristics of a power amplifier. The system also includes a predistortion controller, comprising at least one lookup table, adapted to receive the first signal and the feedback signal and to generate a correction factor for correcting the nonlinear characteristics of the power amplifier and combining logic which combines the RF modulated signal with a signal corresponding to the correction factor and supplies it to the power amplifier to linearize the output of the power amplifier. |
| US08620233B2 |
Method of power amplifier predistortion adaptation using compression detection
A method of power amplifier predistortion that makes use of a compression detector circuit in a feedback loop in order to adapt the channel gain for changing transmitter behavior. By monitoring the compression behavior of the amplifier, the signal is scaled to compensate for gain and compression point variations in the power amplifier and transmitter, while keeping a predistortion correction function constant. |
| US08620230B2 |
Wireless network architecture and method for base station utilization
Wireless network system including a plurality of base stations each configured to manage active links to mobile stations within a range; and a controller configured to control the base stations to provide at least two of the active links from two different base stations simultaneously to a given mobile station in integral manner for joint processing. |
| US08620228B2 |
WCDMA transmit architecture
Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) transmit architecture. A baseband digital processing module operates cooperatively with an analog signal processing module to effectuate highly adjustable and highly accurate gain adjustment in accordance with transmitter processing within a communication device. The gain adjustment and/or gain control is partitioned between the digital and analog domains by employing two cooperatively operating digital and analog modules, respectively. Gain adjustment in the analog domain is performed in a relatively more coarse fashion that in the digital domain. If desired, gain adjustment in each of the analog and digital domains is performed across a range of discrete steps. The discrete steps in the analog domain are larger than the discrete steps in the digital domain. Also, the discrete steps in the digital domain may be interposed between two successive discrete steps in the analog domain. |
| US08620224B2 |
Communication method and communication apparatus
A communication method for transmitting a control signal from a first communication apparatus to a second communication apparatus, wherein the first communication apparatus performs a retransmission process in which the control signal is transmitted repeatedly until a positive acknowledgment signal is received or until a termination condition is satisfied, and the second communication apparatus that received the control signal transmits the positive acknowledgment signal to the first communication apparatus and determines, based on a period of time, a control start timing for starting control commanded by the control signal. |
| US08620219B2 |
Wireless communication system between medical devices using cognitive technology
Provided is a wireless communication system between medical devices. A wireless communication apparatus between medical devices using a cognitive technology may receive, from an external frequency coordination database server, state information of frequencies that are available in a predetermined area, and store interference information associated with the frequencies. The communication apparatus may sense an external interference signal that affects the frequencies outside the predetermined area, and an internal interference signal that affects the frequencies within the predetermined area. The communication apparatus may determine a priority of each of the frequencies that are available in the predetermined area based on the interference information, the external interference signal, and the internal interference signal, and may determine a frequency to be assigned based on the priority. |
| US08620218B2 |
Power harvesting and use in a near field communications (NFC) device
Apparatus for harvesting and using power in a near field communications mode, includes a host device with operating components. A first near field communication (NFC) device is contained in the host device and is configured to be selectively coupled to one of the operating components. The first NFC device harvests energy from a second NFC device and converts the harvested energy to electrical power. The first NFC device receives information from the second NFC device and power on the operating component as a function of the information received from the second NFC device. The first NFC device transfers data to or from the operating component when the operating component is powered on. The first NFC device powers off the operating component when the transfer of data between the first NFC device and the operating component has been completed. |
| US08620214B2 |
Process for establishing a data link between two processors, specifically within an NFC chipset
A process for establishing a data link between a first processor configured to supply, upon a contact communication port, a first data carrying signal, and a second processor configured to supply, upon a contact communication port, a second data carrying signal is described. The process includes providing a first coupler and a second coupler, establishing a contactless coupling between the first and second couplers and, by the intermediary of the couplers and at least one RF signal, transferring the first data carrying signal to the second processor and transferring the second data carrying signal to the first processor. The second processor is, for example, a secure processor of a SIM card and the first processor is an NFC controller. |
| US08620211B2 |
Wireless viral mesh network and process for using the same
A sending subscriber system may participate in a wireless network by generating a message to transmit in a wireless network, identifying a local wireless subscriber system with which communications may be established, and determining whether to use the wireless local subscriber system as a relay. |
| US08620209B2 |
Communication apparatus, communication system, communication method, and program
A communication apparatus, a communication system, a communication method, and a program capable of performing relay transfer of a data file swiftly and simply in performing short-distance one-to-one communication are provided. The communication apparatus includes a communication part that performs short-distance one-to-one communication with a communication partner apparatus via electric field coupling or magnetic field coupling, a relay transfer mode setting part that sets a relay transfer mode in which a data file are relay-transferred from at least one first apparatus to at least one second apparatus, a storage part that holds the data file received from the first apparatus while the relay transfer mode is set, and a transmission control part that transmits the data file held in the storage part to the second apparatus with which communication is established while the relay transfer mode is set. |
| US08620208B2 |
Portable device for communicating with a remotely located entity
A portable device is provided for allowing a user operating the portable device to communicate with a remotely located entity. An object or a device connected to an object emits a signal containing an electronic address of the remotely located entity. The portable device includes a button and a wireless receiver. The button facilitates communication between the portable device and the remotely located entity. The wireless receiver receives and automatically captures the signal emitted by the object or the device connected to the object without selection of any buttons on the portable device. The portable device automatically establishes communication with the remotely located entity upon selection by the user of the button. Selection of the button causes the portable device to automatically contact the electronic address contained within the emitted signal. |
| US08620204B2 |
Print-medium storing unit having power switching units print-medium storing apparatus and image forming apparatus employing the same
A print-medium storing unit, a print-medium storing apparatus including the same, and an image forming apparatus including the same which are provided in a power transmission mechanism, print-medium storing apparatus which is installed on a discharge path of a print-medium in an image forming apparatus, includes a plurality of storing units which is arranged with multi-layers, and a controller which controls to drive a feeding unit of another storing unit arranged between the storing unit through which the print-medium is to be discharged and the image forming apparatus, by a driving source of the storing unit through which the print-medium is to be discharged. |
| US08620203B2 |
Waste toner container and image forming apparatus incorporating same
A waste toner container used in an image forming apparatus includes a waste toner reservoir extending in a depth direction of the image forming apparatus for containing waste toner removed from an image bearer, an inlet portion provided above the waste toner reservoir, including a waste toner inlet to receive the waste toner flowing to the waste toner reservoir, a first agitator provided in the waste toner reservoir, to transport the waste toner therein in the depth direction, a rotary member provided in the inlet portion, including a rotary shaft extending in a width direction perpendicular to the depth direction, and a drive transmission unit provided outside the waste toner reservoir, to transmit a drive force from the rotary member provided in the inlet portion to the first agitator provided in the waste toner reservoir and to drive the first agitator in conjunction with rotation of the rotary member. |
| US08620202B2 |
Fixing member comprising resilient layer including inclined portion, fixing device and image forming device
There is provided a fixing member to be used in a pressured state, the fixing member including: a base member that is rotated; a resilient layer that is formed on an outer periphery of the base member; and a surface layer that is formed on an outer periphery of the resilient layer, wherein an axial direction end face of the resilient layer includes an inclined portion that is inclined such that an axial direction length thereof is longer at the base member side than at the surface layer side, and that is exposed in the axial direction. |
| US08620197B2 |
Developer stirring member, developing apparatus and process cartridge
A developer stirring member for stirring a developer in a developer accommodating portion includes a supporting shaft and a sheet-like member for stirring the developer. The sheet-like member has a first lateral end which is a free end and a second lateral end which is fixed on the supporting shaft. The sheet-like member is waved at the second lateral end, and waving is greater in the second lateral end than in the first lateral end. The sheet like member is fixed to the supporting shaft at intervals which are the same as pitches of the wave. |
| US08620195B2 |
Toner supply apparatus, toner storage container, and image forming apparatus including same
The toner supply apparatus according to the present disclosure includes a shaft connection mechanism in which a first and a second joint are engaged to thereby enable transmission of rotation of a first shaft of a development device and a second shaft of a toner storage container. The first joint has a first engagement member biased from a first main body towards a second joint, and a biasing member for biasing the first engagement member. The second joint has a second main body and an engaging recessed portion engaging with the accommodated first engagement member in a configuration that is substantially incapable of rotation. When the first rotation axis is not aligned with the second rotation axis and the first engagement member is accommodated in the engaging recessed portion, the first engagement member inclines relative to the first or second rotation axis and can engage with the engaging recessed portion. |
| US08620194B2 |
Developing device, process cartridge, image forming apparatus, and developer discharge device having a discharge port
A developing device, process cartridge and image forming apparatus of a premix developing system, with which developer splashed by the transport member is not discharged from the device, fluctuations of the amount of developer discharged to the outside are not produced, and the output image quality is stable. This developing device is provided with a pocket part, which is installed in a depressed manner facing the outside in relation to the transport route formed by the transport member, and into and out of which part of the developer transported in the transport route flows. This pocket part is provided with a discharge port for discharging developer to outside the device when the surface of the developer flowing into the pocket part exceeds a specified height. |