| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08995732B2 |
System and method for digital tooth imaging
Method and system for managing multiple impressions of a patient's jaw for an orthodontic treatment is provided. The method includes scanning at least a first impression and a second impression of same jaw for the orthodontic treatment; determining if the first jaw impression and the second jaw impression have distortion in different areas; selecting the first jaw impression or the second jaw impression as a base impression; and replacing a distorted tooth data from the base impression with data for the same tooth from a non-base impression. The method also includes scanning at least a first jaw impression for the orthodontic treatment; scanning a bite impression for the orthodontic treatment; matching the scanned first jaw impression with the scanned bite impression; comparing bite information with a tooth occlusal surface; and determining if reconstruction is to be performed on the tooth occlusal surface. |
| US08995729B2 |
Accelerated comparison using scores from coarse and fine matching processes
Systems, methods and computer-readable media that facilitate matching biometric data to entries in a gallery of biometric data. According to embodiments, a method is provided to match a query comprising biometric data to zero or more of the entries in the gallery. According to this method, a match query is received. The entries in the gallery of biometric data can then be filtered using features of the biometric data to produce a subset of entries that excludes unlikely matches to the query biometric data. A set of candidate entries can be created from the subset of entries where the candidate entries are high probability matches to the query biometric data above a certain pre-determined threshold. |
| US08995726B2 |
Apparatus and method for biometric authentication
A biometric authentication system includes: an image acquisition unit for acquiring an image of a living body; a light source with a predetermined wavelength band; an authentication information storage unit for, if light is emitted by the light source, setting a predetermined distance for a first distance to a first image acquired by the image acquisition unit in a depth direction so that quality of the first image is improved, extracting a first feature to be used to perform biometric authentication from the first image whose quality has been improved, and storing authentication information regarding the first feature; a feature extraction unit for, if light is emitted by the light source when performing authentication, setting the predetermined distance for a second distance to a second image acquired by the image acquisition unit in the depth direction so that quality of the second image is improved, and extracting a second feature for biometric authentication from the second image whose quality has been improved; and a comparison unit for comparing the authentication information regarding the first feature and authentication information regarding the second feature. |
| US08995725B2 |
On-site composition and aesthetics feedback through exemplars for photographers
A comprehensive system to enhance the aesthetic quality of the photographs captured by mobile consumers provides on-site composition and aesthetics feedback through retrieved examples. Composition feedback is qualitative in nature and responds by retrieving highly aesthetic exemplar images from the corpus which are similar in content and composition to the snapshot. Color combination feedback provides confidence on the snapshot to contain good color combinations. Overall aesthetics feedback predicts the aesthetic ratings for both color and monochromatic images. An algorithm is used to provide ratings for color images, while new features and a new model are developed to treat monochromatic images. This system was designed keeping the next generation photography needs in mind and is the first of its kind. The feedback rendered is guiding and intuitive in nature. It is computed in situ while requiring minimal input from the user. |
| US08995724B2 |
Remote sensing analysis of forest disturbances
The present invention provides systems and methods to automatically analyze Landsat satellite data of forests. The present invention can easily be used to monitor any type of forest disturbance such as from selective logging, agriculture, cattle ranching, natural hazards (fire, wind events, storms), etc. The present invention provides a large-scale, high-resolution, automated remote sensing analysis of such disturbances. |
| US08995722B2 |
Sparse reduced (spare) filter
The disclosure provides a filtering engine for selecting sparse filter components used to detect a material of interest (or specific target) in a hyperspectral imaging scene and applying the sparse filter to a plurality of pixels in the scene. The filtering engine transforms a spectral reference representing the material of interest to principal components space using the eigenvectors of the scene. It then ranks sparse filter components based on each transformed component of the spectral reference. The filtering engine selects sparse filter components based on their ranks. The filtering engine performs the subset selection quickly because the computations are minimized; it processes only the spectral reference vector and covariance matrix of the scene to do the subset selection rather than process a plurality of pixels in the scene, as is typically done. The spectral filter scores for the plurality of pixels are calculated efficiently using the sparse filter. |
| US08995717B2 |
Method for building and extracting entity networks from video
A computer implemented method for deriving an attribute entity network (AEN) from video data is disclosed, comprising the steps of: extracting at least two entities from the video data; tracking the trajectories of the at least two entities to form at least two tracks; deriving at least one association between at least two entities by detecting at least one event involving the at least two entities, said detecting of at least one event being based on detecting at least one spatio-temporal motion correlation between the at least two entities; and constructing the AEN by creating a graph wherein the at least two objects form at least two nodes and the at least one association forms a link between the at least two nodes. |
| US08995713B2 |
Motion tracking using identifying feature requiring line of sight of camera
In one embodiment, one or more computing devices receive an identifying feature of a target entity, the identifying feature requiring that the target entity to be in a line of sight of a camera for the camera to recognize the identifying feature; locate the target entity using the camera based on the identifying feature; and track the target entity using the camera based on the identifying feature. |
| US08995712B2 |
Method for automatic detection and tracking of multiple targets with multiple cameras and system therefor
A method for automatically detecting and tracking multiple targets in a multi-camera surveillance zone and system thereof. In each camera view of the system only a simple object detection algorithm is needed. The detection results from multiple cameras are fused into a posterior distribution, named TDP, based on the Bayesian rule. This TDP distribution represents a likelihood of presence of some moving targets on the ground plane. To properly handle the tracking of multiple moving targets with time, a sample-based framework which combines Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC), and Mean-Shift Clustering, is provided. The detection and tracking accuracy is evaluated by both synthesized videos and real videos. The experimental results show that this method and system can accurately track a varying number of targets. |
| US08995703B2 |
Magnetic motor system
A magnetic motor system for driving a loudspeaker voice coil. The system has first and second parts that define a volume for receiving a voice coil. The first and second parts each have a respective permanent magnet with first and second sidewalls that extend in a direction away from the volume. The first sidewall slopes in a direction towards the second sidewall as the sidewalls extend away from the volume. The first and second parts further have respective guide members for channelling lines of magnetic flux in a return path between the permanent magnets. |
| US08995701B2 |
Microphone
An electroacoustic transducer includes a diaphragm, an electroacoustic transducer unit having the diaphragm, and an air chamber having the diaphragm of the electroacoustic transducer unit and having a variable volume in response to vibration of the diaphragm. The air chamber has a sound pressure detector detecting a sound pressure in the air chamber and a volume adjuster driven by the output signals from the sound pressure detector, changing the volume of the air chamber in response to the output signals, and controlling the acoustic impedance of the air chamber. A control system from the sound pressure detector to the volume adjuster configures a feedback control system increasing the volume of the air chamber with an increase in the sound pressure in the air chamber. |
| US08995697B2 |
Bipolar speaker with improved clarity
A forward focused bipolar loudspeaker system includes a front-facing driver array and a rear facing driver array with substantially identical front-facing and rear-facing midrange or mid-bass drivers voiced and driven so that the measured SPL curves of each of the arrays, when measured individually, are tonally balanced. The front array and rear array have substantially identical on-axis and off axis frequency response and the rear array's output power (SPL) is reduced by, preferably, about 6 dB with respect to the output power produced by the front-facing array, while retaining a flat tonal balance for both the front and rear speakers, to produce a sound power ratio of about 2:1 as measured by comparing the front and back SPL levels of the speakers. This bipolar speaker system and method for voicing was discovered to provide greater clarity and improved localization while retaining the spacious envelopment of the bipolar sound field. |
| US08995696B2 |
Speaker
A speaker includes a housing and four substantially similar electro-acoustic drivers secured inside the housing. The drivers are driven by substantially the same audio signal and are arranged such that the net mechanical vibrational force between the drivers and the housing is substantially zero. Four substantially similar passive radiators are secured inside the housing and driven by acoustic energy from the four drivers. The passive radiators are arranged such that the net mechanical vibrational force between the passive radiators and the housing is substantially zero. |
| US08995695B2 |
Speaker apparatus
A speaker system includes: a first speaker unit having a predetermined directivity angle in the horizontal direction; and a pair of second speaker units which are disposed opposite to each other with the first speaker unit sandwiched between them when viewed in the vertical direction and which have a directivity angle in the horizontal direction greater than the directivity angle of the first speaker unit, wherein distances from the center of the first speaker unit to the centers of the pair of second speaker units are equal to each other, and the first speaker unit and the pair of second speaker units are disposed so as to face toward the same direction. |
| US08995687B2 |
Volume interactions for connected playback devices
Methods and systems are provided for, volume interactions for connected playback device. In one example, a plurality of playback devices may be rendering audio in synchrony, when a volume adjustment is made for the plurality of playback devices as a group. In one case, a first playback device in the plurality of playback devices may have a volume limit, as indicated by a state variable associated with the first playback device. In this case, the resulting volume adjustment for the first playback device may be made according to both the group volume adjustment and the volume limit of the first playback device. |
| US08995685B2 |
Apparatus, systems and methods for limiting output volume of a media presentation device
Volume limiting systems and methods are operable to limit volume output from media presentation devices. An exemplary embodiment detects a sound using a microphone, wherein the sound corresponds to an audio output of at least one controlled media presentation device, and wherein the microphone is remotely located from the at least one controlled media presentation device; compares a level of the detected sound with a predefined maximum volume limit; generates a volume output limit command in response to the detected sound exceeding the predefined maximum volume limit; and communicates the volume output limit command to the media presentation device. The media presentation device then reduces a volume level of its audio output. In some instances, volume may be limited during user specified periods. |
| US08995682B2 |
Howling canceller
A howling canceller is adapted to an acoustic system having a speaker and first and second microphones. The speaker and the first microphone form a first acoustic feedback loop; the speaker and the second microphone form a second acoustic feedback loop. The howling canceller includes a howling suppressing unit for performing suppression processing in such a way that: frequency components at which howling is possibly occurring are detected in each of the sound signals picked up by the first and second microphones; the detected frequency components of the sound signals picked up by the first and second microphones are compared with each other on a per-frequency basis and a frequency component having larger power is detected; and based on the comparison results, the larger power frequency component of at least one of the sound signals picked up by the first and second microphones is suppressed. |
| US08995677B2 |
Accessory controller for electronic devices
Accessories such as headsets for electronic devices are provided. A headset may be provided with a button controller assembly that has user-actuated buttons. The button controller assembly may be formed of housing portions that float with respect to each other. Plastic engagement structures may limit the amount of unimpeded travel that is exhibited by the housing portions. The housing portions may be formed from first and second housings. A rigid frame may be mounted within the second housing. The first housing may flex along its length when the user squeezes the first and second housings together to actuate a desired button. Housings may be formed as double-shot plastic parts having first and second plastics with different properties. Integrated circuits and a microphone may be mounted within the button controller assembly. A nonoperational microphone port may be provided as a visual indicator that the button controller contains a microphone. |
| US08995675B2 |
Methods and systems for direct-to-indirect acoustic radiance transfer
Methods, systems, and computer program products for simulating propagation of sound in a static scene can be operated for pre-computing a transfer operator for simulating results of sound reflection within a modeled scene, simulating distribution of sound energy from a sound source positioned within the scene, applying the transfer operator to the distribution of sound energy from the sound source to compute simulated sound at a plurality of points within the scene, and simulating collection of sound energy from the plurality of points within the scene to a listener positioned within the scene. |
| US08995673B2 |
Audio power management system
An audio power management system manages operation of audio devices in an audio system. The audio power management system includes a parameter computer, a threshold comparator and a limiter. Audio signals generated with the audio system may be provided to the audio power management system. Based on a measured actual parameter of the audio signal, such as a real-time actual voltage and/or a real-time actual current, the parameter computer can derive estimated operational characteristics of audio devices, such as a loudspeaker included in the audio system. The threshold comparator may use the estimated operational characteristics to develop a threshold and manage operation of one of more devices in the audio system by monitoring the measured actual parameter, and selectively directing the limiter to adjust the audio signal, or another device in the audio system to protect or optimize performance. |
| US08995672B2 |
System and method for microphone polarity detection
The present disclosure provides a method of determining microphone polarity in a headset. By being able to detect the polarity of the microphone within the headset, a portable electronic device may be compatible with any headset and is not limited to use with a specific headset. By applying a detection signal over one of lines within a headset cable, a return signal may be sensed on one of the other lines to determine which of the lines is the ground line and which line is the microphone line. |
| US08995671B2 |
Sound processing device, sound processing method, and sound processing program
A sound processing device includes a storage unit configured to store first operation data corresponding to a motion of a mechanical apparatus and a first sound feature value corresponding to the motion in correlation with each other, a noise estimating unit configured to estimate a third sound feature value corresponding to a noise component based on a second sound feature value corresponding to an acquired sound signal, a sound feature value processing unit configured to calculate a target sound feature value from which the noise component is removed based on the second sound feature value and the third sound feature value, and an updating unit that updates the first sound feature value stored in the storage unit based on detected second operation data and the third sound feature value estimated by the noise estimating unit. |
| US08995670B2 |
Systems and methods for local and remote recording, monitoring, control and/or analysis of sounds generated in information handling system environments
Systems and methods are disclosed that may be implemented to locally and remotely record, control, monitor and analyze sounds generated in an information handling system environment, e.g., such as in a server environment. Among other things, remote monitoring and observation of sound in a data center environment may be implemented to assist administrators with data center management and forensics analysis related to physical chassis events (e.g., such as chassis access and/or chassis intrusion), as well as providing live streaming, and local technician recorded sound bite capabilities. A sound policy may also be implemented involving server sound optimizations that works in conjunction with system thermal and power algorithms. |
| US08995668B2 |
Privacy management for tracked devices
A system is disclosed that protects private data of users while permitting the monitoring or tracking of electronic devices that are shared for both business and private purposes. The electronic devices may be configured to selectively encrypt location data, and/or other types of data, before such data is transmitted to a monitoring center. For example, data collected or generated on a user device outside of work hours may be encrypted with a private key of the device's user prior to transmission to the monitoring center, so that the data is not accessible to the employer. Data collected or generated during work hours may be transmitted without such encryption. |
| US08995666B2 |
Key scheduling device and key scheduling method
According to one embodiment, in a key scheduling device, a non-linear transformation unit non-linearly transforms at least one of partial keys resulting from dividing an expanded key. A first linear transformation unit includes first and second circuits. The second circuit linearly transforms the partial key by directly using a transformation result from the non-linear transformation unit. A first storage stores the partial key linearly transformed by the first linear transformation unit. A second linear transformation unit linearly transforms, inversely to the first linear transformation unit, each of partial keys other than the partial key linearly transformed by the second circuit out of the partial keys stored in the first storage, and outputs inversely transformed partial keys. A second storage stores one of inputs to the second circuit. An outputting unit connects the respective inversely transformed partial keys and the input stored in the second storage to be output as a second key. |
| US08995658B2 |
Physics-based key generation
In some examples, a controller is configured to generate a key based on a physics-based output of a component. The controller may, for example, use the key to authenticate communication between at least two nodes, to encrypt data, or to decrypt data, may be generated based on a physics-based output generated a component. The output generated by the component may vary over time, such that the controller is configured to generate a different key, depending on the time at which the output from the component used to generate the key was generated by the component. In some examples, the key is not stored in a memory, and is a discrete signal that only exists in real-time while the component is active and generating the detectable output. |
| US08995652B1 |
Streaming one time pad cipher using rotating ports for data encryption
A streaming one time pad cipher using rotating ports for data encryption uses a One Time Pad (OTP) and an Exclusive Or (XOR) (or other cipher) with a public key channel to encrypt and decrypt OTP data. There is no method in cryptography to thwart the OTP/XOR method and it is proven impossible to crack. The method also rotates the ports of the channels periodically to increase communication obfuscation. Through pre-fetching and cache of OTP data, latency increases from encryption are kept to an absolute minimum as the XOR for encryption and decryption is done with a minimal number of instructions. |
| US08995651B1 |
Multiple algorithm cryptography system
A system includes an interface module, an addressing module, and a multiplier module. The interface module is configured to (i) receive operands and configuration data for a Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) operation or an Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) operation, and (ii) control access to a random access memory (RAM). The addressing module is configured to allocate memory space within the RAM for storage of the operands. The multiplier module includes a Montgomery multiplier configured to perform Montgomery multiplication operation for both the RSA operation and the ECC operation. |
| US08995649B2 |
System and method for multiple headset integration
Conventional Universal Serial Bus (USB) headsets or other headsets capable of being connected to a digital data port may be connected in a collaborative configuration using a multiple headset integrator. The multiple headset integrator unifies multiple calling parties at a local end point of an audio communication with a remote calling party. Other peripheral communication devices may also be used, and controls may be provided on the multiple headset integrator or control signals may be passed from the headsets or other wearable communication devices. |
| US08995647B2 |
Method and apparatus for routing a call using a hybrid call routing scheme with real-time automatic adjustment
A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and apparatus for routing a call using a hybrid call routing scheme are disclosed. For example, the method receives a call for a customer agent at a call center, identifies a list of available customer agents, calculates a hybrid score for each one of the available customer agents, wherein the hybrid score is based upon a combination of a longest-idle-agent routing parameter, a performance based routing parameter and a tuning parameter, selects a customer agent from the list of the available customer agents having a highest hybrid score and routes, by the processor, the call to the customer agent that is selected. |
| US08995646B2 |
System and method for identifying a caller via a call connection, and matching the caller to a user session involving the caller
A method includes: determining that an agent-assisted service session should be initiated between a user and a human agent at some point after the user has initiated a user session, wherein the user session produces user session data; generating one or more temporary agent access numbers through which a communication channel may be established between the user and the human agent for the agent-initiated session; communicating a selected one or more of the temporary agent access numbers to the user in response to the determination that an agent-assisted service session should be initiated; establishing a communication channel for the agent-assisted session between the user and the human agent via a particular agent access number among the selected one or more temporary agent access numbers; associating the user session data with the agent-assisted session; and communicating the user session data to the human agent in conjunction with the agent-assisted session. |
| US08995636B2 |
Personalized conference bridge
The present invention allows a user to customize her personal conference bridge such that conference participants who connect to the bridge are provided conference information selected by the user. In particular, after each conference participant gains access to the personal conference bridge, the conference information is delivered to a terminal of the conference participant. Although the user associated with the personal conference bridge may be a conference participant, delivery of conference information to the user is optional. The conference information may be any type of media content, or information identifying the location of media content to present to the conference participants. |
| US08995635B1 |
Automatic room rescheduling
Automatic room rescheduling is described. In an embodiment, an apparatus receives status data regarding status of communications resources capable of use in a teleconference call at a first teleconference location. The apparatus determines that a status of one or more of the communications resources might negatively affect the teleconference call. The apparatus receives availability data about other available communications resources and teleconference locations. Based on at least the status data and the availability data, the apparatus reschedules the teleconference call for a second teleconference location. The apparatus communicates information about the rescheduling and identifies the second teleconference location to one or more teleconference call participants. In other embodiments, the invention encompasses a method and a computer-readable medium configured for carrying out the method steps. |
| US08995631B2 |
Correlating call detail records with telephony switch information
A method for processing a non-normalized local exchange routing guide (LERG) table to produce a normalized LERG table. The LERG tables have an NPA field, an NXX field, a Block_Id field, and a Switch_Id field. The method includes joining all distinct combinations of NPA and NXX in the non-normalized LERG table to all valid Block Ids to produce a NormLERG table. The method further includes populating a Switch Id field, in each NormLERG record having a distinct NPA-NXX value. The populating of the Switch_Id field is based on a number of corresponding non-normalized LERG records and on the Switch_Id field in one of the corresponding non-normalized LERG records and on a number of distinct Switch ID values in the corresponding non-normalized LERG records. Each of the corresponding non-normalized LERG records has a same one of the NPA-NXX values. |
| US08995630B1 |
Telephony and applications communication in a non-mobile telephone system
Technology is described for a non-mobile telephone system which in addition to processing voice signal data and performing telephone functions, can execute applications transferring data responsive to user input received through a graphical user interface of the telephone system. The non-mobile telephone includes a telephony processing system for performing telephone functions, and an applications processing system for executing applications. The two processing systems communicate using a communication protocol between them which is independent of a telecommunication protocol used for voice signal data processed by the telephony processing system. |
| US08995629B2 |
Computer telephony integration with connection of the computer via a presence-server
The invention relates to the field of Computer telephony Integration and in particular to the migration of the interface standardised according to ECMA-29 to the private branch exchange (PBX) via a CSTA gateway. The clients (C1-C4) in the data network subscribe to CTI Services and in this regard must be reachable by the CSTA gateway (CCGW). If this is not the case, because for example an error occurs in the data network, then the transmission of unnecessary messages should be prevented or stopped. The problem is solved in that the clients are connected via a server (XS) to the CCGW, wherein the server monitors the Status of the clients and acknowledges the messages addressed to an unreachable client with error messages. The server (XS) is preferably an XMPP server and the clients (C1-C4) are preferably XMPP clients. In order to permit transport of the CSTA messages via XMPP, info/query stanzas according to RFC3920 are used, since they have the advantage over message stanzas that they are acknowledged by the remote Station. |
| US08995627B1 |
System and method for providing access to a visual phone menu
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for providing access to a visual phone menu is disclosed. One of the methods includes receiving a call request transmitted from a calling device to initiate a call to a recipient; saving state information associated with the caller's navigation through a voice response system; providing an option for the caller to select between receiving a visual phone menu (VPM) or continuing to listen to the voice response system menu; receiving a selection of the option to receive the VPM; providing the VPM to a client device including providing state information associated with the caller's navigation through the voice response system prior to the selection; and using the state information when the caller navigates back in the response tree using the VPM. |
| US08995621B2 |
Compact X-ray source
A compact x-ray source can include a circuit (10) providing reliable voltage isolation between low and high voltage sides (21, 23) of the circuit while allowing AC power transfer between the low and high voltage sides of the circuit to an x-ray tube electron emitter (43). Capacitors (11, 12) can provide the isolation between the low and high voltage sides of the circuit. The x-ray source (110) can utilize capacitors of a high voltage generator (67) to provide the voltage isolation. A compact x-ray source (110) can comprise a single transformer core (101) to transfer alternating current from two alternating current sources (104a, 104b) to an electron emitter (43) and a high voltage generator (107). A compact x-ray source (120) can comprise a high voltage sensing resistor (R1) disposed on a cylinder (41) of an x-ray tube (40). |
| US08995616B2 |
Mobile X-ray unit
One embodiment of the present disclosure is directed to a mobile X-ray unit. The mobile X-ray unit may include a base for accommodating a control unit for controlling an X-ray applicator and a power supply for supplying power to the X-ray applicator. The mobile X-ray unit may further include an articulated arm associated with the base and coupled to the X-ray applicator. The X-ray applicator may have an X-ray tube configured to emit an X-ray beam through an exit window to irradiate an object. The mobile X-ray unit may further include a dosimetry system adapted for real time dosimetry. |
| US08995615B2 |
Specimen information acquisition system
A specimen information acquisition system is provided with a first grating which divides divergent X-rays from an X-ray source to form a plurality of primary X-ray beams, and a second grating which blocks at least a part of each of the primary X-ray beams to form a plurality of secondary X-ray beams. The specimen information acquisition system is further provided with an X-ray detector which detects the secondary X-ray beams and a calculator which calculates information of a specimen arranged between the X-ray source and the X-ray detector. The primary X-ray beams do not overlap each other on each of X-ray transmitting portions of the second grating. The edges of the respective primary X-ray beams enter a plurality of X-ray blocking portions of the second grating. |
| US08995614B2 |
Method for displaying medical images and medical image display system
The present invention provides a method for displaying medical images and a medical image display system that do not require a medical practitioner to move his/her line of sight at the time of comparing/interpreting images and that can improve accuracy in diagnosis. According to the medical image display system of the present invention: an X-ray imaging device captures an image of a subject according to a first imaging mode by a fringe-scanning imaging device or a second imaging mode by a Fourier transform imaging device; a controller creates at least two images from among an X-ray absorption image, a differential phase image, and a small-angle scattering image on the basis of the captured moir image; and said at least two images that have been created are displayed in turn in the same position on a display section. |
| US08995607B2 |
Pulse signal output circuit and shift register
To provide a pulse signal output circuit and a shift register which have lower power consumption, are not easily changed over time, and have a longer lifetime. A pulse signal output circuit includes a first input signal generation circuit; a second input signal generation circuit; an output circuit which includes a first transistor and a second transistor and outputs a pulse signal in response to a signal output from the first and second input signal generation circuits; a monitor circuit which obtains the threshold voltages of the first and second transistors; and a power supply output circuit which generates a power supply potential raised by a potential higher than or equal to a potential which is equal to or substantially equal to the threshold voltage and supplies the power supply potential to the first and second input signal generation circuits. A shift register includes the pulse signal output circuit. |
| US08995606B2 |
Scanning signal line drive circuit and display device provided with same
A stage constituent circuit of a display device drive circuit includes a first-node to a third-node, a thin-film transistor that changes a potential of a scanning signal toward a VDD potential when a potential of the first-node is in a HIGH level, a thin-film transistor that changes a potential of a different stage control signal toward a potential of a clock when a potential of the second-node is in the HIGH level, a capacitor between the first-node and the second-node, and a capacitor between the second-node and the third-node. The potential of the first-node is raised on the basis of a different stage control signal output from the stage constituent circuit in the different stage, and then the potential of the second-node and a potential of the third-node are sequentially raised. Herein, an amplitude of the clock is set to be smaller than an amplitude of the scanning signal. |
| US08995602B2 |
Method of checking installed state of jet pump beam
A jet pump beam (hereinafter, referred to as a beam) is fitted into a pair of projecting portions installed to a transition piece, and after the beam is arched, a beam bolt engaged with the beam is tightened. An end of the beam bolt comes in contact with a top surface of an insert member fitted into an elbow disposed between the pair of projecting portions. An ultrasonic sensor head is fixed to the beam bolt, and ultrasonic waves are sent to the beam bolt from the ultrasonic sensor in the ultrasonic sensor head. An ultrasonic measuring apparatus obtains echo intensity of each of reflected waves generated at the end of the beam bolt and a bottom surface of the insert member, and based on the echo intensities, an echo intensity ratio R is calculated. The installed state of the beam is checked using the echo intensity ratio R. |
| US08995601B2 |
Axial power distribution prediction method and axial power distribution prediction device
An axial power distribution control device includes an axial offset calculation unit 52, a parameter calculation unit 53, and an axial offset determining unit 55. The axial offset determining unit 55 predicts whether a core axial offset of the power distribution is increased or decreased after a current time, based on a major axis of an ellipse drawn by the xenon parameter and the iodine parameter calculated by the parameter calculation unit 53 and the xenon parameter and the iodine parameter at the current time. This makes it possible to predict a change of the axial offset of the power distribution of a reactor for suppressing a xenon oscillation in the reactor. |
| US08995599B1 |
Techniques for generating fractional periodic signals
A phase-locked loop circuit includes phase detection circuitry to generate a first control signal based on a phase comparison between first and second periodic signals. An oscillator circuit causes a frequency of a third periodic signal to vary based on the first control signal. A frequency divider circuit divides the frequency of the third periodic signal by a frequency division value to generate a frequency of the second periodic signal. A delta sigma modulator circuit controls the frequency division value based on second control signals. First storage circuits store the second control signals based on third control signals in response to a fourth periodic signal. A second storage circuit stores an output signal based on a fourth control signal. The fourth periodic signal is generated based on the output signal of the second storage circuit. |
| US08995598B2 |
Low jitter clock recovery circuit
A clock recovery circuit includes a first phase detector for measuring the phase difference between a first clock signal from a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and a data signal. A phase shifter responsive to a control signal based on this phase difference adjusts the phase of an incoming clock signal to yield a second clock signal. The phase difference between the first clock signal and the second clock signal is measured and the resulting signal is low-pass filtered to derive a control signal for controlling the VCO. The phase locked loop including the VCO filters out jitter. |
| US08995595B2 |
Method and apparatus for receiving burst data without using external detection signal
Apparatus and method for receiving burst data signal without using external detection signal are disclosed. The apparatus can include a clock data recovery (CDR) circuit to generate a clock signal, and a detection circuit to detect an initial portion in the data recovered from the input signal. The CDR circuit can have a first mode that attempts to synchronize the clock signal with a reference data signal, and a second mode that attempts to synchronize the clock signal with the burst data signal and to recover data based on the clock signal. The apparatus can include a controller to conduct a process including, in sequence, setting the CDR circuit in the first mode, setting the CDR circuit in the second mode, and keeping the CDR circuit in the second mode when the detection circuit detects the initial portion in the recovered data. |
| US08995583B2 |
Decoding technique for tail-biting codes
A technique for decoding a signal in a communication network is provided. A method implementation of the technique comprises the steps of receiving a signal; identifying a position in the signal; initializing a Viterbi state metric; and decoding the encoded signal by means of a wrap-around Viterbi algorithm. The received signal comprises information, wherein the signal is encoded by a tail-biting convolutional code. The identified position relates to a known portion of the information. The initialized Viterbi state metric is consistent with the known portion of the information. The decoding uses the initial Viterbi state metric, wherein the decoding starts at a decoding step following the identified position. |
| US08995581B2 |
Apparatus and method for soft demapping
Provided are a soft demapping apparatus and method that may cancel interference included in a rotated quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal, using at least one interference cancellation unit, and may perform one-dimensional (1D) soft demapping of the interference-cancelled rotated QAM signal. |
| US08995576B2 |
Method and module for estimating frequency bias in a digital-telecommunications system
The invention relates to a method for estimating frequency bias negatively affecting a digital signal representative of a symbol frame, wherein said method comprises the steps of: generating the digital signal at a sampling period Te that is shorter than a predefined period of each of the symbols of the frame; calculating values for a plurality of pairs of samples of the digital signal, each value being representative of a phase difference between the samples of a pair; estimating the frequency bias negatively affecting the digital signal on the basis of the values calculated for Np pairs of samples selected such that a plurality of said Np pairs belong strictly to a single symbol in the frame. The present invention also relates to a module for implementing the estimation method, as well as to a telecommunication method and system. |
| US08995572B1 |
Digital Predistortion for nonlinear RF power amplifiers
Systems and techniques relating to wireless communications are described. A described technique includes aligning a received data sequence with a transmitted data sequence to produce an aligned data sequence, the received data sequence being based on an output of a power amplifier having one or more nonlinear characteristics that is responsive to the transmitted data sequence; dividing the aligned data sequence into N segments; obtaining first nonlinear parameters for the power amplifier based at least on first segments of the N segments; obtaining a second nonlinear parameter(s) corresponding to a second segment(s) of the N segments based on an extrapolation of the first nonlinear parameters, the second segment(s) having a lower transmitted data sequence value(s) than the first segments; and performing digital predistortion on a transmit data sequence based on the nonlinear predistortion parameters to compensate for the one or more nonlinear characteristics of the power amplifier. |
| US08995570B2 |
Methods and systems for beam steering crest factor reduction (CFR) clip noise
Signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and/or amplifier performance can be improved in crest factor reduction (CFR) applications by steering clipping noise in a different direction than the data signal achieving upon reception. Indeed, using clipping noise signals that have a different amplitude-phase relationship than the input/baseline signal causes the clipping noise signal and data signal to exhibit different antenna patterns, effectively steering the clipping noise in a different direction than the data signal. For instance, clipping noise can be steered away from potential receivers to improve received signal quality. In addition, higher magnitude clipping noise can be used to achieve improved power amplifier performance without increasing received SNR. |
| US08995564B2 |
Transmission protection for wireless communications
Systems and techniques for wireless communication are described. A described technique includes performing, at a first device, a sequence with multiple second devices to protect a wireless communication neighborhood of the first device and wireless communication neighborhoods of the second devices for a transmission of a multi-user frame, the multi-user frame including spatially steered data frames that are respectively intended for the second devices; determining bandwidth availabilities for the second devices based on information received from the second devices during the sequence; selecting a bandwidth configuration for the multi-user frame based on the bandwidth availabilities to produce a selected bandwidth configuration that enables the data frames to be spatially steered and transmitted concurrently within the multi-user frame based on a common bandwidth availability among the second devices; and generating and transmitting the multi-user frame to the second devices in accordance with the selected bandwidth configuration. |
| US08995562B2 |
Method and apparatus providing protection and DC balance in a communication system
A method and apparatus for controlling DC balance in a digital communication system in which data frames are transmitted, wherein the data frames include a header portion that is transmitted unscrambled and a payload portion that is scrambled before transmission. The header portion includes a frame counter field. A value for the frame counter field is randomly generated and an effect on the DC balance is estimated. It is then determined whether the estimated effect on the DC balance meets defined requirements for DC balance. When the estimated effect does not meet the defined requirements for DC balance, a new random value for the frame counter field is generated and checked. When the estimated effect meets the requirements, the randomly generated value is utilized in the frame counter field in transmitted data frames. |
| US08995561B2 |
Communication apparatus, control program for the same, and integrated circuit
In a radio communication method non-contiguously using a frequency, notification information is reduced, while suppressing an effect on performance. In a communication apparatus which switches between a communication method contiguously using a frequency and a communication method non-contiguously using the frequency, sets a parameter corresponding to each communication method, and performs radio communication, the communication apparatus sets a same parameter to an entire frequency band in the communication method contiguously using the frequency, while dividing a frequency band into a plurality of frequency bands and setting a different parameter for each divided frequency band in the communication method non-contiguously using the frequency. The communication method contiguously using the frequency and the communication method non-contiguously using the frequency mutually have different PAPR (Peak to Average Power Ratio) characteristics. |
| US08995560B2 |
Power detection of individual carriers of a multiple-carrier wideband signal
An apparatus and method measures power of channels generated by a multiple-carrier transmitter that upconverts a plurality of baseband signals to a corresponding plurality of assigned carrier frequencies to generate an RF wideband signal. A measurement module's input interface receives a selected baseband signal and a corresponding assigned carrier frequency as well as the RF wideband signal. An undersampling component undersamples the RF wideband signal for a sampling interval to generate a plurality of measured aliased samples. A determination component determines a plurality of determined aliased samples based on the selected baseband signal upconverted to the corresponding assigned carrier frequency. A correlator correlates the plurality of measured aliased samples with the plurality of determined aliased samples to produce a correlation result. A transmit power component determines a transmitted power of the correlation result for a selected channel of the RF wideband signal corresponding to the selected baseband signal as upconverted. |
| US08995558B1 |
Multi-antenna/multilink diversity management for mobile communication platform
A system includes a vehicle and logic that performs predictive pairing of multiple antenna of the vehicle with multiple fixed antenna of a port the vehicle is approaching, the predictive pairing performed using data obtained about the multiple fixed antenna obtained via a satellite, the predictive pairing prioritizing maximum spatial diversity in the pairings of the antenna of the vehicle with the fixed antenna. |
| US08995557B2 |
Base station apparatus and transmission method
The present disclosure provides a method of generating codebook in a wireless communication system with multiple antenna arrays, as well as a wireless communication system, base station and terminal using the codebook for communication. The method comprises steps of: providing a basic codebook which contains multiple pre-coding matrices; and assigning phase offsets to certain pre-coding matrices in the basic codebook to form a codebook with phase offset. The feedback overhead from a client to a base station side is reduced and a good precision of feedback for multi-antenna array is kept by applying the method of generating codebook and using the generated codebook in the wireless communication system, base station and terminal. |
| US08995553B2 |
Methods and apparatus for mitigating interference in aggressive form factor designs
Methods and apparatus for mitigation of radio interference between two or more wireless concurrently operating interfaces in a wireless device having an aggressive form factor. In one embodiment, the interfaces are used for different tasks (e.g., WLAN for data and PAN for human interface devices), and the device includes logic configured to evaluate the priority of the tasks and adjust the operation of one or more of the interfaces accordingly. |
| US08995547B2 |
Systems and methods for reducing uplink resources to provide channel performance feedback for adjustment of downlink MIMO channel data rates
Systems and methods for improving the performance of a MIMO wireless communication system by reducing the amount of uplink resources that are needed to provide channel performance feedback for the adjustment of data rates on the downlink MIMO channels. In one embodiment, a method comprises encoding each of a set of data streams according to corresponding data rates, permuting the data streams on a set of MIMO channels according to a full permutation of combinations, transmitting the permuted data streams, receiving the permuted data streams, decoding and determining an SNR for each of the data streams, computing a condensed SNR metric for the set of data streams, providing the condensed metric as feedback, determining a set of individual SNR metrics for the data streams based on the condensed SNR metric, and adjusting the data rates at which the data streams are encoded based on the individual SNR metrics. |
| US08995546B2 |
Software defined radio
A software defined radio is disclosed. The software defined radio may utilize a method for encoding a bit stream into non-periodic spiral-based symbol waveforms for transmission and reception. The method includes transmitting a signal constructed from one or more non-periodic modulation sets residing on a memory system of the software defined radio, where each modulation set corresponds to a symbol alphabet and provides non-periodic symbol waveforms corresponding to symbol bit sequences segmented by a microprocessor according to alphabet size. The method also includes receiving the signal constructed from one or more spiral modulation sets, wherein the signal from one or more spiral modulation sets are filtered and then fed to an analog to digital converter, where the signal constructed from the one or more spiral modulation sets is digitized and are fed to the microprocessor. A non-transitory computer storage media may also execute the method. |
| US08995545B2 |
Base station and method for transmitting control information to a user equipment (UE)
A method for transmitting to a UE control information comprising: channelization-code-set information (xccs,1, xccs,2, . . . , xccs,7); modulation-scheme and number of transport blocks information (xms,1, xms,2, xms,3, xms,4, xms,5); and precoding weight information (xpwipb,1, xpwipb,2, xpwipb,3, xpwipb,4). The method includes: multiplexing the channelization-code-set information, the modulation-scheme and number of transport blocks information and the precoding weight information to give a sequence of sixteen bits x1,1, x1,2, . . . , x1,16, where x1,i=xccs,i for i=1, 2, . . . , 7; x1,i=xms,i-7 for i=8, 9, 10, 11, 12; and x1,i=xpwipb,i-12 for i=13, 14, 15, 16; applying rate 1/2 convolutional coding to the sequence of bits x1,1, x1,2, . . . , x1,16 to obtain bit sequence z1,1, z1,2, . . . , z1,48; and puncturing the bits z1,1, z1,2, z1,4, z1,8, z1,42, z1,45, z1,47, z1,48 from sequence z1,1, z1,2, . . . , z1,48 to obtain an output sequence r1,1, r1,2 . . . r1,40. |
| US08995538B2 |
Power distribution method and apparatus for OFDM system
An apparatus is capable of distributing power over a number of subcarriers in an OFDM system. The transmission power control method for an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication system according to the present invention includes measuring, at a receiver, channel coefficients of subcarriers, classifying the subcarriers into a predetermined number of groups according to sizes of channel coefficients, generating group indices, and transmitting the group indices of the subcarriers to a transmitter. A transmitter is capable of receiving the group indices of the subcarriers, determining per-group transmission powers, allocating the per-group transmission powers to the corresponding groups, distributing the per-group transmission power over subcarriers in the same level within respective groups, and transmitting signals over the subcarriers with the distributed power level. |
| US08995535B2 |
Signaling signed band offset values for sample adaptive offset (SAO) filtering in video coding
A method for signaling sample adaptive offset (SAO) band offset syntax elements in a video encoder is provided that includes receiving a plurality of band offset syntax elements, entropy encoding an absolute value of a magnitude of each band offset syntax element in a compressed video bit stream, and entropy encoding a sign of each non-zero band offset syntax element in the compressed video bit stream following the absolute values of the magnitudes. |
| US08995530B2 |
Moving image decoding apparatus, moving image coding apparatus, moving image decoding circuit, and moving image decoding method
A moving image decoding apparatus which enables reduction in the memory bandwidth and the memory access latency for the motion compensation filter coefficients for use in inter-picture prediction involving motion compensation using variable coefficients includes: a decoding unit (101) which decodes, from a coded stream, a plurality of motion compensation filter coefficients; a memory (109) for holding the motion compensation filter coefficients included in the coded stream; a filter coefficient storage unit (103) for holding at least one of the motion compensation filter coefficients which is required for the motion compensation; a motion compensation unit (107) which performs motion compensation using the required motion compensation filter coefficient held in the filter coefficient storage unit; and a filter coefficient transfer control unit (102) which writes, in the memory, the motion compensation filter coefficients decoded by the decoding unit, and transfers the required motion compensation filter coefficient from the memory to the filter coefficient storage unit, only when the required coefficient is not yet stored therein. |
| US08995529B2 |
Method and apparatus for encoding and decoding motion vector by predicting motion vector according to mode
Provided are methods and apparatuses for encoding and decoding a motion vector. The method of encoding a motion vector includes: selecting a mode from among a first mode in which information indicating a motion vector predictor of at least one motion vector predictor is encoded and a second mode in which information indicating generation of a motion vector predictor based on pixels included in a previously encoded area adjacent to a current block is encoded; determining a motion vector predictor of the current block according to the selected mode and encoding information about the motion vector predictor of the current block; and encoding a difference vector between a motion vector of the current block and the motion vector predictor of the current block. |
| US08995522B2 |
Method and system for rate control
A method and system are provided for encoding a picture. The method includes encoding the picture into a first encoded picture using a first universal quantizer. If a size of the first encoded picture is greater than a maximum picture size, the method includes encoding the picture into a second encoded picture using a second universal quantizer. Before a second-pass encoding, the target size and maximum size for each slice is determined. During the second pass encoding, if a size of the encoded slice is greater than the maximum slice size, the method includes encoding the slice using a third local quantizer. If a size of the encoded slice is still greater than a maximum slice size, the method includes dropping coefficients from the encoded slice to ensure that the encoded size never exceeds the maximum size. |
| US08995521B2 |
Method and apparatus for high density pulse density modulation
A method and system for high density pulse density modulation is disclosed. In accordance with the present disclosure, a modulation function is split in to two band limited streams using a complementary pair of non-linear functions. More specifically, one bitstream definition contains the peaks of the original function while the other bitstream contains a soft clipping version of the original bitstream. The bitstreams are applied to a pair of switching amplifiers, and the bitstreams can be combined again to reconstruct the original function. The method in accordance with the present disclosure limits the amount of input power necessary to achieve higher output power, lowers operating voltage and improves power amplifier efficiency. |
| US08995520B2 |
Analog continuous-time phase equalizer for data transmission
In particular embodiments, a method includes receiving as an input signal a phase-distorted signal or a transmitted-data signal, the phase-distorted signal having been distorted from a phase-equalized signal by transmission across a communication channel, the transmitted-data signal comprising transmitted data; generating a non-derivative version of the input signal by applying a delay operator in a continuous-time domain to the input signal; generating a derivative version of the input signal by applying a derivative operator in a continuous-time domain to the input signal; generating a first product signal by multiplying the non-derivative version of the input signal by a first coefficient, the first coefficient being a positive number; generating a second product signal by multiplying the derivative version of the input signal by a second coefficient, the second coefficient being a negative number; and generating an output signal by summing the first and second product signals. |
| US08995518B1 |
Equalizer for heavily clipped or compressed communications signals
Apparatus and methods mitigate a problem of equalizing communications signals that have been distorted by severe non-linearities such as clipping or harsh compression. For example, severe non-linearity occurs when signal compression or signal clipping occurs at rates above 20% of the data transmission interval. Severe non-linearities may significantly reduce system performance. Disclosed techniques selectively apply DSP equalization based on the detection of non-linearity for a present sample or one or more samples prior to the present sample. These techniques can be implemented in relatively low-cost high-speed SerDes designs to improve eye openings and reduce sensitivity to InterSymbol Interference (ISI) and to improve bit error rate (BER). |
| US08995515B2 |
Dynamically adjusted OFDM channel estimation filtering in OFDM communications
Techniques for performing channel estimation in an orthogonal frequency domain multiplexing (OFDM) communications system include receiving a plurality of reference signals on a plurality of subcarriers, performing channel estimation to obtain a plurality of raw channel estimates based on the received plurality of reference signals, determining a number of raw channel estimates to be used for a channel estimate refinement and calculating a refined channel estimate using the number of raw channel estimates from the plurality of raw channel estimates. |
| US08995505B2 |
Sliding if transceiver architecture
Techniques for providing a transceiver with a sliding intermediate frequency (IF). In an aspect, a PLL generates a single local oscillator (LO) signal used for both up-conversion by a transmit (TX) signal path and down-conversion by a receive (RX) signal path, wherein the LO frequency is chosen as the TX carrier frequency. As the TX and RX carrier frequencies may generally differ by a variable amount, the RX signal path utilizing the (TX) LO frequency for down-conversion may be characterized as having a “sliding” IF. To accommodate the sliding IF receiver architecture, specific processing functions such as charge sampling, discrete-time analog band-pass filtering, and sub-sampling analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) are described. |
| US08995503B2 |
Method and apparatus of selecting transmission/reception mode of plural transmission/reception pairs
An achievable sum data rate with respect to each of available candidate transmission/reception modes may be calculated to select a transmission/reception mode of transmission/reception pairs repeatedly using radio resources. A transmission/reception mode to be applied may be selected from the candidate transmission/reception modes based on the calculated sum data rate. Information associated with the selected transmission/reception mode may be shared by the transmission/reception pairs. |
| US08995501B2 |
Method and apparatus of physical layer network coding
Provided is a physical layer network coding method and apparatus. A relay node determines reliabilities of symbols of nodes, based on a signal received from the plurality of nodes, and generates a transmission signal that maintains reliabilities of symbols that have high reliabilities and excludes components of symbols that have low reliabilities. The relay node generates the transmission signal that reduces an expected power of error, based on the received signal. |
| US08995500B2 |
Asynchronous correlation circuit, asynchronous full adder circuit, calculation device, correlation device, asynchronous maximum value N detection circuit, and satellite signal acquisition device
An asynchronous correlation circuit includes a first data supply unit that dual-rail-encodes first sequence data and supplies first data to be provided for next calculation at each time when calculation is completed, a second data supply unit that dual-rail-encodes second sequence data and supplies second data to be provided for next calculation at each time when calculation is completed, an addition result storage unit, a third dual-rail encoding unit that dual-rail-encodes a storage value of the addition result storage unit, an asynchronous full addition unit that adds an output value from the first data supply unit to an output value of the third dual-rail encoding unit with a sign in response to an output value from the second data supply unit, and outputs the value, and a dual-rail decoding unit that decodes and outputs an output value of the asynchronous full addition unit to the addition result storage unit. |
| US08995497B2 |
Method for operating a secondary station
The invention relates to a method for operating a secondary station, the secondary station communicating with at least one primary station by means |
| US08995492B2 |
Semiconductor laser element
To provide a ridge-type semiconductor laser element capable of preventing inclination at the time of junction-down bonding and having high heat dissipation, in a semiconductor laser element including a substrate, a semiconductor portion disposed on the substrate and having a ridge on a surface at an opposite side from the substrate, an electrode disposed on a ridge, an insulating layer disposed on the semiconductor portion at the both sides of the ridge and a pad electrode disposed on the electrode, in which, the pad electrode side is a mounting surface side, the pad electrode is disposed extending on the insulating layer, and a spacer is disposed between the semiconductor portion and the pad electrode at parts spaced apart from the ridge. |
| US08995490B2 |
Edge-emitting semiconductor laser diode and method for producing the same
An edge-emitting semiconductor laser diode includes an epitactic semiconductor layer stack and a planarization layer. The semiconductor layer stack includes a main body and a ridge waveguide. The main body includes an active layer for generating electromagnetic radiation. The planarization layer embeds the ridge waveguide such that a surface of the ridge waveguide and a surface of the planarization layer form a flat main surface. A method for producing such a semiconductor laser diode is also disclosed. |
| US08995489B2 |
Semiconductor stack and vertical cavity surface emitting laser
A semiconductor stack includes a semiconductor DBR (Distributed Bragg Reflector) formed on a substrate, and a resonator formed on the semiconductor DBR laminating wide-band semiconductor layers and active layers alternately. Each of the active layers includes MQWs (Multiple Quantum Wells) and two spacer layers formed one on each surface of the MQWs. The MQWs are formed by laminating barrier layers and quantum well layers alternately. There are n layers of the wide-band semiconductor layer formed, and a band gap Egm of an m-th wide-band semiconductor layer counting from the substrate and a band gap Egm-1 of an m−1-th wide-band semiconductor layer counting from the substrate satisfy Egm-1 |
| US08995479B2 |
Laser apparatus and laser processing method
The present invention relates to a laser apparatus having a structure for removing a skirt portion contained in pulsed light, and a laser processing method using the laser apparatus. The laser apparatus comprises a MOPA fiber laser light source which outputs pulsed light having a skirt portion with a light intensity lower than a predetermined value, and a saturable absorber which removes a skirt portion from the pulsed light outputted from the MOPA fiber laser light source. |
| US08995478B1 |
Passively mode-locked pulsed fiber laser
The device is proposed which provides mode-locked operation of a fiber laser. The principle of its operation is based on a focusing effect of Kerr lens. At high intensities of the light beam the Kerr element exhibits light focusing properties. The beam focused by the Kerr element enters a fiber core without losses thus providing an effective generation of mode-locked laser. In the preferred embodiment the Kerr element is positioned at one degree relative to a perpendicular to the beam direction. |
| US08995477B2 |
Ultrashort pulse laser processing apparatus
An ultrashort pulse laser processing apparatus for processing a processing target includes: a laser head which includes a seed laser source emitting an ultrashort pulse seed laser, and emits a laser pulse; an optical fiber which guides the laser pulse emitted from the laser head; and an emission end unit which includes a compressor that compresses the laser pulse emitted from the optical fiber to a laser pulse of a predetermined high peak power and emits the laser pulse compressed by the compressor to the target. |
| US08995476B2 |
Data processing apparatus, data processing method, and computer-readable storage medium
A data processing apparatus includes an input unit to input data and processing modules. The processing modules may be connected as part of a ring-shaped data transfer path to transfer data in one direction. Each processing module includes a communication unit configured to implement a first data processing path and a setting path and a processing unit configured to process data received by the communication unit. When using switching data to switch the processing modules performing on the first data processing path to the processing modules performing on the setting path, the switching data is processed on the first data processing path. |
| US08995473B2 |
Ring based precise time data network clock phase adjustments
Clock phase errors are detected and adjusted in a network with loop back connections for clock signals. In one embodiment, a method is performed in a ring network with slave clock nodes. A timing packet is sent from the master clock node to a first slave clock node of the ring. A timing packet is received from a last slave clock node of the ring. A phase alignment offset is determined by comparing a recovered time from the received timing packet with the time of the master clock node local clock and a phase correction value is determined for the slave clock nodes based on the determined phase alignment offset. A phase correction packet including the phase correction value is then sent from the master clock node to at least one of the slave clock nodes. |
| US08995472B2 |
Clock synchronization using correlation events
Two clocks may be synchronized by calculating skew and offset values that may be determined from several correlation events. A correlation event may be the passing of messages in both directions between the two devices. The skew and offset values may be used to determine the time of non-correlated events. The clock synchronization may be performed on a real time basis or may be performed on a post processing basis. One method for calculating the skew and offset may use inequalities within a solution space to refine a solution set with multiple sets of correlation events. |
| US08995467B2 |
System and method for providing information indicating the priority level of a non access stratum signaling message and for using the priority level information to select a response
A system and method for providing an indication of a priority level of a non access stratum (NAS) message. In one aspect, a wireless communication device transmits a NAS signaling message together with a Packet Flow Identifier (PFI) information element that includes information indicating a priority level of the NAS signaling message. If the NAS signaling message has a low priority, the wireless communication device may receive a response message indicating that the ongoing NAS signaling message scenario can be performed less frequently in the future, thereby mitigating network congestion and radio interference. |
| US08995464B2 |
Superposition coding for network communication
The apparatus, systems, and methods described herein may operate to encode a first part of a message into an index, and to encode a second part of the message into a sequence of matrices such that at least one of row spaces or rank of the matrices is determined by the index. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are described. |
| US08995463B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for obtaining key information during fast channel switching
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, apparatus and system for obtaining key information during fast channel switching. A fast channel switching request sent by a terminal is received; at least one data unit bearing key information is generated according to the fast channel switching request; a fast channel switching response message is sent to the terminal, where the response message carries an identifier of a first data unit bearing the key information and the number of data units bearing the key information; and the at least one data unit bearing the key information is sent to the terminal. When the key information is lost, the key information is retransmitted without a need to perform status maintenance, which improves scalability of fast channel switching. |
| US08995462B2 |
Apparatus and method for performing contention based access in mobile communication system
Disclosed is a method of performing a contention based access in a UE of a mobile communication system. The method includes: triggering a BSR to an ENB if data to be transmitted to the ENB occurs; and triggering the contention based access if the BSR has been triggered. The method can minimize collision between signals transmitted in the uplink by multiple UEs through contention based transmission resources in a mobile communication system. |
| US08995454B2 |
System and method for high throughput communication in a mesh hybrid network
System and method for increasing throughput and reducing the transmission delay in a hybrid mesh network. The hybrid mesh network including a plurality of physical mediums and a plurality of nodes linked over the plurality of physical mediums to form at least one route including a retransmitting node, linked over one physical medium with a preceding node and over other physical medium with a following node. The network is configured such that there is no link on anyone of the physical mediums between the preceding node and the following node, and each two nodes of the route with a link on one of the physical mediums do not have any links on the same physical medium with any other of nodes in the route. This enables the retransmitting node to start retransmitting a message received from the preceding node to the following node before completing receiving the message. |
| US08995453B2 |
Systems and methods for providing a VPN solution
A system, apparatus and a method for implementing a secured communications link at a layer other than that at which packets are filtered are disclosed. In one embodiment, a computer system is configured to form a virtual private network (“VPN”) and comprises an address inspection driver to identify initial target packet traffic addressed to a target server. Also, the computer system includes a pseudo server module to receive rerouted initial target packet traffic from the address inspection driver. The pseudo server module is configured to convey packet regeneration instructions to a VPN gateway. The address inspection driver functions to identify additional target packet traffic addressed to the target server and routes the additional target packet traffic to the pseudo server. In one embodiment, the pseudo server is configured to strip header information from the additional target packet traffic to form a payload, and thereafter, to route the payload to the target. |
| US08995452B2 |
Packet routing apparatus
A packet routing apparatus has a plurality of routing units, connected by a first connecting mechanism. The plurality of routing units comprise a first routing unit, connected to at least one port, and a second routing unit, connected to an extended function processor. The first routing unit transmits a packet, received from the port, to another first routing unit and/or a second routing unit. The second routing unit transmits the packet, received from the first connecting mechanism, to the extended function processor. |
| US08995443B2 |
Address resolution mechanism for hybrid communication networks
A hybrid device can execute hybrid ARP functionality to manage one-to-many associations between a single network layer address and multiple link layer addresses of other hybrid devices. In accordance with the hybrid ARP functionality, the hybrid device can determine a transmission route, a corresponding one of a plurality of network interfaces of a destination hybrid device, and a corresponding one of a plurality of link layer addresses of the destination hybrid device, based on address resolution store entries associated with the destination hybrid device. The identified link layer address can be populated in a frame for transmission to the destination hybrid device. Additionally, the hybrid ARP functionality can be configured to operate in conjunction with conventional ARP functionality implemented by upper protocol layers. The hybrid ARP functionality can serve as a “proxy” between the conventional ARP functionality and one or more hybrid devices of the hybrid communication network. |
| US08995441B2 |
Communication apparatus, communication method, and non-transitory computer readable storage medium
A communication apparatus includes a retrieval unit that retrieves a first setting information group and a second setting information group respectively from a home gateway apparatus and a DHCP server connected to a communication line, a determining unit that determines whether the setting information related to a predetermined telephone number is included in the first setting information group retrieved by the retrieval unit, an extracting unit that extracts a first type of the setting information related to the predetermined telephone number from the first setting information group, and extracts, from the second setting information group, a second type of the setting information excluding the first type of the setting information, and a communication unit that communicates with a first apparatus and a second apparatus via the communication line using the first type of the setting information and the second type of the setting information extracted by the extracting unit. |
| US08995440B1 |
In-flight information distribution system, device, and method for a portable electronic device
Present novel and non-trivial system, device, and method for the distribution of in-flight information to a portable electronic device (“PED”) are disclosed. The system could be comprised of a cabin entertainment unit and one or more PEDs, where the cabin entertainment unit could be a device comprised of a discovery datagram generator, a flight navigation datagram generator, a file transfer protocol/hypertext transfer protocol (“FTP/HTTP”) server storing a custom map configuration file, and/or a trackline data generator. A discovery datagram could provide a plurality of network addresses from which the PED may listen for and receive flight navigation datagrams repeatedly, request and receive the custom map configuration file, and request and receive trackline data representative of the ground track already flown by the aircraft. |
| US08995435B2 |
Port profile analytics
One embodiment of the present invention provides a computer system. The computer system includes a display mechanism, a storage, and a migration management mechanism. The storage stores a data structure indicating one or more port profiles. The migration management mechanism identifies one or more port profiles associated with a target switch for a migrating virtual machine, wherein the target switch is coupled to a target host machine of the virtual machine and recommends whether the target switch is suitable for the virtual machine by examining an identifier to the virtual machine in the port profiles associated with the target switch using the display mechanism. |
| US08995432B2 |
Method and apparatus for monitoring downlink control channel
A method and apparatus for monitoring a downlink control channel in a wireless communication system is provided. A wireless device receives a discontinuous reception (DRX) command from a base station. The DRX command indicates an activation of at least one DRX pattern from a plurality of DRX patterns. Each of the plurality of DRX patterns includes an on-duration which specifies at least one subframes to monitor a downlink control channel within a DRX cycle. The wireless device monitors the downlink control channel in at least one subframe which belongs to on-duration of the at least one activated DRX pattern. |
| US08995431B2 |
Communication method and system thereof
Disclosed are a communication method and a communication system. The method includes the following steps: a first communication device sends a communication request signal and a second identification code corresponding to a second communication device to a first switch device via a first exchange device by means of telephone connection; the first switch device sends the communication request signal and the second identification code to a second switch device via a cloud server by means of network connection; the second switch device sends the communication request signal to the second communication device via a second exchange device by means of telephone connection; when the second communication device confirms the communication request signal, a communication connection is set up between the first communication device and the second communication device via the first switch device, the cloud server and the second switch device. |
| US08995424B2 |
Network infrastructure provisioning with automated channel assignment
A network infrastructure provisioning system includes a server including a plurality of server ports. At least one switch is coupled to the server and includes a plurality of switch ports. A controller is coupled to the server and the at least one switch. The controller is operable to assign channels to server traffic, enumerate at least some of the plurality of server ports, determine switch ports associated with the enumerated server ports, and assign channels to the switch ports that are associated with the enumerated server ports. The assigning of channels to the switch ports may include assigning a primary storage channel to a first enumerated server port, assigning a primary networking channel to a last enumerated server port, assigning a secondary storage channel to an intermediate enumerated server port, and assigning a secondary networking channel to an intermediate enumerated server port. |
| US08995422B2 |
Signaling in a wireless communication system
A method of operating a wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) and a WTRU configured to receive a radio link control (RLC)/a medium access control (MAC) header. The header is coded for reduced transmission time interval (RTTI) operation. The header includes a 16-bit cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of an RLC/MAC payload associated with the RLC/MAC header. |
| US08995421B2 |
Processing polling requests from radio link control peers
This innovation relates to systems and methods for transmission of protocol data units, and more particularly to processing polling requests from a radio link control peer. A radio link control transmitter can poll a receiver to obtain a report regarding the status of a set of data packets, and the polls can be sent in-band with a data packet. The receiver can determine to wait before sending the status report based on one or more characteristics of the received data packets. |
| US08995418B2 |
Admission control of emergency connections
Emergency or prioritized communications in a wireless communication network are handled during negotiation of access to the wireless communication network from a mobile station using dedicated emergency multiple-access sequences which are also used as communication division codes in communication with a base station of the network. |
| US08995416B2 |
System and method for simultaneous co-channel access of neighboring access points
A system and method for overriding Carrier-Sense-Multiple-Access/Collision-Avoidance (CSMA/CA) and virtual carrier sense, without harming the traffic that occupies the channel is described herein. Further provided herein are measurements and qualifying criteria for performing the aforementioned channel sharing. The system and method may be based, for example, on opportunistic spatial isolation of nodes from each other and selectively implementing ultra-fast link adaptation. |
| US08995413B2 |
Setting method for connecting to wireless network access points, and electronic device
A setting method for connecting to wireless network access points, and an electronic device are applied to connect a network video surveillance device such as a network camera, a network video server or a network video recorder to wireless network access points. A first electronic device is set to operate in an access point mode. A second electronic device is connected to the first electronic device wirelessly, and setting information of a target access point is sent to the first electronic device by the second electronic device. After the first electronic device obtains the setting information, the first electronic device is switched to operate in a client mode instead of the access point mode. The first electronic device is connected to the target access point according to the setting information. |
| US08995412B2 |
Mobile router network providing remote emissions testing
A network is provided comprising a network management system, a third party server, and a plurality of mobile routers. The network management system comprises at least one server; and a link to a wide area network. Each mobile router is disposed in a corresponding one vehicle of a plurality of vehicles and each mobile router is operable to selectively communicate with the network management system. The network management system is operable to selectively communicate with each mobile router and the third party server. The router comprises an application executable to selectively acquire predetermined data comprising vehicle emission data; and a communication agent operable to upload the predetermined data to the network management system. |
| US08995409B2 |
Communication method using a preamble to share characteristic information, method for generating the preamble, and communication system to which the methods are applied
A communication method of a transmitter using a preamble in a wireless communication system, includes determining at least two subcarriers from among a plurality of subcarriers, for the preamble; mapping a subcarrier sequence and a subcarrier phase value of the preamble to the at least two subcarriers; and transmitting the preamble using the at least two subcarriers. The preamble may include a real component having a first repeated pattern in a preset time interval, and an imaginary component having a second repeated pattern in the preset time interval, and a relationship between the first repeated pattern and the second repeated pattern may indicate characteristic information of the wireless communication system. |
| US08995408B2 |
Wireless base station and wireless communication method
A resource determination unit determines at least a part of an uplink part in a switch subframe as a second resource for a wireless terminal to transmit an SRS and determines at least a part within any uplink subframe as a third resource for the wireless terminal to transmit uplink user data including a DRS for a prescribed period. A transmission path state estimation unit estimates a state of a transmission path to the wireless terminal based on the DRS included in the uplink user data after the third resource is determined. A resource notification unit forms antenna directivity based on the estimated state of the transmission path and transmits a control message for notifying the wireless terminal of the determined second resource. |
| US08995406B2 |
Systems and methods for reducing collisions after traffic indication map paging
Systems, methods, and devices for reducing collisions in a wireless communications network are described herein. In some aspects, a processor is configured to decrementing a value of a counter if a channel of a wireless communications network is idle for at least an extended slot time. The processor may be further configured to generate a polling request and allow the transmission of the polling request to an access point over the wireless communications network when the value of the counter reaches a threshold value. |
| US08995398B2 |
System and method for efficient L3 mobility in a wired/wireless network
A system and method for efficiently handling mobility events includes detecting a mobility event associated with a movement of a mobile unit from a first subnet to a second subnet, forming one or more first flow control messages for updating routing information associated with the mobility event, transmitting the one or more first flow control messages to a core router, forming one or more second flow control messages for disabling layer 2 learning, transmitting the one or more second flow control messages to one or more network switching devices in the first subnet, forming one or more third flow control messages including layer 2 switching instructions for directing network traffic to the mobile unit in the second subnet, and transmitting the one or more third flow control messages. |
| US08995395B2 |
Network node, user equipment and methods therein for random access handling
A method in a User Equipment (150), UE, for handling random access procedure to a wireless communications network via a network node (140), the UE (150) being configured to support transmissions on a Control CHannel, CCH, on an enhanced Control CHannel, eCCH, or on both. The method comprises sending (S160) a random access preamble to the network node, and receiving (S162) a random access response from the network node on at least one of the CCH or the eCCH. The random access preamble comprising a UE indication indicating that the UE is configured to monitor transmissions on the CCH, on the eCCH or on both;A user equipment, a method in network node and a network node are also provided. |
| US08995394B2 |
System for fast dormancy on wireless networks
A method and apparatus for enabling fast dormancy on LTE wireless connections. In an example embodiment, a user device generates a signal strength measurement report upon receiving an indication that a data transfer via an active wireless connection with a first infrastructure node according to a first wireless communication standard, such as LTE, is complete. The user device submits the signal strength measurement report to the first infrastructure node to trigger a handover. The user device implements the handover to a second infrastructure node to yield a second wireless connection according to a second wireless communication standard, such as WCDMA. Upon completion of the handover to the second infrastructure node, the user device transmits to the second infrastructure node a request to release the second wireless connection. |
| US08995392B2 |
Techniques for optimizing efficiency in a situation for a possible handover of a mobile terminal
A technique is proposed for optimizing efficiency in a situation for a possible handover of a mobile terminal (106) from a first mobile access network (102) according to a first mobile access technology to a second mobile access network (104) according to a second mobile access technology different from the first mobile access technology. A method embodiment of the technique performed by the mobile terminal (106) comprises the steps of receiving information regarding an availability of at least one of the first mobile access network and the second mobile access network (104), taking a decision regarding a connection to an inter-technology interworking entity (100) adapted to interwork between the first access technology and the second access technology, and establishing a connection to the interworking entity (100) for a preparation of the handover. |
| US08995390B1 |
Method and apparatus for increasing the speed of handover in a wireless communications network
A method and apparatus for performing a handover of an Internet packet (IP) flow from a first access router to a second access router, in which the Internet packet (IP) flow comprises one or more downlink data packets. The method includes: receiving, at the first access router, a request from a user equipment (UE) to move the IP flow from the first access router to the second access router; and in response to the request, the first access router forwarding one or more downlink data packets from the first access router to the second access router. |
| US08995389B2 |
Policy management in multi-access scenarios
The invention comprises methods and arrangements for Policy Decision Point discovery in a roaming or handover scenario in an IP network (IN) comprising a plurality of network elements. The invention introduces a Re-direct Policy Decision (RPDF) Function which can deliver addresses to PDPs associated to a certain Mobile Terminal. The RPDF comprises a memory for storing addresses (APDPA, SPDPA1) of Policy Decision Points and Mobile Terminals. The RPDF makes it possible for a network element, e.g. an application function, a policy enforcement point or another policy decision point, to find a Policy Decision Point associated to the Mobile Terminal. |
| US08995380B2 |
Scheduling in a multi-hop wireless network
Various techniques are disclosed for assigning timeslots in a multihop wireless network. One such method includes, for each node for uplink timeslot assignments, assigning a higher hop count node to a timeslot that is to occur before all time slots assigned to lower hop count nodes. The method further includes, for each node for downlink timeslot assignments, assigning a lower hop count node to a timeslot that is to occur before all time slots assigned to higher hop count nodes. |
| US08995368B2 |
Method for transmitting control information in a carrier aggregation system, receiving method, and terminal
A method of transmitting control information in a carrier aggregation system is provided. The method includes: transmitting bandwidth information of a component carrier; configuring downlink control information including an additional indication field and an information field; mapping the downlink control information in any one of containing units having a plurality of predetermined different bit sizes in accordance with the bandwidth information; and transmitting the downlink control information mapped to any one of the containing units, wherein the information field is any one of a plurality of control information formats applicable to the component carrier, and the additional indication field includes information indicating a specific control information format to which the information field corresponds among the plurality of control information formats. Accordingly, the number of blind decoding attempts of a user equipment can decrease in a carrier aggregation system. Therefore, power consumption of the user equipment can decrease, and a decoding rate can increase. |
| US08995366B2 |
Radio link monitoring in a wireless communication device for a enhanced control channel
A method (400) and user equipment (106) monitor a radio link for a wireless communication terminal for an enhanced control channel. A processor (304) may receive a first type of reference signal. The processor may monitor a first type of control channel. The processor may estimate a first synchronization condition associated with the radio link based on the first type of reference signal. The processor may monitor the second type of control channel. The processor may estimate a second synchronization condition associated with the radio link based on a second type of reference signal. |
| US08995363B2 |
Mobile station apparatus, base station apparatus, and radio communication method
Transmission power of a plurality of uplink carrier components used for communication by a mobile station apparatus and a base station apparatus is effectively controlled. The mobile station apparatus communicates with the base station apparatus using plurality of downlink component carriers and a plurality of uplink component carriers. The mobile station apparatus sets a plurality of groups, and each of the groups is composed of at least one uplink component carrier. The mobile station apparatus receives multiple pieces of control information regarding each of the groups to the mobile station apparatus from the base station apparatus in a single downlink component carrier. |
| US08995359B2 |
Method and apparatus to facilitate support for multi-radio coexistence
A user equipment (UE) monitors coexistence issues of one or more associated communication resources. The UE initiates link recovery procedures (e.g., declaring a Radio Link Failure (RLF)) in response to the monitoring when a coexistence issue is detected. The UE can also access a new channel or a new Radio Access Technology (RAT) in response to initiating the link recovery. The network may have the ability to control whether the UE can initiate the link recovery. |
| US08995355B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus, method and a computer program enabling switching of communication channel based on interference detection
A wireless communication apparatus that transmits data in certain communication interval to a receiving apparatus, using one or more communication channels among a plurality of adjacent communication channels, is provided. The apparatus includes: a setting unit configured to set the one or more communication channels for transmitting the data; a transmission unit configured to transmit the data using the one or more set communication channels; and a detection unit configured to detect interference with other wireless communication apparatuses, when the transmission unit transmits the data using the one or more set communication channels; wherein the setting unit changes the number of the one or more communication channels based on a time duration that the data transmission has been restrained due to the detected interference, and the communication interval. |
| US08995352B2 |
Prohibition of sounding reference signal transmission on newly activated secondary cells
In a wireless network supporting aggregation of uplink component carriers, sounding reference signals, SRS, are transmitted on an uplink, UL, primary component carrier. An activation command corresponding to an UL secondary component carrier, SCC, is received, in response to which the receiving transceiver determines whether it has valid timing information for the UL SCC, wherein valid timing information for the UL SCC indicates that the UL SCC is UL synchronized. In response to this determination, transmission of SRS on the UL SCC is enabled if the UL SCC is synchronized, when SRS is configured for the UL SCC. Otherwise, transmission of SRS on the UL SCC is prohibited until the UL SCC is UL synchronized. |
| US08995346B2 |
Wireless communication apparatus and wireless communication method
A wireless communication apparatus performs access control which starts transmission after a backoff time passes since an available state of a channel is detected through carrier sense, the backoff time being set based on a random value selected within a contention window width. The wireless communication apparatus includes a remaining time calculating unit which calculates a remaining time until a request delay time time-outs after data is generated, and a setting unit which sets the contention window width according to the remaining time calculated by the remaining time calculating unit. |
| US08995344B2 |
Assist engine for transmit and receive functions in a modular wireless network access device
A wireless network access device comprising a radio interface with a serial communication line, a switch, and M serial connections to M connectors for connecting up to M corresponding detachable radio modules. The radio interface forms up to M individually addressable radio communications paths. Each radio module includes a radio configured to communicate with client devices in a coverage area and a radio processor configured to manage at least one radio receiving buffer. The radio receiving buffers store receiver buffer identifiers to corresponding received data space. A processor manages communication between the client devices that communicate with the radio modules and a data network via the radio interface and a network interface when N≦M radio modules are connected to the radio interface. An assist engine is connected in the serial connection between the processor and the switch to manage allocation of receive buffer identifiers to the radio modules. |
| US08995341B2 |
Pilot shifting
In an example embodiment, a network node transmits secondary signal component of a combined wireless communication signal to a user equipment. The combined wireless communication signal includes the secondary signal component and a primary signal component. Secondary pilot resources of the secondary signal component are dynamically shifted relative to primary pilot resources of the primary signal component by an amount that is based on whether a current estimation procedure at the user equipment is a primary channel estimation procedure or a secondary channel estimation procedure. In a corresponding example embodiment, the user equipment receives the combined wireless communication signal with the dynamically shifted pilot resources. The user equipment estimates the primary channel in the primary channel estimation procedure and estimates the secondary channel in the secondary channel estimation procedure. |
| US08995339B2 |
Network control of applications using application states
Techniques for network control of application states of applications associated with a communication device are presented herein. An application agent, associated with an application used by the communication device, controls transitioning the application between application states based on network indicators received or network events detected from a communication network. The application states include active state or doze state. An application management component associated with the communication network at least partially controls transitioning the application between application states to facilitate controlling network traffic or reducing network congestion. The application agent or application management component can map application states to various factors, including radio states, congestion level, application performance indicators, network policies, or user policies, to facilitate determining which application state to apply to an application at a given time. The application agent can be in a centralized location, or at a same or different location as the application source. |
| US08995334B2 |
Method and system for selecting access gateway and gateway selection execution node in mobile packet domain
A method and system for selecting a gateway and a gateway selection execution node in the mobile packet domain are disclosed. The method includes: encapsulating, by a gateway selection execution node upon reception of a bearer setup request transmitted from a User Equipment, an operator domain name corresponding to the bearer setup request into a DNS parse request when creating the DNS parse request, and transmitting the DNS parse request to a DNS server; parsing by the DNS server for obtaining the address of an access gateway; returning by the DNS server, to the gateway selection execution node, a DNS parse result containing the address information of the access gateway corresponding to the operator domain name; selecting by the gateway selection execution node according to the address information the access gateway corresponding to the operator domain name as the access gateway corresponding to the bearer setup request. |
| US08995332B2 |
Relay node device for receiving control information from a base station and method therefor
The present invention relates to a relay node device for receiving control information from a base station and a method therefor. The relay node device according to the present invention comprises: a receiver, which receives information about an area where a relay-physical downlink control channel (R-PDCCH), the channel for transmitting control information for the relay node from a base station, is allocated; a processor, which searches for at least one R-PDCCH for the relay node based on the R-PDCCH allocation information received; and an R-PDCCH receiver, which receives the at least one R-PDCCH from the fourth symbol of the first slot in a downlink backhaul subframe of the area where the at least one R-PDCCH searched for by the processor has been allocated. |
| US08995328B2 |
Multicast service
A method including sending a multicast packet to a cluster of recipients; receiving information indicating receiving status relating to the multicast packet from individual members of the cluster of recipients; and initiating intracluster retransmission of said multicast packet by sending to the cluster of recipients collective information about the receiving statuses of the members of the cluster of recipients. |
| US08995326B2 |
Techniques for broadcast/multicast delivery in wireless networks
An embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus including a transceiver operable for broadcast/multicast traffic delivery in a wireless network, wherein the transceiver is adapted to identify local broadcast traffic and limit a broadcast domain to a basic service set (BSS) servicing the local broadcast traffic. |
| US08995324B2 |
Systems and methods for receiving data at an access point
Stations in standby mode periodically wake up to check for buffered data at the access points. Traditionally, the information is available by checking the periodic beacon frame for a traffic indication map (TIM). Unfortunately, the length of beacons has steadily increased with the progression of the various wireless standards requiring stations to wake up for longer periods to merely check for buffered data. Several approaches are disclosed which address this shortcoming, including the broadcast of TIM frames, the partial reception of beacon frames and the use of an embedded TIM frame within a beacon frame. |
| US08995321B2 |
Method and system for a time domain approach to 4G/LTE-WiFi/BT coexistence
A method and system are provided in which a device that is operable to handle WiFi communication and WiMAX communication may receive downlink medium access protocol (MAP) information in a downlink sub-frame of a WiMAX frame and disable WiFi transmission during a portion of the downlink sub-frame based on the downlink MAP information. The disabled WiFi transmission may be enabled after data within the downlink sub-frame is decoded. The device may also receive uplink MAP information in the downlink sub-frame and may control a clear channel assessment associated with the WiFi transmission based on the uplink MAP information. The MAP information may comprise data or burst profile information and/or one or more physical control messages. A similar time domain approach may be utilized for coexistence between Win and long term evolution (LTE) coexistence, Bluetooth and WiMAX, and Bluetooth and LTE. Frame aggregation may be enabled to alleviate pending WiFi traffic. |
| US08995312B2 |
Multi-channel broadband re-configurable RF front end for software defined radio / cognitive radio
Multi-channel broadband re-configurable RF Front End for Software Defined Radio/Cognitive Radio. The RF front end helps improve spectrum sensing for better spectrum utilization. The RF front end comprising of multiple channels of reconfigurable transmitters and receivers, Tx/Rx switch, reference section, control section and power section is described. The RF front-end transceiver comprises of multiple channels and adapts its parameters based on the radio environment. The RF front end works on wide bandwidth and reconfigures its parameters. |
| US08995310B2 |
Communication module
A communication module includes: a plurality of receiving filters that are connected between an antenna terminal and a receiving terminal and have a receive band different from each other; and a passive circuit that is commonly connected to at least two of the plurality of receiving filters and makes a receive band of one of said at least two of the plurality of receiving filters suppressed when making another receive band of said at least two of the plurality of receiving filters transitable, wherein receiving terminals of said at least two of the plurality of receiving filters are commonalized through the passive circuit. |
| US08995309B2 |
Radio frequency signal loopback method and outdoor unit
An outdoor unit includes: a transmitting module configured to transmit a signal; a splitter module configured to split the signal into two branches, where one branch is input into a amplifier, and the other branch is input into a duplexer; and the amplifier is configured to amplify the signal from the splitter module; the duplexer is configured to filter the signal from the splitter module and then output the signal to an antenna, and filter an external signal received by the antenna and then output the external signal to a combining module; the combining module is configured to combine the signal output by the amplifier with the signal output by the duplexer, and then output a combined signal to a receiving module; and the receiving module is configured to receive the combined signal output by the combining module. |
| US08995308B2 |
Control channel architecture with control information distributed over multiple subframes
Control information (126) related to the reception of data (128) within a subframe (116) is transmitted over multiple subframes (114, 116) by a base station (102). A controller (134) in a mobile wireless communication device (104) reconstructs the control information (126) received over multiple subframes (114, 116) based on at least some control information (130) in a first physical control channel (118) in a first sub-frame (114) and at least some other control information (132) in a second physical control channel (120) in a second subframe (116). |
| US08995307B2 |
Multicast media notification for queued calls
Multicast media notifications are provided when unicast media encoders are unavailable to serve endpoints that send a communication session request to a call control device. When the call control device receives a communication session request from an endpoint, a determination is made as to whether any one of a plurality of unicast media encoders is available for the communication session request. When it is determined that none of the plurality of unicast media encoders is available, the endpoint is connected to a multicast media encoder that presents a multicast media notification to the endpoint. |
| US08995304B2 |
Enhanced upstream label assignment (ULA) mechanism for point to multi-point (P2MP) and/or multi-point to multi-point (MP2MP) facility protection
A computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored on a non-transitory medium of an upstream node in a network system comprising a plurality of nodes that when executed by a processor cause the node to advertise an upstream assigned label to a downstream node, receive a message from the downstream node, and if the received message confirms that no conflict with the upstream assigned label exists at the downstream node, assign the upstream-assigned label, or if the received message confirms that a conflict with the upstream-assigned label exists at the downstream node, either select a new upstream-assigned label or wait until indication is received that the label resource has become available. |
| US08995300B2 |
Beamforming signaling in a wireless network
A wireless receives at least one channel state input information element (IE) from a first base station. The wireless device computes a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) employing, at least in part, the at least one channel state input IE and measurement of signals received at least from at least one antenna port of a second base station. The wireless device transmits channel state information comprising the PMI to the first base station. The wireless device receives at least one data packet employing beamforming according to a precoding matrix identified by the PMI. |
| US08995296B2 |
Method for computing the receive power of a non serving cell, and receiver for doing the same
A method for testing a band allocated to a non serving cell for a wireless OFDM communication systems, involving the step of:—configuring the RF front end circuit to receive a wide band signal covering multiple candidates of bandwidths (BW1) which are likely to be allocated to said non serving cell;—computing the received OFDM symbols;—entering into a first loop for successively testing two consecutive bandwidth candidates (BWj), said testing comprising the steps of:—computing a first non coherent power estimation (RSRP_Excessi) of the received signal on the basis of the reference signals (RS) existing in the non overlapping range of said two consecutive bandwidth (BWi);—computing a second coherent power estimation (RSRP_ExcesSj_coh)of the received signal on the basis of the reference signals (RS) existing in the non overlapping range of said two consecutive bandwidth (BWi);—comparing said first and said second estimation and determining and determining whether the tested bandwidth (BWi) is allocated to said tested non serving cell. |
| US08995291B2 |
Tracking loop design for unicast and multicast/broadcast signals
A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided. In a first configuration, the apparatus maintains a first set of tracking loops associated with unicast signals and a second set of tracking loops associated with multicast/broadcast signals. In addition, the apparatus decoding at least one of a received unicast signal based on the first set of tracking loops or a received multicast/broadcast signal based on the second set of tracking loops. In a second configuration, the apparatus maintains a TTL and a FTL associated with unicast signals based only on received unicast signals. In addition, the apparatus receives a multicast/broadcast signal and decodes the received multicast/broadcast signal based on the TTL and the FTL maintained based only on the received unicast signals. |
| US08995287B2 |
AMPP active profile presentation
One embodiment of the present invention provides a port profile management mechanism. The port profile management mechanism detects an active profile associated with a physical port on a switch and displays configuration of the port based on the identified port profile using the display mechanism. In addition, a port group management mechanism obtains information of a port group associated with a virtual machine, wherein the port group defines network configurations for the virtual machine. The port profile management mechanism detects a port profile associated with the virtual machine coupled to a physical port on a switch and displays an alert using the display mechanism in response to the port group and the port profile being out of synchronization. |
| US08995284B2 |
Method and system for detecting failures of network nodes
Systems and methods for detecting device failures in a network having nodes coupled to a central controller, in which a first of the nodes communicates with the central controller via a second of the nodes. When the second node determines that the first node has not transmitted a predetermined number of messages over a predefined number of time periods, the second node provides a failure alert to the central controller. The central controller records a failure alert received from the second node in a log. Based on a set of failure alerts received from a number of nodes recorded in the log, the central controller determines whether the first node has failed. |
| US08995283B2 |
Managing behavior of Release-7 and Release-8 user equipment during continuous packet connectivity configuration
When a serving Node B has deactivated Continuous Packet Connectivity and the UE then is reconfigured with a RRC reconfiguration message, it can happen that the UE acts as though CPC is activated whereas the serving Node B, on the other hand, acts as though CPC functionality is still deactivated. In several embodiments of techniques for addressing this problem, previously known signaling messages and/or user plane frame headers are modified to include new indicators/parameters, which are used to signal that a given UE should be expected to have non-uniform behavior with respect to remembering CPC activation status after acting on a RRC Reconfiguration message, because it is a Release 7 or Release 8 mobile station. These new indicators/parameters may also be used by a Node B, in some embodiments, to acknowledge the receipt of an indication from an RNC that non-uniform behavior should be anticipated for a given UE. |
| US08995279B2 |
Distributed flow mechanism for peer-to-peer streaming
The invention concerns a method for flow control in a peer-to-peer live streaming communication network comprising a plurality of nodes characterized in that the rate at which a node sends information to another node increases proportionally to the quantity of information present at node which has not yet reached node and decreases proportionally to a value attached to the link connecting node to node. |
| US08995277B2 |
Method for dynamic load balancing of network flows on LAG interfaces
A method is implemented by a network element to improve load sharing for a link aggregation group by redistributing data flows to less congested ports in a set of ports associated with the link aggregation group. The network element receives a data packet in a data flow at an ingress port of the network element. A load sharing process is performed to select an egress port of the network element. A check is whether the selected egress port is congested. A check is made whether a time since a previous data packet in the data flow was received exceeds a threshold value. A less congested egress port is identified in the set of ports. A flow table is updated to bind the data flow to the less congested egress port and the data packet is forwarded to the less congested egress port. |
| US08995273B2 |
Systems and methods for prioritizing and scheduling packets in a communication network
Systems and methods provide a parameterized scheduling system that incorporates end-user application awareness and can be used with scheduling groups that contain data streams from heterogeneous applications. Individual data queues within a scheduling group can be created based on application class, specific application, individual data streams or some combination thereof. Application information and Application Factors (AF) are used to modify scheduler parameters such as weights and credits to differentiate between data streams assigned to a scheduling group. Dynamic AF settings may adjust relative importance of user applications to maximize user Quality of Experience (QoE) in response to recurring network patterns, one-time events, application characteristics, protocol characteristics, device characteristics, service level agreements, or combinations thereof. Scheduling parameters may be dynamic and incorporate the notions of “duration neglect” and “recency effect” in an end-user's perception of video quality in order to optimally manage video traffic during periods of congestion. |
| US08995271B2 |
Communications flow analysis
In one implementation, a communications flow analysis system determines whether a communications flow between a source and a destination should be retained. If the communications flow should be retained, the communications flow analysis system injects an extraneous data set into the communications flow in response to determining that the communications flow should be retained. |
| US08995269B2 |
Computer readable storage medium storing congestion control program, information processing apparatus, and congestion control method
A server stores data to be transmitted in a first S queue, reads the data stored in the first S queue, and transmits it. If congestion is detected, from among data to be transmitted after the congestion is detected, the server stores, in a second S queue, data other than data for the destination for which the congestion is detected. If congestion is detected, from among data to be transmitted after the congestion is detected, the server stores, in a D queue, data for a destination for which the congestion is detected. After the data is stored in the first S queue, the server reads data stored in the second S queue and transmits it. After the data is stored in the first S queue, the server reads the data stored in the D queue, controls a bandwidth thereof, and transmits the data in the D queue. |
| US08995267B2 |
Handling of overloads and handovers in a communications network
The present invention refers to handling of an overload in a communications network and to handling of handovers occurring after the handling of handovers in the communications net work, wherein said communications network is based upon a tree topology providing several levels of nodes in said communications network. According to the present invention, in formation about an overload is provided through several levels of nodes in communications network, starting from the node, with regard to which said overload has occurred, and ending with nodes being located in levels arranged upside the level, in which the overload occurred, and being connected directly or indirectly with the node, with regard to which said overload has occurred. When handling a handover from a cell in a node, which is affected by the overload, the handover will be allowed only if the cell comprises at least one node, which is also affected by the overload. |
| US08995265B2 |
Monitoring endpoint buffer occupancy to determine congestion in an ethernet network
A system to improve a Converged Enhanced Ethernet network may include a controller having a computer processor connected to a layer 2 endpoint buffer. The system may also include a manager executing on the controller to monitor the layer 2 endpoint buffer by determining buffer data packet occupancy and/or rate of change in the buffer data packet occupancy. The system may further include a reporter to notify a congestion source of the layer 2 endpoint buffer based upon the buffer data packet occupancy and/or rate of change in the buffer data packet occupancy. |
| US08995262B2 |
Dynamic load balancing in a communication network
Methods and systems for providing a dynamic and real time load factor that can be shared with other network elements is disclosed. The load factor can be used in determining the relative load among a set of network elements and in distributing new sessions requests as well as existing session on the set of network elements. The load factor can also be used for determining to which network element a user equipment is handed off. The dynamic load factor can also be shared amongst network elements to determine how the load is balanced among the network elements, such as a mobility management entity (MME). |
| US08995261B2 |
Method and apparatus of network traffic offloading
Method and apparatus of network traffic offloading is disclosed. Network traffic offloading method may include receiving a first network traffic offloading frame from a base station in a cellular network, the first network traffic offloading frame comprising a frame type instructing a scanning start by broadcasting an advertising frame, traffic information indicating traffic expected to be offloaded by the base station and a transmission configuration indicating a period and a duration to transmit the advertising frame, broadcasting the advertising frame based on the transmission configuration to scan at least one access point (AP), receiving at least one invitation frame from the at least one AP and transmitting a probe request frame to an AP selected among the at least one AP to associate with the selected AP. |
| US08995254B2 |
Method of operating a mobile router
A method comprises: providing a wireless mobile router in a vehicle, the mobile router being operable to establish a communication link to a network management system; utilizing the mobile router to collect data independent of the router being coupled to the network management system; storing the data in the router; establishing a first communication link between the router and the network management system upon an occurrence of a first predetermined event; operating the router to upload the data to the network management system upon occurrence of the first predetermined event; and transmitting the data to the network management system via the first communication link. |
| US08995253B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for ring protection
A method, apparatus and system for Ethernet Ring Protection (ERP) are disclosed. The method includes: detecting, by a node, a link fault on a ring; blocking, by the node, a port connected with the faulty link after detecting the link fault, and sending a fault alarm message to other nodes on the ring, wherein the fault alarm message contains a fault identifier; and judging, by a node which receives the fault alarm message, whether the fault identifier changes; if the fault identifier changes, the node which receives the fault alarm message storing the fault identifier contained in the fault alarm message and clearing a forwarding table of the node which receives the fault alarm message. |
| US08995252B2 |
VoIP multiline failover
Tools and techniques are provided to provide Voice-over-IP (VoIP) communications. On receiving a user request to initiate a telephonic connection from a local site, at which the user is using a VoIP telecommunication device which has no link failover functionality, a system establishes over wide area network links at least two tunnels between a controller at the local site and another controller. Then the system transmits VoIP traffic over at least one of the tunnels from the controller at the local site to the other controller. The system also detects failure of the primary tunnel during the call and performs failover by changing a data path during the call to transmit packets over at least one non-failed tunnel. |
| US08995251B2 |
Network nodes
A network node comprising at least one network interface the network node arranged to form network links to other network nodes through the or each network interface, each network link being to a neighboring one of the other network nodes, the network node arranged to determine whether data transmitted over the links to the relevant neighboring network nodes is successfully received. Should the network node make a first determination that data sent over a given network link to a neighboring node has not been successfully received, the network node temporarily disables the entry for that network link in a memory for a period of time, such that the network node does not send data to the neighboring node over the given network link during the period of time, but then subsequently re-enables the entry after the period of time has elapsed. Should the network node make a subsequent determination that data sent over the given network link to the neighboring network node has not been successfully received, the network node deletes the entry from the memory. |
| US08995250B2 |
Paging processing method and system, serving gateway
The embodiments of the present invention provide a paging processing method and system and also a serving gateway. The paging processing method includes: detecting, by a serving gateway, a fault of a mobility management element, determining a type of the fault, and reselecting a mobility management element according to the type of the fault; and sending, by the serving gateway, a downlink data notification message to the reselected mobility management element, whereupon the reselected mobility management element sends a paging message to a user equipment UE that is served by the faulty mobility management element before the fault occurs. With the method, system and serving gateway provided in the embodiments of the present invention, user experience is improved effectively. |
| US08995248B2 |
Apparatus for adjusting power and method thereof
A power adjusting apparatus communicating with a remote terminal is provided. The apparatus includes: a transceiving unit transmitting a plurality of test packets by a plurality of powers; a processing unit coupled to the transceiving unit, and deciding a transmission power for transmitting a subsequent packet according to at least one retransmission number of transmitting the test packets. |
| US08995247B2 |
Device triggered wake up of powerline communication devices
A first network device detects at least a first orthogonal code included in a preamble of a network packet received at the first network device from a second network device in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication network. The first network device determines whether the first orthogonal code included in the preamble is associated with an assigned orthogonal code for the first network device. The assigned orthogonal code for the first network device is orthogonal to other assigned orthogonal codes for other network devices in the OFDM communication network. An operational mode of the first network device is changed from a sleep mode to an awake mode in response to determining the first orthogonal code is associated with the assigned orthogonal code for the first network device. |
| US08995242B1 |
Method and system for radial and tangential tilt calibration of optical storage systems
A system and method for adjusting the radial tilt, tangential tilt, or a combination of radial and tangential tilt of an optical detection unit in an optical disc reading system can include applying different weighting factors to different signal components depending on which detection area detects the component, measuring a value of a signal characteristic, such as signal-to-noise ratio, of two signals with different sets of weighting factors, and determining an adjustment factor to the radial tilt as a function of the of the measured signal characteristic values. |
| US08995241B1 |
Apparatus for driving voice coil motor actuator
Embodiments of the invention provide an apparatus for driving a voice coil motor actuator providing a driving signal to a coil for controlling a position of a lens barrel in which a magnet is equipped. The apparatus includes a plurality of hall sensors configured to detect the position of the lens barrel in which the magnet is equipped, and a voice coil motor driving integrated circuit configured to provide the driving signal to the coil based on outputs from the plurality of hall sensors and a received target position. The plurality of hall sensors are embedded in the voice coil motor driving integrated circuit along a moving direction of the magnet. |
| US08995238B2 |
Device for displaying time information
A device (100) for displaying time information with the aid of an indicator member (1), including a cam (2) the profile of which includes a flank (23); a lever (4) driving the indicator member (1); a follower (3) controlling the lever (4), pressed against the cam (2) by first spring means (6), adapted, during movement of the flank (23) in a first direction of movement of the cam (2), to control movement of the lever (4) intended to drive movement of the indicator member (1), characterized in that the follower (3) controlling the lever (4) is adapted to be moved relative to the lever (4) against the return action of second spring means (5) by an action force (F) exerted by the flank (23) of the cam (2) on the follower (3) during movement of the flank (23) in a second direction of movement of the cam (2). |
| US08995231B2 |
Oscillator in liquid
A oscillator in a liquid includes an actuator element oscillating in a reciprocating manner, and a sound-producing element attached to the actuator element, whereby the actuator element generates a motion in the sound-producing element for producing a sound. The oscillator is made open, whereby the pressure of liquid acts both on a first surface and on a second surface of the wall of the sound-producing element while the sound source is in the liquid. The material and/or structure of the wall of the sound-producing element is provided to be such that the distance between the first surface and the second surface of the wall varies as sound is produced. |
| US08995227B1 |
Systems and methods of processing information regarding weapon fire location using projectile shockwave and muzzle blast times of arrival data
Systems and method of processing information regarding weapon fire are set forth herein. In one exemplary implementation, a method of processing information regarding weapon fire, such as determining weapon fire location using projectile shockwave and muzzle blast time(s) of arrival data is disclosed. |
| US08995224B2 |
Real-time velocity and pore-pressure prediction ahead of drill bit
Techniques for estimating velocity ahead of a drill bit include generating seismic waves at a surface from at least two different source positions in the vicinity of a borehole, receiving seismic waves reflected from a reflector ahead of the drill bit at one or more locations in the borehole, determining travel times of the seismic waves received at the one or more locations in the borehole, and inverting the travel times to determine a velocity of a formation ahead of the drill bit. One embodiment includes transforming the velocity into pore pressure of the formation. |
| US08995222B2 |
System and method for accurate determination of ocean bottom seismometer positioning and timing
There is provided herein a system and method of seismic exploration that produces improved locations and timings for ocean bottom seismometers. The instant method utilizes linearized inversion in conjunction with a conventionally accurate clock to provide both time and positioning for each OBS unit with high accuracy as compared with the prior art approach. Inversion is one mathematical tool that effectively performs the requisite triangulation. Furthermore, the clock drift can be accounted for in the inversion scheme. The inversion not only determines the OBS position and shot timing errors, but also estimates the accuracy of the position and timing determination. |
| US08995221B2 |
Towed marine sensor streamer having concentric stress member
A seismic streamer includes a jacket covering an exterior of the streamer. At least one strength member extends the length of the jacket. The strength member is formed as a substantially flat belt having a width to thickness ratio of at least 10. At least one sensor holder is coupled to the at least one strength member. The at least one sensor holder includes at least one arcuate opening for receiving the at least one strength member. The at least one arcuate opening is laterally displaced from a center of the at least one sensor holder such that when the at least one strength member is disposed therein the at least one strength member is substantially tube shaped and substantially coaxial with the jacket. |
| US08995206B2 |
Device, method and computer readable program for accessing memory cells using shortened read attempts
A device, a computer readable medium and a method that may include performing a shortened read attempt of multiple data memory cells that store data to provide an estimate of the data; wherein the shortened read attempt has a duration that is shorter than a duration of a full read attempt; performing a shortened read attempt of redundant memory cells that store redundant information to provide an estimate of the redundant information; wherein the estimate of the redundant information is indicative of an expected number of data memory cells that store a certain logic value; determining, based on the estimate of the data, an estimated number of data memory cells that store the certain logic value; comparing the expected number to the estimated number; and providing the estimate of the data as a read result if the expected number and the estimated number equal each other. |
| US08995202B2 |
Test flow to detect a latent leaky bit of a non-volatile memory
A technique for detecting a leaky bit of a non-volatile memory includes erasing cells of a non-volatile memory. A bias stress is applied to the cells subsequent to the erasing. An erase verify operation is performed on the cells subsequent to the applying a bias stress to the cells. Finally, it is determined whether the cells pass or fail the erase verify operation based on whether respective threshold voltages of the cells are below an erase verify level. |
| US08995199B2 |
Flash multiple-pass write with accurate first-pass write
An instruction to write to a location in the Flash memory is received. It is determining if the Flash memory exposes a level placement setting associated with defining what voltage range corresponds to what level. In the event it is determined that the Flash memory exposes a level placement setting, an accurate coarse write is performed on the location, including by configuring the level placement setting to be a first value, and after the accurate coarse write is performed on the location, a fine write is performed on the location, including by configuring the level placement setting to be a second value, in response to receiving the instruction. |
| US08995195B2 |
Fast-reading NAND flash memory
In a flash memory two or more pages in a plane are read in rapid succession by maintaining global word line voltages throughout multiple page reads, and by simultaneously transitioning the old selected word line from a discrimination voltage to a read voltage and transitioning the new selected word line from the read voltage to a discrimination voltage. |
| US08995193B2 |
NAND memory constructions and methods of forming NAND memory constructions
Some embodiments include NAND memory constructions. The constructions may contain semiconductor material pillars extending upwardly between dielectric regions, with individual pillars having a pair of opposing vertically-extending sides along a cross-section. First conductivity type regions may be along first sides of the pillars, and second conductivity type regions may be along second sides of the individual pillars; with the second conductivity type regions contacting interconnect lines. Vertical NAND strings may be over the pillars, and select devices may selectively couple the NAND strings with the interconnect lines. The select devices may have vertical channels directly against the semiconductor material pillars and directly against upper regions of the first and second conductivity type regions. Some embodiments include methods of forming NAND memory constructions. |
| US08995191B2 |
Memory device and a method of operating such a memory device in a speculative read mode
A memory includes an array of memory cells with each memory cell coupled to an associated pair of bit lines. Read control circuitry is configured to activate a number of addressed memory cells in order to couple each addressed memory cell to its associated pair of bit lines. Sense amplifier circuitry is then coupled to the bit lines to determine the data value stored in each addressed memory. In a speculative read mode of operation, the sense amplifier circuitry evaluates the differential signals. Error detection circuitry is then used to capture the differential signals on the associated pair of bit lines for each addressed memory cell, and to apply an error detection operation to determine if the differential signals as evaluated by the sense amplifier circuitry had not developed to the necessary degree and, in that event, an error signal is asserted. |
| US08995188B2 |
Sharing support circuitry in a memory
A memory device, system, and method for operation of a memory device. In one such memory device, the memory device comprises a plurality of strings of memory cells. A plurality of drain select devices are coupled to each string of memory cells. An upper drain select device shares common support circuitry (e.g., selecting/deselecting transistors) with one or more upper drain select devices of other strings of memory cells. The support circuitry (e.g., selecting/deselecting transistors) for lower drain select devices can also be shared between a plurality of strings of memory cells. |
| US08995183B2 |
Data retention in nonvolatile memory with multiple data storage formats
In a nonvolatile memory that stores data in two or more different data storage formats, such as binary and MLC, a separation scheme is used to distribute blocks containing data in one data storage format (e.g. binary) so that they are separated by at least some minimum number of blocks using another data storage format (e.g. MLC). |
| US08995177B1 |
Integrated circuits with asymmetric transistors
Integrated circuits with memory elements are provided. A memory element may include a storage circuit coupled to data lines through access transistors. Access transistors may be used to read data from and write data into the storage circuit. An access transistor may have asymmetric source-drain resistances. The access transistor may have a first source-drain that is coupled to a data line and a second source-drain that is coupled to the storage circuit. The second source-drain may have a contact resistance that is greater than the contact resistance associated with the first source-drain. Access transistors with asymmetric source-drain resistances may have a first drive strength when passing a low signal and a second drive strength when passing a high signal to the storage circuit. The second drive strength may be less than the first drive strength. Access transistors with asymmetric drive strengths may be used to improve memory read/write performance. |
| US08995172B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device having a current limiting element
Embodiments of the invention generally include a method of forming a nonvolatile memory device that contains a resistive switching memory element that has an improved device switching performance and lifetime, due to the addition of a current limiting component disposed therein. In one embodiment, the current limiting component comprises at least one layer of resistive material that is configured to improve the switching performance and lifetime of the formed resistive switching memory element. The electrical properties of the formed current limiting layer, or resistive layer, are configured to lower the current flow through the variable resistance layer during the logic state programming steps (i.e., “set” and “reset” steps) by adding a fixed series resistance in the formed resistive switching memory element found in the nonvolatile memory device. Typically, resistive switching memory elements may be formed as part of a high-capacity nonvolatile memory integrated circuit, which can be used in various electronic devices, such as digital cameras, mobile telephones, handheld computers, and music players. |
| US08995170B2 |
Non-volatile memory device
A non-volatile memory device includes: a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells each including a first variable resistance element and a first current steering element and a parameter generation circuit including a reference cell including a second variable resistance element and a second current steering element having the same current density-voltage characteristic as that of the first current steering element, wherein a conductive shorting layer for causing short-circuiting between the electrodes is formed on the side surfaces of the second variable resistance element. |
| US08995167B1 |
Reverse program and erase cycling algorithms
Structures and methods for controlling operation of a programmable impedance element are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method of programming the programmable impedance element can include: (i) receiving a program command to be executed on the programmable impedance element; (ii) performing a program operation on the programmable impedance element in response to the program command; (iii) determining if the program operation successfully programmed the programmable impedance element; and (iv) performing an erase operation for programming the programmable impedance element in response to the program operation failing to successfully program the programmable impedance element. |
| US08995159B1 |
High-frequency matrix converter with square wave input
A device for producing an alternating current output voltage from a high-frequency, square-wave input voltage comprising, high-frequency, square-wave input a matrix converter and a control system. The matrix converter comprises a plurality of electrical switches. The high-frequency input and the matrix converter are electrically connected to each other. The control system is connected to each switch of the matrix converter. The control system is electrically connected to the input of the matrix converter. The control system is configured to operate each electrical switch of the matrix converter converting a high-frequency, square-wave input voltage across the first input port of the matrix converter and the second input port of the matrix converter to an alternating current output voltage at the output of the matrix converter. |
| US08995155B2 |
Photovoltaic power conditioning system and method employing parallel and series connection structures
A photovoltaic power conditioning system and method is provided. The system includes an isolated DC/DC converter (41), a DC/AC inverter (42), and a sine filter (43). The isolated DC/DC converter (41) receives a DC voltage from a solar cell through a parallel connection structure and converts the DC voltage into another DC voltage and then outputs the converted DC voltage through a series connection structure. The DC/AC inverter (42) converts the DC voltage output from the isolated DC/DC converter into an AC voltage. The sine filter (43) performs sine filtering on the AC voltage output from the DC/AC inverter and outputs the filtered AC voltage. The system employs a topology allowing it to be responsible for part of the output capacity, thereby significantly reducing the required capacity and increasing the system efficiency, so that the system can be applied to small and large-capacity photovoltaic power generation. |
| US08995150B2 |
Primary side sense output current regulation
The embodiments disclosed herein describe a method of a controller to maintain a substantially constant average output current at the output of a switching power converter. In one embodiment, the controller uses a regulation voltage that corresponds to the primary peak current regulation level to regulate the average output current. |
| US08995138B2 |
Assembly including a compression-molded, composite panel with a hinged mounting flange
An assembly including a compression-molded, composite panel with a hinged mounting flange is provided. The panel includes first and second outer layers and a core having first and second portions positioned between the outer layers. The first portion has a large number of cavities and the second portion is substantially free of cavities. The second outer layer is bonded to the core by press molding. The first outer layer includes a first portion bonded to the first portion of the core by press molding and a second portion bonded to the second portion of the core to form the mounting flange pivotally connected to the first portion of the first outer layer. A component is mounted to the flange to pivot with the flange. A living hinge allows the flange and the mounted component to pivot between different use positions relative to the first portion of the first outer layer. |
| US08995137B2 |
Modular mass storage system and method therefor
A modular mass storage system and method that enables cableless mounting of ATA and/or similar high speed interface-based mass storage devices in a computer system. The system includes a printed circuit board, a system expansion slot interface on the printed circuit board and comprising power and data pins, a host bus controller on the printed circuit board and electrically connected to the system expansion slot interface, docking connectors connected with the host bus controller to receive power and exchange data therewith and adapted to electrically couple with industry-standard non-volatile memory devices without cabling therebetween, and features on the printed circuit board for securing the memory devices thereto once coupled to the docking connectors. |
| US08995133B2 |
Electrical connection assembly
An electrical connection assembly includes a metal housing and an electrical module having a plurality of electrical components mounted on a component base. The base is supported on the housing. A socket conducts electrical current from a pin of a cable to the electrical components. A heat sink member conducts heat directly from the socket to the metal housing. An electrically insulating thermally conducting pad is positioned between the housing and an end of the heat sink member. A current sensor has a cylindrical body which surrounds a portion of the socket. |
| US08995130B2 |
Power supply unit using housing in which printed circuit board is housed
In a power supply unit, a printed circuit board is provided on which two or more different-shape components are mounted. Such components include semiconductor devices. The printed circuit board has a designated mounting surface of the board. The housing is also provided, which houses the printed circuit board and comprises a cooling member for cooling a first space formed between the mounting surface and an opposed surface in the housing. The opposed surface is opposed to the mounting surface. The cooling member is arranged at part of the opposed surface, the part of the opposed surface projects toward the semiconductor devices, and the opposed surface is opposed to the two or more types of different-shape components. |
| US08995126B2 |
Housing for encasing a tablet computer
An apparatus and a system for housing a device are described. The apparatus includes a housing that is configured such that a device may be fitted within the housing and thereby be protected, such as from shocks and/or liquid. The housing may include top and bottom members that may be removably coupled together so as to form the housing. Each top and bottom member includes a perimeter portion. The perimeter is defined by proximal and distal ends as well as opposing sides. The top and bottom members may include respective clasping mechanisms that extend along the perimeter of the top and bottom members and may be configured for engaging a third clasping mechanism, such as a locking comb or wedge feature. The clasping mechanisms are configured for coupling the top and bottom members with one another thereby sealing the housing, for instance, in a shock-proof and/or water tight seal. |
| US08995122B2 |
Electronic device and electronic-device housing
An electronic-device housing stores an electronic circuit and a cooling fan. The electronic-device housing includes a first surface having at least one opening to release heat outside. At least one projected portion projects toward an outside of the electronic-device housing, and when the electronic-device housing is installed on an installation surface so that the first surface is opposed to the installation surface and the projected portion comes into contact with the installation surface, a rotation moment acting on a gravity center of the electronic-device housing acts in a direction where the rotation moment causes the first surface to move away from the installation surface. |
| US08995111B2 |
Capacitor, and manufacturing method and manufacturing program thereof
A capacitor includes: an anode part that is drawn from an anode body of a capacitor element to an element end-face, to be formed over the element end-face; a cathode part that is drawn from a cathode body of the capacitor element to the element end-face, to be formed over the element end-face; an anode terminal member that is disposed in a sealing member; a cathode terminal member that is disposed in the sealing member; an anode current collector plate that is connected to the anode part, and is also connected to the anode terminal member; and a cathode current collector plate that is connected to the cathode part, and is also connected to the cathode terminal member. |
| US08995109B1 |
Monolithic ceramic electronic component
A method for manufacturing a monolithic ceramic electronic component includes the steps of preparing a first ceramic outer layer, stacking a plurality of inner electrodes and a plurality of ceramic green sheets on the first ceramic outer layer, forming an inner portion, applying first pressing in the stacking direction, forming an outer portion on the inner portion to form a second ceramic outer layer, applying second pressing in the stacking direction to form a multilayer body, cutting the mother multilayer body to obtain individual multilayer bodies, sintering the individual multilayer bodies to obtain ceramic bodies, and forming first and second outer electrodes on the outer surface of each of ceramic bodies. |
| US08995098B2 |
Miswire protection and annunciation of system conditions for arc fault circuit interrupters and other wiring devices
Electrical distribution systems, equipment and wiring devices are required to have their wiring connections properly identified to ensure proper operation of connected loads as well as the safety of users, however, errors in installation do occur. Electrical wiring errors are commonly called miswire conditions. The current invention is an integrated system and method of miswire protection and annunciation of system conditions for Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters (AFCIs) and other wiring devices, electrical systems and equipment. Electrical code and regulatory standards require certain wiring devices to include miswire protection with their standard features. These wiring devices, among others include Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters (AFCIs) and Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCIs) which are required to incorporate protection from miswire conditions with other electrical faults they are designed to protect circuits from, such as and including arc, ground, overload, short circuit, and surge. |
| US08995095B2 |
Multi-channel tape head having asymmetric channel arrays
In one general embodiment, a magnetic head includes an inner module comprising an array of data writers; and first and second outer modules flanking the inner module. The outer modules are identical, each outer module comprising an array of data readers. A number of active data readers in each outer module is less than a number of active data writers in the inner module. For the first outer module, one of the active data readers is aliened with one of the data writers positioned towards a first end of the inner module array in the direction generally parallel to the path of tape travel thereacross. For the second outer module, one of the active data readers is aligned with one of the data writers positioned towards a second end of the inner module array in the direction generally parallel to the path of tape travel thereacross. |
| US08995094B1 |
Disk drive head suspension with a dual dimple and a flexure tongue with a piezoelectric microactuator
A disk drive head gimbal assembly (HGA) includes a distal region that includes a load beam dimple having a protruding convex surface. The HGA includes a laminated flexure having a structural layer with a tongue disposed between two outrigger beams. A piezoelectric element is adhered to the tongue. The tongue includes an actuated portion to which a read head may be adhered, and that is rotated about an axis of rotation by expansion of the piezoelectric element. The tongue also includes a non-actuated portion that is not rotated by expansion of the piezoelectric element. The non-actuated portion of the tongue adjoins and forms a bridge between the two outrigger beams. The bridge includes a flexure dimple that protrudes from the tongue and has a concave surface that is in contact with the convex surface of the load beam dimple. |
| US08995093B2 |
Pivot bearing unit for hard disk actuator
In an HDD actuator pivot bearing unit 10, an axial inner surface 22a of a shield cap 22 is formed into a stepped shape so that an axial minimum gap a1 with a shield member 14e of one bearing 14 is narrower than an axial minimum gap a2 with an outer ring 14b and so that an axial minimum gap a3 with a boundary position 14b3 between an axial end face of the outer ring 14 and an annular groove 14b1 is narrower than the axial minimum gap a2 with the outer ring 14. By doing so, the amount of air passing through an interior of the bearing can be reduced to thereby reduce outparticles. |
| US08995091B2 |
Magnetic head for thermally assisted magnetic recording
A slider for magnetic data recording in a thermally assisted recording system. The slider has a slider body and a magnetic recording head formed on a trailing edge of the slider body. A first terminal is formed on a trailing edge surface of the recording head, and a second terminal is formed on a backside surface both the magnetic recording head and the slider body so as to extend across both the magnetic recording head and the slider body. An electrically conductive lead formed within the magnetic recording head connects the first lead with the second lead. |
| US08995089B2 |
Magnetic recording medium and method for producing the same
According to one embodiment, there is provided a magnetic recording medium which includes a base, a magnetic recording layer having convex-shaped magnetic layers, which is formed on the base, and a protective film formed on the magnetic recording layer. There are gaps in a region surrounded by the protective film, the surface of the base, and each side wall of each magnetic layer. |
| US08995086B2 |
Write head with floating side shields and enhanced magnetic potential
A write head has a pole tip, a write yoke connected to the pole tip, a write return yoke, a write shield, and one or more side shields disposed in close proximity to the pole tip. The write return yoke connects to the write yoke on one end and the write shield on a different end. The one or more side shields are separated from the pole tip and write shields by a non-magnetic material and therefore are “floating” and not directly coupled to the write shield or pole tip. |
| US08995085B2 |
Magnetic recording head, magnetic head assembly, magnetic recording apparatus, and magnetic recording method
An example magnetic recording apparatus includes a magnetic recording medium and a magnetic recording head. The magnetic recording head includes a first magnetic pole to apply a recording magnetic field to a magnetic recording medium, a spin torque oscillator provided parallel to the first magnetic pole, a first coil which surrounds the first magnetic pole, to magnetize the first magnetic pole, and a second coil to pass a current independently of the first coil and magnetize the first magnetic pole. A signal processor writes and reads a signal on the magnetic recording medium by using the magnetic recording head. |
| US08995083B2 |
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 supporting a shaft so that an upper end of the shaft protrudes upwardly in an axial direction and a bearing clearance filled with a lubricating fluid formed between the sleeve and the shaft; a housing provided so as to enclose an outer peripheral surface of the sleeve and forming a circulation hole between the housing and the sleeve in the axial direction; and a rotor hub fixedly installed on an upper end portion of the shaft in the axial direction, wherein a connection part is formed between the housing and the rotor hub so as to allow a sealing part on which a liquid-vapor interface is disposed and the circulation hole to be in communication with each other. |
| US08995082B1 |
Reducing acoustic noise in a disk drive when exiting idle mode
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk comprising a plurality of tracks, wherein each track comprises a plurality of servo sectors. When entering an idle mode, the head is floated over the disk, and when exiting the idle mode, a radial velocity of the head is measured, a seek distance is determined in response to the radial velocity, and a seek operation seeks the head the seek distance to a first track. |
| US08995079B2 |
Magnetic head, magnetic disk drive, and method of controlling magnetic head
According to one embodiment, there is provided a magnetic head including a wave guide, a near field transducer, a writing magnetic pole, a magnetic core, a writing coil, and a first temperature control element. The near field transducer is disposed on an ABS surface and to which light is guided from the wave guide. The writing magnetic pole is disposed on the ABS surface. The magnetic core is connected to the writing magnetic pole so as to generate a magnetic field from a portion of the writing magnetic pole close to the ABS surface. The writing coil is disposed so as to go around the magnetic core. The first temperature control element is disposed in contact with a region of a first side surface of the wave guide near the near field transducer. |
| US08995077B1 |
Electronic device, method and storage medium
According to one embodiment, an electronic device includes a housing, a sensor, a disk device, a first determination controller, a first changing controller. The sensor senses a vibration of the housing. The disk device stores operation data, the disk device including a head, wherein the head retracts to a safety position when the sensed vibration exceeds a sensitivity level, and the operation data includes an evaluated value for evaluating an operation state of the head, and a threshold corresponding to the evaluated value. The first determination controller determines whether the evaluated value exceeds the threshold. The first changing controller changes the sensitivity level based on the result of the first determination controller. |
| US08995076B1 |
Head-medium contact detection using electromagnetic attraction
An apparatus of the present disclosure generally includes a recording head, circuitry, a thermal sensor, and a detector. The recording head has an electromagnetic attraction to a recording medium. The circuitry is configured to oscillate the electromagnetic attraction between the recording head and the recording medium. The oscillating electromagnetic attraction produces a corresponding oscillating clearance between the recording head and the recording medium. The thermal sensor, located in or near the recording head, senses an oscillating temperature that is induced by the oscillating clearance and produces a sensor signal that is representative of the sensed temperature. The detector is coupled to the thermal sensor and is configured to detect at least one of head-medium contact and clearance using the sensor signal and the electromagnetic attraction. |
| US08995067B2 |
Lens driving device
An lens holding device is disclosed. The lens holding device includes a lens barrel defining a closed sidewall, an engaging hole surrounded by the closed sidewall for receiving a lens group, and a coil holder extending from one end of the lens holder. The lens holding device is configured to be one-piece. The disclosure further provides a lens driving device having the lens holding device. |
| US08995066B2 |
Passive position compensation of a spindle, stage, or component exposed to a heat load
Disclosed herein is an apparatus for providing passive correction for thermal effects on a mounted mechanical component. Further disclosed is a wafer inspection system employing the passive thermal effect correction apparatus. |
| US08995064B2 |
Zoom lens, imaging apparatus, and method for manufacturing zoom lens
Disclosed is a zoom lens having a first lens group G1 having positive refractive power; a second lens group G2 having negative refractive power; a third lens group G3 having positive refractive power; and a fourth lens group G4 having positive refractive power. Upon zooming from a wide-angle end state to a telephoto end state, a distance between the first lens group G1 and the second lens group G2 is changed, a distance between the second lens group G2 and the third lens group G3 is changed, and the fourth lens group G4 is moved toward the object first, then moved toward an image. The third lens group G3 has a first positive lens L31, a negative lens L32 and a second positive lens L33, and the fourth lens group G4 has two lenses: L41 and L42. |
| US08995063B2 |
Optical device with adjustable optical surface
An adjustable optical device comprising at least a deformable optical surface activated by linear fluidic actuators comprising: a material layer comprising an upper surface on which the optical surface is provided and a bottom surface; an actuator layer comprising a plurality of linear fluidic actuators separated by at least one cavity, where at least one linear fluidic actuator is a pillar extending in the actuation direction (L) which is non parallel to the bottom surface of the material layer, said pillar comprising a wall delimiting an internal cavity and where an upper surface of said pillar is continuously linked to a zone of the bottom surface of the material layer; fluidic inlets suitable for introducing a fluid in at least one internal cavity of a pillar linear fluidic actuator. |
| US08995060B2 |
Optical film and head-up display device
A head-up display device includes an image module, a substrate, and an optical film. The image module has an emitting source, wherein the emitting source transmits at least one image. The substrate is disposed corresponding to the image module. The optical film is disposed on the substrate and includes at least one transmission layer, wherein each transmission layer has a plurality of transmitting column structures obliquely arranged side by side, and a longitudinal direction of the transmitting column structure has a tilt angle with respect to a normal of the substrate. The at least one image is transmitted to the optical film, and the obliquely disposed transmitting column structures cause the at least one image to scatter on the optical film. |
| US08995058B2 |
Diffraction grating lens and imaging device in which the same is used
A diffraction grating lens according to the present invention is a diffraction grating lens 11 including: a lens body 12; and a plurality of diffraction steps relative to a base shape and a plurality of diffraction gratings 13 interposed between the diffraction steps, provided on a surface of the lens body 12. The lens body 12 is made of a first material having a refractive index n1(λ) at a used wavelength λ; the diffraction grating 13 is in contact with air; and the relationship of an inequality below is satisfied, where d is a design step length of the diffraction steps, and m is an order of diffraction. Each of the plurality of annular zones includes an intermediate portion and a pair of end portions sandwiching the intermediate portion along a radial direction, and in at least one of the plurality of annular zones, either one of a recess 18 and a protrusion 19 is provided in at least a portion of one of the pair of end portions, and the other one of the recess 18 and the protrusion 19 is provided in at least a portion of the other of the pair of end portions. Between two kinds of diffraction steps 17A and 17B of the diffraction grating 13, one is provided at a position where the phase difference from the base shape given the design wavelength λ0 is not 2 nmπ. 0.9 d ≤ m · λ n 1 ( λ ) - 1 ≤ 1.1 d |
| US08995056B2 |
Laminated optical film, and polarizing plate and liquid crystal display including the same
A laminated optical film which exhibit a high front contrast ratio and even brightness, improve viewing angle characteristics of a liquid crystal display of a horizontal alignment mode, and have high durability.A laminated optical film comprising: a B layer; and a C layer, wherein the B layer satisfies the following three formulae (Ib) to (IIIb), the C layer satisfies the following two formulae (Ic) and (IIc), and the absolute value |ΔSP value| of a difference in SP value between the primary components of the B and C layers is not more than 1.5, the SP value being determined by Hoy's method. 1.0≦Nz≦3.0; (Ib): 70 nm≦Re (550); and (IIb): 0 nm≦Rth (550)≦200 nm, (IIIb): Re (550)≦10 nm; and (Ic): −200 nm≦Rth (550)≦−50 nm (IIc): |
| US08995053B2 |
Positive optical amplifier power transient suppression
The present invention includes an optical amplifier and method for reducing the impact of transient events within an optical transmission system. Specifically, a positive transient power or amplifier setting adjustment limit is applied based upon a number of active channels or a current “steady state” operating condition. This adjustment limit is described in terms of a number of channels to be amplified. By controlling the adjustment limit in this manner, automatic control of the amplifier is provided for a loss of channel condition as well as for the addition of a single or few channel condition. If a larger positive transient occurs, the control will not adjust the power limit, and the positive transient power will therefore be suppressed. |
| US08995047B2 |
Three-dimensional image display and converter therefor
A display device includes a display panel and a converter formed on a front surface of the display panel. The converter performs conversion between a 2-dimensional image and a 3-dimensional image. The converter includes a plurality of protrusion electrodes formed on a first substrate. A plate electrode is positioned on a second substrate facing the first substrate. A transparent medium is positioned between the protrusion electrodes and the plate electrode. A plurality of conductive particles is positioned in the transparent medium. |
| US08995044B2 |
Micromechanical tunable Fabry-Perot interferometer and a method for producing the same
The invention relates to controllable Fabry-Perot interferometers which are produced with micromechanical (MEMS) technology. Micromechanical interferometers of the prior art have a disadvantage of significantly attenuating infrared radiation. In the inventive solution there is a gap in at least one mirror, serving as a layer of the mirror. The other layers of the mirrors can be made of polycrystalline silicon, which has a negligible attenuation at the infrared range. It is also preferable to provide a hole or a recess in a substrate at the optical area of the interferometer. |
| US08995036B2 |
Printing apparatus
A printing apparatus includes a printing unit located inside a housing, a scanner unit including a cover located on top of the printing unit, and an operation unit configured to be opened and closed with respect to the housing. When the operation unit is opened, the operation unit moves to a position where the operation unit hinders the opening and closing of the cover, and a part of the printing unit is exposed. |
| US08995033B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An image processing apparatus includes an image data acquiring portion, an image determining portion, and an image data converting portion. The image data acquiring portion is configured to acquire first image data representing a color image. The image determining portion is configured to determine whether or not the image represented by the first image data is an image mainly composed of black characters. The image data converting portion is configured to convert the first image data to second image data by converting the first image data to binary image data when the image determining portion determines that the image represented by the first image data is an image mainly composed of black characters. |
| US08995027B2 |
Image reading apparatus and an image processing system including an image sensor and a reference plate on the conveyance path for detecting the thickness of a medium
An image reading apparatus including a first image unit fixed on one side of a conveyance path, a second image unit provided on the other side of the conveyance path and facing the first image unit, a guide at the second image unit and that contacts a medium to move the second image unit in a direction away from the conveyance path, an image sensor at one of the first image unit and the second image unit, a reference plate at the other one of the first image unit and the second image unit, and a thickness detection unit for detecting a thickness of the medium on the basis of an image signal output by the image sensor that captures an image of the reference plate with the medium inserted between the first image unit and the second image unit. |
| US08995026B2 |
Image reading apparatus with correction using diffuse reflection surface and image forming apparatus with same
An image reading apparatus includes: an image reading unit which has a light source irradiating light to a sheet conveyed along reading glass, and an image reading element reading an image by reflected light from the sheet; a conveyance guide portion which guides the sheet and which is disposed in a position, that corresponds to the image reading unit, with the reading glass interposed between the conveyance guide portion and the image reading unit; a correction unit which corrects image information obtained by reading the sheet by the image reading unit based on reflected light that is emitted from the light source and reflected on the conveyance guide portion; and the conveyance guide portion which has a diffuse reflecting surface diffusing and reflecting the light from the light source. |
| US08995025B2 |
System and method for sending, delivery and receiving of faxes through computer based networks with a publicly switched telephone network as a backup
Embodiment of systems and methods for the sending, delivery or receiving of faxes are disclosed herein. In particular, certain embodiments include a fax connector that may be deployed at users' sites, and a fax registration system that may be deployed remotely from these users' site. The fax connector can be accessed at a user's site over a computer based network in order to perform functions associated with faxing, including sending, receiving and obtaining status on faxes. The fax connector deployed at a sending user's site communicates with the fax registration system to obtain destination data associated with a recipient user's fax connector and transmits the fax to the destination fax connector over the computer based network based on the destination data obtained from the registration system. The fax can then be presented to the recipient at the recipient user's site. |
| US08995024B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program
An image processing apparatus includes an input unit configured to input an instruction to perform color conversion, a color conversion unit to perform color conversion based on the instruction by using a first color matching profile, and a display unit configured to display a message which indicates that an effect of color conversion on the vividness of an image is small, in a case where a color difference between the image on which color conversion has been performed by using the first color matching profile and the image on which color conversion has been performed by using a second color matching profile is less than a color matching threshold value. |
| US08995015B2 |
Method of printing
A method for printing on a substrate, wherein the substrate is printed upon with a plate-based printing process, particularly with an offset printing process, and with a plateless printing process, particularly with an inkjet printing process, inline with the plate-based printing process. According to the invention, a printing resolution of the plateless printing process is determined depending on a printing speed of the plate-based printing process. |
| US08995013B2 |
Information processing apparatus and control method for controlling display of a user interface screen
A UI driver determines an output region corresponding to an output paper size in a display region of the printer driver UI, and if a length of at least one side of the output region is longer than a corresponding side of an original image, performs cropping of the original image such that a removed portion of a distribution region of a main object in the original image is at the minimum after enlarging the original image, and if a length of each side of the output region is shorter than or equal to a corresponding side of the original image and not longer than a corresponding side of the distribution region of the main object, performs cropping of the original image such that a removed portion of the distribution region of the main object is at the minimum after reducing the original image. |
| US08995005B2 |
Image processing apparatus with memory area management portion
In an image processing apparatus, a memory area management portion generates a descriptor for a block storage area allocated in each of a first work memory and a second work memory, and generates sub-band management data associated with the descriptor for the block storage area in which compressed sub-band data is stored, sequentially according to arrangement of the sub-band data in the primary scanning direction and the secondary scanning direction in image data. A data loading portion changes, according to a rotation angle, the association between the sub-band management data and the descriptor after the compressed sub-band data is stored in the second work memory. A decompression processing portion performs rotating process in the sub-band data according to the rotation angle. |
| US08995002B2 |
System and method for printing independent of location and using a universal print module
A system for printing independent of location and using a universal print module comprises a computing device having a print anywhere sending module and a printer having a print anywhere receiving module coupled by a network. The print anywhere sending module is adapted to interface with the computing device to generate a print file. The print anywhere sending module broadcasts the availability of a print file or job and transmits that print job to a responding print anywhere receiving module. The print anywhere receiving module interfaces with the printer to provide the print file and to print the file. The present invention also includes a variety of methods including a method for printing, a method for printing using a universal print module, and a method for printing using the print key. |
| US08994997B2 |
Image reading apparatus
An image reading apparatus a chassis, a sheet supporting unit disposed on the chassis configured to receive a sheet of a document placed thereon, a reading unit movably disposed on the chassis and configured to read an image on the sheet placed on the sheet supporting unit while moving in a predetermined direction, a reference member provided at a side portion of the sheet supporting unit, the sheet being placed on the sheet supporting unit such that one end of the sheet contacts the reference member, and an electrostatic capacitive touch key unit disposed on a side portion of the chassis is provided. Additionally, the reference member and the electrostatic capacitive touch key unit are arranged at opposite side portions, in the predetermined direction, of the chassis. |
| US08994995B2 |
Image processing device and conversion program
An image processing device includes: an acquisition unit; an image processing unit; a communication unit configured to communicate with a server configured to convert a pre-conversion partial data into post-conversion partial data; a memory configured to store the post-conversion partial data and correspondence information; and a controller configured to: determine whether the post-conversion partial data corresponding to the pre-conversion partial data is stored in the memory; transmit the pre-conversion partial data to the server; receive the post-conversion partial data; control the image processing unit to process the post-conversion partial data received from the server if the corresponded post-conversion partial data is not stored in the memory; control the image processing unit to process the post-conversion partial data stored in the memory if the corresponded post-conversion partial data is stored in the memory; and store the post-conversion partial data received from the server, and the correspondence information. |
| US08994993B2 |
Management system, management server, and recording medium
A management system for managing a management target device includes: a position detection unit configured to detect a position of a user of the management target device; a management server configured to manage Air Tag information relating to the user; and a mobile terminal. The management server includes: a positional information acquisition unit configured to acquire positional information for the position of the user based on a result of the detection by the position detection unit; a generation unit configured to generate the Air Tag information including device-relating information and the positional information of the user; and a transmission unit configured to transmit the Air Tag information to the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal displays an Air Tag image visualizing the device-relating information of the user by superposing the Air Tag image over a portion representing the user within a shot image of scenery around the mobile terminal. |
| US08994987B2 |
Achievement-based compensation for a print service provider
A method and system for tracking and calculating achievement-based compensation for a print service provider. The method includes determining one or more print services associated with a print job to be completed, receiving information indicating at least one of the one or more print services has been completed by a worker, updating a job ticket associated with the job to be completed to indicate that at least one of the one or more print services has been completed, and determining a compensation level for the worker based upon a rate of compensation associated with the one or more completed print services. The system includes various computer system for implementing the method. |
| US08994986B2 |
Print control apparatus, program and method of displaying print setting screen
A print control apparatus, a program, a method of displaying a print setting screen are provided. The print control apparatus includes a display device, an acquisition unit configured to acquire a size of a displayable area of the display device, a changing unit configured to change a size of a print setting screen related to a print setting according to the size of the displayable area, and a screen displaying unit configured to display the print setting screen changed by the changing unit on the display device. |
| US08994982B2 |
Image forming device, image forming method, and image forming program
The image forming device includes an image data input unit that receives image data of a document; a set password acquisition unit that acquires information regarding a password from the image data received by the image data input unit; an input password receiving unit that starts reception of input of the password before the reception of the image data of all pages of the document is completed by the image data input unit; a password verification unit that performs verification between an input password and a set password; and a job execution unit that cancels execution limit of a job based on a verification result and executes the job, wherein, when the password is set in arbitrary one page of the document, the image data input unit sequentially completes the reception of the image data of the next page of the arbitrary one page of the document, before the input of the password corresponding to the password set in the arbitrary one page is completed by the input password receiving unit. |
| US08994980B2 |
Printing management apparatus, printing system, and printing management method
A management apparatus receives an allocation request from a printer in accordance with a designation of a user, and reads a page count upper limit and an already-allocated page count for the user. The management apparatus calculates an allocable page count by subtracting an already-allocated page count from the page count upper limit, and if the allocable page count is greater than 0, calculates a page count allocation that is based on the printing speed of the printer and is lower the lower the allocable page count is. The printing management apparatus prints the obtained allocable page count to the printer. |
| US08994979B2 |
Print relay system, image forming apparatus, system control method, and program
A print relay system determines whether a printing function (capability) of an image forming apparatus corresponding to user authority setting has been registered in a printing service. Having determined that the printing function has been registered, the print relay system enables other users having the same authority to share the printing function (capability) of the image forming apparatus registered in the printing service. |
| US08994978B2 |
Image processing apparatus that facilitates printing of password-protected documents, and corresponding method for forming images
An image forming apparatus performs a direct printing function. A selecting section selects at least two files from a plurality of files stored in at least one of an internal storage medium and an external storage medium. A human interface receives passwords form a user. A password determining section determines whether the selected files are protected by passwords. A file extracting section extracts the selected files from an internal storage medium or external storage medium. A password verifying section determines whether passwords contained in the selected files and the passwords inputted through the human interface coincide. A printer prints the selected files. A printing controller controls the printer, causing the printer to print at least one of selected files if the password verifying section has determined that the password contained in the at least one selected file and the password inputted by the user coincide. |
| US08994972B2 |
Printing system and method for obtaining a desired or an alternative pull-printing result
A printing system includes an image forming apparatus, a management server, and a print data transmission apparatus, each of which are coupled one another via a network. The print transmission apparatus transmits print data to the management server in association with a user. The image forming apparatus, including apparatus-supported setting data, (i) causes the management server to authenticate the user, and (ii) prints the print data. The management server (i) manages the print data transmitted from the print data transmission apparatus, (ii) performs authentication of the user, and changes the print data associated with the user to supported print data corresponding to the apparatus-supported setting data, and (iii) transmits the supported print data to the image forming apparatus, if the authentication of the user is successful. |
| US08994971B2 |
Printing apparatus capable of assigning a piece of sheet information to a feed tray
A printing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes a plurality of sheet feed trays, stores sheet information including property information indicating a property of a sheet and sheet feed tray information indicating a sheet feed tray to which the sheet is allowed to be assigned, and selects a sheet feed tray from the plurality of sheet feed trays based on a designation made by a user. The printing apparatus further displays a sheet allowed to be assigned to the selected sheet feed tray based on the stored sheet information and assigns, to the selected sheet feed tray, a sheet designated by the user from among the displayed sheets. |
| US08994970B2 |
Information processing apparatus, control method, and storage medium
An information processing apparatus includes a first selection unit configured to receive selection of a first device object having a first function of an output apparatus via a setting screen, a second selection unit configured to select a second device object having a second function of the output apparatus, which corresponds to the first device object selected by the first selection unit, and a setting unit configured to set both the first device object selected by the first selection unit and the second device object selected by the second selection unit to a virtual device object, wherein the first function differs from the second function. |
| US08994969B2 |
Maintenance method and apparatus for information processing apparatus
In accordance with an embodiment, a maintenance method for an information processing apparatus comprises: acquiring a machine identification information for identifying the machine of the information processing apparatus and a machine information includes a setting value information of a plurality of setting items of a machine and an error information of the machine through an external storage apparatus, associating the acquired machine information with the machine identification information and storing the associated information in a database, acquiring a statistical image which is generated based on the setting value information of a plurality of information processing apparatuses, generating a setting value image determined by the setting value information of the machine based on the machine information stored in the database and combining the setting value image with the statistical image and displaying the combined image on a display unit. |
| US08994964B2 |
Image reading device and image forming apparatus including the same for reading both sides of a document alternately in a single read position
An image reading device includes a document transport controller and an operation portion. The document transport controller controls to discharge a document in one of two sheet discharging modes including a first sheet discharging mode in which the document is turned over again after both sides of the document have been read, and a second sheet discharging mode in which the document is discharged without being turned over again. The operation portion accepts an instruction to select one of the first sheet discharging mode and the second sheet discharging mode to discharge the document. |
| US08994962B2 |
Image forming system and control method for the same
An image forming system includes a first image forming apparatus and a second image forming apparatus coupled in tandem to the first image forming apparatus which are assigned differently to print images on respective different regions on a recording sheet. The first image forming apparatus includes two compressing and expanding sections and is configured to receive both image data to be printed by the first image forming apparatus and image data to be printed by the second image forming apparatus. When performing any one process of a compressing process and an expanding process for the image data to be printed by the first image forming apparatus and a compressing process for the image data to be printed by the second image forming apparatus, a compressing and expanding section being used for no process is selected from the two compressing and expanding sections, and assigned to perform the any one process. |
| US08994961B2 |
Reducing white space in a medium for printing
Wasteful consumption of recording media is minimized without making any changes to the control device. When a string is recorded based on a string recording command and the string is a repetitive string made by repeating characters related to font data having white space on either or both the end in the direction corresponding to the conveyance direction and the end in the direction corresponding to the opposite direction, the recording control unit of the printer converts the repetitive string to a repetitive pattern formed by compressing the part of each character in the repetitive string that contains white space, and records. |
| US08994958B2 |
Optical position measuring instrument
An optical position measuring instrument including a scanning plate and a scale, wherein the scale and the scanning plate are movable relative to one another. The optical position measuring instrument including a grating and a light source that emits a beam toward the grating, wherein the grating receives the beam and splits the beam into two partial beams with orthogonal polarization states. The optical position measuring instrument including a polarizer being arranged in beam paths of the two partial beams, wherein the polarizer has a structure to generate polarization effects on the two partial beam striking the polarizer that are periodically variable, wherein a polarization period of the periodically variable polarization effects is greater than a graduation period of the grating. The two partial beams being reunified into a resultant beam. A detection unit that receives the resultant beam and generates a plurality of displacement-dependent scanning signals. |
| US08994955B2 |
Fabry-Perot interferometer
A Fabry-Perot interferometer includes an input mirror and an output mirror arranged facing the input mirror via a gap. Each mirror includes a pair of high-refractive layers and a space layer arranged selectively between the high-refractive layers. At least one of an input-side bridge part and an output-side bridge part arranged crossing the gap, is movable as a membrane. Each bridge part includes a transmission portion and a periphery portion. Each transmission portions includes a mirror element in which the space layer is sandwiched by the pair of high-refractive layers. In a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, the mirror element of the input mirror has a width larger than seven times of a maximum wavelength of a transmission light output from the output mirror, and functions as a diffraction restriction mirror. |
| US08994954B2 |
System and method for stabilizing mode locked swept laser for OCT medical imaging
An optical coherence analysis system uses a laser swept source that is constrained to operate in a stable mode locked condition by modulating a drive current to the semiconductor optical amplifier as function of wavelength or synchronously with the drive voltage of the laser's tunable element based on stability map for the laser. |
| US08994951B2 |
Frame element of a laser gyroscope comprising a substrate comprising mobile ions and an electrode
The invention pertains to a frame element of a laser gyroscope comprising a substrate comprising mobile ions and an electrode fixed to the said substrate, comprising at least one electrically conducting element, connected electrically to the said electrode, and furnished with at least one distal part integrated into the said substrate and exhibiting at least one tip and/or at least one groove, forming at least one blind hole and/or at least one groove in the said substrate, of shape corresponding to that of the said distal part or parts, so as to obtain a tip effect. |
| US08994949B2 |
Optical gas detector
A gas detector including an assembly of two hemispherical caps having opposite concavities, and which are reflective on at least a portion of their opposite surfaces, and a wafer arranged in an equatorial plane of the assembly of the two caps, in the vicinity of but spaced apart from the center of the equatorial plane, including, back-to-back: a diverging light emitter directed towards the first cap and a light receiver directed towards the second cap. |
| US08994946B2 |
Integrated analytical system and method
An analytical assembly within a unified device structure for integration into an analytical system. The analytical assembly is scalable and includes a plurality of analytical devices, each of which includes a reaction cell, an optical sensor, and at least one optical element positioned in optical communication with both the reaction cell and the sensor and which delivers optical signals from the cell to the sensor. Additional elements are optionally integrated into the analytical assembly. Methods for forming and operating the analytical system are also disclosed. |
| US08994940B2 |
Fine particle measurement apparatus and optical axis calibration method
Disclosed is a fine particle measurement apparatus including a light condensing unit that condenses irradiated light irradiated to a sample flow where fine particles pass through and directly propagates the light without scattering, and scattered light scattered by the fine particles to an optical receiver divided into a plurality of regions; a position controller that controls the relative positions of members of an optical path; and a control unit that detects positions of condensing spots of the irradiated light and the scattered light based on signal intensities of each region of the optical receiver, and controls the position controller such that the positions of the condensing spots of the irradiated light and the scattered light match with each other. |
| US08994937B2 |
Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy calibration curve generating systems
A surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy calibration curve generating system includes a SERS sensor, which includes a substrate and a plurality of sensing members formed on the substrate. Each of the sensing members includes a plurality of SERS signal amplifying structures. An inkjet dispensing device is to dispense different concentrations of a solution including a known analyte of interest onto the respective sensing members to form a concentration dependent array. A Raman spectrometer is to interrogate the concentration dependent array. A processor is operatively connected to each of the inkjet dispensing device and the Raman spectrometer. Computer-readable instructions are embedded on a non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium and are executable by the processor. The computer-readable instructions are to automatically generate an intensity profile as a function of concentration for the concentration dependent array. |
| US08994936B2 |
Pattern matching method, apparatus and line width measuring machine
The present invention discloses a pattern matching method, which is used in measurement process for line width measuring machine, comprising: reading a standard pattern used for matching on the at least one predetermined position of a measured sample; respectively comparing each standard pattern of the measured sample with prestored multiple designed original images corresponding to the standard pattern; determining that the pattern matching is successful if the standard pattern on the measured sample successfully compares with at least one designed original image, and proceeding with the subsequent line width measurement process; otherwise, determining that the pattern matching is failed. The present invention also discloses a corresponding pattern matching method and a line width measuring machine. According to the embodiment of the present invention, it can improve the accuracy and the success rate of the pattern matching when measuring the line width. |
| US08994931B2 |
Paper sheets identification apparatus
A paper sheets identification apparatus to identify the monetary kinds of paper sheets and to determine whether or not they are genuine provides for a simplified and general purpose detection to be performed irrespectively of the difference in the portions of each of such sheets in which their optical characteristics are arranged. The paper sheets identification apparatus includes a light emitting element; a light receiving element disposed opposite to the light emitting element with the transport path of such sheets interposed therebetween; a plurality of reflective mirrors to conduct light emitted from the light emitting element to the light receiving element; and a guide to move at least one of the reflective mirrors to the direction crosswise to the transport direction of such sheets within a surface in parallel with the carriage surface. |
| US08994930B2 |
Method and apparatus for analyzing individual cells or particulates using fluorescent quenching and/or bleaching
A method for analyzing a blood sample is provided that includes the steps of: providing a blood sample having one or more of each first and second constituents; admixing a colorant with the sample, which colorant is operative to cause the first constituents and second constituents to fluoresce and absorb light; illuminating at least a portion of the sample; e) imaging a portion of the sample; determining a fluorescence value for each the first constituents and second constituents; determining an optical density value for each of the first constituents and second constituents; and identifying the first constituents and the second constituents using the determined fluorescence and optical density values. |
| US08994925B2 |
Optical distance measurement device
Optical range finders are configured to transmit optical bursts toward a target and detect a corresponding received burst. DC offset in the received burst due to square law detection can be offset based on a difference between high pass and low pass filtered portions of the received burst. Edge records associated with bursts can be obtained, and correlated with a reference signal or waveform to obtain a range estimate. |
| US08994922B2 |
Lens barrel support device and maskless exposure apparatus having the same
Provided is a barrel support device for supporting a lens barrel. The barrel support device may include a guide frame configured to laterally support the lens barrel and tilt with the lens barrel, a rotation guide on a first end of the guide frame, the rotation guide being ring shaped and configured attach the lens barrel to the guide frame, and a ring-shaped tilting frame configured to support a second end of the guide frame and tilt the guide frame, wherein the guide frame, the rotation guide, and the tilting frame are configured to allow the lens barrel to pass therethrough. |
| US08994919B2 |
Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method
A control system for controlling a position or position related quantity of an object is provided. A measurement system is configured to measure a position or position related quantity of the object. A controller is configured to provide a control signal on the basis of the measured position or position related quantity. A actuator actuates the object on the basis of the control signal. A filter unit, which may be a partial order filter unit, filters the measured position or position related quantity. |
| US08994915B2 |
Multiple cell liquid crystal optical device with coupled electric field control
A liquid crystal optical device is provided. The optical device includes a liquid crystal cell controlling optical properties of light passing therethrough and has: a liquid crystal layer, a planar electrode located to one side of said liquid crystal layer; an electric field control structure located to the opposite side of the liquid crystal layer; and a wavefront adjustment structure configured to provide optical phase front adjustment. In some embodiments the wavefront adjustment structure is a conductive floating electrode. In other embodiments the wavefront adjustment structure is a weakly conductive structure having spatially variable sheet resistance. In other embodiments the wavefront adjustment structure a weakly conductive structure having spatially variable sheet resistance having a frequency dependent characteristic. |
| US08994911B2 |
Optical memory device based on DHFLC material and method of preparing the same
The invention relates to an optical memory device and method for the preparation of the optical memory device based on glycerol, a very common and versatile solvent, mixed deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystal (DHFLC) having applications in ferroelectric liquid crystal based devices, the said method comprising the steps of forming patterns of different shapes and configurations by lithographic methods to obtain an effective electrode area of at least 4.5 mm on a glass substrate coated with indium tin oxide; depositing the patterned glass substrate with a polymer nylon 6/6 in the thickness range of 200 Å-400 Å; baking the coated substrate followed by hard rubbing of the polymer coated surface using buffing machine; photo lithographically developing spacer to maintain a uniform thickness of 3¼ m; filling glycerol mixed deformed ferroelectric liquid crystal material in the space between the coated glass substrates, followed by sealing the sandwiched glass substrates at the periphery; heating and cooling the sandwiched glass substrates, followed by application of electric field across the sandwiched substrates for achieving the stable memory action and fastness of the response, by applying an AC and DC field across the device to obtain an optical memory device. |
| US08994905B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
The liquid crystal display device is provided with: a pair of first electrodes in wall form that at least partially overlap a pair of first structures; and a second electrode sandwiched between the pair of first electrodes, wherein the first electrodes are formed of: a wall electrode that is formed on a sidewall surface of the structure, protruding so as to be in a wall form in a direction of a normal to the first substrate and running in the longitudinal direction of the pixel; and a plane electrode that runs in a plane direction of the first substrate from a side of the wall electrode on the first substrate side in such a manner that an end portion thereof runs in proximity to the second electrode, and at least either the plane electrode or the second electrode covers the pixel display region. |
| US08994901B2 |
Display device
A display device in which an image with a wide color reproduction range and bright red can be displayed is provided. The display device is a display device such as, for example, a liquid crystal display device, a cathode ray tube, an organic electroluminescent display device, a plasma display panel, and a field emission display. The display device includes a display surface including a pixel having red, green, blue, and yellow sub-pixels, wherein the red sub-pixel preferably has the largest aperture area. |
| US08994893B2 |
Flat panel display device, stereoscopic display device, and plasma display device
The present invention provides a flat panel display device, which includes a backlight system and a display panel. The backlight system includes a light source, a light homogenization mechanism, and a back frame. The back frame carries the light source and the light homogenization mechanism, and the light homogenization mechanism guides light from the light source into the display panel. The back frame includes primary assembling pieces, secondary assembling pieces, and a bracing piece for fixing a circuit board. The primary assembling pieces are connected through joining. Further, the primary assembling piece includes a joint section that forms a reinforcement structure and a circuit board is mountable and position adjustable through a bracing piece. The present invention also provides a stereoscopic display device and a plasma display device. The present invention have a back frame having a simple structure, reduce the expenditure of a back frame mold, allow strength of the back frame to meet a desired requirement, improve fixing of circuit board, and save the material used for back frame so as to lower down the manufacturing cost of flat panel display device. |
| US08994891B2 |
Semiconductor device and touch panel
A touch panel whose power consumption can be reduced is provided, and an increase in the manufacturing cost of the touch panel is prevented. A photosensor which includes a light-receiving element including a non-single-crystal semiconductor layer between a pair of electrodes and a transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer in a channel formation region is provided. A touch panel which includes a plurality of pixels and the photosensor adjacent to at least one of the plurality of pixels is provided. Each of the plurality of pixels includes a pair of terminals. One of the pair of terminals is a reflective conductive film. Alternatively, each of the pair of terminals is a light-transmitting conductive film. |
| US08994888B2 |
Display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same
A display apparatus including a first substrate including a pixel area; a gate line disposed on the first substrate; a data line disposed on the first substrate and insulated from the gate line; an insulating layer pattern interposed between the gate line and the data line in an area where the gate line and the data line overlap; a gate insulating layer interposed between the gate line and the data line; a pixel electrode disposed in the pixel area; and a second substrate facing the first substrate. |
| US08994880B2 |
System and methods for automatic power saving via device location identification
A system for automatically setting a power saving mode according to a location of a device, such as a TV. The system includes an interface, e.g. GPS receiver, terrestrial broadcast receiver, network interface, etc. for coupling the device to one or more external devices; a processor; programming executable on said processor for performing the following steps: determining the location of the device via communication with the one or more external devices; establishing a power consumption mode according to the determined location of the device and one or more power consumption regulatory requirements associated with said device location; and adjusting a function of the device to modify the power consumption of the device according to said power consumption mode. |
| US08994875B2 |
Camera module
The present invention relates to a camera module having an auto focus function, the module including a lens unit having at least one lens, a barrel into which the lens unit is inserted, and connected by a VCM (Voice Coil Motor) actuator, and an image sensor discretely positioned from the lens unit to convert light having passed the lens unit to an electrical signal, where the VCM actuator includes a gap of a reference distance position value which is a position of an object catering to a lens focal length according to the camera module, and information on a focus-met lens position value, and adjusts an initial position of the lens by using the gap of reference distance position value of the lens position value during operation of the camera module. |
| US08994870B2 |
Imaging apparatus, and system and distance measuring device using imaging apparatus
An imaging apparatus disclosed in the present application includes a lens optical system including a lens and a stop; an imaging; and an array-form optical element located between the lens optical system and the imaging device and including optical components extending in a row direction in a plane vertical to an optical axis of the lens optical system, the optical components being arrayed in a column direction in the plane. The imaging device includes pixel groups, each of which includes first pixels arrayed in the row direction and second pixels arrayed in the row direction at positions adjacent, in the column direction, to the first pixels. The pixel groups are arrayed in the column direction. Border positions between the optical components are respectively offset in the column direction with respect to corresponding border positions between the pixel groups. |
| US08994864B2 |
Solid-state imaging device, and method for driving the same
A solid-state imaging device according to the present invention includes: a semiconductor substrate; a plurality of pixels disposed on the semiconductor substrate in rows and columns; a column signal line formed for each of the columns; an inverting amplifier connected to the column signal line; and a feedback line, provided for each of the columns, to feed back output signal of the inverting amplifier to pixels in a corresponding column, wherein the amplifying transistor includes a gate connected to the pixel electrode and outputs signal voltage corresponding to the pixel electrode to a column signal line via the selection transistor, and one of a source and a drain of the reset transistor is connected to the pixel electrode and the other is connected to a corresponding feedback line. |
| US08994861B2 |
Imaging apparatus and imaging method for obtaining plural kinds of image data with different dynamic ranges in a single photographing
An imaging apparatus having a solid state imaging device that includes first photoelectric conversion elements and second photoelectric conversion elements arranged in a two dimensional array, comprises a device control unit that performs a driving in which a first signal according to electrical charges accumulated in the first photoelectric conversion elements during a first exposure period and a second signal according to electrical charges accumulated in the second photoelectric conversion elements during each of second exposure periods are read by sequentially exposing the second photoelectric conversion elements for the second exposure periods, each of which overlaps with the first exposure period and has different length of time, during periods overlapped with the first exposure period while simultaneously exposing the first photoelectric conversion elements for the first exposure period. |
| US08994855B2 |
CMOS pixel control method
A method for controlling a pixel including at least one photodiode capable of being connected to a sense node, the method including the steps of: a) at the beginning and at the end of a first integration period included within a second integration period, controlling the pixel to transfer the charges stored in the photodiode above a first threshold onto the sense node; and b) at an intermediate time between the beginning of the second period and the beginning of the first period, controlling the pixel to transfer the charges stored in the photodiode above the first threshold onto the sense node. |
| US08994854B2 |
CDS circuit, image sensor including the same, and image processing device including the image sensor
A correlated double sampling (CDS) circuit includes a correction circuit configured to receive an input pixel signal through a first node via a column line, correct the input pixel signal, and output the corrected pixel signal through a second node; and a comparator including first and second input terminals, the first input terminal being connected to the second node and being configured to receive the corrected pixel signal, and the second input terminal configured to receive a ramp signal, the comparator being configured to compare the corrected pixel signal with the ramp signal and output a comparison signal indicating a result of the comparing, wherein the correction circuit includes, a first capacitor connected between the first and second nodes, and one or more metal lines disposed adjacent to the first capacitor, and wherein at least one other capacitor is formed by the first capacitor and the metal line. |
| US08994851B2 |
Displaying image data and geographic element data
A mobile computing device includes a housing, a camera, a display, a memory, and a processing circuit. The housing is configured to be carried by a user while in use. The camera is configured to output image data. The memory is configured to store geographic element data representing one or more geographic elements. The processing circuit is configured to receive the geographic element data for the plurality of geographic elements. The processing circuit is configured to determine a camera orientation. The processing circuit is configured to concurrently display the image data and geographic element data for the plurality of geographic elements on the display. |
| US08994845B2 |
System and method of adjusting a camera based on image data
Systems and methods of adjusting camera image data include receiving image data from a visible light camera module are described. A quality factor of the image data can be determined based on at least one predetermined characteristic. The quality factor can be compared to a predetermined threshold. Image data from a non-visible light camera module can be requested when the quality factor is below the predetermined threshold. Image data from the non-visible light camera module can be received in response to the request. The received image data from the visible light camera module can be augmented with the received image data from the non-visible light camera module to form hybrid image data. The image sensor can be adjusted based on a quality factor of the hybrid image such that the visible light camera captures a subsequent image having a quality factor that meets or is greater than the predetermined threshold. |
| US08994844B2 |
Image processing apparatus that synthesizes acquired images to generate successive images, control method therefor, and image pickup apparatus
An image processing apparatus that can reduce the area where acquired images are held and reduce the load in image synthesis when successive images are to be generated. Acquired images are sequentially acquired and held in an acquired image storage circuit. A first set number of acquired images among the acquired images are synthesized to generate first composite images. The first composite images are held in a grouped image storage circuit. Second composite images from an image generated last to an image corresponding to a second set number among the first composite images are synthesized to generate a second composite image. The acquired images used to generate the first composite images are sequentially deleted. |
| US08994842B2 |
Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus equipped with same
A zoom lens includes a frontmost lens unit, which is located closest to the object side and a plurality of lens units located closer to the image side than the frontmost lens unit. All the distances between adjacent lens units vary during zooming in the state in which the zoom lens is focused on an object at infinity. One of the plurality of lens units is a first focusing lens unit. During focusing from an object at infinity to an object at a short distance in a first shooting mode, only the first focusing lens unit moves. During focusing from an object at infinity to an object at a short distance in a second shooting mode, two lens units in the zoom lens move. |
| US08994841B2 |
Information communication method for obtaining information specified by stripe pattern of bright lines
An information communication method that enables communication between various devices includes: setting an exposure time of an image sensor; obtaining a bright line image including a bright line, by capturing a subject that changes in luminance by the image sensor with the set exposure time; setting a longer exposure time than the exposure time; obtaining a normal captured image by image capture by the image sensor with the longer exposure time; generating a synthetic image by specifying, in the normal captured image, a part that corresponds to the bright line included in the bright line image and superimposing a signal object on the normal captured image, the signal object being an image indicating the part; displaying the synthetic image; and obtaining information by demodulating data specified by a pattern of the bright line included in the obtained bright line image. |
| US08994839B2 |
Lens device, drive method, recording medium, and image capturing device
The present invention provides a lens device, a drive method, a recording medium, and an image capturing device. According to an aspect of the present invention, in an one-sided drive mode which allows the lens to move beyond a target position, and then to move in a reverse direction and stop at the target position, the control part controls the lens on the basis of the brake ON/OFF information so that when the lens is temporarily stopped, braking by the brake part is not applied, and only when the lens is stopped at a final target position, braking by the brake part is applied. |
| US08994837B2 |
Image processing devices and image processing methods of moving objects
In an embodiment, an image processing device is provided. The image processing device may include: a first image acquirer configured to acquire a first image of a first spatial resolution; a second image acquirer configured to acquire a second image of a second spatial resolution, wherein the second spatial resolution may be higher than the first spatial resolution; a determiner configured to determine in the first image a location of a part of the first image that corresponds to a pre-determined part of the second image based on a pre-determined similarity criterion; and a copying circuit configured to copy the pre-determined part of the second image to a location in an output image based on the determined location. |
| US08994836B2 |
Beam steering element feed forward command aiding architecture
A feed forward command aiding architecture with corresponding method, system, and computer product are provided. The feed forward command aiding architecture includes generating angle and rate commands from a received inertial data input. The angle command is feed into a proper order position loop producing an intermediate result. An angle feedback is differentiated producing a rate loop feedback. The intermediate result, rate command, and rate loop feedback are then feed into a proper order rate loop producing a torque command. The proper order rate loop is nested inside of the proper order position loop. The torque command being generated moves a beam steering element of an electro-optic sensor to deflect a line of sight of the electro-optic sensor by an angle approximating the received inertial angular input. |
| US08994834B2 |
Capturing photos
Implementations generally relate to continually capturing photos. In some implementations, a method includes collecting photos that are captured continually, where the photos are captured continually using a device that is operable to track a gaze of a user. The method also includes enabling the user to select one or more of the photos subsequent to the photos being captured. The method also includes enabling the user to process the selected photos. |
| US08994831B2 |
Image pickup control apparatus, image pickup control method and computer readable medium for changing an image pickup mode
An image pickup control apparatus, includes: a trigger acceptance section adapted to accept a predetermined trigger input as a changeover input from an automatic image pickup mode to a request responding image pickup mode; and a request responding image pickup control section adapted to establish, when the trigger input is accepted by the trigger acceptance section while an image pickup apparatus is carrying out still picture image pickup operation with an image pickup visual field of the image pickup apparatus changed in the automatic image pickup mode, the request responding image pickup mode and control the image pickup apparatus to execute a process for determining an image pickup visual field in accordance with an image pickup request and then execute still picture image pickup operation after the determination of the image pickup visual field. |
| US08994829B2 |
Method of evaluating at least one defect of quality in a data signal, associated device and computer program
Method of evaluating a defect of quality in a data signal, associated device and computer program. The method evaluates the defect of a carrier signal bearing data intended to be restored to a recipient, the signal including a video component and audio component. The method includes the following steps implemented on at least one sample of the signal: detection of a defect in the video component of the sample and calculation of a duration associated with the defect; assigning a class of defect to the defect detected as a function of its associated duration; according to the class of defect assigned, obtaining a result of searching for a defect in the audio component at the instants corresponding to the sample; deciding to confirm the detection of a defect of quality in the sequence as a function of the result of the search for a defect in the audio component. |
| US08994826B2 |
Portable wireless mobile device motion capture and analysis system and method
Portable wireless mobile device motion capture and analysis system and method configured to display motion capture/analysis data on a mobile device. System obtains data from motion capture elements and analyzes the data. Enables unique displays associated with the user, such as 3D overlays onto images of the user to visually depict the captured motion data. Ratings associated with the captured motion can also be displayed. Predicted ball flight path data can be calculated and displayed. Data shown on a time line can also be displayed to show the relative peaks of velocity for various parts of the user's body. Based on the display of data, the user can determine the equipment that fits the best and immediately purchase the equipment, via the mobile device. Custom equipment may be ordered through an interface on the mobile device from a vendor that can assemble-to-order customer built equipment and ship the equipment. |
| US08994820B2 |
Camera apparatus
A camera apparatus includes: an image pickup device; a lens configured to converge light from an object to the image pickup device; a coaxial circular-shaped lens cover in which the lens is arranged; a plurality of infrared light sources arranged to surround the lens in the lens cover; and a light shielding member which is provided between the lens and the infrared light source and which has an opening. The opening is outwardly extended at corner optical path portions which correspond to diagonal corners of an angle of view of the image pickup device. |
| US08994817B2 |
Infrared inspection of metallic web structures
Systems and methods for detecting anomalies in web structures used in the formation of tires are disclosed. A thermal imaging device, such as an infrared camera, can be used to scan a portion of web structure as the web structure leaves a calender. The thermal images can be analyzed for temperature differentials in the web structure. The presence of a temperature differential can signify the presence of an anomaly in the web structure, such as a missing or out of place cable anomaly, an improper edge trim anomaly, or a missing rubber material anomaly. |
| US08994816B2 |
O/S application based multiple device access windowing display
A system and method for providing access to a video display for multiple devices. Various aspects of the present invention may comprise receiving, at a video display system, a first video data signal through a first data communication interface and a second video data signal through a second data communication interface. A processor module may process the first and second video data signals to generate video information of first and second display windows in a composite display. For example, the processor module may transform and translate video information to fit display windows. The processor module may, for example, generate an output video signal comprising information of the first window and information of the second window. Such a signal may, for example, be utilized to drive an output display showing the first and second windows. Various aspects may also provide method steps and apparatus for controlling aspects of the displayed windows. |
| US08994807B2 |
Microscopy system and method for creating three dimensional images using probe molecules
A system (100) and method for creating three dimensional images using probe molecules is disclosed and described. A sample is mounted on a stage (160). The sample has a plurality of probe molecules. The sample is illuminated with light, causing the probe molecules to luminesce. The probe luminescence can be split into at least four paths corresponding to at least four detection planes corresponding to object planes in the sample. The at least four detection planes are detected via a camera (155). Object planes in corresponding recorded regions of interest are recorded in the camera (155). A signal from the regions of interest is combined into a three dimensional image. |
| US08994806B2 |
Microscope apparatus chronologically storing different types of image information
A microscope apparatus organizes and stores a plurality of types of image information acquired by a plurality of image acquisition methods at different timings. The microscope apparatus includes a time counting unit for counting time, a plurality of different image acquisition units, and a storage unit for storing image information, when acquired by any one of the image acquisition units, and timing information counted by the time counting unit, by having them associated with each other. Even if the image acquisition units acquire different types of image information at different timings, the timing information can be used to call up the image information stored in the storage unit in a chronological order. |
| US08994803B2 |
Image apparatus and control method thereof configured to determine optical probe abnormality
An imaging apparatus generates a cross-sectional image in the longitudinal direction inside a body cavity (e.g., blood vessel) by using an interference signal. The apparatus includes an obtaining unit for obtaining line data, and a judgment unit for judging whether or not the optical probe unit operates in a normal state based on existence or non-existence of intensity change in at least a portion of signals within the obtained line date, based on existence or non-existence of change of position in the depth direction in which the portion of signals appear, or based on change quantity per unit time with respect to the position in the depth direction in which the portion in the depth direction of signals appear. |
| US08994801B2 |
Image processing apparatus
An image processing apparatus is provided with: a first feature value calculating section calculating a first feature value for each of pixels constituting an image obtained by picking up an image of a subject; a region dividing section dividing the image into multiple regions on the basis of the first feature values; a second feature value calculating section calculating a second feature value for each of the divided regions; a classification section performing classification with regard to which of multiple kinds of attributes each region of the multiple regions has, on the basis of the second feature value; a judgment section judging whether a region having a predetermined attribute exists or not; and a diagnostic support information calculating section correcting an attribute value of the region having the predetermined attribute to calculate diagnostic support information for supporting a diagnosis. |
| US08994800B2 |
Credential transfer management camera system
A camera detects devices, such as other cameras, smart devices, and access points, with which the camera may communicate. The camera may alternate between operating as a wireless station and a wireless access point. The camera may connect to and receive credentials from a device for another device to which it is not connected. In one embodiment, the camera is configured to operate as a wireless access point, and is configured to receive credentials from a smart device operating as a wireless station. The camera may then transfer the credentials to additional cameras, each configured to operate as wireless stations. The camera and additional cameras may connect to a smart device directly or indirectly (for instance, through an access point), and the smart device may change the camera mode of the cameras. The initial modes of the cameras may be preserved and restored by the smart device upon disconnection. |
| US08994797B2 |
Display system, display device and display assistance device
A display system comprises a display device for accomplishing 3D displays by displaying images for the left eye and images for the right eye, and a display assistance device for separating them for viewing, and the display assistance device detects the wearing status and inclination of the viewer and sends status information to the display device. The display device determines whether or not the posture of the viewer is within a normal viewing range on the basis of the status information, and if this is within the range, can recognize a 3D display even in a posture other than the horizontal direction by controlling the parallax direction of the display of images in accordance with the inclination direction. When the posture is outside the range, the display device prompts correction of the posture or weakens the effect of the 3D display. |
| US08994796B2 |
Stereo image display apparatus and stereo image display method
A stereo image display apparatus that causes a display device to display a stereo image having a parallax, wherein a stereo image of a currently displayed frame is advanced frame by frame to a stereo image of the next frame in response to a frame-by-frame advance indication, the apparatus comprising: a frame-by-frame advancing device that, once frame-by-frame advance is indicated, switches the stereo image of the current frame on the display with a parallaxless image of the current frame, thereafter advances the image frame by frame to display a parallaxless image of the next frame, and further thereafter displays a stereo image of the next frame on the display device, wherein the frame-by-frame advancing device performs the frame-by-frame advance with sliding-out/sliding-in. |
| US08994792B2 |
Method and system for creating a 3D video from a monoscopic 2D video and corresponding depth information
Image sensors and a depth sensor of a monoscopic video sensing device are utilized to capture a 2D video and corresponding depth information. Regions of interest (ROIs) for the captured 2D video are selected based on the captured corresponding depth information. The monoscopic video sensing device selectively processes the captured 2D video and the captured corresponding depth information based on the selected ROIs. A 3D video is composed from the processed 2D video for display. The captured depth information that is synchronized to the captured 2D video is stored as metadata, and may be interpolated to match video resolution of the captured 2D video. The captured 2D video and the captured corresponding depth information are enhanced through scalable video coding. With 3D video rendering, relevant image/video components of the captured 2D video are selected based on the selected ROIs to compose the 3D video together with the corresponding depth information. |
| US08994789B2 |
Digital video signal, a method for encoding of a digital video signal and a digital video signal encoder
One object of the invention is a digital video signal comprising a sequence of frames, wherein each video frame in the sequence differs with respect to the previous frame in the sequence by a number of pixels which is not higher than a predetermined pixels maximum threshold amount. Another object of the invention is a method for encoding of a digital source video signal, comprising the steps of receiving a reference frame, receiving a source frame of the source video signal, generating an encoded frame based on the differences between the source frame and the reference frame, wherein the generating of the encoded frame comprises the steps of determining a pixels maximum threshold amount, comparing the reference frame with the source frame and selecting a number of pixels from the pixels which differ between the reference frame and the source frame, the number of selected pixels being not higher than the pixels maximum threshold amount, changing the values of the selected pixels of the reference frame to the values of corresponding pixels of the source frame to provide a reference frame for the next source frame and providing an encoded frame defining pixels changed in the reference frame. |
| US08994786B2 |
Multiple view display of three-dimensional images
Systems, methods, and devices that generate and display a multiple view 3-D holographic image (“image”) of a 3-D real or synthetic scene are presented. A projection system captures visual information of the 3-D scene from various perspectives and generates model data to create a 3-D model of the scene. The model data is converted to holographic data, which is respectively portioned corresponding to the respective perspectives of the scene and used to generate and display respective portions of the image on respective display sections. The display sections can be separate display sections corresponding to the various perspectives, or the display sections can be on a single display that is divided into sections for the various perspectives and a 3-D adapter is employed to facilitate display of the image in the display area, wherein reflector components can be used to reflect the portions of the image to the display area. |
| US08994781B2 |
Controlling an electronic conference based on detection of intended versus unintended sound
A technique manages an electronic conference. The technique involves receiving a set of audio signals from a set of participants of the electronic conference, each audio signal being received from a respective participant. The technique further involves categorizing the set of audio signals received from the set of participants, each audio signal being individually categorized as currently representing (i) intentional participant sound or (ii) unintentional participant sound. The technique further involves controlling operation of the electronic conference based on the categorized set of audio signals. |
| US08994780B2 |
Video conferencing enhanced with 3-D perspective control
In one embodiment, images of a first user in a video conference are captured with one or more physical video cameras. The captured images are processed to form a three-dimensional (3-D) model of the first user. A location on a display screen is determined where an image of each of one or more second users in the video conference is shown. One or more virtual cameras are positioned in 3-D space. Each virtual camera is associated with a respective second user and positioned in 3-D space based on the location on the display screen where the image of the associated second user is shown. A view of the first user from the perspective of each of the one or more virtual cameras is rendered. The rendered view of the first user from the perspective of each virtual camera is shared with the associated second user for the respective virtual camera. |
| US08994777B2 |
Method and system for web conference recording
Systems and methods are provided for web conference recording. A system receives a request to record a web conference from a web conference participant device. The system identifies video files associated with the web conference. The video files include different types of video files, such as a webcam file, a display screen file, a document file, a presentation program file, a chat session file, an electronic whiteboard file, and a mash-up web application file. The system creates a combined recording file associated with the web conference by stitching copies of the video files together. |
| US08994769B2 |
Optical writing head and image forming apparatus
An optical writing head allows the formation of a light collective spot with a small diameter and the acquisition of a deep focal depth to go together. An optical writing head includes a light emitting element array in which a plurality of light emitting elements is arranged, and a lens system including a lens array configured to concentrate luminous flux radiated from the light emitting element to a predetermined image plane, in which the lens system is telecentric on the image side and satisfies the following conditional expression, where a wavelength at which luminous flux radiated from the light emitting element has a peak light intensity is λ0, axial chromatic aberration of a wavelength having a light intensity approximately 0.81 times the peak light intensity is Δsk, and the numerical aperture of the lens system on the image side is NA. Δ sk > λ 0 2 1 NA ( λ 0 ) 2 |
| US08994766B2 |
Printer
The disclosure discloses a printer including a controller. The controller executes a first control, a second control and a switching control. In the first control, it is achieved that a first coordinated state wherein a pulse/dot ratio when a pulse motor rotates at a first rotation speed is set to a first ratio. In the second control, it is achieved that a second coordinated state wherein the pulse/dot ratio when the pulse motor rotates at a second rotation speed is set to a second ratio that is smaller than the first ratio. In the switching control, the pulse/dot ratio is gradually decreased from the first ratio to the second ratio when the first coordinated state is switched to the second coordinated state, and is gradually increased from the second ratio to the first ratio when the second coordinated state is switched to the first coordinated state. |
| US08994764B2 |
Image display apparatus and image display method
An image display apparatus includes: a light source that outputs light; a light modulation device that has plural pixels arranged in a matrix and modulates the light from the light source; a projection system that projects the light modulated by the light modulation device onto a projection surface; a pixel image shift unit that can shift positions of images of the pixels of the light modulation device projected on the projection surface; and a control unit that controls the light modulation device and the pixel image shift unit, wherein the control unit can switch whether the pixel image shift unit temporally shifts the positions of the images of the pixels or not. |
| US08994763B2 |
Display device and driving method of the same
In a display device in which a shape of a parallax barrier is changed depending on the relative positional relation to the viewer, the occurrence of crosstalk is suppressed. Images are displayed in a part of a plurality of sub-pixels included in each pixel, and images are not displayed in the other sub-pixels. That is, a display area in the pixel is reduced. Thus, the occurrence of crosstalk can be suppressed. Further, sub-pixels have a square shape or a substantially square shape. Thus, even when sub-pixels which display images are selected depending on the relative positional relation to the viewer, the shape of the display area in the pixel does not change greatly. Therefore, even in the case where the positional relationship is changed (in the case where the arranged parallax barrier is changed), the occurrence of crosstalk can be suppressed without respect to the positional relationship. |
| US08994761B2 |
Information display control apparatus, information display control method, and storage medium storing information display control program
There is provided an information display apparatus. The information display apparatus includes a plurality of display units separately arranged in a foldable housing, a detection unit configured to detect posture angles of the plurality of display units, a gamma storage unit configured to store gamma correction values for the plurality of display units according to a relationship between the posture angles, and a display control unit configured to perform gamma correction on the plurality of display units by referring to the gamma storage unit based on the posture angles of the plurality of display units which are detected by the detection unit. |
| US08994758B2 |
Adjusting mechanism for a vehicle
An adjusting mechanism for a vehicle with an adjusting device that serves for adjusting a desired operating parameter and can assume adjusting positions between a minimum value and a maximum value, and with a display area for displaying the currently adjusted position. Each region of the display area can assume a first and at least a second display state. The two display states can be distinguished by different, respectively active light emissions that lie in the visible range. The relative surface area of a first segment of the display area that coherently assumes the first display state and the relative surface area of a second segment of the display area that coherently assumes the second display state are defined by the currently adjusted position of the adjusting mechanism. |
| US08994751B1 |
Method and system for placing an object on a user
A method, system and computer program product for placing an image of an object on an image of user is provided. First, image boundaries are detected in the image of the user and converted into a set of line segments. A pair of line segments is evaluated according to a function that combines subscores of the pair of line segments to produce a score. The subscores of the line segments are computed based on various properties such as orientation difference, extent, proximity to the center of the image, bilateral symmetry, and the number of skin-colored pixels. A pair of line segments with the highest score is chosen as the boundaries for the image of the user and is used to determine the position, orientation, and extent of the object. The image of the object is then transformed according to the determined parameters and combined with the image of the user to produce the desired result. |
| US08994748B2 |
Anchors for displaying image sprites, sub-regions and 3D images
Systems, methods and computer program products for displaying image sprites, sub-regions and three dimensional images includes (but is not limited to) receiving a composite image file containing multiple individual images and an index of the multiple individual images, parsing a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the composite image file as a function of the index of the multiple individual images, extracting a desired individual image from the composite image file as a function of the index and displaying the extracted individual image. |
| US08994746B2 |
System and method for generating a flow based on multiple types of interactions
A system and method for generating a flow based on multiply types of interactions are provided. Data defining one or more sequences of multiple interactive nodes are received for the multiple interactive nodes, where each of the multiple interactive nodes corresponds to a particular type of interaction. One of the interactive nodes is designated as the starting interactive node and other interactive nodes are designated as intermediary interactive nodes, where the starting interactive node and at least one of the intermediary interactive nodes correspond to different types of interactions. Intermediary interactive nodes are connected to the starting interactive node based on the one or more sequences, where the connection includes one edge corresponding to a direct connection to the starting interactive node or multiple edges corresponding to an indirect connection via at least one other intermediary interactive node. Visualization data for the interactive nodes is generated and provided for display. |
| US08994744B2 |
Method and system for mastering and distributing enhanced color space content
A method and system for mastering and distributing enhanced color space content for different display devices (target color space) having display capabilities beyond that of CRT color space. The content creator(s) establishes base or reference color space and enhanced color space data for each target color space. The enhanced color space data is stored as metadata and transmitted over an enhanced color channel separately from the base/reference color space. Both the base/reference data and metadata are encoded before transmission and decoded on the consumer side either by a separate decoder or a display device having an integrated decoder. In other aspects of the invention, auxiliary data relating to the target color space, such as, for example, brightness, luminance, contrast and other display settings can be transmitted over the enhanced color channel and decoded to control the target color space settings (i.e., display settings). The color adjustment metadata could be included in the auxiliary data or maintained separate from the same depending on the desired implementation. |
| US08994742B2 |
Systems and methods for seam resolution
Systems and methods are provided for resolving seams in computer graphics when a two-dimensional image is applied to a three-dimensional structure. The method can include providing a two-dimensional image in a UV space, identifying at least one sub-image on the two-dimensional image, defining a seam connectivity for the two-dimensional image in the UV space, and remapping the location of an object on the two-dimensional image when the location of the object is within at least one seam boundary of the seam map. |
| US08994741B2 |
Streaming translation in display pipe
In an embodiment, a display pipe includes one or more translation units corresponding to images that the display pipe is reading for display. Each translation unit may be configured to prefetch translations ahead of the image data fetches, which may prevent translation misses in the display pipe (at least in most cases). The translation units may maintain translations in first-in, first-out (FIFO) fashion, and the display pipe fetch hardware may inform the translation unit when a given translation or translation is no longer needed. The translation unit may invalidate the identified translations and prefetch additional translation for virtual pages that are contiguous with the most recently prefetched virtual page. |
| US08994738B1 |
Systems and method for navigating between oblique views of a map
System and method for rendering a sequence of images corresponding to a sequence of camera poses of a target area to generate an animation representative of a progression of camera poses are provided. An initial image and an associated initial depthmap of a target area captured from an initial camera pose, and a final image and an associated final depthmap of the target area captured from a final camera pose are identified. A plurality of intermediate images representing a plurality of intermediate camera poses directed at the target are produced by performing interpolation on the initial image, the initial depthmap, the final image and the final depthmap. Each intermediate image is associated with a point along the navigational path between the initial and the final camera poses. An animation of the plurality of intermediate images produces a transition of views between the initial camera pose and the final camera pose. |
| US08994735B1 |
Radio scene emulator
A system for defining a radio scene to be emulated includes a display device configured to display a graphical user interface having a grid and at least one waveform block, representing at least a portion of a waveform, included in the grid in response to selection of a type of the waveform, at least one specification of the waveform, and a time pattern of the waveform. The grid has a frequency axis and a time axis, and the at least one waveform block extends along the time axis of the grid according to the time pattern of the waveform. |
| US08994734B2 |
Package definition system
A method and system for defining a package uses a graph representation of the package to create and implement a package generation rule set. The graph representation uses links and nodes to represent the relationships between various facet, edges and functional elements of the package. |
| US08994733B2 |
Clock-wise representation of information
A system intuitively displays medical data of a patient. The system includes a display and one or more processors. The processors are programmed to receive medical data for the patient. The medical data includes one or more medical values for one or more parameters affecting the health or wellbeing of the patient. The processors are further programmed to display a clock-like face on the display and display the medical values on the display overlaid on the clock-like face. Time for a medical value is represented as a position around a center of the clock-like face, and magnitude for a medical value is represented as deviation from the center of the clock-like face. |
| US08994727B2 |
Map symbol drawing device
A symbol cache checking part for checking to see whether or not an image of a symbol of the same type as a symbol to be drawn is written in a texture. When the symbol cache checking part determines that an image of a symbol of the same type as the symbol to be drawn is written in a texture, a texture coordinate setting part sets the write position of the above-mentioned symbol in the texture to the vertices of a 3D polygon generated by a polygon generating part as texture coordinates, and a polygon drawing unit 40 draws this 3D polygon. |
| US08994721B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program for extending or expanding a viewing area of content displayed on a 2D workspace into a 3D virtual display screen
A configuration is realized which enables data not displayed on a display section to be always observed as a virtual object. A configuration is realized with which, in various kinds of display apparatus such as a PC and a portable telephone having a display section, non-displayed data that extends off the area of the display section is displayed as a virtual object at a position contiguous to the display data of the display section. This configuration allows the user to always observe and view not only data displayed on a limited display area of a PC or the like but also data that has gone off the display section, thereby enhancing data processing efficiency. |
| US08994720B2 |
Diagnosis assisting apparatus, diagnosis assisting program, and diagnosis assisting method
Providing a diagnosis assisting apparatus that allows, in a diagnostic screen of a tubular tissue, easy understanding of the positional relationship between a curved cutting surface represented by a CPR image and the tubular tissue. Extracting a tubular tissue region representing a tubular tissue from volume data obtained by imaging and setting a core line to the tubular tissue, generating a CPR image which includes the core line and a longitudinal section of the tubular tissue region, obtaining the longitudinal section from the CPR image generation means, generating a pseudo three-dimensional image that includes a mark representing the obtained longitudinal section, as well as the tubular tissue in the extracted tubular tissue region based on the volume data, and displaying the pseudo three-dimensional image. |
| US08994718B2 |
Skeletal control of three-dimensional virtual world
A virtual skeleton includes a plurality of joints and provides a machine readable representation of a human target observed with a three-dimensional depth camera. A relative position of a hand joint of the virtual skeleton is translated as a gestured control, and a three-dimensional virtual world is controlled responsive to the gestured control. |
| US08994716B2 |
Apparatus and method for providing media content
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a set top box having a controller to receive two-dimensional image content comprising a plurality of images, identify an object in a first image of the plurality of images, identify the object in a second image of the plurality of images, determine a perspective angle difference between the first and second images, generate a third image using the first and second images when the perspective angle difference satisfies a three-dimensional angle threshold, generate three-dimensional image content using the first image and the third image, and provide the three-dimensional image content to a display device operably coupled with the set top box. Other embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08994713B2 |
Smart pad operation with differing display parameters applied to different display elements
A computational device that determines, based on a sensed electronic storage device (ESD) parameter, to reduce energy usage by first display elements, but not by second display elements and apply different sets of display parameters to the first and second display elements, whereby a first level of energy/unit area used by the first display elements is less than a second level of energy/unit area used by the second display elements. |
| US08994710B2 |
Electronic document reading device
We describe power control techniques for an document reader with an electrophoretic display. In embodiments the document reader comprises a main processor to display information and at least one secondary processor to detect, say, a user input gesture; a battery to provide power to both processors; and a controllable switch coupled between said battery and said main processor and having a control line coupled to said secondary processor, to switch power from said battery to said main processor while said secondary processor is powered. In embodiments a power consumption measured in months is desired so that rather than put the main processor into a standby mode power to the main processor is switched off entirely but the system is arranged to be able to start-up quickly from this configuration. |
| US08994707B2 |
Display device and method for driving the same
Discussed are a display device and a method for controlling the same, which are capable of achieving a reduction in power consumption, through selective application of a charge share mode or a pre-charge mode in accordance with the swing width of a data voltage. The disclosed method includes the steps of determining a positive or negative polarity of input image data on the basis of reference data and outputting a pre-charge enable signal when two successive image data have the same polarity; supplying a pre-charge voltage to a corresponding output channel in response to the pre-enable signal; and converting the image data into a data voltage, supplying the converted data voltage to a corresponding data line through the corresponding output channel. |
| US08994698B2 |
Methods and apparatus for simulation of an erodible tip in a natural media drawing and/or painting simulation
A method, system, and computer-readable storage medium are disclosed for simulation of an erodible tip. A brush tool representing an erodible media is modeled as a height map. Information is collected about a user manipulation of a stylus representing a stroke made on a virtual canvas with the brush tool. A mark to be made on the virtual canvas is determined dependent on the brush tool model and the collected information. The determined mark is rendered. A change in the height map of the brush tool due to the stroke is determined dependent on the brush tool model and the collected information. One or more subsequent marks are rendered in response to manipulation of the brush tool dependent on the determined change in the height map. |
| US08994696B2 |
Acoustic touch apparatus with addressable multi-touch capability
An acoustic touch apparatus (100) that utilizes the transfer of surface acoustic waves from one surface (115), through the touch substrate (105), to another surface (110) and a grid of sensitivity zones (Z) formed on one of the surfaces (115) to enable multi-touch capabilities. |
| US08994688B2 |
Flat panel display with integral touch screen
There are disclosed display devices with integral touch screens and methods for operating display panels. A display panel may include a plurality of pixels, each pixel controlled by a corresponding one of a plurality of column electrodes and a corresponding one of a plurality of row electrodes. Each column electrode may be coupled to a respective column driver circuit and at least some of the column electrodes may be coupled to respective column sensing circuits adapted to sense capacitive coupling between the respective column electrodes and a probe adjacent to an external surface of the display panel. Each row electrode may be coupled to a respective row driver circuit and at least some of the row electrodes may be coupled to respective row sensing circuits adapted to sense capacitive coupling between the respective row electrodes and a probe adjacent to an external surface of the display panel. |
| US08994684B2 |
Method of detecting a touch image and display apparatus for performing the same
A method of detecting a touch image includes; driving a light source to detect a first touch information corresponding to a first light amount sensed by a first sensing section connected to odd-numbered gate lines, during an odd-numbered frame, and driving the light source to detect a second touch information corresponding to a second light amount sensed by a second sensing section connected to even-numbered gate lines, during an even-numbered frame, and detecting a touch image using the first touch information and the second touch information, so that influences from external light is reduced. |
| US08994683B2 |
Digital display devices having communication capabilities
A digital display device having two or more displays that are coupled at angles to each other for displaying content associated with multiple sets of sources of content is described herein. Each display has one or more display regions in which content is displayed. A first display region on one display may be merged with a second display region on the same or a different display to form a merged display region in which content is displayed. The displays may be touch-sensitive. Display regions may be merged by, for example, receiving a first touch from a user of a first touch-sensitive display region and a second touch of a second touch-sensitive display region. In some embodiments, the digital display device has the form of a cube with six displays. |
| US08994681B2 |
Decoding imprecise gestures for gesture-keyboards
In one example, a method includes outputting, by a computing device and for display, a graphical keyboard comprising a plurality of keys. The method may also include receiving, by the computing device, an indication of a gesture detected at a presence-sensitive input device. The method may also include determining, by the computing device and based on a plurality of features associated with the gesture, a degree of precision of the gesture. The method may also include modifying, by the computing device and based at least in part on the degree of precision, a probability that the gesture indicates at least one key of the plurality of keys. The method may also include outputting, by the computing device and for display, a candidate word that is based at least in part on the probability that the gesture indicates at least one key of the plurality of keys. |
| US08994672B2 |
Content transfer via skin input
The invention is directed to systems, methods and computer program products for transferring content between electronic devices via skin input. An exemplary method includes detecting, by an interface device, an input received on a user's skin, wherein the interface device is in electronic communication with at least one of the first device or the second device; in response to detecting the input, determining the type of input; and at least one of: in response to determining the type of input is a first type of input, initiating transmission of content from the first device to the second device; or in response to determining the type of input is a second type of input, initiating reception of content at the second device. |
| US08994668B2 |
Electrooptic device having input function
Disclosed herein is an electrooptic device having an input function including: an electrooptic panel; a touch panel having an input position detecting electrode in an input area aligned to an image display area of the electrooptic panel; and a wiring board connected to any one of the electrooptic panel and the touch panel, the wiring board having a touch sensor located outside the input area of the touch panel as viewed from an input surface of the touch panel. |
| US08994664B2 |
Touch screen panel and fabrication method thereof
A touch screen panel includes a transparent substrate divided into a display area and a non-display area, the non-display area being outside the display area, first sensing cells disposed in one row with a same X-coordinate in the display area, the first sensing cells having a double-layered structure including first and second sensing cell parts overlapping each other, a connection portion between adjacent first sensing cells, second sensing cells disposed in one column with a same Y-coordinate in the display area, the second sensing cells having a double-layered structure including third and fourth sensing cell parts overlapping each other, a connection pattern between adjacent second sensing cells, the connection pattern intersecting and overlapping the connection portion, and an island-shaped insulating layer between the connection portion and the connection pattern. |
| US08994661B2 |
User interface device having capacitive trackball assembly
A user interface device (100) includes a capacitive trackball assembly (108) having a conductive trackball (110) and one or more conductive plates (210, 310, 410, 510, 610) proximate to a surface of the conductive trackball (110), thereby enabling the conductive trackball assembly (108) to operate as a capacitive touch sensor. Each user contact point with the conductive trackball (110) modifies the effective capacitance of the conductive trackball assembly (108). The user interface device (100) senses the effective capacitance of the conductive trackball assembly (108) to discern the number of user contact points on the conductive trackball (110) and uses this information, along with other parameters, such as a concurrent sensed rotation vector of the conductive trackball (110), to identify a user command intended by the user. The identified user command may be transmitted to a controlled system (740) to effectuate or modify an operation at the controlled system (740). |
| US08994656B2 |
Method of controlling a control point position on a command area and method for control of a device
The invention describes a method of controlling a position (x′, y′) of a control point (c) on a command area (ACM). This method comprises the steps of: aiming a pointing device (1) comprising a camera (2) in the direction of the command area (ACM); generating an image (I) of a target area (AI) aimed at by the pointing device; processing the target area image (I) to determine a target point (T) at which the pointing device (1) is aimed; determining position (x′, y′) of the control point (C) according to the position (x, y) of the target point (T) within a currently defined control area (ACT), which control area (Acr) includes at least partially the command area (ACM). Moreover the invention describes an adequate system and a pointing device (1) for controlling a control point position (P) on a command area (ACM). |
| US08994653B2 |
Handheld device with notification message viewing
Displaying information related to a message on a display screen of a handheld electronic device. In response to a movement of the handheld electronic device from an initial position to a first orientation, displaying on the display screen a first notice related to the message. |
| US08994651B2 |
Mobile terminal and control method thereof
A mobile terminal including a wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly communicate with at least one other terminal; a flexible display unit configured to be bent in response to an applied physical force and to display information; a detection unit configured to detect a bending of the flexible display unit and a time for which the bending is maintained; and a control unit configured to execute different functions of the mobile terminal according to the time for which the bending is maintained. |
| US08994650B2 |
Processing image input to communicate a command to a remote display device
A method is disclosed for operating a mobile device. The method is performed by one or more processors of the mobile device. The one or more processors process image input on the mobile device in order to detect one or more graphic objects displayed on a remote display device and to detect one or more fingers of a user in relation to the one or more graphic objects. From processing the image input, a command for the remote display device is determined based on a position or movement of the one or more fingers in relation to the one or more graphic objects. The command is communicated to the remote display device. |
| US08994644B2 |
Viewing images with tilt control on a hand-held device
A user interface suitable for use in cellular phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs), PC Tablets, as well as laptops, PCs, office equipment, medical equipment, or any other hand-held electronic device, that allows control of the image on the device display by tilting the device to either change the view in perspective, change the magnification, or both, concurrently, by moving the device. Thus, the tilt of the device controls the angle of view of the image, and moving the device perpendicular to the screen controls the magnification. |
| US08994640B2 |
Low motion blur liquid crystal display
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for reducing motion blur in a liquid crystal display (LCD) by pulsing each frame with a relatively short pulse of backlight illumination while driving pixels within the LCD with compensated intensity values to account for LCD settling time and vertical position. An LCD drive compensation unit implements the disclosed technique to generate an intensity value for each pixel that is scanned into the LCD. The technique advantageously reduces motion blur while preserving uniform vertical display accuracy. |
| US08994637B2 |
Image display systems, shift registers and methods for controlling shift register
An image display system includes a gate driving circuit and a data driving circuit. The gate driving circuit generates gate driving signals to drive pixels in a pixel array. The data driving circuit generates data driving signals to provide data to the pixels. At least one of the gate and data driving circuits includes a shift register. The shift register includes flip-flops coupled in serial. Each flip-flop generates output signals in response to an input signal, and is reset in response to a reset signal. One of the flip-flops receives a first output signal of a last stage flip-flop as the reset signal thereof, and at least one flip-flop following the flip-flop receiving the first output signal of the last stage flip-flop receives a second output signal of the flip-flop receiving the first output signal of the last stage flip-flop as the reset signal thereof. |
| US08994635B2 |
Display device
The invention provides an image display device capable of reducing the transmission delay of a scanning signal. A plurality of scanning signal lines are wired in one pixel circuit row. Pixel circuits of the pixel circuit row are connected to any of the plurality of scanning signal lines. |
| US08994634B2 |
Display device
Disclosed is a display device. The display device includes first and second substrates, a plurality of gate lines and data lines, a connection line, a signal line, and a first bridge. The first and second substrates face each other. The gate lines and data lines are formed on the first substrate to define a plurality of pixels by an intersection therebetween. The connection line is formed on the first substrate to be electrically connected to the gate line. The signal line is formed on the second substrate for supplying a signal to the gate line. The first bridge is formed on the second substrate for electrically connecting the signal line and the connection line. |
| US08994630B2 |
Display, apparatus and method for driving display
An apparatus for driving a display panel includes a first memory which stores a frame image data, a second memory which stores overshooting information. The apparatus receives an image signal from an external system via a CPU interface process. The second memory stores a difference data between the frame image data and an overshooting data. The overshoot is then calculated from the difference data and the frame image data. The apparatus also includes a two-line memory which stores an image signal of an n-th frame in a line unit and an image signal of an n−1-th frame in another line. The two-line memory compares the consecutive two frame data, so that the apparatus extracts overshooting information from a look up table. |
| US08994629B2 |
Gate shift register and display device comprising the same
According to an embodiment, a gate shift register includes a plurality of stages cascade-connected to each other. An nth one of the stages includes: a pull-up transistor that outputs any one of gate shift clocks as an nth scan pulse of a gate high voltage in accordance with the potential of a Q node; a pull-down transistor that is connected to the pull-up transistor through an output node, and outputs a low-potential voltage as an nth scan pulse of a gate low voltage in accordance with the potential of a QB node; and a switching circuit that charges and discharges the Q node and the QB node, respectively, or vice versa in response to a set signal and a reset signal, wherein an adaptively adjusted variable high-potential voltage is applied to the QB node to correspond to a shift in the threshold voltage of the pull-down transistor. |
| US08994628B2 |
Display apparatus
A display apparatus includes a first sub-pixel and a second sub-pixel. The first sub-pixel and the second sub-pixel are electrically and respectively connected to a first gate line and a second gate line adjacent to each other and are electrically connected to a data line. The display apparatus further includes a connection line disposed between sub-pixel electrodes of the first and second sub-pixels. The connection line has two ends connected to the data line and serves as an additional or alternative path for transmitting a data signal that is transmitted by the data line. |
| US08994622B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of driving the semiconductor device
Display irregularities in light emitting devices, which develop due to dispersions per pixel in the threshold value of TFTs for supplying electric current to light emitting elements, are obstacles to increasing the image quality of the light emitting devices. An electric potential in which the threshold voltage of a TFT (105) is either added to or subtracted from the electric potential of a reset signal line (110) is stored in capacitor means (108). A voltage, in which the corresponding threshold voltage is added to an image signal, is applied to a gate electrode of a TFT (106). TFTs within a pixel are disposed adjacently, and dispersion in the characteristics of the TFTs does not easily develop. The threshold value of the TFT (105) is thus cancelled, even if the threshold values of the TFTs (106) differ per pixel, and a predetermined drain current can be supplied to an EL element (109). |
| US08994615B2 |
Apparatus and methods for driving solid-state illumination sources
A method for driving a solid-state illumination source to emit light having a brightness determined by a control value involves selecting a control mode based at least in part on the control value. In one embodiment a constant current is supplied to the solid-state illumination source for control values in a low range, a frequency-modulated (FM) current is supplied to the solid-state illumination source for control values in a mid range and a pulse-with modulation (PWM) current is supplied to the solid-state illumination source for control values in an upper range. |
| US08994606B2 |
Antenna and radio communication device
Provided is an antenna including a planar conductor to be grounded, and a three-dimensional linear conductor having at least a linear conductor, another linear conductor, and still another linear conductor that are integrally formed. The linear conductor is provided perpendicularly to the major surface of the planar conductor. The another linear conductor is parallel to the major surface. Still another linear conductor is parallel to the major surface, and is provided perpendicularly to the another linear conductor. |
| US08994599B2 |
RFID system and method
An RFID system includes an RFID antenna assembly configured to be positioned on a product module assembly of a processing system. The product module assembly is configured to releasably engage at least one product container. A first RFID tag assembly configured to be positioned on the at least one product container. The at least one product container is configured to position the first RFID tag assembly within a detection zone of the RFID antenna assembly whenever the product module assembly releasably engages the at least one product container. |
| US08994595B2 |
Multi-frequency antenna
An antenna for receiving and transmitting a signal is provided. The antenna includes a connection portion receiving and transmitting the signal, a first radiation portion and a second radiation portion. The connection portion includes a first end, a second end and a third end, wherein the first end is configured at a first distance from a ground. The first radiation portion is connected to the second end, and includes at least one folding area forming thereon at least one folding segment, wherein the folding segment and the connection portion have therebetween a shortest distance being a second distance. The second radiation portion is connected to the third end. |
| US08994591B2 |
Locating a mobile station and applications therefor
A location system and applications therefor is disclosed for wireless telecommunication infrastructures. The system is an end-to-end solution having one or more location systems for outputting requested locations of hand sets or mobile stations (MS) based on, e.g., CDMA, GSM, GPRS, TDMA or WIFI communication standards, for processing both local mobile station location requests and more global mobile station location requests via, e.g., Internet communication between a distributed network of location systems. The following applications may be enabled by the location system: 911 emergency calls, tracking, navigation, people and animal location including applications for confinement to and exclusion from certain areas, friend finder applications, and applications for allocating user desired resources based on the user's location. |
| US08994590B2 |
Wi-Fi position fix
A method of forming an estimate of the two-dimensional position of a radio receiver relative to a plurality of radio transmitters each having an associated position estimate and a position uncertainty expressible as an uncertainty ellipse having major and minor axes, the method comprising using the uncertainty vectors describing the uncertainty ellipses of the radio transmitters in a predetermined coordinate system to define a new compound coordinate basis, and forming an estimate of the two-dimensional position of the radio receiver in the compound coordinate basis by projecting the major and minor axes of each uncertainty ellipse onto the new compound coordinate basis and calculating the position of the radio receiver by means of a weighted centroid that uses weighting values calculated in the new compound coordinate basis and position estimates of the plurality of the radio transmitters expressed in the compound coordinate basis. |
| US08994588B2 |
Method of designing weight vectors for a dual beam antenna with orthogonal polarizations
The present invention relates to a method of generating two beams, having orthogonal polarizations, covering a selected area using an antenna (20) comprising multiple dual-polarized array elements (11). Each dual-polarized array element having a first phase center (18) associated with a first polarization and a second phase center (18) associated with a second polarization. The method comprises: designing a first weight matrix having a first non-zero weight vector for the first polarization and a second non-zero weight vector for the second polarization, calculating a second weight matrix based on the weight vectors of the first weight matrix, and applying the first and second weight matrix to the dual-polarized array elements to generate a second beam covering the selected area. |
| US08994587B2 |
Compressed sensing for navigation data
Methods, apparatuses, and systems are provided for processing positioning signals to obtain navigation information by applying compressed sensing. |
| US08994584B2 |
Autofocus-based compensation (ABC) system and method for a hovering ground moving target indication (GMTI) sensor
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to motion compensation, and in particular to an autofocus-based compensation (ABC) systems and methods for a ground moving target indication platform. According to one embodiment, a method for autofocus based compensation of range data acquired from an object in motion is provided. The method may include: receiving range data; steering at least one receive beam of the range data in a desired direction; transforming the range data into the range domain; determining the width of a main clutter lobe; excluding data that is not part of the main lobe clutter response; transforming the main-lobe clutter response into the range domain; calculating a phase correction term; and applying the phase correction to the original range data. |
| US08994582B2 |
Calculation device for radar apparatus, radar apparatus and calculation method
There is a calculation device for a radar apparatus which is configured to specify a direction of a target based on a reception signal of an antenna. A calculation unit is configured to calculate a relative displacement magnitude in a lateral direction of the target relative to a traveling direction of a moving object having the antenna mounted thereon, from data of the target position-measured by the reception signal while the moving object is moving, and evaluate a relative inclination between a reference axis of a scanning direction of the radar apparatus and a reference axis of the traveling direction of the moving object, based on the displacement magnitude. |
| US08994581B1 |
Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation using multiple offset receive channels
In an example method, a vehicle is configured with a radar system used to aid in vehicle guidance. The method could include an array of antennas plurality of antennas configured to receive a radar signal. The array of antennas has a respective spacing between the given antenna and an adjacent antenna; however, the plurality of spacings includes at least two different spacings. A portion of the method may be performed by a processor configured to calculate a detection channel, based on a difference between differential phases associated with two antenna pairs in the array. The processor may also calculate an unambiguous angle based on the detection channel and the plurality of antenna spacings. Additionally, the processor may control the radar unit based on the calculated unambiguous angle. |
| US08994577B1 |
Synthetic aperture radar images with composite azimuth resolution
A synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image is produced by using all phase histories of a set of phase histories to produce a first pixel array having a first azimuth resolution, and using less than all phase histories of the set to produce a second pixel array having a second azimuth resolution that is coarser than the first azimuth resolution. The first and second pixel arrays are combined to produce a third pixel array defining a desired SAR image that shows distinct shadows of moving objects while preserving detail in stationary background clutter. |
| US08994569B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit device
The semiconductor integrated circuit device includes a T-type switch circuit TS[k] that is between an input port A[k] and an input terminal Ain of an analog/digital conversion circuit and that includes first, second, and third PMOS transistors MP1, MP2, and MPc, and first, second, and third NMOS transistors MN1, MN2, and MNc; and a fourth PMOS transistor MPu for pre-charging the input terminal Ain to a power supply voltage VCCA. In detecting the presence or absence of a disconnection from the input port A[k] to a signal input terminal Vint[k], first, the input terminal Ain is pre-charged to the power supply voltage VCCA via the fourth PMOS transistor MPu and also the second NMOS transistor MN2 and the second PMOS transistor MP2 are turned on, and the first NMOS transistor MN1, the first PMOS transistor MP1, the third PMOS transistor MPc, and third the NMOS transistor MNc are turned off. |
| US08994567B2 |
Radio frequency circuit
A digital-to-analog conversion circuit operates by selectively discharging members of a plurality of capacitors. Charging of the capacitors occurs during a reset period while digital-to-analog conversion occurs as the capacitors are discharged. Those capacitors that are discharged are selected from the plurality of capacitors based on a digital input. The analog output includes the charge discharged from the capacitors. The capacitors are optionally divided into separate capacitor banks. |
| US08994564B2 |
Analog to digital converter including a pre-charge circuit
An analog to digital converter comprising at least one sampling capacitor connected to a sample node, and a pre-charge circuit arranged to cause the voltage on the sample node to substantially match the input voltage prior to the analog to digital converter entering an acquire mode in which the sample node is connected to the input node by a sample switch. |
| US08994560B2 |
Managing parking space availability
A method, system or computer usable program product for a data processing system to anticipate parking space availability including receiving from the first user a request for a parking space for a first vehicle, obtaining location tracking data of a set of users, each of the set of users associated with one of a set of vehicles, each vehicle located at one of a set of parking spaces, predicting a set of departure times based on the location tracking data for a subset of the set of users away from and associated with vehicles located in parking spaces, determining a subset of departure times that are within an acceptable period of time, and sending to the first user a subset of parking spaces with vehicles associated with users having the subset of departure times. |
| US08994558B2 |
Automotive augmented reality head-up display apparatus and method
Disclosed herein is an automotive augmented reality HUD apparatus and method, which can adaptively change a location and a direction based on the visual field of a driver, thus reducing errors in location matching between virtual object information and real-world information. The automotive augmented reality HUD apparatus includes a viewing angle calculation unit for estimating a line-of-sight direction of a driver using a face direction, detected based on face images of the driver, and center positions of pupils and calculating a viewing angle. A matching unit matches a location of real-world information located in front of a driver's seat with a location of corresponding virtual object information located in front of the driver's seat, based on the line-of-sight direction and the viewing angle. A display unit displays results of the matching by the matching unit, wherein the display unit enables rotation thereof and location change thereof. |
| US08994553B2 |
Physiological sensor system with automatic authentication and validation by means of a radio frequency identification protocol with an integrated RFID interrogator system
This invention relates to a physiological sensor which acquires pre-programmed data from an electrode or an electrode array using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. The source of the sensor may be authenticated by means of a wireless interface between an RFID transponder affixed to the electrode array, and an RFID interrogator embedded in the patient interface cable. The criteria for use are then verified to ensure that they are met by the electrode array before beginning signal acquisition. If the criteria are not met, a message is provided to the user via the monitor. |
| US08994550B2 |
Transmitter and receiver synchronization for wireless telemetry systems
A method and system are presented for transmitting data along tubing in a borehole, comprising generating an acoustic signal using a transmitter at a first location on the tubing, and receiving the acoustic signal at a receiver at a second location on the tubing. The method and system further comprise: (i) generating the acoustic signal at the transmitter at a first frequency and bit rate; (ii) receiving the acoustic signal at the first frequency at the receiver and attempting to synchronize the receiver at the first frequency, and (iiia) if the synchronization is successful, continuing to transmit the acoustic signal so as to pass the data from the transmitter to the receiver; or (iiib) if the synchronization is unsuccessful, adjusting the frequency and/or bit rate of the signal and repeating steps (i)-(iii) on the basis of the adjusted signal. |
| US08994549B2 |
System and method of facilitating oilfield operations utilizing auditory information
The invention provides a system and method for facilitating oilfield operations utilizing auditory data. In one embodiment, the present invention generates one or more auditory mapping structures whereby oilfield data may be mapped to sounds. The present invention provides at least one computer generated selection tool through which the user may select one or more portions of displayed oilfield data for auditory enhancement. Once the user has indicated an area of interest using the selection tool, the present invention may identify the oilfield data displayed within the outlined area of interest, identify auditory data associated with the displayed oilfield data utilizing one or more auditory mapping structures, and emit at least a portion of the identified auditory data to enhance the user's understanding of the displayed oilfield data. |
| US08994548B2 |
Automobile location detector
A system includes a receiver configured to receive a signal representing a sequence of user inputs to a portable electronic device and an audible device configured to generate a sound based at least in part on the sequence of user inputs. A duration and volume of the sound is based at least in part on the sequence of user inputs received within a predetermined time interval. A method includes receiving the signal provided to the portable electronic device within a predetermined time interval and generating the sound based at least in part on the sequence of user inputs. |
| US08994547B2 |
Systems for automatically tracking patching connections to network devices using a separate control channel and related patching equipment and methods
Methods of automatically tracking a patching connection between a first connector port of a patch panel and a second connector port of a network device are provided in which a sensor is used to detect that a first end of a patch cord has been inserted into the second connector port. The patch cord has at least one data communications channel and a separate control channel. A first conductor of the control channel of the patch cord is biased to power an integrated circuit chip on the network device. In response to the detection by the sensor, a first signal is transmitted over the separate control channel of the patch cord to the network device. A second signal is received over the control channel of the patch cord in response to the first signal. The second signal includes a unique identifier that is associated with the second connector port. |
| US08994546B2 |
Remote monitoring of material storage containers
Arrangement and method for monitoring a material storage container which includes a housing defining an interior receivable of removable material. An interior sensor system is arranged on the housing to obtain information about any material in the interior of the housing different than the location of the container. A location determining system is arranged on the housing to monitor the location of the container, and a communication system is coupled to the interior sensor system and the location determining system and transmits information about the material in the housing and the location of the container to one or more remote facilities. The communication system may be arranged on the housing itself, which is especially applicable when the housing is movable, for example, such as the housing of a Frac tank. The location and condition of the material in the container can thus be known at all times. |
| US08994544B2 |
System including an indicator responsive to an electret for a power bus
An indicator system for an alternating current power bus includes an electret operatively associated with the alternating current power bus. The electret includes an output having an alternating current voltage when the alternating current power bus is energized. A rectifier includes an input electrically interconnected with the output of the electret and an output having a direct current voltage responsive to the alternating current voltage of the output of the electret. An indicator includes an input electrically interconnected with the output of the rectifier and an indication output responsive to the direct current voltage of the output of the rectifier. |
| US08994543B2 |
Diagnosis and maintenance device for a switchgear assembly and corresponding switchgear assembly
A diagnosis and maintenance device is provided for a switchgear assembly, for example, a low-voltage switchgear assembly. The diagnosis and maintenance device includes a data processing device and at least one first, internal interface device, which is connected to at least one connected and communication-capable apparatus in the switchgear assembly in a communicating manner and polls and/or processes the diagnosis and maintenance information and/or status information of the connected and communication-capable apparatus and provides said information in an accessible manner as usable and/or human-readable information and/or outputs and/or displays said information as usable and/or human-readable information. A switchgear assembly having such a device is also provided. |
| US08994542B2 |
Biological signal processor
A biological signal processor includes a sensor unit 2 that is usable with a mattress, measures biological displacement of a subject on the mattress, and outputs a measurement signal indicative of a measurement result, a signal processing unit 7 that amplifies the measurement signal with a plurality of different gains and outputs respective output signals, an AD converting unit 8 that performs AD conversion on the respective output signals to obtain level values and outputs the respective level values, and a determining unit 90 that determines that the sensor unit 2 is in an abnormal condition in case where a variation measure indicative of variation degree in level value corresponding to an output signal amplified with a minimum gain among the respective level values is equal to or less than a predetermined value. |
| US08994540B2 |
Cover plate for a hazard detector having improved air flow and other characteristics
According to one embodiment, a hazard detector may include a housing having a back plate and a front casing coupled therewith to define an interior space within which various components are contained. The components may include an alarm device and a hazard sensor that is configured to detect a potentially hazardous condition to trigger the alarm device. A cover plate may be coupled with the housing and may face an occupant of a room in which the hazard detector is positioned. The cover plate may include a relatively large population of relatively small openings that are positioned, configured, and dimensioned so that internal components are substantially hidden from view of the occupant while air is allowed to substantially freely flow through the cover plate. A collective area of the openings may be at least 30% of the total area of the cover plate. |
| US08994539B2 |
Alarm and diagnostics system and method for a distributed-architecture heating, ventilation and air conditioning network
The disclosure includes an HVAC data processing and communication network, and a method of manufacturing the same. In one embodiment the HVAC data processing and communication network includes a system device and a user interface. The system device is configured to store alarm data in local memory in response to an alarm event. The user interface is configured to send an alarm request message to the system device, and to receive an alarm reporting message including alarm data from the system device via a data bus. |
| US08994536B2 |
Wireless physiology monitor
The present invention provides a new non-invasive technique for organ, e.g., heart and lung, monitoring. In at least one embodiment of the invention, a subject is radiated with a non-harmful and relatively low power electromagnetic source diagnostic signal normally associated with a communications protocol such as, but not limited to a version of the IEEE 802.11(x) family of protocols in the 2.4, 3.6, or 5 GHz spectrum bands. After passing through the patient, a return signal is acquired from the patient and compared to the original source signal. The differences between the source and modified signals are then analyzed to monitor the heart, e.g., measure heart rate and detect defects within the heart, and the lung. For example, using Doppler Effect principles, heart rate and motion can be measured from the differences in frequency, phase, and/or wavelength between the source signal and the modified signal reflected back from the heart moving within the patient. |
| US08994534B2 |
Documents management using remote document location and retrieval
A documents management system with remote location and retrieval of documents contained in file folders positioned in file drawers in a collection of file cabinets. Each document has an RFID tag containing a document identifier and the contents of the document stored in a read-only memory. Each file folder has a circuit containing a unique identifier for that folder. Each file cabinet has a control unit which searches for a specific file folder in response to receipt of a file folder request from a source. If the folder is found, each cabinet has an R.F. reader which searches for a specific document in response to receipt of a document request from the source. If the document is found, the R.F. reader extracts the document contents and transmits them to the source. |
| US08994533B2 |
Conditional RFID
A RFID tag includes an RF transceiver; logic to operate the RF transceiver to respond to a received signal with a unique radio frequency id; logic to compare information in the received signal with conditional response criteria; and logic to determine if data has been received and written into a writable memory area by the RFID tag, and to respond to the received signal only if the data has been received and stored in the writable memory area and matches the conditional response criteria. |
| US08994530B2 |
Systems and methods to activate a security protocol using an object with embedded safety technology
The present invention provides means for initiating a distress signal by knocking over an object, such as a table, decorative piece, furniture, etc., that includes a built-in or embedded safety device. When the safety device senses substantial movement (i.e., toppling) of the object, the safety device transmits a distress signal to third-party responders, and also can initiate various events in the environment surrounding the object to deter, delay, or disrupt a perpetrator. |
| US08994529B2 |
Mosquito misting system and method for using same
Embodiments described herein comprise an apparatus and method for controlling and monitoring a mosquito misting system. The apparatus includes a chemical reservoir, a delivery system, a spray system, one or more sensors, a communication network and a misting management unit. The sensors may detect normal and abnormal operations of the misting system and send this data to the misting management unit. The misting management unit may then analyze the data and determine the problem. If the problem can be fixed without personnel, the misting management unit may simply adjust the system and fix the problem. If the problem requires personnel, the system may automatically schedule the service call based on a number of criteria. |
| US08994525B2 |
Method for testing notification appliances in alarm systems
A method for testing notification appliances in an alarm system and creating a record of such testing including the steps of placing an alarm system in a test mode, actuating an input device of a notification appliance in the alarm system a first time, whereby a notification feature of the notification appliance is activated for a test period, and automatically entering a waiting period after expiration of the test period. The method may further include actuating the input device of the notification appliance a second time during the waiting period, whereby a pass signal is transmitted from the notification appliance, and creating a record of the pass signal. The method may further include transmitting a fail signal from the notification appliance after expiration of the waiting period if the input device of the notification appliance was not actuated during the waiting period and creating a record of the fail signal. |
| US08994524B2 |
Pulsed indication unit for vehicle
An indication unit for vehicles is suggested, which comprises at least one LED and at least one electrical circuit in a housing. The indication unit is connected to a first control, which is arranged in the vehicle, and connected to an LED driver circuit. A second control circuit, which is arranged in or on the housing of the indication unit, operates the LED with pulse-width modulated signals. |
| US08994520B2 |
Visual driver information and warning system for a driver of a motor vehicle
The invention describes a visual driver information and warning system for a driver of a motor vehicle, which driver information and warning system comprises an information display device, at least one data detection means for information relating to the surrounding area and at least one data interchange device for information relating to the surrounding area, wherein a two-dimensional projection of at least one three-dimensional model of an actually existing, stationary or moving object which cannot be seen by the driver is displayed to the driver. |
| US08994518B2 |
Haptic feedback generation based on resonant frequency
A system that generates a haptic effect generates a drive cycle signal that includes a drive period and a monitoring period. The drive period includes a plurality of drive pulses that are based on the haptic effect. The system applies the drive pulses to a resonant actuator during the drive period and receives a signal from the resonant actuator that corresponds to the position of a mass in the actuator during the monitoring period. |
| US08994517B2 |
Detection using transmission notification
A remote controller is arranged for selecting a light source among a plurality of light sources. The remote controller has an omnidirectional transmitter and is arranged to instruct, by means of the omnidirectional transmitter, the light sources to transmit a directional signal comprising a code, which is unique for each light source. Further, the remote controller has a directional signal receiver, and is arranged to receive the directional signals from the light sources, and signal comparison circuitry connected with the directional signal receiver. The remote controller is arranged to select one of the light sources on basis of the received directional signals. Furthermore, the remote controller comprises a transmission indicator, which is arranged to generate an indication signal, indicative of a successful omnidirectional transmission, and it is arranged to initiate the selection of one of the light sources by means of the indication signal. |
| US08994516B2 |
Control device, control method, and program
A control device may include a control unit to control transmission of a predetermined control command to a controlled device, when an operation surface is put face down is detected from a detection result of at least one sensor indicating the operation surface is put face down. |
| US08994515B2 |
System for programming and lighting electronic detonators and associated method
A system for programming and lighting electronic detonators (1) each having an identifier (IDdet) associated therewith, includes: a programming unit (20) arranged to determine the identifiers of the detonators (1) and to associate the detonators individually, in memory, with a lighting time delay (Tdet) in order to form a blasting pattern (PT); a blasting unit (10) arranged to recover the blasting pattern (PT) from the memory (280) of the programming unit (20), and to control a blasting sequence of the detonators according to the recovered blasting pattern; and the programming unit (20) includes: a passive RFID tag (28) provided with a chip (280) acting as a memory for storing the blasting pattern (PT), and a radiofrequency reader (27) arranged such as to read/write passive tags. A corresponding method is also described. |
| US08994513B2 |
Adaptive multi-sensor handheld computing device
A handheld computing system for adaptive multi-sensor, a manipulator grip and its method is provided. The system includes plurality of sensor systems for sensing characteristics of a physical object as well as a distance analyzer for dynamically determining the activation of at least one of the sensor systems based on a distance to the object and pre-determined criteria. Characteristics include an identifier and one or more attributes for contributing to identification of the object. Additions to the system include a display for displaying the object's image and having an analysis field and a zoom for placing a specific captured characteristic of the object in the analysis field. Additions to the handheld computing system further include a handheld ergonomic data input device for operating a handheld computing device. |
| US08994512B2 |
RFID system
An antenna is disposed near a route of mobile object. A fixed tag is disposed at a location where a radio wave can be received from the antenna. When receiving a read command from the antenna, a mobile tag attached to the mobile object and the fixed tag send back a response signal at prescribed timing. A signal received from the fixed tag by the antenna is substantially constant. The signal from the fixed tag cannot be read while buried in a signal transmitted from the mobile tag to the antenna while the mobile tag is positioned at a location where communication with the antenna is expected. Conversely, when the mobile tag is at least a prescribed distance away from the antenna, the signal from the mobile tag cannot be read while buried in the signal from the fixed tag. |
| US08994507B2 |
Non-contact data carriers including an anti-collision scheme
Data carriers for inventorying by means of a communication station, whereby the communication station and each data carrier are brought into communicative connection, and each data carrier brought into communicative connection with the communication station is configured to generate a response signal that renders possible an inventorying of the data carrier and is capable of delivering a generated response signal with the use of a transmission start moment that can be selected from a plurality of transmission start moments, each data carrier tests whether another data carrier is already giving its response signal. Each data carrier is configured to discontinue the generation or delivery of its response signal if another data carrier is already providing its response signal. |
| US08994500B2 |
Event management system
Systems and methods for event management are described. In one embodiment of the present subject matter, an audio beacon indicative of a location code associated with a location is received from a user device by an event management system. The event management system may then identify the location and an event associated with the location, based on a current time and an event schedule. Event content related to the identified event may then be provided to the user device in real time. In another embodiment, visual tag data pertaining to color coded tags embedded in one or more objects in the location of the event may be received and information content related to the object may be provided to the user device, based on the event schedule. |
| US08994497B2 |
Cabinet lock key with audio indicators
An electronic key for a merchandise security device is provided. The electronic key may include electronic circuitry for providing electrical power to a lock mechanism for locking and unlocking the lock mechanism. The electronic key may also include an audio component configured to indicate a status of the lock mechanism. |
| US08994495B2 |
Virtual vehicle entry keypad and method of use thereof
Keypad indicia are integral with a window of a vehicle. The keypad indicia are formed using a ultra-violet (UV) fluorescent dye that is nearly invisible to a human eye until exposed to UV light. A UV light emitting device of the vehicle is configured for outputting UV light. The light emitting device is mounted for enabling the keypad indicia to be exposed to the outputted UV light thereby causing the keypad indicia to become readily visible by the human eye. An imaging device of the vehicle captures user interaction with the keypad indicia while the keypad indicia is exposed to the outputted UV light. The keypad interaction processor determines if a sequence of body part movements with respect to the keypad indicia that is captured by the imaging device during exposure of the keypad indicia to the outputted light corresponds to an access code of the vehicle. |
| US08994494B2 |
Vehicle security system
A vehicle is disclosed which includes a controller having at least one of a vehicle security module and a playback module. The vehicle security module may operate in a secure once mode of operation or in a secure all mode of operation. The playback module records ride information associated with the vehicle. The ride information may be provided to an external device. |
| US08994493B2 |
Control network system
A control network system may control a control target by using control data. The control network system may include a wireless field device that transmits the control data through a wireless communication, a relay apparatus that relays the control data from the wireless field device, the relay apparatus including a storage unit that stores identification data of the wireless field device, the storage unit storing a flag associated with the identification data, the flag showing a progress state of commissioning of the wireless field device, and a host system that receives the control data from the wireless field device through the relay apparatus, the host system including a control unit that discontinues operation of controlling the control target when the flag is in a nonsteady state. |
| US08994491B2 |
Chip resistor and method of manufacturing the same
There are provided a chip resistor and a method of manufacturing the same. The chip resistor includes a ceramic substrate; an adhesion portion formed on a surface of the ceramic substrate; and a resistor formed on the adhesion portion, wherein the adhesion portion includes at least one of copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and copper-nickel (Cu—Ni). |
| US08994489B2 |
Fuses, and methods of forming and using fuses
Some embodiments include a fuse having a tungsten-containing structure directly contacting an electrically conductive structure. The electrically conductive structure may be a titanium-containing structure. An interface between the tungsten-containing structure and the electrically conductive structure is configured to rupture when current through the interface exceeds a predetermined level. Some embodiments include a method of forming and using a fuse. The fuse is formed to have a tungsten-containing structure directly contacting an electrically conductive structure. An interface between the tungsten-containing structure and the electrically conductive structure is configured to rupture when current through the interface exceeds a predetermined level. Current exceeding the predetermined level is passed through the interface to rupture the interface. |
| US08994488B2 |
Transformer power splitter having primary winding conductors magnetically coupled to secondary winding conductors and configured in topology including series connection and parallel connection
A transformer power splitter has a plurality of output ports and an input port. The transformer power splitter includes a plurality of primary winding conductors and a plurality of secondary winding conductors. The secondary winding conductors are electrically connected to the output ports respectively. Each of the secondary winding conductors is electrically connected between a positive terminal and a negative terminal of a corresponding output port. The primary winding conductors are magnetically coupled to the secondary winding conductors respectively. The primary winding conductors are configured in a topology including series and parallel connections between a positive terminal and a negative terminal of the input port. |
| US08994486B2 |
Electromagnetic coil assemblies including disparate wire splice connectors, disparate wire splice connectors, and associated methods
Embodiments of a method are provided for joining a secondary wire to a magnet wire, such as a fine gauge aluminum or silver wire. Further provided are embodiments of a disparate wire splice connector and embodiments of an electromagnetic coil assembly including such a splice connector. In one embodiment, the electromagnetic coil assembly includes disparate wire splice connector having a first blind bore and a second blind bore. A coiled magnet wire having a segment inserted into the first blind bore is soldered to the disparate wire splice connector. A secondary wire having a segment inserted into the second blind bore is also soldered to the disparate wire splice connector such that the secondary wire is electrically coupled to the coiled magnet wire through the disparate wire splice connector. |
| US08994485B2 |
Magnetic-anisotropic plastically deformed body, method for producing the same, and electromagnetic apparatus using the same
A material containing a soft magnetic substance is subjected to a plastic deformation such as a roll processing to obtain a rod-shaped body. Then, the rod-shaped body or a shaped body obtained by processing the rod-shaped body into a shape other than a flat plate shape is subjected to a heat treatment in the presence of a magnetic field. The rod-shaped body or the shaped body is made magnetic-anisotropic by the heat treatment thereby to obtain a magnetic-anisotropic plastically deformed body. |
| US08994483B2 |
Electromagnetic actuator comprising permanent magnets and mechanical load interrupter actuated by such an actuator
The invention relates to a novel permanent magnet electromagnetic actuator with triggering speed and drive torque improved relative to those of the prior art. The main target application is actuating an electromechanical switch-disconnector specifically for performing the operations to disconnect a mechatronic circuit-breaker for breaking high-voltage direct currents. |
| US08994482B2 |
Electromagnetic contactor
An electromagnetic contactor has an arc extinguishing chamber housing a contact mechanism having a pair of fixed contacts and a movable contact that contacts with the pair of fixed contacts. The arc extinguishing chamber has a plate-shaped fixed contact support insulating substrate including through holes to fix at least the pair of fixed contacts and formed with a metal foil on an outer peripheral circumferential edge of one surface by a metalizing process. The pair of fixed contacts and a metal cylindrical body are brazed and joined to the metal foils of the fixed contact support insulating substrate, and an insulating cylindrical body is disposed on an inner peripheral surface of the metal cylindrical body. |
| US08994480B2 |
Resonant elements designed vertically in a multilayer board and filters based on these elements
A resonant element is provided with a multilayer board, comprising a plurality of conductor layers isolated by a dielectric, a signal via conductor, penetrating through the multilayer board, and a plurality of ground vias, penetrating thought the multilayer board and disposed around the signal via conductor. The multilayer board comprises a first conductor layer, a second conductor layer, and a corrugated conductor layer disposed between the first and the second conductor layers. The corrugated conductor layer comprises a corrugated signal plate, connected to the signal via conductor, and a corrugated ground plate, connected to the plurality of ground vias, isolated from the corrugated signal plate by the dielectric. |
| US08994477B2 |
Noise filtering circuit for suppressing EMI
A noise filtering circuit for suppressing electromagnetic interference (EMI) is provided. The noise filtering circuit filters out high multiplied-frequency noise of a digital signal being transmitted and includes a reference voltage structure formed from conductors, a signal transmitting structure formed from a transmission conductor, a ground layer, and a ground structure electrically connected to the reference voltage structure and the ground layer. The ground structure is configured to form an inductor-capacitor oscillating structure in coordination with the electric-magnetical coupling between the reference voltage structure and the signal transmitting structure as well as the inductance of the ground structure, so that a digital signal is filtered out at a specific frequency and the passband of the digital signal can be transmitted. |
| US08994475B2 |
Vehicle-mounted noise filter
A vehicle-mounted noise filter which suppresses electric field coupling between input and output terminals in the FM radio band, thereby allowing noise attenuation performance, which should originally be provided to a noise filter circuit, to be exhibited even in the FM radio band. The vehicle-mounted noise filter comprises a coil (1) obtained by winding a conductive wire around a magnetic core, input and output terminals (2, 3) electrically connected to both terminals of the coil, and a shielding member (4). The shielding member (4) is made of a conductive member which is grounded and disposed so as to shield the electric field between the input and output terminals (2, 3). The noise filter can also be configured using a capacitor having one terminal electrically connected to the coil (1) and the other terminal grounded. |
| US08994474B2 |
Ortho-mode transducer with wide bandwidth branch port
An ortho-mode transducer may include a cylindrical common waveguide terminating in a common port, a rectangular vertical branch waveguide in-line with the cylindrical common waveguide and terminating in a vertical port, and a rectangular horizontal branch waveguide normal to the common waveguide and terminating in a horizontal port. The vertical branch waveguide may be configured to couple a first linearly polarized mode from the vertical port to the common waveguide. The horizontal branch waveguide may be configured to couple a second linearly polarized mode, orthogonal to the first linearly polarized mode, from the horizontal port to the common waveguide. A portion of the vertical branch waveguide may overlap a portion of the cylindrical common waveguide. A septum may span the vertical branch waveguide proximate to the overlapping portions of the vertical branch waveguide and the common waveguide. A rectangular symmetry cavity may be opposed to the horizontal branch waveguide. |
| US08994465B1 |
Phase noise reduction control loop for oscillators using nonlinear resonator operation
A method for reducing the phase noise of a oscillator includes monitoring a phase slope of a resonator, and controlling the resonator to operate the resonator at a high phase slope condition, wherein the resonator comprises a piezoelectric material, or piezoelectric quartz. |
| US08994464B2 |
Systems and methods for a high gain bandwidth, low power trans-impedance voltage gain amplifier (TIVA) topology
An amplifier and oscillator system includes a MEMS resonator and a two stage amplifier topology. The MEMS resonator is configured to generate a resonator signal. The two-stage amplifier topology is configured to amplify the resonator signal with a selected trans-impedance gain. Additionally, the two stage amplifier topology yields a feedback resistance that provides the selected trans-impedance gain. |
| US08994457B2 |
Transimpedance amplifier
A method of forming a circuit includes forming a transimpedance amplifier having a first input node and a second input node. The method also includes forming a feedback circuit having a first transistor having a drain terminal connected to the first input node, a source terminal, and a gate terminal, a second transistor having a drain terminal connected to the second input node, a source terminal, and a gate terminal, and a third transistor having a drain terminal connected to the source terminal of the first transistor and the source terminal of the second terminal. |
| US08994456B2 |
Multi-stage amplifier using tunable transmission lines and frequency response calibration of same
A multi-stage amplifier is provided that uses tunable transmission lines, as well as a calibration method for the multi-stage amplifiers. A multi-stage amplifier, comprises a plurality of tunable amplification stages, wherein each of the tunable amplification stages comprises a tunable resonator based on a transmission line having a tunable element. The tunable elements may vary a capacitance or an inductance to tune a frequency of an applied signal. A calibration method is provided for a multi-stage amplifier having a plurality of transmission lines, an input stage and an output stage. The multi-stage amplifier is calibrated by generating a signal to determine a frequency for a substantially maximum power; generating an error signal by comparing the frequency for the substantially maximum power with a desired frequency; varying a digital control code applied to each of the tunable transmission lines, input stage and output stage until the error signal satisfies predefined criteria. |
| US08994452B2 |
Low-noise high efficiency bias generation circuits and method
A bias generation method or apparatus defined by any one or any practical combination of numerous features that contribute to low noise and/or high efficiency biasing, including: having a charge pump control clock output with a waveform having limited harmonic content or distortion compared to a sine wave; having a ring oscillator to generating a charge pump clock that includes inverters current limited by cascode devices and achieves substantially rail-to-rail output amplitude; having a differential ring oscillator with optional startup and/or phase locking features to produce two phase outputs suitably matched and in adequate phase opposition; having a ring oscillator of less than five stages generating a charge pump clock; capacitively coupling the clock output(s) to some or all of the charge transfer capacitor switches; biasing an FET, which is capacitively coupled to a drive signal, to a bias voltage via an “active bias resistor” circuit that conducts between output terminals only during portions of a waveform appearing between the terminals, and/or wherein the bias voltage is generated by switching a small capacitance at cycles of said waveform. A charge pump for the bias generation may include a regulating feedback loop including an OTA that is also suitable for other uses, the OTA having a ratio-control input that controls a current mirror ratio in a differential amplifier over a continuous range, and optionally has differential outputs including an inverting output produced by a second differential amplifier that optionally includes a variable ratio current mirror controlled by the same ratio-control input. The ratio-control input may therefore control a common mode voltage of the differential outputs of the OTA. A control loop around the OTA may be configured to control the ratio of one or more variable ratio current mirrors, which may particularly control the output common mode voltage, and may control it such that the inverting output level tracks the non-inverting output level to cause the amplifier to function as a high-gain integrator. |
| US08994451B1 |
RF amplifier
An RF amplifier suitable for use in an RF transceiver has a circuit including a first transistor pair with the collector of each coupled to one of the two differential output nodes and a common base. A pair of Ft doublers is provided with the emitter of each Ft doubler coupled to one of the transistors in the first transistor pair. Each Ft doubler has a common emitter and a base coupled to one of the differential input nodes. As such, the first transistor pair and the Ft doubler pair are cascode-coupled to provide a wide bandwidth, high gain, and high input impedance RF amplifier. |
| US08994450B2 |
Doherty power amplifier, and method and device for improving power amplification efficiency of Doherty power amplifier
One aspect of the present invention provides a method for improving power amplification efficiency of a Doherty power amplifier. The method is applied to a Doherty power amplifier that has two paths of Doherty circuit units connected in parallel. The method includes: when output power of the Doherty power amplifier is within a low out power range, adjusting, by a bias circuit, gate voltages of main power amplifiers and peak power amplifiers in the two paths of Doherty circuit units connected in parallel, in order to cause the peak power amplifiers to be in an off state, and the main power amplifiers in the two paths of Doherty circuit units connected in parallel to be in a main power amplification state and a peak power amplification state respectively. |
| US08994448B2 |
Systems and methods for generation of internal chip supply bias from high voltage control line inputs
Systems and methods for generating internal chip supply bias from high voltage control line inputs are presented. One of a plurality of the high voltage control lines is selected and accordingly internal path switching circuitry is enabled to pass the selected high voltage control line while protecting the associated components from over-stress. |
| US08994446B2 |
Integrated circuits and methods for monitoring forward and reverse back biasing
An integrated circuit includes a device of a first conductivity type formed in a first well; a voltage regulator configured to provide a bias voltage to the first well based on a first reference voltage which is generated using a first band gap reference generator; and a monitor circuit configured to compare a voltage of the first well to an upper limit and a lower limit of a first voltage range, wherein each of the upper limit and lower limit is provided using a second band gap reference generator, separate from the first band gap reference generator, wherein, in response to determining that the voltage of the first well is outside of the first voltage range, providing a first out of range indicator. |
| US08994445B2 |
Electronic device
A CPU outputs a high level ENB signal to a USB-IC via an ENB line and monitors, after outputting the ENB signal, whether or not there is an overcurrent in the USB-IC on the basis of the voltage level of the ENB line. The USB-IC outputs, when it receives the ENB signal, a 5 V voltage to a VBUS line and stops, when an overcurrent occurs, output of the 5 V voltage to the VBUS line. A connector changes the voltage level of the ENB line to a high voltage level using the 5 V voltage of the VBUS line and changes, when output of the 5 V voltage is stopped, the voltage level of the ENB line to a low level. Thus, the ENB line may be shared for outputting the ENB signal from the CPU and for providing notification of an overcurrent from the USB-IC. |
| US08994442B2 |
Switching circuit and controller circuit
New designs of high power switching circuits and controller circuits are provided. Principal silicon bipolar switch is connected in parallel to snubber switch that is formed of a wide bandgap material. The snubber switch is activated during at least one of turn-on and turn-off of the principal silicon switch so as to minimize (or reduce) the switching loss and to bypass safe operation area limitations. |
| US08994440B2 |
Voltage select circuit and intergrated circuit including the same
A voltage select circuit includes a plurality of first transfer elements configured to transfer respective operating voltages to a first output terminal, a transfer select circuit unit configured to output a first voltage necessary to transfer an operating voltage, selected from among the operating voltages, to at least one first transfer element in response to a plurality of enable signals, and a control circuit configured to boost the first voltage to a second voltage in response to the plurality of enable signals. |
| US08994429B1 |
Energy efficient flip-flop with reduced setup time
Embodiments of a flip-flip circuit are disclosed that may allow a reduction in data setup time and lower switching power. The flip-flop circuit may include an input circuit, an output circuit, a clock circuit, and a feedback circuit. The clock circuit may be operable to generate internal clocks dependent upon received data, and the generated internal clocks may enable the feedback and input circuits. |
| US08994428B2 |
Period signal generation circuits
A period signal generation circuit including a control voltage generator and a period controller. The control voltage generator selecting one of temperature-dependent voltages to output the selected temperature-dependent voltage as a control voltage. The first and second temperature-dependent voltages varying according to a temperature and the third temperature-dependent voltage is constant regardless of variation of the temperature. The period controller configured to determine an amount of a current discharging from an internal node in response to the control voltage and outputs a periodic signal whose cycle time is determined according to a level of an internal signal induced at the internal node. |
| US08994427B2 |
Method and apparatus for duty cycle distortion compensation
A method and apparatus for duty cycle distortion compensation is disclosed. In one embodiment, an integrated circuit includes a differential signal transmitter having a main data path and a compensation data path. The main data path includes a first and second differential driver circuits each having output terminals coupled to a differential output. A transmission controller is configured to transmit data into the main and compensation data paths, the data corresponding to pairs of sequentially transmitted bits including an odd data bit followed by an even data bit, and further configured to determine respective duty cycle widths for each of the odd and even data bits as received by the transmission controller. The transmission controller is configured to cause the first and second driver circuits to equalize the respective duty cycle widths of the odd and even data bits, as transmitted, based their respective duty cycle widths as received. |
| US08994425B2 |
Techniques for aligning and reducing skew in serial data signals
A circuit includes first and second aligner circuits and a deskew circuit. The first aligner circuit is operable to align a first input serial data signal with a control signal to generate a first aligned serial data signal. The second aligner circuit is operable to align a second input serial data signal with the control signal to generate a second aligned serial data signal. The deskew circuit is operable to reduce skew between the first and the second aligned serial data signals to generate first and second output serial data signals. |
| US08994422B2 |
Use of Frequency addition in a PLL control loop
A method and system is disclosed in which the phase detector in a phase-locked loop is able to run at the fastest speed appropriate for a reference signal. A frequency offset is added to the output frequency of the phase-locked loop, to alter the frequency fed to the frequency divider which would receive the output frequency in a conventional PLL to an intermediate frequency. The frequency offset is selected so that the ratio of the intermediate frequency to the reference frequency is a simple fraction, and preferably an integer, i.e., the intermediate frequency is a multiple of the reference frequency. In cases where the relationship between the output frequency and the reference frequency is largely relatively prime, the phase detector is thus able to receive signals at the frequency of the reference signal and operate at the fastest speed appropriate for the reference signal. |
| US08994421B1 |
Synchronization circuit and semiconductor apparatus using the same
A synchronization circuit may include: a variable delay unit configured to delay a first clock signal by a first delay time set in response to a delay control signal and generate a second clock signal; a first path configured to detect a phase difference between the first clock signal and a third clock signal generated by delaying the second clock signal by a second delay time and generate a phase difference detection signal; a second path configured to generate a second phase difference detection signal in response to a phase difference between the first clock signal and a fourth clock signal; and a control unit configured to generate the delay control signal in response to the phase difference detection signal and vary an update period of the delay control signal in response to the second phase difference detection signal. |
| US08994414B2 |
Voltage controlled switching element gate drive circuit
A voltage controlled switching element gate drive circuit makes it possible to suppress an occurrence of a malfunction, while suppressing surge voltage, surge current, and switching noise, when switching in a voltage controlled switching element. A gate drive circuit that supplies a gate voltage to the gate of a voltage controlled switching element, thus driving the voltage controlled switching element, includes a high potential side switching element and low potential side switching element connected in series, first variable resistors interposed between at least the high potential side switching element and a high potential power supply or the low potential side switching element and a low potential power supply, and a control circuit that adjusts the resistance values of the first variable resistors. |
| US08994413B2 |
Method for driving power semiconductor switches
A method for driving a controllable power semiconductor switch, having a first input terminal and first and second output terminals coupled to a voltage supply and a load, the first and second output terminals providing an output of the power semiconductor switch, includes adjusting a gradient of switch-off edges of an output current and an output voltage of the power semiconductor switch by a voltage source arrangement coupled to the input terminal. A gradient of switch-on edges of an output current and an output voltage is adjusted by a controllable current source arrangement that is coupled to the input terminal and generates a gate drive current. The profile of the gate drive current from one switching operation to a subsequent switching operation, beginning at a rise in the output current and ending at a decrease in the output voltage, is varied at most within a predefined tolerance band. |
| US08994411B2 |
System and method for bootstrapping a switch driver
In accordance with an embodiment, a driver circuit includes a low-side driver having a first output configured to be coupled to a control node of a first semiconductor switch, and a reference input configured to be coupled to a reference node of the first semiconductor switch. The low-side driver also includes a first capacitor coupled between an output node of the first semiconductor switch and a first node, a first diode coupled between the first node and a first power input of the driver, and a second capacitor coupled between the first power input of the low-side driver and the reference node of the first semiconductor switch. |
| US08994409B2 |
Stimulator and method for processing a stimulation signal
Various embodiments provide a method for processing a stimulation signal. The method may include monitoring an output voltage on an electrode, the electrode being provided with the stimulation signal; determining whether the output voltage is lower than a threshold voltage; if it is determined that the output voltage is lower than the threshold voltage, modifying the waveform of the stimulation signal; and providing the modified stimulation signal to an object via the electrode. |
| US08994405B1 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit device
A semiconductor integrated circuit device includes a first flip-flop circuit receiving data in synchronization with a first clock signal, a logic circuit performing a predetermined process on data output from the first flip-flop circuit, a hold buffer delaying transmission of an output of the logic circuit, a second flip-flop circuit receiving an output of the hold buffer in synchronization with a second clock signal, and a power supply circuit capable of selecting a supply of a power supply voltage to the first flip-flop circuit, the logic circuit, and the second flip-flop circuit between a first power supply voltage and a second power supply voltage higher than the first power supply voltage. A power supply voltage supplied to the hold buffer remains the same when the power supply voltage supplied to the first flip-flop circuit, the logic circuit, and the second flip-flop circuit changes between first and second power supply voltages. |
| US08994396B2 |
Variation-tolerant self-repairing displays
Illustrative embodiments of systems and methods for variation-tolerant, self-repairing displays are disclosed. In one illustrative embodiment, a display panel may include one or more defective pixels and a compensation circuit may be configured to extend a charging time of each of the one or more defective pixels. In another illustrative embodiment, a method may include detecting one or more defective pixels in a pixel array and extending a charging time of each of the one or more defective pixels. |
| US08994386B2 |
Method and device for measuring permittivity and/or permeability
The invention relates to a method for measuring the permittivity and/or perviousness of a sample of a nonconductive material, said method comprising: a) measuring a value representative of an admittance Ytestco, b) measuring a value representative of an admittance Ytestcc only from the amplitude and the phase of the electromagnetic waves reflected onto an interface between the sample and the end of a second waveguide having at least one conductive web separated from a conductive sheath by a layer of dielectric material, said second waveguide also including a short circuit between the central web and the sheath at the interface with the sample, and c) calculating the permittivity of the sample from the values representative of the admittances Ytestco and Ytestcc and/or calculating the perviousness of the sample from the values representative of the admittances Ytestco and Ytestcc. |
| US08994383B2 |
Method and sensor for sensing the electrical permittivity of an object
The invention disclosed enables sensing of the electrical permittivity of an object. A sensor is provided that includes a dielectric layer that presents a surface defining the base of a volume in which a test object may be placed and an electrically active layer beneath the dielectric layer, comprising a first set of electrodes that extend in a first direction and a second set of electrodes that extend in a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction. By applying a signal to a first electrode in said first set of electrodes, an electric field is generated that extends outside of the sensor. An output signal is then produced in each of the second electrode set by capacitive coupling to the first electrode. The electrical permittivity of the volume above the first receiver electrode is then determined based on the output signals in the said set of electrodes. |
| US08994377B2 |
Tool for imaging a downhole environment
The invention is concerned with a tool and method for determining standoff from a formation though mud. The tool comprising a first electrode located at a distance from the formation for measuring a first impedance. A second electrode is located at a second distance from the formation for measuring a second impedance. A processing unit measures a difference between the first impedance and the second impedance, uses the difference to determine a conductivity of the mud and based thereon, determines the standoff of at least one of the first and the second electrode. |
| US08994373B2 |
Magnetic resonance system and method to adjust at least one shim current and an associated RF center frequency during an interleaved multislice MR measurement of a moving examination subject
In a method and system to adjust at least one shim current in a shim channel of a magnetic resonance apparatus and an associated RF center frequency for the radio-frequency system of the magnetic resonance apparatus during an interleaved multislice MR measurement of a moving examination subject, in which MR measurement at least two excitations are implemented for complete acquisition of the desired data of a slice of the examination subject that is to be measured, the multislice MR measurement is implemented such that phase discontinuities between measurement data acquired after individual excitations are avoided. |
| US08994369B2 |
Apparatus and method for providing an output signal indicative of a speed of rotation and a direction of rotation of a ferromagnetic object
An apparatus and a method provide an output signal indicative of a speed of rotation and a direction of rotation of a ferromagnetic object capable of rotating. A variety of signal formats of the output signal are described. |
| US08994359B2 |
Fault detection based on current signature analysis for a generator
A method of detecting faults in a wind turbine generator based on current signature analysis is disclosed herein. The method includes acquiring a set of electrical signals representative of an operating condition of a generator. Further, the electrical signals are processed to generate a normalized spectrum of electrical signals. A fault related to a gearbox or bearing or any other component associated with the generator is detected based on analyzing the current spectrum. |
| US08994357B2 |
Load adaptive loop based voltage source
Systems and methods are provided for a power supply. A first output stage is configured to supply power from a power source at a target voltage to a device in an integrated circuit in response to a power demand of the device. Load detector circuitry is configured to detect a load resulting from operation of the device, and a supplemental output stage is configured to selectively supply supplemental power from the power source to the device, in addition to the power provided by the first output stage, in response to detection of an additional load resulting from operation of the device. |
| US08994356B2 |
Method for adjusting a reference voltage based on a band-gap circuit
A method adjusts a reference voltage of an electronic circuit based on a band-gap voltage supplied by a first band-gap stage. The band-gap stage includes in a series arrangement, between two terminals of a voltage supply source, a current source connected to a first branch, which includes a first configurable resistor in series with a first diode, and to a second branch, which includes a second configurable resistor connected to a complementary resistor in series with a second diode. The band-gap voltage is supplied to a connection node between the current source and each branch. The current source is a PMOS transistor controlled by an output voltage of a first operational amplifier of a current control loop. An appropriate binary word for configuring the configurable resistors is determined based on four band-gap voltage values measured at two different temperatures and two resistive values of the resistors configured by the same first binary word and by the same second binary word which is different from the first binary word. |
| US08994353B2 |
Power converter with a pulse-width limiter that limits a drive signal pulse width according to the input voltage
A power converter includes a control circuit provided with a set signal generator, a current command generator, a reset signal generator, a drive signal generator, and a pulse-width limiter. The set signal generator generates a set signal at every predetermined cycle. The current command generator generates a current command based on an output voltage command and an output voltage. The reset signal generator generates a reset signal based on an input current and the generated current command. The drive signal generator generates a drive signal which turns on in synchronization with the generated set signal to turn on a switching element and which turns off in synchronization with the subsequently generated reset signal to turn off the switching element. The pulse-width limiter limits a pulse-width of the drive signal according to an input voltage and the output voltage, or according to the input voltage and the output voltage command. |
| US08994352B2 |
Switching regulator and control method for same
A switching regulator and control method for the same. The switching regulator employs a hybrid mode. A ramp voltage signal is added to the current sense signal to make the ramp voltage signal overtake the current information when the duty cycle becomes low. |
| US08994351B2 |
Smooth mode transition plateau for a power supply controller
A power supply includes a drive signal generator to generate a drive signal to control a switching of power switch. A feedback circuit is coupled to receive a feedback signal representative of the output to generate a control signal. An oscillator circuit is coupled to generate an oscillating signal in response to the control signal, from which the drive signal is generated in response. A frequency of the oscillating signal increases from a first frequency to a second frequency with respect to the control signal for a first range of control signal values, remains substantially equal to the second frequency for a second range of control signal values, and decreases from the second frequency to a third frequency with respect to the control signal for a third range of control signal values. The first range is less than the second range, which is less than the third range. |
| US08994350B2 |
Load transient detection and clock reset circuit
A switching regulator comprises a PWM controller that controls switching of a power converter via a PWM control signal. The switching regulator detects load transients in the load driven by the power converter. Responsive to the detection of a load transient, the switching regulator resets a PWM clock synchronously with a fast clock operating at a higher frequency than the PWM clock. By doing so, the switching regulator beneficially responds more quickly to changes in the load than with conventional architectures that utilize only the slower PWM clock. This provides improved transient response without sacrificing power efficiency. |
| US08994342B2 |
Switching apparatus
A switching apparatus is disclosed that includes a first loop circuit configured to include a switching element, an inductive component and a capacitor; and a second loop circuit configured to share the inductive component with the first loop circuit, wherein the capacitor is inserted in series with the inductive component in the first loop, wherein the switching apparatus controls respective currents flowing through the first loop circuit and the second loop circuit in an alternating manner by turning on/off the switching element in order to control the current flowing through the inductive component, and wherein a first magnetic flux generated by the current flowing through the first loop circuit as the switching element is being turned on and a second magnetic flux generated by the current flowing through the second loop circuit as the switching element is being turned off head in the same direction. |
| US08994341B2 |
Battery charging circuit and electronic device
A battery charging circuit comprises: a first voltage regulator, wherein the first voltage regulator has a control input designed for reception of a signal generated by a current metering circuit; the current metering circuit; and a terminal for connecting a battery. An electronic device, in particular a mobile device, comprises a battery charging circuit as defined above. |
| US08994339B1 |
Battery temperature compensation with closed-loop fan control
A dual-loop control configuration employs battery temperature as a feedback metric in order to prevent overheating when recharging batteries. Temperature sensors are used to obtain the battery temperature. Depending on the battery temperature that is measured, a processing device such as a battery interface module determines whether that temperature exceeds a temperature threshold. The processing device also determines a charge rate of the batteries. The processing device is configured to vary the fan speed to increase or decrease airflow for cooling the batteries based on this information, and also regulates the charge rate of the batteries as a function of the fan speed. This arrangement may be used as part of a battery backup system, such as in an uninterruptible power supply used in a data center. Alternatively, it may be used in the power supply system of an electric vehicle. Fluids besides air may also be employed. |
| US08994338B2 |
Dual-charger system
A charger system for use in a vehicle to charge a vehicle battery includes a first charger and a second charger. The chargers are connected to a vehicle bus. Each charger has a master indication digital input and decodes the input to determine its role as master charger or slave charger. The master charger configures its connection to the vehicle bus to use a master node message set. The slave charger configures its connection to the vehicle bus to use a slave node message set. |
| US08994337B2 |
Balancing method and balancing system of battery pack
A balancing method and balancing system of a battery pack is disclosed. The method includes and the system is capable of determining whether a voltage change of the battery pack is greater than a threshold during a charging or discharging period, and balancing the battery cells based on the voltage change being greater than a threshold. |
| US08994335B2 |
Power supply apparatus, charging method, rechargeable battery cell unit, and charging apparatus
A power supply apparatus supplies a power supply voltage to a charge monitor that monitors charge states of rechargeable battery cells. The apparatus includes: a first capacitative element that supplies a power supply voltage to the charge monitor; a second capacitative element that is charged from the rechargeable battery cell and charges the first capacitative element; a switch group including a first switch that connects the first and second capacitative elements, and a second switch that connects the rechargeable battery cell and the second capacitative element; and a controller that controls the switch group. The controller repeats charging the second capacitative element by the rechargeable battery cell by connecting the rechargeable cell and the second capacitative element by the first switch, and charging the first capacitative element by the second capacitative element by connecting the first and second capacitative elements by the second switch. |
| US08994333B2 |
Battery pack and method of controlling the same
A battery pack including a plurality of battery cells and a method of controlling the battery pack are provided. The method includes: permanently cutting off charging and discharging paths of the battery pack; and discharging one or more of the battery cells when a condition of which satisfies a reference condition. Therefore, state of the battery pack changes from its failure state to a stable state. |
| US08994332B2 |
Battery heating circuits and methods using voltage inversion based on predetermined conditions
Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a battery heating circuit, comprising a switch unit 1, a switching control module 100, a damping component R1, an energy storage circuit, and an energy superposition unit; the energy storage circuit is configured to connect with the battery to form a loop, and comprises a current storage component L1 and a charge storage component C1; the damping component R1, the switch unit 1, the current storage component L1, and the charge storage component C1 are connected in series; the switching control module 100 is connected with the switch unit 1, and is configured to control ON/OFF of the switch unit 1, so as to control the energy flowing between the battery and the energy storage circuit. |
| US08994327B2 |
Apparatus and method for charging an electric vehicle
An energy storage and management system (ESMS) includes energy storage devices coupled to a power device, a power electronic conversion system that includes a plurality of DC electrical converters, each DC electrical converter configured to step up and to step down a DC voltage, wherein energy ports of the ESMS are coupleable to each of the energy storage devices, and each of the energy ports is coupleable to an electrical charging system. The ESMS includes a controller configured to determine a first condition of a first energy storage device and a second condition of a second energy storage device, wherein the first and second energy storage devices are each connected to respective energy ports of the power conversion system, determine a power split factor based on the first condition and on the second condition, and regulate power to the first and second energy storage devices based on the power split factor. |
| US08994324B2 |
Charge capacity parameter estimation system of electric storage device
A charge capacity parameter estimation system for an electric storage device capable of charging and discharging is provided, which can accurately estimate a charge capacity parameter indicative of a charge capacity of the electric storage device. The charge capacity parameter estimation system for a battery includes an ECU and a sensor unit. The ECU estimates that an actual charge capacity of the electric storage device is less than an estimated charge capacity, when a charging state of the electric storage device is detected, in a case where a generated voltage of a power generator is controlled such that the battery executes a discharging operation to an auxiliary equipment. |
| US08994315B2 |
Motor controller
The present invention provides a motor controller for controlling a DC motor according to a reference signal. The motor controller includes a compensator, a pulse width modulation unit, and a motor driving unit. The compensator generates a control signal according to the reference signal and a sensing signal from the DC motor. The pulse width modulation unit generates a motor control signal by comparing the control signal and a ramp signal having a varying frequency. The motor driving unit receives the motor control signal and drives the DC motor according to the motor control signal. |
| US08994314B2 |
Injection molding machine
An injection molding machine according to the invention includes a motor, a driver circuit that drives the motor; and a rectifying part that supplies electric power to the driver circuit. A regenerative line for regenerative electric power of the motor is connected to the rectifying part in parallel. A converting part and a harmonics component reducing part are provided in the regenerative line. The converting part converts direct electric power between the driver circuit and the rectifying part into alternating electric power which is input to the harmonics component reducing part. |
| US08994311B1 |
System, method, and computer program for segmenting a content stream
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for segmenting a content stream. In use, a content stream associated with an event is identified. Additionally, user generated content associated with the content stream is identified. Further, a timing of one or more key events within the content stream is determined, based on the user generated content. Further still, the one or more key events are identified, based on the user generated content. Also, the content stream is segmented, utilizing the one or more key events and the timing of the one or more key events. In addition, a subset of the user generated content and a subset of the one or more key events is associated with a segment of the content stream. Furthermore, a search index associated with the segment of the content stream is generated, utilizing the subset of the user generated content and the subset of the one or more key events. Further still, a search query is received from a user. Also, search results are provided to the user in response to the search query, utilizing the search index associated with the segment of the content stream. |
| US08994306B2 |
System and method for isolating the undriven voltage of a permanent magnet brushless motor for detection of rotor position
The system and method disclose for the controlling of sequential phase switching in driving a set of stator windings of a multi-phase sensorless brushless permanent magnet DC motor. A motor controller controls a power stage that drives two windings of a set of three windings in the motor with pulse width modulated signal. A plurality of voltage values on an undriven winding of the set of three windings are sampled within a window of time, wherein a period beginning when the driven windings are energized and ending when the driven windings are de-energized encompasses the window of time. The sampled voltage values are processed. When the processed voltage values exceed a threshold, the motor controller changes which two windings are driven. |
| US08994295B2 |
Commission of distributed light fixtures of a lighting system
Apparatuses, methods, apparatuses and systems for commissioning a light fixture are disclosed. One method includes receiving, by the light fixture, a message from a central controller, wherein reception of the message puts the light fixture into a known condition, establishing communication between the light fixture and a user, and communicating, by either the light fixture or the user, a location of the user at a time of the established communication, to the central controller, thereby allowing the central controller to record a location of the light fixture. |
| US08994288B2 |
Pulse-excited mercury-free lamp system
A pulse-excited mercury-free lamp system, and method of sustaining the emission of light emission from such a lamp, is provided. The system includes a light-transmissive envelope having an inner surface and a phosphor layer coated thereon. A discharge-sustaining gaseous mixture of a noble gas, at a low pressure, and a metal halide, is retained inside the light-transmissive envelope. An electrical system provides a plurality of pulses to the discharge-sustaining gaseous mixture, resulting in a discharge, which causes the lamp system to emit light. The emission of light is maintained by turning the discharge on during a pulse width of each pulse in the plurality of pulses and by turning the discharge off during a remainder of each period in the plurality of pulses. Particularly in systems where the metal halide is indium-based, this maintains an efficient emission of light without the use of mercury. |
| US08994281B2 |
Light emitting diode driving apparatus
There is provided a light emitting diode driving apparatus capable of supplying a constant average current to a light emitting diode by generating a reference voltage used for driving the light emitting diode according to input power and a switching signal switching a path of a current supplied to the light emitting diode. The light emitting diode driving apparatus includes: a reference voltage generating unit generating a reference voltage set based on input power and a switching signal for supplying driving power to a light emitting diode; and a driving unit supplying the driving power to the light emitting diode according to the reference voltage. |
| US08994280B2 |
Driving circuits and driving methods thereof
A driving circuit includes a first PWM driving module and a second PWM driving module. The first PWM driving module generates a first square-wave signal to drive a first illumination unit according to a first data signal of a data stream, wherein the first square-wave signal, having a rising edge located at the beginning of the display cycle, represents an illumination period of the first illumination unit in a display cycle. The second PWM driving module generates a second square-wave signal to drive a second illumination unit according to a second data signal of the data stream, wherein the second square-wave signal, having a falling edge located at the end of the display cycle and having a rising edge being behind the rising edge of the first square-wave signal, represents an illumination period of the second illumination unit in the display cycle. |
| US08994273B2 |
Light-emitting diode fixture with an improved thermal control system
A light-emitting diode fixture comprises spaced-apart first and second housing portions. There is a cooling device disposed within the first housing portion. The cooling device is in fluid communication with the second housing portion. First and second printed circuit boards are disposed within the second housing portion. A light-emitting diode and a negative coefficient thermistor array are mounted on the first printed circuit board. The light-emitting diode and the negative coefficient thermistor array are each thermally coupled to a heat sink. A rectifier is mounted on the second printed circuit board. The rectifier is electrically connected in series with the negative coefficient thermistor array and the cooling device. Current used to power the cooling device flows from the rectifier through the negative coefficient thermistor array to the cooling device. |
| US08994268B2 |
Strobe device
A compact strobe device includes the following components: a flash discharge tube having an anode and a cathode; a conductive reflector storing a part of the flash discharge tube; a trigger coil having a hollow core, and a primary winding and a secondary winding around the core; and a conductor connecting the secondary winding of the trigger coil and the reflector. The trigger coil has an end of the flash discharge tube inserted into the core, and includes at an end thereof adjacent to the reflector, a secondary terminal connected to the secondary winding. The reflector has a bottom in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the flash discharge tube, the outer peripheral surface covering at least the region extending from the anode to the cathode. The conductor has a first contact portion in contact with the secondary terminal of the trigger coil, and a second contact portion in contact with the bottom of the reflector. |
| US08994262B2 |
Light-emitting element and lighting device using the same
A light-emitting element according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a body including an upper surface, a lower surface opposite to the upper surface, and a peripheral side surface extending between peripheral edges of the upper surface and peripheral edges of the lower surface, the peripheral side surface including a front surface and a rear surface opposite to the front surface; a pair of element electrodes as a first element electrode and a second element electrode positioned at the rear surface of the body; and a support disposed at the rear surface of the body between the first element electrode and the second element electrode that are positioned at a lower area of the rear surface of the body. |
| US08994260B1 |
Structure and method for single crystal silicon-based plasma light source and flat panel display panels and micro plasma sources
Silicon substrate having (100) crystal orientation can be wet etched to form (111) sharp tip pyramids. The sharp tip pyramids can be used to fabricate electrodes for flat panel displays, such as a plasma display panel or a field emission display. |
| US08994258B1 |
End-hall ion source with enhanced radiation cooling
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, an end-Hall ion source has an electron emitting cathode, an anode, a reflector, an internal pole piece, an external pole piece, a magnetically permeable path, and a magnetic-field generating means located in the permeable path between the two pole pieces. The anode and reflector are enclosed without contact by a thermally conductive cup that has internal passages through which a cooling fluid can flow. The closed end of the cup is located between the reflector and the internal pole piece and the opposite end of the cup is in direct contact with the external pole piece, and wherein the cup is made of a material having a low microhardness, such as copper or aluminum. |
| US08994256B2 |
Igniter for an internal combustion engine
An igniter for an internal combustion engine includes a center electrode, an insulator disposed about the center electrode, and a ground shield or a threaded portion disposed about the insulator, wherein the insulator includes a tip portion extending past an end portion of the ground shield and a tip portion of the center electrode extending through and away from the tip portion of the insulator. The igniter further includes a cap secured to the center electrode, wherein the cap extends past and covers a distal end of the tip portion of the center electrode and a distal end of the tip portion of the insulator. A spark gap is disposed between a peripheral edge of the cap and the end portion of the ground shield or threaded portion wherein the peripheral edge of the cap is spaced away from a surface of the tip portion of the insulator. |
| US08994247B2 |
Piezoelectric actuator, piezoelectric vibration apparatus, and portable terminal
A piezoelectric actuator includes a stacked body composed of internal electrodes and piezoelectric layers which are stacked on each other; and a surface electrode disposed on at least one of main surfaces of the stacked body so as to be electrically connected to the internal electrodes. The internal electrodes each includes a first electrode and a second electrode. The stacked body has an active section in which the first electrodes and the second electrodes of the internal electrodes are arranged so as to overlap each other in a stacking direction thereof, and an inactive section which is every section of the stacked body other than the active section. An internal electrode placed on a one-main-surface side of the internal electrodes is configured so that its end part situated near a boundary between the active section and the inactive section is curved toward the other main surface. |
| US08994246B2 |
Actuator
Provided is an actuator simultaneously having better deformation response characteristics and larger generative force. The actuator includes a pair of opposing electrodes and an intermediate layer disposed therebetween. The intermediate layer contains at least an electrolyte and includes at least a polymer fiber layer. The polymer fiber layer includes a plurality of polymer fibers crossing each other and intertwined three-dimensionally. The polymer fiber layer has fused portions at intersections of the polymer fibers. |
| US08994238B2 |
Energy conversion device
[Problem] To allow for an increase in the output of an energy conversion device having a plurality of permanent magnets arranged in a ring shape. [Solution] A cover (3) is attached to a ring-shaped magnet holder (2) in which permanent magnets (1) are housed. An extended portion of the cover (3) is supported by a wheel (6). The wheel (6) is in contact with the extended portion of the cover (3) and the bottom surface of a case (5). Thereby, the magnet holder (2) can be rotated lightly even when the weight of the magnet holder (2) increases with the increase in the number of the permanent magnets (1) housed in the magnet holder (2). Thus, an energy conversion device (100) can produce more energy from the energy supplied, and thereby enhance the output. |
| US08994231B1 |
Medium voltage power distribution
A data center includes an enclosure defining an interior space, a medium voltage power distribution system in the interior space, a plurality of transformers in the interior space, and a plurality of groups of racks in the interior space. The medium voltage power distribution system is electrically connected to a medium voltage power source outside the enclosure and includes a plurality of interconnected medium voltage power access units. Each transformer is electrically connected to an associated medium voltage power access unit and configured to step-down medium voltage power from the associated power access unit to low voltage power. Each rack includes a plurality of rack-mounted computers. Each group of racks is electrically connected to an associated transformer or to an adjacent rack or group of racks such that the associated transformer provides low voltage power to the group of racks. |
| US08994229B2 |
Wireless non-contact switch for automatic doors
The wireless non-contact switch detects movement of human body in the beam-shaped detection are which extends from the upper area on the wall toward the floor surface, and controls opening and closing of the automatic door. Regardless of the height of the location of the movement, as long as it is in the detection area, the switch detects the movement of different height location in the detection area. Therefore, regardless of the difference of regulation between each states, it can be operated at any height of the movement. |
| US08994223B2 |
Systems and methods for self powered electronic devices
Disclosed is a self-powering system for electronic circuits by detecting and converting the energy of electric field lines provided from the generator of device in the proximity of the electronic circuit. The harvesting of electric field energy by using means of capacitive coupling (contactless or (in-) direct contact) to field inducing power sources replaces or reduces the need of batteries e.g. for mobile devices, medical sensors, energy efficient circuits (e.g. stand-by) or (near field-) communication devices. A wide range of applications and technical solutions from smart labels, e-ink devices, shutter glasses, or electronic sensors up to electronic devices of any kind, can use the invention's means to power (integrated) circuits microcontrollers, light emitting items (LED) or any circuit where batteries or other power sources can be replaced by the innovation. |
| US08994219B2 |
DC/DC module of LCD driving circuit
A DC/DC module comprises a buck-boost circuit, which is used to convert the input voltage of the DC/DC module into a gate off-state voltage VGL; a LDO circuit, which is used to convert the input voltage of the buck-boost circuit into a lower limit output voltage VBB of a liquid crystal driver; a BUCK circuit, which is used to convert the input voltage of the DC/DC module into an operating voltage VDD of a specific IC; a charge pump circuit, which is used to convert the input voltage of the DC/DC module into a gate on-state voltage VGH; wherein, the input voltage of the DC/DC module is used directly as an upper limit output voltage VAA. The DC/DC module according to the present invention has simple circuit structure, low hardware cost, and high load capacity. |
| US08994216B2 |
Power conversion apparatus
A power conversion apparatus includes an inverter for converting DC power to AC power for supply to a load, a converter for converting AC power from an AC power supply to DC power for supply to the inverter, a DC voltage converter for converting a voltage value of power stored in a storage battery to supply DC power from the storage battery to the inverter when power supply from the AC power supply is faulty, and a filter including a reactor and a capacitor, for removing harmonics generated by the inverter. The inverter includes a three-level circuit which is a multi-level circuit. |
| US08994213B1 |
System and method for establishing a power feed from a source panel
A method of maintaining electrical power to electrical systems in operation during reconfiguration or maintenance of a power distribution system for the electrical systems includes providing a Y-connection in a set of electrical power lines. The Y-connection includes an input, a primary output, and a feed output. The set of electrical power lines supplies electrical power from a power source to the electrical systems through the primary output. To establish a feed for maintenance or reconfiguration of the power feed, power is fed from the power source through the feed output of the Y-connection to the electrical systems while power is being supplied to the electrical systems through the primary output. |
| US08994201B2 |
Vertical axis wind turbine
A turbine assembly is provided. The turbine assembly includes a plurality of sails and a generator assembly configured to convert rotation thereabout to power. A brake assembly may be provided. The brake assembly may include a magnet assembly that rotates with rotation of the plurality of sails, a conducting plate initially spaced-apart from the magnet assembly, and an actuator for translating the conducting plate relative to the magnet assembly during rotation thereof to thereby induce eddy currents that create a magnetic field acting on the conducting plate to impart a retarding force to control the rotational speed thereof. A control module is configured to control the actuator to adjust the spacing between the magnet assembly and the conducting plate in order to maintain the turbine assembly at a predetermined speed. |
| US08994197B2 |
Alignment mark and method of manufacturing the same
An alignment mark includes a plurality of mark units. Each mark unit includes a first element and a plurality of second elements. Each second element includes opposite first and second end portions. The plurality of second elements are arranged along a direction. The first element extends adjacent to the first end portions of the plurality of second elements and parallel to the direction of the plurality of second elements. |
| US08994195B2 |
Microelectronic assembly with impedance controlled wirebond and conductive reference element
A microelectronic assembly can include a microelectronic device having device contacts exposed at a surface thereof and an interconnection element having element contacts and having a face adjacent to the microelectronic device. Conductive elements, e.g., wirebonds connect the device contacts with the element contacts and have portions extending in runs above the surface of the microelectronic device. A conductive layer has a conductive surface disposed at at least a substantially uniform distance above or below the plurality of the runs of the conductive elements. In some cases, the conductive material can have first and second dimensions in first and second horizontal directions which are smaller than first and second corresponding dimensions of the microelectronic device. The conductive material is connectable to a source of reference potential so as to achieve a desired impedance for the conductive elements. |
| US08994192B2 |
Integrated circuit packaging system with perimeter antiwarpage structure and method of manufacture thereof
A method of manufacture of an integrated circuit packaging system comprising: providing a package carrier; mounting an integrated circuit to the package carrier; and forming a perimeter antiwarpage structure on and along a perimeter of the package carrier. |
| US08994191B2 |
Die-die stacking structure and method for making the same
The present invention relates to die-die stacking structure and the method for making the same. The die-die stacking structure comprises a top die having a bottom surface, a first insulation layer covering the bottom surface of the top die, a bottom die having a top surface, a second insulation layer covering the top surface of the bottom die, a plurality of connection members between the top die and the bottom die and a protection material between the first insulation layer and the second insulation layer. The plurality of connection members communicates the top die with the bottom die. The protection material bridges the plurality of connection members to form a mesh layout between the first insulation layer and the second insulation layer. The structure and method of present invention at least provide more strength and stress buffer to resist die warpage and absorb thermal cycling stress, and then prevents the bump and dielectric materials in the die-die stacking structure from cracking caused by thermal stress or external mechanical stress. |
| US08994178B2 |
Interconnect structure and method for forming the same
A interconnect structure includes a first etch stop layer over a substrate, a dielectric layer over the first etch stop layer, a conductor in the dielectric layer, and a second etch stop layer over the dielectric layer. The dielectric layer contains carbon and has a top portion and a bottom portion. A difference of C content in the top portion and the bottom portion is less than 2 at %. An oxygen content in a surface of the conductor is less than about 1 at %. |
| US08994177B2 |
Far back end of the line stack encapsulation
A method for far back end of the line (FBEOL) protection of a semiconductor device includes forming a patterned layer over a back end of the line (BEOL) stack, depositing a first conformal protection layer on the patterned layer which covers horizontal surfaces of a top surface and sidewalls of openings formed in the patterned layer. A resist layer is patterned over the first conformal protection layer such that openings in the resist layer correspond with the openings in the patterned layer. The first conformal protection layer is etched through the openings in the resist layer to form extended openings that reach a stop position. The resist layer is removed, and a second conformal protection layer is formed on the first conformal protection layer and on sidewalls of the extended openings to form an encapsulation boundary to protect at least the patterned layer and a portion of the BEOL stack. |
| US08994176B2 |
Methods and apparatus for package with interposers
Methods and apparatus for an interposer with dams used in packaging dies are disclosed. An interposer may comprise a metal layer above a substrate. A plurality of dams may be formed above the metal layer around each corner of the metal layer. Dams may be formed on both sides of the interposer substrate. A dam surrounds an area where connectors such as solder balls may be located to connect to other packages. A non-conductive dam may be formed above the dam. An underfill may be formed under the package connected to the connector, above the metal layer, and contained within the area surrounded by the dams at the corner, so that the connectors are well protected by the underfill. Such dams may be further formed on a printed circuit board as well. |
| US08994171B2 |
Method and apparatus for a conductive pillar structure
A method and apparatus for a conductive pillar structure is provided. A device may be provided, which may include a substrate, a first passivation layer formed over the substrate, a conductive interconnect extending through the first passivation layer and into the substrate, a conductive pad formed over the first passivation layer, and a second passivation layer formed over the interconnect pad and the second passivation layer. A portion of the interconnect pad may be exposed from the second passivation layer. The conductive pillar may be formed directly over the interconnect pad using one or more electroless plating processes. The conductive pillar may have a first and a second width and a first height corresponding to a distance between the first width and the second width. |
| US08994170B2 |
Microelectronic unit and package with positional reversal
A semiconductor unit includes a chip having left and right columns of contacts at its front surface. Interconnect pads are provided overlying the front surface of the chip and connected to at least some of the contacts as, for example, by traces or by arrangements including wire bonds. The interconnect pads alone, or the interconnect pads and some of the contacts, provide an array of external connection elements. This array includes some reversal pairs of external connection elements in which the external connection element connected to or incorporating the right contact is disposed to the left of the external connection element incorporating or connected to the left contact. Such a unit may be used in a multi-chip package. The reversed connections simplify routing, particularly where corresponding contacts of two chips are to be connected to common terminals on the package substrate. |
| US08994166B2 |
System for clamping heat sink
A system for clamping a heat sink that prevents excessive clamping force is provided. The system may include a heat sink, a semiconductor device, a printed circuit board, and a cover. The semiconductor device may be mounted onto the circuit board and attached to the cover. The heat sink may be designed to interface with the semiconductor device to transfer heat away from the semiconductor device and dissipate the heat into the environment. Accordingly, the heat sink may be clamped into a tight mechanical connection with the semiconductor device to minimize thermal resistance between the semiconductor device and the heat sink. To prevent excessive clamping force from damaging the semiconductor device, loading columns may extend between the cover and the heat sink. |
| US08994165B2 |
Power semiconductor device
A power semiconductor device includes power semiconductor elements joined to wiring patterns of a circuit substrate, cylindrical external terminal communication sections, and wiring means for forming electrical connection between, for example, the power semiconductor elements and the cylindrical external terminal communication sections. The power semiconductor elements, the cylindrical external terminal communication sections, and the wiring means are sealed with transfer molding resin. The cylindrical external terminal communication sections are arranged on the wiring patterns so as to be substantially perpendicular to the wiring patterns, such that external terminals are insertable and connectable to the cylindrical external terminal communication sections, and such that a plurality of cylindrical external terminal communication sections among the cylindrical external terminal communication sections are arranged two-dimensionally on each of wiring patterns that act as main circuits. |
| US08994164B2 |
Semiconductor device and semiconductor device manufacturing method
A semiconductor device includes an insulating substrate having a semiconductor element mounted thereon; an outer case accommodating the insulating substrate; and a metallic terminal bar disposed above the insulating substrate and fixed to side walls of the outer case at both ends thereof. Each of both ends of the terminal bar at a position close to the side wall of the outer case at a surface on an opposite side to a surface facing the insulating substrate is provided with a pressed groove. |
| US08994154B2 |
Proximity sensor having light blocking structure in leadframe
A semiconductor proximity sensor (100) has a flat leadframe (110) with a first (110a) and a second (110b) surface, the second surface being solderable; the leadframe includes a first (111) and a second (112) pad, a plurality of leads (113, 114), and fingers (115, 118) framing the first pad, the fingers spaced from the first pad by a gap (116) which is filled with a clear molding compound. A light-emitting diode (LED) chip (120) is assembled on the first pad and encapsulated by a first volume (140) of the clear compound, the first volume outlined as a first lens (141). A sensor chip (130) is assembled on the second pad and encapsulated by a second volume (145) of the clear compound, the second volume outlined as a second lens (146). Opaque molding compound (150) fills the space between the first and second volumes of clear compound, forms shutters (151) for the first and second lenses, and forms walls rising from the frame of fingers to create an enclosed cavity for the LED. A layer (180) of solder is on the second leadframe surface of the pads, leads, and fingers. |
| US08994147B2 |
Semiconductor device and semiconductor element
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor element including a first element portion having a first gate and a second element portion having a second gate, wherein the turning on and off of the first and second element portions are controlled by a signal from the first and second gates respectively. The semiconductor device further includes signal transmission means connected to the first gate and the second gate and transmitting a signal to the first gate and the second gate so that when the semiconductor element is to be turned on, the first element portion and the second element portion are simultaneously turned on, and so that when the semiconductor element is to be turned off, the second element portion is turned off a delay time after the first element portion is turned off. |
| US08994146B2 |
Metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor within topmost thick inter-metal dielectric layers
Embodiments of MIM capacitors may be embedded into a thick IMD layer with enough thickness (e.g., 10 KŘ30 KÅ) to get high capacitance, which may be on top of a thinner IMD layer. MIM capacitors may be formed among three adjacent metal layers which have two thick IMD layers separating the three adjacent metal layers. Materials such as TaN or TiN are used as bottom/top electrodes & Cu barrier. The metal layer above the thick IMD layer may act as the top electrode connection. The metal layer under the thick IMD layer may act as the bottom electrode connection. The capacitor may be of different shapes such as cylindrical shape, or a concave shape. Many kinds of materials (Si3N4, ZrO2, HfO2, BST . . . etc.) can be used as the dielectric material. The MIM capacitors are formed by one or two extra masks while forming other non-capacitor logic of the circuit. |
| US08994143B2 |
Semiconductor device with SEG film active region
A semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the same are provided. A barrier film is formed in a device separating structure, and the device separating structure is etched at a predetermined thickness to expose a semiconductor substrate. Then, a SEG film is grown to form an active region whose area is increased. As a result, a current driving power of a transistor located at a cell region and peripheral circuit regions is improved. |
| US08994141B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same
A semiconductor includes an N-type impurity region provided in a substrate. A P-type RESURF layer is provided at a top face of the substrate in the N-type impurity region. A P-well has an impurity concentration higher than that of the P-type RESURF layer, and makes contact with the P-type RESURF layer at the top face of the substrate in the N-type impurity region. A first high-voltage-side plate is electrically connected to the N-type impurity region, and a low-voltage-side plate is electrically connected to a P-type impurity region. A lower field plate is capable of generating a lower capacitive coupling with the substrate. An upper field plate is located at a position farther from the substrate than the lower field plate, and is capable of generating an upper capacitive coupling with the lower field plate whose capacitance is greater than the capacitance of the lower capacitive coupling. |
| US08994140B2 |
Vertical gallium nitride Schottky diode
A vertical conduction nitride-based Schottky diode is formed using an insulating substrate which was lifted off after the diode device is encapsulated on the front side with a wafer level molding compound. The wafer level molding compound provides structural support on the front side of the diode device to allow the insulating substrate to be lifted off so that a conductive layer can be formed on the backside of the diode device as the cathode electrode. A vertical conduction nitride-based Schottky diode is thus realized. In another embodiment, a protection circuit for a vertical GaN Schottky diode employs a silicon-based vertical PN junction diode connected in parallel to the GaN Schottky diode to divert reverse bias avalanche current. |
| US08994136B2 |
Digital silicon photomultiplier detector cells
A silicon photomultiplier detector cell may include a photodiode region and a readout circuit region formed on a same substrate. The photodiode region may include a first semiconductor layer exposed on a surface of the silicon photomultiplier detector cell and doped with first type impurities; a second semiconductor layer doped with second type impurities; and/or a first epitaxial layer between the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer. The first epitaxial layer may contact the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer. The first epitaxial layer may be doped with the first type impurities at a concentration lower than a concentration of the first type impurities of the first semiconductor layer. |
| US08994135B2 |
Photodiode and photodiode array
A photodiode array PDA1 is provided with a substrate S wherein a plurality of photodetecting channels CH have an n-type semiconductor layer 32. The photodiode array PDA1 is provided with a p− type semiconductor layer 33 formed on the n-type semiconductor layer 32, resistors 24 provided for the respective photodetecting channels CH and each having one end portion connected to a signal conducting wire 23, and an n-type separating portion 40 formed between the plurality of photodetecting channels CH. The p− type semiconductor layer 33 forms pn junctions at an interface to the n-type semiconductor layer 32 and has a plurality of multiplication regions AM for avalanche multiplication of carriers generated with incidence of detection target light, corresponding to the respective photodetecting channels. An irregular asperity 10 is formed in a surface of the n-type semiconductor layer 32 and the surface is optically exposed. |
| US08994133B2 |
Multi-layer input/output pad ring for solid state device controller
Some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter include an integrated circuit. The integrated circuit includes a solid state device controller configured to control a plurality of flash memory devices, a first set of input output IO pads, coupled to the solid state device controller, arranged as a first pad ring around a perimeter of the integrated circuit, and a second set of IO pads arranged adjacent to at least one side of the first pad ring, wherein one of the second set of IO pads includes a power source node configured to receive a power supply voltage for the solid state device controller, a ground node, and a bond pad configured to receive an external signal. |
| US08994128B2 |
Micro-electromechanical semiconductor comprising stress measuring element and stiffening braces separating wall depressions
The micro-electromechanical semiconductor component is provided with a semiconductor substrate in which a cavity is formed, which is delimited by lateral walls and by a top and a bottom wall. In order to form a flexible connection to the region of the semiconductor substrate, the top or bottom wall is provided with trenches around the cavity, and bending webs are formed between said trenches. At least one measuring element that is sensitive to mechanical stresses is formed within at least one of said bending webs. Within the central region surrounded by the trenches, the top or bottom wall comprises a plurality of depressions reducing the mass of the central region and a plurality of stiffening braces separating the depressions. |
| US08994125B2 |
Semiconductor device including a field effect transistor
A semiconductor device includes, on a semiconductor substrate, a gate insulating film, a pMIS metal material or an nMIS metal material, a gate electrode material, and a gate sidewall metal layer. |
| US08994122B2 |
Semiconductor device having a memory cell region and a peripheral transistor region
A memory cell region comprises a first interlayer insulating film having a bit contact hole, a contact plug formed of a first conductor film embedded in the bit contact hole, and a second conductor film which is stacked on the first interlayer insulating film to constitute a bit line connected to the contact plug. A peripheral transistor region comprises a peripheral transistor having a gate insulating film and a gate electrode stack formed on the gate insulating film. The gate electrode stack is provided with a metal gate film formed on the gate insulating film, an upper gate film stacked on the metal gate film, and a third conductor film stacked on the upper gate film. A height from a semiconductor substrate to a top face of the upper gate film is equal to or lower than a height of a top face of the first interlayer insulating film. |
| US08994121B2 |
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device
A transfer transistor includes a pair of first diffusion regions and a gate electrode layer. The pair of first diffusion regions are formed in a surface of a semiconductor substrate, and are each connected to a contact. The gate electrode layer is formed on the semiconductor substrate via a gate insulating layer and has a pair of openings each surrounding the contact. |
| US08994117B2 |
Moat construction to reduce noise coupling to a quiet supply
A semiconductor chip having a P− substrate and an N+ epitaxial layer grown on the P− substrate is shown. A P− circuit layer is grown on top of the N+ epitaxial layer. A first moat having an electrically quiet ground connected to a first N+ epitaxial region is created by isolating the first N+ epitaxial region with a first deep trench. The first moat is surrounded, except for a DC path, by a second moat with a second N+ epitaxial region, created by isolating the second N+ epitaxial region with a second deep trench. The second moat may be arranged as a rectangular spiral around the first moat. |
| US08994112B2 |
Fin field effect transistor (finFET)
A Fin FET whose fin (12) has an upper portion (30) doped with a first conductivity type and a lower portion (32) doped with a second conductivity type, wherein the junction (34) between the upper portion (30) and the lower portion (32) acts as a diode; and the FinFET further comprises: at least one layer (26, 28) of high-k dielectric material (for example Si3N4) adjacent at least one side of the fin (12) for redistributing a potential drop more evenly over the diode, compared to if the at least one layer of high-k dielectric material were not present, when the upper portion (30) is connected to a first potential and the lower portion (32) is connected to a second potential thereby providing the potential drop across the junction (34). Examples of the k value for the high-k dielectric material are k≧5, k≧7.5, and k≧20. |
| US08994111B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit device
Diffusion regions having the same conductivity type are arranged on a side of a second wiring and a side of a third wiring, respectively under a first wiring connected to a signal terminal. Diffusion regions are separated in a whole part or one part of a range in a Y direction. That is, under first wiring, diffusion regions are only formed in parts opposed to diffusion regions formed under the second wiring and third wiring connected to a power supply terminal or a ground terminal, and a diffusion region is not formed in a central part in an X direction. Therefore, terminal capacity of the signal terminal can be reduced without causing ESD resistance to be reduced, in an ESD protection circuit with the signal terminal. |