| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08909769B2 |
Determining optimal component location in a networked computing environment
Service data and service management data traffic in a networked computing environment (e.g., a cloud computing environment) may flow thorough a large number of devices (e.g., storage, network, cache and other devices and appliances) when the data move from one or more source systems to one or more target systems (or end user systems). Embodiments of the present invention provide a data analysis driven approach that detects patterns in data movements, and data traffic can be used to determine placement of certain network service components such as, among others, storage devices and appliances, server devices and appliances, network devices and appliances, etc. |
| US08909765B2 |
Analyzing webpage users' web access actions by using a defined focal region
A method, system and computer program product for web access analytics. Date related to the users' access to page elements is received. The page elements accessed by the users which are capable of being mapped to a defined webpage focal region are determined. The users' access to the webpage focal region is analyzed based on the determined page elements capable of being mapped to the webpage focal region. |
| US08909760B2 |
Domain popularity scoring
Systems and methods for scoring a domain including analyzing counter data and information obtained from a web site associated with the domain. Methods may include receiving requests to resolve the domain at an authoritative domain resolution server. A counter may be incremented for the domain based on the received requests. Information may be obtained from a web page associated with the domain. For example, obtaining information from the web page may include obtaining quantitative, qualitative, and/or functional information from the web page, such as link information, a status of network links corresponding to the link information, and associated ratios. The status of link information may include searching for functional details and/or results, such as, domain redirections, domain errors, mirror content, and commonly linked sites. A score may be calculated for the domain based upon the counter data and the information obtained from the web page associated with the domain. |
| US08909753B2 |
Root node for file level virtualization
Root node arrangements configured to carry out file level virtualization for logically providing a plurality of share units that can be shared among file systems of the root node or other one or more root nodes, to a client. |
| US08909750B2 |
Method for disconnecting multiple hosts from network when the gateway mobile station used by the multiple hosts indicates it is exiting the network, and network management device
A method for a multi-host system to exit from the network includes receiving a G-MS exit network instruction. The context information relating to the host connected to the G-MS is obtained. A host exit network instruction is sent to the host network management entity according to the ID of the host network management entity. The host is triggered to exit from the network. The obtained host context information includes the ID of the host connected to the G-MS and the ID of the host network management entity. The exit network instruction carries the host ID. |
| US08909748B1 |
Configurable views of context-relevant content
Providing access to content is disclosed. An indication of a context is received. Access is provided to a context-relevant subset of a body of managed content. In some cases, the context-relevant subset includes a document relevant to the content. |
| US08909744B2 |
System and method for transitioning to cloud computing environment
System and method for assessing the transitioning of computing components to a cloud computing environment is described. The system and method comprises of identifying at least one category of service in an organization to be transitioned to a cloud computing environment; collecting relevant information about the category from one or more service category owners and/or users; analyzing the information received based on pre-defined parameters; and classifying the services into high cloud ready, moderate cloud ready, or limited cloud ready based on the analyzed information. |
| US08909742B2 |
Distributed configuration of network interface cards
Systems and methods for distributed configuration of one or more network interface cards (NICs) are disclosed. An exemplary method comprises issuing a request frame including at least a current configuration generation for the NICs from a host computing device to a network device. The method also comprises returning at least one configuration frame including a newer network configuration for the NICs from the network device to the host computing device. The method also comprises configuring the NICs at the host computing device with the newer network configuration. |
| US08909741B2 |
Playlist compilation system and method
A method, computer program product and client electronic device for storing, in a memory of a client electronic device, a location of at least one remote media data file available to stream from a server device. A location of at least one local media data file available on the client electronic device is stored in the memory of the client electronic device. A playlist is compiled that defines the location of the at least one remote media data file and the location of the at least one local media data file. The at least one local media data file and the at least one remote media data file in the playlist are rendered and metadata concerning the at least one local media data file rendered is transmitted to the server device. |
| US08909738B2 |
Redundant data forwarding storage
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for redundant data forwarding are described. In one respect, the method includes intermittently forwarding the portion of the data among the first memory and memories of other nodes in the first network without storing the portion of data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes in the first network. The method may also include intermittently forwarding the first copy of the portion of the data among the second memory and memories of other nodes in the second network without storing the first copy of the portion of the data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes in the second network. |
| US08909736B1 |
Content delivery network referral
In general, techniques are described for managing content request referrals by keying content requests to a composite key data structure that maps end-user address prefixes and content identifiers to content delivery network servers of downstream CDNs. In one example, a CDN exchange includes a communication module to receive first network prefixes and first content identifiers from a first secondary content delivery network and to receive second network prefixes and second content identifiers from a second secondary content delivery network. A request router of the CDN exchange redirects the content request to the first secondary content delivery network or to the second secondary content delivery network according to a network address of the end user device and a content identifier for the content request. |
| US08909731B2 |
Content reproduction device, control method and network system
A content reproduction device (600) determines whether there is a change in the connection state of the content reproduction device. When a determination is made that there is a change in the connection state, the content reproduction device transmits to a portable terminal device (500) control information to control the content reproduction device or another device (600A) connected to the content reproduction device. The portable terminal device can control the content reproduction device or another device connected to the content reproduction device based on the received control information. |
| US08909722B2 |
System and method of supporting constructive discourse on computers and mobile devices
A system and method to allow a user to engage in a collaborative discourse embedded in messaging platforms such as email or instant messaging, and to visualize the structure of that discourse. The system provides the ability to create and modify tree-like structures, which can represent outlines or tables of contents employed in documents. These structures take the place of traditional documents in representing the work product of a knowledge worker. These structures are related to the discourse in that messages may refer to nodes of these structures, and hence be understood to be related. It is the interplay between the creation of a structured message-based discourse and the persistent outline-form knowledge structures that allows message-based correspondence, including the reading and writing of documents, to be performed with increased efficiency and at a higher level of integration. |
| US08909719B2 |
Method of managing feeds based on classifications
Primary and secondary messages are included in a feed according to a “full thread” mode or a “stream” mode. The “full thread” mode causes a feed, when viewed, to include both primary and secondary messages. In contrast, the “stream” mode causes a feed, when viewed, to include only primary messages. In this way, a feed viewed in “full thread” mode provides to users a comprehensive view of messages included in the feed. Alternatively, a feed viewed in “stream” mode provides to users a concise view messages included in the feed. |
| US08909716B2 |
Administering truncated receive functions in a parallel messaging interface
Administering truncated receive functions in a parallel messaging interface (‘PMI’) of a parallel computer comprising a plurality of compute nodes coupled for data communications through the PMI and through a data communications network, including: sending, through the PMI on a source compute node, a quantity of data from the source compute node to a destination compute node; specifying, by an application on the destination compute node, a portion of the quantity of data to be received by the application on the destination compute node and a portion of the quantity of data to be discarded; receiving, by the PMI on the destination compute node, all of the quantity of data; providing, by the PMI on the destination compute node to the application on the destination compute node, only the portion of the quantity of data to be received by the application; and discarding, by the PMI on the destination compute node, the portion of the quantity of data to be discarded. |
| US08909714B2 |
Electronic mail delay adaptation
A electronic communication system that can detect and adapt to delays in delivery of e-mail messages. The system may adapt to delays by using mechanisms other than the initially intended path to convey the information intended for delivery by e-mail. A possible adaptation is reprioritization of an e-mail message that is found to be experiencing a delay. |
| US08909713B2 |
Method and system for filtering text messages
A system and method is provided for filtering text messages to determine which of the messages, if any, contains undesirable or unsuitable content. The method includes receiving a message containing at least one text character. The text is manipulated to generate a plurality of tokens that are compared with data contained in a plurality of databases. As a result, a plurality of probabilities are generated related to the suitability of the message. The probabilities are weighted to generate an overall probability related to the suitability of the message. The overall probability is then compared to a threshold value to rate the suitability of the message. Further, the rating associated with the message is displayed on a computer display screen or the like. |
| US08909706B2 |
Social networking data augmented gaming kiosk
In particular embodiments, a gaming kiosk may be granted federated access to social networking information of a user, initiated upon activation of a physical access token. A user may initiate a workflow, by activating a physical token, that establishes a federated access session between a gaming kiosk and a social networking system to allow the gaming kiosk to augment the user's experience with social networking information and to publish gaming information to the social networking system. |
| US08909703B2 |
System and computer program product for facilitating a real-time virtual interaction
Techniques for facilitating a real-time virtual interaction between two or more users are provided. The techniques include extracting a dynamically changing context from two or more users, wherein the context comprises at least one of user-provided information and one or more items related to at least one of current activity and past activity of the two or more users, analyzing the context from each user to create a classification for each user, comparing the classification for each user with a classification for each additional user, wherein comparing comprises ordering each user in terms of closeness to each additional user, and using the ordering of each user in terms of closeness to each additional user to facilitate a real-time virtual interaction between two or more users. Techniques are also provided for generating a database of one or more user classifications. |
| US08909698B2 |
Grid-enabled, service-oriented architecture for enabling high-speed computing applications
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method and technique for data processing in a distributed computing system having a service-oriented architecture is disclosed. The method includes: receiving, by a workload input interface, workloads associated with an application from one or more clients for execution on the distributed computing system; identifying, by a resource management interface, available service hosts or service instances for computing the workloads received from the one or more clients; responsive to receiving an allocation request for the one or more hosts or service instances by the workload input interface, providing, by the resource management interface, address information of one or more workload output interfaces; and sending, by the one or more workload output interfaces, workloads received from the workload input interface to the one or more service instances. |
| US08909697B2 |
Computer networking system and method with javascript execution for pre-fetching content from dynamically-generated URL and javascript injection to modify date or random number calculation
An apparatus, method, and non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program code which when executed by an apparatus causes the apparatus to effect the method, for pre-fetching web content. Preferably, a proxy server performs the pre-fetching. Techniques such, for example, as executing Javascript in pre-fetched pages, modifying pre-fetched pages to address URL generation involving random numbers or dates, using cookie information or browser specifics when performing pre-fetching of pages, and injecting Javascript to measure response time may be performed, by way of example. |
| US08909693B2 |
Telephony discovery mashup and presence
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a communication system that provides various automated operations, including searches of public and private resources for third party information and presentation of the located third party information by a mashup and preparation of a mashup to combine different communication modes or modes in a common session. |
| US08909690B2 |
Performing arithmetic operations using both large and small floating point values
Mechanisms are provided for performing a floating point arithmetic operation in a data processing system. A plurality of floating point operands of the floating point arithmetic operation are received and bits in a mantissa of at least one floating point operand of the plurality of floating point operands are shifted. One or more bits of the mantissa that are shifted outside a range of bits of the mantissa of at least one floating point operand are stored and a vector value is generated based on the stored one or more bits of the mantissa that are shifted outside of the range of bits of the mantissa of the at least one floating point operand. A resultant value is generated for the floating point arithmetic operation based on the vector value and the plurality of floating point operands. |
| US08909689B2 |
Arithmetic device
According to one embodiment, a first shift amount calculation unit counts the number of continuous zeros from a less significant bit toward a more significant bit of an intermediate result of a computation of Montgomery multiplication result z and calculates a first shift amount. A second shift amount calculation unit counts the number of continuous zeros from a less significant bit toward a more significant bit of redundant-binary-represented integer x and calculates a second shift amount. An addition/subtraction unit calculates the intermediate result by adding/subtracting, with respect to the intermediate result which has been bit-shifted by the first shift amount, the integer p, and the integer y which has been bit-shifted by the second shift amount. An output unit outputs, as the Montgomery multiplication result z, the intermediate result when the sum of the first shift amounts is equal to the number of bits of the integer p. |
| US08909685B2 |
Pattern recognition of a distribution function
Various embodiments of systems and methods for pattern recognition of a distribution function are described herein. An influenced distribution function corresponding to an influenced attribute is compared with other distribution functions corresponding to other attributes. Based on the comparison, a correlation is determined between the influenced distribution function and an influencing distribution function from the other distribution functions. Based on the determination, a raw distribution function corresponding to an influenced attribute is extracted using the influenced distribution function and the influencing distribution function. The extracted raw distribution function and the influencing distribution function may be classified. |
| US08909681B2 |
Gap detection in a temporally unique index in a relational database
Methods for gap detection in a temporally unique index in a relational database. A temporally unique index is provided in a relational database. The index includes a first set of keys, each including one or more non-temporal and two temporal key parts. In response to receiving an insert, update, or delete statement for a changed row, the rows with identical non-temporal key parts to the changed row are identified. The temporal key parts of the identified rows are compared to the temporal key parts of the changed row to determine whether: the changed row is directly adjacent to a temporally earlier row and temporally later row, a gap is detected between the changed row and a temporally earlier row, or a gap is detected between the changed row and a temporally later row. |
| US08909678B2 |
Conditioned distribution of data in a lattice-based database using spreading rules
Embodiments relate to systems and methods for the conditioned distribution of data in a lattice-based database using spreading rules. A data store can store data in a lattice-based database or other three-dimensional hierarchical format. Higher-level data, such as yearly profit, may be desired to be spread from parent nodes at different levels or points in the lattice structure to lower nodes or locations, such as quarters. Parent nodes can be associated with a set of programmatic placeholder nodes. A spreading tool can insert child nodes representing quarters, months, or other insertion point(s) represented or encoded by a set of placeholder nodes, dividing, combining, or otherwise distributing quantities appropriately. In aspects, data can be spread from multiple parents and/or multiple target child nodes, at once. In aspects, the spreading tool can access or host sequence logic to ensure data spreading in an order that takes dependencies, formatting, or other factors into account. |
| US08909677B1 |
Providing a distributed balanced tree across plural servers
To access data, a distributed balanced tree having nodes distributed across plural servers is accessed. Version information is associated with the nodes of the distributed balanced tree. During an operation that accesses the distributed balanced tree, the version information is checked to determine whether content of one or more nodes of the distributed balanced tree has changed during the operation. |
| US08909672B2 |
Begin anchor annotation in DFAs
Disclosed is a method and system of matching a string of symbols to a ruleset. The ruleset comprise a set of rules. The method includes ignoring begin anchor requirements when constructing a DFA from all the rules of the ruleset, annotating the accepting states of the DFA with the begin anchor information, executing the DFA, and checking begin anchor annotations to determine if begin anchor requirement are satisfied if an accepting state is reached. Embodiments also include rulesets with begin anchors on matches, rulesets with early exit information on non-accepting states, and rulesets with accept begin anchors in accepting states. |
| US08909667B2 |
Systems, methods, and computer readable media for generating recommendations in a media recommendation system
Methods and systems for generating media item recommendations are disclosed herein. According to an aspect, a method may include using at least a processor and memory for receiving candidate media items associated with one or more computing devices that either has recently played or is currently playing a media item currently being played by another computing device. The method may also include determining recommendation scores for the candidate media items based on occurrence counts of the media items within a predetermined time period. Further, the method may include generating a media item recommendation for the other computing device based on the recommendation scores. |
| US08909666B2 |
Data query system and constructing method thereof and corresponding data query method
Disclosed is a data query method, which includes: a client sending a client request to a query component agent; the query component agent selecting a query component according to a load balance principle and returning the query component to the client; and the query component processing the client request and returning a processing result to the client. Correspondingly, the present invention further provides a data query system and a method for constructing the same. The query component in the present invention does not have a logical uniqueness any more and has a high scalability, which allows dynamic addition of query components, thereby greatly improving the availability of the data query system. |
| US08909661B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for time-stamping media for multi-user content rendering
A method, apparatus, and computer program product are provided in order to capture and share audio and/or video content in a multi-user environment. In the context of a method, audio and/or video content is captured and selected to be uploaded to be shared with other users. The method may assign and verify global timestamps for captured content and cause the content and verified timestamps to be uploaded to a multi-user content server. The method uses the verified timestamps to synchronize multi-user content to a common timeline in an efficient manner, allowing for rendering of content that is to be shared with other end users. A corresponding apparatus and a computer program product are also provided. |
| US08909659B2 |
Directory system and method of searching information
A method of executing an operation in a directory information system, includes performing a first operation within a directory information system in accordance with a predetermined procedure, where the first operation comprising a search for one or more of a plurality of directory objects. The plurality of directory objects are stored in a computer-readable medium that has a directory information structure. In one particular embodiment, the search generates one or more first results. The method also includes performing a second operation within the directory information system in accordance with the predetermined procedure. The second operation uses at least a portion of the one or more first results generated by the search for the one or more of the plurality of objects. In this embodiment, the second operation generates one more second results. The method further includes returning the one or more second results based at least in part on the second operation. |
| US08909658B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing multimedia content stored in digital multimedia device
A method and apparatus are provided for automatically selecting and deleting unimportant content in order to secure a storage space in a digital multimedia device. The multimedia content is classified into content in which a storage period is set and content in which a storage period is not set and then the content is stored. The size of the content occupying a storage space in each storage type is automatically calculated to analyze a user's pattern of using the storage space when the storage space is insufficient, and content to be deleted is selected according to the analyzed pattern. Thus, it is possible to prevent the content which the user does not want to delete from being deleted and to eliminate the need for the user to individually manage the content. |
| US08909656B2 |
Filter chains with associated multipath views for exploring large data sets
A multipath explorer may allow a user to quickly visualize an entire population of data hierarchically in a tree-like structure. For example, a user can select a first filter to be applied to a data set, and the multipath explorer can display data in the data set that satisfies the first filter requirements and data in the data set that does not satisfy the first filter requirements. A second filter can be applied to the data in the data set, and the multipath explorer can display data in the data set that satisfies the first and second filter requirements, data in the data set that satisfies the first filter requirements and not the second filter requirements, data in the data set that satisfies the second filter requirements and not the first filter requirements, and data in the data set that does not satisfy the first or second filter requirements. |
| US08909655B1 |
Time based ranking
Apparatus, systems and methods for content ranking are disclosed. Historical click-through rates of first and second content items for a query are determined from an analysis of click logs and query logs. Temporal changes in the historical click-through rate of the first and second content items are identified. The rankings of the first and second content items are adjusted based on the temporal change. |
| US08909653B1 |
Apparatus, systems and methods for interactive dissemination of knowledge
Embodiments of apparatus, systems and methods facilitate knowledge dissemination and promote knowledge acquisition, in part, by automatically presenting elements of an interlinked knowledge base to optimize learning efficiency. In some embodiments, a graphical user interface (GUI) facilitates user interaction with subject items, ordered arrangements of subject items, and display of subject items and their interconnections in the knowledge base. For example, the GUI facilitates operations such as the determination and display of: subject items with the same subject tag, and subject items with similar connectivity. Other operations facilitate simplification and modification of the displayed knowledge graph comprising the subject items. |
| US08909649B2 |
Method, apparatus, and computer program product for content management
A method for managing content is provided. The method may include, by a content management apparatus, receiving a content request, searching for content information associated with the request, and causing writing of missing content information to an alert file. The method may provide default content information when content information is not otherwise located. A content request may comprise an application and context name. A response from a content management apparatus may comprise a location and map identifier used by a calling apparatus to locate and cause display of content. The method may provide synchronization capabilities in which content referenced by an application is searched for in order to track missing content in an alerts file, and to track the synchronization history or status of an application in a synchronization log. Corresponding systems, apparatuses, and computer program products are also provided. |
| US08909647B2 |
System and method for providing classification suggestions using document injection
A system and method for providing classification suggestions using document injection is provided. Clusters of uncoded documents are accessed. A set of reference documents is obtained. Each reference document is associated with a classification code. A set of the uncoded documents selected from one or more of the clusters is identified and compared with the set of reference documents. Those reference documents that are similar to the set of uncoded documents are identified and injected into one or more of the clusters from which the set of uncoded documents is selected. The clusters and a visual suggestion for classification of at least one of the uncoded documents within one of the clusters are displayed. |
| US08909646B1 |
Pre-processing of social network structures for fast discovery of cohesive groups
Aspects and implementations of the present disclosure are directed to methods and systems of pre-processing a social network structure for fast discovery of cohesive groups. In general, in some implementations, a data processing system identifies a cohesive user group in a social network for delivery of a tailored content item. Generally, the data processing system identifies an affinity criteria; generates a set of user identifiers having characteristics that satisfy the affinity criteria; and generates graphs of users with at least one direct or indirect social network user connection with other user identifiers in the graph. The data processing system returns or stores the graph on computer readable media for later use. A graph may be generated with edges representing connections between user identifiers; edges may be weighted for the number and lengths of connection paths for indirect connections, and for similarities between users. |
| US08909645B2 |
Methods and apparatus to classify text communications
Methods and apparatus to classify text communications are disclosed. An example method includes determining a first score indicating a likelihood that a text belongs to a first classification mode by combining a first sentence score and a second sentence score retrieved from an index, the first sentence score indicating a probability that a first sentence in the text belongs to the first classification mode, the second sentence score indicating that a second sentence following the first sentence belongs to the first classification mode, determining a second score indicating a likelihood that the text belongs to a second classification mode, comparing the first score to the second score, classifying the text as the first classification mode when the first score is greater than the second score, and determining a confidence level that the text belongs to the first classification mode by dividing the first score by the second score. |
| US08909644B2 |
Real-time adaptive binning
In one embodiment, a set of boundaries may be obtained, where the set of boundaries includes boundaries for each of one or more bins. The boundaries for each of the one or more bins may include a lower boundary and an upper boundary, wherein the set of boundaries of the one or more bins together defines a contiguous range of data values capable of being stored in the one or more bins. A data value may be obtained. The data value may be added to one of the one or more bins according to the boundaries of the one or more bins. It may be determined whether to modify the set of boundaries. The set of boundaries may be adjusted according to a result of the determining step. |
| US08909642B2 |
Automatic generation of a field-extraction rule based on selections in a sample event
Embodiments are directed towards automatically generating extraction rules for extracting fields from event records. An extraction rule application receives field data describing the fields to be extracted (including one or more examples) and a collection of event records that may be a representative sample set from a larger set of events records. The extraction rule application generates extraction rules based on the event records and the field data. These extraction rules may be ranked using a determined quality score. Quality scores for extraction rules may be determined based on various metrics related to the operation of the extraction rules and the resultant extracted values. Preferred extraction rules may be determined by ranking the extraction rules based on their quality scores. Also, natural language expressions may be used to create, edit, or modify extraction rules. |
| US08909635B2 |
Profiling content creation and retrieval in a content management system
A content management system provides a profiling mechanism that automatically tags changes made to elements in a document with applicability metadata, and uses the applicability metadata when processing a request to the repository by a user to filter the query results according to a profile for the user. A profiling mapping policy defines roles for users of the content management system. When content is requested from the repository, the profiling mechanism inserts one or more additional request parameters based on the profile of the user. The results that match both the original request and the additional request parameter(s) are returned to the user. When the user views the results, additional filtering may occur to filter individual elements from the user that do match the user's profile. |
| US08909633B2 |
Method and system for improving relevance of web content
A method and system for improving relevance of web content. The method includes receiving a search query from a user. The method also includes processing the search query by generating a list of web content results based on the search query. The search query is also processed by determining a plurality of click counts for the list of web content results. Each click count of the plurality of click counts is generated by one or more contacts in a social network of the user. The search query is further processed by mapping each click count to a corresponding web content result in the list of web content results. The method further includes displaying the list of web content results along with the plurality of click counts. Each click count of the plurality of click counts is displayed with the corresponding web content result in the list of web content results. |
| US08909630B1 |
Finding query offsets of similar geographic features
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, including a method that comprises: determining excess queries for a target geographic feature, where the geographic feature defines a location; determining one or more candidate geographic features that have similar excess queries, but displaced in time; determining a time offset between the target geographic feature and a candidate geographic feature based on the displacement in time of the similar excess queries; and targeting content to the candidate geographic feature using the time offset and based on content targeted to the target geographic feature. |
| US08909629B2 |
Personalized location tags
Systems and methods are provided for creating and using personalized location information tags (geotags). Personalized geotags take the place of generic location information such as latitude/longitude coordinates or granular city/state information. Such geotags may be published to present to selected people, e.g., family and friends, a user's current location. Thus, the user's location may be shown as “Home” or “Gym,” providing user-specific information without having to list a street address or latitude/longitude coordinates. Personalized geotags may be inferred based upon historical location information of the user. Geotags may also be inferred based upon geotag selections from other users in a network. A matching engine may select an appropriate geotag given the current location of a user device or based upon historical location information associated with the user. |
| US08909626B2 |
Determining user preference of items based on user ratings and user features
A set of item-item affinities for a plurality of items is determined based on collaborative-filtering techniques. A set of an item's nearest neighbor items based on the set of item-item affinities is determined. A set of user feature-item affinities for the plurality of items and a set of user features is determined based on least squared regression. A set of a user feature's nearest neighbor items is determined based in part on the set of user feature-item affinities. Compatible affinity weights for nearest neighbor items of each item and each user feature are determined. Based on user features of a user and items a user has consumed, a set of nearest neighbor items are identified as a set of candidate items, and affinity scores of candidate items are determined. Based on the affinity scores, a candidate item from the set of candidate items is recommended to the user. |
| US08909624B2 |
System and method for evaluating results of a search query in a network environment
A method is provided in one example and includes receiving results for a search query initiated by a user; evaluating the results in relation to a personal profile of the user. The personal profile includes a plurality of characteristics associated with the user. The method also includes ranking the results based on the evaluation in order to generate a resultant that reflects a ranking of the results, and communicating the resultant to the user. |
| US08909621B2 |
Contextual search history in collaborative archives
A computing system executes an instant message session between one or more users of the one or more collaborative tools. The computer system further examines information from instant messages in a message window of the instant message session. In addition, the computer system identifies keyword data of the examined information of the instant messages. The computer system queries a first repository for related content data that matches the keyword data. The computer system also generates one or more contextual search results based on the match. The computer system further transmits the generated one or more contextual search results for display on the one or more collaboration tools. The computer system further stores the keyword data and the contextual search results of the keyword data in a collaboration archive of a database, and automatically updates the contextual search results during instant message sessions. |
| US08909620B2 |
Searching digital receipts at a mobile device
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for searching digital receipts at a mobile device. A customer mobile device receives and stores one or more digital receipts. The one or more digital receipts correspond to transactions conducted with a merchant. A user can select search criteria for searching stored digital receipts. The search criteria can be applied to stored digital receipts. Any stored digital receipts that satisfy the search criteria can be returned for display. In some embodiments, search criteria are selected to search for digital receipts associated with a specified payment method, such as, for example, cash, check, credit card, debit card, gift card, etc. In other embodiments, search criteria are selected to search for digital receipts having a purchase date within a specified purchase date range. |
| US08909619B1 |
Providing search results tools
The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method that includes obtaining, in response to a determination that one or more tools are relevant to a search query or search results, code for presenting user interface controls with the search results, wherein selection of a particular presented user interface control results in performing an operation corresponding to a particular tool for manipulating the search results, and wherein the code is configured to present the user interface controls for the determined tools more prominently than user interface controls for one or more others of the tools that were not determined to be relevant to the search query or the search results. |
| US08909616B2 |
Information-retrieval systems, methods, and software with content relevancy enhancements
The present inventors devised, among other things, systems, methods, and software for enhancing the relevancy of content presented to users in response to queries in an online information retrieval system. One exemplary system refines a user input query by making suggestions of alternatives queries, classifying the query using language processing, or selecting one or more databases or search engines as targets for the refined query. A switchboard module converts the refined query, administers one or more searches, and collects search results from one or more search engines based on the refined query. And, a post-processor module refines the collected search results by, for example, modifying the order of the results, removing inappropriate or undesirable content from the results, and/or applying historical performance analysis. |
| US08909615B2 |
System and method of managing capacity of search index partitions
A search system can maintain a search index of metadata and text for objects in a repository, repositories or distributed across a network. The search index can be divided into partitions with a partition assigned a first capacity utilization threshold and a second capacity utilization threshold. If the capacity utilization of the partition is below the first threshold, the system can add, update and delete information in the partition. If the capacity utilization of the partition is above the first threshold, the system can update and delete information in the partition, but cannot add information for new objects to the partition. If the capacity utilization of the partition is above the second threshold, the system can enter a rebalancing mode in which it seeks to rebalance capacity utilization between partitions. The behavior of the system can change depending upon the size of a partition relative to its configurable thresholds. |
| US08909610B2 |
Shared log-structured multi-version transactional datastore with metadata to enable melding trees
Architecture that includes an ordered and shared log of indexed transaction records represented as multi-version data structures of nodes and node pointers. The log is a sole monolithic source of datastore state and is used for enforcing concurrency control. The architecture also includes a transaction processing component that appends transaction records to the log from concurrent transactions executing on different processors. Each node of a record is assigned a log address. |
| US08909608B2 |
Reducing decompression latency in a compression storage system
In a compression processing storage system, using a pool of compression cores, the compression cores are assigned to process either compression operations, decompression operations, or decompression and compression operations, which are scheduled for processing. A maximum number of the compression cores are set for processing only the decompression operations, thereby lowering a decompression latency. A minimal number of the compression cores are allocated for processing the compression operations, thereby increasing compression latency. Upon reaching a throughput limit for the compression operations that causes the minimal number of the plurality of compression cores to reach a busy status, the minimal number of the plurality of compression cores for processing the compression operations is increased. |
| US08909606B2 |
Data block compression using coalescion
A method for processing blocks of data in a file is provided. The method includes determining a plurality of blocks of data in the file for a compression process used for compressing data in the file. This process is iterated over all the plurality of blocks of data in the file. A block of data is read into memory, and the offset from which it is read is also stored. A strong collision-resistant cryptographic hash representation, such as a strong collision-resistant cryptographic hash, of the block is determined. The cryptographic hash representation (CHR) of the block of data as well as the data itself, is added to a table with the CHR as a unique index. The offset of the block of data in the source file, as well as the CHR for that block are appended to a separate table. |
| US08909603B2 |
Backing up objects to a storage device
One embodiment is a method that backups up objects to a storage device. A number of objects that are concurrently backed up to the storage device is limited. |
| US08909596B1 |
Operational-transform-compatible representation of 2-dimensional page layout data
Solutions, systems, and techniques for applying 2-dimensional changes to a shared document are discussed. The document is divided into vertical columns of a particular width, each column represented as a one-dimensional vector that is a sequential list of blocks in that column, each block representing a content item included in the document. Each block has a starting column, a block height, and a block width indicated by how many columns the block occupies. Each block has row indexes that represent a relative position of the block in each column it occupies. A document modification command is represented as transfer functions, each transfer function corresponding to a document column. The transfer functions are applied to the document columns to alter a row index of block(s) in the corresponding column(s), thereby altering the relative position of a block with respect to other blocks in that column. |
| US08909594B2 |
Identifying an item based on data associated with the item
There are provided methods and systems to identify an item based on data associated with the item. Information is received that is descriptive of an item to be listed on an information storage and retrieval platform. The information is associated with an aspect-value pair, which is an aspect of the item and a value of the aspect. An expression of an interest of a user in the item is received. The expression is associated with the aspect-value pair. In response to the associating of the expression with the aspect-value pair, the item is identified. |
| US08909592B2 |
Combining medical binary decision diagrams to determine data correlations
In particular embodiments, a method includes accessing a first binary decision diagram (BDD) representing a data stream from a first sensor and a second BDD representing a data stream from a second sensor, determining whether the first sensor data and the second sensor data correlate by: constructing a third BDD by performing an OR operation between the first and second BDDs, determining sizes of the first, second, and third BDDs, and comparing the third size to the sum of the first size and the second size; where the degree that the first sensor data and the second sensor data correlate is indicated by the amount that the third size is less than the sum of the first size and the second size. |
| US08909591B1 |
Detection of spam using contextual analysis of data sources
Aspects of the disclosure provide for detection of spam business listings. Aspects operate to identify business listing characteristics in trusted sources and untrusted sources. As untrusted sources are likely to contain more spam, characteristics that are present in untrusted sources but not present in trusted sources are typically indicative of spam listings, and vice versa. Thus, statistical analysis of the frequency of characteristics within each source may be used to identify common characteristics of spam listings. These characteristics may further be analyzed in specific listing contexts, as different listing contexts (e.g., different types of businesses) typically use different terms and vocabularies, such that terms that are indicative of spam in one context may not be indicative of spam in another. Various methods for leveraging this context-specific statistical information to improve spam detection operations are disclosed. |
| US08909590B2 |
Online asynchronous reinforcement learning from concurrent customer histories
In one embodiment, an indication of a Decision Request or an Update Request may be received, where the Update Request is activated independent of user activity. A user state pertaining to at least one user may be received, obtained, accessed or constructed. For the Decision Request, one or more actions may be scored according to one or more value functions associated with a computing device, a policy associated with the computing device may be applied to identify one of the scored actions as a decision, and an indication of the decision may be provided or applied. For the Update Request, the one or more value functions and/or the policy may be updated. An indication of updates to the one or more value functions and/or an indication of updates to the policy may be provided. |
| US08909585B2 |
Rule-based binding
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for rule-based binding. In one aspect, a method includes receiving first input to a graphical user interface (GUI) associating a property of a data model presented in the GUI with a data view component of a document presented in the GUI, wherein a change to a value of the data view component is reflected in a value of the property in the data model when the document is used in a workflow, and wherein the workflow is a logical sequence of documents, including the document, that is processed according to the logical sequence such that values for one or more data view components associated with the documents are received. |
| US08909581B2 |
Factor-graph based matching systems and methods
Systems and methods are provided for matching one or more first entities with one or more of second entities. Factor graph representations of the first entities and a plurality of second entities are stored. The factor graph representation of the plurality of second entities includes an identity variable referencing each of the individual second entities. When a request is received from a requesting one of the first set of entities for a match from the second set of entities, the first factor graph and the second factor graph are merged, and the merged graph is solved for a probability mass function for the identity variable to yield a probability vector to be used to identify those ones of the plurality of second entities having the highest probabilities as matches to be returned in response to the request. |
| US08909578B2 |
Contextual decision logic elicitation
The present invention is a method of creating decision logic. A first set of rules for the decision logic is received. The user is queried for data and this data is stored in a memory. A first decision is generated for a user based at least in part on the data. Input is received from the user for editing the first set of rules to create a new set of rules for the decision logic in the context of data. A final decision is generated derived at least in part from the data using the new set of rules. |
| US08909574B2 |
Systems for matching sparkle appearance of coatings
This disclosure is directed to a process for producing one or more predicted target sparkle values of a target coating composition. An artificial neural network can be used in the process. The process disclosed herein can be used for color and appearance matching in the coating industry including vehicle original equipment manufacturing (OEM) coatings and refinish coatings. A system for producing one or more predicted target sparkle values of a target coating composition is also disclosed. |
| US08909573B2 |
Dependency-based query expansion alteration candidate scoring
An alteration candidate for a query can be scored. The scoring may include computing one or more query-dependent feature scores and/or one or more intra-candidate dependent feature scores. The computation of the query-dependent feature score(s) can be based on dependencies to multiple query terms from each of one or more alteration terms (i.e., for each of the one or more alteration terms, there can be dependencies to multiple query terms that form at least a portion of the basis for the query-dependent feature score(s)). The computation of the intra-candidate dependent feature score(s) can be based on dependencies between different terms in the alteration candidate. A candidate score can be computed using the query dependent feature score(s) and/or the intra-candidate dependent feature score(s). Additionally, the candidate score can be used in determining whether to select the candidate to expand the query. If selected, the candidate can be used to expand the query. |
| US08909566B2 |
Method, a computer program and apparatus for analyzing symbols in a computer
The invention provides a computer-implemented method of analyzing symbols in a computer system, the symbols conforming to a specification for the symbols, in which the specification has been codified into a set of computer-readable rules; and, the symbols analyzed using the computer-readable rules to obtain patterns of the symbols by determining the path that is taken by the symbols through the rules that successfully terminates, and grouping the symbols according to said paths, the method comprising; upon receipt of a message at a computer, performing a lexical analysis of the message; and, in dependence on lexical analysis of the message assigning the message to one of the groups identified according to said paths. The invention also provides a computer programmed to perform the method and a computer program comprising program instructions for causing a computer to perform the method. |
| US08909564B1 |
Predictive model evaluation and training based on utility
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for training a plurality of different types of predictive models using training data, wherein each of the predictive models implements a different machine learning technique. One or more weights are obtained wherein each weight is associated with an answer category in the plurality of examples. A weighted accuracy is calculated for each of the predictive models using the one or more weights. |
| US08909556B2 |
Security gateway communication
A gateway device and methods performed therein to prevent unauthorized client devices from connecting to the host network of the gateway device is described. The gateway device does not respond right away to an individual client message sent to the gateway device. Instead, the gateway device only responds to a predetermined sequence of the client messages, which is only known to the gateway device and authorized client devices. Because the gateway device will not respond to random client messages and the likelihood that an unauthorized client device can correctly guess the predetermined sequence of the client messages is low, the risk of a malicious party being able to hack into the host network, for example, by using port scanning techniques, can be mitigated. |
| US08909553B2 |
Payment card terminal for mobile phones
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for payment card terminals for mobile phones. In general, data characterizing a payment card and a settlement amount for a transaction may be received, where the data is user-generated input and is received at a mobile phone associated with a mobile phone number. Wireless transmission of data characterizing a request to provide a payment card settlement service of a merchant account of a merchant account provider for the transaction may be initiated, where the wireless transmission is to be from the mobile phone over a carrier data network to an application server. Data characterizing authorization of settlement of the transaction with the payment card may be wirelessly received by the mobile phone from the application server. |
| US08909550B2 |
Relationship-based pricing
Customers may utilize different services or products of a provider. The different services or products utilized by a customer may create different relationships between the provider and the customer. Systems and methods are provided for coordinating the different relationships to provide relationship-based pricing. Relationship-based pricing may increase customer satisfaction with services or products offered by the provider. Systems and methods may adjust fees associated with services or products of the provider by coordinating the different relationships. The fees may be decreased or waived to increase customer satisfaction. |
| US08909548B1 |
Technique for providing financial-transaction information
A technique for providing information about financial transactions is described. This information technique allows a user, who has conducted financial transactions with one or more other parties, to access information about these financial transactions that is maintained by a provider of financial software, which is used by the one or more other parties to manage the information about the financial transactions. In particular, in this technique, in response to an access request from the user, a portal (such as a web page), which includes the information about the financial transactions between the user and the one or more other parties, is provided by the provider of the financial software to the user. |
| US08909544B2 |
Method for encoding or decoding digital data, data disseminating device and data managing device
A method for encoding or decoding digital data, a data dissemination device and a data managing device are provided. The method for encoding digital data includes the following steps. A digital data is received. A sign data is encoded into the digital data through a linear combination operation to obtain an encoded digital data, wherein the size of the digital data is not changed after the encoding process. The encoded digital data is disseminated. |
| US08909532B2 |
Supporting multi-lingual user interaction with a multimodal application
Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for supporting multi-lingual user interaction with a multimodal application, the application including a plurality of VoiceXML dialogs, each dialog characterized by a particular language, supporting multi-lingual user interaction implemented with a plurality of speech engines, each speech engine having a grammar and characterized by a language corresponding to one of the dialogs, with the application operating on a multimodal device supporting multiple modes of interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the application operatively coupled to the speech engines through a VoiceXML interpreter, the VoiceXML interpreter: receiving a voice utterance from a user; determining in parallel, using the speech engines, recognition results for each dialog in dependence upon the voice utterance and the grammar for each speech engine; administering the recognition results for the dialogs; and selecting a language for user interaction in dependence upon the administered recognition results. |
| US08909527B2 |
Low latency real-time vocal tract length normalization
A method and system for training an automatic speech recognition system are provided. The method includes separating training data into speaker specific segments, and for each speaker specific segment, performing the following acts: generating spectral data, selecting a first warping factor and warping the spectral data, and comparing the warped spectral data with a speech model. The method also includes iteratively performing the steps of selecting another warping factor and generating another warped spectral data, comparing the other warped spectral data with the speech model, and if the other warping factor produces a closer match to the speech model, saving the other warping factor as the best warping factor for the speaker specific segment. The system includes modules configured to control a processor in the system to perform the steps of the method. |
| US08909524B2 |
Adaptive active noise canceling for handset
Embodiments of the present invention provide an adaptive noise canceling system. The adaptive noise canceling system may be used in a handset to cancel background noise by generating an anti-noise signal. The adaptive noise canceling system may include first input to receive a first signal from a feedforward microphone; a second input to receive a second signal from an error microphone; a controller coupled to the inputs, the controller configured to adaptively generate an anti-noise signal according to the received signals, wherein the controller derives a profile of the anti-noise signal from the first signal and derives a magnitude of the anti-noise signal from both first and second signal; and an output to transmit the anti-noise signal to a speaker. |
| US08909523B2 |
Method and acoustic signal processing system for interference and noise suppression in binaural microphone configurations
A method determines a bias reduced noise and interference estimation in a binaural microphone configuration with a right and a left microphone signal at a time-frame with a target speaker active. The method includes a determination of the auto power spectral density estimate of the common noise formed of noise and interference components of the right and left microphone signals and a modification of the auto power spectral density estimate of the common noise by using an estimate of the magnitude squared coherence of the noise and interference components contained in the right and left microphone signals determined at a time frame without a target speaker active. An acoustic signal processing system and a hearing aid implement the method for determining the bias reduced noise and interference estimation. The noise reduction performance of speech enhancement algorithms is improved by the invention. Further, distortions of the target speech signal and residual noise and interference components are reduced. |
| US08909518B2 |
Frequency axis warping factor estimation apparatus, system, method and program
A warping factor estimation system comprises label information generation unit that outputs voice/non-voice label information, warp model storage unit in which a probability model representing voice and non-voice occurrence probabilities is stored, and warp estimation unit that calculates a warping factor in the frequency axis direction using the probability model representing voice and non-voice occurrence probabilities, voice and non-voice labels, and a cepstrum. |
| US08909515B2 |
Dynamic sentence formation from structured objects and actions in a social networking system
A social networking system includes a mechanism for integrating user actions on objects outside of the social networking system in the social graph. External system operators include widgets that, when executed by user devices, record user interactions that correspond to a defined structure of actions and objects. Third party operators utilize a tool provided by the social networking system to define the structure of actions and objects, verb tenses of action types, and noun forms object types. External actions are recorded by the social networking system for publishing to the social graph in dynamically generated sentences formed using the structure of the actions and objects. |
| US08909513B2 |
Systems and methods for identifying and suggesting emoticons
Various embodiments provide a method that comprises receiving a set of segments from a text field, analyzing the set of segments to determine at least one of a target subtext or a target meaning associated with the set of segments, and identifying a set of candidate emoticons where each candidate emoticon in the set of candidate emoticons has an association between the candidate emoticon and at least one of the target subtext or the target meaning. The method may further comprise presenting the set of candidate emoticons for entry selection at a current position of an input cursor, receiving an entry selection for a set of selected emoticons from the set of candidate emoticons, and inserting the set of selected emoticons into the text field at the current position of the input cursor. |
| US08909512B2 |
Enhanced stability prediction for incrementally generated speech recognition hypotheses based on an age of a hypothesis
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for predicting the stability of speech recognition results. In one aspect, a method includes determining a length of time, or a number of occasions, in which a word has remained in an incremental speech recognizer's top hypothesis, and assigning a stability metric to the word based on the length of time or number of occasions. |
| US08909510B2 |
LFSR emulation
Apparatus for emulating the operation of an LFSR having at least one of one or more inputs and one or more outputs, wherein the state of the LFSR can be described by a state vector having sections describing the input or inputs, if any, of the LFSR, the contents of the LFSR and the output or outputs, if any, of the LFSR, wherein the state vector can be multiplied by a time shift matrix to time shift the state specified by the vector and wherein the apparatus comprises means for multiplying a first instance of the state vector by the matrix to produce a second instance of the state vector that is time shifted relative to the first instance and wherein one or both of the input and output sections of the state vector are dimensioned to accommodate, respectively, inputs that arrive at different times during the time shift specified by the matrix and outputs that are produced at different times during the time shift. |
| US08909508B2 |
Petrographic image analysis for determining capillary pressure in porous media
This disclosed subject matter is generally related to methods for characterizing two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) samples to determine pore-body and pore-throat size distributions and capillary pressure curves in porous media using petrographic image analysis. Input includes high-resolution petrographic images and laboratory-derived porosity measurements. Output includes: (1) pore-body and pore-throat size distributions, and (2) simulated capillary pressure curves for both pore bodies and pore throats. |
| US08909504B2 |
Computing device, storage medium and method for processing dimension numbers using the computing device
A method for processing dimension numbers using a computing device, a first template of a dimension frame and a plurality of second templates of dimension numbers 0-9, and a numerical text data of each second template are established. A plurality of block objects are obtained by grouping all discontinuous line segments in the engineering drawing. All frame objects in the engineering drawing are obtained by matching each of the block objects with the first template. One or more remainder objects in each bounding box are obtained, and grouped to obtain one or more number objects in each of the frame objects. A matched second template of each of the number objects is obtained by matching each of the number objects with each of the second templates. The number objects in each of the frame objects are replaced by corresponding numerical text data. |
| US08909502B2 |
Method and system for constructing an electrophysiology map
A method of constructing an EP map is provided. The method comprises obtaining a first surface model of an anatomic structure, the first model comprising an alpha shell of a cloud of location data points. The method further comprises obtaining a second surface model of the structure, the second surface model comprising an alpha shell of a cloud of measurement points. The method further comprises processing the first and second models to identify, for at least one of the location data points, a point on the second surface model that is closest in distance to the location data point, wherein said identified point has a value of said EP parameter associated therewith. The method still further comprises assigning a visual indicator to the location data point based on the EP parameter value associated with the identified point and in accordance with a visualization scheme corresponding to the EP parameter. |
| US08909495B2 |
Particle radiation monitoring apparatus, recording medium to retain particle radiation monitoring program, and particle radiation monitoring method
A particle radiation monitoring apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes a detecting unit to detect radioactive ray information of braking radiation from electrons undergoing action of particle beams incident on an irradiation body in accordance with a positional relation with the irradiation body and a calculating unit to calculate information on behaviors of the particle beams in the irradiation body from the radioactive ray information of the braking radiation corresponding to the positional relation that is detected by the detecting unit. |
| US08909494B2 |
Self calibrating home site fuel usage monitoring device and system
A home site fuel monitor device in conjunction with a remote central site system to provide accurate fuel usage data used in planning fuel deliveries. The fuel monitor device is an internet based, compact, and low cost home heating site monitor device that is easily installed in the home heating site without modification to the home site's heating system. The monitor device includes a microprocessor which measures heating system run times using real time clock values. The microprocessor computes heating system fuel usage and the rate of fuel usage using heating system run times and heating burner parameters down loaded from the remote central site system. The monitor device continuously adjusts or recalibrates the rate of fuel usage defined as a burn coefficient value to coincide with the latest delivery information received from the central site system which results in increased accuracy over time. |
| US08909485B2 |
Method of measuring pumping amount of groundwater by using water level fluctuation and water level measuring sensor
A method of measuring a pumping amount of groundwater by using water level fluctuation, a water level measuring sensor including an arithmetic operation unit for calculating a pumping amount by using the method, and a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method are disclosed. The method includes: obtaining groundwater level data according to a measurement time by measuring fluctuation of a groundwater level for a predetermined period continually at time intervals; comparing groundwater level formed in a full pumping period including an initial stage a quasi-balance period, and a recovery period calculates a total time when pumping has been performed, by using a measurement time of the sorted data; and calculates a total pumping amount by using the total pumping time calculated. |
| US08909484B2 |
Automated hydraulic property measurement apparatus
An apparatus for testing a porous medium is provided. The apparatus includes a liquid processing subsystem and a liquid weighing subsystem. The liquid processing subsystem is interfaced with the medium in a manner that establishes liquid contact there-between. The liquid processing and liquid weighing subsystems are sealably interconnected via an interconnecting liquid tube. The liquid weighing subsystem stores a liquid which flows therefrom, through the tube, through the liquid processing subsystem, and into the medium until it is saturated with the liquid. The liquid weighing subsystem automatically measures the weight of the liquid stored therein on an ongoing basis and uses these measurements to determine one or more hydraulic properties of the medium. |
| US08909483B2 |
Direct or indirect diagnostic test for helminth infection
The present invention relates to peptide fragments which have one or more shared and/or similar amino acid sequences to amino acid sequences of specific portions of the 14 kDa protein of S. mansoni (Sm14) or related FABPs (Fatty Acid Binding Proteins), the peptide fragments functioning as continuous or discontinuous epitopic regions of the molecule or mimicking its biological activity. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for constructing active peptide fragments, peptide fragments, immunogenic composition and diagnostic kit using peptide fragments of the present invention. |
| US08909482B2 |
Device for measuring power consumption and performance with respect to the environment of a power-consuming unit
A device for measuring power consumption and performance relative to the environment of a power-consuming unit is disclosed. The device includes a data introduction module, a keyboard for inputting data of waste production in the power-consuming unit, a computing device, and a display screen. The computing device receives the data from the data introduction module and the keyboard. The computing device is also provided with a processor that includes a calculation algorithm of an ecological parameter indicative of the performance relative to the environment of the power-consuming unit. The ecological parameter is calculated as an adjusted mean of the sum of the deviations of each power consumption value with respect to a reference value. |
| US08909481B2 |
Method of mass spectrometry for identifying polypeptides
The invention provides methods for identifying polypeptides. The method can include the steps of simultaneously determining the mass of a subset of parent polypeptides from a population of polypeptides and the mass of fragments of the subset of parent polypeptides; comparing the determined masses to an annotated polypeptide index; and identifying one or more polypeptides of the annotated polypeptide index having the determined masses. The method can further include the steps of determining one or more additional characteristics associated with one or more of the parent polypeptides; comparing the determined characteristics to the annotated polypeptide index; and optionally repeating the steps one or more times, wherein a set of characteristics is determined that identifies a parent polypeptide as a single polypeptide in the annotated polypeptide index. The method can additionally include the step of quantitating the amount of the identified polypeptide in a sample containing the polypeptide. |
| US08909477B2 |
Method for automatically starting a wind turbine and a wind turbine for carrying out the method
A method automatically starts a wind turbine after an outage of an electrical supply grid. In the method, at least one measurement value is acquired as to a climatic variable in the wind turbine during the outage of the electrical supply grid. At least one acquired measurement value is recorded and a warning signal is generated prior to a starting of the wind turbine when the at least one recorded measurement value exceeds a predetermined maximum value or drops below a predetermined minimum value. |
| US08909473B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing geospatial and temporal navigation
A method and apparatus for processing at least one information feed are disclosed. For example, the method receives at least one content via at least one automated feed. The method associates the at least one content to one or more geographical locations on a map, wherein the one or more geographical locations are determined from the at least one content. The method then presents an access to the at least one content to a user via the map. |
| US08909469B2 |
Navigation apparatus, navigation method, and navigation program
To improve accuracy of determining whether route elements stored as a history are route elements familiar to the user, a navigation apparatus 100 includes: a passage history storage unit 9a that stores a history of route elements passed in the past; a memory cost determination unit 84 that determines memory costs indicative of how less likely a user still has in mind the route elements stored in the passage history storage unit 9a based on the history stored in the passage history storage unit 9a; a route search unit 85 that searches for a route leading to a destination by combining the route elements to minimize a route cost of the entire route including the memory costs determined by the memory cost determination unit 84; and a navigation unit 86 that performs a route guide in accordance with the route searched by the route search unit 85. |
| US08909468B2 |
Route portals
The described method and system provide for utilizing portals during GPS navigation to avoid unnecessary off-route notifications and route recalculation in problem areas. The method and system are described in the context of a GPS unit that is part of a telematics unit in a vehicle. If the route calculated by the GPS unit includes certain problem areas such as tunnels and stacked bridges, the GPS unit may utilize portals to process GPS navigation through those areas. When a user enters a portal, normal GPS navigation is suspended and certain features are disabled. For example, the user will not longer receive Turn-by-Turn (TBT) directions, off-route notifications, error notifications, and route recalculation notifications, until the GPS unit determines that the user has arrived at a second portal or until the user manually re-enables those features. The portals should be preferably located at the inlets and outlets to the problem areas. Thus, while the user is in a problem area, errant GPS information may be discarded or ignored, and the provision of unnecessary off-route notifications and route recalculations to the user may be avoided. |
| US08909467B2 |
Tower crane navigation system
A material position information measuring section measures a position of a material lifted up by a tower crane. A structure information measuring section measures position information about surrounding structures. A route searching section searches for a route of movement of the material from a start point to a destination. The route of movement determined by the route searching section is stored in a route storage. A data processor receives data of the material position information measuring section and the structure information measuring section, and calculates 2D or 3D image data about relative positions of the tower crane, the material lifted up by the tower crane and the surrounding structures. A display unit displays information about at least one of the tower crane, the material and the surrounding structures using the image data calculated by the data processor, and displays the route of movement determined by the route searching section. |
| US08909465B2 |
User-controlled alternative routing
A user may indicate a preference of a route when alternative routes are available between an origin and a destination. The mapping system may enable a user to identify a region, a point or a set of points to help control, guide or otherwise influence the determination of a route favored by the user. While the identified region, point or set of points may be included in the route, the identified region, point or set of points need not necessarily be included in the route. |
| US08909457B2 |
Dual fuel common rail system and method of transitioning from diesel only to dual fuel method of operation
A dual fuel common rail system may be operated in a regular mode in which a relatively large charge of gaseous fuel is ignited by compression igniting a relatively small injection quantity of liquid diesel fuel. The dual fuel system may be operated in a single fuel limp home mode in which liquid diesel fuel is injected at higher pressures. When transitioning from the single fuel limp home mode to the dual fuel regular mode, accumulated leaked liquid fuel in the gaseous nozzle chamber of each fuel injector is purged and burned in the respective engine cylinder. |
| US08909455B2 |
Control device for internal combustion engine
A control device for an internal combustion engine including a camshaft of the internal combustion engine; a plurality of plane cam shape portions; at least one transitional shape portion; a cam switching mechanism; a cam position sensor; and a control section. The plane cam shape portions, at the camshaft, have valve lift characteristics different from each other, have respective cam faces parallel to a rotation axis of the camshaft, and are spaced apart from each other. The transitional shape portion is between two adjacent ones of the plane cam shape portions and has a curved cam face which connects the cam faces of the two plane cam shape portions. The cam switching mechanism switches between the valve lift characteristics for an intake valve by selecting one of the plane cam shape portions via the transitional shape portion. |
| US08909452B2 |
Vehicle driving support apparatus
In a vehicle driving support apparatus, if a brake pedal operation by a driver is detected during a braking control, a cruise control unit determines that it is highly likely that the driver recognizes a possibility of a collision of a subject vehicle and a obstacle, and halts the braking control. On the other hand, if a depression amount of the brake pedal by the driver changes to a release side at or over a preset speed, the cruise control unit restarts the halted braking control. |
| US08909448B2 |
Driving force distribution control device and four-wheel-drive vehicle
A driving force distribution control device, which is mounted on a vehicle including an engine configured to generate driving force for the vehicle, a transmission device configured to shift rotation of an output shaft of the engine by transmission ratios, and a driving force transmission system capable of transmitting output of the transmission device to main drive wheels and auxiliary drive wheels, includes: a control device configured to, when a rotational speed of the output shaft of the engine is in a range in which abnormal sound of the driving force transmission system due to pulsation of the driving force can be generated, set a torque value to a value capable of reducing the abnormal sound depending on the driving force; and a driving force transmitting device configured to transmit driving force depending on the set value to the auxiliary drive wheels. |
| US08909444B2 |
Method for controlling a transmission of a motor vehicle
A method for controlling a motor vehicle transmission (11) is disclosed in which a sensor (18) used to produce an indication of position of a selector (17) is calibrated such that positioning the selector (17) at a peak force feedback position produced by a peak and trough force feedback mechanism (24) connected to the selector (17) will always result in the selection of a drive mode of the transmission (11). |
| US08909443B2 |
Shift device
A shift device includes: a shift lever which is installed in a vehicle, and which is configured to automatically return to a reference position from a neutral position; a position detecting unit which is configured to detect that the shift lever is placed at the neutral position; and a setting unit which is configured to: set the vehicle to a neutral state when the shift lever is held at the neutral position for a specified time or more; set the vehicle to the neutral state when the shift lever is placed at the neutral position a plurality of times within a predetermined time. |
| US08909441B2 |
Driving power source rotational speed control device and driving power source rotational speed control method
A driving power source rotational speed control device is provided in a vehicle outputs power of a rotary driving power source via a continuously variable transmission as motive power, that changes the rotational speed of the rotary driving power source in association with changes in the vehicle speed when acceleration is requested. The control device includes: acceleration/deceleration state determination means determines whether the vehicle is accelerating or decelerating when acceleration is requested; and rotary driving power source rotational speed change setting means sets the change gradient of the rotary driving power source rotational speed to establish the association of the rotary driving power source rotational speed with changes in the vehicle speed when acceleration is requested. The rotary driving power source rotational speed change setting means suppresses reductions in the rotary driving power source rotational speed when the acceleration/deceleration state determination means determines that the vehicle is decelerating. |
| US08909440B2 |
Tractor
Provided is a tractor which allows continuation of a plowing work by appropriately elevating a plow when slip occurs in wheels. The tractor includes draft controlling means (34) for elevating the plow to a target machine body level value obtained by making reference to control information with a draft load value detected by a draft load sensor (S). The control information is set based on a target plowing depth set when the plow was set to a target plowing depth and a draft load value. When a slip ratio detected by a slip ratio acquiring means (37) exceeds a threshold value, in place of previously set control information, there is newly set control information which renders higher the target machine body level relative to a same draft load value, thereby to elevate the plow. |
| US08909436B2 |
Remote adjustment of a row unit of an agricultural device
Agricultural devices, row unit adjustment systems, and methods of adjusting a depth of a furrow are provided. In some aspects, an agricultural device is adapted to plant seeds and includes a frame, a furrow opener coupled to the frame and adapted to cut a furrow including a depth, a sensor adapted to sense a characteristic associated with planting seeds and generate a signal associated with the sensed characteristic, and a processing unit receiving the signal associated with the sensed characteristic. The depth of the furrow is adjustable based on the signal associated with the sensed characteristic. Such characteristic may be a characteristic of the soil, a force applied to the agricultural device, or a position of a portion of the agricultural device. |
| US08909429B2 |
Vehicle steering system
In a vehicle steering system, when a sensor malfunction determination unit detects a malfunction of a rotation angle sensor, the sensor malfunction determination unit changes a control mode from a first control mode to a second control mode. In the second control mode, an actual rotor angle (mechanical angle) (θSM) of a steered system motor is computed on the basis of a second rotor angle (electric angle) (θSE2) estimated by a rotation angle estimation unit. Then, feedback control is executed such that the actual rotor angle (θSM) converges to a target rotor angle (θSM1*) that is obtained by superimposing a rotation maintaining command signal on a target rotor angle (θSM*) computed by a target rotor angle computation unit. |
| US08909428B1 |
Detecting driver grip on steering wheel
Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to determining by what degree a driver is gripping a steering wheel. In one example, a computer may send an electrically assisted power steering system (EPS) motor an excitation command to move. The EPS motor may respond by moving a flexible coupling between the steering wheel and the EPS motor. This may cause a corresponding movement at the steering wheel. A torque sensor may generate pattern data by monitoring the flexible coupling during the movement. The EPS motor may generate system position data for the entire steering system, for example, from the tires to the steering wheel. The pattern data and the system position data may be compared by the computer to determine the degree of grip. In this regard, the computer may determine the degree of a driver's grip without the need for additional sensors. |
| US08909426B2 |
Trailer path curvature control for trailer backup assist
A vehicle has a trailer backup steering input apparatus, a trailer backup assist control module coupled to the a trailer backup steering input apparatus, and an electric power assist steering system coupled to the trailer backup assist control module and. The trailer backup steering input apparatus is configured for outputting a trailer path curvature signal approximating a desired curvature for a path of travel of a trailer towably coupled to the vehicle. The trailer backup assist control module is configured for determining vehicle steering information as a function of the trailer path curvature signa. The electric power assist steering system is configured for controlling steering of steered wheels of the vehicle as a function of the vehicle steering information. |
| US08909422B2 |
In-vehicle information system
An in-vehicle information system that notifies passengers in a vehicle of guidance information, including a display input unit having a display unit that displays the guidance information and an input unit that covers the display unit and detects touch operations by the passengers to be output as input operation information, and an information control unit that switches and outputs the guidance information to the display unit according to driving states of the vehicle and classifies the guidance information into first information to be provided to the passengers according to the input operation information and second information to be provided to the passengers according to the driving states of the vehicle to output the first information to the display unit according to the input operation information. |
| US08909421B2 |
Windshield wiping device
The invention relates to a windshield wiping device (1), in particular for a motor vehicle, comprising at least one driving device (2) which can be controlled by a control device (3), said control device (3) controlling a power and torque requirement of the windshield wiping device (1) dependent on at least one or more parameters influencing the power and torque requirement of the driving device (2). The invention is characterized in that the control device (3) has at least parameters for determining the current position of the motor vehicle to reduce the power and torque. |
| US08909415B1 |
Vehicle and personal service monitoring and alerting systems
A portable multi-modal physics and environmental based signature information collection, analysis, and alerting apparatus, device and method capable of operating independently of vehicle diagnostic or alerting systems. Device uses algorithms and models to calculate, determine, and detect signature anomalies from accelerometer and other imbedded sensors for anomaly response to individual situations within the Automotive Global Information Grid. Wireless infrastructure provisioning of uniquely identified publisher and subscriber Automotive Network Centric Enterprise Services host subscriber and device holder as a persistent publisher presenting signature information on operational and environmental status and conditions. Onboard signature collection and anomaly detection device supports ISO MME and manufacture defined data formats, standard crash analysis algorithms based on ISO, SAE, FMVSS, CMVSS, EuoNCAP. Communications infrastructure is multi-modal providing auto alert capabilities. Machine to machine interface employs W3C standard telematics, event mark-up language, and the wireless communications utilizes cell phone, satellite, and other communications platforms. |
| US08909413B2 |
Methods and systems for controlling on-board diagnostics
Embodiments provide systems and methods for using a feedback correction factor to determine whether a motor vehicle should be placed in a judging or non-judging mode regarding the on-board diagnostic system. If the feedback correction factor is within a predetermined range, the vehicle is placed in a judging mode. If the feedback correction factor is outside a predetermined range, the vehicle is placed in a non-judging mode. Methods and systems for using an engine oil temperature to determine whether a motor vehicle should be placed in a judging or non-judging mode regarding the on-board diagnostic system are disclosed. If an engine oil temperature, or predicted engine oil temperature, is below a predetermined temperature, the motor vehicle is placed in a non-judging mode. If an engine oil temperature, or predicted engine oil temperature, is above a predetermined temperature, the motor vehicle is placed in a judging mode. |
| US08909412B2 |
Apparatus and method for processing sensor data for vehicle using extensible markup language
An apparatus and a method for processing sensor data for a vehicle using an unified data format eXtensible Markup Language in process of data communication between various vehicle sensors and a vehicle application system, which facilitates transmit and receive data processing in terms of a vehicle network of the sensors and the application system are provided. The apparatus for processing the sensor data for the vehicle using the XML includes a plurality of vehicle sensors installed inside the vehicle for detecting a change of physical quantity and providing a detection signal; a sensor transducer for converting the detection signal of the vehicle sensors to an electrical analog signal; a signal conditioning unit for amplifying the electrical analog signal to a measurable signal; an Analog/Digital Converter (ADC) for converting the amplified analog signal to sensor data of a digital signal; a frame generator for generating and providing the sensor data converted to the digital signal per frame; and a sensor data converter comprising a Dynamic data Exchange Channel (DEC) for batch-processing the sensor data input from the frame generator per frame, in an XML format. The DEC of the sensor data converter defines a structure of the sensor data using a schema of the XML and converts the sensor data format to the XML format at the same time. |
| US08909411B2 |
Slip rate detection method and detection system for electric vehicle
A slip rate detection method and a detection system for detecting the slip rate of an electric vehicle using the method. The slip rate of an electric vehicle is measured by measuring the motor voltage, motor current, and motor rotational speed of the drive motor. The detection system includes a motor rotational speed detection unit, a motor voltage detection unit, and a motor current detection unit, all connected to the drive motor. The motor rotational speed detection unit, the motor voltage detection unit, and the motor current detection unit are connected to a slip rate calculation unit by means of a motor rotational speed signal processing unit, a voltage signal processing unit, and a current signal processing unit, respectively. The slip rate calculation unit is configured with a slip rate calculation formula. The formula is determined according to the drive motor type. |
| US08909407B2 |
Control device for hybrid vehicle
A control device of a hybrid vehicle has an electric shift mechanism including a differential mechanism having a first rotating element coupled to an engine in a power transmittable manner, a second rotating element coupled to a differential electric motor in a power transmittable manner, and a third rotating element that is an output rotating member coupled to an electric motor for running in a power transmittable manner, and a mechanical shift mechanism, and makes a differential torque smaller between an output torque of the engine and an engagement torque of the engagement devices involved in a shift of the mechanical shift mechanism on the same shaft in a case of a shift with a smaller rotation speed change in the engine as compared to a case of a shift with a larger rotation speed change in the engine in the same type of shift in the mechanical shift mechanism. |
| US08909405B2 |
Method and device for controlling an internal combustion engine
A device for operating a drivetrain, which drivetrain includes an electrical machine, has an energy management unit and an electrical machine management unit. The energy management is configured for transmitting a desired electrical, and/or a lower electrical limit, and/or an upper electrical limit power to the electrical machine management unit. |
| US08909402B2 |
Vehicle control system and vehicle control method
A vehicle control system is configured to include a motive power unit that includes an engine and a rotating electrical machine, a power supply device that is connected to the rotating electrical machine, a pump unit that includes an electric oil pump and a mechanical oil pump for cooling the rotating electrical machine, and a control device. The control device is configured to include a carrier frequency determination unit, a rotating electrical machine determination unit, a vehicle required traveling state determination unit, a motive power unit operation mode determination unit that makes a determination on the operation mode of the motive power unit, and an EOP operation control unit that controls the operation of the electric oil pump on the basis of these determinations. |
| US08909397B2 |
Control apparatus and control method for hybrid vehicle
When an abnormality except for a temperature abnormality of a travel-purpose battery is detected, a battery of the present invention renders a system main relay to make a change to a battery-less travel mode while using a battery cooling fan to cool the travel-purpose battery. When a temperature abnormality of the travel-purpose battery is still detected, a system-off command signal is output to cause the hybrid vehicle to become unable to travel. In this way, limp home mode and system shutoff of the hybrid vehicle can be surely implemented even in the case where an abnormality occurs to the travel-purpose battery. |
| US08909395B2 |
System and method for aircraft performance predictions for climb flight phase
A system and method for aircraft performance predictions for climb flight phase is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of aircraft performance predictions for climb flight phase in a flight management system (FMS) includes determining current predicted aircraft state using a total energy of the aircraft. Further, excess energy available in an engine of the aircraft is computed. Furthermore, a change of speed of the aircraft is computed at a given point in the climb flight phase. Kinetic energy (KE) change required is then computed for the computed speed change. Remaining energy available is then computed based on the computed KE change. The aircraft performance predictions for the climb flight phase are then computed using the determined current predicted aircraft state. |
| US08909393B2 |
Methods for predicting a speed brake system fault
Methods of predicting a speed brake fault in an aircraft having a speed brake system including multiple control surfaces, a handle for setting the position of the multiple control surfaces, and at least one control surface position sensor, the methods include receiving a position signal from the at least one position sensor, determining a variation in the position signal and predicting a fault in the speed brake system. |
| US08909391B1 |
Responsive navigation of an unmanned aerial vehicle to a remedial facility
The present disclosure relates to a deployment system for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In one aspect, an illustrative deployment system includes a communication system configured for receiving diagnostic data corresponding to an object held by a UAV, wherein the object has an expiration condition; and a logic module configured for (i) determining that the expiration condition has been satisfied based, at least in part, on the received diagnostic data, and (ii) responsive to determining that the expiration condition has been satisfied, initiating an action that includes sending to the UAV both (a) navigation data relating to a remedial facility, and (b) instructions to navigate to the remedial facility based, at least in part, on the navigation data. |
| US08909385B2 |
Infrared signature matching system, control circuit, and related method
An infrared (IR) signature matching system comprises a heating and cooling device, a plurality of sensors configured to detect information related to the IR signature of the heating and cooling device and a background environment, a controller operably coupled with the heating and cooling device and the plurality of sensors. The controller is configured to receive the information from the plurality of sensors and adjust the temperature of the heating and cooling device until the IR signature of the heating and cooling device and the IR signature of the background environment are at least substantially matched in a selectable sub-region of the IR spectrum. Other systems, control circuits and related methods for matching IR signatures and cloaking objects in the IR spectrum are disclosed herein. |
| US08909382B1 |
Occupancy detection system and method having automatic adaptation capabilities
An occupancy detection system includes a motion detector, one or more sound detectors and a lighting controller configured to turn on and off one or more lighting devices in a defined area based on detected occupancy states. Lighting control circuitry determines occupancy states based on motion detector output signals and sound detector output signals, and further controls associated lighting devices to be turned ON or OFF in accordance with determined occupancy states and an automatically adaptable timeout period. The timeout period is automatically adjusted in accordance with newly recorded time stamps for lighting status changes, based on a second order occupancy distribution analysis such as a Gaussian probability distribution function, with an occupancy curve adjusted for each newly recorded set of time stamps and the timeout period being adjusted according to the mean and variance of the occupancy curve. |
| US08909381B2 |
Data communication in a multi-wire irrigation control system
An irrigation control device having a modulator that modulates data onto an alternating power signal by distorting amplitude of a first leading portion of selected cycles of the alternating power signal, and permit effectively a full amplitude of the alternating power signal on a following portion of the selected cycles, wherein the first leading portion and the following portion are either both on a high side of a cycle or both on a low side of a cycle of the alternating power signal. The irrigation control device further includes an interface configured to couple the modulator to a multi-wire interface coupled to a plurality of irrigation devices to permit the alternating power signal to be applied to the multi-wire interface. |
| US08909375B2 |
Nodding mechanism for a single-scan sensor
A single-scanning system for a robot can include a base and a nodding mechanism that pivotably attached to the base. A single-scan sensor such as a lidar or laser sensor can be fixed to the nodding mechanism, and a controller can be connected to the single-scan sensor and motor via a gear arrangement. The controller can manipulate nodding characteristics such as nodding range and nodding angular velocity dynamically, during operation of the robot, either in response to a command from a remote user, robot autonomy system, or according to written instructions included in the controller. An encoder disk can interconnect the nodding mechanism to the controller. With this configuration, the encoder disk can receive sensor data from the single-scan sensor, for further transmission to said controller. A transceiver can route sensor data to the remote user, and can also receive commands from the remote user. |
| US08909368B2 |
Method and system for transporting inventory items
A system for transporting inventory items includes an inventory holder capable of storing inventory items and a mobile drive unit. The mobile drive unit is capable of moving to a first point with the inventory holder at least one of coupled to and supported by the mobile drive unit. The mobile drive unit is additionally capable of determining a location of the inventory holder and calculating a difference between the location of the inventory holder and the first point. The mobile drive unit is then capable of determining whether the difference is greater than a predetermined tolerance. In response to determining that the difference is greater than the predetermined tolerance, the mobile drive unit is also capable of moving to a second point based on the location of the inventory holder, docking with the inventory holder, and moving the mobile drive unit and the inventory holder to the first point. |
| US08909353B2 |
Percutaneous lead introducer
In general, the invention is directed to a technique for percutaneously introducing a stimulation lead into a target stimulation site via the epidural region proximate the spine of a patient. The process of introducing the stimulation lead may include the use of a hollow stimulation lead introducer, which comprises an elongated sheath and an elongated dilator. The dilator fits within the sheath and serves to widen a path through the epidural region for the introduction of a stimulation lead. At least a portion of the stimulation lead introducer has an oblong cross-section, allowing passage of stimulation leads such as paddle leads. The stimulation lead introducer may enter the epidural region proximate a spine of a patient via a guidewire. The stimulation lead introducer provides a path through the epidural region of a patient to a target stimulation site. A stimulation lead may travel through the path to reach the target stimulation site where it may provide therapy to the patient. |
| US08909350B2 |
Neurostimulation system for defining a generalized ideal multipole configuration
A system for a neurostimulator coupled to electrodes. The system comprises an input device configured for generating control signals. The system further comprising memory storing a first set of variable values defining a first spatial relationship between a central ideal pole of a first polarity and the plurality of electrodes, a second set of variable values defining a second spatial relationship respectively between four ideal poles of a second polarity and the first ideal pole, and a third set of variable values defining relative intensities between the four ideal poles. The system further comprises control circuitry configured for modifying the first variable values, the second variable values, and/or the third variable values, and generating stimulation parameter values defining relative amplitude values for the electrodes that emulate the ideal poles, and instructing the neurostimulator to convey electrical energy to the electrodes in accordance with the stimulation parameter values. |
| US08909347B2 |
Location and deactivation of muscles
Methods and devices for treatment to at least interfere with the function of a muscle are described herein. These methods and devices may have application in cosmetic and plastic surgery, dermatology, suppression of tension and/or migraine-type headaches, pain management, one particular application of the subject matter deals primarily with reducing wrinkles caused by ongoing muscular activation. The devices and methods described herein allow medical practitioners to effectively identify selective nerves for paralyzing muscles, without the need for injections of agents such as botulism toxin. Moreover, the devices and methods herein, may allow for artificial generation of signals in nerves that were otherwise damaged by stimulating transmission of nerve signals across damaged nerves. |
| US08909345B1 |
Non-invasive neuromodulation (NINM) for rehabilitation of brain function
In a patient suffering from neural impairment, stimulation is provided to sensory surfaces of the face and/or neck, or more generally to areas of the body that stimulate the trigeminal nerve, while performing an activity intended to stimulate a brain function to be rehabilitated. The simulation may then be continued after the performance of the activity has ceased. It has been found that the patient's performance of the activity is then improved after stimulation has ceased. Moreover, it tends to improve to a greater extent, and/or for a longer time, when the post-activity stimulation is applied, as compared to when postactivity stimulation is not applied. |
| US08909342B2 |
Method for treating eating disorders
A method for the treatment of eating disorders by nerve tissue stimulation and infusion techniques to one or more areas of the brain affecting hunger and satiety; palatability and aversion; hedonism; reward/addiction behavior; mood; anxiety; depression, taste and smell. The invention also comprises methods for the treatment of disorders of these individual behaviors and in particular, disorders of taste and/or smell. |
| US08909339B2 |
Glucose powered implantable device to collect blood ingredients
An implantable device that includes a plurality of conduits, a plurality of chambers, and a control unit. The blood through the plurality of conduits and the chambers collect the ingredient information of the blood according to the blood through the conduits. The chambers transfer the ingredient information of the blood to the control unit to analysis. The chamber includes two electrodes, the chamber exploits a reverse theorem to force the glucose of the blood generates a plurality of charges flowing between the electrodes and further to generate a current in the chamber. Thus, the implantable device can achieve the goal of the self-electricity-generation. |
| US08909336B2 |
External defibrillator
An external defibrillator includes patient electrodes (20) for obtaining the patient's electrocardiogram (ECG) and for applying a shock to the patient. A microprocessor (24) analyses the patient's ECG using a diagnostic algorithm to detect if the patient's heart is in a shockable rhythm, and shock delivery circuitry (10) is enabled when a shockable rhythm is detected by the diagnostic algorithm. The patient electrodes also allow obtaining a signal (Z) which is a measure of the patient's transthoracic impedance and the microprocessor is responsive to Z to detect conditions likely to cause the diagnostic algorithm to generate a false detection of a shockable rhythm. If such detection is made, the microprocessor prevents detection of a shockable rhythm by the diagnostic algorithm, at least for a period of time. |
| US08909335B2 |
Method and apparatus for applying a rectilinear biphasic power waveform to a load
A system and method to deliver a therapeutic quantity of energy to a patient. The system includes a capacitor having a rated energy storage capacity substantially equal to the therapeutic quantity of energy, a boost converter coupled with the capacitor and constructed to release energy from the capacitor at a substantially constant current for a time interval, and an H-bridge circuit coupled with the boost converter and constructed to apply the substantially constant current in a biphasic voltage waveform to the patient. The method includes storing a quantity of energy substantially equal to the therapeutic quantity of energy in a capacitor, releasing the quantity of energy at a relatively constant current during a time interval using a boost converter coupled with the capacitor, and delivering a portion of the quantity energy in a direction to the patient using an H-bridge circuit coupled with the boost converter. |
| US08909331B2 |
Robust rate calculation in an implantable cardiac stimulus or monitoring device
Devices and methods for analyzing cardiac signal data. An illustrative method includes identifying a plurality of detected events and measuring intervals between the detected events for use in rate estimation. In the illustrative embodiment, a set of intervals is used to make the rate estimation by first discarding selected intervals from the set. The remaining intervals are then used to calculate an estimated interval, for example by averaging the remaining intervals. |
| US08909330B2 |
Body-worn device and associated system for alarms/alerts based on vital signs and motion
The invention provides a body-worn monitor that measures a patient's vital signs (e.g. blood pressure, SpO2, heart rate, respiratory rate, and temperature) while simultaneously characterizing their activity state (e.g. resting, walking, convulsing, falling). The body-worn monitor processes this information to minimize corruption of the vital signs by motion-related artifacts. A software framework generates alarms/alerts based on threshold values that are either preset or determined in real time. The framework additionally includes a series of ‘heuristic’ rules that take the patient's activity state and motion into account, and process the vital signs accordingly. These rules, for example, indicate that a walking patient is likely breathing and has a regular heart rate, even if their motion-corrupted vital signs suggest otherwise. |
| US08909329B2 |
Detection of relaxation abnormality in heart tissue
A chronically implanted medical device, connected to a medical electrical lead that includes a sensor, is used to detect diastolic dysfunction. A LV accelerometer signal is sensed through the sensor. Based on the LV accelerometer signal, a determination is made as to whether diastolic dysfunction data exists. |
| US08909324B2 |
Optical coherent tomographic image forming apparatus and control method thereof
An optical coherent tomographic image forming apparatus including a light guide configured to divide a light into a measurement light and a reference light; a flush unit configured to discharge a flush liquid into a body lumen; a refractive index setting unit configured to set a refractive index of the flush liquid; an adjustment value setting unit configured to set an adjustment value; a calibration unit for adjusting the length of the reference optical path or the length of the measurement optical path based on the adjustment value; an image construction unit configured to construct a cross-sectional image; and an offset value calculation unit for calculating an offset value of the length of the reference optical path based on a changed refractive index when the refractive index of the flush liquid is changed by the refractive index setting unit after calibration is executed by the calibration unit. |
| US08909323B2 |
System for processing angiography and ultrasound image data
A system provides a single composite image including multiple medical images of a portion of patient anatomy acquired using corresponding multiple different types of imaging device. A display processor generates data representing a single composite display image including, a first image area showing a first image of a portion of patient anatomy acquired using a first type of imaging device, a second image area showing a second image of the portion of patient anatomy acquired using a second type of imaging device different to the first type. The first and second image areas include first and second markers respectively. The first and second markers identify an estimated location of the same corresponding anatomical position in the portion of patient anatomy in the first and second images respectively. A user interface enables a user to move at least one of, (a) the first marker in the first image and (b) the second marker in the second image, to correct the estimated location so the first and second markers identify the same corresponding anatomical position in the portion of patient anatomy. |
| US08909322B2 |
Catheter for magnetic resonance guided procedures
A catheter for magnetic resonance (MR) guided procedures comprising: a catheter body having a lumen for accommodating an intravascular device; a magnetic coupling component in the catheter body, the magnetic coupling component being designed to magnetically couple with a conductive length on the intravascular device, the magnetic coupling resulting in a signal; the catheter having a connection to deliver the signal to a processor. |
| US08909318B2 |
Apparel for physiological telemetry during athletics
A user interface component and system for physiological parameters telemetry is provided. A user interface component may be reversibly or irreversibly attached to a garment that allows connection to a user's skin, such as via one or more holes in the garment. Signals transmitted through a conductive transfer layer in the user interface component are provided to a signal receiving unit which can collect and transmit physiological data. |
| US08909317B1 |
Electrode kit for easy and fast deployment in electroencephalogram acquisition and monitoring applications
Electrodes for use in electroencephalographic recording, including consciousness and seizure monitoring applications, have novel features that speed, facilitate or enforce proper placement of the electrodes, including any of alignment indicators, tabs and juts, color coding, and an insulating bridge between reference and ground electrodes which ensures a safe application distance between the conductive regions of the two electrodes in the event of cardiac defibrillation. A method of using a set of at least four such electrodes is also disclosed. |
| US08909308B2 |
Antenna swapping methods using a time period that is received from a network, and related wireless electronic devices
Antenna swapping methods for a wireless electronic device may include refraining from swapping antennas of the wireless electronic device for wireless communication with a network other than during a time period that is received at the wireless electronic device from the network. Related systems and devices are also described. |
| US08909305B2 |
Method and system for activating an application on a mobile device
A system for running an application on a mobile device may include a mobile device having an application associated with a service provider, a computing device in communication with the mobile device and a computer readable storage medium in communication with the computing device. The computer readable storage medium may have one or more programming instructions for determining an inactive time associated with the mobile device, determining whether the inactive time is equal to or greater than a threshold value and in response to the inactive time being equal to or greater than the threshold value, sending a message to the mobile device. The inactive time may represent a length of a period of inactivity associated with the mobile device, and the message may include one or more instructions to activate the application. |
| US08909303B2 |
System and method for rotating a user interface for a mobile device
A system and method for determining the orientation of a mobile device for displaying a graphical user interface and for activating an audio user interface in response to an incoming call or outgoing call. For the graphical user interface, depending on the detected orientation of the mobile device, the graphical user interface can be displayed in a first vertical orientation, a second vertical orientation, a first horizontal orientation, and a second horizontal orientation. For the audio user interface, depending on the detected orientation of the mobile device, a speaker and a microphone can be activated based on the detected vertical orientation so that the activated speaker is near the top of the mobile device and the activated microphone is near the bottom of mobile device. |
| US08909299B2 |
Mobile application for ad-hoc image display
An ad hoc imaging capability allows a plurality of mobile devices to render an ad hoc image at a venue, such as a sports arena. A mobile ad hoc image (“MAHI”) application can be downloaded to the spectators' mobile devices prior to the event. Seat location of a user is used by the MAHI application to select and display an image, which is a pixel of the ad hoc image. The ad hoc image can be animated or static. An authoring tool allows creation of an ad hoc image data structure whereby a previously created image or animation is mapped to the venue seating configuration. The ad hoc image data can be downloaded to, and cached by, the mobile device along with downloading the application, or the ad hoc image data can be streamed to the mobile device when the ad hoc image is to be displayed. |
| US08909292B2 |
Communication apparatus and method for displaying man-machine interface MMI
A communication apparatus and a method for providing a predetermined subscriber identification module (SIM) card are provided. The communication apparatus provides different man-machine interfaces (MMIs) according to a number of the inserted SIM cards. The communication apparatus includes a detector arranged to detect an amount of the inserted SIM cards on the communication apparatus, and a processor arranged to provide different MMIs according to the amount of inserted SIM cards. |
| US08909291B1 |
Dynamic remotely managed SIM profile
A method for managing device profiles is provided. The method comprises adding at least one alternative primary profile to a memory module at an alternative address different from a main address of a main primary profile. The method further comprises modifying a pointer that points to an address in the memory module from which a profile is retrieved such that the pointer points to the alternative address. The main primary profile comprises a main device identifier and a main authentication key, and the alternative primary profile comprises an alternative device identifier and an alternative authentication key. |
| US08909283B2 |
Transmit power adjustment to reduce a relative phase discontinuity
A method and a serving NodeB for adjusting transmit power of a User Equipment (UE) having multiple transmitter chains to reduce relative phase discontinuity (RPD) between a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) and a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). The NodeB receives from the UE, an RP characteristic of the UE and, based on the RP characteristic, selects an SRS or PUSCH transmit power level for the UE so as to reduce the RPD. The NodeB instructs the UE to set the SRS or PUSCH transmit power level to the level selected by the NodeB. |
| US08909279B2 |
Adaptation of transmit power for neighboring nodes
Transmit power (e.g., maximum transmit power) may be defined based on the maximum received signal strength allowed by a receiver and a minimum coupling loss from a transmitting node to a receiver. Transmit power may be defined for an access node (e.g., a femto node) such that a corresponding outage created in a cell (e.g., a macro cell) is limited while still providing an acceptable level of coverage for access terminals associated with the access node. An access node may autonomously adjust its transmit power based on channel measurement and a defined coverage hole to mitigate interference. Transmit power may be defined based on channel quality. Transmit power may be defined based on a signal-to-noise ratio at an access terminal. The transmit power of neighboring access nodes also may be controlled by inter-access node signaling. |
| US08909275B2 |
Wireless communication system
Disclosed is a wireless communication system including: a controller and a plurality of communication terminals connected to each other for communication, and the controller includes: a first wireless communication section; a communication number control section which counts a communication number of each of the communication terminal communicated and stores the number in the storage section; and a first communication control section which sets back off information indicating priority of communication of the communication terminal according to the communication number stored in the storage section and transmits the back off information through the first wireless communication section to the communication terminal, and the communication terminal includes: a second wireless communication section; and a second communication control section which sets the back off time of communication with the controller shorter as the priority becomes higher based on the back off information received from the controller. |
| US08909273B2 |
Wireless communication system, wireless communication method, terminal apparatus, and communication apparatus
A wireless communication system includes at least one terminal apparatus and one communication apparatus which perform communication in a plurality of frequency bands. The terminal apparatus includes: a function information storing unit which pre-stores frequency band information indicating available frequency bands among the plurality of frequency bands and the number of simultaneously available frequency bands; and a terminal control unit which reads the frequency band information stored in the function information storing unit and transmits the read frequency band information to the communication apparatus via a first wireless communication unit. The communication apparatus includes: a base station control unit which selects at least one frequency band from the plurality of frequency bands based on the frequency band information transmitted from the terminal apparatus; and a second wireless communication unit which communicates with the terminal apparatus by use of the frequency band selected by the base station control unit. |
| US08909271B2 |
Method and apparatus for supporting positioning measurements
A method and apparatus for supporting positioning measurements. The methods include designating a reference cell, choosing a positioning signal, and, for inter-frequency measurements, determining which inter-frequency cell to measure and how to make such an inter-frequency positioning measurement. |
| US08909268B2 |
Method and apparatus for paging in machine to machine or mobile assisted deployments
A method and apparatus may be used to perform WTRU-WTRU paging in wireless communications. For example, a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) may be configured to page another WTRU. In this example, the paging WTRU may receive a first message that indicates a group identification (ID). The WTRU may receive a second message that may include an indicator that indicates one or more other WTRUs that the paging WTRU may page. If the received indicator matches a paging indicator of the paging WTRU, the paging WTRU may transmit an access signal to one or more other WTRUs. The paging indicator of the paging WTRU may be predetermined, and may be received in a configuration message from a base station (BS). The first message may be a secondary advanced (SA)-preamble. |
| US08909262B2 |
System for providing application and management service and modifying user interface and method thereof
Disclosed is a system for downloading an application from a server and providing the same to a client by using a short message or a subscriber interface module (SIM) card. The system modifies a function key for each application according to a client's selection, and randomly modifies a user interface used for selecting an application. The system extends a usage range of the SIM card. The system periodically checks and analyzes the client' use log for a predetermined time, presents at least one application to the client according to the analysis result on the use log, provides a single application selected by the client to the client, and updates at least one application stored in the client mobile terminal according to the analysis result on the use log. Therefore, the system increases service satisfaction for the client. |
| US08909260B2 |
Radio impacts due to group triggering and paging and solutions for group triggering and paging
A method includes transmitting a paging indicator indicating to user equipment assigned to one or more groups that the user equipment are to attempt to receive paging messages including paging information targeted to at least one of the one or more groups; and transmitting in a channel the paging information in the paging messages. Another method includes receiving a paging indicator indicating a user equipment is to attempt to receive paging messages including paging information targeted to at least one of one or more groups; and receiving from a channel the paging information in the paging messages. A method includes sending a request message to user equipment assigned to one or more groups, the request message comprising an indication to cause the user equipment to read device trigger information in a system broadcast message; and sending the device trigger information in the system broadcast message. |
| US08909257B2 |
Positioning protocol conveyance
Techniques for selecting positioning protocols consistent with the capabilities of the location server in a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) based service are described. The SUPL Location Platform (SLP) transmits the service capabilities of the SLP, such as the positioning protocol capabilities of the SLP. The SLP transmits its capabilities of the SLP in an initiation message to the SUPL enabled terminal (SET) or after receiving an initiation message from the SET. The SET may transmit a positioning initiation message and the SLP and SET communicate to determine one or more position estimates for the SET. The SET may include in the positioning initiation message a positioning protocol positioning message that is consistent with the SLP service capabilities. |
| US08909256B2 |
Method and apparatus for mediating among a plurality of profiles associated with users positioned in a shared location
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method is presented for mediating among a plurality of datagrams containing data, settings or preferences to produce ambience settings applicable to a location area that is shared by a plurality of users wherein at least one of said users is associated to one datagram among said plurality of datagrams. |
| US08909252B2 |
Positioning with wireless local area networks and WLAN-aided global positioning systems
Accurate position capability can be quickly provided using a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). When associated with a WLAN, a wireless device can quickly determine its relative and/or coordinate position based on information provided by an access point in the WLAN. Before a wireless device disassociates with the access point, the WLAN can periodically provide time, location, and decoded GPS data to the wireless device. In this manner, the wireless device can significantly reduce the time to acquire the necessary GPS satellite data (i.e. on the order of seconds instead of minutes) to determine its coordinate position. |
| US08909250B1 |
Obscuring true location for location-based services
A location of a client device may be obscured by using generated random offsets and/or a set of regions. In one implementation, the location of a client device may be obscured using a first random offset and a second random offset. A pseudo-location may be determined based on the location of the client device, the first random offset, and the second random offset. The pseudo-location may be transmitted to a third-party for a location-based service. In another implementation, the location of a client device may be obscured using a first random offset and a set of regions. An intermediate location may be determined based on the location of the client device and the first random offset. A region of the set of regions may be determined based on the intermediate location. A pseudo-location may be transmitted to a third-party for a location-based service based on the determined region. |
| US08909249B2 |
Passive uplink time difference of arrival positioning and tracking system
A system that tracks a mobile transmitter within a communication system is disclosed. The mobile transmitter transmits in one or more predetermined communication slots, the communication slots being dynamically assigned by a system node in the communication system. The tracking system includes at least three uplink probes spatially separated from one another, each uplink probe measuring transmissions in each of the communication slots as a function of time. A cell monitor monitors downlink scheduling transmissions from the system node directed to the mobile transmitter, the scheduling transmissions specifying a time and communication slot to be utilized by the mobile transmitter in a subsequent transmission. A correlator receives the measured transmissions and the monitored downlink scheduling transmissions. The correlator uses the monitored downlink scheduling transmissions and the measured transmissions to determine a time at which a transmission from the mobile transmitter was detected at each of the uplink probes. |
| US08909232B2 |
Mobile unit having internet protocol functionality
A mobile unit includes a handset and a removable storage module having a unique storage module identity, for storing information specific to a user, including an Internet Protocol (IP) address. Additional information regarding a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) and International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) which uniquely identifies the subscriber is also stored in the removable storage module. Upon successfully camping on a cell of a mobile network, the IP address is forwarded to an IP-based network capable of communicating with the mobile unit. In an alternate embodiment, the mobile unit has multi-network capabilities which allow it to communicate with an IP-based network and a cellular network at the same time. In another embodiment, existing cellular network services for the mobile unit having multi-network capabilities are routed through the IP-based network. |
| US08909229B2 |
Fast reselection between different radio access technology networks
A user equipment UE determines that a neighbor cell is higher priority than a serving cell, measures neighbor cell signal strength in n>1 iterations, and analyzes them for reselecting from the serving cell to the neighbor cell. Each measurement iteration is spaced from one another by a time interval (e.g., 1 DRX) that is specific for the neighbor cell being higher priority. In various embodiments, the UE measures while in a Cell-PCH, URA-PCH or idle state/mode and the first iteration is taken at the first available measurement opportunity after transitioning to that state/mode. The UE reselects to the neighbor cell based on the analyzed signal strengths; in one embodiment the decision to reselect is without regard to signal quality of the serving cell; and in another the decision is without regard to whether a reselection condition remains satisfied for a specified time period Treselection. |
| US08909226B2 |
Handoffs and handoff selection in a wireless access network
The present invention facilitates handoffs for a mobile terminal in a wireless access network that is capable of supporting different types of handoffs. The different handoff types may include soft handoffs and fast base station switching (FBSS). In operation, context information associated with supporting wireless communications between the wireless access network and the mobile terminal are determined. Based on whether the context information is shared between base stations involved in the handoff or transferred from one base station to another of the base stations involved in the handoff, a particular handoff type is selected from the different handoff types that are available. Selecting the specific type of handoff to use may also be based on the level of context information that is available, the actual content of the context information, application preferences, channel conditions, base station or mobile terminal capabilities, or any combination thereof. |
| US08909225B2 |
Multicarrier wireless service selection
A user equipment (UE) provides a device identifier to a server device, and receives, based on one of the device identifier or a location of the device, carrier pricing information from the server device. The UE provides the carrier pricing information for display, and receives a selection of a particular carrier from the displayed carrier pricing information. The UE provides an indication of the particular carrier to the server device, initializes a connection with the particular carrier, and performs one or more communication operations via the connection with the particular carrier. |
| US08909224B2 |
Connecting device via multiple carriers
A user device establishes a first connection with a first carrier network of a first carrier. The first carrier issues a first phone number used by the user device. The user device further establishes a second connection with a second carrier network of a second carrier. The second carrier issues a second phone number used by the user device. The user device receives a notification about a call from the first carrier network while connected to the first carrier network and the second carrier network. |
| US08909221B2 |
Positioning apparatus and positioning method
A positioning apparatus for performing a positioning operation based on distance to an access point includes an access point detection unit configured to detect an access point, a memory unit configured to store the access point detected by the access point detection unit for each of channels, a channel setup unit configured to set a channel to be scanned based on the access points in the memory unit, and a positioning operation unit configured to perform positioning based on the distance to the access point detected by the access point detection unit. The access point detection unit detects the access point based on the channel set by the channel setup unit. |
| US08909219B2 |
Methods and apparatus for providing unified wireless communication through efficient memory management
A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided in connection with improving interactions between various components within a wireless device to enable improved communications between wireless devices. In an example, a wireless device may include an application processor equipped to send first and second amounts of data to be buffered in a buffer associated with a controller, and cease communications with the controller after the second amount of data is sent. In an aspect, the ceasing of communications may include switching to a sleep mode. In an aspect, the amounts of data are larger than a threshold data size, and the buffer includes logically combined dedicated memories from SOCs for a plurality of access technologies controlled by the controller. |
| US08909217B2 |
Wireless internet radio system and method for a vehicle
An apparatus for wirelessly connecting a smartphone to a remote FM radio system, for controlling playback of audio content delivered wirelessly to the smartphone via a wide area network, on the remote FM radio system. An apparatus housing receives a DC power signal from a remote DC power source. A control panel has a display and controls for controlling playback of the audio content on the remote FM radio system, at least one of the controls performing a function in common with a playback control appearing on a display of the smartphone. An electronic subsystem communicates with the control panel and wirelessly receives audio content from the smartphone, and communicates the audio content as an FM signal via a user playback command input at the controls of the control panel, to the remote FM radio system. |
| US08909216B2 |
Inter-cell device discovery in device-to-device communication
There are provided measures for enabling an inter-cell device discovery in device-to-device communication. Such measures may exemplarily include observing, at a device residing in a cell representing a serving cell of said device, a device-to-device discovery signal from another device residing in another cell representing a non-serving cell of said device, and modifying at least one of one or more cell reselection parameters referring to the serving cell of said device and one or more cell selection parameters referring to the non-serving cell of said device on the basis of the observed device-to-device discovery signal. |
| US08909205B2 |
Mobile telephone call forwarding management
An indication of an activated call forwarding feature is provided for a mobile telephone/computing device. When a call forwarding feature is activated, an indication may be presented on the device to indicate the call forwarding feature is currently active. The indication may be visual, audible or tactile. The indication serves as a reminder to the user of the device that the call forwarding feature is active. The indication may be presented on the device continuously until the user deactivates the feature, or the indication may be presented only when incoming calls are actually forwarded. Selectable functions may be enabled on the device for changing the call forwarding activation state and for overriding call forwarding for an in-progress forwarding call. |
| US08909199B2 |
Voicemail systems and methods
Systems, methods and computer readable media for providing or managing or using voicemails are described. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, at a first data processing system, data representing an expiration time of a voicemail left for a user of the first data processing system and storing the data representing the expiration time for later use by the first data processing system. Systems, media, and other methods are also described. |
| US08909196B2 |
Systems and methods for facilitating communication between mobile devices and wireless access points
Under one aspect of the present invention, a system is provided for facilitating communication between a mobile device and a wireless access point (WAP). The mobile device includes a processor and a non-volatile computer readable medium. The system may include an identifier disposed on the WAP; and a communication application stored in the non-volatile computer readable medium of the mobile device and configured to cause the processor of the mobile device to perform the steps of: (a) obtaining a digital representation of the identifier of the WAP; (b) connecting to the WAP; (c) transmitting the digital representation of the identifier to the WAP; (d) receiving from the WAP an ESSID and a credential responsive to the transmitted digital representation; and (e) connecting to the selected wireless access point based on the ESSID and credential. |
| US08909195B2 |
Mobile terminal and method of selecting lock function
A mobile terminal and a method of selecting a lock function thereof are provided. The method of selecting a lock function of a mobile terminal having a touch screen includes: measuring, when at least one touch occurs on the touch screen, at least one of a pressure, a current, and a capacitance of an area of the touch screen in which the touch occurs; and selecting, if at least one of the measured pressure, current, and capacitance is greater than or equal to a preset value, a lock function. Thus, by touching the touch screen in such a manner that a high current or capacitance may be measured in a specific area of the mobile terminal, a user can easily perform a desired function, thereby improving user convenience. |
| US08909192B2 |
Mobile virtual network operator
Systems and methods for operating a mobile virtual network are disclosed. A mobile virtual network operator is disclosed as an entity that provides a mobile networking service to a user, the mobile networking service being provided using a physical mobile network provided by a third party. The mobile virtual network operator may provide content distribution services, data access services, or messaging services to a user of a mobile device. |
| US08909180B1 |
Method and apparatus for power supply modulation of a radio frequency signal
A transmitter power supply modulates an RF signal without needing to run a calibration/training cycle every time an exciter or PA module is switched in and out or every time the transmitter powers up. During calibration of the exciter module, an exciter module delay factor is determined, and stored in the exciter module, for each signal modulation scheme that may be implemented by the exciter module. During calibration of a power amplifier (PA) module, a power supply modulation (PSM) delay factor is determined for, and stored in, the PA module. During transmitter operation, the exciter module generates RF and envelope signals based on an input signal. The PA module generates a power supply voltage based on the envelope signal and a final delay factor, which final delay factor is based on the exciter module and PSM delay factors. The PA module then modulates the RF signal using the power supply voltage. |
| US08909178B2 |
Method, RF module and test method for enabling power amplifier to support multiple powers
A method for enabling a power amplifier to support multiple powers includes: calculating a transmit power, according to RF parameters delivered by a baseband board, determining a power amplifier voltage according to the transmit power and a corresponding relationship between the transmit power and the power amplifier voltage, and adjusting a supply voltage of the power amplifier, according to the determined power amplifier voltage, so as to adjust an output power of the power amplifier. A RF module includes a conversion module that converts a baseband board signal into a RF signal, an antenna linear device, a storage module, a power amplifier module, an adjustable power module, and a power control module. A test method is employed to determine the relationship between a transmit power and a power amplifier voltage. |
| US08909175B1 |
Transmitter and method for RF power amplifier having a bandwidth controlled, detroughed envelope tracking signal
A transmitter (70) generates a time-varying, detroughed, biasing signal (154) for an RF power amplifier (10) so that the RF power amplifier (10) is biased in accordance with an envelope tracking scheme. A trough-filling section (94) is responsive to an envelope tracking signal (86), which in turn is responsive to a magnitude signal (90) extracted from a complex baseband communication signal (76). The trough-filing section (94) includes a limiting stage (108) that forms a raw troughing signal (110) which expands the bandwidth of the envelope tracking signal (86). A filtering stage (116) reduces the bandwidth of the raw troughing signal (110) to form a trough-filling signal (122) that is combined back into the envelope tracking signal (86) using a linear process that maintains the bandwidth of the envelope tracking signal (86). |
| US08909171B2 |
RF antenna switch circuit, high frequency antenna component, and mobile communication device
The present invention relates to an RF antenna switch circuit, a high frequency antenna component, and a mobile communication device. According to the present invention, an RF antenna switch circuit including: an antenna; an input/output terminal including at least one transmitting terminal and at least one receiving terminal; at least one transmitting switch block disposed on a transmitting path(s) between the at least one transmitting terminal and a common node; at least one receiving switch block disposed on a receiving path(s) between the at least one receiving terminal and the common node; and a common switch block sharing a switching device and turned on by synchronizing with each of transmitting and receiving operations on transceiving the signal through the antenna is provided. When one of the transmitting and receiving operations is turned on, the other is turned off. |
| US08909164B2 |
Frequency offset correction
The invention relates to a radio-frequency circuit comprising: —a control unit; and —a phase-locked loop; wherein the control unit is arranged to determine an offset between an actual value of a reference frequency at the input to the loop on the basis of a measurement of the signal output from the filter of the loop, and a theoretical value of said frequency known to the control unit, via a relation known to the control unit, and to control a correction of said offset. |
| US08909159B2 |
Channel rank feedback in multiple-input multiple-output communication systems
Embodiments of a system and methodology are disclosed for aperiodic (i.e., non-periodic) feedback of channel-side information, such as channel rank information, to a base station by having the receiver/UE initiate the feedback instead of using a scheduled feedback approach. The autonomous feedback of channel-side information may use one of several different types of physical channel structures for uplink scheduling requests, such as those being discussed for inclusion in the emerging LTE platform standard. |
| US08909155B2 |
Method of analyzing interference between heterogeneous wireless communication systems
The present invention relates to a method of analyzing interference between heterogeneous wireless communication systems, including receiving, by an interference analysis unit, interference parameters from a parameter input unit; receiving, by the interference analysis unit, polarized information from a polarized information input unit and calculating a Polarized Mismatch Loss Factor (PMLF) between a transmission antenna of an interference transmitter and a reception antenna of a victim receiver; and analyzing, by the interference analysis unit, an interference influence of the interference transmitter on the victim receiver based on the interference parameters and the PMLF. In accordance with the present invention, an interference influence between heterogeneous wireless communication systems using different polarized waves can be precisely analyzed by incorporating a loss characteristic according to a polarized mismatch between transmission and reception antennas into the interference influence. |
| US08909149B2 |
Media module of a device
A media module of a device including a display component, an audio component, a sensor, a communication component to wirelessly couple the media module with the device to receive audio/video data from the device and to transmit input data to the device, and a power component to inductively receive power from the device if the media module is within proximity of the device. |
| US08909148B2 |
Communications system
An apparatus for generating and/or transmitting communications signals, the apparatus including a system for generating signals at a first frequency, a system for mixing the frequency of the generated signals from the first frequency down to a second frequency and a near field antenna for receiving the signals at the second frequency and being provided sufficiently near to a wire transmission line so as to wirelessly couple thereto. |
| US08909147B2 |
Apparatus and method for transmission of audio signals
In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, a method is presented which comprises searching for at least a device that is capable of a point-to-point transmission of media data. If such a device is not selected for the point-to-point transmission, a transmission of the media data is started on a second communication interface using a broadcast transmission. |
| US08909145B2 |
Wireless telemetry auto for torque measurement system
A torque measurement system that includes a rotor device and a stator device can perform automatic tuning to improve the initial tuning performed during design and assembly. The stator device can include a variable capacitive element and a micro-controller configured to adjust a capacitance value of the variable capacitive element. Additionally or alternatively, the rotor device can include a variable capacitive element and a micro-controller configured to adjust a capacitance value of the variable capacitive element. The adjustment of the capacitive elements can be based on the quality of signal detected at either the rotor device or stator device. |
| US08909142B2 |
Device, equipment and method for data transmission by touch
The disclosure provides a direction sensor, including a transmission device and a reception device, wherein the transmission device contains an encoding chip for encoding the equipment ID of local equipment into a binary signal, a transmission circuit for adjusting the binary signal to a pulse electric signal and an electromagnetic wave generator for sending the pulse electric signal in the form of electromagnetic wave; and the reception device contains a photoelectric converter for receiving the electromagnetic wave and converting the electromagnetic wave to a pulse electric signal, a reception circuit for converting the pulse electric signal to a binary signal and sending the binary signal to a decoding chip and the decoding chip for reading equipment IDs of other equipment from the binary signal, obtaining the equipment ID of the local equipment, and sending the read equipment ID and a sensor code of the sensor itself when determining that a read equipment ID is different from the equipment ID of the local equipment. The disclosure also provides a device, equipment and method for data transmission by touch. Application of the device, equipment and method provided by the disclosure enables a simple and explicit data transmission procedure and provides convenience for user operation. |
| US08909141B2 |
Secure inductively-coupled communications systems
Security in inductively coupled communications systems, such as near field communications (NFC), may be improved by restricting signals carrying user data to an authorized data transmission region. Security may be particularly important when the NFC carries financial transaction information or authorization credentials. Scramble signals may be transmitted along with data signals carrying the user data and designed to overshadow the data signals outside of the authorized data transmission region. The scramble signal transceiver may be designed to have a slower decay rate with distance from the transceiver than the data signal. By adjusting the power levels of the scramble signal and the data signal, the authorized data transmission region may be adjusted. Scramble signals may not be required if the data signal strength outside the authorized data transmission region is below the minimum threshold value required by eavesdropping receivers. |
| US08909134B2 |
Relay with efficient service roaming handling
A relay device and system with efficient service roaming handling, and methods there for, are provided. The relay device comprises: a processor; a communication interface for communicating with at least a first relay and a second relay, the first relay for relaying messages to a service device; and, a plurality of connection objects, including at least a first connection object for relaying first messages to the first relay and a second connection object for relaying second messages to the second relay, the processor enabled to: receive a service roaming indication that the service device has roamed from the first relay to the second relay; and, in response, communicate only with the first connection object to reroute the first messages associated with the service device to the second relay. |
| US08909133B2 |
Gain measurement and monitoring for wireless communication systems
A system and method of monitoring a signal repeating device in a wireless communication system is provided. An operational noise measurement is obtained by measuring a noise value outside of a bandwidth of a first element, but within a bandwidth of a second, subsequent element in a signal path of the device. The operational noise measurement is alternatively obtained by tuning an input band of the device to shift the input band partially or completely outside of a bandwidth of a first element to create an open band or by suppressing an input of an antenna and measuring noise within the open bandwidth of the device. A stored parameter is retrieved and compared to the measured operational noise. Alternatively, a leakage signal of the device may be received at a signal receiver and compared to a reference. The reference is a function of elements of the device in a leakage path of the leakage signal. |
| US08909124B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a sheet feed unit which feeds a sheet to an image forming unit forming an image on the sheet, a re-transport roller which reverses the sheet with a toner image fixed on the sheet and re-transports the sheet to the image forming unit, and a control unit which controls a sheet feed operation of the sheet feed unit for feeding the sheet. As the temperature of the re-transport roller sensed by the temperature sensing unit is decreased, the control unit retards the timing at which the sheet feed unit starts the sheet feed operation when a duplex image formation in which the image is formed on both sides of the sheet is performed after a one-side image formation is completed. |
| US08909122B2 |
Lubricant supplying device, image forming apparatus, and process cartridge
A lubricant supplying device includes: lubricant; a supplying member; a housing case; a pushing mechanism that includes a pair of swing members supported swingably in the housing case and a biasing unit urging the pair of swing members to swing; and a remaining amount detecting unit that detects that a remaining amount of the lubricant is equal to or smaller than a predetermined amount. The remaining amount detecting unit includes: first detection members provided at respective positions different from respective sliding areas of the member on which the swing members slide, on which sliding areas the respective swing members slide, and second detection members attached to the respective swing members such that the second detection members abut or face the respective first detection members when swing postures of the respective swing members reach respective swing postures corresponding to that the remaining amount of the lubricant is the predetermined amount. |
| US08909118B2 |
Fusing device and image forming device comprising the same
A fusing device with improved fusing performance to obtain superior gloss and gloss uniformity. The fusing device includes at least one heat source to generate heat, a fusing belt disposed near the heat source, a rotation unit contacting an outer circumference of the fusing belt, at least one pressurization unit pressed toward the rotation unit such that a fusing nip is formed between the fusing belt and the rotation unit, a heat conductor contacting an inner surface of the fusing belt to conduct heat to the fusing nip, and an intermediate unit disposed between the pressurization unit and the heat conductor to prevent transmission of heat from the heat conductor to the pressurization unit. |
| US08909115B2 |
Fixing device having members to restrict end faces of tubular member
A fixing device for thermally fixing a developing agent image to a sheet includes: a flexible tubular member having an inner peripheral surface, the tubular member defining an axis extending in an axial direction and having widthwise end portions in the axial direction; a heater; a nip member being in sliding contact with the inner peripheral surface; a backup member confronting the nip member to nip the tubular member in cooperation with the nip member; a stay supporting the nip member; a pair of inner guides being in sliding contact with the inner peripheral surface to guide the same; and a pair of restricting members restricting the widthwise end portions of the tubular member from moving in the axial direction, at least one of the pair of restricting members being formed separately from the inner guides and being assembled to the stay in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction. |
| US08909111B2 |
Image forming apparatus
It has been difficult to ensure satisfactory secondary transfer performance while ensuring satisfactory primary transfer performance by passing a current in the circumferential direction of an intermediate transfer belt from a current supply member.To satisfy a relationship of Rv>Rs, where Rv is resistance in the thickness direction of an intermediate transfer belt and Rs is resistance in the circumferential direction of the intermediate transfer belt over the distance between an image carrier located most upstream and an image carrier located most downstream in the movement direction of the intermediate transfer belt. |
| US08909107B2 |
Toner dispersing mechanism, developing device including the toner dispersing mechanism, and image forming apparatus
Provided is a toner dispersing mechanism arranged between a toner storage container and a developing device, for dispersing toner replenished from the toner storage container. The toner dispersing mechanism includes a housing, a toner dispersing member, and a projecting portion formed continuously at least at a part of an inner wall surface in a longitudinal direction of the housing. The housing includes a toner filling port communicating to the toner storage container, and a toner discharge port communicating to the developing device. The toner dispersing member includes a rotary shaft rotatably supported in the housing, and a large number of dispersing protrusions made of an elastic material and formed on an outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft. The large number of dispersing protrusions face the part and come into contact with the projecting portion. |
| US08909103B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a latent image carrier, a first developing unit, a second developing unit, a transfer unit, a removing member, and a fixing unit. An average circularity of particles having an average particle diameter of no less than 100 nm and no more than 300 nm among particles included in a second external additive is less than an average circularity of particles having an average particle diameter of no less than 100 nm and no more than 300 nm among particles included in a first external additive. |
| US08909092B2 |
Process cartridge and electrophotographic image forming apparatus to charge a photosensitive drum
A support member disposed in a photosensitive member unit for supporting a photosensitive drum to be movable between an acting position, at which the photosensitive drum is brought into contact with a process unit, and a non-acting position, at which the photosensitive drum is separated from the process unit or is brought into contact with the process unit with a pressure lower than a pressure with which the photosensitive drum contacts the process unit at the acting position is included, and when the developing unit is located at a development position, the photosensitive drum secures the acting position, and when the developing unit is located at a non-development position, the photosensitive drum secures the non-acting position. |
| US08909090B2 |
Charging device
A charging device includes a corona charger including a grid electrode, a cleaning member configured to clean the grid electrode, a sheet-type shutter configured to open/close an opening of the corona charger, and a drive source configured to drive both the cleaning member and the shutter in a longitudinal direction of the corona charger, wherein the cleaning member is provided such that a cleaning ability thereof is higher in a case where the cleaning member and the shutter are moved in a closing direction of the opening of the corona charger than in a case where the cleaning member and the shutter are moved in an opening direction of the opening of the corona charger. |
| US08909087B2 |
Printing system, job processing method, storage medium, and printing apparatus
A printing system is operable to enable a printing apparatus to continue a printing of a print job by using printing media of a second supply source after using printing media of a first supply source without expending all of printing media of the first supply source. The printing media included in the first supply source are the same size and type as the printing media included in the second supply source. |
| US08909086B2 |
Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and storage medium
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, a plurality of discharge units, a storage unit, a searching unit, a display unit, a designating unit, and a setting unit. In a case where a request for executing a predetermined print job is accepted, with respect to each of the plurality of discharge units, the searching unit searches for print job information designating each of the plurality of discharge units as a discharge destination of a printed material on the basis of designation information included in the print job information stored in the storage unit. With respect to each of the plurality of discharge units, the display unit displays information on whether there is print job information designating each of the plurality of discharge units as a discharge destination of a printed material. |
| US08909082B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes: an image bearing member; an image forming portion; an intermediary transfer member; a transfer member; an executing portion capable of executing a first mode in which a transfer voltage based on a current detected when a predetermined voltage is applied to the transfer member is applied to the transfer member and capable of executing a second mode in which a transfer voltage is applied to the transfer member to provide a predetermined constant-current; and a controller enabling transition between a stand-by state where the image formation is enabled and a sleep state less than in power consumption than the stand-by state. The controller executes the first mode in a job after main switch actuation and before the transition to the sleep state, and executes the second mode in an initial job after the transition from the sleep state to the stand-by state. |
| US08909079B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a transfer bias generator including a transfer bias supply that supplies a transfer bias to a transfer nip formed between an image carrier and a first rotary body, and a controller that detects a toner adhesion amount at a predetermined region of the image carrier located immediately upstream from the transfer nip and having a predetermined length in a moving direction of the image carrier. The transfer bias generator outputs at least an alternating current component under one of constant voltage control and constant current control and changes a target output value of the alternating current component according to the toner adhesion amount detected by the controller. |
| US08909076B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes image forming portion, toner-disposal container, conveying portion, driving portion, load detection portion, image formation control portion, and image forming condition adjustment portion. The image forming condition adjustment portion corrects, when image forming condition does not conform to predetermined condition, the image forming condition. In a case where a drive load detected by the load detection portion becomes greater than first threshold value while the conveying portion is driven by the driving portion and the image forming operation is executed, the image formation control portion temporarily stops the image forming operation, and causes the image forming condition adjustment portion to check and correct the image forming condition. The image formation control portion restarts the image forming operation when, according to the image forming condition having been corrected, the drive load becomes less than second threshold value which is less than first threshold value. |
| US08909075B2 |
Image forming apparatus and fixing device having paper dust amount obtaining unit
A fixing device for performing a thermal fixing for fixing an unfixed image onto a recording sheet by passing the recording sheet through a fixing nip formed by a fixing rotator and a pressing member pressing the fixing rotator. The fixing device obtains a value indicating an amount of paper dust attached to the fixing rotator, and when the amount of paper dust indicated by the obtained value is equal to or larger than a permissible amount, performs a control so that a larger amount of heat is supplied to the recording sheet in the thermal fixing than when the amount of paper dust indicated by the obtained value is smaller than the permissible amount. |
| US08909073B2 |
Developing unit, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus
A developing unit includes a developer storage unit, a developer bearing member, an agitation member, a flexible member, and a magnet member. The developer storage unit stores a developer. The developer bearing member develops an electrostatic latent image formed on an image bearing member with the developer. The agitation member agitates the developer in the developer storage unit. The flexible member, disposed in the developer storage unit, is distorted by pressure applied by the agitation member via the developer. The magnet member, disposed on the flexible member, is displaced in response to the flexible member being distorted. |
| US08909072B2 |
Image forming apparatus and control method thereof
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit configured to form a measurement image on a recording sheet by using a color material, a fixing unit configured to fix the measurement image onto the recording sheet by heating the measurement image, a measurement unit configured to measure color values of the measurement image fixed on the recording sheet downstream of the fixing unit in a sheet conveyance direction of the recording sheet, a pressing member configured to press the recording sheet, on which the measurement image is formed, against the measurement unit, a selection unit configured to select a mode from among a first mode, in which the measurement image is measured with the pressing member pressing the recording sheet against the measurement unit, and a second mode, in which the measurement image is measured without the pressing member pressing the recording sheet against the measurement unit. |
| US08909071B2 |
Apparatus and method for preventing an information storage device from falling from a removable device
An information storage device installed in a removable device configured to be removably installed in an image forming apparatus body, includes: an information storage unit that stores information communicated between the image forming apparatus body and the removable device; a terminal that comes in contact with a body side terminal; and a substrate that holds the information storage unit and the terminal and includes a hole configured to be engaged with a protruding section installed in the image forming apparatus body. The terminal includes a plurality of terminals each including one of a plurality of metallic plates arranged in a transverse direction thereof. An earth terminal, which comes in contact with a body side earth terminal formed in the protruding section, is formed in the hole. The hole is disposed at a position sandwiched between two metallic plates among the plurality of metallic plates. |
| US08909070B2 |
Image forming apparatus and cartridge
An image forming apparatus includes a container storage that is installed on a toner container and stores first information relating to a use amount of a toner in the toner container and stores second information relating to a use amount of an image holding portion, which is a component not including the toner container and including at least an image holding body from among components installed in a cartridge; a housing storage that stores at least the second information and remains in the housing when the cartridge is removed from a housing; and an information write unit that writes the second information stored in the housing storage into the container storage if the first information stored in the container storage indicates that the toner in the toner container is unused and the second information stored in the container storage indicates that the image holding portion is used. |
| US08909066B2 |
Optical transfer system, optical transmission device, and optical reception device
In an optical transfer system, an optical transmission unit generates an optical signal in which respective polarization components are alternately present on a time axis, a time period during which the respective polarization components are simultaneously present on the time axis is substantially zero, and a symbol repetition cycle of optical signals of the respective polarization components becomes Ts, an optical reception unit causes an interference between local oscillation light and a received optical signal and converts an interfered optical signal to an electric signal, and a received electric-signal processing unit performs analog-digital conversion of an electric signal, elimination of a delay difference of Ts/2 between the respective polarized signal components, and adaptive equalization of a distortion other than the delay difference. |
| US08909064B2 |
Transport of multiple asynchronous data streams using higher order modulation
Aspects of the invention provide transmitters and receivers for managing multiple optical signals. High order modulation, such as phase and/or amplitude modulation, is used to achieve multiple bits per symbol by transporting multiple asynchronous data streams in an optical transport system. One or more supplemental multiplexing techniques such as time division multiplexing, polarization multiplexing and sub-carrier multiplexing may be used in conjunction with the high order modulation processing. This may be done in various combinations to realize a highly spectrally efficient multi-data stream transport mechanism. The system receives a number of asynchronous signals which are unframed and synchronized, and then reframed and tagged prior to the high order modulation. Differential encoding may also be performed. Upon reception of the multiplexed optical signal, the receiver circuitry may employ either direct detection without a local oscillator or coherent detection with a local oscillator. |
| US08909063B2 |
Optical QPSK signal regeneration and amplification
A method for regenerating and amplifying optical signals includes determining a source optical signal, adding a first pump optical signal and a second pump optical signal to the source optical signal to yield an intermediate optical signal, duplicating the intermediate optical signal to yield a first duplicate signal and a second duplicate signal, phase-shifting the first duplicate signal, passing the phase-shifted first duplicate signal and the second duplicate signal bi-directionally through a nonlinear optical element, and performing degenerate phase-sensitive amplification on the phase-shifted first duplicate signal and the second duplicate signal. |
| US08909061B1 |
Chromatic dispersion pre-compensation
A method is provided for performing chromatic dispersion (CD) pre-compensation. The method generates an electronic signal at a transmitter, and uses a transmit CD compensation estimate to compute a CD pre-compensation filter. The transmit CD pre-compensation filter is used to process the electronic signal, generating a pre-compensated electronic signal. The pre-compensated electronic signal is converted into an optical signal and transmitted to an optical receiver via an optical channel. In one aspect, the transmitter generates a test electronic signal and the CD compensation estimate uses a first dispersion value to compute a first CD compensation filter. The transmitter accepts a residual dispersion estimate of the test optical signal from the first optical receiver CD compensation filter, generated from a (receiver-side) CD estimate, and then the transmit CD estimate can be modified in response to the combination of the first dispersion value and residual dispersion estimate. |
| US08909059B2 |
Optical communication module including optical-electrical signal converters and optical signal generators
An optical communication module includes a substrate, an optical signal receiving unit, an optical signal emitting unit and a coupler. The substrate includes a first surface and a second surface. The substrate defines through holes passing through the first and second surfaces. The optical signal receiving unit includes optical-electrical signal converters. The optical signal emitting unit includes optical signal generators. Each of the optical-electrical signal converters and the optical signal generators is mounted on the first surface and aligned with a corresponding one of the through holes. The coupler includes coupling lenses. The coupler is fixed to the second surface. Each of the optical-electrical signal converters and the optical signal generators is aligned with a corresponding coupling lens through the corresponding through hole. |
| US08909056B2 |
Lighting node systems and methods
A lighting node is described. One embodiment of the lighting node includes a lamp, a radio device, and a memory. The lamp is configured for generating illumination. The radio device is configured for radio communication. The radio device is configured to remotely receive a color profile from the controller. The lamp is also configured to generate illumination to substantially match the received color profile. The memory is configured to store a group identifier for the lighting node. |
| US08909055B2 |
Relay device and speaker apparatus
A relay device includes: a housing including: a first surface; and a second surface which is different from the first surface; a light signal receiving element operable to receive a light signal from outside, the light signal receiving element provided at the first surface of the housing; a light emission element operable to emit light responsive to the light signal received by the light signal receiving element; and a longitudinally elongated light guide member provided at the second surface of the housing, the light guide member to which the light emitted from the light emission element is incident, the light guide member including an emission part which causes the incident light to be emitted to outside from a lateral surface of the light guide member, the lateral surface which extends along a longitudinal direction of the light guide member. |
| US08909054B2 |
Bi-direction optical sub-assembly and optical transceiver
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a bi-direction optical sub-assembly and an optical transceiver. A transmitter in the bi-direction optical sub-assembly is configured to transmit a first communication signal or a detection signal, where the first communication signal or the detection signal is input from a first end of a first optical path and output from a second end of the first optical path, enters a second end of a third optical path through reflection of a WDM optical filter, and is input from a first end of the third optical path to an optical fiber. A second communication signal received by the optical fiber is input from the first end of the third optical path and output from the second end of the third optical path, and the second signal is received by a BOSA receiver through transmission of the WDM optical filter. |
| US08909049B2 |
Method and system for calculating spectrum granularity in flexible grid optical networks
In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method may include determining individual spectrum requirements for each of a plurality of signals to be communicated in an optical network, wherein a first signal of the plurality of signals has a first spectrum requirement and a second signal of the plurality of signals has a second spectrum requirement. The method may also include calculating a minimum spectrum granularity based on the individual spectrum requirements. The method may further include assigning each particular signal a channel spectrum equal to an integer multiple of the minimum spectrum granularity. |
| US08909041B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining an optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) penalty
A method for determining an optical signal-to-noise ratio penalty as a measure for a quality of an optical signal transmitted via an optical link between a source optical node and a destination optical node in an optical network, the method includes collecting information of the optical link; determining a configuration parameter Pconf of the optical link based on the information of the optical link; adjusting the configuration parameter Pconf to an adjusted configuration parameter P′conf according to linear impairments in the optical link; and determining the optical signal-to-noise ratio penalty based on a non-linear function of the adjusted configuration parameter P′conf, the non-linear function accounting for non-linear impairments in the optical link. |
| US08909040B1 |
Method and apparatus of multiplexing and acquiring data from multiple optical fibers using a single data channel of an optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR) system
A method and system for multiplexing a network of parallel fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor-fibers to a single acquisition channel of a closed Michelson interferometer system via a fiber splitter by distinguishing each branch of fiber sensors in the spatial domain. On each branch of the splitter, the fibers have a specific pre-determined length, effectively separating each branch of fiber sensors spatially. In the spatial domain the fiber branches are seen as part of one acquisition channel on the interrogation system. However, the FBG-reference arm beat frequency information for each fiber is retained. Since the beat frequency is generated between the reference arm, the effective fiber length of each successive branch includes the entire length of the preceding branch. The multiple branches are seen as one fiber having three segments where the segments can be resolved. This greatly simplifies optical, electronic and computational complexity, and is especially suited for use in multiplexed or branched OFS networks for SHM of large and/or distributed structures which need a lot of measurement points. |
| US08909033B2 |
Control systems for renewable hot water heating systems
A method is provided for interconnecting a single electrical heating element of a hot water heater to first and second AC electrical power sources. Typically, these first and second AC electrical power sources include a utility provided electrical power source and a renewable power source that generates AC power from DC power. The method includes operating a controller that selectively connects and disconnects the first and second power sources. If sufficient electrical power is available from the renewable power source, the utility provided electrical power source may be disconnected to preferentially utilize renewable energy. |
| US08909030B2 |
Playback device, playback method, program, and integrated circuit
A playback device performs playback of a digital stream and executes an application, the digital stream and the application being included in a title recorded on a recording medium, wherein the title has events set therein for executing the application during the digital stream, and; the playback device comprises: a repeat range input unit receiving input of a repeat range pertaining to the digital stream; an event specification unit specifying one of the events that is within the repeat range input to the repeat range input unit and associated with a time closest to an end time of the repeat range; an adjustment unit creating an adjusted repeat range by adjusting the end time of the repeat range to a time preceding the time of the event specified by the event specification unit; and a playback unit performing repeat playback of the digital stream over the adjusted repeat range. |
| US08909029B2 |
Capturing playback key events in BD players
Capturing playback key events to override a default behavior of key strokes during playback, includes: receiving a user operation initiated by a user; receiving a notice that a non-default behavior of the key strokes is being masked; notifying the user that there are adverse consequences of overriding the default behavior of the key strokes; and overriding the default behavior of the key strokes. Keywords include User Operation Mask Table and Playback Key Events. |
| US08909018B2 |
Lens element for optical communication apparatus
A lens element includes a main body. The main body includes a number of first lens portions, a number of second lens portions corresponding to the first lens portions, and a deflecting portion upwardly protruding from a surface of the main body. The deflecting portion includes a deflecting surface positioned outside the main body. The deflecting surface deflects optical signals between the first lens portions and the second lens portions. |
| US08909014B2 |
Fiber optic cable with access features and jacket-to-core coupling, and methods of making the same
A fiber optic cable includes a cable jacket and a core. The cable jacket is tubular, having exterior and interior surfaces, and is formed mostly from a first polymeric material. The jacket includes access features formed from a second polymeric material at least partially embedded in the first polymeric material and extending lengthwise along the jacket. Two of the access features are spaced apart from one another with a section of the jacket formed from the first polymeric material extending laterally therebetween, such that the section may be peeled apart from the rest of the cable lengthwise along the jacket by separation of the jacket about the access features. The core has an outermost surface and includes optical fibers and a strength member. The outermost surface of the core is at least partially bonded to the interior surface of the jacket, which enhances coupling between the jacket and core. |
| US08909011B2 |
Fiber optic cables with extruded access features and methods of making fiber optic cables
Cables are constructed with embedded discontinuities in the cable jacket that allow the jacket to be torn to provide access to the cable core. The discontinuities can be longitudinally extending strips of polymer material coextruded in the cable jacket. |
| US08909005B2 |
Photoelectric conversion module having pattern for restricting a position of an optical fiber
A photoelectric conversion module includes a substrate, a photoelectric conversion element optically coupled to an optical fiber, and a conductor pattern that is provided on a surface of the substrate and includes an electrode pattern mounting the photoelectric conversion element and a restriction pattern for restricting a position of the optical fiber. |
| US08909004B2 |
Side illuminated multi point multi parameter
A side illuminated multi point multi parameter optical fiber sensor that requires no sensitive coating is provided. This sensor comprises an optical fiber having at least one removed cladding section as the sensitive region, at least one probing light source that side illuminates the fiber, a power supply, a detector, a signal processor and a display. The sensitive optical fiber is optically affected by the presence of a measurand medium that can fluoresce, phosphoresce, absorb and/or scatter the probing light. This probing light is guided by the fiber core towards a detector which measures the light intensity and this light intensity is correlated with a measurand. |
| US08909002B2 |
Light modulator, optical pickup, and light modulation module
A light modulator (101) includes a waveguide (112) through which guided light propagates, a metal layer (113) formed adjacent to the waveguide (112), a conductive oxide layer (114) having electrical conductivity and formed on a surface of the metal layer (113) which is not adjacent to the waveguide (112), an insulating layer (115) formed adjacent to the conductive oxide layer (114), and a modulation circuit (102) that applies a voltage between the metal layer (113) and one of the conductive oxide layer (114) and the insulating layer (115). An interface (11) at which the conductive oxide layer (114) and the insulating layer (115) are adjacent to each other is formed at a distance shorter than a wavelength of the guided light in vacuum, from the surface of the metal layer (113) which is not adjacent to the waveguide (112). |
| US08908998B2 |
Method for automated quality control
A computer-implemented method and system for ensuring quality control over a group of test reports comprising identifying a plurality of areas within a test report that contain data elements, performing optical character recognition on the plurality of areas for each test report in the group of test reports to generate text corresponding to the content in the areas, comparing the content in the areas to corresponding data in a data file from a trusted source, and creating an output report based on the result of the comparison. The test reports may indicate educational test score results and personal identification information for test takers. |
| US08908996B2 |
Methods and apparatus for automated true object-based image analysis and retrieval
An automated and extensible system is provided for the analysis and retrieval of images based on region-of-interest (ROI) analysis of one or more true objects depicted by an image. The system uses an ROI database that is a relational or analytical database containing searchable vectors representing images stored in a repository. Entries in the ROI database are created by an image locator and ROI classifier that locate images within the repository and extract relevant information to be stored in the ROI database. The ROI classifier analyzes objects in an image to arrive at actual features of the true object. Graphical searches may also be performed. |
| US08908988B2 |
Method and system for recovering a code image including blurring
Error-function determining means makes use of a blur function serving as a function representing the degree of blurring of a blurred input image and a geometrical-deformation matrix serving as a matrix for restricting an operation to lay out a 2-dimensional code shown by the input image on cells each serving as a configuration unit of the 2-dimensional code in order to determine an error function serving as a function satisfying a relation that, the smaller the error between the input image and an image obtained by adding geometrical deformations and blurs to a recovered image obtained from a recovering process, the more the approach to a result determined in advance. Pixel-value restricting means determines pixel-value restriction information prescribing a restriction condition for a restriction imposed on a predetermined pixel value obtained from discretization of pixel values of the 2-dimensional code to be recovered. Objective-function determining means makes use of the error function and the pixel-value restriction information as a basis for determining an objective function serving as a function satisfying a relation that, the closer the recovered image to the true image, the more the approach to a result determined in advance. Objective-function optimizing means determines a recovered image optimizing the objective function. |
| US08908987B1 |
Providing image candidates based on diverse adjustments to an image
In some implementations, a method provides image candidates for a user. The method can include applying a plurality of different image adjustment types to an image to produce a plurality of different adjusted images. A score is determined for each of the adjusted images, where each score is based on previous selections by a plurality of persons of other images having one or more characteristics similar to the adjusted images. The method determines one or more candidate images for presentation to a particular user, where each candidate image is obtained from one of the different image adjustment types. The candidate images are determined based on the scores of the adjustment types. |
| US08908982B2 |
Image encoding device and image encoding method
The present invention provides an image encoding device that can balance encoding at a high compression ratio and restoration of a high-quality image by decoding in a short processing time. Compression mode determination means 3 determines a compression mode to be one of DPCM and PCM based on target pixel data inputted from a terminal 21 and predicted data calculated by a predetermined method. For the DPCM, DPCM compression means 5 compresses a difference value between the target pixel data and the predicted data to DPCM encoded data having a predetermined DPCM code length. For the PCM, PCM compression means 7 compresses the target pixel data to PCM encoded data having a PCM code length determined by PCM code length determination means 9. The PCM code length determination means 9 calculates the PCM code length for each piece of target pixel data such that a total of post-encoding code lengths becomes an allowable value or less in a unit of predetermined pixel group among the plurality of pixels. Tag/code output means 13 outputs the encoded data by adding a tag indicating whether the compression mode is the DPCM or the PCM to the encoded data. |
| US08908979B2 |
Shape and symmetry design for filters in video/image coding
An apparatus includes a video/image encoder configured to design a two-dimensional star-shaped spatial filter and encode image/video information using the X-shaped spatial filter. The star-shaped spatial filter includes a first linear arrangement of coefficients that extend outwardly in a first diagonal direction from a center pixel coefficient, a second linear arrangement of coefficients that extend outwardly in a second diagonal direction, and two linear arrangements of coefficients that extend outwardly in horizontal and vertical directions from the center pixel coefficient from the center pixel coefficient. The second diagonal direction is oriented in a different direction relative to the first diagonal direction. |
| US08908978B2 |
Signature representation of data having high dimensionality
A system and method for generating an m-dimensional signature vector in a computing device is provided. The signature vector may be generated from a plurality of key-value pairs, each comprising a unique identifier and an associated non-zero value. Each element of the m-dimensional signature vector is calculated based on a summation of a plurality of terms. Each of the terms is calculated from a respective key-value pair by generating a seed based on the key of the respective key-value pair and an element identifier associated with the vector element being calculated; generating a pseudo-random number from the generated seed; and multiplying the pseudo-random number by the value of the respective key-value pair, wherein m< |
| US08908974B2 |
Image capturing device capable of simplifying characteristic value sets of captured images and control method thereof
An image capturing device capable of simplifying characteristic value sets of captured images and a control method thereof. The image capturing device comprises a characteristic conversion module, a data storage module, a characteristic simplification module, a template storage module and a recognition module. The characteristic conversion module converts an image captured by the image capturing device into a characteristic image, and the characteristic image includes a group of first characteristic value sets. The data storage module stores a lookup table which comprises second characteristic value sets. The characteristic simplification module performs a simplification process according to the lookup table to produce a simplified group of characteristic value sets. Finally, compares the simplified group of characteristic value sets with the plurality of templates stored in the template storage module to recognize a specific object in the image. |
| US08908969B2 |
Creating flexible structure descriptions
In one embodiment, the invention provides a method, comprising detecting data fields on a scanned document image; generating a flexible document description based on the detected data fields, including creating a set of search elements for each data field, each search element having associated search criteria; and training or modifying the flexible document description using, for example, a search algorithm to detect the data fields on additional training images based on the set of search elements. |
| US08908968B1 |
Identifying and ensuring the authenticity of objects
Identifying and ensuring object authenticity can occur by identifying an object by acquiring an image of the object, identifying flaws present in or on the object, associating the flaws with respective locations or regions in the image, determining a quality score indicating a condition of the object based at least upon an analysis of the identified flaws, and generating and storing a data record with all of this identifying information. A tag which provides an identifier that links the object to the data record is placed on the object. When authenticity of the object needs to be verified at a later time, the tag identifier is retrieved and used to retrieve the data record. The identifying information can then be compared with the object as it currently appears. If the object as it currently appears corresponds with the identifying information, authenticity is verified. Otherwise, fraud can be suspected. |
| US08908967B2 |
Image processing method using foreground probability
An image processing method of separating an input image into a foreground image and a background image, the method including determining a pixel of the input image as a pixel of the foreground image if a foreground probability value of the pixel of the foreground image determined by using the Gaussian mixture model or the pixel determined to be included in a motion region is greater than a setting threshold. |
| US08908964B2 |
Color correction for digital images
Colors in a color image are transformed by a destination device. The color image comprises pixels with color information. A depth map corresponding to the color image is accessed. The depth map comprises depth information for the color image and indicates the relative position of objects in the color image from a reference point of view. A collection of plural different color transforms is accessed. In addition, a depth value for a target pixel in the color image is determined by using the depth map. There is a selection of a color transform for the target pixel from the collection of plural different color transforms, based on the depth value determined for the target pixel. The selected color transform is applied to the color information of the target pixel by the destination device. |
| US08908963B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program
An image processing apparatus for applying to a color image a pattern corresponding to a color of the color image includes a pattern determination section that determines a hatch pattern having a foreground and a background which serves as a pattern in accordance with a color of a pixel in the color image, a color value determination section that determines a color value of a color material to be assigned to the foreground and the background in the hatch pattern, and an image processing section that replaces the color of the pixel in the color image with a color value of a color material, the color values of the foreground and the background in the hatch pattern are different, and the color value determination section determines the color value of the color material per unit area in the hatch pattern determined such that a chromatic value. |
| US08908962B2 |
Item recommendations using image feature data
An apparatus and method to facilitate finding recommendations for a query image are disclosed herein. A color histogram is determined corresponding to the query image. Determining at least one of a visual pattern included in the query image, a dominant color of the query image, or an orientation histogram corresponding to the query image. Performing comparison of a first image attribute of the query image to a second image attribute of an inventory image corresponding to an inventory item, wherein the first image attribute used in the comparison is selected from among the color histogram, the dominant color, and the orientation histogram. The selection of the first image attribute is based on a confidence score associated with the visual pattern, the dominant color, or a directionality present in the query image. |
| US08908960B2 |
Three-dimensional motion capture
In one general aspect, a method is described. The method includes generating a positional relationship between one or more support structures having at least one motion capture mark and at least one virtual structure corresponding to geometry of an object to be tracked and positioning the support structures on the object to be tracked. The support structures has sufficient rigidity that, if there are multiple marks, the marks on each support structure maintain substantially fixed distances from each other in response to movement by the object. The method also includes determining an effective quantity of ray traces between one or more camera views and one or more marks on the support structures, and estimating an orientation of the virtual structure by aligning the determined effective quantity of ray traces with a known configuration of marks on the support structures. |
| US08908955B2 |
Method and system for providing stereoscopic X-ray image
A method of providing a stereoscopic X-ray image is provided. The method includes acquiring X-ray images captured at respective rotation angles with respect to a part of a patient to be examined while rotating around the part to be examined, and in response to information regarding a viewpoint with respect to the part to be examined being input, using X-ray images at respective rotation angles corresponding to the viewpoint from among the acquired X-ray images to generate a three-dimensional (3D) X-ray image. |
| US08908952B2 |
Imaging system and method for use in surgical and interventional medical procedures
A system and method for displaying images of internal anatomy includes an image processing device configured to provide high resolution images of the surgical field from low resolution scans during the procedure. The image processing device digitally manipulates a previously-obtained high resolution baseline image to produce many representative images based on permutations of movement of the baseline image. During the procedure a representative image is selected having an acceptable degree of correlation to the new low resolution image. The selected representative image and the new image are merged to provide a higher resolution image of the surgical field. The image processing device is also configured to provide interactive movement of the displayed image based on movement of the imaging device, and to permit placement of annotations on the displayed image to facilitate communication between the radiology technician and the surgeon. |
| US08908951B2 |
Complex reconstruction of Q-space for simultaneous detection of coherent and incoherent motion
A magnetic resonance (MR) imaging method includes acquiring MR signals having phase and magnitude at q-space locations using a diffusion sensitizing pulse sequence performed on a tissue of interest, wherein the acquired signals each include a set of complex Fourier encodings representing a three-dimensional displacement distribution of the spins in a q-space location. The signals each include information relating to coherent motion and incoherent motion in the q-space location. The method also includes determining a contribution by coherent motion to the phase of the acquired MR signals; removing the phase contribution attributable to coherent motion from the acquired MR signals to produce a complex data set for each q-space location and an image of velocity components for each q-space location; and producing a three-dimensional velocity image from the image of the velocity components. |
| US08908949B2 |
Method of detecting foreign bodies
A system for detecting post-operative retained foreign bodies has a data storage unit adapted to receive and store a reference image of a surgical object, and a data processor in communication with the data storage unit. The data processor is configured to receive an image of an internal region of a patient and to receive the reference image from the data storage unit, and the data processor is configured to perform operations based on an algorithm to compare the reference image to at least a portion of the image of the internal region of the patient and determine whether a retained foreign body is present in the patient. |
| US08908947B2 |
Integration of medical software and advanced image processing
According to one embodiment, at least a portion of medical information of a patient is displayed within MRCS executed within a local device, the medical information including medical treatment history of the patient. At least a portion of the displayed medical information of the patient is transmitted to a medical imaging processing server over a network, where the transmitted medical information includes a patient identifier (ID) of the patient. Both the at least a portion of patient medical information and one or more medical images are displayed within the MRCS, where the medical images are associated with the patient and rendered by the medical image processing server. A set of icons representing a set of image processing tools is displayed within the MRCS, which when activated by a user, allow an image to be manipulated by the imaging processing server. |
| US08908945B2 |
Biological unit identification based on supervised shape ranking
A method of segmenting a digital image of biological tissue includes accessing a ranking model calculated from training data representing shapes of conforming and non-conforming biological unit exemplars. The ranking model may include support vectors defining a hyperplane in a vector space. The method further includes accessing image data representing the digital image, identifying a first shape and a set of second constituent shapes in the digital image, wherein the first shape comprises a union of the set of second constituent shapes, determining a rank of a first data point in the image data corresponding to the first shape and a rank of a second data point in the image data corresponding to the set of second constituent shapes into the vector space, and segmenting the digital image using the first shape or the set of second constituent shapes based on which data point has a greater respective rank. |
| US08908944B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program
An information processing apparatus for deforming an original image includes an obtaining unit configured to obtain a deformation rule by associating a movement of a feature area caused by deformation of the original image with the deformation, and a deformation unit configured to deform the original image in accordance with the deformation rule, using, as a condition of constraint, position information about a feature area of the target image and a corresponding area of the original image. |
| US08908942B2 |
Filtered backprojection image reconstruction with characteristics of an iterative map algorithm
Systems and methods are provided which utilize a fast, efficient filtered backprojection algorithm that can provide noise suppression advantages of an iterative MAP reconstruction algorithm. In some embodiments novel filtered backprojection systems are able to provide an image which emulates an image from an iterative algorithm corresponding to a selected iteration by utilizing control parameters which shape the filter accordingly during the reconstruction process. For example, if a user desires an image which would correspond to the one-hundredth iteration of an iterative algorithm, embodiments can provide a similar quality image using minimal calculation steps. Further, embodiments may provide the resolution quality of such an iteration while also allowing for better shift-invariant performance than an iterative method. |
| US08908936B2 |
Method for extracting a carious lesion area
A method for extracting a carious lesion area from sound regions of a tooth. In one embodiment, the method includes generating a digital image of the tooth; identifying tooth regions; extracting a suspicious lesion area by using a marker-controlled watershed algorithm or by using a morphological bottom-hat based method along with a multi-resolution surface reconstruction method; and removing false positives. In another embodiment, the method includes generating a digital image of the tooth comprising obtaining a fluorescence image of the tooth, obtaining a reflectance image of the tooth, and combining image data for the fluorescence and reflectance images; identifying tooth regions; extracting suspicious lesion areas; and removing false positives. |
| US08908934B2 |
Fingerprint recognition for low computing power applications
A method and apparatus are provided for improved fingerprint recognition. A fingerprint image associated with an authorized user can be captured with a sensor. Direction vectors for a plurality of pixels of the first fingerprint image are then calculated. Next, characteristic points of the fingerprint image are located in a first coordinate system. The fingerprint central nucleus is determined based on the calculated direction vectors, and is expressed in the first coordinate system. Subsequently, a second coordinate system having an origin located relative to the fingerprint central nucleus is determined. Thereafter, the characteristic points of the fingerprint image are mapped to the second coordinate system. Finally, the fingerprint central nucleus and fingerprint characteristic points expressed in the second coordinate system are saved as a fingerprint template. |
| US08908933B2 |
Method and system for attaching a metatag to a digital image
A system and method for tagging an image of an individual in a plurality of photos is disclosed herein. A feature vector of an individual is used to analyze a set of photos on a social networking website such as www.facebook.com to determine if an image of the individual is present in a photo of the set of photos. Photos having an image of the individual are tagged preferably by listing a URL or URI for each of the photos in a database. |
| US08908920B2 |
Systems and methods for tracking and authenticating goods
Systems and methods for identifying, tracking, tracing and determining the authenticity of a good are described herein. In some embodiments, a system includes an imaging system, a database, and an authentication center. The imaging system is configured to capture an image of a unique signature associated with a good at the good's origin. The unique signature can be, for example, a random structure or pattern unique to the particular good. The imaging system is configured to process the image of the good to identify at least one metric that distinguishes the unique signature from unique signatures of other goods. The database is configured to receive information related to the good and its unique signature from the imaging system; and is configured to store the information therein. The authentication center is configured to analyze the field image with respect to the information stored in the database to determine whether the unique signature in the field image is a match to the captured image stored in the database. |
| US08908916B2 |
Control apparatus, control method, and program to search for a subject and automatically perform image-recording
The present invention relates to a control apparatus, a control method, and a program in which, when performing automatic image-recording, the frequency with which image-recording is performed can be changed so that the recording frequency can be suitably changed in accordance with, for example, a user's intention or the state of an imaging apparatus.In the imaging apparatus, the recording frequency can be changed and set in accordance with, for example, a user operation. In accordance with this, a predetermined parameter related to automatic image-recording is changed and set internally, so that an operation reflecting the recording frequency can be obtained as actual automatic image-recording. |
| US08908914B2 |
Method and system for map generation for location and navigation with user sharing/social networking
Methods and systems for map generation for location and navigation with user sharing/social networking may comprise determining a position of a wireless communication device (WCD) and capturing images of the surroundings of the WCD. Data associated with objects in the surroundings of said WCD may be extracted from the captured images, positions of the objects may be determined, and the determined positions and the data may then be uploaded to a database. The elements may comprise structural and/or textual features in the surroundings of the WCD. The position of the WCD may be determined utilizing sensors in the WCD to measure a distance from a last determined or known position. The sensors may comprise a pedometer, an altimeter, a camera, and/or a compass. The positions of the extracted elements may be determined utilizing known optical characteristics of a camera in the WCD. |
| US08908913B2 |
Voting-based pose estimation for 3D sensors
A pose of an object is estimated by first defining a set of pair features as pairs of geometric primitives, wherein the geometric primitives include oriented surface points, oriented boundary points, and boundary line segments. Model pair features are determined based on the set of pair features for a model of the object. Scene pair features are determined based on the set of pair features from data acquired by a 3D sensor, and then the model pair features are matched with the scene pair features to estimate the pose of the object. |
| US08908908B2 |
Steganographic encoding and decoding
This patent document relates generally to steganography and digital watermarking. One claim recites a method of encoding auxiliary information in an image or video comprising: determining watermark tweaks for attributes of image or video samples to encode auxiliary information in the image or video; and, using a programmed electronic processor, altering color values of the image or video samples to convey the watermark tweaks. The altering alters color values based at least in part on both: i) visibility of color value alterations, and ii) anticipated watermark detection. Of course, other claims and combinations are provided too. |
| US08908907B2 |
Method and system for video transmission and processing with customized watermarking delivery
Methods and systems for video transmission and processing with customized watermarking delivery are disclosed and may include watermarking data at a communication device utilizing received global positioning (GPS) data and communicating the watermarked video data to a receiving communication device. The receiving communication device may verify the watermarked data, and may determine whether to render the received watermarked data based on the verification. The communication device may include an edge device, and may receive a feedback signal communicated from the receiving communication device. The watermarking of subsequently processed data may be adjusted based on the received feedback signal, which may include GPS data and/or device parameters corresponding to the receiving communication device. The watermarked video data communicated to the receiving communication device may be adjusted based on one or more device parameters corresponding to the receiving communication device and/or GPS information. |
| US08908903B2 |
Image recognition to support shelf auditing for consumer research
Image recognition methods, apparatus and articles or manufacture to support shelf auditing for consumer research are disclosed herein. An example method disclosed herein comprises comparing an input image depicting a shelf to be audited with a set of reference images depicting reference shelves displaying respective sets of reference items, identifying a first reference image from the set of reference images that has been determined to match the input image, and determining an initial audit result for the shelf depicted in the input image based on a first set of reference items associated with the first reference image. |
| US08908901B2 |
Apparatus and method for surface measurement
A method of determining the dimensions and location of a surface feature, for example a valve seat. The surface of the feature is measured, for example using a spiral scan path with a tactile probe and the multiple data points acquired from the scan are used to create a digitized image. The digitized image is fitted to a nominal image (e.g. CAD data) of the surface feature. The deviation of the digitized image from the nominal image is used to determine at least one of the dimensions, location and form deviation of the surface feature. |
| US08908894B2 |
Devices and methods for transferring data through a human body
An illustrative method for transferring data to a device includes identifying the data that is to be transferred to the device, modulating the data with a signal, providing the signal to a contact microphone that is in physical contact with an individual, and transmitting the signal through a body of the individual to the device using the contact microphone. An illustrative method for authenticating the individual includes transmitting a signal through a body of the individual in response to the individual physically contacting an authentication device, receiving a modified signal including the signal as modified by the body of the individual, removing the signal from the modified signal to identify a unique body signature of the individual, comparing the unique body signature to a database to determine if the database includes the unique body signature, and selectively authenticating the individual based upon whether the database includes the unique body signature. |
| US08908893B2 |
Hearing apparatus with an equalization filter in the filter bank system
Multi-stage filter bank systems with filter banks of different bandwidth frequently cause interference in hearing apparatuses and in particular in hearing devices. Therefore a hearing apparatus is proposed with a filter bank system having a multi-stage analysis filter bank and/or a multi-stage synthesis filter bank, to break down an input signal of the hearing apparatus into a number of partial band signals by way of a number of filter bank channels and/or to recombine partial band signals of a number of filter bank channels. The filter bank system is equipped with at least one equalization filter, to equalize differences in the complex frequency responses between filter bank channels. It is thus possible in particular to equalize group delay time differences as well as attenuation and/or amplification. |
| US08908892B2 |
Method and device for frequency compression in a hearing aid
A hearing aid device suitable for executing a frequency compression is optimized to achieve a better assignment between channels of a source frequency range and channels of a target frequency range. A frequency range that can be transmitted by the hearing aid device is split into a number of frequency bands, after which a number of adjacent frequency bands are combined into at least one group of frequency bands and then one frequency band is selected from each group of frequency bands. The selected frequency bands are moved respectively into a target frequency band permanently assigned to the respective group. This prevents that a number of frequency bands from the source frequency range are shifted to the same target frequency band. |
| US08908890B2 |
Circuit arrangement for adjusting the output power and/or the frequency response of a power amplifier for a hearing aid device
With a hearing aid device, the problem arises of having to match the output power and/or the frequency response of the hearing aid device to the level of hearing impairment of the patient as precisely as possible. In such cases allowance must be made for the noise level, which is a function of the technology used, to be kept as low as possible and for the signal-to-noise level to be as great as possible. A switching arrangement and/or a hearing aid device and method are provided in which the power amplifier is embodied with at least two output stages. The outputs of the individual output stages can be connected in parallel by means of a controllable switching facility. A simple adjustment of the output power and/or frequency response can be achieved in this way by simply connecting a corresponding number of output stages in parallel. |
| US08908881B2 |
Sound signal processing device
A sound signal processing device that is capable of suitably extracting main sound from mixed sound in which unnecessary sound (for example, leakage sound and reverberant sound) is mixed with the main sound. More specifically, a mixed sound signal in the time domain including first sound and second sound, and a target sound signal in the time domain including sound corresponding to at least the second sound, which have temporal relation in their entirety or in part, are each divided into a plurality of frequency bands. A level ratio between the two signals is calculated at each frequency. Based on the level ratio, a signal of the first sound that is included in the mixed sound signal is extracted. |
| US08908880B2 |
Electronic apparatus having microphones with controllable front-side gain and rear-side gain
An electronic apparatus is provided that has a rear-side and a front-side, a first microphone that generates a first signal, and a second microphone that generates a second signal. An automated balance controller generates a balancing signal based on a proximity sensor signal. A processor processes the first and second signals to generate at least one beamformed audio signal, where an audio level difference between a front-side gain and a rear-side gain of the beamformed audio signal is controlled during processing based on the balancing signal. |
| US08908877B2 |
Ear-coupling detection and adjustment of adaptive response in noise-canceling in personal audio devices
A personal audio device, such as a wireless telephone, includes an adaptive noise canceling (ANC) circuit that adaptively generates an anti-noise signal from a reference microphone signal and injects the anti-noise signal into the speaker or other transducer output to cause cancellation of ambient audio sounds. An error microphone is also provided proximate the speaker to estimate an electro-acoustical path from the noise canceling circuit through the transducer. A processing circuit determines a degree of coupling between the user's ear and the transducer and adjusts the adaptive cancellation of the ambient sounds to prevent erroneous and possibly disruptive generation of the anti-noise signal if the degree of coupling lies either below or above a range of normal operating ear contact pressure. |
| US08908876B2 |
Noise cancellation system with lower rate emulation
There is provided a noise cancellation system, comprising: an input for a digital signal, the digital signal having a first sample rate; a digital filter, connected to the input to receive the digital signal; a decimator, connected to the input to receive the digital signal and to generate a decimated signal at a second sample rate lower than the first sample rate; and a processor. The processor comprises: an emulation of the digital filter, connected to receive the decimated signal and to generate an emulated filter output; and a control circuit, for generating a control signal on the basis of the emulated filter output. The control signal is applied to the digital filter to control a filter characteristic thereof. |
| US08908873B2 |
Method and apparatus for conversion between multi-channel audio formats
An input multi-channel representation is converted into a different output multi-channel representation of a spatial audio signal, in that an intermediate representation of the spatial audio signal is derived, the intermediate representation having direction parameters indicating a direction of origin of a portion of the spatial audio signal; and in that the output multi-channel representation of the spatial audio signal is generated using the intermediate representation of the spatial audio signal. |
| US08908871B2 |
Mobile internet protocol system and method for updating home agent root key
The AAA server generates and delivers a new HA-RK before expiry of the old HA-RK, thus eliminating the time gap between expiry of the old HA-RK and obtaining of the new HA-RK and making the MIP registration seamless. In the system, if the remaining lifetime of the old HA-RK is less than or equal to the lifecycle of the MSK in the EAP process, a new HA-RK is delivered; otherwise, no new HA-RK needs to be delivered. If both a new HA-RK and an old HA-RK are valid on the network entity at a time, then only the old HA-RK applies and the new HA-RK is not active until expiry of the old HA-RK. Alternatively, both the new HA-RK and the old HA-RK are active concurrently, and are differentiated by an SPI. |
| US08908867B2 |
Automatic recovery of TPM keys
A trusted platform module (TPM) is a silicon chip that constitutes a secure encryption key-pair generator and key management device. A TPM provides a hardware-based root-of-trust contingent on the generation of the first key-pair that the device creates: the SRK (storage root key). Each SRK is unique, making each TPM unique, and an SRK is never exported from a TPM. Broadly contemplated herein is an arrangement for determining automatically whether a TPM has been replaced or cleared via loading a TPM blob into the TPM prior to the first time it is to be used (e.g. when a security-related software application runs). If the TPM blob loads successfully, then it can be concluded that the TPM is the same TPM that was used previously. If the TPM blob cannot be loaded, then corrective action will preferably take place automatically to configure the new TPM. |
| US08908853B2 |
Method and device for displaying information
A method and device for displaying information operate during a call service based on an IPTV system. When a first user terminal calls a second user terminal, a person-to-person communication enabler in the IPTV system obtains identity information of media streams of a ring tone service corresponding to the first user terminal and/or the second user terminal. The obtained identity information of the media streams of the ring tone service is sent to an Internet Protocol Television service terminal corresponding to a first user and/or a second user, for playing corresponding media streams of the ring tone service. |
| US08908851B2 |
System and method for reducing power consumption in a telecommunications facility
A system and method is provided for conserving electrical power in a telecommunications facility (10) containing a plurality of like electrically powered hardware resources for transporting call traffic through the facility (10). The method includes: monitoring a traffic load being experienced by the facility (10); selecting one or more of the hardware resources in response to the monitored traffic load, such that the selected hardware resources have a capacity sufficient to reliably transport the monitored traffic load thereover; and consolidating call traffic in the selected hardware resources. |
| US08908849B2 |
Method and system for overriding call blocking
An approach is provided for overriding a call blocking feature. A request to establish a voice call over a wireless network to a called party is intercepted. A call blocking feature is detected as being enabled for the called party. The calling party is prompted for a passcode in response to the detected call blocking feature. The passcode is received from the calling party to override the call blocking feature. |
| US08908847B2 |
System and method for deep dialing phone systems
An independent communications system (ICS) is used in a transaction between a waiting party and a queuing party, with the queuing party having a interactive voice response (IVR). The IVR includes multiple nodes and the ICS is adapted to connect to a particular node in the IVR. |
| US08908845B2 |
Method, device and system for implementing customized ring back tone service and customized ring tone service
A method, device and system for implementing a customized ring back tone service and a customized ring tone service are disclosed. The method includes: a second server receives a first early media response returned by a terminal comprising a first media negotiation result which is obtained by the terminal performing media negotiation with a first server according to a first early media request; the second server generates a second early media request according to the received first early media response comprising a second attribute identification for identifying the second early media request, and sends the first early media response and the second early media request; the first server completes the media negotiation with the calling terminal according to the first early media response and a called terminal completes the media negotiation with the second server according to the second early media request. |
| US08908840B2 |
IVR recording continuity control
A computing device may establish a communication session with a user equipment device (UE). The computing device may interact with the UE via interactive voice response (IVR) services and enable a first portion of the communication session to be recorded using a first recording mode. The computing device may out-dial a second portion of the communication session and enable a second portion of the communication session to be recorded using a second recording mode. A recording mode may include recording a portion of a communication session locally, streaming a portion of the communication session to a recording system, or out-dialing a portion of the communication session to enable a communication session tap to be placed on the out-dialed portion of the communication session. |
| US08908837B2 |
Methods and systems for automatically providing an emergency service call handler with context specific emergency service protocols
Methods and systems for providing emergency services protocols to a emergency service call taker are disclosed herein. A public safety answering point receives an emergency service phone call from a caller. The caller is placed in voice communication with an emergency call handler. The system monitors the voice communication between the caller and the emergency call handler. In response to detecting one or more known keyword in the voice communication, the system provides the emergency call handler with one or more defined protocols for guiding additional communications between the caller and the emergency call handler. |
| US08908836B2 |
Call center system with graphical user interface and method of operation thereof
A method of operation of a call center system includes: providing an operator console having a display; instantiating an activation button, on the display of the operator console, including: coloring an activity frame around the activation button, selecting a selected network in the activation button, and presenting an inbound call window on the activation button; and activating a transmitting icon includes establishing a contextual awareness of interactive data elements and operational actions. |
| US08908835B1 |
Method and system for providing forced hold behavior in a SIP-based network
A method and system and process for providing forced hold behavior is disclosed. The forced hold behavior may be enabled during an emergency dialog between a user and a Public Safety Answering Point, or PSAP, if a user has abandoned or attempted to end the emergency call. This behavior informs the PSAP that the user has abandoned the call, and permits the PSAP to reestablish communication with the user. |
| US08908832B2 |
Radiographic apparatus and method for the same
A radiographic apparatus detector and method therefore obtains an image having excellent recognition without the effect of body movement. A single composite image is generated by connecting strip images in the movement direction of a radiation emitter, which are extending in a direction orthogonal to an emitter movement direction. A flat panel detector (FPD) moves so that an incident radiation region in the FPD follows the shooting. A transmissive image with an improved visual recognition is obtained since shooting the strip image in the FPD is conducted by using an unused part. |
| US08908831B2 |
Covert surveillance using multi-modality sensing
The present specification discloses a covert mobile inspection vehicle with a backscatter X-ray scanning system that has an X-ray source and detectors for obtaining a radiographic image of an object outside the vehicle. The system is configured to also simultaneously detect passive radiation. The systems preferably include at least one sensor for determining a distance from at least one of the detectors to points on the surface of the object being scanned, a processor for processing the obtained radiographic image by using the determined distance of the object to obtain an atomic number of each material contained in the object, and one or more sensors to obtain surveillance data from a predefined area surrounding the vehicle. |
| US08908829B2 |
X-ray imaging apparatus and X-ray imaging method
Provided is an X-ray imaging apparatus and an X-ray imaging method that offer an alternative for a refraction contrast method.A first scintillator and a second scintillator are used, the first scintillator generating first fluorescent light when X-rays separated by the separating element are incident thereon, and a second scintillator generating second fluorescent light when X-rays separated by the separating element are incident thereon. The second scintillator has a fluorescence emission intensity gradient such that an amount of emitted fluorescent light changes in accordance with a change in a position at which the X-rays are incident. |
| US08908828B2 |
Contact-free control of medical imaging systems
The present invention pertains to a method and apparatus for contactless control of a medical imaging system. A medical image can be acquired and displayed, and an aspect of the image can be altered based on a tracked position of a user body part. The user can be sensed by a sensing device, and the user body part tracked by a tracking unit in a first processing unit. A second processing unit can be coupled to the first processing unit and can have a control unit for controlling the medical imaging system. |
| US08908822B2 |
Nuclear reactor
In a nuclear reactor, a core barrel (46) is disposed in a reactor vessel (41) having an inlet nozzle (44) and an outlet nozzle (45), a core (53) is disposed in the core barrel (46), a lower plenum (58) is partitioned by the reactor vessel (41) and a bottom portion of the core barrel (46), and a downcomer portion (59) is partitioned by the reactor vessel (41) and a side wall of the core barrel (46). The lower plenum (58) includes a straightening member (61) formed of an upper ring (65) and a lower ring (69) in a ring shape, and a plurality of spokes (64 and 68) radially arranged inside the rings (65 and 69), respectively. Heat exchange efficiency is enhanced by uniformly supplying coolant introduced into a pressure vessel to the core from the lower plenum in a radial direction and a circumferential direction. |
| US08908819B2 |
System and method for synchronization tracking in an in-band modem
Processing the synchronization of an inband modem to detect sample slip conditions is disclosed. Decision logic reliably detects the sample slip condition while minimizing the number of false alarms. |
| US08908817B1 |
Differential phase tracking in the presence of unknown interference
Example embodiments comprise a diversity receiver, and corresponding method, for measuring a differential phase between a first local oscillator of a first antenna and a second local oscillator of a second antenna in the presence of a primary interference signal and at least one secondary interference signal. The method may comprise receiving a primary communication signal, a primary reference signal and additional reference signals, and processing these signals such that a summation signal does not substantially comprise the at least one secondary interference signal. The estimation of differential phase is achieved by a phase shift calculation between processed signal components, using that a summation of all signal components equals, or is approximately equal to, a predetermined signal. |
| US08908816B2 |
Receiver with distortion compensation circuit
A receiver containing analog circuitry that generates distortion, a distortion compensation circuit coupled to an output of the analog circuitry, and a slicer, operating as a signal peak detector, coupled to the distortion compensation circuitry. The distortion compensation circuit has a subtractor, a function generator, and a weighting circuit. The subtractor has a first input coupled to the output of the analog circuitry, a second input, and an output. The function generator has an input coupled to the first input of the subtractor. The weighting circuit, responsive to a weighting coefficient, is coupled between an output of the function circuit and the second input of the first subtractor. The function generator has a transfer function with a third-power term and the weighting coefficient is set to a value based on the level of the signal peaks that will least partially reduce distortion in signals on the output of the subtractor. |
| US08908811B2 |
Method and system for acquiring channel state information
A method for acquiring channel state information is disclosed in the present invention, including: a user equipment (UE) reporting codebook index information and information about the total number of layers to a base station (eNB), wherein the codebook index information includes one of the following information: class 2 codebook index l; and class 1 codebook index i and index parameter j; and after receiving the codebook index information and information about the total number of layers sent by the UE, the base station obtaining a codeword in the manner of inquiring of a preset codebook list or in the manner of inquiring of the preset codebook list in conjunction with calculation according to the codebook index information and information about the total number of layers. A system for acquiring channel state information is also disclosed in the present invention. |
| US08908809B2 |
Complexity reduced feed forward carrier recovery methods for M-QAM modulation formats
The present disclosure provides a method of carrier phase error removal associated with an optical communication signal. The method includes estimating and removing a first phase angle associated with an information signal using coarse phase recovery, the information symbol being associated with a digital signal, the digital signal representing the optical communication signal; estimating a carrier frequency offset between a receiver light source and a transmitter light source by using the estimated first phase angle, the carrier frequency offset being associated with the information signal; removing carrier phase error associated with the carrier frequency offset; and estimating and removing a second phase angle associated with the information signal, the estimated second phase angle being based on the estimated first phase angle and the estimated carrier frequency offset. |
| US08908808B2 |
Systems and methods for demodulating a signal
A high-sensitivity receiver may be made by using multiple demodulators to demodulate a given signal. For example, the receiver may use a first demodulator to demodulate an input signal into a first sequence of soft bits and a second demodulator to demodulate the same input signal into a second sequence of soft bits. The two sequences of soft bits may then be compared and combined to create a sequence of hard bits. For example, in some embodiments, a soft bit combiner may combine the two sequences of soft bits into a third sequence of soft bits, which may then be input into a decoder to produce the final decoded hard bits. The secondary demodulator may be less complex, less expensive, demand less power, and/or require fewer computational resources when operating, than the first demodulator. |
| US08908799B2 |
Systems and methods for communicating using ASK or QAM with uneven symbol constellation
Systems and methods of performing ASK or QAM modulation with uneven distance between symbols are provided. Different bit positions mapped to such symbols are assigned to different receivers, with the result that there are different BER performances among bits sent from a transmitter to the different receivers. Bits for multiple receivers are mapped to a UASK constellation or a UQAM constellation without using superposition. |
| US08908796B1 |
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmitter and receiver windowing for adjacent channel interference (ACI) suppression and rejection
An optimum time domain windowing scheme for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)-based waveforms in the sense of spectral concentration is proposed. Instead of evenly suppressing the sidelobes along the frequency, the sidelobe power is concentrated within a guard band while maximally suppressing the power for a desired frequency range. This is achieved by employing optimum finite duration pulses, prolate spheroidal wave functions (PSWF), to shape the OFDM transmit pulse. Also with per-subcarrier windowing scheme, the effect of inner subcarriers on sidelobes is diminished by utilizing the concentration bandwidth versus out-of-band power trade-off in PSWF and the multicarrier nature of the OFDM. |
| US08908794B2 |
Wireless sending apparatus, wireless sending method, storage medium and baseband circuit
A wireless sending apparatus with a change judging means to judge whether changing an interference causing avoiding transmission means on the basis of predetermined change judging information, and to output the judgment as a change judgment result; a signal separating means to separate the sending signal into each the group on the basis of the change judgment result; a first interference causing avoiding transmission means to input the sending signal which is separated into each the group, and to reduce leak power by a time-domain process; a second interference causing avoiding transmission means to input the sending signal which is separated into each the group, and to reduce the leak power by a frequency-domain process; and a synthesizing means to synthesize the sending signals which the first interference causing avoiding transmission means and the second interference causing avoiding transmission means carry out the interference causing avoiding process. |
| US08908790B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting control signaling for MIMO transmission
A method and apparatus for processing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission are disclosed. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) receives downlink control information including WTRU-specific MIMO and transport format information and MIMO information for all other WTRUs assigned to the same resource. The WTRU processes received MIMO data based on the downlink control information. The downlink control information may also include transport format information for all other WTRUs assigned to the same RB. The downlink control information may be transmitted via WTRU-specific control signaling. All WTRUs' MIMO and/or transport format information may be transmitted via resource-specific common control signaling. The downlink control signaling format may include at least one of a number of streams for the WTRU, a number of active WTRUs assigned to the same resource, a spatial channel identity for the WTRU, a MIMO mode, a precoding matrix index and a precoding vector index. |
| US08908788B2 |
Method and device for selecting antennas at the base station
A method for selecting antenna elements at a base station can include selecting multiple transmit antenna elements from several antenna elements according to a work mode of the base station. The work mode can be an open-loop or a closed-loop working mode. In open-loop mode the base station does not receive feedback information regarding channel quality from a mobile station. In closed-loop mode feedback information is received. For example, for control signaling, or when the speed of a mobile station is very high, the base station may determine that the working mode is open-loop. When the information being transmitted is data for a specific mobile station and the mobile station is moving at a speed under a threshold, the base station may select or determine the working mode to be the closed-loop working mode. Antenna elements are selected, for example, according to a spatial correlation appropriate to the work mode. |
| US08908786B1 |
Optimized QAM transmission
Systems and methods to optimize QAM transmission are provided. In some implementations, a QAM transmitter can operate to optimize QAM transmissions by reducing high peak signals levels via a QAM subgroup inversion. In additional implementations, systems and methods can provide for a QAM transmitter to optimize QAM transmissions by applying a recursive inversion process of QAM blocks to minimize peak output. In still further implementations, systems and methods can provide for a QAM transmitter to optimize QAM transmissions by suppressing QAM subgroups in a circular QAM constellation. Optimizing QAM transmission can provide enhancement in power efficiency of active transmission equipment thereby avoiding high peak signal levels and reducing the instances of clipping. |
| US08908784B2 |
Methods of communicating data including symbol mapping/demapping and related devices
Data may be transmitted from a RAN node to a wireless terminal using a MIMO antenna array. A plurality of unmapped symbol blocks may be generated. Symbols of a first one of the plurality of unmapped symbol blocks may be mapped to first and second mapped symbol blocks so that the first mapped symbol block includes symbols of the first unmapped symbol block and so that the second mapped symbol block includes symbols of the first unmapped symbol block. The symbols of the first and second mapped symbol blocks may be precoded to provide precoded symbols of respective first and second MIMO precoding layers using a MIMO precoding vector. Each of the precoded symbols of the first and second MIMO precoding layers may be transmitted through the MIMO antenna array to the wireless terminal using a same TFRE. Related devices and terminals are also discussed. |
| US08908779B2 |
Isolated communications interface
A method and interface for serial communication is provided. The interface includes a differential input/output having a first node and a second node. There are several input/output nodes arranged to receive serial interface signals. The interface includes a transmitter configured to drive a twisted pair cable at the differential input/output. There is a receiver coupled to the differential input/output that includes a window comparator. A serial port control unit provides serial data to the transmitter and receives serial data from the receiver. The serial communications interface transmits serial data to and receives serial data from a second serial communications interface independent of a reference clock and is galvanically isolated from the second serial communications interface. |
| US08908775B1 |
Techniques for video data encoding
The techniques for encoding video content are disclosed. In an online game environment, the techniques include obtaining information for a first and second successive frames of video content and information for a position of a virtual camera associated with each frame, determining virtual camera translation information based on the positions of the virtual camera, determining a projected movement between the frames of an object included in each frame, determining the portion of the first frame to be excluded from the second frame and a new portion of the second frame, and providing the determined encoded information for a reconstruction of the second frame based on the provided information. |
| US08908772B2 |
Video processing system for scrambling layered video streams and methods for use therewith
A video processing system includes a video encoder that encodes a video stream into an independent video layer stream and a first dependent video layer stream that requires the independent video layer for decoding. A scrambling module scrambles the independent video layer stream to produce a scrambled independent video layer stream and leaves the first dependent video layer stream unscrambled. |
| US08908769B2 |
Motion vector coding method and motion vector decoding method
A motion vector coding unit executes processing including a neighboring block specification step of specifying a neighboring block which is located in the neighborhood of a current block; a judgment step of judging whether or not the neighboring block has been coded using a motion vector of another block; a prediction step of deriving a predictive motion vector of the current block using a motion vector calculated from the motion vector of the other block as a motion vector of the neighboring block; and a coding step of coding the motion vector of the current block using the predictive motion vector. |
| US08908767B1 |
Temporal motion vector prediction
Taught herein are techniques to incorporate temporal motion vector prediction in encoding and decoding a video stream. Motion vectors are temporally predicted for blocks of a frame. An extrapolated position for at least one block of a first frame is predicted in a second frame using a respective motion vector of the at least one block. A temporal motion vector for a block of the second frame is calculated as a combination of respective motion vectors of blocks overlapping the block of the second frame if at least one of the overlapping blocks is an extrapolated block at the extrapolated position. The temporal motion vector is used in a motion estimation algorithm to select a motion vector for the block, and the block is encoded using the selected motion vector. |
| US08908765B2 |
Method and apparatus for performing motion estimation
The present invention discloses a system and method for performing motion estimation associated with an encoder, e.g., a H.264/MPEG-4 AVC compliant encoder. For example, the method selects a motion vector centering for a current block in a search area of at least one reference picture. The method calculates a matching cost for each of a plurality of candidate motion vectors derived from the search area, and outputs at least one of the plurality of candidate motion vectors based on the matching cost associated with each of the plurality of candidate motion vectors to a main coding loop. |
| US08908759B2 |
Network packet aware data encoding
A communication device is operable to manage communication of data streams, which comprise data encoded utilizing scheme that generate plurality of frames with logical grouping and/or inter-frame dependencies, based on determination of network payload parameters that are utilized for the data transmission. Exemplary encoding schemes comprise MPEG encoding, which generates data streams comprised I-frames, P-frames and/or B-frames. Network packets that are utilized to perform data communication are generated such that packet payloads comprise only data corresponding to a single frame and/or logical grouping within the encoded data stream. Feedback from networking subsystem in the communication device may be provided during processing of the data streams to enable use of network payload parameters during encoding operations. Frame sizes may be adjusted, for example, so that a size of each frame is multiple of a size of a payload of the network packets that are utilized in data communication. |
| US08908755B2 |
Multi-parameter motion for efficient prediction in video compression
Motion Compensated Prediction (MCP) has been a key factor in most advanced video compression schemes. For further reduction in the residual signal energy in B-frames, bidirectional prediction where two motion-compensated signals are superimposed has also been utilized in most prior video coding standards such as MPEG-2 or MPEG-4/AVC. Syntax changes and appropriate motion vector prediction that allows efficient use of multi-parameter MCP is described. The prediction signal is constructed by linearly combining the motion-compensated signals from each parameter (or motion vector). |
| US08908754B1 |
Decision feedback equalization for signals having unequally distributed patterns
Tools capable of improving the accuracy of decision feedback equalization (DFE) are described. The tools may adapt a DFE using a more-equal distribution of signals than those actually received. The tools may do so by disregarding, averaging, or weighting certain signals when adapting the DFE when those signals represent an unequal distribution of bit patterns. In one example, the tools detect and disregard some of the signals representing idle bit patterns that are received more often than other bit patterns. The tools may also or instead compensate for a bit pattern that is never or rarely received. |
| US08908753B2 |
Calibration sub-system for telecommunication systems
A calibration sub-system for calibrating a unit of a distributed antenna system is provided. The calibration sub-system includes a signal generator, a receiver, and a processor. The signal generator provides test signals to a communication path that are generated based on modification schemes for an in-phase signal component (“I component”) or a quadrature signal component (“Q component”). The receiver receives output signals generated from test signals. The processor determines output power values for an undesirable signal component of the output signals. Each output power value is a Taylor series function or a polynomial function of a respective modification scheme for the I or Q component of the respective test signal. The processor determines an optimal modification scheme for the I or Q component that minimizes an output power of the undesirable signal component. An output value of the function is minimized by having the optimal modification scheme as an input. |
| US08908744B1 |
Discriminator system for timing error detection in presence and absence of multipath conditions
In a code tracking loop, a multipath discriminator is configured to generate a first tracking error corresponding to a received signal in the presence of multipath interference and/or at low signal level. A line-of-sight (LOS) discriminator is configured to generate a second tracking error corresponding to the received signal. A multipath switch is configured to i) detect the presence of multipath interference in the received signal and/or a low signal level of the received signal compared to a threshold, and ii) indicate whether the first tracking error or the second tracking error is to be utilized. |
| US08908742B2 |
User equipment, radio base station and methods therein for transmitting information of an allocation of a radio resource
Embodiments herein relate to a method in a radio base station for transmitting information of an allocation of a radio resource allocated to a second user equipment. The radio base station is arranged to serve a first user equipment and the second user equipment in a cell of a radio communications network. The radio resource in the cell comprises Physical Resource Blocks that are organized in radio frames comprising subframes. The radio base station allocates a radio resource to the second user equipment in a subframe of the cell based on a frequency hopping scheme of the first user equipment. Also, the radio base station transmits a message to the second user equipment, which message indicates the allocated radio resource. |
| US08908738B2 |
Ring resonator with a holographic reflector
A laser device includes a pump source, a ring resonator, a gain medium disposed in the ring resonator, and a holographic output coupler to partially transmit the laser radiation. The gain medium is configured to receive radiation from the pump source and generate laser radiation. |
| US08908735B2 |
Laser system
A method and apparatus may comprise a line narrowed pulsed excimer or molecular fluorine gas discharge laser system which may comprise a seed laser oscillator producing an output comprising a laser output light beam of pulses which may comprise a first gas discharge excimer or molecular fluorine laser chamber; a line narrowing module within a first oscillator cavity; a laser amplification stage containing an amplifying gain medium in a second gas discharge excimer or molecular fluorine laser chamber receiving the output of the seed laser oscillator and amplifying the output of the seed laser oscillator to form a laser system output comprising a laser output light beam of pulses, which may comprise a ring power amplification stage. |
| US08908732B2 |
Group-III nitride semiconductor laser device
A group-III nitride semiconductor laser device comprises: a laser structure including a semiconductor region and a support base having a semipolar primary surface of group-III nitride semiconductor; a first reflective layer, provided on a first facet of the region, for a lasing cavity of the laser device; and a second reflective layer, provided on a second facet of the region, for the lasing cavity. The laser structure includes a laser waveguide extending along the semipolar surface. A c+ axis vector indicating a <0001> axial direction of the base tilts toward an m-axis of the group-III nitride semiconductor at an angle of not less than 63 degrees and less than 80 degrees with respect to a vector indicating a direction of an axis normal to the semipolar surface. The first reflective layer has a reflectance of less than 60% in a wavelength range of 525 to 545 nm. |
| US08908731B1 |
Gallium nitride based laser dazzling device and method
A laser dazzler device and method. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention provide laser dazzling devices power by one or more green laser diodes characterized by a wavelength of about 500 nm to 540 nm. In various embodiments, laser dazzling devices according to the present invention include non-polar and/or semi-polar green laser diodes. In a specific embodiment, a single laser dazzling device includes a plurality of green laser diodes. There are other embodiments as well. |
| US08908720B2 |
Directed-energy irradiating apparatus
A directed-energy irradiating apparatus includes an FEL apparatus and an HPM apparatus. The FEL apparatus accelerates free electrons by using a microwave supplied from a microwave source to irradiate an FEL beam and outputs a remaining microwave. The HPM apparatus irradiates an HPM beam generated based on the remaining microwave outputted from the FEL apparatus. It is possible to destroy a target even in a situation that a destruction effect by the FEL beam cannot expected, while maintaining the destruction ability of the FEL beam. |
| US08908719B2 |
Clock rate controller and method thereof and electronic device thereof
An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure illustrates a clock rate control method. Firstly, a usage of a first input first output (FIFO) buffer in an electronic device is detected. Then, whether the usage falls within a first specific interval is determined, wherein the first specific interval has a first upper limit value and a first lower limit value. When the usage is larger than the first upper limit value, a clock rate of the inner device of the electronic device is increased; when the usage is less than the first lower limit value, the clock rate is decreased. |
| US08908718B2 |
Systems and methods for improving performance in an HFC architecture
Systems and methods for improving performance in an HFC architecture are provided. Incoming data associated with a plurality of signals to be included in a downstream data signal may be received, and the incoming data may be mapped to a plurality of symbols representative of the signals. Data bits for each symbol may be mapped to at least one data register. The contents of the at least one register may be read by one or more digital-to-analog converters to facilitate a direct radio frequency synthesis, and the output of the one or more digital-to-analog converters may be provided to one or more electro-optic conversion devices configured to output a downstream data signal. |
| US08908717B2 |
Method and system of transmitting and receiving fragmentable data units in a wireless communication environment
The present invention provides a method and system for transmitting and receiving Fragmentable Data Units (FDUs) in a wireless communication environment. In one embodiment, a method of transmitting FDUs in a wireless communication environment includes fragmenting a FDU into a fixed number of fragments by a transmitting device. The method further includes packing the fragments of said FDU in payloads of Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Units (PDUs). Additionally, the method includes encoding control information of each fragment of said FDU in a fragmentation control (FC) field and a sequence number field of the respective MAC PDU. Moreover, the method includes transmitting the MAC PDUs containing the fragments of said FDU and control information associated with the fragments to a receiving device. |
| US08908715B2 |
Method and system for a high-speed backward-compatible ethernet connector
Aspects of a method and system for a high-speed backward-compatible Ethernet connector are provided. Which, if any, of a plurality of pins of a connector are coupled to a first portion of one or more circuits of an Ethernet PHY may be controlled via one or more switching elements in the Ethernet PHY. The switching element(s) may reside in a signal path between the first portion of the one or more circuits and a second portion of the one or more circuits. One or more configurations of the switching element(s) may couple less than all of the plurality of pins to the first circuit(s). Each signal into and out of the switching element(s) may be a digital signal. The first portion of the one or more circuit may comprise a media independent interface. The second portion of the one or more circuit may comprise a media dependent interface. |
| US08908713B2 |
Methods for requesting and responding to multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) counting
Disclosed is a method for requesting and feeding back a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) state, the method being used for allowing a network side to inform a related user equipment (UE) to feed back MBMS state information and allowing the informed UE to feed back the MBMS state information. The request method comprises: when necessary to acquire the receiving state of an MBMS, a base station transmits, through a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) scrambled by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) belonging specially to an MBMS service, or through a system message, a multicast control channel (MCCH) change notification to the UE; and the base station transmits an MBMS state report request to the UE through the changed MCCH. The present invention also discloses a device for implementing the method. |
| US08908709B1 |
Methods and apparatus for power management associated with a switch fabric
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a request to transmit data from a first queue to a second queue via a switch fabric. In response to the receiving, a wake-up signal configured to trigger a stage of a processing pipeline in communication with the second queue to change from a standby state to an active state is sent. |
| US08908708B2 |
Secure method and apparatus for enabling the provisioning of a shared service in a utility computing environment
Embodiments of the invention provide a secure method for enabling the provisioning of a shared service in a utility computing environment. One embodiment establishes an account primary virtual local area network (VLAN) for at least one account in a utility computing environment. Then, a request is received from a service provider to provide a shared service to the at least one account. An isolated VLAN is established for each shared service being provisioned in the context of the account primary VLAN and a promiscuous port is provided for the service provider. A selection option is then provided to allow the at least one server to utilize the shared service provided by the service provider. An isolated port is then configured for the at least one server on an isolated VLAN between the at least one server that chooses to utilize the shared service, and the shared service. |
| US08908707B2 |
Bandwidth allocation in ad hoc networks
A potentially interfering node updatable database associated with the MAC, in each node, contains a limited number of unique identification numbers (UNIDs) referring to nodes likely to interfere with the transmission of the node. Typically these UNIDs are one or two hop neighbors. In addition to the actual nodes, the database also contains unique ID numbers of dummy nodes. Practically, the node database does not distinguish between real or dummy nodes. Selecting a certain node to transmit at a certain TS is brought about by a “which node is to transmit in the next TS” (WINIT) function. This function takes into account all the UNIDs available in the UNID databases of the different nodes. When the WINIT selects a specific UNID to be active in the upcoming TS, the relevant MAC element in the respective node, invokes the transmission. |
| US08908706B2 |
Wireless extender secure discovery and provisioning
According to embodiments of the invention, a first wireless access point discovers a second wireless access point, the first wireless access point tunes its radio and privacy settings, without user input, based upon parameters automatically exchanged in response to the discovery of the second wireless access point, and a secure direct wireless connection is established between the first and second wireless access points using the radio and privacy settings. Adding the first wireless to an existing mesh network includes a determination of the best available direct wireless connection. |
| US08908705B2 |
Access point and method for data transmission
A method for data transmission disclosed is applied to an access point for use in a wireless local area network. The access point has multiple antennas. The method comprises in response to transmitting a first message successfully to a station, determining a maximum transmitting rate at which a message can be transmitted successfully using a current antenna group by increasing the transmitting rate and transmitting a message repeatedly; and, transmitting further messages to the station at the determined maximum transmitting rate. |
| US08908700B2 |
Systems and methods for bridging a WAN accelerator with a security gateway
The solution described herein provides systems and methods for the interoperability of network processing programs that process network packets at different levels of the network stack. This solution bridges the communications of a network packet between a first network processing program operating at a first level of a network stack in an intermediary and a second network processing program operating at a second level of the network stack of the intermediary. The first network processing program may modify an incoming network packet so that the packet may traverse the network stack to an upper level of the stack to the second network processing program. After processing the network packet at the upper layers of the stack or by the second network processing program, the first network processing program modifies the network pack in order to transmit the packet to the intended destination while traversing the intermediary. |
| US08908699B2 |
Providing automatic format conversion via an access gateway in a home
A system and method supporting the automatic conversion of multimedia information from a first format to a second format in a broadband access gateway and/or network-based server are disclosed. The broadband access gateway and/or network-based server may convert multimedia information that is in a format that an access device is not capable of processing. The gateway and/or server may automatically detect the format incompatibility, and may automatically convert or arrange for conversion of the multimedia information to a format that is compatible with the access device, based upon compatibility information associated with the access device. The conversion may be based upon a set of user-defined quality of service criteria, and may be subject to the control of digital rights management parameters associated with the requested multimedia information. The user of the access device may be prompted when the conversion is expected to impact the quality of the multimedia information being played, and the user may be offered options that permit the user to minimize the impact upon the user. |
| US08908695B2 |
Wireless communication device, program, wireless communication method, and wireless communication system
Provided is a wireless communication device including a communication unit, a storage unit that stores information of one wireless communication device forming a same communication group as the wireless communication device, received by the communication unit, and a control unit that discloses the information of the one wireless communication device during an information disclosure period initiated based on user operation for connecting the one wireless communication device forming the communication group and another wireless communication device and does not disclose the information of the one wireless communication device during another period. |
| US08908692B2 |
Device for realizing upstream aggregation and downstream translation of a virtual local area network and method thereof
A device for realizing upstream aggregation and downstream translation of a virtual local area network (VLAN) includes a buffer and a processor. The buffer is used for storing an ingress VLAN translation table and an egress VLAN translation table. The processor is used for translating an upstream packet inputted from a first user port into an upstream translation packet according to the ingress VLAN translation table, and transmitting the upstream translation packet to the Internet through an internet port, and translating a first downstream packet inputted from the internet port into a first downstream translation packet according to the egress VLAN translation table, and transmitting the first downstream translation packet to a user device through a second user port. |
| US08908684B2 |
Method and communication system for selecting a transmission mode for transmitting payload data
A transmission mode selection for packet-oriented transmission of useful data between a first and a second communication device is provided, where lists of transmission modes for the communication devices are transmitted to a quality-of-service device. The quality-of-service device uses available transmission resources to select one or more transmission modes from the lists such that the quality of service, which is dependent on the selected transmission modes, can be assured by the available transmission resources. The selected transmission modes are transmitted to a connection controller which prompts further selection of a transmission mode from the transmission modes for the communication devices. The useful data are then transmitted between the communication devices using the transmission mode selected by the further selection. |
| US08908680B2 |
Apparatus for hybrid-transmitting and bridging of a circuit service and a packet service
An apparatus and a system for hybrid-transmitting and bridging of a circuit service and a packet service are provided. The apparatus includes a TDM framing unit, a TDM three-direction cross unit, and a mapping and encapsulating unit. The TDM framing unit implements conversion between a line layer TDM signal outside the apparatus and channel layer TDM signals inside the apparatus, and transmits the channel layer TDM signals to the TDM three-direction cross unit. The TDM three-direction cross unit implements cross scheduling on the channel layer TDM signals from a TDM cross apparatus, the mapping and encapsulating unit, and the TDM framing unit. The mapping and encapsulating unit implements conversion between a channel layer TDM signal from the TDM three-direction cross unit and packet service signals from the packet processing unit. |
| US08908679B2 |
Multi-cell signals in OFDM wireless networks
A wireless device receives control messages indicating CSI measurement resources of cells belonging to at least two base stations or belonging to at least two sectors of a base station. The wireless device measures CSI employing at least CSI measurement resources of the cells. The wireless device quantizes the measured CSI jointly across cells and encodes and transmits the jointly quantized CSI. The wireless device receives a resource assignment for data packets from one serving cell in the subset of cells. The wireless device simultaneously receives signals carrying the data packets from multiple cells. |
| US08908678B1 |
Intelligent call routing
A method and apparatus for routing a telecommunication session request are provided herein. In some embodiments, the method may determining a first set of status attributes of a first device, receiving a request from a second device to establish a telecommunication session with the first device, selecting a route to establish the telecommunication session based on the first set of status attributes of the first device, and establishing the telecommunication session using the selected route. |
| US08908675B2 |
Virtual pairing for consistent data broadcast
A network comprises a plurality of nodes; and a plurality of links communicatively coupling each of the plurality of nodes to at least one respective adjacent node of the plurality of nodes via a first communication channel and to another respective adjacent node of the plurality of nodes via a second communication channel. At least one of the plurality of nodes is a source node configured to source data. The source node is configured to form a virtual self-checking pair with one of the respective adjacent node on the first communication channel or the respective adjacent node on the second communication channel to achieve a consistent broadcast of data on the first and second communication channels. Data exchanged between the source node and the respective adjacent node in the virtual self-checking pair is only sourced by the source node. |
| US08908669B2 |
Method and apparatus for code division switching
Time division multiplexed input signals (i.e., separated into time slots) are spread in each time slot with a destination code. This spreading is applied for destination identification as opposed to signal information modulation. Each spreading signal is associated with a particular destination for a particular time slot. These spread signals are then combined on a code division bus. Output signals for retransmission to the destinations are recovered from the bus by application of despreading codes. Each despread signal has a destination code which appears in its individual time slot. In a variant code division multiplexed signals are directed to a destination by use of time slot interchanger to achieve time division switching to route the CDMA multiplexed channels. |
| US08908668B2 |
Device for separating signal transmission and reception and communication system including same
A device for separating signal transmission and reception has first, second, and third device ports, a circulator including a first circulator port, a second circulator port and a third circulator port, a transmission filter coupled between the first circulator port and the first device port, and a reception filter coupled between the third circulator port and the third device port. The second circulator port is coupled to the second device port An input to the first port is output from the second port and an input to the second port is output from the third port. The circuit provides isolation between transmission and reception to improve communication efficiency and can reduce the size of a communication system. |
| US08908664B2 |
System and method for determining a subscriber'S zone information
Systems and methods for delivering customized content to wireless service subscribers are disclosed. According to the disclosed embodiments, wireless access points can be grouped into various zones. Some of all of these zones can be further associated with predefined service types or other customized attributes. When a wireless subscriber connects to an access point in a given zone, the subscriber can be provided with content and/or services based on the zone to which he is connected. |
| US08908660B2 |
Gateway apparatus, node apparatus, communication system, control method and computer readable medium
A gateway apparatus that connects a multi-hop network of tree structure formed of node apparatuses to other network, comprising a grouping unit that groups, for each representative node apparatus having a direct link to the gateway apparatus in the tree structure, the nodes belonging to a subtree having same representative node as a root, into a node group, an interference group specifying unit that specifies a node group in which packet communication in the node group is subjected to an interference of a degree exceeding a threshold as an interference group, and a slot allocation unit that allocates some one time slot among a plurality of time slots included in a frame to one interference group among a plurality of interference groups, and allocates another time slot among the plurality of time slots to another interference group among the plurality of interference groups. |
| US08908656B2 |
Support for multi-radio coexistence during connection setup
In a user equipment (UE) with multiple radio access technologies (RATs), communications of one RAT engaged in connection setup may be protected from communications of other RATs. Techniques for protecting such connection setups include performing power backoff on a potentially interfering RAT or implementing a time division multiplexing (TDM) solution alternating when certain RATs are active. |
| US08908647B2 |
Mobile communication system for reducing interference to an area
A mobile communication system has a plurality of communication areas being connection destinations of a mobile terminal. When a radio wave transmitted from a communication area to the mobile terminal connected to the communication area becomes an interference wave in another communication area different from the communication area, a handover target where an interference quantity may be reduced by handover is determined from at least one handover target candidates with respect to the communication area, and the mobile terminal executes forcible handover to the handover target. |
| US08908640B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for handover between multi-carrier cells
The present invention relates to the radio communication field and discloses a method, an apparatus, and a system for handover between multi-carrier cells, so that a user equipment (UE) can be handed over to carriers of different cells on multiple target evolved NodeBs (eNBs). The handover method includes: after performing handover request acknowledge, receiving serial numbers (SNs) of data to be transferred and identifier information of target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over sent by a source eNB; and transferring scheduling information to the target eNBs of other carriers to which the UE is handed over. |
| US08908638B2 |
Method for handover of terminal, network element, base station, and communication system
The present invention relates to a method for handover of a mobile terminal from a first network to a second network, a network element, a mobile terminal, a base station and a communications system as well as a computer program product and a storage medium. The method comprises the steps of: determining a WDP including an unnecessary handover probability and a missing handover probability according to conditions of the first network and the second network; detecting at least of the following: whether the unnecessary handover probability is greater than the missing handover probability, whether the unnecessary handover probability is greater than a specific threshold and whether the missing handover probability is smaller than a specific threshold; and making a handover decision based on the detection result. The present invention can select a more suitable target network for handover at a more suitable time, thus ensuring the continuity of a mobile user's call. |
| US08908634B2 |
Method for controlling VCC functions initiated by network and terminal and network server thereof
A method and terminal for controlling Voice Call Continuity (VCC) functions initiated by a network, are discussed. According to an embodiment, the method includes receiving, by a terminal, a VCC function notification message, the VCC function notification message including VCC enabling information indicating whether a VCC function of the terminal is to be enabled or disabled; and enabling or disabling the VCC function of the terminal based on the VCC function notification message. |
| US08908633B2 |
Control and data channel radio resource configuration
A base station transmits on a first control channel first scheduling information for a control message. First radio resources of the first control channel start from the first symbol of each subframe in a plurality of subframes. The base station transmits the control message configuring second radio resources of a second control channel. The second radio resources comprise resource blocks in a subset of subframes in the plurality of subframes. The control message indicates the subset of subframes and a starting symbol of the second control channel. The base station transmits second scheduling information on the second control channel. |
| US08908628B2 |
Method and apparatus for receiving downlink signals
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for receiving downlink signals in a wireless communication system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for receiving downlink signals in a wireless communication and an apparatus incorporating the same, wherein the method comprises the steps of: receiving a sub frame having two slots; blind decoding a plurality of R-PDCCH (Relay Physical Downlink Control Channel) candidates in order to receive control data from the search space of a first slot; and determining whether the R-PDCCH conveys control data for downlink transmission or uplink transmission when R-PDCCH was detected in the search space, wherein the control data for the downlink transmission and uplink transmission have an equal size of data. |
| US08908625B2 |
Radio communication system, low-power base station, high-power base station, radio terminal, and radio communication method
A radio communication system (1) is provided with a high-power base station (200), a radio terminal (300) which is located within a macro cell (C2) formed by the high-power base station (200), and a low-power base station (100) which has a lower transmission output power than the high-power base station (200). The low-power base station (100) sends, to the high-power base station (200), control information needed for the radio communication between the radio terminal (300) and the low-power base station (100); the high-power base station (200) sends, to the radio terminal (300), the control information received from the low-power base station (100); and the radio terminal (300) performs radio communication with the low-power base station (100) by using the control information received from the high-power base station (200). |
| US08908622B2 |
Method and communication device for assigning scheduling grant
The present invention discloses a method and a communication device for assigning a scheduling grant. The method for assigning a scheduling grant includes: receiving a grant value, an E-TFCI offset value, and a data stream identifier corresponding to the E-TFCI offset value, where the E-TFCI offset value is determined by the Node B according to data transmitted by a mobile terminal through two data streams; determining, according to the grant value, a transport block size of the data stream identified by the data stream identifier in a current TTI; and determining a transport block size of the other data stream in the current TTI according to the transport block size and the E-TFCI offset value. in the embodiments of the present invention the MIMO technology may be applied to the HSUPA technology. |
| US08908620B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting resource allocation information
Provided are a method and an apparatus for transmitting resource allocation information. In the case when a wireless resource for a new terminal is fixedly allocated to a fixed allocation zone, the apparatus for transmitting resource allocation information determines a resource allocation method of allocating the wireless resource and determines an allocation form of a resource that is allocated by a resource allocation method to select any one information displaying method of a plurality of information displaying methods of displaying allocation information on the allocated resource on the basis of the determined resource allocation method and resource allocation form. Next, the resource allocation information is generated and transmitted on the basis of the selected displaying method. |
| US08908614B2 |
Management apparatus, control method, and program
The invention makes it possible to manage, even if some of wireless terminals leave a wireless communication network to be managed, the wireless terminals which have left. The invention provides a management apparatus which is connected to an AP and manages each wireless terminal communicating with the AP by using a management table, including a unit for determining based on the management table, when a wireless terminal leaves the first wireless communication network to newly form the second wireless communication network, the SSID of the second wireless communication network, a unit for updating the management table with the determined SSID, and a unit for transmitting the determined SSID to the wireless terminal which is to form the second wireless communication network. |
| US08908612B2 |
Apparatus, method and computer program product providing usage of E-DCH as RACH shared channel
Apparatus, methods and computer program products in a wireless communications system provide an enhanced dedicated channel (E-DCH) for use by user equipment operating in the wireless communications system for use in conjunction with the random access procedure. The user equipment has circuitry to request a HS random access channel and, in response to receiving an assignment from a Node B of a dedicated mode channel for use as the random access channel, to send uplink data in a random access fashion over the assigned dedicated mode channel while receiving feedback from the Node B over at least one downlink L1 feedback channel. The Node B has circuitry to assign to the UE the dedicated mode channel for use as the random access channel, to receive uplink data in a random access fashion over the assigned dedicated mode channel, and to send feedback information to the UE over at least one downlink L1 feedback channel. |
| US08908611B2 |
Multipoint data transmission
A semi-single frequency network (SFN) concept is presented. According to the SFN concept, the same data signal is transmitted from multiple base stations to a mobile terminal simultaneously on the same frequency band. Accordingly, the transmitted signals are combined in the radio channel and the mobile terminal experiences the transmitted signals as one signal propagated through a multipath channel. Additionally, each base station transmits a base station specific pilot signal. The mobile terminal carries out a channel estimation procedure for each received pilot signal and combines the channel estimates to obtain information how to equalize the received data signal. Then, the mobile terminal calculates equalization weights from the combined channel estimates and equalizes the received data signal. |
| US08908610B2 |
Associated systems and methods for providing data services using idle cell resources
Associated systems and methods for providing data services using idle cell capacity in a communications system. The systems and methods assign priorities to each remote user device in the communications system. In response to a request for service for a remote user device, the switch determines whether an idle channel is available for the remote user device. If no idle channel is available, the switch determines whether a remote user device with a lower priority than the requesting remote user device is using a channel. If a lower priority remote user device is using a channel, its call is terminated and the channel is assigned to the requesting remote user device. If no lower priority remote user device is using a channel, the request for service is put into an ordered queue to wait for the next available idle channel. |
| US08908608B2 |
System, method, and computer-readable medium for mobile-originated voice call processing for a mobile station attached with an IP-femtocell system
A system, method, and computer readable medium that facilitates processing of a mobile-originated voice call for a mobile station attached with a femtocell system are provided. The femtocell system may broadcast a notification that authentication is required for all system access via an overhead message train. The femtocell system receives a call origination request from the mobile station and, in turn, issues a service request message to a convergence server deployed in a core network. The convergence server then engages in an authentication procedure with the mobile station's mobile core network and returns a global challenge response to the femtocell system. The convergence server may then determine if the mobile station is to be validated and, if so, may continue call set up for the call origination request. |
| US08908605B1 |
Coordination of codec assignment and radio configuration in wireless communications
A method and system is disclosed for coordinating codec assignment and radio configuration in wireless communication sessions. When a communication session is set up for an access terminal (AT) operating in a wireless communication system, a network device, such a base station, can determine a coding rate to assign the AT for its air interface in a manner that accounts for radio configuration in a wireless coverage zone of the base station. The base station could use a distribution of types of cover codes in use to monitor radio configuration, and then assign a codec and coding rate for new calls based on the distribution. |
| US08908604B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus and wireless communication method
Provided are a wireless communication apparatus and a wireless communication method capable of reducing power consumption without delay of data transmission and reception. The wireless communication apparatus according to the invention includes a reception unit which receives a DRX instruction information destined for the wireless communication apparatus and a monitor process number including a sub-frame number used to monitor a PDCCH destined for the wireless communication apparatus; and a monitoring process unit which monitors the PDCCH destined for the wireless communication apparatus using only sub-frames set based on the sub-frame number, when receiving an instruction to perform a DRX process by the DRX instruction information. |
| US08908601B2 |
Paging processing method, communication apparatus, and communication system
A paging processing method, a communication apparatus, and a communication system are disclosed, which can improve the quality of service provided to a user equipment. The paging processing method includes: receiving, by a mobility management network element, a downlink data notification message which includes service attribute information of a downlink data packet; obtaining the service attribute information; and initiating paging of the user equipment based on different policies according to the service attribute information. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention also provide a communication apparatus and a communication system. |
| US08908597B2 |
Methods and apparatus for supporting the implementation of IMS service continuity
According to a first embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method of operating a node of a communications network that is configured to provide an IP Multimedia Subsystem Access Transfer Control Function. The method comprises storing information regarding IMS Service Continuity features that are supported by Mobile Switching Center servers within the network. Upon receipt of a message requesting IMS registration of a user equipment using the information to determine the IMS Service Continuity features that may be available to the user equipment, and, for any IMS Service Continuity features that may be available, including an indication that the IMS Service Continuity feature may be available in the message, and forwarding the message towards a Service Centralization and Continuity Application Server. |
| US08908596B2 |
Method and apparatus of transmitting information in wireless communication system
A method and an apparatus of transmitting information in a wireless communication system are provided. The method includes transmitting information based on a first resource index through a first antenna and transmitting the information based on a second resource index through a second antenna. |
| US08908595B2 |
Methods and apparatus for adjacent channel interference mitigation in access point base stations
Apparatus and methods for interference mitigation in wireless communication networks are described. In one implementation, at a node in a first network, a power level and/or bandwidth or channelization of an adjacent channel signal may be determined, and a power level and/or bandwidth of a transmitted signal in the first network may be adjusted in response. |
| US08908591B2 |
Wireless access and networking system and method for spacecraft
A system and methods for spacecraft wireless access and networking are presented. An orbital position of an orbiting spacecraft is determined, and a wireless access point of a terrestrial wireless communication network is selected from a wireless access point database based on the orbital position. A communication is established with the wireless access point. |
| US08908586B2 |
Method and arrangement for DL-OTDOA (downlink observed time difference of arrival) positioning in a LTE (long term evolution) wireless communications system
The present invention relates generally to methods and arrangements for positioning in a wireless communications system, such as LTE. In particular, the present invention relates to improving positioning accuracy. The invention provides methods and arrangements for scheduling positioning subframes, i.e. low interference subframes, for allowing aligning of positioning subframes across a number of cells in order to reduce the interference from data symbols of cells in the neighborhood of a cell serving the UE that is performing positioning measurements. A time instance during which transmission of the positioning subframes is to occur in a wireless communications network is selected. The base stations in the wireless communications network are informed about the selected time instance, whereupon the base stations schedule and transmit the positioning subframes based on the selected time instance, whereby the positioning subframes are aligned throughout the network. |
| US08908582B2 |
User equipment operation mode and channel or carrier prioritization
A method for wireless communications is disclosed that includes determining a power operation control feature of a first mode of operation of a user equipment (UE). A channel prioritization is triggered based at least in part on the power operation control feature. A second configuration indicating UE operation in a second mode is received and is based on a UE generated report of a state resulting from the first mode of operation. The second mode of operation is then implemented. |
| US08908580B2 |
Method and apparatus for automatic switching between networks, wireless access device, and intermediate device
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and an apparatus for automatic switching between networks, a wireless access device, and an intermediate device. The method includes: receiving, by the wireless access device, after a connection between the wireless access device and the intermediate device is established, an instruction message sent by the intermediate device, where the instruction message instructs the wireless access device to switch from a currently connected wireless network to a wired network; connecting, by the wireless access device, according to the instruction message, the wired network through the intermediate device, and breaking the connection with the wireless network; and switching, by the wireless access device, from the wired network to the wireless network when a connection between the wireless access device and the wired network is broken. The present invention is applicable to the automatic switching between the wireless network and the wired network. |
| US08908579B2 |
Communication protocol technique for improving data throughput
An acknowledgement technique reduces packet-switched communication delays. The technique may be implemented in a mobile communication device with multiple SIMs. The technique facilitates enhanced communication capability for the mobile communication device. In one implementation, the technique helps reduce delays caused by switching between packet-switched and circuit-switched communications. Specifically, in one aspect, the technique reduces delays caused by exponential backoff that may occur during suspension of a packet-switched communication. |
| US08908571B2 |
Enabling coexistence between wireless networks
Systems and methods for detecting and mitigating interference between from a first wireless time division duplex (TDD) communications device and a second wireless TDD communications device includes processing quality-indicator reports received from the first TDD device to determine if reception at the first TDD device has experienced interference from the second TDD device. Such interference at the first TDD device may indicate that the first TDD device may also cause interference to reception at the second TDD device. Accordingly, to mitigate the possible interference from the first TDD device, an uplink configuration of the first TDD base station may be adjusted. The adjustment of the uplink configuration may include configuring reception of data packets at the first TDD base station from the first TDD device in accordance with an interference-free time interval, an unprotected time interval, or a specific portion of an associated frequency band. |
| US08908568B2 |
Communication system and computer program product
A communication system includes a first communication terminal, a second communication terminal that has not established communication with the first communication terminal, and a third communication terminal that has established communication with the first communication terminal. The second communication terminal transmits to the first communication terminal a request packet that requests establishment of communication, and receives from the first communication terminal a permission packet that permits establishment of communication. The second communication terminal then establishes communication with the first communication terminal and performs communication with the first communication terminal. A second receiving device receives the request packet from the third communication terminal, after the first receiving device has received the permission packet from the first communication terminal; The second communication terminal transmits the permission packet to the third communication terminal, and establishes communication with the third communication terminal and performs communication with the third communication terminal. |
| US08908567B2 |
Media delivery platform
A method of delivering an audio and/or visual media file including, for example, one or more of full or partial master recordings of songs, musical compositions, ringtones, videos, films, television shows, personal recordings, animation and combinations thereof, over the air wirelessly, from one or more servers to an electronic device with or without an Internet connection, said method comprising transmitting and audio and/or visual media file in compressed format to said electronic device, and wherein the electronic device is effective to receive said audio and/or visual file and playback said audio and/or visual content on demand by a user. |
| US08908565B2 |
Methods and apparatus for efficient decentralized information dissemination in a network
Methods and apparatus for efficient decentralized information dissemination in a network are discussed herein. The decentralized information dissemination techniques are based on non-deterministic protocols such as gossip-based protocols. An example method for dissemination of information in a network can include: selecting a destination node from a set of neighboring nodes using a gossip-based protocol; transmitting a message to the destination node; and receiving a feedback response from the destination node. The feedback response can include a level of usefulness of the message to the destination node. In addition, each neighboring node in the set can be associated with a selection weight, and the selection weights can be related to a probability of selecting each neighboring node in the set as the destination node using the gossip-based protocol. Upon receiving the feedback response, the method can include adjusting the selection weight of the destination node based on the feedback response. |
| US08908564B2 |
Method for Media Access Control address learning and learning rate suppression
A method, apparatus and computer program product for Media Access Control (MAC) address learning and learning rate suppression are presented. A Forwarding Data Unit (FDU) maintains two cache tables, each of the cache tables used for harvesting MAC addresses. The FDU uses the cache tables in an alternating manner, wherein when one of the cache tables is used for harvesting MAC addresses the other one of the cache tables has its contents bundled into a packet for forwarding to a control plane of the FDU. |
| US08908562B2 |
Method for remotely managing a sensor network topology and gateway
A method for remotely managing a sensor network topology includes: receiving a device management DM command sent by a device management server, where the DM command acts on a preconstructed management object MO node and the MO node includes a node configured to discover a sensor network topology, a node configured to describe a sensor network topology, or a node configured to modify a sensor network topology; and managing a sensor network according to the DM command, where the management includes discovering the sensor network topology, describing the sensor network topology, or modifying the sensor network topology. By adopting the present invention, remote topology management of a sensor network successive to an M2M gateway can be implemented and the complexity for implementing the management is reduced. |
| US08908560B2 |
Mobile communication system
In a mobile communication system according to the present invention, with the separate use of a plurality of component carriers or with the use of a carrier set including the plurality of component carriers aggregated, a base station performs radio communication with a user equipment corresponding to the component carrier or a user equipment corresponding to the aggregated carriers. In particular, in a case where the base station performs radio communication with the user equipment corresponding to the aggregated carriers with the use of the aggregated carriers, each of a plurality of transport blocks created by dividing a transport channel is transmitted per each of the plurality of component carriers constituting the aggregated carriers, and control information related to radio communication between the base station and the user equipment corresponding to the aggregated carriers is transmitted such that physical information of the corresponding component carrier is identifiable. |
| US08908559B1 |
BSS selection using path loss
A wireless client station includes a signal strength module configured to estimate signal strengths of signals received from a plurality of access points, wherein each of the signals includes a transmit power level signal. A control module is configured to determine path losses for each of the plurality of access points in response to the signal strengths and the transmit power level signals. The control module is configured to associate with one of the plurality of access points having a lowest one of the path losses. The control module is configured to adjust a minimum transmit power level of the wireless client station in response to the lowest one of the path losses and a receiver sensitivity of the wireless client station. |
| US08908558B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting a network impairment using call detail records
A method and system for monitoring a packet network by using call detail records (CDRs) are disclosed. The method first receives at least one call detail record (CDR) at a completion of a call from at least one voice gateway router that serviced said call and analyzes said at least one CDR. The method then monitors at least one performance parameter in accordance with said at least one CDR. |
| US08908557B2 |
Method and apparatus for monitoring a packet network
A method and system for enabling a network service provider to monitor a packet network by using call detail records (CDRs) are disclosed. The method first detects a termination of a call by at least one voice gateway router and generates a call detail record (CDR) at said termination of said call by said at least one voice gateway router. The method then forwards said call detail record by said at least one voice gateway router to at least one CDR collecting and analysis server. |
| US08908556B2 |
Method and apparatus to perform ranging operations for wireless stations
Certain embodiments provide methods and apparatus for adjusting timing in an SDMA system. One method for adjusting the timing of packet transmissions in a wireless communications system, that may be performed by an access point, includes receiving ranging signals from a plurality of wireless network nodes, determining timing adjustment information for adjusting starting timing of packet transmissions from the wireless network nodes based on the ranging signals, and communicating the timing adjustment information to the wireless network nodes. |
| US08908546B2 |
Distributed spectrum sensing
The present invention relates to a spectrum sensing scheme for a radio network. The proposed approach involves applying sensing in a distributed fashion to obtain an estimate of the signal spectrum. A network of the multiple sensing nodes (200-1 to 200-J) obtains such a spectrum estimate without requiring high-speed analog-to-digital converter to accommodate the large band-width of interest. |
| US08908541B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer readable media for intelligent optimization of digital signal processor (DSP) resource utilization in a media gateway
The subject matter described herein includes methods, systems, and computer readable media for intelligent optimization of digital signal processor (DSP) resource utilization in a media gateway. In one method, it is determined in a media gateway whether predetermined conditions exist for DSP-less IP-IP switching for a call. In response to determining that the predetermined conditions exist, DSP-less IP-IP switching is implemented for the call in the media gateway. After implementing the DSP-less IP-IP switching for the call, it is determined whether a predetermined event occurs that requires insertion of DSP resources during the call. In response to determining that the predetermined event occurs, the DSP resources are inserted into the call during the call. |
| US08908540B2 |
Efficient and loss tolerant method and mechanism for measuring available bandwidth
A single burst method is used to determine the available bandwidth in a network environment. A sending node transmits test packets to a receiving node. The size of the test packets is dynamically determining based on network parameters within the network environment. The sending node then receives test receipt packets that have the same sequence numbers as the corresponding test packets. Packet clusters are formed from the test receipt packets. The available bandwidth is determined based on the packet clusters along with values set by the single burst method or inputted by a user. |
| US08908537B2 |
Redundant network connections
Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: performing an active gateway election to determine whether the provider edge device will be an active gateway for a connection; if the provider edge device will be the active gateway for the connection, indicating to a customer edge device that no fault is currently associated with a link between the customer edge device and the provider edge device; and if the provider edge device will not be the active gateway for the connection, indicating to the customer edge device that a fault is currently associated with the link between the customer edge device and the provider edge device. |
| US08908532B2 |
System and method for conserving power in link aggregation groups
A system and method of reducing power consumption in a network switching unit includes detecting whether conditions are suitable for reducing power consumption in a first network switching unit. The first network switching unit includes a link aggregation group (LAG) and a plurality of communication ports, each communication port configured to couple the first network switching unit to a second network switching unit using a corresponding network link selected from a plurality of network links, and wherein the plurality of network links are assigned to the LAG. The system and method further includes requesting network link deactivation by sending a link deactivation request to the second network switching unit, determining whether the link deactivation request is approved, determining a first network link selected from the plurality of network links to deactivate, deactivating the first network link from use by the LAG, and reducing power supplied to the first network link. |
| US08908531B2 |
Communication gateway for facilitating communications with a supervisory control and data aquisition system
Transfer of data between at least one supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) device and an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) device via a wireless communication network is facilitated. The data is used for monitoring and/or controlling the AMI device. A protocol conversion of the data is performed to facilitate transfer of the data between the SCADA device and the AMI device as data packets via a packet data network gateway and a wireless communications network. |
| US08908530B2 |
Demand-driven prioritized data structure
A system and method for optimizing the efficiency of data sharing among a set of radio nodes in a radio environment is provided. The technique includes identifying a data unit and assigning it a class, identifying a connectivity type, computing a significance factor based on connectivity type and assigned class, mapping the significance factor to a priority factor, and scheduling output of the data unit based on the priority factor. A scheduler algorithm can be used for scheduling output. The class can be assigned based on which nodes of the set of radio nodes possess copies of the data unit at a given time. An arbitration process can be used to determine the priority factor. A significance factor weighting algorithm, based on how many nodes will be receiving the data and on how much a node needs the data, can be used to determine the significance factor. |
| US08908522B2 |
Transmission rate control
A method may include monitoring data packets at a data transmission channel. The data packets may be identified as nonconforming or as conforming data packets. Data packets may be identified as nonconforming if a data transmission rate would exceed a data rate threshold if the data packets were allowed to continue along the data transmission channel. Data packets may be identified as conforming if a data transmission rate would not exceed the data rate threshold if the data packets were allowed to continue along the data transmission channel. The nonconforming data packets may be retained as retained data packets. The retained data packets may again be identified as nonconforming data packets or conforming data packets after a retaining time. Data packets identified as conforming data packets may be released. |
| US08908519B2 |
SCTP communication method
In an SCTP communication system including a plurality of nodes in which communication is conducted via an association established using at least one stream between nodes, upon detecting the occurrence of a vacant stream or a surplus stream and upon receiving an additional request message describing the additionally requested number of streams, each node sends back an additional acknowledgement message to a counterpart node so as to change the number of streams used for an association between these nodes. That is, by dynamically changing the number of streams used between nodes without causing an intermittent break in communication, it is possible to effectively utilize the number of streams in large-scale communication, and it is therefore possible to improve communication speed. |
| US08908512B2 |
Method and apparatus rate shaping
A method is provided for performing a rate shaping of multiple data streams which are to be transmitted through a network. The network has the capability to perform a rate shaping using a first rate shaping scheme and at least one other rate shaping scheme other than said first rate shaping scheme. The method can include determining based on the resources of the network the maximum number n of data streams for which said first rate shaping scheme can be applied as a rate shaping scheme, selecting n data streams among the multiple data streams which are to be transmitted and performing a transcoding on them to perform a rate shaping, and performing a rate shaping for other data streams using a different rate shaping scheme other than said first rate shaping scheme. |
| US08908502B2 |
Communication system, node device, communication method in the communication system, and program
A communication system comprises: failure detection means that detects a failure on a first transmission path over which data transmission is being performed; transmission path setting means that, when the failure exists in a link or a node that is located immediately before its own node, sets a second transmission path as far as a transmission terminal node, the second transmission path that excludes a path from the transmission terminal node to a node that has detected the failure within the first transmission path; first failure notification means that transmits a failure notification signal as far as the transmission terminal node over the second transmission path; new path switching means that, upon receipt of the failure notification signal, switches a switch for data transmission so that a path for new data transmission is the same path as a transmission path for the failure notification signal; and data transmission means that, upon the transmission terminal node receiving the failure notification signal, switches the switch to the second transmission path and performs a new data transmission over the second transmission path. |
| US08908500B1 |
Systems and methods for protecting bonding engines in network communications
The present disclosure generally pertains to systems and methods for protecting bonding engines in network communications. In one exemplary embodiment, physical communication links, such as subscriber lines, of a bonding group are terminated by a plurality of access modules such that at least some of the communication links remain operational in the event of a failure of one of the access modules. Further, a backup bonding engine is used to protect the group's bonding engine. In the event of a failure or other operational problem associated with the group's bonding engine, the backup bonding engine is used to fragment incoming messages and to send the fragments to the operational subscriber lines. Thus, the bonding group can survive an operational failure of the group's bonding engine. |
| US08908498B2 |
Buffer space allocation method and device
Disclosed are a buffer space allocation method and a device. The solution of the present invention enables the division of the buffer space in the buffer resource of a terminal equipment according to the currently configured carrier aggregation mode of the terminal equipment, so that the number of buffer spaces in the buffer can be adjusted according to the number of aggregated carriers, thereby improving the utilization rate of the buffer resource. The method is simple, easy to implement, and applicable to both FDD and TDD systems. |
| US08908497B2 |
System and method of releasing resources in a telecommunication network
A system, method, and node for releasing resources in a telecommunications network. The method begins by a node assigning a resource-Identification (ID) to an internal resource within the node. At least one internal resource is allocated by the node for a specific Packet Data Network (PDN) connection. Next, a first message containing a resource-ID of the allocated internal resource is sent to one or more peer nodes. The peer nodes store the received resource-ID from the first message. When a node determines that a malfunction of the allocated internal resource of the node occurs, the node sends a second message containing the resource-ID of the malfunctioning internal resource to the peer nodes. The peer nodes then tear down the PDN connection. |
| US08908493B2 |
NC-OFDM for a cognitive radio
The present invention is directed to a method for use in a cognitive radio. A Fourier transform of a time domain signal is performed to obtain a series of frequency domain samples covering substantially the entire predetermined RF spectrum, the time domain signal corresponding to the RF waveform, each frequency domain sample being characterized by a predetermined waveform characteristic. The predetermined waveform characteristic of each frequency domain sample is evaluated in each subcarrier block to obtain a subcarrier block activity level for each subcarrier block. A subcarrier block is selected when its subcarrier block activity level is greater than a predetermined threshold. |
| US08908492B2 |
Orthogonal resource selection transmit diversity and resource assignment
Methods of allocating orthogonal resources of a wireless communication network to a user equipment (UE) that uses transmit diversity are disclosed. In one or more embodiments, the UE is configured to transmit a reference symbol and a modulated symbol on multiple orthogonal resources on an antenna. The method includes: selecting, by the UE, a first and a second orthogonal resource, respectively, from a plurality of orthogonal resources according to the state of information bits to be communicated by the UE; and transmitting, by the UE, the reference and data symbols on the first and the second orthogonal resource, respectively, on one antenna. The first and the second resource are different for at least one of the states of the information bits. The first and the second resource are both in the same physical resource block. |
| US08908488B2 |
Optical recording medium
The present technology relates to an optical recording medium for realizing an optical recording medium capable of high-capacity recording. A groove and a land are formed, the groove being concave and the land being convex when seen from a side of a laser light incident surface, both of the groove and the land being recording tracks where recording or reproduction of information is performed. According to this recording layer, a pitch between the groove and the land that are adjacent recording tracks is within a range of 250 nm to 200 nm. Moreover, recording or reproduction of information is performed with respect to the recording tracks by irradiation of laser light whose wavelength is 400 nm to 415 nm by an optical system whose NA is 0.85±0.1. |
| US08908477B2 |
Method for authenticating an electronic watch and electronic watch for implementing the method
A method is provided to authenticate a watch. The watch includes at least one processing and control circuit provided with a time base, hands to indicate a time, the hands being driven by a motorized device controlled by the processing and control circuit, and a device to store identification data. The method includes enabling at least one activation member of the watch, which is connected to the processing and control circuit, to change into watch authentication mode. The method includes operating an indicator device of the watch, which includes the hands, after enabling the activation member so that at least one of the hands is driven by the motorized device to be moved in succession into time indicating positions on a time-indicating dial to indicate successive digits or numbers of an identification code of at least one of a brand and a serial number of the watch to be authenticated. |
| US08908476B2 |
Apparatus and method for seabed exploration
Provided are an apparatus and a method for seabed exploration using an unmanned remotely operated vehicle. The apparatus for seabed exploration of the present invention includes: an unmanned remotely operated vehicle connected with a ship 2 by a cable 1; a transponder of an acoustic positioning system mounted on the unmanned remotely operated vehicle; a pinger mounted on the unmanned remotely operated vehicle and outputting a signal that is received by a receiver of an echo sounder system mounted on the ship; a measuring device mounted on the unmanned remotely operated vehicle and sensing or measuring various information on the seabed where the unmanned remotely operated vehicle is positioned; and a sediment collecting device collecting sediments of the seafloor, when the unmanned remotely operated vehicle grounds on the seafloor. |
| US08908474B2 |
Inversion of 4D seismic data
The invention is a method for inferring the saturation and pressure change of a reservoir by combining the information from 4D (time-lapse) seismic and time lag data volumes (7) derived from the 4D seismic, well logs (4), and reservoir simulation results (when simulator results are available) and featuring one or more 4D well ties (1) for a quantitative 4D interpretation. The inventive method uses model-based inversion incorporating rock physics (2) at well locations (5), and is statistical-based (6) away from wells. The method thus allows integration (8) of rock physics model and reservoir simulation and honors 4D seismic change. |
| US08908471B2 |
Method for building velocity models for imaging in multi-azimuth marine seismic surveys
A programmable computer is used to perform the following. 3D seismic data sets, corresponding to each azimuth in seismic data obtained from a multi-azimuth marine seismic survey, are migrated in grids oriented with the corresponding azimuth. Acquisition geometry is stored for each trace in the seismic data sets for each azimuth. Residual analysis, based on the corresponding azimuth, is performed on each of the migrated data sets, generating residuals and reflectors for each azimuth. The residuals and reflectors generated for each azimuth are rotated and merged on a master grid. Reflection tomographic inversion is applied iteratively to the rotated and merged residuals and reflectors to update a velocity model using the acquisition geometry as based on the master grid. The earth's subsurface is imaged using the updated velocity model. |
| US08908470B2 |
Solid seismic streamer cable and method
An apparatus includes a streamer cable having one or more seismic devices disposed within a polymer body and about a core. The polymer body includes a channel defined therein for receiving one or more wires connecting the seismic devices. The wires include slack for withstanding the tensional forces experienced by the streamer cable during deployment and operation. Associated methods are also described. |
| US08908467B2 |
Semiconductor memory apparatus and semiconductor system including the same
A semiconductor memory apparatus includes a shared pad which is configured to output a read operation control signal in a read operation and receive a write operation control signal in a write operation. |
| US08908456B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and operating method thereof
An operating method of a semiconductor memory device includes precharging a channel region of a program-inhibited cell of first memory cells coupled to a first word line, selected from a first one of word line groups between a drain select line and a source select line, to a first level based on first data; performing a first program operation for storing the first data in the first memory cells; precharging the channel region of a program-inhibited cell of second memory cells coupled to a second word line, selected from a second one of the word line groups, to a second level based on second data to be stored in the second memory cells; and performing a second program operation for storing the second data in the second memory cells. |
| US08908455B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit device
Transistors formed in one identical diffusion layer and performing complementary operations are generally arranged symmetrically with respect to the diffusion layer. A semiconductor integrated device using a layout capable of partially avoiding restriction on the design of the semiconductor integrated circuit device and reducing the size and economizing the manufacturing cost is provided by breaking the stereotype idea. The size of the semiconductor integrated circuit device can be decreased further by arranging two transistors formed in one identical diffusion layer and conducting complementary operations by intentionally arranging them in an asymmetric pattern. |
| US08908452B2 |
Semiconductor memory apparatus
A semiconductor memory apparatus includes a data alignment control signal generation unit configured to output a data alignment control signal by generating a pulse when a tuning mode signal is enabled, and generate the data alignment control signal as a count pulse is inputted after the data alignment control signal generated by the tuning mode signal is outputted; a timing control block configured to determine a delay amount according to delay codes, generate a delay control signal by delaying the data alignment control signal, and output a timing control signal by latching the delay control signal at an enable timing of a data output control signal; a delay time control block configured to generate the delay codes; and a data alignment unit configured to convert parallel data into serial data, and change a data sequence of the serial data in response to the timing control signal. |
| US08908450B1 |
Double capacity computer memory device
A double density memory device including two synchronous dynamic random access memory chips, each having multiple data (DQ) signals, multiple address signals and multiple control signals. The chips are mounted in a package that provides interconnection terminals for conducting electrical signals to and from the memory chips. An interconnecting network is contained within the package to provide paths for electrically connecting the chip contact pad on each chip corresponding to a specific control or address signal to one interconnection terminal for that signal for both chips so that the control and address signals for the two chips are tied together. For each DQ signal, the chip contact pad on each chip corresponding to that DQ signal is connected by the interconnecting network to a separate interconnection terminal. The trace length between a chip contact pad and the interconnection terminal to which it connects for each signal is substantially the same. |
| US08908449B1 |
Master-slave flip-flop with reduced setup time
A master stage (502) of a master-slave flip-flop (500) includes an input terminal (504) for receiving the data-in signal, an output terminal, and terminals for receiving first clock signals, a transmission gate (522) coupled to the input terminal and having an output terminal, a storage element (520) coupled to the output terminal of the transmission gate, and a two-input logic gate (525) having a first input terminal (541) coupled to the storage element, a parallel input terminal (542) coupled to the input terminal of the master stage, and an output terminal (543) that provides an output terminal of the master stage. A slave stage (503) has terminals for receiving second clock signals, wherein first clock signals are delayed relative to second clock signals. |
| US08908439B2 |
Adaptive word-line boost driver
A word line driver circuit includes a first transistor having its gate coupled to a first node configured to receive a word line select signal. A second transistor has its gate coupled to the first node and a drain coupled to a drain of the first transistor at a second node that is coupled to a word line. A word line assist control circuit is coupled to the first node, to the word line, and to a gate of a third transistor. The word line assist control circuit is configured to turn on or turn off the third transistor to adjust a voltage of the word line. |
| US08908438B1 |
Flash memory devices and systems
Flash memory devices and systems are provided. One flash memory device includes an n-channel metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (nMOSFET), a silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide silicon (SONOS) transistor coupled to the nMOSFET, and an isolated p-well coupled to the nMOSFET and the SONOS transistor. A flash memory system includes an array of memory devices divided into a plurality of paired sectors, a global bit line (GBL) configured to provide high voltage to each respective sector during erase and program operations coupled to each of the plurality of sectors, and a plurality of sense amplifiers coupled between a respective pair of sectors. Methods for operating a flash memory are also provided. One method includes providing high voltage, via the GBL, to the paired sectors during erase and program operations and providing low voltage, via a local bit line, to each memory device during read operations. |
| US08908436B2 |
Method and device for storing and reading reliable information in a NAND array
A method (and device) includes producing first data in a page region of a memory, the first data including a first number of memory sets, each of the memory sets having a second number of bits, where the first number is a positive number more than one and the second number is a positive number more than three. After the producing the first data in the page region of the memory, second data is produced in response to the produced first data, the second data having the first number of bits, each of the bits of the second data having a logic value that is determined by a majority of the bits included in a corresponding one of the memory sets. |
| US08908432B2 |
Bit line resistance compensation
Methods for compensating for variations in bit line resistance during sensing of memory cells are described. The variations in bit line resistance may occur die-to-die or plane-to-plane on the same die. In some embodiments, for each die or memory plane on a die, a plurality of bit line read voltages associated with a plurality of zones may be determined based on sensing criteria such as a number of fail bits. Each zone of the plurality of zones may be associated with a memory array region within a memory plane. Within each zone, different bit line read voltages may be applied to different bit line groupings in order to compensate for systematic variations in bit line resistance between neighboring bit lines due to the use of multiple patterning lithography techniques such as spacer-based double patterning. |
| US08908430B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of operating the same
An embodiment of the present invention provides a semiconductor device, including cell string comprising a plurality of memory cells; page buffer comprising latch and switching element, wherein the switching element is coupled between the latch and the bit line which is coupled to the cell string; and a page buffer controller configured to apply a gradually rising turn-on voltage to the switching elements during a bit line setup operation of a program operation. |
| US08908429B2 |
Non-volatile memory with stray magnetic field compensation
A method and apparatus for stray magnetic field compensation in a non-volatile memory cell, such as a spin-torque transfer random access memory (STRAM). In some embodiments, a first tunneling barrier is coupled to a reference structure that has a perpendicular anisotropy and a first magnetization direction. A recording structure that has a perpendicular anisotropy is coupled to the first tunneling barrier and a nonmagnetic spacer layer. A compensation layer that has a perpendicular anisotropy and a second magnetization direction in substantial opposition to the first magnetization direction is coupled to the nonmagnetic spacer layer. Further, the memory cell is programmable to a selected resistance state with application of a current to the recording structure. |
| US08908424B2 |
Magnetization switching through magnonic spin transfer torque
The subject application describes systems and methods that drive magnetization switching through magnonic spin transfer torque. A spin current is provided to a first magnetic layer with a first magnetic state. The spin current facilitates magnetization switching via a magnonic spin transfer torque in a second magnetic layer with a second magnetic state that is separated from the first magnetic layer by an interface. Alternatively, a spin current is provided to a first magnetic domain with a first magnetic state. The spin current facilitates domain wall propagation via a magnonic spin transfer torque. The domain wall is between the first magnetic domain and a second magnetic domain in a second magnetic state. |
| US08908423B2 |
Magnetoresistive effect element, and magnetic random access memory
A magnetoresistive effect element includes: a magnetization free layer having an invertible magnetization; an insulating layer being adjacent to the magnetization free layer; and a magnetization fixed layer being adjacent to the insulation layer and in an opposite side of the insulation layer to the magnetization free layer. The magnetization free layer includes: a first magnetization free layer being adjacent to the insulating layer and comprising Fe or Co; and a second magnetization free layer being adjacent to the first magnetization layer and comprising NiFeB. |
| US08908414B2 |
Modified reset state for enhanced read margin of phase change memory
Subject matter disclosed herein relates to techniques involving a structural relaxation (SR) phenomenon for increasing resistance of a Reset state of phase change memory. |
| US08908411B2 |
Semiconductor device
In a semiconductor device of a stacked structure type having a control chip and a plurality of controlled chips, wherein the control chip allocates different I/O sets to the respective controlled chips and processes the I/O sets within the same access cycle, the controlled chip close to the control chip and positioned to a lower position in the stacked structure has I/O penetrating through substrate vias connected to penetrating through interconnections. The penetrating through interconnections are extended to an upper one of the controlled chips that not use the penetrating through interconnections and, as a result, all of the penetrating through interconnections have the same lengths as each other. |
| US08908409B2 |
Stable SRAM cell
SRAM cells and SRAM cell arrays are described. In one embodiment, an SRAM cell includes a first inverter and a second inverter cross-coupled with the first inverter to form a first data storage node and a complimentary second data storage node for latching a value. The SRAM cell further includes a first pass-gate transistor and a switch transistor. A first source/drain of the first pass-gate transistor is coupled to the first data storage node, and a second source/drain of the first pass-gate transistor is coupled to a first bit line. The first source/drain of the switch transistor is coupled to the gate of the first pass-gate transistor. |
| US08908408B2 |
Circuit having programmable match determination function, and LUT circuit, MUX circuit and FPGA device with such function and method of data writing
A circuit according to embodiments includes: a plurality of bit-string comparators each of which includes a plurality of single-bit comparators each of which includes first and second input terminals, first and second match-determination terminals, and a memory storing data and inverted data in a pair, the first input terminal being connected to a respective search line, the second input terminal being connected to an inverted search line being paired with the respective search line, and a matching line connecting the first and second match-determination terminals of the single-bit comparators; a pre-charge transistor of which source is connected to a supply voltage line; a common matching line connected to a drain of the pre-charge transistor and the matching lines of the bit-string comparators; and an output inverter of which input is connected to the common matching line. |
| US08908404B2 |
Solar power generation system, control device used for solar power generation system, and control method and program for same
In a light power generation system, a control device, a control method, and a program, efficient power can be supplied. The maximum power detection unit operates a MOSFET in a power converter circuit and open-circuits both ends of a solar cell panel in the maximum power detection mode. After that, the maximum power detection unit short-circuits both ends of the solar cell panel, detects a maximum power by monitoring the output power of the solar cell panel during a period from the open state to the short-circuited state, and defines the voltage of the solar cell panel as an optimal voltage when detecting the maximum power. In a tracking operation mode, the control unit performs PWM control with respect to the MOSFET by defining the optimal voltage to be a reference signal. Operations are repeated between the maximum power detection mode and the tracking operation mode. |
| US08908402B2 |
Modular high-frequency converter and method for operating the same
A modular high-frequency converter includes submodules, each having an input-side half bridge and a DC link circuit with a DC link capacitance connected in parallel to the half bridge. A DC link circuit voltage drop across the DC link capacitance of each submodule is controlled to a target voltage by adjusting a duty cycle with a closed-loop control structure having a pilot control and a downstream closed-loop error control. Within the framework of the pilot control, a target value for each duty cycle and a target value for the supply current are determined, using a mathematical model of the converter, based on the load-side output currents flowing out of the DC link voltage circuits and on target values of the DC link circuit voltages. Switch position parameters, which map the effect of the switch positions of the input-side half bridges, are each replaced by an associated duty cycle. |
| US08908396B2 |
Control circuit for controlling the maximum output current of power converter and method thereof
A control circuit of the power converter according to the present invention comprises a feedback circuit, an output circuit and an adaptive clamping circuit. The feedback circuit generates a feedback signal in accordance with an output of the power converter. The output circuit generates a switching signal in accordance with the feedback signal for regulating the output of the power converter. The adaptive clamping circuit limits the level of the feedback signal under a first level for a first load condition. The feedback circuit determines a slew rate of the feedback signal for increasing the level of the feedback signal from the first level to a second level. The adaptive clamping circuit is disabled and the level of the feedback signal can be increased to the second level for a second load condition. |
| US08908394B2 |
Power supply with digital feedback signaling
Apparatus and methods are provided for use with power supplies. A controller regulates power supply output by way of feedback signaling. Current pulses generated by an electrical load are detected in the feedback signaling and are processed to derive a sequence of digital bits. The digital bits are subjected to validity testing and decoded as digital data. Operations of the power supply are adjusted and requests for information are answered in accordance with the digital data. |
| US08908391B2 |
Method and apparatus for regulating an additional output of a power converter
An example post regulator controller for use in a power converter having a regulated output and an additional output is disclosed. The post regulator controller includes an inductor to be coupled between the regulated output of the power converter and a post regulator switch of the power converter. The inductor is to be coupled to drive the post regulator switch with an induced voltage across the inductor to redirect energy from the regulated output to the additional output of the power converter. |
| US08908382B2 |
Control panel for microwave oven
Provided is a control panel for a microwave oven, which includes a control casing, at least one board in the control casing, and at least two board holders. Each of the board holders includes a board insertion slot and a foolproof rib. The board insertion slots receive both ends of the board. The foolproof ribs catch a portion of the board to prevent the board from being improperly inserted into the board insertion slot. Accordingly, the control panel can be assembled more accurately, and operates more reliably. |
| US08908379B2 |
Case structure for portable electronic device, portable electronic device and method for manufacturing same
The present invention includes: a rear case (12) that includes a quadrangular first opening (26) into which a part of a first electronic component (21) to be housed inside the rear case (12) is inserted, and a rear panel arranged at a position where the rear panel covers the first opening (26) of the rear case (12). The rear case (12) includes a recess portion (30) extending from an inner peripheral side of the first opening (26) toward an outer peripheral side of the first opening (26) at each corner of the first opening (26). |
| US08908376B2 |
Display panel
Disclosed is an image display device which is provided with an image display panel (1), and a housing (2) which houses the image display panel (1). On the rear wall (22) of the housing (2), a socket (6), wherein the plug (71) of a power supply code (7) for supplying the image display panel (1) with power is to be fitted, is provided. On the rear wall (22) of the housing (2), a housing section (3) for housing the socket (6) is provided, and the housing section (3) is configured by bonding together a recessed section (4) provided in the rear wall (22) of the housing (2), and a cover body (5) that covers the opening (40) of the recessed section (4). On the bonding surfaces (431, 512) between the recessed section (4) and the cover body (5), a pair of grooves (31, 32) are provided, and the pair of grooves (31, 32) face each other in the state wherein the recessed section (4) and the cover body (5) are bonded to each other, and the grooves form a through hole (30) opened to the outside from the inside of the housing section (3). On the bonding surfaces (431, 512), second grooves (33, 34) that traverse the grooves are provided, and first seal members (81, 82) are fitted in the second grooves (33, 34). |
| US08908375B2 |
Cooler of power converting device for railroad vehicle
A cooler of a power converting device for a railroad vehicle has heat exchanger tubes or heat radiator fins disposed to enhance the cooling performance of semiconductor devices arranged on an upper level of the multiple semiconductor devices arranged in multiple rows. Temperature detecting elements are arranged to detect temperature of the semiconductor devices arranged on a lower level on a windward side and a leeward side with respect to a traveling wind performing heat exchange with the heat radiator fins, and are arranged to detect temperature of the semiconductor devices arranged on the upper level at a center area thereof. |
| US08908373B2 |
Cooling structure for an electronic component and electronic instrument
A metal plate that forms a heat-absorbing surface has a center portion which protrudes so as to correspond to the size of a semiconductor element. A fixing support point of a plate spring is provided at a center of this protruding surface, and the plate spring is fixed on all sides. Grounding pressure is applied via the single point provided by the fixing support point. As a result, any tilting of the heat-absorbing surface relative to the surface of the heat-generating element is kept to a minimum. Heat pipes are provided around the periphery such that they enclose the protruding area from the outside. |
| US08908366B2 |
Electronic device having main body and front cover capable of latching the main body via magnets
An electronic device includes a main body, a front cover rotatably connected to the main body, a base, a slide guiding plate, three first magnets, and two second magnets. The main body defines a groove. The front cover defines a notch. The base is received in the groove and defines two first receiving grooves. The slide guiding plate is slidably received in the notch and defines three second receiving grooves. One of the three first magnets is received in one of the two first receiving grooves, and the other two first magnets are received in two of the three second receiving grooves respectively. One of the second magnets is receiving in the other first receiving groove, and the other second magnet is receiving in the other one of the three second receiving grooves and positioned between the two first magnets received in the two second receiving grooves. |
| US08908363B2 |
Display having pivot constraint function
A display having pivot constraint function is disclosed in the present invention. The display includes a panel, a supporter, a pivot mechanism and a constraint mechanism. The pivot mechanism is disposed between a first bridging component of the panel and a second bridging component of the supporter. A rotation angle of the panel relative to the supporter can be adjusted via the pivot mechanism, and the constraint mechanism can constrain the rotation of the panel relative to the supporter. The constraint mechanism includes a body and a contacting portion. The body is movably disposed on the panel, and partly protrudes from a boundary of the panel. The contacting portion is connected to the body for simultaneously contacting the first bridging component and the second bridging component, so as to constrain rotation between the first bridging component and the second bridging component, and to fix a view angle of the panel. |
| US08908358B2 |
Protection case for electronic device
A protection case for protecting an electronic device is disclosed. The protection case includes a main body. The main body defines a receiving cavity for accommodating the electronic device and a plurality of connecting through holes for exposing a plurality of interface ports of the electronic device. The main body defines a number of grooves encircling the connecting through holes for receiving moisture in the air. |
| US08908350B2 |
Capacitor
A device including a first electrical conductor, a second electrical conductor, dielectric material connecting the first and second conductors to each other, and an output or ground terminal section. The first electrical conductor has a first terminal section and a first plate section. The second electrical conductor includes a second terminal section and a second plate section. The second terminal section is connected to a first end of the second plate section. The second plate section includes a coil shaped section. The output terminal section is connected to an opposite second end of the second plate section. The dielectric material connects the first and second plate sections to each other. |
| US08908347B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for electrostatic discharge protection
An apparatus, system, and method provide electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection in electronic devices. The ESD channels are positioned within the electrical insulation sheet to provide electrical paths to ground having a lower impedance than electrical paths to protected areas covered by the electrical insulation sheet. An ESD follows the path of least resistance safely to ground rather than to a critical component within the electronic device. The ESD channels are openings in a dome contact layer of a keypad where the openings are positioned over one or more ground areas of a printed circuit board (PCB) and the insulating material of the dome contact layer covers areas of the PCB that are protected from ESD. By implementing dedicated GPIO lines, grounded metal domes cover the signal pads in the target discharge area to protected the GPIO lines from ESD. Device components are protected from ESD without additional ports or insulation. |
| US08908346B2 |
Overvoltage protection device
An overvoltage protection device for protecting electrical low-voltage installations, having a lower device part and at least one upper device part, wherein the lower device part has input and output terminals for the electrical conductors to be connected and contact elements connected to the input and output terminals. The upper device part has at least one overvoltage protection element. An intermediate device part is additionally provided which can be fitted onto the lower device part and onto which the upper device part can be fitted. The intermediate device part has mating contact elements corresponding to the contact elements of the lower device part and also has contact elements connected to the mating contact elements. The intermediate part has at least one longitudinal element connected between two mating contact elements, and the upper device part has mating contact elements corresponding to the contact elements of the intermediate device part. |
| US08908344B2 |
Overheating protection circuit
There is provided an overheating protection circuit, including a temperature-variable voltage generating unit generating a temperature-variable voltage by adding a temperature-proportional voltage increasing with an increase in temperature and a first turn-on voltage decreasing with an increase in temperature; and an overheating prevention signal generating unit comparing the temperature-variable voltage and a second turn-on voltage decreasing with an increase in temperature to generate an overheating prevention signal, wherein the first turn-on voltage and the second turn-on voltage have the same distribution. |
| US08908336B2 |
Fault tolerant electrical machine
A fault tolerant electrical machine including: a plurality of phases; a detector arranged to detect a fault in at least one of the phases; and a controller arranged to intentionally cause a fault in at least one other of the phases such that the vector sum of the second harmonic power vectors of the remaining phases is zero. |
| US08908335B2 |
Arc extinguishing stab housing and method
The present technique, applicable to low voltage, medium voltage, and high voltage MCCs and other power management systems, provides for substantially containing and directing an arcing fault and resultant ionized gases within a stab enclosure or housing disposed in the MCC. For example, the stab housing may have reduced stab-openings at the power bus interface to diminish the potential of an arc flash (and ionized gases) from reaching the power buses. Furthermore, phase-to-phase isolation barriers may be employed within the stab housing to reduce the potential of an arcing fault going phase-to-phase. Moreover, to reduce arc flash damage within the MCC, the walls and barriers, including walls around the stabs, within the housing may be configured to direct the arc on a preferred path to a desired location within the housing to extinguish the arc in less than 0.1 second or 6 cycles, or even less than 0.033 second or 2 cycles. |
| US08908334B1 |
Electrostatic discharge protection for a magnetoresistive sensor
A magneto-resistive (MR) sensor protection circuit is disclosed, for the protection of an MR sensor. The MR sensor may have a safe operating voltage range, a normal operating voltage range within the safe operating voltage range, and two terminals coupled to a read channel circuit, including a positive terminal and a negative terminal. The MR sensor protection circuit may have positive and negative protection threshold voltage ranges. The MR sensor protection circuit may also have a plurality of N-channel field-effect transistors (NFETs) that are coupled to the positive terminal and to the negative terminal, and configured to, in response to a voltage between the two terminals being within either the positive or the negative protection threshold voltage range, limit the voltage between the terminals by shunting current between the positive terminal and the negative terminal. |
| US08908333B1 |
Shield designed for middle shields in a multiple sensor array
A method and system provide a magnetic transducer having an air-bearing surface (ABS) and including first and second read sensors and a shield. The shield is in a down track direction from the first read sensor and between the first and second read sensors. The shield includes a first shield layer, a second shield layer and an insulating layer between the first and second shield layers. The first shield layer is between the first read sensor and the second shield layer. The second shield layer is between the first shield layer and the second read sensor. The first shield layer has a first footprint. The second shield layer has a second footprint. The second shield layer overlaps the first shield layer in the down track direction. The overlap is not more than fifty percent of the first footprint and not more than fifty percent of the second footprint. |
| US08908331B2 |
Thermally-assisted magnetic recording head including a waveguide, a magnetic pole, and a plasmon generator and method of manufacturing the same
This thermally-assisted magnetic recording head includes: a waveguide having a first end surface included in an air bearing surface; a magnetic pole having a second end surface included in the air bearing surface; a plasmon generator having a third end surface included in the air bearing surface; a first film covering the first end surface of the waveguide and the second end surface of the magnetic pole, and having an opening in a region corresponding to the third end surface of the plasmon generator; and a second film filling the opening and covering the third end surface of the plasmon generator. |
| US08908321B2 |
Spindle motor and hard disk drive including the same
There are provided a spindle motor and a hard disk drive including the same. The spindle motor includes a sleeve fixedly installed on a base member and including a circulation hole formed in an axial direction; a shaft rotatably inserted into the sleeve; a rotor hub fixedly installed on an upper end portion of the shaft; and a thrust member installed in an installation groove formed in an upper portion of the sleeve in the axial direction and forming a connection part allowing the circulation hole to be in communication with a sealing part formed by the sleeve and the rotor hub and having a liquid-vapor interface, wherein the connection part is formed between the sleeve and the thrust member in a circumferential direction, and a gap on any one side of the connection part in a radial direction is larger than a gap on the other side thereof. |
| US08908317B1 |
Method for detecting touchdown of head and disk storage apparatus
According to one embodiment, there is provided a method for detecting touchdown of head in a disk storage apparatus. The disk storage apparatus includes the head. The head includes a write element, a read element, a head disk interference (HDI) sensor, and a heater element. The HDI sensor detects thermal interference between the head and the disk. The method supplies alternating-current heater power to the heater element. The method increases the heater power in a step-by-step manner. The method further detects a phase of an output signal from the HDI sensor corresponding to the increased heater power, and detects the touchdown based on a change in the detected phase. |
| US08908316B2 |
Disk drive with write clock frequency compensation for external vibration disturbance
A disk drive is described that uses a vibration sensor to generate a compensating feed-forward control signal to synchronize the write clock frequency with the modulated data island frequency. A linear vibration sensor is positioned with its sensitivity axis aligned with the tangential direction of a track at the radial position of the write head. The tangential component of the external linear vibration is measured by the sensor. The feed-forward control signal derived from the linear vibration sensor modifies the control voltage input to VCO (voltage controlled oscillator) in the write clock generator to adjust the write clock frequency to compensate for the modulated data island frequency caused by the tangential component of the linear vibration. |
| US08908314B2 |
Data file information based selection of tape drive tape speed
A microprocessor of a tape drive may identify a pattern associated with data files previously written to tape, predict information about a next data file to be written to the tape based on the pattern, select a tape rate based on the predicted information, and operate the tape drive at the selected tape rate. |
| US08908312B2 |
Dynamic fly height control that is insensitive to off-track motion
A data storage device and method for enabling dynamic fly height control which is insensitive to off-track motions is described. In some embodiments, a hard disk drive acquires signal data from neighboring overlapping tracks which are unwritten, thermally erased, or AC demagnetized. Side-to-side (off-track) positional errors or oscillations of the read head do not affect the signal which arises solely from the magnetic domains on the disk. Thus, signal variations may only arise from changes in the fly height. In other embodiments, neighboring overlapping data tracks are prewritten with reference data. The width of the neighboring overlapping tracks exceeds any expected side-to-side positional errors of the read head, thus signal variations may only arise from changes in the fly height. For all embodiments, the noise or reference data signal may serve as a reliable dynamic measure of the fly height with no effects arising from off-track motions. |
| US08908311B1 |
Data storage device writing a multi-sector codeword in segments over multiple disk revolutions
A data storage device is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk comprising a plurality of data sectors. During a first revolution of the disk, write data is first encoded into a codeword spanning at least a first data sector and a second data sector and a first part of the codeword is written to the first data sector. During a second revolution of the disk, the write data is second encoded into the codeword and a second part of the codeword is written to the second data sector. |
| US08908309B2 |
System, method and apparatus for master pattern generation, including servo patterns, for ultra-high density discrete track media using E-beam and self-assembly of block copolymer microdomains
A system, method, and apparatus for forming a high quality master pattern for patterned media, including features to support servo patterns, is disclosed. Block copolymer self-assembly is used to facilitate the formation of a track pattern with narrower tracks. E-beam lithography forms a chemical contrast pattern of concentric rings, where the spacing of the rings is equal to an integral multiple of the target track pitch. The rings include regions within each servo sector header where the rings are offset radially by a fraction of a track pitch. Self-assembly is performed to form a new ring pattern at the target track pitch on top of the chemical contrast pattern, including the radial offsets in the servo sector headers. When this pattern is transferred to disks via nanoimprinting and etching, it creates tracks separated by nonmagnetic grooves, with the grooves and tracks including the radial offset regions. |
| US08908307B1 |
Systems and methods for hard disk drive region based data encoding
Systems and method relating generally to improving usage of storage area on a disk drive, and more particularly to systems and methods for applying encoding based upon the nature of a particular region of a disk platter on the disk drive. |
| US08908305B1 |
Systems and methods for slider head stability determination
Systems and method relating generally to data processing, and more particularly to systems and methods for determining head stability. |
| US08908303B1 |
Method for servo demodulation and disk storage apparatus
According to one embodiment, in a method for servo demodulation, a first demodulated signal and a second demodulated signal, which are calculated from amplitude values of burst signal patterns of a first area and a second area, are generated in order to generate a position error signal of a reader, based on a servo pattern read from a disk by the reader. Further, in the method for servo demodulation, a square-root of sum of squares of the first and the second demodulated signals is calculated, and an optimal compensation coefficient of a linearity correction function to be used in linearity compensation of the position error signal is calculated based on a maximum value and a minimum value of the square-root of sum of squares. |
| US08908297B2 |
Fixed focus lens
A fixed focus lens comprising, sequentially from an object side, a first lens group having a positive refractive power; a second lens group having a negative refractive power; and a third lens group having a positive refractive power. The first lens group includes an aperture stop. The second lens group is configured by a single lens element. During focusing, the second lens group moves along an optical axis and the first lens group and the third lens group are fixed with respect to an imaging plane. |
| US08908296B2 |
Imaging lens
A four element lens system for use with an imaging sensor includes first, second, third, and fourth lens elements and an optical filter that are arranged sequentially in order from an object side to an imaging side. The lens elements are coated with an anti-reflective film. The lens system further includes an optical filter that is disposed at a distance from the imaging sensor. The lens elements are relatively positioned to each other to satisfy specific conditions. The lens elements further include thickness to diameters ratios that satisfy specific conditions. |
| US08908294B2 |
Catadioptric optical system with high numerical aperture
An optical system includes a first optical group configured to form, at a first intermediate image plane, a first intermediate image of an object disposed at an object plane; a second optical group and a third optical group configured to form, at an image plane, a final image of the object based on the first intermediate image. The first optical group consists of a solid lens having a first surface and a concave second surface facing the first surface; the solid lens is configured to collect light originated at the object and to reflect thereinside at least twice the collected light. The second optical group includes at least one mangin mirror and the third optical group includes a plurality of lenses. The first, second and third optical groups can appropriately control axial chromatic aberration and Petzval curvature, so that imaging with high NA illumination may be performed. |
| US08908288B2 |
Image capturing optical lens assembly
An image capturing optical lens assembly includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element and a fifth lens element. The first lens element has positive refractive power. The second lens element has positive refractive power. The third lens element has negative refractive power. The fourth lens element has positive refractive power. The fifth lens element with negative refractive power is made of plastic material, and has an image-side surface being concave at a paraxial region and being convex at a peripheral region, wherein at least one of an object-side surface and the image-side surface of the fifth lens element is aspheric. |
| US08908285B2 |
Zoom lens and image-pickup apparatus including the same
The zoom lens includes a front unit including a first positive lens unit and a second positive or negative lens unit, a reflective mirror and a rear unit including two or more lens units. During zooming, the reflective mirror is not moved, and the first lens unit and at least two lens units of the rear unit are moved. When the zoom lens is retracted into a body of an image pickup apparatus, at least one of rotation of the reflective mirror such that a normal line thereto is brought closer to parallel to an optical axis of the rear unit and axial movement thereof in a direction of the optical axis of the rear unit is performed. The front unit is moved into a space formed by the at least one of the rotation and the axial movement. Conditions of 10.5 |
| US08908283B2 |
Optical system, imaging apparatus, and method for forming image by the optical system
Providing an optical system having excellent optical performance with sufficiently correcting spherical aberration and curvature of field, an imaging apparatus, and a method for forming an image by the optical system. The optical system includes a plurality of lens groups, at least one of the plurality of lens groups having an A lens that satisfies at least one of given conditional expressions. |
| US08908282B2 |
Plastic optical lens and an injection-molding method for manufacturing the same
This invention provides a plastic optical lens having a sprue gate plane. An average height of the portion defined by the width of the sprue gate plane is larger than at least one portion outside of a width of the sprue gate plane of any annular cross-section centering an optical axis between an optical effective diameter region and the sprue gate plane. The plastic optical lens is formed by an injection-molding method that employs a mold comprising an inlet channel arranged between the optical effective diameter region and the sprue gate plane. The inlet channel provides a shortcut that facilitates the molten plastics to flow to the optical effective diameter region as early as possible during the lens molding process, thereby avoiding the formation of a void or a welding line in the optical effective diameter region. Consequently, the production yield for the optical lens can be improved. |
| US08908279B2 |
Head-mounted display system
A head-mounted display system having a light source made up of a plurality of light-emitting diodes; a flat-panel display for producing an image on a flat-panel; a projecting mechanism having a cylindrical housing; and an eye-proximate optical system, wherein: the flat-panel display is secured within the housing so as to be inclined so that the normal direction to the flat-panel is not a pupillary axial direction; the light source is secured within the housing so that the direction of emission of the light that is emitted from each light-emitting diode is coincident with the pupillary axial direction and so that each light-emitting diode is at an equal distance from the flat panel; and a reflecting plate, for reflecting the light that is emitted from the light source, is formed so as to be at the inner peripheral face of the housing, placed between the light source and the flat-panel display. |
| US08908278B2 |
Optical sheet
The present invention relates to a composite optical sheet, characterized in that two or more optical sheets regularly arranged with micro lenses each having a lens pitch of 1˜30 μm are stacked to prevent the moire phenomenon, and brightness-improving sheets with different sizes of lenses are formed to maximize the brightness. |
| US08908272B2 |
Image blur correcting device and image pickup device
Provided is an image blur correcting device, including: an image pickup element (42); an image pickup element holder (41) movable in an X direction and in a Y direction orthogonal to the optical axis, and has the image pickup element placed thereon in such a manner that two mutually orthogonal sides extend along the X direction and the Y direction; a frame-like base (31) for supporting the image pickup element holder (41) in a movable manner in the X direction and in the Y direction; and first and second electromagnetic drive means, each arranged on sides extending along Y direction of the image pickup element (41), formed of coils (45a, 45b, 46a, 46b)and magnets (47a, 47b, 48a, 48b) for driving the image pickup element holder (41), with respect to the base (31), in the X direction and in the Y direction. |
| US08908267B2 |
Low-emissivity window films and coatings incorporating nanoscale wire grids
A high-transparency, low-emissivity window film or coating is designed to maximize so-called greenhouse heating. This effect is achieved through the use of conductive grids and/or gratings whose width and spacing has been selected such that the grid appears as a uniform conductive film to long-wavelength infrared (blackbody) radiation. The conductive grid film reflects the blackbody radiation strongly, and such that the grid appears highly transparent to visible and near-infrared light, and therefore transmits it. |
| US08908265B2 |
Optical fiber amplifier comprising an embedded filter and a control method with improved feedforward control performance
An optical amplifier with improved transient performance has two amplifier stages and a gain flattening filter-inserted between the amplifier stages. A control unit generates a pump control signal for a common pump source pumping both amplifier stages. The pump control signal has a feed-forward component and a feedback component. After a drop of channels the feed-forward control circuit is responsible for the transient performance and fast gain stabilization. The characteristic of the gain flattening filter is taken into account in calculating an optimum feed-forward control signal. |
| US08908264B2 |
Reducing transients in an optical amplifier
A controller for reducing a transient variation of gain of an optical amplifier is disclosed. The controller includes a control circuit adapted to generate an electrical signal mimicking optical gain transient variation upon an abrupt change in input loading conditions. The electrical signal is applied to a variable optical attenuator disposed downstream of the active optical fiber of the optical amplifier. The control circuit can be realized in a variety of ways, but preferably it includes a logarithmic amplifier and a high-pass filter sequentially connected. The logarithmic amplifier is connected to an input tap/photodetector, and the high-pass filter is connected to the variable optical attenuator. |
| US08908261B2 |
Device and method for luminescence enhancement by resonant energy transfer from an absorptive thin film
Disclosed are a device and a method for the design and fabrication of the device for enhancing the brightness of luminescent molecules, nanostructures, and thin films. The device includes a mirror, a dielectric medium or spacer, an absorptive layer, and a luminescent layer. The absorptive layer is a continuous thin film of a strongly absorbing organic or inorganic material. The luminescent layer may be a continuous luminescent thin film or an arrangement of isolated luminescent species, e.g., organic or metal-organic dye molecules, semiconductor quantum dots, or other semiconductor nanostructures, supported on top of the absorptive layer. |
| US08908259B2 |
Multi-pane electrochromic windows
Window units, for example insulating glass units (IGU's), that have at least two panes, each pane having an electrochromic device thereon, are described. Two optical state devices on each pane of a dual-pane window unit provide window units having four optical states. Window units described allow the end user a greater choice of how much light is transmitted through the electrochromic window. Also, by using two or more window panes, each with its own electrochromic device, registered in a window unit, visual defects in any of the individual devices are negated by virtue of the extremely small likelihood that any of the visual defects will align perfectly and thus be observable to the user. |
| US08908257B2 |
Electrophoretic display device and manufacturing method thereof
Disclosed is an electrophoretic display device and manufacturing method thereof, which prevent water from penetrating into an electrophoretic film. The electrophoretic display device comprises an electrophoretic display panel comprising a substrate with a thin film transistor formed thereon, and an electrophoretic film coupled to the substrate; a protective sheet coupled to the electrophoretic film; a circuit film coupled to the substrate to be disposed at an outer side of the electrophoretic film; a first sealant formed on the substrate, for sealing a gap between the electrophoretic film and the protective sheet and a gap between the electrophoretic film and the substrate; and a second sealant sealing a gap between the substrate and the circuit film. |
| US08908256B2 |
Optical probe
An optical probe includes a laser light source that emits laser light, a collimator lens that converts the laser light into parallel light, a light shape changing section that converts the parallel light into linear laser light, an irradiating section to irradiate an object with a selected part of the linear laser light, an image pickup section that picks up an image of the object based on the laser light reflected from the object, and a controller that controls irradiation of the linear laser light. The linear laser light is composed of a plurality of parts including one end part and the other end part; and the irradiating section irradiates the object with the parts of the linear laser light sequentially from the one end part to the other end part. |
| US08908254B2 |
Optical apparatus
Optical apparatus for a display device. The optical apparatus comprises a cavity, and a first fluid (14) and a second fluid (16), held within the cavity, which are immiscible with each other. The first and second fluids are separated from each other by a meniscus (28) having a peripheral edge (30). The optical apparatus further comprises a fluid motion control system arranged to control movement of the first and second fluids within the cavity using electrostatic forces, and a first surface (26) and a second surface (21). The first surface has a different wettability for the first fluid than for the second surface. The first and second surfaces are arranged in the cavity to determine, upon activation of the fluid motion control system, a motion of the fluids within the cavity which has a preferential initiation at a first part (32) of the peripheral edge. |
| US08908251B2 |
Tunable optical metamaterial
A tunable metamaterial has a two dimensional array of resonant annular ring elements; and a plurality of voltage controllable electrical tuning elements disposed in or adjacent openings in each of said ring elements, each of said voltage controllable electrical tuning element ohmically contacting portions of only one of said ring elements. The voltage controllable electrical tuning elements may comprise highly doped semiconductor tunnel diodes, or the charge accumulation layer at the semiconductor/insulator interface of a metal-insulator-semiconductor structure, or nanoelectromechanical (NEMs) capacitors. The tunable metamaterial may be used, for example, in an optical beam steering device using the aforementioned tunable optical metamaterial in which a free-space optical beam is coupled into a receiving portion of a plane of the optical metamaterial and is steered out of a transmitter portion of the plane of the optical metamaterial in controllable azimuthal and elevational directions. The tunable metamaterial additionally has other applications. |
| US08908248B2 |
Image reading device which includes a light controlling unit
An image reading device includes: a conveying unit for conveying an irradiated member that has a hologram area in a conveying direction; a first light source for applying light to an irradiated part in the hologram area; and a second light source separated from the first light source along the conveying direction and applying light to an irradiated part in the hologram area when the hologram area is conveyed by a prescribed distance. An irradiation angle at which the irradiated part is irradiated with the light of the first light source is made to be different from an irradiation angle at which the irradiated part is irradiated with the light of the second light source when the hologram part is conveyed by the prescribed distance. Lights reflected by the hologram area are respectively received to detect an electric signal of the hologram area of the irradiated member. |
| US08908247B2 |
Image creation device, transmitting device, image-transmitting system, and program used in same
Color image data composed of pixels arranged in a matrix wherein colors are expressed in bit rows is created from an acquired document file, and same-resolution binary image data and low-resolution binary image data composed of binary pixels arranged in a matrix are created based on the color image data. A first combining process is performed in which a lower bit value of a predetermined color of the pixels of the color image data is replaced with the value of the corresponding ones of the pixels of the same pixels, and a second combining process is performed in which a lower bit value of a color other than the bit replaced in the first combining process in the pixels of the first combined image data is replaced with the value of the corresponding ones of the pixels of the low-resolution binary image data. |
| US08908243B2 |
Image forming apparatus for measuring fixed image
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit configured to from a measurement image on a recording paper by a color material, a fixing unit configured to fix the measurement image onto the recording paper by heating, a measurement unit configured to measure the measurement image fixed onto the recording paper downstream of the fixing unit in a conveyance direction of the recording paper, and a control unit configured to perform control such that a period of time from when the recording paper passes through the fixing unit until the measurement unit measures color of the measurement image is longer than a period of time from when the recording paper passes through the fixing unit until the measurement unit measures density of the measurement image. |
| US08908237B2 |
Extraction of a document in a series of recorded images
The invention relates to a document-processing system, which includes a device suitable for supplying consecutive recorded images as well as a background surface, comprising a step of storing a standard background surface image. The next step consists of detecting the presence of a document moving across a series of recorded images relative to the standard background surface image. The following step consists of monitoring the movement of the document within the series of images. The end of the movement of the document is then detected and the standard background surface image is updated. The movement of the document is monitored by determining document-extraction masks respectively for the recorded images, the extraction mask of a recorded image being obtained according to an entropy card of the recorded image relative to said standard background surface image. |
| US08908236B1 |
Media platen used to scan and measure media size in a tray
A system, method, and apparatus are presented for custom media size detection in a printing device. A user places standard or custom sized media in a media tray associated with a printing device. The media tray contains a media tray sensor which determines whether the media tray is closed and a media size sensor which determines whether the media tray is loaded with custom size media. If so, a computer processing device connected to the sensors and a visual display displays to the user the opportunity to select a media platen and image scanning device to scan an example media item with the same dimensions as the custom size media located in the media tray. The scanning device selected then scans an example media item a user has placed on the selected media platen, and data on the determined dimensions is presented to the user for confirmation or modification. |
| US08908235B2 |
Image reading apparatus
An image reading apparatus includes: a partial pre-scanning device configured to convey a reading unit in an edge detection area and causes the reading unit to execute a reading operation in the edge detection area, the edge detection area being a partial area within a scannable area on a platen, and a detecting device configured to detect a plurality of edge pixels on a basis of image data, the plurality of edge pixels representing a side of a document, the image data being outputted by the reading unit that reads the edge detection area through execution of the reading operation by the partial pre-scanning device. Upon the plurality of edge pixels not detected on the basis of the image data, the partial pre-scanning device moves the edge detection area in a conveying direction of the reading unit and causes the reading unit to execute the reading operation. |
| US08908232B2 |
Image inspection system and image inspection apparatus
When defects occur in four places of a print data region of a paper P1 as illustrated in FIG. 3A, four code images are formed on an interleaving paper P2 as illustrated in FIG. 3B, more specifically, four code images are formed on the interleaving paper P2 such that the positions of plural defect occurrence portions in the paper P1 are aligned with the positions of plural code images formed in the interleaving paper P2, respectively, and the sizes of the code images are made to be different depending on the defective degree of the defects occurring at the defect occurrence portions of the paper P1, specifically, the larger the defective degree is, the larger the code image is. |
| US08908230B2 |
Control apparatus and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium
Provided is a control apparatus for controlling an image forming apparatus including an inline sensor. The control apparatus includes: a data analyzing section configured to extract color information contained in an image of a target page positioned a predetermined number of pages after a certain page, where the predetermined number of pages are pages to be printed during at least a period from print processing for the certain page to measurement of color information on the printed image of the certain page; a color patch creating section configured to create a color patch corresponding to the color information contained in the image of the target page and arrange the color patch in the certain page; and a control section configured to send image data of the certain page to the image forming apparatus so as to make the image forming apparatus perform print processing and measuring color information. |
| US08908229B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method configured to update gamma correction table for different paper types
An image processing apparatus includes an obtaining unit configured to obtain a gamma correction table used for image formation on non-reference paper using a correlation between a characteristic of reference paper and a characteristic of the non-reference paper and a gamma correction table obtained through calibration using the reference paper, a first reading unit configured to form a pattern on plain paper and read the formed pattern, a second reading unit configured to form a pattern on an image bearing member and read the formed pattern, a comparison unit configured to compare a value read by the first reading unit with a value ready by the second reading unit, and a correction unit configured to correct the characteristic indicating the correlation used for obtaining the gamma correction table for the non-reference paper by the obtaining unit when a difference of values compared by the comparison unit exceeds a first threshold. |
| US08908220B2 |
Information processing system, print system, and method and computer-readable storage medium for controlling information processing system
An information processing system may include at least an image processing device and includes a receiving unit, a specifying unit, an acquiring unit, and an adjusting unit. The receiving unit receives a print request and identification information. The specifying unit specifies a queue corresponding to image forming device based on the identification information. The acquiring unit acquires the number of jobs stored in the specified queue. The adjusting unit adjusts the number of print services depending on whether the number of acquired jobs is equal to or larger than a predetermined value for the number of jobs set in the identification information and depending on whether the number of print services that process the jobs stored in the queue is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value for the number of print services set in the identification information. |
| US08908217B2 |
Information processing terminal, information processing device, information processing system, and recording medium
An information processing terminal capable of communicating with an information processing device with an operational panel on which setting on a job and an order to execute the job are accepted. The information processing terminal includes: a display unit; an operational input unit; a remote controller to remote control the information processing device by acquiring an operational screen and displaying the operational screen, and by transmitting operational information to the information processing device; a terminal function controller to control a specific function mounted on the information processing terminal; and a storage storing a program that functions as a cooperation controller to make the information processing device and the terminal function controller work cooperatively. The remote controller actuates the cooperation controller by starting the program and displays the cooperation operational screen. The cooperation operational screen is used for making the information processing device and the terminal function controller work cooperatively. |
| US08908216B2 |
Network scanner for global document creation, transmission and management
A network scanner, communication protocols, and client and server programs and are provided which provide an improved way to transmit legally binding documents, obviating the need for outmoded, legacy fax transmissions. Using the network scanner, a document may be scanned and transferred directly into any shared folder inbox residing on any computer attached to the Internet. Enhanced server systems and network communications and messaging protocols are provided that are more practical to use than email for sending documents such as executed legal documents or other documents requiring robust integrity and authenticatability. Similarly, the inventive network scanner, server systems and communication protocols provide improved ways to perform large file transfers and to manage bandwidth to minimize problems associated with uploading/downloading large files as attachments to/from email servers and for enabling user control over VoIP quality during file transmission sessions. |
| US08908214B2 |
Virtual printer interface node
A virtual printer interface node enables a non-cloud-ready printer to communicate with a cloud-based service, residing on an internet. The virtual printer interface node includes a housing; a communication interface to provide communication directly to the network router; and a microcontroller operatively connected to the communication interface. The microcontroller converts commands, received through the communication interface, from the cloud-based service, residing on the internet, to native protocols of the non-cloud-ready networked printer and communicates the converted native protocols to the non-cloud-ready networked printer. |
| US08908210B2 |
Process enablement in network downtime condition
It is a first aspect of the present disclosure to provide a computer implemented method of enabling a peripheral device connected to a network during an inactive communication with the network, that includes activating an ad-hoc network connection with a mobile device during the inactive communication of the peripheral device with the network; transmitting a document to the mobile device for processing; receiving the processed document from the mobile device; storing the processed document in a memory of the peripheral device; and sending the processed document to a remote storage location once the peripheral device is determined to be actively communicating with the network. |
| US08908205B2 |
Document processing job control via a mobile device
Techniques are provided for allowing a user to create a document processing job (e.g., a print job, a scan job, a copy job, fax job) at a mobile device instead of at a document processing device, such as a printer, scanner, or copier. A cloud service interacts with the mobile device to retrieve job settings data from the mobile device. The cloud service generates a job identifier, associates the job identifier with job settings associated with the job settings data, and sends the job identifier to the mobile device, which displays the job identifier to the user. The user later enters the job identifier at the document processing device, which, in turn, uses the job identifier to request the job settings from the cloud service. The cloud service identifies the job settings based on the job identifier and sends the job settings to the document processing device. |
| US08908203B2 |
Printing apparatus, printing apparatus control method, and program
A printing apparatus includes a receiving unit which receives print data, an operating unit which receives a print instruction from a user, a display unit which displays a password entry screen for receiving a password entry from a user, and a printing unit which receives a print instruction from a user through the operating unit and prints print data without accepting a password through a password entry screen if a password added to the print data is matched with a fixed password and print data to be printed if a print instruction from a user is received through the operating unit, if the password added to the print data is matched with the fixed password, and if the password received through a password entry screen is matched with the password added to the print data. |
| US08908199B2 |
Image processing apparatus displaying key for setting its own function
An image processing apparatus implements a plurality of functions and includes a display device. The plurality of functions include a function belonging to a first group and a function belonging to a second group. A selection accepting unit accepts selection of any of the first group and the second group. A first display control unit causes the display device to display on a display screen, a plurality of first keys corresponding to respective functions belonging to the first group, regardless of which of the first group and the second group has been selected. A second display control unit causes, when the second group is selected, the display device to display in a second region of the display screen other than a first region where the first keys are displayed, second keys corresponding to respective functions belonging to the second group. |
| US08908196B2 |
Print control device, print control method, and program thereof
A print control device including a sheet-base printing speed table that indicates a sheet-base printing speed for each printer; a printing time calculation unit that calculates a printing time associated with a print job based on a printing speed corresponding to a sheet used for the print job by referencing the sheet-base printing speed table; and a first display control unit that displays the print job in a predetermined display mode that has a length proportional to the printing time that is calculated. |
| US08908194B2 |
Compensation of measurement errors due to dynamic deformations in a coordinate measuring machine
A measuring machine includes a mobile unit to move a measurement sensor in a measurement volume. The mobile unit includes at least one member mobile along an axis under the thrust of driving means and being subjected to dynamic deformations. A laser sensor is provided with a laser emitter fixed to a first portion of the mobile member and a target fixed to a second portion of the mobile member and designed to receive a laser beam generated by the emitter. Means are provided for compensating for measurement errors of the machine resulting from the dynamic deformations of the mobile unit and in response to displacement of a point of incidence of the laser beam on the target with respect to a reference position in undeformed conditions, the displacement of the point resulting from the relative displacement of the first and second portions of the mobile member. |
| US08908193B2 |
Recording sheet surface detection apparatus and image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus for detecting surface conditions of a recording sheet on which an image is formed, includes a light source configured to emit a first light beam and a second light beam, an image capture device configured to capture a first image of a surface of the recording sheet illuminated with the first light beam and a second image of the surface of the recording sheet illuminated with the second light beam. A first straight line including a ray in a center of the first light beam and a second straight line including a ray in a center of the second light beam intersect with each other, when each straight line is projected onto the surface of the recording sheet, and a detection device configured to detect information about the unevenness on the surface of the recording sheet based on the first image and the second image. |
| US08908187B2 |
System and method for reducing errors in a resonator fiber optic gyroscope
An exemplary resonator fiber optic gyroscope comprises a resonator having an optical fiber loop; a light source configured to generate a light beam; and an intensity modulation circuit coupled between the light source and the resonator. The intensity modulation circuit is configured to modulate the intensity of the light beam from the light source to output an intensity modulated signal to the resonator. The intensity modulation circuit is configured to produce the intensity modulated signal such that harmonics of the intensity modulated signal which overlap a primary wave of a counter-propagating light beam in the resonator have an amplitude below a predetermined threshold. Amplitudes below the predetermined threshold are negligible. |
| US08908181B2 |
Overlay mark and method of measuring the same
A device having an overlay mark over a substrate and a method of adjusting multi-layer overlay alignment using the overlay mark for accuracy are disclosed. The overlay mark includes a first feature in a first layer, having a plurality of first alignment segments substantially parallel to each other extending only along an X direction; a second feature in a second layer over the first layer, having a plurality of second alignment segments substantially parallel to each other extending along a Y direction different from the X direction; and a third feature in a third layer over the second layer, having a plurality of third alignment segments substantially parallel to each other extending along the X direction and a plurality of fourth alignment segments substantially parallel to each other extending along the Y direction. |
| US08908179B2 |
Cuvette and optical measurement apparatus
A cuvette comprising a cuvette wall for limiting a sample reception space for receiving a fluid sample is disclosed. The cuvette wall is adapted to allow a traversal of measurement radiation through the fluid sample situated within the sample reception space. An information presenter is fixed at the cuvette wall. The information presenter wirelessly provides data to be transferred to an external data reception module. The data to be transferred relates to the cuvette. Further, an optical measurement apparatus is described. |
| US08908175B1 |
Flexible scatterometry metrology system and method
A scatterometry tool including an illumination source for directing a light beam into a first optical beam shaping and positioning element at an illumination pupil plane of the tool where the light beam is modulated and directed to an objective lens system having a high numerical aperture. The objective receiving the modulated light beam and directing it onto a target to generate a scattering signal. The objective lens collects the scattering signal and directs it to a second optical beam shaping and positioning element at a collection pupil plane where the signal is modulated and then directed to detectors for receiving and processing the signal to determine surface characteristics of the target. |
| US08908170B2 |
Method for detecting defect of display panel and related detecting device
The present invention provides a method for detecting a defect of a display panel and related defect detecting device. The method includes: utilizing lights having different colors to illuminate the display panel; obtaining a plurality of corresponding grey-scale diagrams when the lights illuminate the display panel; and determining whether the display panel has a defect. If the grey-scale diagrams indicate a grey-scale difference, determining that the display panel has a defect. In this way, the present invention is able to raise defect detecting ability for the display panel and prevent from missing the defects. |
| US08908166B2 |
Methods and apparatus for downhole fluid analysis
Methods and apparatus for downhole fluid analysis are disclosed. An example method includes obtaining first measurements from a first spectrometer and a second spectrometer when a light source is on, obtaining second measurements from the first spectrometer and the second spectrometer when the light source is off and calibrating the first spectrometer based on the first measurements and the second measurements. |
| US08908162B2 |
System for aligning a collimator and an alignment ring
Disclosed is a system for aligning a collimator tube with an alignment ring used to hold a film or sensor aligned with the collimator tube. The disclosed alignment system includes a light source, a light detector, and a reflective surface, where, when the collimator and alignment ring are aligned, light emitted from the light source reflects off the reflective surface and is received by the light detector. |