最新美国发明专利第2015-06-02期 - 专利汇|PatentHub专利检索|专利查询网|发明专利查询分析

Document	Document Title
US09048144B2	Display device With an increase in the definition of a display device, the number of pixels is increased, and thus the numbers of gate lines and signal lines are increased. Due to the increase in the numbers of gate lines and signal lines, it is difficult to mount an IC chip having a driver circuit for driving the gate and signal lines by bonding or the like, which causes an increase in manufacturing costs. A pixel portion and a driver circuit for driving the pixel portion are formed over one substrate. At least a part of the driver circuit is formed using an inverted staggered thin film transistor in which an oxide semiconductor is used. The driver circuit as well as the pixel portion is provided over the same substrate, whereby manufacturing costs are reduced.
US09048143B2	Defect-resistant thin film transistor array panel and manufacturing method thereof A thin film transistor array panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate; a gate line disposed on the substrate; a gate insulating layer disposed on the gate line; a semiconductor disposed on the gate insulating layer; a data line disposed on the semiconductor and including a source electrode; a drain electrode disposed on the semiconductor and facing the source electrode; a first electrode disposed on the gate insulating layer; a protection electrode disposed on the data line; a passivation layer disposed on the first electrode and the protection electrode; and a second electrode disposed on the passivation layer, wherein the protection electrode comprises the same material as the first electrode.
US09048137B2	Scalable gate logic non-volatile memory cells and arrays Scalable Gate Logic Non-Volatile Memory (SGLNVM) devices fabricated with the conventional CMOS process is disclosed. Floating gates of SGLNVM with the minimal length and width of the logic gate devices form floating gate Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor. The floating gates with the minimal gate length extend over silicon active areas to capacitively couple control gates embedded in silicon substrate (well) through an insulation dielectric. The embedded control gate is formed by a shallow semiconductor type opposite to the type of the silicon substrate or well. Plurality of SGLNVM devices are configured into a NOR-type flash array where a pair of SGLNVM devices share a common source electrode connected to a common ground line with two drain electrodes connected to two separate bitlines. The pairs of the NOR-type SGLNVM cells are physically separated and electrically isolated by dummy floating gates to minimize cell sizes.
US09048123B2	Interdigitated finFETs A semiconductor device includes a first fin rising out of a semiconductor base. It further includes a second fin rising out of the semiconductor base. The second fin is substantially parallel to the first fin that forms a span between the first fin and the second fin. A first dielectric layer is deposited on exposed surfaces of a first gate body area of the first fin, a second gate body area of the second fin, and an adjacent surface of the semiconductor base that defines the span between the first and second gate body areas. A gate electrode layer is sandwiched between the first dielectric layer and a second dielectric layer. The semiconductor device includes a third fin interdigitated between the first fin and the second fin within the span. Exposed surfaces of the gate body area of the third fin are in contact with the second dielectric layer.
US09048117B2	Pulse output circuit, display device, and electronic device An object of the present invention is to suppress deterioration in the thin film transistor. A plurality of pulse output circuits each include first to eleventh thin film transistors is formed. The pulse output circuit is operated on the basis of a plurality of clock signals which control each transistor, the previous stage signal input from a pulse output circuit in the previous stage, the next stage signal input from a pulse output circuit in the next stage, and a reset signal. In addition, a microcrystalline semiconductor is used for a semiconductor layer serving as a channel region of each transistor. Therefore, degradation of characteristics of the transistor can be suppressed.
US09048115B2	Superjunction transistor with implantation barrier at the bottom of a trench A method for fabricating a semiconductor device is provided. An epitaxial layer is grown on a substrate, wherein the epitaxial layer and the substrate have a first conductivity type. A trench is formed in the epitaxial layer. A barrier region is formed at a bottom of the trench. A doped region of a second conductivity type is formed in the epitaxial layer and surrounds sidewalls of the trench, wherein the barrier region prevents a dopant used for forming the doped region from reaching the epitaxial layer under the barrier region. The trench is filled with a dielectric material. A pair of polysilicon gates is formed on the epitaxial layer and on both sides of the trench.
US09048114B2	Electronic device with an active region and transistors A semiconductor device has a first and second transistors formed on an active region defined by an insulating region. The active region is divided into a first and second portions arranged in a first direction, and into a third and fourth portions interposed between the first portion and the second portion, and provided adjacent to each other in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. The first transistor is provided in the first and third portions, and the second transistor is provided in the second and fourth portions.
US09048107B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor layer; a first type of a first semiconductor element that is arranged in a first element region of the semiconductor layer, has first and second main electrodes, and switches current; and a second type of a second semiconductor element that is arranged in a second element region of the semiconductor layer, has third and fourth main electrodes, and freewheels the current. The first and second element regions are adjacent in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which current flows, and are formed in a loop shape over the entire element region when the semiconductor layer is viewed from above. The first main electrode is electrically connected to the third main electrode, and the second main electrode is electrically connected to the fourth main electrode. When the semiconductor layer is viewed from above, a ratio of a length of the first main electrode to a length of the second main electrode is larger than a ratio of a length of the third main electrode to a length of the fourth main electrode.
US09048105B2	Semiconductor integrated circuit To reduce power consumption of a memory device. To reduce the area of a memory device. To reduce the number of transistors included in a memory device. The memory device includes a comparator comparing a first output signal with a second output signal, a first memory portion including a first oxide semiconductor transistor and a first silicon transistor, a second memory portion including a second oxide semiconductor transistor and a second silicon transistor, and an output potential determiner determining a potential of the first output signal and a potential of the second output signal. One of a source and a drain of the first oxide semiconductor transistor is electrically connected to a gate of the first silicon transistor. One of a source and a drain of the second oxide semiconductor transistor is electrically connected to a gate of the second silicon transistor.
US09048103B2	Method for producing semiconductor device A method for producing a semiconductor device (20) is disclosed. The semiconductor device (20) includes: 1) a semiconductor substrate (1, 2), 2) a hetero semiconductor area (3) configured to contact a first main face (1A) of the semiconductor substrate (1, 2) and different from the semiconductor substrate (1, 2) in band gap, 3) a gate electrode (7) contacting, via a gate insulating film (6), a part of a junction part (13) between the hetero semiconductor area (3) and the semiconductor substrate (1, 2), 4) a source electrode (8) configured to connect to the hetero semiconductor area (3), and 5) a drain electrode (9) configured to make an ohmic connection with the semiconductor substrate (1, 2). The method includes the following sequential operations: i) forming the gate insulating film (6); and ii) nitriding the gate insulating film (6).
US09048101B2	ESD protection circuit One embodiment of the disclosure provides an electrostatic discharge protection circuit, including a first resistor, a p-type field effect transistor, a capacitance device and an n-type field effect transistor. The first resistor has a first terminal coupled to a first rail and a second terminal coupled to a first node. The p-type field effect transistor has a source coupled to the first rail, a gate coupled to the first node and a drain coupled to a second node. The capacitance device has a first terminal coupled to a second rail or the second node and a second terminal coupled to the first node. The n-type field effect transistor has a source coupled to the second rail, a gate coupled to the second node and a drain coupled to the first node.
US09048095B2	Method for manufacturing a semiconductor device having a channel region in a trench A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a semiconductor diode by forming a drift region, forming a first semiconductor region of a first conductivity type in or on the drift region and electrically coupling the first semiconductor region to a first terminal via a first surface of a semiconductor body, etching a trench into the semiconductor body, and forming a channel region of a second conductivity type in the trench and electrically coupling the channel region to the first terminal via the first surface of the semiconductor body. A first side of the channel region adjoins the first semiconductor region.
US09048094B2	Method for manufacturing semiconductor device comprising forming oxide semiconductor by sputtering It is an object to provide a thin film transistor having favorable electric characteristics and high reliability and a semiconductor device which includes the thin film transistor as a switching element. An In—Ga—Zn—O-based film having an incubation state that shows an electron diffraction pattern, which is different from a conventionally known amorphous state where a halo shape pattern appears and from a conventionally known crystal state where a spot appears clearly, is formed. The In—Ga—Zn—O-based film having an incubation state is used for a channel formation region of a channel etched thin film transistor.
US09048093B2	Method for manufacturing silicon carbide semiconductor device A single crystal substrate made of silicon carbide and a first support substrate having a size greater than a size of each of the single crystal substrates are prepared. The single crystal substrate is bonded onto the first support substrate. Process on the single crystal substrate bonded to the first support substrate is performed. The first support substrate is removed. The single crystal substrate is subjected to heat treatment. The single crystal substrate is bonded onto a second support substrate having a size greater than the size of the single crystal substrate. Process on the single crystal substrate bonded to the second support substrate is performed.
US09048088B2	Processes and solutions for substrate cleaning and electroless deposition This invention pertains to fabrication of devices. One embodiment is a method of substrate cleaning and electroless deposition of a cap layer for an integrated circuit. The method is performed on a substrate having a surface comprising a metal and dielectric damascene metallization layer. The method comprises exposing the surface of the substrate to a cleaning solution sufficient to clean the surface of the substrate and exposing the surface of the substrate to an electroless deposition solution sufficient to deposit the cap layer. Other embodiments of the present invention include solutions to clean the substrate and solutions to accomplish electroless deposition.
US09048086B2	Substrate recycling method Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a substrate recycling method and a recycled substrate. The method includes separating a first surface of a substrate from an epitaxial layer; forming a protective layer on an opposing second surface of the substrate; electrochemically etching the first surface of the substrate; and chemically etching the electrochemically etched first surface of the substrate.
US09048077B2	Systems, devices, and methods for sample analysis using mass spectrometry A mass spectrometry system for screening a sample for one or more analytes includes a pre-mass spectrometry screening apparatus configured to pre-screen an ionized sample to generate output correlated to the composition of the sample, and a mass spectrometer. A sample gate is opened to allow flow of at least a portion of the ionized sample to the mass spectrometer and closed to prevent flow of the ionized sample to the mass spectrometer. A processing system compares results of the pre-mass spectrometry screening to an analyte database, wherein correlation of the results to an analyte within the analyte database comprises a preliminary positive identification. When the processing system determines that a preliminary positive identification is made, it causes the gate to open for a period of time. However, when the processing system determines that a preliminary positive identification is not made, it causes the gate to remain closed.
US09048076B2	Non-contact trace chemical screening Methods and devices for detecting a target substance on a subject without contacting the subject are disclosed. At least one air jet blows analyte from a surface of the subject into an airflow, the airflow entraining the analyte. A desorption channel desorbs molecules from analyte in a portion of the airflow travelling through the desorption channel. An ionizer forms ions from vapor molecules in the portion of the airflow. At least one mass spectrometer analyzes the ions to detect the target substance. The flow travels without interruption from the subject to the at least one mass spectrometer. The desorption channel causes a sufficient quantity of molecules to desorb from the analyte to enable the at least one mass spectrometer to detect the target substance.
US09048074B2	Multinotch isolation for MS3 mass analysis A mass spectrometry method for analyzing isobarically-labeled analyte compounds comprising (a) ionizing compounds including the isobarically-labeled analyte compounds to generate a plurality of precursor ion species comprising different respective m/z ratios, (b) isolating a precursor ion species, (c) fragmenting the precursor ion species to generate a plurality of first-generation fragment ion species comprising different respective m/z ratios, and (d) selecting and co-isolating two or more of the first-generation product-ion species, the method characterized by: (e) fragmenting all of the selected and isolated first-generation product ion species so as to generate a plurality of second-generation fragment ion species including released label ions; (f) generating a mass spectrum of the second-generation fragment ion species; and (g) generating quantitative information relating to at least one analyte compound based on peaks of the mass spectrum attributable to the released label ions.
US09048073B2	Mass spectrometer A mass spectrometer is disclosed comprising an ion mobility spectrometer or separator and an ion guide arranged downstream of the ion mobility spectrometer or separator. A plurality of axial potential wells are created in the ion guide so that ions received from the ion mobility spectrometer or separator become confined in separate axial potential wells. The potential wells maintain the fidelity and/or composition of ions received from the ion mobility spectrometer or separator. The potential wells are translated along the length of the ion guide.
US09048070B2	Dielectric window for plasma treatment device, and plasma treatment device A dielectric window for a plasma treatment device for a plasma treatment device that uses microwaves as a plasma source. The dielectric window is circular-plate-shaped and allows microwaves to propagate. The dielectric window has a recess that has an opening on the lower-surface side and that indents in the plate thickness direction of the dielectric window, and is provided to the lower surface at which plasma is generated when the dielectric window is provided to the plasma treatment device. The recess has a bottom surface extending in the direction perpendicular to the plate thickness direction, and a side surface extending in the plate thickness direction from the circumferential edge of the bottom surface toward the opening of the recess. In addition, an inclined surface extends at an incline relative to the plate thickness direction from the opening-side circumferential edge of the side surface toward the opening of the recess.
US09048063B1	Electron beam apparatus This invention provides a method for improving performance of a reflective type energy filter for a charged particle beam, which employs a beam-adjusting lens on an entrance side of a potential barrier of the energy filter to make the charged particle beam become a substantially parallel beam to be incident onto the potential barrier. The method makes the energy filter have both a fine energy-discrimination power over a large emission angle spread and a high uniformity of energy-discrimination powers over a large FOV. A LVSEM using this method in the energy filter can obviously improve image contrast. The invention also provides multiple energy-discrimination detection devices formed by using the advantages of the method.
US09048061B2	X-ray scanners and X-ray sources therefor The present invention is directed toward an X-ray scanner that has an electron source and an anode. The anode has a target surface with a series of material areas spaced along it in a scanning direction. The material areas are formed from different materials. The electron source is arranged to direct electrons at a series of target areas of the target surface, in a predetermined order, so as to generate X-ray beams having different energy spectra.
US09048059B2	Stacked x-ray tube apparatus using spacer The present disclosure relates to a stacked x-ray tube apparatus using a spacer, and more particularly, to a stacked x-ray tube apparatus using a spacer that makes it possible to reduce the size of an x-ray tube by forming a stacked structure, with electric insulation and predetermined gaps maintained for each electrode, by forming a stacked x-ray tube by inserting insulating spacers (for example, ceramic) between a exhausting port, a cathode, a gate, a focusing electrode, and an anode and bonding them with an adhesive substance, and then inserting a spacer between a field emitter on a cathode substrate and a gate hole connected with a gate electrode.
US09048055B2	Method for making carbon nanotube slurry A method for making carbon nanotube slurry is presented. At least one carbon nanotube film is provided, the at least one carbon nanotube film includes a plurality of carbon nanotubes oriented along substantially the same direction. A substrate is provided, and the at least one carbon nanotube film is attached to a surface of the substrate. The at least one carbon nanotube film is cut perpendicular the oriented direction of the carbon nanotubes with a laser to form a carbon nanotube belt. An inorganic binder and an organic carrier is provided, the carbon nanotube belt, the inorganic binder, and the organic carrier are mixed in an organic solvent to form a mixture. The organic solvent is removed.
US09048054B2	Circuit breaker with plug on neutral connection lock-out mechanism A circuit breaker is disclosed that has a neutral lock-out mechanism that prevents electrical connection between a power source and a load when a neutral rail is disconnected from the circuit breaker. The circuit breaker has a line connector, a load connector and a plug-on neutral line connector. A trip mechanism has an on position allowing electrical connection between the line connector and the load connector. The trip mechanism has a tripped position interrupting electrical connection between the line connector and the load connector in response to detection of a fault condition such as a short circuit. The trip mechanism also has an off position which is required before resetting the trip mechanism to the on position. A trip link is coupled to the trip mechanism. The trip link has a first position that prevents the trip mechanism from being reset to the on position. The trip link has a second position allowing the trip mechanism to be reset to the on position. A neutral lock mechanism is coupled to the plug-on neutral line connector. The neutral lock mechanism has a tension spring that retains the trip link in the first position when the neutral rail is disconnected from the neutral line connector. When the neutral rail is inserted into the neutral line connector, the tension spring is compressed and the trip link may move to the second position allowing the circuit breaker to be reset.
US09048050B2	Electric power supply control apparatus for vehicle In an electric power supply control apparatus for a motor in a hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle, when a main relay is switched over from an on-state to an off-state, only one of its positive-side switch and negative-side switch is turned off to provide a one-side off-state. Thus the numbers of operations of its switches are reduced in comparison to a system, in which both switches are turned off. When a charging relay is switched over from an on-state to an off-state, only one of a positive-side switch and a negative-side switch is turned off to provide a one-side off-state. Thus the numbers of operations of its switches are also reduced.
US09048049B2	Electromagnetic opening/closing device A malfunction determining unit 7 compares an absolute value of the difference between a first count and a second count stored in a storage unit 8 with a predetermined threshold. If the absolute value is less than a predetermined upper limit, the malfunction determining unit determines that a contact unit 1 has no malfunction. If the absolute value is the upper limit or more, the malfunction determining unit 7 determines that the contact unit 1 has malfunction, and supplies the determination result to a control unit 3. The control unit 3 allows an output unit 10 to output a malfunction detecting signal if receiving the determination result indicating the presence of malfunction from the malfunction determining unit 7.
US09048048B2	Thermal protector A thermal protector for opening and closing an electric circuit, includes: a movable plate having a movable contact point mounted on a one end portion thereof and having a terminal mounted on an opposite end portion thereof; a bypass member joined to the movable plate at the end portions of the movable plate on which the movable contact point and the terminal are mounted; and a thermal responsive element for moving the movable contact point of the movable plate by a snap action thereof to open and close the electric circuit, wherein the bypass member is formed of a first metal material having a higher conductivity than a second metal material of which the movable plate is formed, and the movable plate and the bypass member are joined together and are subjected to heat treatment so that the first metal material of the bypass member is softened while the second metal material of the movable plate is precipitation-hardened.
US09048043B2	Push button switch assembly Push button switch assembly for insertion in a control panel of a domestic appliance, the push button switch assembly comprising at least one push button having a push button cap and a separately formed actuating element, in particular an actuating pin, which extends between the push button cap and an electric switching element of the domestic appliance and upon actuating of the push button cap cooperates therewith and acts on the electric switching element to effect a switching operation, and a frame receiving and guiding the at least one push button cap, wherein at least one spring leg is arranged at the actuating element, which counteracts the actuating of the push button cap.
US09048038B2	Three-position actuator for switchgear An actuator comprising: a disconnecting switch drive shaft; a first drive gear axially coupled to the drive shaft; a first follower gear in engagement with the first drive gear; a first drive disc having a first drive roller; a first rotary shaft axially supporting the first follower gear and the first drive disc; an earthing switch drive shaft; a second drive gear axially coupled to the earthing switch drive shaft; a second follower gear in engagement with the second drive gear; a second drive disc having a second drive roller; a second rotary shaft; a zeneva disc having a pair of groove portions which the first drive roller or the second drive roller is inserted into or separated from; and a main shaft for switching the disconnecting switch or the earthing switch in accordance with the rotation of the zeneva disc.
US09048035B2	Light-emitting button key and manufacturing method thereof A manufacturing method of a light-emitting button key includes a pressing step of pressing a metal plate and forming a button body opened in one direction; an adhesive coating step of coating an adhesive in the button body; an injection-molding step of injecting a synthetic resin formed of a transparent or semitransparent material into the button body in which an adhesive layer is formed by the adhesive; and a groove machining step of penetrating the button body and adhesive layer from an outside of the button body and thus forming a light transmission groove corresponding to a character, number or symbol. The light transmission groove is formed in the groove machining step is not passed through the penetration part, and the light emitted from the rear side of the button body is radiated to an outside through the penetration part and light transmission groove.
US09048024B2	Solid electrolytic capacitor and method for producing the same The present invention provides a solid electrolytic capacitor and a method producing the same, in which high reliability is realized and further in which the product yield is improved by suppressing the increase of ESR or the like. In the present invention, the electroconductive polymer layer includes first electroconductive polymer layer 3 and second electroconductive polymer layer 10, in which first electroconductive polymer layer 3 covers the surface of dielectric polymer 2, and the second electroconductive polymer layer is provided on a surface of first electroconductive polymer layer 3 covering the bottom surface and the side surfaces, and is provide with opening at least a part of the leading surface of first electroconductive polymer layer 3.
US09048023B2	Tunable capacitor A tunable capacitor includes a first electrode and a second electrode, each being formed of a conductive material. The tunable capacitor further includes a third electrode between the first electrode and the second electrode, and a dielectric material interposed between the first electrode and the third electrode, and between the second electrode and the third electrode. The third electrode is movable relative to the first electrode and the second electrode by a stepper motor, to adjust and tune a capacitance of the tunable capacitor.
US09048018B2	Low inductance transformer A transformer has first and second transformer windings including multiple differential ports. Each of the first and second transformer windings include a first transformer half-winding coupled to a first differential port of the differential ports. Each of the first and second transformer windings also include a second transformer half-winding coupled to a second differential port of the differential ports. Each of the first and second transformer windings is divided symmetrically at a common node to form the respective first and second transformer half-windings. The first transformer half-winding is configured to form one half of an inductance in each of the first and second transformer windings. The second transformer half-winding is configured to form another half of the inductance in each of the first and second transformer windings. The common node of the first transformer winding is configured to receive a supply voltage.
US09048015B2	High-temperature superconductor (HTS) coil A high-temperature superconductor (HTS) coil includes a coil winding with a superconducting material and a coil former for carrying the coil winding. When the high-temperature supercon-ductor (HTS) coil cools down from a room temperature to an operating temperature, the coil winding or the coil former counteract a thermal shrinkage of the coil winding in order to avoid or reduce a longitudinal compression of the superconducting material of the coil winding.
US09048010B2	Method for preparing an electrically conducting article A method for manufacturing an electrically conducting article is disclosed. According to some aspects, the method includes dry mixing a powder comprising at least one thermosetting resin, a hardener compound powder for the resin and an electrically conducting filler powder, the thermosetting resin including at least two epoxide groups. The method further includes thermocompressing the mixture of powders in a mold with a shape adapted to the article and at an effective temperature for obtaining cross-linking of the resin.
US09048009B2	Highly conductive composites Domain segregation of polymer blends or block copolymers in the presence of thermal conducting high aspect ratio nanocrystals leads to preferential placement of conductive filler either inside one domain, which promote the self-assembly of a thermal and/or electrical conducting pathway composed of high aspect ratio filler. The self-assembly of such thermal and/or electrical conducting pathway effectively enhances the thermal and/or electrical conductivity of the composite with significantly less amount of filler.
US09048006B2	Carbon nanotube precursor, carbon nanotube film and method for making the same A carbon nanotube film includes a plurality of carbon nanotubes. The plurality of carbon nanotubes is arranged approximately along a same first direction. The plurality of carbon nanotubes are joined end to end by van der Waals attractive force therebetween. The carbon nanotube film has a uniform width. The carbon nanotube film has substantially the same density of the carbon nanotubes along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The change in density across the width is within 10 percent. The present application also relates to a carbon nanotube film precursor and a method for making the carbon nanotube film.
US09048000B2	High brightness laser-driven light source An apparatus for producing light includes a chamber and an ignition source that ionizes a gas within the chamber. The apparatus also includes at least one laser that provides energy to the ionized gas within the chamber to produce a high brightness light. The laser can provide a substantially continuous amount of energy to the ionized gas to generate a substantially continuous high brightness light.
US09047999B2	Three-dimensional focused anti-scatter grid and method for manufacturing thereof A device for, and method of manufacture of, a focused anti-scatter grid for improving the image contrast of x-ray images produced in medical, veterinary or industrial applications. The grid comprising a series of modular units so juxtaposed with each other as to form a series of focused channels for the passage of the focused imaging x-rays. The modules comprise a series of focusing ribbons of a heavy metal or a series of mating solid arcuate forms, formed of a polymer and having on at least one side surface a layer of heavy metal.
US09047995B2	Method and system for designing a nuclear reactor core for uprated power operations In a method of designing a nuclear reactor core for uprated power operations, a set of constraints are inputted to be satisfied for uprated power operations, and a test reactor core design is generated based on the constraints. One or more automated tools may be selected from a set of automated tools to evaluate the test core design against the constraints. The selected tool may then be operated. Operation of the selected automated tool includes simulating reactor operation with the test core design, based on the constraints, to produce a plurality of outputs, comparing the outputs against the constraints, and providing data indicating constraints that were violated by the test core design during the simulation, based on the comparison. One or more of the automated tools are iterated until a test core design meets all constraints for uprated power operations, thereby representing an acceptable power uprate core design.
US09047994B2	Core of light water reactor and fuel assembly A core of a light water reactor has a plurality of fuel assemblies. The fuel assemblies include a plurality of fuel rods in which a lower end is supported by a lower tie-plate and an upper end is supported by an upper tie-plate. The fuel rods form plenums above a nuclear fuel material zone and have a neutron absorbing material filling zone under the nuclear fuel material zone. Neutron absorbing members attached to the upper tie-plate are disposed between mutual plenums of the neighboring fuel rods above the nuclear fuel material zone. The neutron absorbing members have a length of 500 mm and are positioned at a distance of 300 mm from the nuclear fuel material zone. Even if the overall core is assumed to become a state of 100% void, no positive reactivity is inserted to the core.
US09047992B2	Suspended storage system for pharmacy A storage system for a pharmacy that has a frame containing a rack-like structure with a plurality of storage carriers detachably suspended therefrom. The carriers are sized to receive filled prescription orders and the like and include individual identifiers that facilitate locating the carriers at a specific location on the rack-like structure. Preferably, the storage system includes a tracking system that detects, monitors, and displays to a worker the location of the storage carrier containing a particular customer's prescription order, thereby providing easy retrieval of the customer's prescription order.
US09047989B2	Semiconductor device, adjustment method thereof and data processing system A method includes resetting an output timing adjustment circuit in each of a plurality of DRAM devices to a default output timing data value, measuring a default delay from read command to read data for each of the plurality of DRAM devices, identifying a slowest DRAM device having a maximum default delay from read command to read data among the plurality of DRAM devices, writing an output timing data value to the output timing adjustment circuit in each of the plurality of DRAM devices to set the delay from read command to read data for each respective DRAM device to an amount substantially equal to the maximum default delay, and reading data from any one of the plurality of DRAM devices with a delay from read command to read data substantially equal to the maximum default delay.
US09047986B2	Output circuit for semiconductor device, semiconductor device having output circuit, and method of adjusting characteristics of output circuit To decrease the circuit scale necessary for the calibration of the output circuit and to decrease the time required for the calibration operation. The invention includes a first output buffer and a second output buffer that are connected to a data pin, and a calibration circuit that is connected to a calibration pin. The first output buffer and the second output buffer include plural unit buffers. The unit buffers have mutually the same circuit structures. With this arrangement, the impedances of the first output buffer and the second output buffer can be set in common, based on the calibration operation using the calibration circuit. Consequently, both the circuit scale necessary for the calibration operation and the time required for the calibration operation can be decreased.
US09047985B2	Apparatus, storage device, switch and methods, which include microstructures extending from a support An apparatus has a support and a plurality of bendable and conductive microstructures extending from the support. Two adjacent microstructures of the plurality of microstructures define a detectable first state if they are not bent such that end portions thereof, which are distal with respect to the support, do not touch each other, and the two adjacent microstructures of the plurality of microstructures define a detectable second state if they are bent such that the end portions thereof, which are distal with respect to the support, touch each other and are fixed to each other.
US09047981B2	Bit-flipping in memories Data stored in SRAM cells are periodically flipped e.g., before long idle periods. Operating the memories in both a ‘flipped’ mode and a ‘non-flipped’ mode helps cause the Bias Temperature Instability (BTI) degradation to be symmetric, thereby not degrading the Static Noise Margin (SNM) degradation of the cells. The data stored in memory locations is flipped by reading out the data, inverting the read out data, and writing the inverted read out data into the memory locations until the memory locations of the SRAM have been read out and written. When the memory operates in flipped mode, data read from and written into the memory is inverted to maintain transparency to the memory user. After operating the data in flipped mode for a period of time, the flipped data stored in the memory is reflipped to operate in the non-flipped mode.
US09047980B2	Sense amplifier for static random access memory with a pair of complementary data lines isolated from a corresponding pair of complementary bit lines A sense amplifier for a static random access memory (SRAM) is described. In one embodiment, a first pass gate transistor is driven by a bit line true associated with an SRAM cell. A second pass gate transistor is driven by a bit line complement associated with the SRAM cell. A first pull down transistor is coupled to the first pass gate transistor and a second pull down transistor is coupled to the second pass gate transistor. A data line true is coupled to a node coupling the first pull down transistor with the first pass gate transistor. A data line complement is coupled to a node coupling the second pull down transistor with the second pass gate transistor.
US09047979B2	Semiconductor device including plural chips stacked to each other A method for accessing a plurality of DRAM devices each having a plurality of banks, includes determining an operating mode for the plurality of DRAM devices, providing a chip selection address and a bank address with an active command to activate a first bank in a first one of the plurality of DRAM devices and, while the first bank in the first one of the plurality of DRAM devices is activated, one or more first banks in remaining DRAM devices of the plurality of DRAM devices are: not activated if the operating mode is determined to be a logical rank address mode, and possibly activated if the operating mode is determined to be a physical rank address mode, and subsequently providing at least a bank address with a column command to access the first bank in the first one of the plurality of DRAM devices.
US09047969B2	Method of writing to a spin torque magnetic random access memory A method includes destructively reading bits of a spin torque magnetic random access memory and immediately writing back the original or inverted values. A detection of the majority state of the write back bits and a conditional inversion of write back bits are employed to reduce the number of write back pulses. A subsequent write command received within a specified time or before an original write operation is commenced will cause a portion of the write back pulses or the original write operation pulses to abort. Write pulses during subsequent write operations will follow the conditional inversion determined for the write back bits during destructive read.
US09047964B2	Multi-level memory cell using multiple magnetic tunnel junctions with varying MGO thickness A Multi-Level Memory Cell (MLC) using multiple Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ) structures having one or more layers with varying thickness is disclosed. The multiple MTJ structures, which are vertically stacked and arranged in series, may have substantially identical area dimensions to minimize fabrication costs because one mask can be used to pattern the multiple MTJ structures. Further, varying the thicknesses associated with the one or more layers may provide the multiple MTJ structures with different switching current densities and thereby increase memory density and improve read and write operations. In one embodiment, the layers with the varying thicknesses may include tunnel barriers or magnesium oxide layers associated with the multiple MTJ structures and/or free layers associated with the multiple MTJ structures.
US09047963B2	High density magnetic memory based on nanotubes A novel magnetic memory cell utilizing nanotubes as conducting leads. The magnetic memory cell may be built based on MTJ (Magnetic Tunnel Junction) or GMR (Giant Magneto Resistance) sensors or devices of similar nature. A SET (Single Electron Transistor) made of semiconducting nanotubes may be used as access devices and/or to build peripheral circuitry.
US09047962B2	Semiconductor memory device and control method of the same A semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of memory cells and a control circuit configured to apply a program voltage of an initial level to a control electrode of a selected memory cell and then of an increased level a number of times, each time without decreasing the program voltage applied to the control electrode, prior to executing a program verifying operation on the selected memory cell. In addition, the control circuit may further be configured to apply an erase voltage of an initial level to a control electrode of a selected memory cell and then of an increased level a number of times, each time without decreasing the erase voltage applied to the control electrode, prior to executing an erase verifying operation on the selected memory cell.
US09047961B2	Method of operating semiconductor device A semiconductor device is operated by, inter alia: programming selected memory cells by applying a first program voltage which is increased by a first step voltage to a selected word line and by applying a first pass voltage having a constant level to unselected word lines, and when a voltage difference between the first program voltage and the first pass voltage reaches a predetermined voltage difference, programming the selected memory cells by applying a second program voltage which is increased by a second step voltage lower than the first step voltage to the selected word line and by applying a second pass voltage which is increased in proportion to the second program voltage to first unselected word lines adjacent to the selected word line among the unselected word lines.
US09047958B2	Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device A non-volatile semiconductor memory device according to one embodiment includes: a cell array; and a data writing unit that repeatedly executes a write loop including a programming operation of applying a program voltage to a selected word line and a passage voltage to non-selected word lines during writing of data, in which, when a difference between the passage voltage used in an n-th write loop and the passage voltage used in an n+1-th write loop is expressed as ΔVn and when a condition of L
US09047955B2	Adjusting operating parameters for memory cells based on wordline address and cycle information Disclosed is an apparatus and method for adjusting operating parameters in a storage device. A controller in a solid state drive monitors current operating conditions for blocks of memory used to store data in the drive. When a block has been subjected to a predetermined number of program/erase cycles one or more stored bias values are retrieved from a storage location based on the wordline(s) associated with a current memory operation. The one or more parameters of the memory operation are then adjusted based on the one or more stored bias values, and the memory operation performed on the block of memory cells using the adjusted parameters.
US09047951B2	Semiconductor memory device According to an embodiment, sense amplifiers are arranged one by one within an arrangement width of k bit lines in a direction of the bit lines, and determine data stored in the memory cells, based on potentials of the respective bit lines. Transistors constituting the sense amplifier are arranged one by one within an arrangement width of the sense amplifier in the direction of the bit lines. A gate length direction of the transistors is identical to the direction of the bit lines. A longer side direction of a contact electrode connected to an active area of the transistor is identical to the direction of the bit lines.
US09047948B1	Programmable window of operation for CBRAM Structures and methods for control of an operating window of a programmable impedance element are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device can include: (i) a memory array having a programmable impedance element; (ii) a register configured to be programmed with data that represents an erase verify value, a program verify value, and a read trip point resistance value, for the memory array; (iii) a controller configured to determine a mode of operation for the memory array; (iv) a register access circuit configured to read the register to obtain data that corresponds to the mode of operation; and (v) a voltage generator configured to generate a reference voltage based on the register data, where the reference voltage is used to perform an operation on the programmable impedance element corresponding to the mode of operation.
US09047947B2	Semiconductor device including register components A register circuit is provided which can hold data even after being powered off and which does not require a save operation and a return operation. In a register circuit including a plurality of register component circuits, a first transistor with small off-state current, and a second transistor with small off-state current, a data holding portion is connected to one of a source and a drain of the first transistor and one of a source and a drain of the second transistor. Since the first transistor and the second transistor have a small off-state current, electric charge does not leak from the data holding portion, and data is held by the data holding portion even after the register circuit is powered off. Thus, a save operation and a return operation are not required.
US09047946B2	Read circuit and non-volatile memory using the read circuit A read circuit includes a current load circuit configured to supply a load current from a power source to a first input and a second input; a first discharge circuit configured to discharge potential of the first and second inputs to a ground level; an equalization circuit configured to equalize the potential of the first and second inputs; a differential circuit configured to receive the first and second inputs as differential inputs, and to output a first output and a second read output as differential outputs; and a second discharge circuit configured to discharge potential of the first and second read outputs to the ground level.
US09047945B2	Systems and methods for reading resistive random access memory (RRAM) cells A system including a resistive random access memory cell connected to a word line and a bit line and a pre-charge circuit configured to pre-charge the bit line to a first voltage with the word line being unselected. A driver circuit selects the word line at a first time subsequent to the bit line being charged to the first voltage. A comparator compares a second voltage on the bit line to a third voltage supplied to the comparator and generates an output based on the comparison. A latch latches the output of the comparator and generates a latched output. A pulse generator generates a pulse after a delay subsequent to the first time to clock the latch to latch the output of the comparator and generate the latched output. The latched output indicates a state of the resistive random access memory cell.
US09047941B2	Organic molecular memory An organic molecular memory of an embodiment includes a first conductive layer, a second conductive layer, and an organic molecular layer interposed between the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer, the organic molecular layer including charge-storage molecular chains or variable-resistance molecular chains, the charge-storage molecular chains or the variable-resistance molecular chains including fused polycyclic groups.
US09047939B2	Circuit for concurrent read operation and method therefor A non-volatile memory device includes an array of memory units, each having resistive memory cells and a local word line. Each memory cell has a first and a second end, the second ends are coupled to the local word line of the corresponding memory unit. Bit lines are provided, each coupled to the first end of each resistive memory cell. A plurality of select transistors is provided, each associated with one memory unit and having a drain terminal coupled to the local word line of the associated memory unit. First and second global word lines are provided, each coupled to a control terminal of at least one select transistor. First and second source lines are provided, each coupled to a source terminal of at least one select transistor. The memory device is configured to concurrently read out all resistive memory cells in one selected memory unit in a read operation.
US09047933B2	High speed signaling techniques to improve performance of integrated circuits Techniques are presented to improve the performance, accuracy and power consumption of on-chip voltage biasing and transmission for highly loaded RC networks (such as wordlines or bitlines in NAND or 3D memory arrays) that are otherwise limited by the physics of RC time constant. When transitioning the near-end voltage of the network, an under-drive or over-drive level is applied, combined with feedback control to estimate when the far-end voltage approaches the desired level.
US09047932B1	Data storage device adjusting a power loss threshold based on samples of supply voltage A data storage device is disclosed comprising a non-volatile memory. A supply voltage for powering the non-volatile memory is sampled to generate supply voltage samples. A power loss threshold is adjusted based on the supply voltage samples, and a power loss event is detected based on the power loss threshold and the supply voltage, wherein an emergency operation is executed when the power loss event is detected.
US09047928B2	High voltage switching circuitry for a cross-point array Circuitry for generating voltage levels operative to perform data operations on non-volatile re-writeable memory arrays are disclosed. In some embodiments an integrated circuit includes a substrate and a base layer formed on the substrate to include active devices configured to operate within a first voltage range. Further, the integrated circuit can include a cross-point memory array formed above the base layer and including re-writable two-terminal memory cells that are configured to operate, for example, within a second voltage range that is greater than the first voltage range. Conductive array lines in the cross-point memory array are electrically coupled with the active devices in the base layer. The integrated circuit also can include X-line decoders and Y-line decoders that include devices that operate in the first voltage range. The active devices can include other active circuitry such as sense amps for reading data from the memory cells, for example.
US09047924B1	Magnetic disk device and method of data refresh processing A magnetic disk device according to an embodiment is provided with a magnetic disk including a recording surface with a plurality of tracks on which data is recorded, a head configured to write the data to the recording surface, and a controller configured to count a write count corresponding to a number of writes by the head, and to perform data refresh when the write count exceeds a threshold. While counting the write count, the controller counts using a first count-up value when the head performs an on-track write, and counts using a second count-up value higher than the first count-up value when the head performs an off-track write.
US09047918B2	Adaptive soft-output detector for magnetic tape read channels In one embodiment, a method includes passing a signal through an adaptive noise whitening filter, wherein one or more noise whitening coefficients used in the noise whitening filter are updated using a noise whitening filter coefficient updater, wherein the noise whitening filter is configured to process the signal according to a transfer polynomial: W(D)=1−(p1D+ . . . +pλ′Dλ′), where p1 . . . pλ′ are noise whitening coefficients, where a tape channel is characterized by a transfer polynomial F(D)=1+f1D+ . . . +fLDL where D is delay corresponding to bit duration, with 2L being a number of states of the tape channel, wherein a soft detector has a total of 2L+λ states, the noise whitening filter comprises 2λ′ states, λ′ is greater than λ, L represents a memory length of the tape channel, and λ represents a memory length of the noise whitening filter.
US09047909B2	Skew adjusting apparatus and optical disc drive including the same A skew adjusting apparatus is provided. The skew adjusting apparatus includes a plurality of skew support members provided on a base mold coupled to a base chassis to have an elastic force, and a plurality of skew screws configured to couple a motor plate that supports a spindle motor to the base mold.
US09047908B2	Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head with diffusion barrier between waveguide core and write pole lip A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head in which the core of the optical waveguide has an end face that abuts the NFT and the write pole lip has a diffusion barrier between the end face of the waveguide core and the write pole lip. The diffusion barrier layer may also be located between the waveguide core end face and the NFT, in which case it is formed of an optically transparent material, like TaNx, TiNx, ZrNx, HfNx, NbNx, CrNx, VNx, TiC, TaC, WC, SiC or SiNx, or a layer of Au, Ru, Rh or Ir with a thickness less than 5 nm. In addition to being located between both the NFT and the write pole lip and the waveguide core end face, the diffusion barrier layer may also be located between the waveguide core and the lower waveguide cladding layer.
US09047903B2	Perpendicular magnetic recording medium and process for manufacture thereof An object of the present invention is to provide a perpendicular magnetic recording medium in which each space between crystal grains of a first magnetic recording layer is so designed as to allow the layer to also have a function as a continuous layer, and a method of manufacturing a perpendicular magnetic recording medium. In a perpendicular magnetic recording medium 100 according to the present invention, a first magnetic recording layer 122a and a second magnetic recording layer 122b are ferromagnetic layers each having a granular structure in which a grain boundary part made of a non-magnetic substance is formed between crystal grains each grown in a column shape and, in the first magnetic recording layer 122a, an intergranular distance defined by an average of shortest distances between grain boundary parts each between a crystal grain and its adjacent crystal grain is equal to or shorter than 1 nm.
US09047902B1	Touchdown sensor having a more stable crystal structure for use in hard disk drives A method and system for providing a touchdown sensor for use in disk drive is described. The touchdown sensor includes a seed layer, a sensor layer on the seed layer, and a capping layer. The sensor layer includes NiFe. In some embodiments, at least one of the seed layer and the capping layer promote stability and performance of the sensor layer.
US09047899B1	Servo pattern of a tape storage medium A tape storage medium comprises at least one servo band (SB) along a longitudinal extension (x) of the tape storage medium (TP) for supporting to determine positional information. The servo band (SB) comprises a set of servo tracks (STx) extending along the longitudinal extension (x) of the tape storage medium (TP) and arranged next to each other. Each servo track (STx) of the set contains a servo pattern with a pseudo noise sequence (PN_x) of symbols, wherein the pseudo noise sequences (PN_x) of servo patterns of adjacent servo tracks (STx) are different from each other. The set of servo tracks (STx) contains at least three servo tracks (STx) with different pseudo noise sequences (PN_x).
US09047898B2	Head-medium contact detection using introduced heat oscillation An apparatus includes a head transducer configured to interact with a magnetic recording medium and a heater configured to thermally actuate the head transducer. A thermal sensor at or near the head transducer is configured to produce a sensor signal. Circuitry is coupled to the heater and configured to cause an oscillation in heater power. The heater power oscillation causes an oscillation in the sensor signal. A detector is coupled to the thermal sensor and configured to detect head-medium contact using the oscillating sensor signal and heater power.
US09047895B2	Flexure with rigidity reduced due to thinned base insulating layer of aerial wiring part A flexure includes a metal substrate whose front end supports a slider and a wiring part having a base insulating layer and a conductor layer formed on the base insulating layer. The wiring part includes a normal wiring part that is on the metal substrate and an aerial wiring part that is on a space separated from the metal substrate. The base insulating layer of the aerial wiring part is formed to be thinner than that of the normal wiring part. This configuration reduces a rigidity contribution ratio of the wiring part.
US09047891B1	Current-perpendicular-to-the-plane giant magnetoresistance (CPP-GMR) sensor with indium-zinc-oxide (IZO) spacer layer A current-perpendicular-to-the-plane giant magnetoresistance (CPP-GMR) sensor has a spacer layer that includes electrically conductive indium-zinc-oxide (IZO), i.e., In2O3 plus ZnO where the ZnO is present between 5-30 weight percent. The spacer layer may include a protective sublayer, like a layer of Ag, below the IZO layer to prevent oxidation of the reference layer from the oxygen in the IZO layer. The spacer layer includes a top layer consisting essentially of Zn located above the IZO layer below the free layer. Measurements from a large number of CPP-GMR sensors with spacer layers of Ag(9 Å)/IZO(20 Å)/Zn(8 Å) show ΔR/R values of about 15-17% and acceptable RA values of around 100 mΩ·μm2.
US09047887B2	Magnetic recording head and disk apparatus with the same According to one embodiment, a magnetic recording head includes a main pole, a write shield facing the main pole with a write gap interposed therebetween, a recording coil, and a high-frequency oscillator including an oscillation layer provided within the write gap between an end portion of the main pole and the write shield, and an intermediate layer and a spin-injection layer stacked on the oscillation layer. The oscillation layer, the intermediate layer and the spin-injection layer are stacked in a direction intersecting the gap length direction of the write gap, and at least one of the oscillation layer and the spin-injection layer is electrically connected to one of the main pole and the write shield.
US09047882B2	Systems and methods for multi-level encoding and decoding A storage system includes a storage medium operable to maintain a data set, a read/write head assembly operable to write the data set to the storage medium and to read the data set from the storage medium, a multi-level encoder operable to encode the data set at a plurality of different code rates before it is written to the storage medium, and a multi-level decoder operable to decode the data set retrieved from the storage medium and to apply decoded values encoded at a lower code rate when decoding values encoded at a higher code rate.
US09047881B2	Nonvolatile corruption resistent magnetic memory and method thereof A method and system for storing information in a nonvolatile memory comprising: a substrate comprising magnetic material operatively associated therewith, the magnetic material having at least one first portion of low permeability and at least one second portion of high permeability; a reader comprising a sensor for reading information by measuring the magnetic permeability for the at least one first portion and the at least one second portion; whereby the at least one first and second portions are subjected to a magnetic probe field from one of an external source, the sensor, or a combination of an external source and the sensor.
US09047879B2	High performance cartridge format A data storage system according to one embodiment includes a magnetic head, a drive mechanism for passing a magnetic medium over the magnetic head, and a controller electrically coupled to the magnetic head. The data storage system is configured to use at least two different track width formats, where which of the at least two different track width formats used by the system during reading and/or writing of data is selectable. A magnetic tape-based data storage system according to another embodiment includes a magnetic head; a drive mechanism for passing a magnetic recording tape over the magnetic head; and a controller electrically coupled to the magnetic head, wherein the system is configured to use at least two different track width formats, wherein which of the at least two different track width formats used by the system during reading and/or writing of data is selectable.
US09047877B2	Method and device for an silence insertion descriptor frame decision based upon variations in sub-band characteristic information A DTX decision method includes: obtaining sub-band signal(s) according to an input signal; obtaining a variation of characteristic information of each of the sub-band signals; and performing DTX decision according to the variation of the characteristic information of each of the sub-band signals. With the invention, a complete and appreciate DTX decision result is obtained by making full use of the noise characteristic in the speech encoding/decoding bandwidth and using band-splitting and layered processing. As a result, the SID encoding/CNG decoding may closely follow the characteristic variation of the actual noise.
US09047876B2	Audio device Disclosed is an audio device that plays back compressed audio signals that can be sufficiently comfortable to be audible even in a play back environment with improved acoustic quality. In order to correct a weak signal component near a frequency with a high output level of a compressed audio, weak-signal component adding unit (121) extracts a specific frequency region based on input audio signals, generates a weak-signal component composed of harmonics signals composed of a harmonic component and the like, and a noise signal and adds the generated weak-signal component to the input audio signal. In order to correct a high-frequency band output level from which compressed audio signals are omitted, high-frequency band audio adding unit (122) generates audio of a high-frequency band composed of a harmonic signal and a noise signal and adds the generated high-frequency band audio to the input audio signal.
US09047873B2	Self contained breathing and communication apparatus A self-contained breathing and communication apparatus is described that can facilitate communication between a first user and a second user. A microphone can record sound when the first user speaks. The microphone can convert the recorded sound to a voice signal. A voice activity detection processor can detect spoken words and informative sounds of the first user from the converted voice signal. For this detection, the voice activity detection processor can remove noise from the voice signal. A voice-to-text processor can convert the detected words and informative sounds to a text message. A transmitter of the transmitting module can transmit the text message to a receiver of the second user via a communication network. A display device of the second user can display the text message on a graphical user interface. Related methods, apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US09047872B1	Automatic speech recognition tuning management A method, a non-transitory computer readable medium and a system for automatic speech recognition tuning management that comprises, collecting an utterance, analyzing the utterance, correlating the collected utterance to the utterance analysis, and fetching at least one of, the collected utterance, the utterance analysis, and the correlation of the collected utterance to the utterance analysis.
US09047871B2	Real—time emotion tracking system Devices, systems, methods, media, and programs for detecting an emotional state change in an audio signal are provided. A plurality of segments of the audio signal is received, with the plurality of segments being sequential. Each segment of the plurality of segments is analyzed, and, for each segment, an emotional state and a confidence score of the emotional state are determined. The emotional state and the confidence score of each segment are sequentially analyzed, and a current emotional state of the audio signal is tracked throughout each of the plurality of segments. For each segment, it is determined whether the current emotional state of the audio signal changes to another emotional state based on the emotional state and the confidence score of the segment.
US09047870B2	Context based language model selection Methods, computer program products and systems are described for speech-to-text conversion. A voice input is received from a user of an electronic device and contextual metadata is received that describes a context of the electronic device at a time when the voice input is received. Multiple base language models are identified, where each base language model corresponds to a distinct textual corpus of content. Using the contextual metadata, an interpolated language model is generated based on contributions from the base language models. The contributions are weighted according to a weighting for each of the base language models. The interpolated language model is used to convert the received voice input to a textual output. The voice input is received at a computer server system that is remote to the electronic device. The textual output is transmitted to the electronic device.
US09047868B1	Language model data collection A specific language model for speech recognition may be built. In some embodiments, the specific language model is associated with a user and built using a corpus of text obtained from a user computing device. In some embodiments, a sequence of words is constructed from the corpus of text. The sequence of words may be obfuscated, and the obfuscated sequence of words may be stored in the specific language model. A server or a user device may use the specific language model in conjunction with a general language model to perform speech recognition on an utterance made by the user.
US09047860B2	Method for concatenating frames in communication system A method for concatenating a first frame of samples and a subsequent second frame of samples, the method comprising applying a phase filter adapted to minimizing a discontinuity at a boundary between the first and second frames of samples.
US09047853B2	Electronic stringed instrument, musical sound generation method and storage medium A CPU 41 detects an operation performed with respect to a plurality of frets 23 provided on a fingerboard 21, decides pitch of a musical sound to be generated based on the detected operation, decides sound generation timing for the musical sound to be generated, instructs a sound source to generate a musical sound of the decided pitch at the decided sound generation timing, and controls the musical sound generated in the sound source 45 based on a state of the detected operation.
US09047852B2	Pole position sliding pickup system The Pole Position Sliding Pickup System changes the way tonal variety is arrived at by electric guitar players. Rather than installing multiple pickups in different positions in order to achieve a limited variety in tone, the Pole Position Sliding Pickup System uses a single pickup which can be moved quickly and easily to any position between the base of the neck and the bridge in order to achieve a much greater variety in tone, and create wah wah-like sound effects by manipulating the pickup at different speeds and distances. Not only are the variety of possible tones increased, but so is the ease with which they can be attained, because the method of sliding the pickup into place is easier than conventional methods of choosing stationary pickups.
US09047848B2	Three stringed fretted musical instrument The disclosed musical instrument is a fretted musical instrument with three strings wherein the fretboard has frets (1) installed at positions corresponding to notes of a diatonic scale with the addition of frets at positions corresponding to 10 semitones from the nut and 15 semitones from the nut, and visual fret line markers at all other semitone positions (3). The fretboard is marked with fret position markers (7) according to the musical interval from the nut (2), rather than the actual number of frets from the nut.
US09047847B2	Displaying clusters of media items on a map using representative media items Displaying media items on a map includes: obtaining a plurality of media items; selecting a first representative media item that defines a first region; determining a first set of media items that belong to the first region; selecting a second representative media item, wherein the second representative media item does not belong to the first region, and the second representative media item defines a second region; determining a second set of media items that belong to the second region; and displaying on the map a first set of media items that belong to the first region and a second set of media items that belong to the second region, including displaying the first representative media item on the map at a first location corresponding to the first region, and displaying the second representative media item on the map at a second location corresponding to the second region.
US09047844B2	Apparatus and method for driving an electro-optical device and an electronic apparatus using a data line driving circuit for supplying a corrected voltage An apparatus for driving an electro-optical device is disclosed. The apparatus includes a plurality of scanning lines, a plurality of data lines that intersect the plurality of scanning lines, and are divided so that the neighboring data lines form another group of data lines, a plurality of pixels provided to correspond to the intersection of the plurality of scanning lines and the plurality of data lines, a data line driving circuit that supplies a correction voltage being simultaneously supplied to the group of data lines and having a fixed polarity with respect to a predetermined potential, and a driving voltage being time-serially supplied to the group of data lines in response to an image signal and having a polarity that is inverted for each frame with respect to the predetermined potential, and a scanning line driving circuit that supplies a scanning signal through the plurality of scanning lines.
US09047841B2	Display apparatus and method of driving the same A display apparatus includes: a display panel which displays an image based on a display mode; a data driver which provides data signals to the display panel; a gate driver which starts an operation thereof in response to a start signal, and comprises stages and at least two dummy stages, where the stages sequentially provides gate signals to the display panel; and a timing controller which selects a signal from the start signal and a reset signal based on the display mode and outputs the selected signal selected to the at least two dummy stages, where each stage receives a clock signal, a previous carry signal from a previous stage, a first subsequent carry signal from a first subsequent stage and a second subsequent carry signal from a second subsequent stage, and outputs a corresponding gate signal of the gate signals and a carry signal.
US09047837B2	Liquid crystal display and method of driving the liquid crystal display A liquid crystal display device (LCD), and a method of driving the LCD. The LCD includes: a display panel including a plurality of pixels defined as a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines cross each other, wherein a storage capacitor of each of the plurality of pixels is connected to a front or rear gate line; a gate driver for generating a gate-on voltage by boosting a first input voltage in multi-stages, the gate-on voltage turns on a switching device of each of the plurality of pixels, and a gate-off voltage that turns off the switching device, and sequentially applying the gate-on voltage and the gate-off voltage to the plurality of gate lines; and a source driver for applying a data voltage to a data line connected to a pixel whose switching device is turned on.
US09047834B2	Method for driving liquid crystal display and liquid crystal display using same An exemplary liquid crystal display (LCD) provides data lines, gate lines, and pixel units arranged as a matrix array. A method for driving the LCD includes a step of analyzing and determining polarities of one column of the pixel units as determining pixels, thereby defining a first polarity group and a second polarity group, and a step of sequentially applying corresponding data signals to a part of the whole pixel units that are arranged at same rows with the first polarity group in a part of a period of a frame. Corresponding data signals are sequentially applied to the other part of the whole pixel units that are arranged at same rows with the second polarity group in another part of a period of a frame.
US09047833B2	Method for driving liquid crystal display and liquid crystal display using same An exemplary liquid crystal display (LCD) provides data lines, gate lines, and pixel units arranged as a matrix array. A method for driving the LCD includes a step of analyzing and determining polarities of one column of the pixel units as determining pixels, thereby defining a first polarity group and a second polarity group, and a step of sequentially applying corresponding data signals to a part of the whole pixel units that are arranged at same rows with the first polarity group in a part of a period of a frame. Corresponding data signals are sequentially applied to the other part of the whole pixel units that are arranged at same rows with the second polarity group in another part of a period of a frame.
US09047832B2	Systems and methods for liquid crystal display column inversion using 2-column demultiplexers Systems, methods, and devices for performing column inversion using 2-column demultiplexers are provided. In one example, an electronic display may include a display panel with columns of pixels configured to be programmed with frames of image data and display driver circuitry. The display driver circuitry may include three demultiplexers, each respectively coupled to one pixel column of a first superpixel and one pixel column of a second superpixel. Each of the three demultiplexers may receive amplified image data of a single polarity per frame.
US09047831B2	Liquid crystal display panel and display driving method A liquid crystal display panel and a display driving method are disclosed. The liquid crystal display panel includes data lines, scan lines, common electrode lines, pixel units, voltage buffer circuits and common electrode controller units. The pixel units are coupled to corresponding data lines and scan lines. Each pixel unit includes a storage capacitor. The pixel units on the same row are coupled to the same common electrode line. The common electrode controller units drive the common electrode lines to re-charge each pixel unit via the storage capacitor. The voltage buffer circuits are coupled between the common electrode controller units and the common electrode lines. The voltage buffer circuits are used for maintaining the voltage levels on each of the common electrode lines when each of the pixel units is not in their data writing period.
US09047829B2	Image display apparatus An image display apparatus includes a dimming value determination circuit for determining a dimming value of a backlight based on an input image signal, an image signal compensation circuit for compensating the input image signal supplied to a liquid crystal panel in accordance with the dimming value, and a backlight drive circuit for driving and controlling the backlight in accordance with the dimming value. When the light emitting luminance of the present frame of the backlight increases relative to the light emitting luminance of the previous frame, the backlight drive circuit delays the timing for applying the dimming value of the present frame. This makes it possible to reduce power consumption of the backlight by suppressing deterioration in the image quality in spite of the sharp change in the display image luminance.
US09047828B2	Liquid crystal display device including signal controllers for driving panel areas and method for driving thereof A liquid crystal display includes: a liquid crystal panel including a first region and a second region; a first signal controller which generates a first representative value representing image signals of the first region; a second signal controller which generates a second representative value representing image signals of the second region and transmits the second representative value to the first signal controller; a light source unit which irradiates light to the liquid crystal panel; and a light source driver which controls luminance of the light source unit. The first signal controller transmits a luminance of the light source unit to the light source driver. The luminance of the light source unit is calculated from the first representative value and the second representative value.
US09047827B2	Display apparatus A display apparatus includes a backlight assembly, a driving circuit part, and a display panel. The backlight assembly emits light. The driving circuit part receives an image signal, converts the image signal into image data, and generates a driving signal based on the image data. The display panel includes at least one pixel in which a plurality of sub-pixels is arranged in a two row by four column array, wherein the panel receives the light to display an image in response to the driving signal, wherein two sub-pixels of the sub-pixels arranged in a first row of the array each comprise a white color filter and two sub-pixels of the sub-pixels arranged in a second row of the array each comprise a white color filter.
US09047821B2	Scan driver and display device using the same A scan driver includes a first decoder generating a plurality of output signals through a plurality of first logic gates, and a second decoder including a plurality of first logic circuits connected to a first terminal of a plurality of scan lines and a plurality of second logic circuits connected to a second terminal of the plurality of scan lines. The plurality of first logic circuits supply a source current to a corresponding scan line according to the corresponding output signal among the plurality of output signals. The plurality of second logic circuits sinks a sink current to the corresponding scan line according to the corresponding output signal among the plurality of output signals.
US09047820B2	Organic light emitting display and method of driving the same A method of driving an organic light emitting display capable of providing a sufficient (e.g., a sufficiently long) data writing period and/or threshold voltage compensating period is provided. The method includes supplying scan signals to odd scan lines in a writing period of an odd frame set to be in a non-emission state, and supplying scan signals to even scan lines in a writing period of an even frame set to be in the non-emission state.
US09047815B2	Method for driving semiconductor device To provide a method for driving a semiconductor device, by which influence of variation in threshold voltage and mobility of transistors can be reduced. The semiconductor device includes an n-channel transistor, a switch for controlling electrical connection between a gate and a first terminal of the transistor, a capacitor electrically connected between the gate and a second terminal of the transistor, and a display element. The method has a first period for holding the sum of a voltage corresponding to the threshold voltage of the transistor and an image signal voltage in the capacitor; a second period for turning on the switch so that electric charge held in the capacitor in accordance with the sum of the image signal voltage and the threshold voltage is discharged through the transistor; and a third period for supplying a current to the display element through the transistor after the second period.
US09047807B2	Device, system, and method of display calibration Device, system, and method for display calibration. For example, an apparatus includes: one or more color sensors, embedded within a body of a mobile device, to measure one or more color attributes of a visual element displayed by a display unit of the mobile device when a lid of the mobile device is in a closed position; and a color calibrator to calibrate one or more parameters of the display unit based on the one or more color attributes measured by the one or more color sensors.
US09047805B2	Driving method of pixels of display panel A driving method of pixels of a display panel is provided, which is adapted to drive a pixel of the display panel corresponding to a target grey-level of a display frame. In this method, a first pixel voltage is applied to the pixel during a first display period. At least one second pixel voltage is applied to the pixel during a second display period. The first and second display periods correspond to the display frame, and an enabling duration of the second display period is longer than the enabling duration of the first display period. When the target grey-level is not equal to a limit grey-level, the grey-level corresponding to the pixel voltage is different from the grey-level corresponding to the second pixel voltages. A sum of optical effects of the pixel during the first and second display periods is equal to the optical effect of the target grey-level.
US09047799B2	Electronic book An e-book reader in which destruction of a driver circuit at the time when a flexible panel is handled is inhibited. In addition, an e-book reader having a simplified structure. A plurality of flexible display panels each including a display portion in which display control is performed by a scan line driver circuit and a signal line driver circuit, and a binding portion fastening the plurality of display panels together are included. The signal line driver circuit is provided inside the binding portion, and the scan line driver circuit is provided at the edge of the display panel in a direction perpendicular to the binding portion.
US09047797B2	Image display apparatus and method for operating the same An image display apparatus and a method for controlling the same are provided. The method includes displaying at least one of a left-eye object or a right-eye object when the image display apparatus has entered a 3-dimensional (3D) mode, displaying a movement amount object indicating the amount of movement of pixel arrangement of the at least one of the left-eye object or the right-eye object, receiving a pixel arrangement movement amount input through the movement amount object, and changing at least one pixel of the displayed left-eye object to a pixel of the right-eye object and displaying the changed pixel or changing at least one pixel of the displayed right-eye object to a pixel of the left-eye object and displaying the changed pixel according to the pixel arrangement movement amount input. This increases user convenience when stereoscopic images are displayed in an autostereoscopic manner.
US09047796B2	Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device The present invention supplies a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device, which includes a non-contact inspection process capable of confirming if a circuit or circuit element formed on an array substrate is normally performed and can decrease a manufacturing cost by eliminating wastes to keep a defective product forming.An electromotive force generated by electromagnetic induction is rectified and shaped by using primary coils formed on a check substrate and secondary coils formed on an array substrate, whereby a power source voltage and a driving signal are supplied to circuits or circuit elements on a TFT substrate so as to be driven.
US09047790B1	Cardholder for protective headwear Articles are provided that in some embodiments comprise a convex front face, a first slot disposed along the left of the face and a second slot disposed along the right of the face. Therein, articles are configured so that the slots can receive opposite edges of a rigid cardstock item, such as a personal identification card, the cardstock item being insertable into the articles and the slots being configured to hold a surface present on such a cardstock item so inserted to be in contact with, and mechanically biased towards, said front face. Articles in some embodiments provided are attachable to headwear using conventional means such as adhesives and any suitable conventional hardware. In other embodiments are provided headwear, including hardhats and bump hats, which incorporate features of the articles provided. Additional embodiments of an article which will hold an identification card or other rigid card stock in the vertical (or portrait) orientation as well as in the horizontal (or landscape) orientation. The article may be comprised of a single construct and mounted onto the outer shell of various headwear or the article may be incorporated directly into the outer shell of various headwear.
US09047786B2	Children's exercise play set A children's instructional floor exercise apparatus for developing physical, cognitive and social skills. The apparatus has a plurality of tiles that have an anatomy indicium and an independent tile orientation indicium. When the tiles are placed in a predetermined pattern and with each tile's orientation indicia indicating the same rotational orientation, the anatomy indicia correspond to a predetermined physical movement designed to exercise a specific muscle group and develop a specific physical skill. The apparatus may be provided with written instructions describing the desired tile pattern and physical movement. Multiple apparatus may be provided in a set so as to create an obstacle course of movements, with each obstacle designed to work with and complement other obstacles in the set to provide a well-rounded exercise routine.
US09047781B2	Safety zone detection, enforcement and alarm system and related methods A system for alerting a user in a safety zone adjacent a stationary vehicle includes one or more sensors configured to generate a sensor signal in response to a detected location and/or trajectory of a moving vehicle in an encroachment zone and/or the safety zone. The encroachment zone is a region adjacent the safety zone in which vehicles are at risk of entering the safety zone. A control unit is configured to receive the signal from the one or more sensors and to determine, responsive to the sensor signals, a likelihood of the moving vehicle entering the safety zone. The control unit is further configured to generate a trigger signal if the likelihood of the moving vehicle entering the safety zone is greater than a predetermined threshold. An alarm unit is configured to receive the trigger signal from the control unit and to automatically trigger an alarm protocol when the trigger signal is received to alert the user in the safety zone.
US09047772B2	On-vehicle device and advertisement information distribution system Provided is an on-vehicle device which can build a charge system which can charge in accordance with use of advertisement information. The on-vehicle device stores uplink information including some or all of information indicating whether the advertisement information is received, information indicating whether the received advertisement information is displayed, and information indicating whether a vehicle (C) has stopped before reaching an advertisement object point indicated by the advertisement information. Each of the information is made to be a charging object for advertisement.
US09047771B1	Systems and methods for ground collision avoidance A system for displaying guidance aids to a crew for ground obstacle avoidance, particularly wingtip clearance. Perspective areas are drawn representing the current locations of the wingtips over the ground and predicted locations out into the future for a specified time or a specified distance. A flight crew may use these displayed guidance aids to determine the proximity of any perceived threat to the airplane. This capability addresses the costly problem of wingtip/airplane ground collisions. The graphical cue systems are specifically targeted toward aircraft that have a large wing span/size and/or folding wingtips.
US09047770B2	Method for determining an instantaneous or anticipated probable zone of occupancy of an aircraft in an airport navigation zone The general field of the invention is that of methods for determining safety zones surrounding an aircraft travelling or taking off from an airport zone, the safety zone being calculated at a determined instant that may be the present instant or the future instant. The method according to the invention comprises at least the following steps: Step 0: Establishment of a convex safety envelope surrounding the aircraft on the basis of reference points taken on the aircraft; Step 1: Establishment of a first convex envelope safety zone surrounding the aircraft on the basis of reference circles taken on the aircraft, each circle having as center one of the reference points and as radius the value of the uncertainty in the exact position of the aircraft. Other steps of the method make it possible to refine this first safety zone depending on whether the aircraft is in a taxiing or takeoff phase and depending on whether it is calculated at the present instant or at the future instant.
US09047766B2	Method and apparatus for notifying drivers of space required for other vehicles An approach is provided notifying a user while he or she is driving of an unmapped crossing to prevent the user from unintentionally obstructing access to the crossing. A traffic platform processes and/or facilitates a processing of traffic information associated with at least one crossing to determine one or more traffic conditions. The traffic platform determines that the one or more traffic conditions may at least potentially cause at least one obstruction of at least one other crossing by at least one vehicle. The traffic platform further causes, at least in part, a presentation of at least one notification regarding the at least one obstruction to at least one device associated with the at least one vehicle, at least one other vehicle that is potentially affected by the at least one obstruction, or a combination thereof based, at least in part, on the one or more traffic conditions.
US09047765B2	GPS-based traffic monitoring system A traffic information system for a vehicle comprises a transmitter and a global positioning system (GPS) associated with the vehicle that selectively generates location and vector data. A control module receives the location and vector data and wirelessly transmits the location and vector data using the transmitter when the vehicle is traveling on a first set of predetermined roads and does not transmit the location and vector data when the vehicle is traveling on a second set of predetermined roads.
US09047762B1	Display modes for a large area display system The display system includes a display having a touchscreen input device. A processing system is operatively associated with the display. The display operates in a number of fixed modes. Each fixed mode has a single fixed format, each single fixed format having at least one fixed region, wherein the at least one fixed region has configurable overlay options. In an aircraft application the plurality of fixed modes are selected from the group of flight modes consisting of navigation, air-to-air (A-A), emergency, air-to-ground (A-G), preflight checklist and system status. In a preferred embodiment the emergency mode includes functionality to conserve power.
US09047760B2	High traffic data transmission The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for communicating with a radio frequency (RF) device. An exemplary method includes: listening, by the collector node, during a listening period, for a hailing signal from a plurality of RF devices on a hailing channel, the hailing signal including identification of a specified data channel; in response to receiving the hailing signal from one of the plurality of RF devices, switching to the specified data channel and receiving data, by the collector node, on the specified data channel; collecting, by the collector node, during a collecting period, data from the plurality of RF devices; and receiving, by the collector node, the data from at least one of the plurality of RF devices, wherein the listening period and the collecting period occur at different times.
US09047745B2	Infrared camera systems and methods Systems and methods disclosed herein provide, for some embodiments, infrared cameras and target position acquisition techniques for various applications. For example, in one embodiment, a system may include a portable imaging/viewing subsystem having a target position finder and may also include a fixed mount camera subsystem having a camera and a camera positioner. A communications link may be configured to communicate a signal from the target position finder to the camera positioner. The signal may be representative of a position of a target being imaged/viewed with the portable imaging/viewing subsystem. The camera positioner may aim the camera toward the target in response to the signal. The target may, for example, be a man overboard. Thus, the system may be useful in search and rescue operations.
US09047742B2	Visual security for point of sale terminals Under the present invention, item verification is automated and expedited. Specifically, items to be purchased can be scanned by the shopper using a barcode reader (e.g., a scanner), attached to or positioned near the checkout station. As items are scanned, they are identified based on their barcode, and added to an item list. Item verification can then be performed at checkout using imaging technology. Specifically, as items are scanned, an item verification unit will capture an appearance thereof (via a camera). Item verification software within the item verification unit will access a database that associates items with their images/appearances. The appearance will be compared for consistency to the identity as determined based on the scan. In general, the item verification unit is a separate unit from the cash register, but adapted to work in conjunction therewith (e.g., as a pluggable system, via wireless communication, etc.).
US09047740B2	Wagering game, reel-based gaming machine and method with anticipation lighting A wagering game is operable on a reel-based gaming machine which has the capability to selectively illuminate one or more reels with one or more colors of graduating intensity. In conjunction with the stopping sequence of the reels for a given play of the wagering game, the gaming machine provides a distinctive lighting effect at one or more of the reels when a reel in the set is stopped showing a predefined symbol. The predefined symbol presents the possibility of some desirable outcome for the given play of the wagering game depending upon the positions in which the remaining reels in the set stop.
US09047736B2	System and method for wagering badges A method for wagering badges. The method includes establishing badges representing an associated event, such as a window of time that the badge was available. A predetermined criteria for the badges are established, such as an activity required for a gamer to obtain a particular badge, and a determination is made that a gamer is entitled to the badge, based on the predetermined criteria. Similarly, other gamers can also obtain badges by meeting the criteria for the badge. Each gamer, is associated with their badges and a wager or trade between gamers can be established whereby the gamers wager or trade chosen badges. Ownership of the wagered badges is then transferred based on the outcome of the wager or trade.
US09047733B2	Gaming system and method for providing multiple level progressive awards with increased odds of winning higher level progressive awards A gaming system including a central server linked to a plurality of gaming machines is provided. The gaming system includes a plurality of progressive awards arranged in a hierarchy. Upon the occurrence of a triggering event or qualifying condition, a bonus game is started. A player can win a next higher progressive award by accumulating award values. If the player's total award value is greater than or equal to a trigger value for a progressive award, the player wins the progressive award. Unless a termination condition occurs, the bonus game continues. The total award value is set to the progressive award value. Alternatively, the progressive award value is added to the player's total award value. The trigger value for a progressive award can be the startup value for that progressive award.
US09047726B2	Method for separating a stack of value documents The invention concerns a method for separating a stack of notes of value, in which the stack of notes of value is arranged in a separating position. Subsequently, a withdrawal element is driven such that it transports at least one marginal note of value of the stack of notes of value in a separating direction in the direction of a separating gap formed between a transport element and a counter run element. Also the transport element is driven such that it transports the note of value further in the separating direction. By means of a sensor unit arranged downstream of the separating gap the number of the notes of value withdrawn and transported through the separating gap is determined. The withdrawal element, the transport element and/or the counter run element are controlled depending on this determined number of notes of value withdrawn.
US09047718B2	Vehicle diagnostic method, and external diagnostic device In a vehicle diagnostic method and an external diagnostic device, sensor detection values acquired by communicating with an ECU are measured to determine whether the values are in a normal range while a vehicle is idling. After an engine is started, an operation to measure soundness is prohibited at least until the sensor detection values including the engine rotational frequency reach a threshold value region indicating the completion of the warm-up operation. The fluctuation state of the sensor detection values is displayed on an operation screen until the sensor detection values reach the threshold value region.
US09047708B2	Needle to port trajectory indicator A system includes (i) a needle for insertion into a port of an implantable infusion device, and (ii) a receiver apparatus having a port location signal receiver module capable of receiving a signal from the implantable infusion device regarding spatial orientation of the port. The system further includes a processor operably coupled to the receiver apparatus and capable of determining the orientation of the needle relative to the port based on the received signal. The system also includes a display operably coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to cause the display to graphically render trajectory of the needle relative to the port. The port is graphically rendered as a target structure having a reference area. The needle is graphically rendered as an object moveable relative to the target structure. Occupation of the reference area by the object indicates trajectory alignment of the port and the needle.
US09047704B2	Method for filleting 3D mesh edges by subivision Methods of producing an electronic geometric model, and systems which perform the methods are disclosed. In some embodiments, the method includes accessing electronic data, the data including polygonal data defining a reference object and a mesh of polygonal data points, the mesh including a plurality of edges. Such methods also include selecting an edge of the mesh, and in response to an indication from a user determining locations for additional data points, where the locations are adjacent to the selected edge and contact portions of the reference object. Such methods also include inserting the additional data points into the accessed data at the determined locations, and subdividing the accessed data having the additional data points with a subdivision algorithm, whereby subdivided data is generated. Such methods also include generating the geometric model based on the subdivided data, and storing the geometric model in a computer readable data storage.
US09047703B2	Augmented reality heads up display (HUD) for left turn safety cues A method, augmented reality driving system and device safely guide a vehicle driver to perform a left turn. A vehicle navigator detects a left turn based upon proximity and speed for a vehicle. A target sensor determines a current position and a relative vector for an oncoming vehicle in a lane for opposing traffic that is approaching the left turn. An augmented reality controller three dimensionally maps a forward view including the oncoming vehicle and spatially overlays an augmented reality display on a volumetric heads up display for a driver of the vehicle by projecting a target path of the oncoming vehicle based upon the vector and relative vector and by projecting a left turn path.
US09047702B2	Computed tomography system and method for tracking a bolus The present invention relates to a computed tomography system (10) and a corresponding method which enable tracking of a contrast material bolus and which involve a reduced radiation dose. The proposed computed tomography system (10) comprises an acquisition unit including an X-ray source (18) and an X-ray detector (30) for acquiring projection data sets (42, 44, 46), a reconstruction unit (41) for reconstructing a planning image (48) from a first projection data set (42), an identification unit (52) for identifying a region of interest (40) in the planning image (48), a selection unit (54) for selecting a projection angle (60) through the region of interest (40), a calculator (62) for calculating a target projection value (64) for a projection of said region of interest (40) with the selected projection angle (60), a control unit (32) for controlling said acquisition unit to acquire a second, reduced projection data set (44) including projection data from projections of said region of interest (40) with the selected projection angle (60), and a comparator (68) for comparing projection values of the second projection data set (44) with the target projection value (64), wherein the control unit (32) is adapted to control the acquisition unit to initiate the acquisition of a third projection data set (46) based on the comparison result (70) and to reconstruct a diagnostic image (50) from the third projection data set (46).
US09047694B2	Image processing apparatus having a plurality of image processing blocks that are capable of real-time processing of an image signal An image processing apparatus is provided which offers higher versatility than conventional image processing apparatuses. When an input signal to a spatial filtering block is a monochrome signal that contains Y component only, a selector selects its input terminal and a selector selects its input terminal. Then, a low-pass filter output signal of a programmable spatial filter is inputted to a spatial filter, and a low-pass filter output signal of the spatial filer is inputted to a spatial filter. That is, the programmable spatial filter and the spatial filters are connected in series (in cascade), and the cascade-connected three spatial filters perform filtering operation. In this example, low-pass filters with 5H5 taps are connected in cascade in three stages, which enables low-pass filtering with 13H13 taps.
US09047693B2	Color distribution design assistance system Provided is a system to assist in designing of color distribution on an object surface while considering the relationship between characteristics of a particle group contained in the paint and the design effect or texture at the object surface achieved by the particle group. The system is configured to calculate and display color distribution in accordance with variation angle at the object surface so as to reflect the texture or design effect at the object surface achieved by the particle group based on the designated distribution mode of the particle group included in the coating layer at the object surface as well as designated shape characteristics and optical characteristics of the particles making up the particle group and based on color distribution in accordance with variation angle at the object surface stored.
US09047685B2	Automated centerline extraction method and generation of corresponding analytical expression and use thereof A computer implemented method (350) for determining a centerline of a three-dimensional tubular structure is described. The method includes providing an edge-detected data set of voxels that characterize a boundary of the tubular structure according to a three-dimensional voxel data set for the tubular structure (360). A gradient field of a distance transformation is computed for the edge-detected dataset (380). A voxel data set corresponding to a centerline of the tubular structure is computed according to derivative of gradient field (390).
US09047678B2	Change analyst A method of determining change in a state of an object using images of the object, the method including providing a first image and a second image of the object, the first image and the second image being spaced apart in time, performing a plurality of pixel-based change detection algorithms to obtain a plurality of output difference products/images containing change information and pseudo change information, combining the plurality of output difference products to form a hybrid output difference product, and thresholding the output difference product to detect changes in the object.
US09047676B2	Data processing apparatus generating motion of 3D model and method Provided is a data processing apparatus that may include a storage unit, a first calculator, and a second calculator. The storage unit may store a plurality of training data obtained by motion sensing. The first calculator may calculate a first transformation matrix by performing a regression analysis for the plurality of training data. The second calculator may calculate first output data by applying the first transformation matrix to first input data.
US09047674B2	Structured grids and graph traversal for image processing An image represented by multiple nodes can be processed by determining whether information can be propagated to a node from another node (e.g., source node) of the image, thereby allowing significantly greater parallelism and scalability by taking advantage of multiprocessing or multi-core processors that are prevalent and widely available today. Conceptually, an image can be presented as a “structured grid” of multiple nodes (e.g., a structured grid of pixels of an image). In a “structured grid,” two or more of the nodes can determine whether to propagate information in parallel. In fact, each node of a “structured grid” can perform operations relating to propagation of information in parallel. This means that for an image of N pixels, it is possible to perform N operations in parallel. It is also possible to divide the processing of N operations for N pixels substantially equally between the number processors or processing cores available at a given time.
US09047667B2	Methods and apparatuses for encoding/decoding high resolution images The invention relates to methods and apparatuses for encoding/decoding high resolution images, which involve setting the size of the prediction unit to be encoded to an expanded macro-block size in accordance with the temporal frequency characteristics or spatial frequency characteristics among pictures to be encoded, and performing motion prediction motion compensation, and transformation on the basis of a set prediction unit size. In addition, the methods and the apparatuses of the present invention involve dividing a macro-block having a pixel size of 3232 or 6464 into at least one partition on the basis of an edge, and performing encoding processes for each partition. Accordingly, encoding efficiency can be improved for high definition (HD) or higher resolution high-resolution images.
US09047664B2	Apparatus and method for utilizing mammogram images for verification A method and apparatus for utilizing mammogram images for verification, including obtaining one or more mammogram image of a patient; determining a first set of breast characteristics from the one or more mammogram image, wherein the first set of breast characteristics include breast landmark, breast tissue density, tissue pattern and breast finding; comparing the first set of breast characteristics with a second set of breast characteristics to yield a comparison, wherein the second set of breast characteristics is from one or more previous mammogram image identified as potentially belonging to the patient using an identification not related to content of a mammogram image; and determining based on the comparison whether the one or more previous mammogram image belongs to the patient.
US09047662B2	Method of reconstituting cellular spectra useful for detecting cellular disorders Embodiments of the present disclosure provides improved methods for determining the presence of abnormalities in exfoliated cells. In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides methods for reconstructing cellular spectrum of a cell sample by creating a spectral map of the cellular sample, generating a binary mask of the spectral map, removing edge artifacts from each cell, and co-adding spectral data of each pixel corresponding to the cell to reconstruct the spectrum of each cell.
US09047658B2	Method of optical proximity correction A calculation method of optical proximity correction includes providing at least a feature pattern to a computer system. At least a first template and a second template are defined so that portions of the feature pattern are located in the first template and the rest of the feature pattern is located in the second template. The first template and the second template have a common boundary. Afterwards, a first calculation zone is defined to overlap an entire first template and portions of the feature pattern out of the first template. Edges of the feature pattern within the first calculation zone are then fragmented from the common boundary towards two ends of the feature pattern so as to generate at least two first beginning segments respectively at two sides of the common boundary. Finally, positions of the first beginning segments are adjusted so as to generate first adjusted segments.
US09047657B2	Method and system for optically inspecting outer peripheral surfaces of parts A method and system for optically inspecting the entire outer peripheral surface of a part are provided. The system includes an enclosure which allows movement of a part relative to the enclosure both prior to and after inspection within the enclosure. An illumination assembly simultaneously illuminates a plurality of exterior side surfaces of the part which are annularly spaced about the axis of the part with radiation when the part is at a predetermined location within the enclosure to obtain corresponding reflected radiation signals. A plurality of lens and detector assemblies are provided. Each of the assemblies forms an optical image of one of the illuminated exterior side surfaces from the reflected radiation signals and detects the formed optical image within the enclosure. A processor processes the detected optical images to obtain a continuous, seamless, 360° panoramic composite image of the peripheral surface of the part.
US09047656B2	Image processing using a bilateral grid A method of processing a digital image. The method comprises: populating (100) a bilateral grid (10) comprising a plurality of cells (20), based on information obtained from the image, each cell comprising at least one value; then cumulatively integrating (110) the at least one value over the bilateral grid to form an integrated grid comprising integrated values; generating (120) a modified bilateral grid, comprising computing the sum of the at least one value over a predetermined rectangular box of cells of the bilateral grid, by using the integrated values corresponding to the corners of the box; and slicing (130) the modified bilateral grid to generate an output image.
US09047655B2	Computer vision-based methods for enhanced JBIG2 and generic bitonal compression A system and method of symbol matching may include a processor configured to determine which pixels of a first symbol are tangent pixels; for each of the determined tangent pixels, determine whether a second symbol includes a pixel corresponding to the tangent pixel that includes at least one same tangent constraint as that of the tangent pixel; accept the first and second symbols as a match based on shared tangent constraints conditional upon a determination that the second symbol includes for each of at least a subset of the tangent pixels of the first symbol a corresponding pixel that includes the at least one same tangent constraint as that of the tangent pixel; and generate a document including a single symbol that is mapped to the first and second symbols.
US09047651B2	Contact management system A family-plan management system integrating family plan widgets on mobile devices that interact with an API maintained and used by a central server is described. The family-plan management system enables high-visibility, low-effort communications between family-plan members as well as easy access to family-plan services offered by the central server. The API automatically identifies family plan members by accessing a database and then implements high-value web and mobile add-on services for the family plan members. The family-plan management system enables control and use of the family plan by the family plan member and enables the carrier to upgrade family plan services without direct action on the part of family plan members.
US09047647B2	Method, medium, and system for an online textbook exchange An online textbook exchange apparatus an associated methodology for receiving seller course material information from a seller including a first set of parameters and a course material survey, and generating a probability score. The online textbook exchange apparatus generates a course material profile containing the first set of parameters and the probability score and stores the course material profile in a memory. Buyer course material information is them received from a prospective buyer where the buyer course material information includes a second set of parameters. The online textbook exchange apparatus compares the one or more of the course material profiles to the second set of parameters and generates a set of comparison results. The one or more course material profiles and the respective probability score are then output to the prospective buyer based on the set of comparison results.
US09047645B2	Group network connector The present invention relates to a method and system for contacts management and an interface application for managing, searching and sharing electronic contact information of users of a group.
US09047638B2	Wagering system and method A wagering system may include a server, an application server, a client device, and a terminal. The wagering system may issue a voucher or a wagering ticket to a client device. Wagers may be placed against the voucher balance and redeemed at the terminal.
US09047635B2	Message based generation of item listings According to various exemplary embodiments, an electronic text message is received from a source telephone number, the electronic text message including content describing a product item. A seller of the product item is identified, based on the source telephone number, and the product item is identified, based on the content included in the electronic text message. Thereafter, a draft version of an item listing is automatically generated, where the item listing lists the product item as being for sale by the seller on a marketplace website.
US09047634B2	Method and system for reserving future purchases of goods and services A method and system for reserving future purchases of goods or services or events. Electronic options are provided for desired goods or services or events on communications network and a cloud communications network. One or more graphical buttons are used to display electronic option information. A display appearance of the one or more graphical buttons are dynamically changed based on actions completed on the electronic options. The electronic options and the one or more graphical buttons are displayed on one or more client network devices and/or one or more server network devices for one or more retail sites, a social networking sites, social couponing sites, social virtual reality sites, social virtual gaming sites, or social fantasy sports gaming sites.
US09047633B2	System and method for identifying, searching and matching products based on color A system and method for searching and matching products based on color using a universal color system comprises a plurality of processor based client devices, each client device uniquely associated with a user, a database engine comprising a plurality of products reverse mapped and organized in accordance with the hexadecimal color codes of the universal color system, and a processor based server. The server receives a color-based search query comprising user's color selection from a client device associated with a user over a communications network. The user's color selection comprises at least one hexadecimal color code of the universal color system. A color engine of the server searches the database engine for products having the hexadecimal color codes with a predetermined range of the hexadecimal color code of the user's color selection, and transmits the search result to the client device associated with the user over the communications network.
US09047623B2	Determination of recommendation data Determining recommendation data is disclosed, including: extracting a first set of keywords from a set of user action logs that occurred prior to a predetermined time point and determining a weight value for at least one of the first set of keywords; extracting a second set of keywords from a set of user action logs that occurred subsequent to the predetermined time point and determining a weight value for at least one of the second set of keywords; merging at least a portion of the first set of keywords and at least a portion of the second set of keywords to obtain a third set of keywords and determining a weight value for at least one of the third set of keywords; matching the third set of keywords to a database of data that can potentially be recommended to a user; and in the event that a piece of data is determined to match at least one keyword from the third set of keywords, determine that the piece of data is to be recommended to the user.
US09047622B1	Delivering content to users based on advertisement interaction type Systems and methods for improving the delivery of interactive advertisements are discussed herein. Systems and methods include approaches and solutions for boosting the rank of certain ads and/or ad types based on a combination of their interaction type and an ad interaction history for a given user, vertical, or aggregate indicator. Systems and methods also include suppressing ads unlikely to be interacted with from ranking and format boosting based on such ad interaction history.
US09047621B1	Content selection filter One or more keywords associated with a domain are received. The performance of content selected based on the one or more keywords is evaluated against performance of content selected based on a automatic selection process. A determination is made based on the evaluation as to whether to utilize the automatic selection process or the one or more keywords for selecting content for the domain.
US09047619B2	System and method for providing messages A system and method for providing a message to a recipient is provided. The system includes a network communication system for providing a message to a recipient using a communication device. The network communication system includes a communication system operatively connected to at least one communication device. The network communication system further includes an exchange platform, the exchange platform having a signal media server operatively connected to at least one message server, the exchange platform receiving a communication from a potential recipient through the communication device, the communication system determining if the potential recipient is flagged in a recipient database, the message server determining the message, the message server retrieving at least one message, wherein the signal media server forwards the message to the recipient via the communication device.
US09047618B2	Operating system based event verification A system and method for tracking beacon execution using event verification capability of an operating system. Displaying targeted advertisements during content viewing and web browsing and tracking the rendered and displayed advertisements for payment based on completion of viewing using means for keeping count, with verifiable IDs, of beacon execution using the operating system capability to verify application activity.
US09047617B2	Systems and methods for facilitating the approval and use of a credit account via mobile commerce A consumer can receive a new credit application at their mobile device. The consumer can complete and electronically transmit the credit application via a mobile application on their mobile device. A transaction processing system can receive the credit application and electronically pass it along to the financial institution issuing the credit for a determination on the credit application. An approval or denial can be electronically received by the transaction processing system from the financial institution. If approved, the transaction processing system can forward the approval along with the new credit account information and a code or other device to allow the consumer to immediately use the new credit account. The mobile device can receive the approval via the mobile application as well as any coupons associated with the new account and can provide the consumer with a mechanism to immediately purchase items with the newly approved credit account.
US09047612B2	Systems and methods for managing content associated with multiple brand categories within a social media system Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to aspects of an Internet-accessible brand management system (BMS) that allows marketers (e.g., corporations, organizations, etc.) to efficiently organize, create, maintain, and display content associated with many brand categories or brand items within a brand category on a single social media system (SMS) page/account, or alternatively, across many SMS pages or accounts with one or more common content themes. Administrators/developers of individual marketing pages or accounts (global and local) may update their pages through the BMS using standard configurable templates. The system may integrate content from one or more developers to create content for varying pages (for example, by incorporating some global content into local pages according to configurable rules, or vice versa). Subsequently, when a social media system user requests content associated with a particular brand category or brand item within that category on a social media system, the brand management system renders the updated, requested marketing page associated with that category, but within a global marketer page, or with common marketer content also provided.
US09047611B2	System and method for finding relative score and enhancing one or more scores associated with data objects Methods, systems and computer program products are provided for computing relative score and enhancing one or more scores associated with data objects. In one method, the method receives, at a computing system, one or more data objects from a user. The method further extracts one or more internal and external parameters based on the one or more data objects. Subsequently, the method compares data objects of the user with corresponding data objects of one or more competing users, based at least in part on the one or more extracted parameters and the requirement included in the data object of the user. Further, in some embodiments, the data objects and requirements of the user are also compared with the corresponding data objects and requirements of one or more complementary users, based at least in part on the one or more extracted parameters. The method further computes one or more scores associated with the data objects based at least in part on the at least one of the comparison of the one or more data objects of the user with the corresponding data objects of one or more competing users and/or the one or more extracted parameters. The method may also provide feedback to the user, where the feedback is directed to enhance the one or more computed scores associated with the data objects.
US09047609B2	Method and system for dynamically incorporating advertising content into multimedia environments Methods and systems for dynamically incorporating advertising content into multimedia environments, such as games, are provided. Example embodiments include a dynamic inserter, which selects content, based upon a set of criteria, to deliver to a receiving client system, such as a game client. The receiving client system typically dynamically determines locations within the game where advertisements are desirably inserted. Associated with these locations are ad tags that specify criteria for the ads including, for example ad type, ad genre, and scheduling information, which are sent by the client system to the dynamic inserter to select appropriate ads. The dynamic inserter selects ads based upon the criteria and sends them to the client system, which selects them for ad tags with conforming criteria. The client system then renders the selected ad in the appropriate location.
US09047597B2	POS system Provided is a POS system, including a terminal (12) that includes a bank deposit amount calculating unit (122) for calculating a bank deposit amount for each business day, in which the bank deposit amount calculating unit (122) subtracts an amount spent for other uses than as a change from a total amount of cash gained on a day that validity of the spending is judged and approved, to thereby calculate a bank deposit amount of the day. With this configuration, the management of cash such as a change fund in the POS system is clarified.
US09047596B2	Integrated point of sale terminal An integrated point-of-sale terminal for use with a fuel dispenser has a site controller, at least one dispenser having a user interface, at least one processor at the site controller, memory coupled to the processor, and a plurality of point-of-sale applications associated with the site controller. The processor is configured to dynamically regulate which of the plurality of point-of-sale applications has control of the dispenser user interface based on a set of business rules.
US09047595B2	Readable indicia for medical office payment Embodiments of the invention include systems, methods, and computer-program products for providing readable indicia for medical office payments. As such, a readable indicia may be presented at a point-of-transaction (POT) at a medical treatment providers for a user to select. The system may dynamically present the readable indicia based on the user, the treatments provided, and the user's insurance coverage. The user may select the readable indicia with his/her user device. Upon selection, the system may provide the user with expedited viewing of itemized treatments, insurance coverage for each treatment, and amount due for each treatment, co-pay amount, an amount to be paid by the insurance company, detectable information, and a total amount the user will owe the medical treatment provider. The system may receive authorization to accept the treatment and apply a payment means to the treatment.
US09047590B2	Single identifiable entry point for accessing contact information via a computer network Embodiments of the invention provide for systems, devices, apparatus, methods, and computer program products for providing an activatable indicium configured as an entry point for accessing contact information on a user interface. The activatable indicium, which may be a company logo, company name or the like, is not initially readily identifiable as an entry point for accessing the contact information. However, over time and continual use, the user recognizes that the presentation of the indicium regardless of the platform provides for an entry point for accessing contact information.
US09047589B2	Hierarchical publish and subscribe system A method of publishing a publication message includes receiving, at one of a plurality of first relays, a subscription request from a first client and transmitting the subscription request from the one of the plurality of first relays to only one of a plurality of central relays. The method also includes receiving, at another of the plurality of first relays, a publication request from a second client. The publication request includes the publication message. The method further includes transmitting the publication message from the another of the plurality of first relays to all of the plurality of central relays, transmitting the publication message from at least one of the plurality of central relays to the one of the plurality of first relays, and transmitting the publication message from the one of the plurality of first relays to the first client.
US09047588B2	E-mail protocol for instant message Allowing a message, composed as an instant message, to be transmitted using an e-mail protocol and displayed at a recipient as an instant message or an e-mail is disclosed. In particular, on a message originator, one embodiment includes, composing a message as an instant message, and transmitting the message using an e-mail protocol. On a message recipient, one embodiment includes, receiving a message in an e-mail protocol, determining whether the message is to be displayed as an instant message, and in the case that the message is to be displayed as an instant message, displaying the message as an instant message at the recipient, otherwise displaying the message as an e-mail at the recipient. Functionality of the originator and recipient sides can be combined into a single client.
US09047587B2	Incorporating electronic communication data content into an enterprise workspace The disclosure describes computer-implemented methods, software, and systems for managing content of a virtual workspace that include identifying an electronic communication addressed to a communication account associated with an enterprise computing system, the electronic communication comprising unstructured data content; parsing the unstructured data content to determine one or more keywords defined by one or more specified keyword symbols; creating an enterprise workspace (EWS) object based on the determined one or more keywords and the unstructured data content; generating EWS content from the EWS object; and preparing the generated EWS content for display to the enterprise user.
US09047583B2	Ontology context logic at a key field level In one embodiment, a method includes creating a key field on a machine-readable medium. The key field has an ontology logic that includes a context for a business class and an equivalency between the key field and a business class. The method also includes creating the business class on the machine-readable medium. The business class has an ontology logic that includes the equivalency between the key field and the business class.
US09047569B2	Genetic optimization method and system A multi-objective optimization method. The method comprises a population of objects for each objective utilizing an optimization process and determining a measure for the variation in values of each gene within each population. A crossbreed between objects from different ones of the populations is performed, wherein a selection of gene values for the child object is weighted based on the measures for the variations in the values of each gene within the respective populations.
US09047568B1	Apparatus and methods for encoding of sensory data using artificial spiking neurons Sensory encoder may be implemented. Visual encoder apparatus may comprise spiking neuron network configured to receive photodetector input. Excitability of neurons may be adjusted and output spike may be generated based on the input. When neurons generate spiking response, spiking threshold may be dynamically adapted to produce desired output rate. The encoder may dynamically adapt its input range to match statistics of the input and to produce output spikes at an appropriate rate and/or latency. Adaptive input range adjustment and/or spiking threshold adjustment collaborate to enable recognition of features in sensory input of varying dynamic range.
US09047564B1	User interface for entering and viewing quantitatively weighted factors for decision choices An interface facilitates user input of quantitatively weighted recommendations, including weighted factors in support of decision choices. A user input mechanism allows a user to specify a factor in support of a choice, and to specify values for quantitative parameters associated with the factor along two or more axes. An overall quantitative weight for the factor is generated based on the specified quantitative parameters. In one embodiment, a graphical user interface is presented, wherein the user specifies the values for the weighting parameters by dragging a movable indicator within an N-dimensional space. Each axis of the N-dimensional space corresponds to a weighting parameter. An overall quantitative weight for the factor is calculated, for example, as the product of the specified values along each of the axes. A visual indication of this calculation is presented, so as to provide an intuitive sense of the overall weight assigned to the factor.
US09047561B2	Contextual network access optimizer A method and apparatus for optimizing access to a contextual network are described. The apparatus has a registration manager module, a configuration manager module, an access manager module, and an access optimizer module. The registration manager module registers business applications operating in the contextual network of a server with registration data having a set of parameters to define the business applications. The configuration manager module determines initial configuration settings for the business applications to identify parts of the contextual network relevant to the business applications. The access manager module provides the business applications with access to contextual network data based on distances between nodes in a contextual network graph of the contextual network data. The access optimizer module collects measurements of the access of the business applications to the contextual network data, and computes future optimal configuration settings for the business applications.
US09047560B2	Using event stream data to create a decision graph representing a race participant where leaf nodes comprise rates defining a speed of the race participant in a race simulation A method of generating a decision graph from event stream data, wherein the event stream data includes a plurality of events, and each event includes an associated time stamp, includes generating decision nodes for the graph, wherein the decision nodes each comprise a question having a temporal element. The method includes generating leaf nodes for the graph, wherein the leaf nodes each comprise a rate parameter, and iteratively splitting and merging nodes in the graph in order to maximize a measure of purity of outcomes in resulting nodes.
US09047552B2	Forming system and image forming apparatus that generate image log data to server The image forming apparatus includes a printing device that performs printing on the basis of output image data; a transmission processing unit that generates image log data from the output image data of one page and transmits the generated image log data to a server apparatus that stores image log data corresponding to a print job of plural pages; and a job executing unit that (a) starts a waiting status before a generation process of output image data of a next page when the generation process of the output image data of the aforementioned one page is completed, and (b) releases the waiting status after the image log data corresponding to the output image data of the aforementioned one page is generated and transmitted to the server apparatus by the transmission processing unit.
US09047550B2	Image formation apparatus configured to detect and correct detected light reflection characteristics An image formation apparatus includes a conveyance member in which a reflection characteristics irregular part having light reflection characteristics different from those of a surrounding surface part is formed, a measurement unit configured to perform an detection operation including irradiating the conveyance member with irradiation light and detecting reflection light, a controller configured to perform a current detection operation, and perform a next detection operation after a surface of the conveyance member is moved by a distance longer than a reflection characteristics irregular part length that is a length of the reflection characteristics irregular part in a movement direction of the conveyance member surface, and a correction unit configured to perform correction for image formation on the basis of detection results of the current detection operation and the next detection operation by the measurement unit.
US09047544B2	System and method for mobile tags with dynamic content The present invention relates to a method, system, and computer-readable medium for producing a mobile tag with dynamic content. Furthermore, the present invention provides a mobile tag with dynamic content in the form of a sticker.
US09047543B2	Information processing device, information processing method, and computer program product A designating unit designates any of three edge faces other than an edge face corresponding to a spine of a book-bound article generated by a printer. A generating unit generates a bitmap corresponding to the designated edge face depending on a bookbinding condition. A rendering unit renders a first image designated by a user on the bitmap. A specifying unit specifies, among pieces of line data respectively corresponding to dots forming a first side parallel to a paper thickness direction and that each extend parallel to a second side orthogonal to the first side, in the bitmap, line data corresponding to an object page to be printed. An adding unit adds a second image to a place corresponding to the dots of the first image included in the specified line data, on a third side indicating a side of the object page corresponding to the specified line data.
US09047540B2	Trellis based word decoder with reverse pass Systems, apparatuses, and methods to relate images of words to a list of words are provided. A trellis based word decoder analyses a set of OCR characters and probabilities using a forward pass across a forward trellis and a reverse pass across a reverse trellis. Multiple paths may result, however, the most likely path from the trellises has the highest probability with valid links. A valid link is determined from the trellis by some dictionary word traversing the link. The most likely path is compared with a list of words to find the word closest to the most.
US09047533B2	Parsing tables by probabilistic modeling of perceptual cues A method is provided for parsing a table. The method includes: receiving an input containing the table; finding candidate separators within the table; and determining which candidate separators are at least one of real and spurious by optimizing an objective function over the set of found candidate separators. Suitably, the function measures numerically whether a parse produced by the set of real separators is accurate. The function suitably includes one or more terms that account for multiple aspects of the table including at least two of: quality of candidate separators; coherence of cells within the parse; quality of cells within the parse; coherence of entire rows within the parse; quality of entire rows within the parse; coherence of entire columns within the parse; quality of entire columns within the parse; layout consistency along an axis of the table; and repeatability along the axis of the table.
US09047532B2	System, method and computer program product for evaluating an actual structural element of an electrical circuit A method, a system and a computer program product for evaluating an actual structural element of an electrical circuit. The method includes: detecting an actual structural element contour by processing a scanning electron microscope image of the actual structural element; aligning the actual structural element contour with a simulated contour to provide an aligned actual structural element contour; wherein the simulated contour is obtained by simulating a lithographic process that is responsive to a design contour; and comparing between the aligned actual structural element contour and reference information.
US09047531B2	Interactive user interface for capturing a document in an image signal Devices, methods, and software are disclosed for an interactive user interface for capturing a frame of image data having a representation of a feature. In an illustrative embodiment, a device includes an imaging subsystem, one or more memory components, and one or more processors. The imaging subsystem is capable of providing image data representative of light incident on said imaging subsystem. The one or more memory components include at least a first memory component operatively capable of storing an input frame of the image data. The one or more processors may be enabled for performing various steps. One step may include receiving the image data from the first memory component. Another step may include attempting to identify linear features defining a candidate quadrilateral form in the image data. Another step may include providing user-perceptible hints for guiding a user to alter positioning of the device to enhance a capability for identifying the linear features defining a candidate quadrilateral form in the image data.
US09047530B2	Recording media processing device, control method of a recording media processing device, and computer-readable recording medium storing a program The recognition rate is improved and recognition errors suppressed when recognizing magnetic ink characters. The character recognition unit 80 of a check reader 1 recognizes a magnetic ink character 101 by performing magnetic recognition based on comparing reference waveform data with character waveform data acquired by reading the magnetic ink character 101 with a magnetic head 54, and optical recognition based on comparing reference image data with image data acquired by reading the magnetic ink character 101 with a front contact image sensor 52; selects a plurality of candidates for the magnetic ink character 101 by magnetic recognition; and when plural candidates are characters with mutually similar character waveform data, determines that the one plural candidate character that matches the character recognized by optical recognition with reliability exceeding a specific threshold is the magnetic ink character 101.
US09047529B2	Form recognition method and device Embodiments of the present application relate to a form recognition method, a form recognition system, and a computer program product for recognizing forms. A form recognition method is provided. The method includes conducting a straight line detection of a form in a form binary image to acquire a plurality of form boundaries of the form and a plurality of positional relationships between the plurality of form boundaries, extracting a plurality of features from the form using the plurality of form boundaries and the positional relationships between the plurality of form boundaries, establishing a feature vector associated with the form based at least in part on the plurality of features, calculating similarities between the form and respective ones of a plurality of template forms based at least in part on the feature vector of the form, and identifying the form based on the calculated similarities.
US09047527B2	Method for reading a barcode Method for reading a barcode by means of an optical reader arranged to capture at a determined sampling frequency a series of partial images of the barcode by a sensor having at least one line of pixels. According to the invention it is provided to determine in each partial image a logical value as a function of the light intensity received by a central pixel of the line of pixels and a corresponding bar width when this bar is completely incorporated into the partial image in question. By only setting a maximum speed for the speed of movement of the barcode and dimensioning the line of pixels to ensure that each bar of this barcode is completely incorporated into a partial image at least once, the sequence of bits defined by the barcode is determined by means of an algorithm ignoring the duplications detected in consecutive partial images.
US09047522B1	Utilization of motion and spatial identification in mobile RFID interrogator An RFID system is used to detect whether an RFID tag is part of the load of a forklift or other transport device. In one aspect where the load is in motion relative to an RFID reader system, the RFID system obtains tag readings and derives tag vector motion information which can be compared to the known motion of the load to distinguish tags that are part of the load from false positives which are unavoidably also within the field of the reader system. A forklift antenna system may also make readings from load pickup to load deposit in a truck trailer, and utilize computed tag vector motion information to distinguish tags that are part of the load from false positives. The tag vector information my relate to tag velocity, tag acceleration, and/or rate of change of tag acceleration. The two components of the RFID system may communicate information on identified tags, and/or interact (e.g. by silencing tags), so as to cooperate in identifying true positive tags in the load. A portal or reader system location along the path of the forklift can be activated prior to arrival of the load to eliminate certain false positives from requiring evaluation while the forklift load is moving through the field region of such reader system. Vertical motion of the load can be utilized as a way of discriminating between true positive tags in the load and false positives.
US09047521B2	Diagnosing a magnetic reader A computer implemented method for diagnosing a magnetic reader subassembly. A processor generates a test signal during a diagnostic period. The processor then receives a return signal from the magnetic reader subassembly. The processor then compares the test signal and the return signal and diagnoses an operational status of the magnetic reader subassembly in response to the comparison of the test signal and the return signal.
US09047520B2	Remote approval of print Systems and methods for providing remote approval of an image for printing are provided. One system includes a processing circuit in communication with an image capturing device that is configured to capture an image of a printed product. The processing circuit is configured to process the captured image into a processed image accurate to within a tolerance in a color space to indicate the visual appearance of one or more colors. The color space is a standardized color space, such as sRGB or CIELAB. The processing circuit is further configured to transmit the processed image to a display located remote from the image capturing device and to receive an input signal from a remote input device to allow a user to approve or reject the displayed processed image for printing on a print device.
US09047518B2	Method for the detection and tracking of lane markings In a method for the detection and tracking of lane markings from a motor vehicle, an image of a space located in front of the vehicle is captured by means of an image capture device at regular intervals. The picture elements that meet a predetermined detection criterion are identified as detected lane markings in the captured image. At least one detected lane marking as a lane marking to be tracked is subjected to a tracking process. At least one test zone is defined for each detected lane marking. With the aid of intensity values of the picture elements associated with the test zone, at least one parameter is determined. The detected lane marking is assigned to one of several lane marking categories, depending on the parameter.
US09047508B2	System and method for identifying and acting upon handwritten action items A method and system for identifying and acting on a handwritten action item is disclosed. The system may learn a set of user-defined symbols and associate each symbol with an action category. Then, when the system that captures a handwritten action item that includes one of the symbols, it will determine which action category that corresponds to the symbol, identify process parameters in the action item, determine a task to be performed based on the action category, and apply the process parameters to automatically perform the task.
US09047507B2	Upper-body skeleton extraction from depth maps A method for processing data includes receiving a depth map of a scene containing at least an upper body of a humanoid form. The depth map is processed so as to identify a head and at least one arm of the humanoid form in the depth map. Based on the identified head and at least one arm, and without reference to a lower body of the humanoid form, an upper-body pose, including at least three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of shoulder joints of the humanoid form, is extracted from the depth map.
US09047499B2	Anti-counterfeiting methods The present invention relates to the field of product authentication and anti-counterfeiting techniques, and more specifically, to techniques employing RFID tags and encryption technologies. Embodiments of the present invention illustrate the use of RFID tags having encrypted information stored therein which upon decryption by a down-stream entity or an end user can help determine the authenticity of a product. Furthermore, the embodiments disclosed herein illustrate various examples supply chains and private key management.
US09047496B1	Method and system for finding data objects within large data-object libraries Various embodiments of the present invention include a grazing routine that selects data objects from a data-object library or database based on selection-criterion values associated with each data object and provides the data objects to a presentation routine that uses the data objects to continuously update a data-object presentation. User input directs subsequent data-object selection by the grazing routine to allow users to intuitively navigate and search a large data-object library in order to locate one or a set of particular data objects. Users can input selection commands to specific presented data-objects in order to focus subsequent data-object selection and data-object presentation to increasingly smaller sub-populations of data objects. In the absence of user input, the sub-population of data objects from which data objects are selected for presentation may be increased.
US09047493B1	System and method for protecting content A method, computer program product, and computing system for receiving an unsecure data portion for storage within a storage system. The unsecure data portion is stored within a temporary storage device. The unsecure data portion is processed to produce a secure data portion via a processor included within a first controller card included within the storage system. The secure data portion is stored on a persistent storage device via a second controller card.
US09047489B2	Security systems and methods for social networking Data may be masked on public networks, such as social networking sites. At a publishing node, the system may monitor data input fields in a webpage that are processed by an internet browser. The system may intercept data, such as text, images, and video input at the data input fields, prior to the data being posted online. The publishing node may control which users are permitted access to the posted data by defining a policy associated with the data input field. The posted data may be transformed or tokenized to ensure that it is inaccessible to a user (or group of users) unless that user/group has access to the decoding key under the policy. In this way, data security and data control may be provided to a publishing user node. Data that has already been posted may be destroyed, for example, by deleting the decryption key or a token.
US09047487B2	Standing order database search system and method for internet and intranet application An internet and/or intranet based system and method for limiting access to confidential records to properly authorized and authenticated parties. The system's central premise is that the person to whom such records pertain should control access rights through specific, informed consent. It reinforces the widely held conception of privacy in general, while also providing an expedited and cost efficient means to find and transfer confidential records. It also gives the repositories where these records are held the right to stipulate the specific terms and conditions that must be fulfilled before they will release documents. And it carries out all of these legitimate interests in a way that is fast, simple to use and easy to audit. The system optionally includes a billing mechanism to pay for any added cost associated with providing this additional protection; and in its preferred embodiment, is applicable to both digital as well as non-digital records.
US09047486B2	Method for virtualizing a personal working environment and device for the same The present invention is directed to a method for virtualizing a personal working environment and a device for the same, relating to the information security field. The method comprises the steps of: installing a Virtual Machine (VM) environment on a device; upon virtualizing the personal working environment, connecting the device to a host, loading the VM environment into the host; and responding to a user operation and saving data of the user operation to the device by the VM environment. The device comprises a communication interface module, a VM environment storage module, and a control module. The present invention provides a means for secure and convenient mobile work.
US09047485B2	Integrated masking for viewing of data Provided are techniques for integrated masking for viewing of data. A record is encoded with a mask definition, wherein the mask definition describes which one or more portions of the record are to be hidden. A request to display the encoded record is received. The encoded record is displayed with the one or more portions of the record hidden based on the mask definition.
US09047481B2	Hierarchical multi-tenancy management of system resources in resource groups Establishing hierarchical user management authority for storage resources organized into resource groups in a computing storage environment are provided. Each storage resource is associated with a resource group and storage resource object having a resource group attribute associating the storage resource object with one of the resource groups. The resource group label attribute is assigned to the resource group object. An additional attribute of the resource group object, that specifies management policies for the resource group object and the storage resources associated with the resource group object, is defined. One of the available users of the storage resources is associated with a user resource scope attribute. A schema is defined for comparing of values of the user resource scope attribute with the resource group label attribute. The resource group label attribute is designated as a delimited text string for assigning the resource group label attribute to the resource group object.
US09047479B1	System, method and computer program product for providing a team object in association with an object In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for providing a team object in association with an object. These mechanisms and methods for providing a team object in association with an object can allow for centralized management of a team in association with an object. For example, members of the team may be automatically identified (e.g. without manual intervention) for receiving notifications in association with an object.
US09047477B2	Distributed key encryption in servers Architecture that stores specific passwords on behalf of users, and encrypts the passwords using encryption keys managed by a distributed key management system. The encryption keys are stored in a directory service (e.g., hierarchical) in an area that is inaccessible by selected entities (e.g., administrative users) having superior permissions such as supervisory administrators, but accessible to the account components that need to access the unencrypted passwords. The distributed key management system makes the encryption key stored in the directory service available to all hardware/software components that need the key to encrypt or decrypt the passwords.
US09047476B2	Browser-based secure desktop applications for open computing platforms Example browser-based secure desktop applications for open computing platforms are disclosed. An example method disclosed herein to provide secure desktop functionality to a computing platform comprises providing, in response to a first request, a secure desktop application to the computing platform, the secure desktop application for execution by a browser on the computing platform, and establishing a secure communication connection between a service node and the secure desktop application, the secure communication connection to provide the secure desktop application with access to a trusted entity, the secure communication connection being accessible to a trusted application downloaded to the computing platform for execution by the browser in association with the secure desktop application, the secure communication connection being inaccessible to an untrusted application not executed in association with the secure desktop application.
US09047475B2	Secure data parser method and system A secure data parser is provided that may be integrated into any suitable system for securely storing and communicating data. The secure data parser parses data and then splits the data into multiple portions that are stored or communicated distinctly. Encryption of the original data, the portions of data, or both may be employed for additional security. The secure data parser may be used to protect data in motion by splitting original data into portions of data that may be communicated using multiple communications paths.
US09047474B1	Circuits for and methods of providing isolation in an integrated circuit A circuit for providing isolation in an integrated circuit is described. The circuit comprises a first circuit block having circuits associated with a first security level; a second circuit block having circuits associated with a second security level; and a third circuit block having programmable resources, the third circuit block providing isolation between the first circuit block and the second circuit block and being programmable to enable connections between the first circuit block and the second circuit block.
US09047470B2	Secure provisioning of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices A device receives identification information associated with a mobile commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) device, and receives configuration and security requirements defined for the mobile COTS device. The device creates secure configuration software for the mobile COTS device based on the identification information and the configuration and security requirements, and provides the secure configuration software to the mobile COTS device for installation.
US09047467B1	Streaming malware definition updates A method, system and apparatus for assembling and publishing frequent malware signature definition updates through the use of additive or “streaming” definition packages is provided. Embodiments of the present invention provide such functionality by publishing not only full malware signature definition updates on a long periodicity but also streaming malware signature definition updates containing newly certified signature definitions on a short periodicity. As newly-certified malware signature definitions are received, those newly-certified signature definitions are incorporated not only in the full signature definition file but also in a streaming signature definition update that contains only newly-certified signature definitions received during a streaming update period. At the end of the streaming update period, a streaming signature definition file is made available by publication to anti-malware clients. A streaming signature definition file only contains those signature definitions received during the assembly period for that streaming definition file.
US09047466B2	Method of detecting a malware based on a white list A method of detecting a malware based on a white list comprises: receiving on a server side a program feature and/or a program behavior of a program to be detected sent from a client side; comparing the program feature and/or the program behavior of the detected program with legitimate program features and/or legitimate program behaviors stored in a white list; obtaining a legitimacy information of the unknown program based on the comparison result and feeding this back to the client side. In the invention, a legitimate program is determined by using a white list, thereby determining an illegitimate program excluded from the white list as a malware, which performs a determination and detecting and removing of a malware from another perspective.
US09047465B2	Methods and apparatus for automatic security checking in systems that monitor for improper network usage Methods and apparatus for automatic security checking in systems that monitor for improper network usage are disclosed. An example system to mitigate improper network usage disclosed herein comprises an alert processor to determine whether to issue a notification in response to an activity alert corresponding to monitored usage of a communication network by a user device, wherein the monitored usage occurs after the user device has been granted access to the communication network, and an automatic verifier to respond to the activity alert by causing at least one of an automatic validation command or an automatic disconnect command to be sent to the user device before the alert processor determines whether to issue the notification.
US09047463B2	Method and system for protecting data flow at a mobile device A method and system for evaluating and enforcing a data flow policy at a mobile computing device includes a data flow policy engine to evaluate data access requests made by security-wrapped software applications running on the mobile device and prevent the security-wrapped software applications from violating the data flow policy. The data flow policy defines a number of security labels that are associated with data objects. A software application process may be associated with a security label if the process accesses data having the security label or the process is in communication with another process that has accessed data having the security label.
US09047459B2	Electronic device and method for resetting unlocking password of the electronic device A computerized method resets an unlocking password of an electronic device. Verification information used for resetting a first unlocking password currently used for unlocking the electronic device, and a destination for receiving a second unlocking password in place of the first unlocking password are preset in the electronic device. A request message from a terminal device is monitored in real-time, and checked for the inclusion of the verification information. The second unlocking password is generated, the first unlocking password of the electronic device is replaced by the second unlocking password, and the second unlocking password is sent to the destination if the verification information is included in the request message.
US09047458B2	Network access protection A system or method for network access protection executes steps for receiving, at a server, an access request for access to at least one network resource from a client machine, the access request including account authentication information comprising an account identifier and password, obtaining a client machine identifier from the client machine in response to receiving the request for access, and controlling access to the network resource in response to the access request by authorizing access to the network resource for the access request if the client machine identifier matches a registered machine identifier that is registered for use with the account authentication information and the account authentication information matches registered information for a valid account, but denying access to the network resource if the client machine identifier does not match a registered client machine identifier that is registered for use with the account authentication information.
US09047455B2	Method for reading attributes from an ID token The invention relates to a method for reading at least one attribute stored in an ID token, wherein the ID token is assigned to a user, comprising the following steps: authenticating the user with respect to the ID token, authenticating a first computer system with respect to the ID token, after successful authentication of the user and the first computer system with respect to the ID token, read-access by the first computer system to the at least one attribute stored in the ID token for transfer of the at least one attribute to a second computer system.
US09047454B2	Authentication device and authentication system A biological information authentication device is provided with a biological information memory means, a user group information confirmation means, a biological information registering means and an authentication unit. The user group information is the information representing a trust relationship among a plurality of users; the biological information memory unit associates each biological information extracted from a plurality of users with the user group information and stores them. The user group information confirmation unit receives a determination as to whether or not a trust relationship exists among a plurality of users from whom the biological information is extracted and confirms the relationship between users. The biological information registering unit matches the user group information and stores each biological information extracted from each user in association with the biological information memory means.
US09047453B2	Unlocking method, computer readable storage medium for storing thereof and handheld electrical device applying thereof An unlocking method for a handheld electrical device with a normal mode and a limited mode is disclosed. The handheld electrical device in the normal mode is able to display all contents of an application installed on the handheld electrical device. The handheld electrical device in the limited mode is able to display only part of the contents of the application. The unlocking method includes the following steps: at least one unlocking input without a user account is obtained from an input unit of the handheld electrical device when the handheld electrical device is under a locked status. The unlocking input is compared with first preset data and second preset data to generate a comparison result. The locked status of the handheld electrical device is released according to the comparison result.
US09047451B2	Method and apparatus for differentiated access control A method for differentiated access control on a computing device, and the computing device, the method including starting a timer on the computing device; resetting the timer if activity occurs on the computing device prior to the expiration of the timer; and preventing a subset of applications from being launched or enabled on expiry of the timer.
US09047449B2	Method and system for entity authentication in resource-limited network A method and a system for entity authentication in a resource-limited network are provided by the present invention. Said method comprises the following steps: 1) entity A sends an authentication request message to entity B; 2) after receiving the authentication request message, entity B sends an authentication response message to entity A; and 3) entity A determines the validity of entity B according to the received authentication response message. The authentication between entities in a resource-limited network can be implemented by the application of the present invention.
US09047447B2	Electronic device system and electronic device When a connection device is connected to an SD socket of an electronic device, a process setting unit of the electronic device obtains permission/inhibition information (an output signal) set forth in a permission/inhibition information setting unit of the connection device. Based on the obtained permission/inhibition information, the process setting unit identifies an execution unit whose operation is to be activated among the execution units provided in the electronic device. Then, the process setting unit instructs the identified execution unit to start operation. This realizes operation of execution units in correspondence to the permission/inhibition information.
US09047446B2	Method and system for unified mobile content protection Media content is delivered to a variety of mobile devices in a protected manner based on client-server architecture with a symmetric (private-key) encryption scheme. A media preparation server (MPS) encrypts media content and publishes and stores it on a content delivery server (CDS), such as a server in a content distribution network (CDN). Client devices can freely obtain the media content from the CDS and can also freely distribute the media content further. They cannot, however, play the content without first obtaining a decryption key and license. Access to decryption keys is via a centralized rights manager, providing a desired level of DRM control.
US09047444B2	Mobile application registration An application on a mobile terminal in a mobile network is registered with an application server. The mobile terminal includes an identity module. At the application server, a first message is received for registering the application, the first message including a telephone number associated with the identity module. The application server generates a unique identifier and associates the unique identifier with the telephone number. A second message is sent from the application server to the mobile terminal, the second message including the unique identifier. The mobile terminal generates and stores a data block including the unique identifier, a subscriber identity associated with the identity module and a terminal identifier associated with the mobile terminal.
US09047443B2	Data federation system and method for sociality storage service in cloud computing Provided is a data federation system for a sociality storage service in cloud computing, the data federation system including an instance management unit to collect instance information from a cloud system for integrating cloud storage services provided to individuals, a service authentication unit to authenticate a state of the cloud storage services using the collected instance information, a storage synchronization unit to integrate cloud storages to collect data of the authenticated cloud storage services, and an index management unit to organize the collected data based on a state value of at least one of a file and a folder in the integrated cloud storage.
US09047434B2	Clustering for processing of circuit design data Nodes in microdevice design data are selected to form initial clusters. Typically the nodes are selected based upon the type of process to be performed on the design data. The initial clusters are then be grown, merged with other nodes, or come combination of both until the processing costs of the final clusters are compatible with the amount of resources that will be used to process the design data.
US09047432B2	System and method for validating stacked dies by comparing connections A system comprises a processor-implemented tool configured to generate a layout of an integrated circuit (IC) die. At least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium includes a first portion encoded with a first gate-level description of first and second circuit patterns to be formed on first and second integrated circuit (IC) dies, respectively, and a second portion encoded with a second gate level description of the first and second circuit patterns received from the processor implemented tool. The second gate level description includes power and ground ports, and the first gate level description does not include power and ground ports. A processor-implemented first verification module is provided for comparing the first and second gate level descriptions and outputting a verified second gate-level description of the first and second circuit patterns.
US09047431B2	System and method for using fabric-graph flow to determine resource costs A system and method of determining paths of components when placing and routing configurable circuits. The method identifies a probabilistic data flow through multiple components using a simplified connection matrix. The simplified connection matrix is used to determine a probabilistic data flow through the components without data flowing from any component to itself. The probabilistic data flow is used to determine a probabilistic data flow through the components with some of the components having data flowing from themselves back to themselves. The probabilistic data flow through each component and the number of inputs of the components are used to determine a cost for each component. The cost of a path through the circuit is determined from the costs of the individual components in the path. The costs of the components are used to determine which path of components to use.
US09047427B1	Method and system for performing verification of an electronic design An improved approach for designing and verifying electronic designs at different levels of abstractions is disclosed. An electronic design undergoes high level verification, where the results of the high level verification can be guaranteed to be correct at the RTL level. This can be implemented by ensuring that model consistency rules are followed to generate high level (enhanced transaction level) models and/or RTL data. In this way, properties that are verified at one level of abstraction will not need to be re-verified at the other level of abstraction.
US09047426B2	Performing scenario reduction in a circuit design flow Some embodiments of the present invention provide techniques and systems for using scenario reduction in a design flow. The system can use scenario reduction to determine two subsets of scenarios that correspond to two sets of design constraints. Next, the system can optimize the circuit design using one of the sets of design constraints over the associated subset of scenarios. Next, the system can optimize the circuit design using both sets of design constraints over the union of the two subsets of scenarios. In some embodiments, the system can iteratively optimize a circuit design by: performing multiple optimization iterations on the circuit design over progressively larger subsets of scenarios which are determined by performing scenario reduction with relaxation; and performing at least one optimization iteration on the circuit design over a subset of scenarios which is determined by performing scenario reduction without relaxation.
US09047425B2	Time-domain signal generation Methods and apparatus disclosed herein operate to receive a plurality of cycles characterized by a set of time-domain aspects, to modify at least one of the time-domain aspects of at least some of the plurality of cycles to produce a plurality of modified cycles, to process at least some of the modified cycles to produce time-domain cycles, and to create a time-domain signal based at least in part on concatenating the time-domain cycles.
US09047424B1	System and method for analog verification IP authoring and storage A system, method, and computer program product for automatically providing circuit designers with verification information for analog and mixed-signal circuit designs. A graphical user interface based environment allows circuit designers to enter verification IP while simultaneously viewing the design IP in a schematic and/or layout editor window. Embodiments maintain the verification IP in a cellview similar to the separate cellviews used for schematic and layout data. Verification IP may be selectively translated into data that is directly exportable to and usable by particular analog and mixed-signal simulators. Embodiments direct design IP and verification IP to a simulator that dynamically stitches both together during circuit verification, and tangibly outputs verification results.
US09047420B2	Managing data communication between a peripheral device and a host Management of data communication between a peripheral device and host computer system is provided. A peripheral device exposes to a host computer system multiple interfaces for data communication between the peripheral device and the host computer system. The multiple interfaces are exposed over a single physical interface between the peripheral device and the host computer system, for communicating data between the peripheral device and multiple applications executing on the host computer system. The multiple interfaces can include a data collection interface facilitating collection of data from the peripheral device by an application of the multiple applications executing on the host computer system.
US09047417B2	NUMA aware network interface Methods, apparatus, and computer platforms and architectures employing node aware network interfaces are disclosed. The methods and apparatus may be implemented on computer platforms such as those employing a Non-uniform Memory Access (NUMA) architecture including a plurality of nodes, each node comprising a plurality of components including a processor having at least one level of memory cache and being operatively coupled to system memory and operatively coupled to a NUMA aware Network Interface Controller (NIC). Under one method, a packet is received from a network at a first NIC comprising a component of a first node, and a determination is made that packet data for the packet is to be forwarded to a second node including a second NIC. The packet data is then forwarded from the first NIC to the second NIC via a NIC-to-NIC interconnect link. Upon being received at the second NIC, processing of the packet (data) is handled as if the packet was received from the network at the second NIC.
US09047416B2	Communication control system, switching node, communication control method and communication control program including PCI express switch and LAN interface In a switching node, high-speed and advanced service protocol processing function is achieved by utilizing an external control server without affecting performance of conventional service protocol processing. Specifically, a forwarding engine has PCI express and an LAN interface. Depending on a type of an input packet, destination of the packet is switched to the PCI express side for conventional network service and to the LAN interface side for extended network service that cooperates with the external control server. A CPU having the PCI express and the LAN interface is provided ahead of the LAN interface. The CPU performs communication of service inquiry with the external control server at high speed via the LAN interface. After response from the control server is obtained, setting of the forwarding engine is performed through the PCI express.
US09047407B2	State capture after execution in dependent sequences The execution of a dynamic code segment sequence that includes at least two code segments in sequence. The first code segment is first executed and the corresponding state of the environment is captured. The second code segment is then executed. When the second code segment is later re-executed, the first code segment is not re-executed again. Rather, the environmental state is set to be the captured state that existed when the first code segment originally executed. Then, the second code segment may be executed without spending the resources required to re-run the first code segment. This may be employed at authoring time, or after deployment time.
US09047405B2	Remapping debuggable code User script code that has been developed for execution in a host application can be remapped to debuggable script code, based on explicit debugging gestures, allowing for appropriate debugging coverage for the code while mitigating execution (in)efficiency issues. Capabilities of a virtual machine used for a host application can be determined, and the user script code can be instrumented with guards for detecting explicit debugging gestures based on capabilities of the virtual machine. The instrumented user script code can be executed in a runtime environment, for example, by a just-in-time compilation service. If an explicit debugging gesture is detected, a function where the gesture was detected can be transformed into debuggable script code, in one embodiment, based on the debuggable gesture detected.
US09047404B1	Bridge to connect an extended development capability device to a target device Techniques are disclosed for development of code for deployment on target devices within native code containers that provide access to native resources on the target devices. The native code containers on the target devices may provide only limited development capabilities. Thus, the disclosed development techniques may make use of a device that offers extended development capabilities in comparison to the native code containers on the target devices. A bridge may be established to connect an extended development capability device to a target device. The disclosed bridge may allow developers to benefit from extended development capabilities, while also enabling certain appropriate features to be tested on the target device in the environment in which they will eventually be used.
US09047397B1	Radiograph and passive data analysis using mixed variable optimization Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of methods, apparatus, and systems for performing radiography analysis. For example, certain embodiments perform radiographic analysis using mixed variable computation techniques. One exemplary system comprises a radiation source, a two-dimensional detector for detecting radiation transmitted through a object between the radiation source and detector, and a computer. In this embodiment, the computer is configured to input the radiographic image data from the two-dimensional detector and to determine one or more materials that form the object by using an iterative analysis technique that selects the one or more materials from hierarchically arranged solution spaces of discrete material possibilities and selects the layer interfaces from the optimization of the continuous interface data.
US09047396B2	Method, system and computer product for rescheduling processing of set of work items based on historical trend of execution time In a method for processing work items that have not been completed by a first escalation, a computer determines that the first escalation failed to complete execution, processed fewer work items than the first escalation is configured to process, or completed execution beyond an allotted processing time. The computer duplicates the first escalation to form a second escalation. In addition, the computer configures the second escalation to process the work items that have not been completed by the first escalation. Furthermore, the computer disables the first escalation and activates the second escalation to process the work items that have not been completed by the first escalation.
US09047388B2	System, method, and software application for displaying data from a web service in a visual map The present invention provides a system, method, and software application for enabling a user to view data from an external data source in a visual map, wherein the external data source has a web services interface. Visual mapping software on a computer provides a visual mapping interface in which a user can create, edit, and/or view a visual map. Within the visual mapping interface, the visual mapping software provides the user with an option to obtain data from one or more data sources associated with a web service. In response to the user selecting a data source associated with a web service, the visual mapping software builds a web service request for the web service associated with the selected data source. The visual mapping application makes a call to the applicable web service with the web service request. The visual mapping application subsequently receives data from the web service and transforms the data into a format that can be used to generate visual map data. The visual mapping software then displays the data in a visual map.
US09047385B1	Interactive barcodes A centralized barcode system is described. The centralized barcode system includes a barcode generation system configured to create a customized barcode by creating a new barcode or enhancing an existing barcode.
US09047384B1	System and method for automatically determining purpose information for travel behavior Disclosed is an automated trip-purpose detection method that utilizes GPS Data collected by GPS-enabled devices. The GPS data is compared against a GIS map to obtain various spatial and location characteristics of the surrounding area. This information is then used to derive a traveler's trip purpose. In a preferred embodiment, the inventive method is implemented automatically without any needed manipulation of GIS data. Additionally, the method integrates location information as defined by the user for critical locations such as home and work. These personalized locations allow the method to immediately identify the two most common types of trips: work-related trips and trips returning home.
US09047377B2	Method and system to combine keyword and natural language search results A method includes receiving a search query from a user interface. The method includes performing a keyword search at a computer device based on the search query to generate keyword search results. The method includes performing a natural language search of a frequently-asked question database based on the search query to generate frequently-asked question search results. The method also includes outputting a display page for display at a display device. The display page categorizes the keyword search results and the frequently-asked question search results into a plurality of categories.
US09047375B2	Internet video content delivery to television users A method for delivering video content to a user, including accessing a website that hosts a plurality of video content, causing a search to be performed of the website based on a keyword in the set of keywords, identifying, based on a result of the search, a set of video content, of the plurality of video content, related to the keyword, identifying a format of a particular video content in the set of video content, determining whether the format is compatible with a video client device, and outputting identifying information that identifies the particular video content when the format is compatible with the video client device, where the identifying information allows the video client device to access the particular video content.
US09047370B2	Associating documents with classifications and ranking documents based on classification weights A method and apparatus for associating documents with classification values and ranking documents based on classification weights is provided. It is determined if a document is associated a classification. If the document is associated with a classification, then it is determined if a classification value, which is associated with the document, is associated with a weight. If the classification value is associated with a weight, then a rank of the document is adjusted based on the weight that is associated with the classification value.
US09047369B2	Method and apparatus of determining product category information A user may submit product title information to a server. The server may generate a phrase based on the product title information. The server may then search a database to find relevancies between the phrase and product categories corresponding to multiple nodes in a product category tree. Based on the relevancies, the server may select a node from the multiple nodes. The server may associate the product title information with the node corresponding to a product category when the node is a leaf node of the product category tree.
US09047367B2	Socially collaborative filtering In one embodiment, a method comprises identifying user selection preferences of an identified user having accessed the network, the identifying based on an accumulation of user selection inputs executed by the identified user, relative to input options presented to the user and identifying respective available network items, the accumulation including an identification of the input options not having been selected by the identified user; determining a group of network users having a highest correlation of shared interests with the identified user, based on identifying preferred network items for the identified user, and identifying first network users providing highest relative user affinity values for each of the preferred network items; and determining at least one of new network items most likely to be preferred by the identified user, based on determining, from among network items not presented to the identifier user, the preferred network items for each of the first network users in the group.
US09047366B2	Method and system for providing tag information Methods and apparatuses for providing tag information. According to a method of outputting tag information in a user terminal, tag information and attribute information are obtained by reading at least one tag and then mapped to a key word and stored, and when a message content is input through a message-writing application, tag information corresponding to a key word can be extracted and displayed if the key word is included in the message content.
US09047365B2	Method and device for monitoring the satisfactory functioning of at least one first and a second component of a vehicle drive train The invention relates to a method for monitoring the proper functioning of at least one first and a second component (109, 110) of a vehicle drive train (100). The first and the second component (109, 110) each have an effect on the torque applied to the driveshaft (111) and are controlled for this purpose by a test signal (112, 113). The test signals (112, 113) are predetermined such that the effects of the first and the second component (109, 110) onto the torque applied to the driveshaft (111) cancel each other out if the first and the second component (109, 110) function properly. When the components (109, 110) function properly, the traveling comfort is not disturbed by an unexpected torque increase or torque decrease during the carrying out of this method. Any perturbation of the vehicle drive train (100) is therefore also avoided.
US09047363B2	Text indexing for updateable tokenized text Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with text indexing for updateable tokenized text are described. One example method includes receiving revised tokenized text intended to replace existing tokenized text in an indexed document. Token location information corresponding to the revised tokenized text is stored in an allocated free space portion of a text index posting.
US09047360B2	Apparatus and method for controlling a computer system with at least two power supply units A computer system includes at least two power supply units providing an output-side operating voltage from at least one input-side supply voltage, at least one power-consuming component operated in at least one normal operating mode with a first power consumption and operated in a restricted operating mode with at least one second power consumption lower than the first power consumption, the power-consuming component electrically coupled to the at least two power supply units; a controller coupled to the at least two power supply units and the power-consuming component; and at least one management component coupled to the controller.
US09047352B1	Centralized searching in a data storage environment Described are techniques for searching. Search criteria including parameters is received. It is determined whether to perform searching based on storage provisioned for one or more selected applications identified in the search criteria. If it is determined to perform searching based on storage provisioned for one or more selected applications, first processing is performed in accordance with the search criteria, and otherwise second processing is performed in accordance with the search criteria. Search results produced as a result of one of the first processing and the second processing are received.
US09047351B2	Cluster of processing nodes with distributed global flash memory using commodity server technology Approaches for a distributed storage system that comprises a plurality of nodes. Each node, of the plurality of nodes, executes one or more application processes which are capable of accessing persistent shared memory. The persistent shared memory is implemented by solid state devices physically maintained on each of the plurality of nodes. Each the one or more application processes, maintained on a particular node, of the plurality of nodes, communicates with a shared data fabric (SDF) to access the persistent shared memory. The persistent shared memory comprises a scoreboard implemented in shared DRAM memory that is mapped to a persistent storage. The scoreboard provides a crash tolerant mechanism for enabling application processes to communicate with the shared data fabric (SDF).
US09047350B2	System and method for managing relationships among resources A method for managing relationships among resources includes providing a first resource having a first resource identifier, providing a second resource having a second resource identifier, and upon user initiation creating a managed relationship between the first resource identifier and the second resource identifier.
US09047337B2	Database connectivity and database model integration within integrated development environment tool Embodiments of the invention provide database integration within an integrated development environment (IDE) tool for displaying database structure and other database information, query editing and execution, and error detection for database statements embedded in program source code. Embodiments of the invention integrate database connectivity and error detection into the IDE tool, thereby potentially reducing the time required for database-aware application development.
US09047333B2	Dynamic updates to a semantic database using fine-grain locking A system for updating an index into a tuple table of tuples is provided. An indexing system updates an index into a tuple table using fine-grain locking of the index. The index includes a values table with an entry for each index value of an index field that references a value-tuple table that includes, for each tuple with the index value, a row that identifies a tuple of the tuple table with that indexed value. After a new tuple is added to the tuple table with a value, the index is updated by locking the entry in the values table, updating the value-tuple table for the value, and then unlocking the entry. When the index is accessed for locating tuples with a value, the accessor locks the entry in the values table for the value, uses the value-tuple table to locate the tuples, and unlocks the entry.
US09047332B2	Methods and systems for managing automated identification technologies information Computer-readable storage media and methods are described in relation to management, control, and distribution of automated identification technology (AIT) information and data associated with sensors and tags utilized for asset identification and tracking. The method includes generating a gateway for at least one of read and write access to deployed identification sensors and tags associated with a set of assets, the sensors and tags incorporating a plurality of disparate native solution formats, providing data storage and management with hierarchical functionality in a common data format for information passing through the generated gateway, the information related to the assets as provided by the deployed identification sensors and tags, executing a service framework for data delivery to and from the deployed sensors and tags via a publish and subscribe middleware service layer that provides access to the gateway through a common middleware interface, and providing a user interface through which commands to the common middleware interface are generated.
US09047328B2	Searching entity-key associations using in-memory objects Disclosed are a method and system for searching entities and keys that are associated with each other using entity-key associations stored in an in-memory object. When a query is issued for retrieving entity-key associations, the disclosed technique searches an in-memory object, such as a binary large object (BLOB) containing a plurality of entity-key association strings that represent the entity-key associations. An entity-key association string includes an entity name of an entity concatenated with a key name of a key that are associated with each other. Searching for the entity-key associations using the entity-key association strings in the BLOB is faster than a conventional search that includes querying multiple tables in a database. The disclosed technique creates the entity-key association strings by reading necessary data from a data structure stored in data storage unit. Both literal and regular expressions are supported without adversely affecting the query performance.
US09047327B2	Method and apparatus for developing a social hierarchy A method and apparatus for developing a social hierarchy for a user from a plurality of contacts includes, for each contact, tracking communications occurring between the user and the contact; determining, from the tracked communications, a rate of change for communications between the user and the contact; and identifying, based on the rate of change, a position in the social hierarchy for the contact. Another method and apparatus includes tracking communications occurring between the user and a contact in the plurality of contacts, wherein tracking a communication comprises identifying a method of communication and a time the communication occurred; determining, from the tracked communications, that repeated communication attempts were made between the user and the contact; and identifying, based on the repeated communication attempts, a position in the social hierarchy for the contact.
US09047323B2	System and method for reviewing role definitions A system for reviewing the ownership of data resources includes a database that stores a plurality of data resource identifiers. Each of the plurality of data resource identifiers has an associated owner field. The system also includes a second database that stores data resource review definitions. The review definitions define a review processes for the plurality of data resources. The system further includes a processor that is in communication with the data resource database and the review definition database. The processor executes the data resource ownership review processes defined by the review definitions at the appropriate times.
US09047322B2	Techniques for automatically discovering a database device on a network Techniques for automatically adding a database device to a network of database devices include sending a first request from the database device in response to detecting that the database device is connected to the network. In response, the database device receives data that identifies a database device-management server. The database device sends a second request to the database device-management server. The second request identifies the database device and requests that the device-management server register the database device in response to the second request. The new database device may be a database appliance having a database process and a special purpose operating system tailored to the database process. With these techniques, a new database device can be plugged into a network and automatically discovered, registered, and assigned management tasks without human intervention. This alleviates the load on human operators and makes adding database device to a network more reliable and simple.
US09047317B2	Customer activity driven storage Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods, and computer program products for determining a storage location for an image of a check. In some embodiments, a system is configured to: receive an image of a check, the image being associated with an account associated with a user; analyze check retrieval activity associated with the account; determine, based on the check retrieval activity, a storage location for the image; and store the image at the storage location.
US09047316B2	Venue prediction based on ranking A technique is disclosed for presenting possible check-in venues to a mobile device user, such as for the purpose of checking in with social networking services such as Foursquare. The disclosed technique operates by training a model during an initial training sequence. The trained model, representing a learned hypothesis, describes venues that are ranked according to their relevance to users who are also described by the model. During a subsequent run-time sequence, the system receives real-time geolocation data that represents users, wherein the data includes user geolocation and the level of accuracy of the geolocation. The system generates a set of candidate venues, ranks the generated candidate venues by applying the learned hypothesis, which can be dependent on the level of accuracy, and presents the user with the ranked venues as possible check-in venues. The user can then select the venue actually being checked into from the presented check-in venues.
US09047299B1	Reclaiming blocks from a directory A technique manages filesystem blocks of a filesystem. The technique involves modifying an inode structure which identifies a filesystem directory, the directory's inode structure currently including a set of filesystem blocks which was allocated to the directory's inode structure to hold filesystem data. The technique further involves, after modifying the directory's inode structure, performing a directory check operation to determine whether the filesystem directory is empty. The technique further involves reclaiming, from the directory's inode structure, the set of filesystem blocks which was allocated to the directory's inode structure to hold the filesystem data when a result of the directory check operation indicates that the filesystem directory is empty, and not reclaiming the set of filesystem blocks from the directory's inode structure when the result of the directory check operation indicates that the filesystem directory is not empty.
US09047295B2	File system quiescing Techniques are disclosed for quiescing a file system. One technique comprises freezing a file system, flushing a memory associated with the file system, and thawing the file system. One technique comprises receiving a request targeted to a file system and intercepting the request.
US09047294B2	Model for generating custom file plans towards management of content as records Convenient approach for managing records with respect to entities based on file plans. In an embodiment, historical data representing policies previously selected is maintained. The historical data is then used to generate custom file plans containing policies most likely to be used by a corresponding user. A list in such custom file plan may have more relevant policies prioritized higher. A user may thus conveniently select a desired policy, and associate the selected policy with a set of entities to cause the selected policies to be applied against management of the set of entities.
US09047291B2	Systems and methods for saving and applying user-specified file naming conventions In one aspect, the invention comprises software stored in a computer readable medium, comprising: (a) software for receiving a user-specified file naming convention; (b) software for electronically storing said file naming convention; (c) software for detecting whether a file has been selected for download; and (d) software for displaying a default file name for said file, wherein said default file name is constructed based on said file naming convention.
US09047289B2	Multimedia network system with content importation, content exportation, and integrated content management This system provides wired and/or wireless access throughout a multimedia network built on a distributed architecture which can be transparent to the user. This multimedia network includes content which is imported or generated within the network. The system allows for the content provider to determine the license status of content and update the license status of content which was previously provided by that provider. The external content can be accessed in real time or downloaded and stored within the system for later access at the convenience of the user. The usage of some content is controlled by the use of encryption and other protection methods. The system allows for storage of live video by storing the digitized video and allowing the user to control how, when and where the content is viewed. The system makes available multiple multimedia services to all users in the network or connected via the internet.
US09047281B2	Efficient file management through granular opportunistic locking Improved methods and systems for granular opportunistic locking mechanisms (oplocks) are provided for increasing file caching efficiency. Oplocks can be specified with a combination of three possible granular caching intentions: read, write, and/or handle. An oplock can be specified with an identifier that indicates a client/specific caller to avoid breaking the original oplock due to an incompatibility from other requests of the same client. An atomic oplock flag is added to create operations that allow callers to request an atomic open with an oplock with a given file.
US09047279B1	Methods and systems for using two-dimensional matrix codes associated with panel component and equipment information and quality control Systems and methods for creating and using 2-dimensional matrix code on tags or labels to identify panel components and associated information stored in and accessible from a data storage device or server or computer with a document management system (DMS). Related information can be encoded into an identifier using a URL with hyperlink onto a 2D matrix tag or label attached to specific panel component or wire. The information encoded in the 2D matrix code can be decoded using an interactive reader and data capture device such as a smart-phone or tablet computing device. Use the capture device's decoded information to provide interactive access and visual display to the interactive URL and hyperlink related information in the DMS. The capture device can be configured to provide immediate intelligence and functions with comparison and confirmation of quality, functionality, maintenance, status, and conformity with respect to panel components.
US09047272B1	System and methods for index selection in collections of data Systems and methods are disclosed that utilize a genetic algorithm to search for an index configuration for a collection of data such as, e.g., a database. Genetic algorithms can include stochastic search heuristics that mimic processes of natural evolution including inheritance, mutation, crossover, and selection. A population of chromosomes representing candidate index configurations can evolve to increase or optimize the fitness of the population and to identify the best (e.g., most fit) index configuration. Fitness of a chromosome may be measured based at least in part on the cost of computer resources used for executing Structured Query Language (SQL) statements in the indexed database. In various implementations, virtual indexing may be used to simulate building an index, chromosomes may be encoded using non-bitmapped representations of index configurations, chromosomes may include genes representing a column in a table in a database, dropping an index from a table in a database, or a composite index for a database, and/or a participation pool may be used to select fitter genes for an initial population of chromosomes.
US09047271B1	Mining data for natural language system A method iteratively processes data for a set of actions, including: for each action: accessing a corresponding set of command sentences for the action, determining first n-grams that are semantically relevant for the action and second n-grams that are semantically irrelevant for the action, and identifying, from a log of command sentences that includes command sentences not included in the corresponding set of command sentences, candidate command sentences that include one first n-gram and a third n-gram that has not yet been determined to be a first n-gram or a second n-gram; for each candidate command sentence, determining each third n-gram that is semantically relevant for an action to be a first n-gram, and determining each third n-gram that is semantically irrelevant for an action to be a second n-gram, and adjusting the corresponding set of command sentences for each action based on the first n-grams and the second n-grams.
US09047270B2	DMA-assisted irregular sampling sequences Methods and systems are provided for performing sampling sequences using a control module. One exemplary method involves transferring sampling configuration information for a sampling sequence from memory to a conversion module. The conversion module performs the sequence in accordance with the configuration information by performing sampling processes at a plurality of sampling times to obtain a plurality of samples, and transferring results corresponding to the plurality of samples from the conversion module to the memory. At least some sampling times of the plurality of sampling times are nonperiodic with respect to the other sampling times of the plurality of sampling times. In exemplary embodiments, the sampling configuration information includes a sampling mode criterion, and the conversion module either automatically performs a sampling process or performs the sampling process in response to a trigger signal based on the sampling mode criterion for that sampling process.
US09047268B2	Character and word level language models for out-of-vocabulary text input A computing device determines, based at least in part on indications of user input, scores for a first set of candidate strings and a second set of candidate strings. Each candidate string from the first set of candidate strings is in a lexicon. Candidate strings from the second set of candidate strings are not necessarily in the lexicon. The computing device determines the scores for the first set of candidate strings based on probabilities of the candidate strings being entered. For each candidate string from the second set of candidate strings, the computing device determines the scores for the candidate string based on probabilities of characters of the candidate string being entered. The computing device selects a candidate string based on the scores for the first and second sets of candidate strings and outputs, for display at the display device, the selected candidate string.
US09047267B2	Method, apparatus, and computer program product for written mathematical expression analysis Various methods for written mathematical expression analysis are provided. One method may include receiving written input where the written input is representative of a mathematical expression. The method may also include analyzing the written input to identify at least one operator and at least one operand and constructing an expression tree based at least in part on predefined symbol relationships, the at least one operator, and the at least one operand. Similar apparatuses and computer program products are also provided.
US09047266B2	Methods, systems and computer program products for processing cells in a spreadsheet Methods, systems and computer program products are provided for processing cells in a spreadsheet. A first formula contained in a first cell and a second formula contained in a second cell to provide a consolidated formula, wherein the second formula references the output of the first cell are automatically consolidated. The consolidated formula is stored in a single cell. Further methods, systems and computer program products are provided for processing cells in a spreadsheet and wherein a first cell, a second cell that is referenced as a precedent cell by a formula contained in the first cell, and a formula or data contained in the second cell are displayed while hiding the formula contained in the first cell and its value.
US09047265B2	Device, method, and computer readable medium for creating forms There is provided a form creation device including a retaining unit that retains a range of set information which prescribes image elements that are suitable for OCR processing and an image generation unit that generates a form image based on a user's input and the set information range retained in the retaining unit.
US09047261B2	Document editing method A method of editing a document includes receiving data associated with the document, the data including mark-up language data. The received data is processed to render at least part of the document for display in a first display area, and the at least part of the document is displayed as rendered in the first display area. The received data is processed to render the at least part of the document for display in a second display area, and the at least part of the document is displayed as rendered in the second display area. Editing data is received and is processed, thereby editing the at least part of the document displayed in the second display area, and the editing is applied to the at least part of the document displayed in the first display area.
US09047258B2	Systems and methods for the comparison of selected text Systems and methods are disclosed for comparing selections of text to show differences between the two selections. The text may be selected from the same source or from two different sources. In one implementation, a system receives a first selection of text for comparison and places the selection in a first buffer. The system receives a second selection of text for comparison and places the second selection in a second buffer. The system compares the first buffer and the second buffer to determine differences and displays the differences. In some embodiments, the system may allow a user to choose two buffers from among a plurality of buffers for comparison.
US09047257B2	Concurrent host operation and device debug operation with single port extensible host interface (xHCI) host controller An improved USB host controller and method supports concurrent host and device debug operations with only one usable USB port. The described embodiments save silicon cost and avoid additional connectors, which are undesirable in ever-smaller devices.
US09047255B2	Effects application based on object clustering A system in accordance with the present invention may include one or more processors, memory that receives instructions from the one or more processors according to a clock operating at a frequency, one or more programs stored in the memory, with instructions to: access media content; analyze the media content according to meta data, media characteristics, or other media-related data; and, create a media content object cluster according to the meta data, the media characteristics, or the other media-related data.
US09047254B1	Detection and validation of expansion types of expandable content items This specification describes methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage device, for detecting and validating expansion types of expandable content items.
US09047253B1	Detecting false statement using multiple modalities Methods for preventing the transmission of sensitive information to locations outside of a secure network by a person who has legitimate access to the sensitive information are described. In some embodiments, in order for an end user of a computing device to establish a secure connection with a secure network and access data stored on the secure network, a client application running on the computing device may be required by the secure network. The client application may monitor visual cues (e.g., facial expressions and gestures) associated with the end user, detect suspicious activity performed by the end user based on the visual cues, and in response to detecting suspicious activity may perform mitigating actions to prevent the transmission of sensitive information such as alerting human resources personnel or requiring authorization prior to sending information to locations outside of the secure network.
US09047249B2	Handling faults in a continuous event processing (CEP) system The concept of faults and fault handling are added to the execution of continuous event processing (CEP) queries. By introducing fault handling techniques to the processing of CEP queries, users are enabled to instruct a CEP query processor to respond to faults in a customized manner that does not necessarily involve the halting of the CEP query relative to which the faults occurred. For example, a fault might be due to a temporary problem. Under such circumstances, the CEP query processor can be instructed to ignore the fault and allow the execution of the CEP query to continue relative to the remainder of the event stream. Alternatively, if the fault is due to a problem with the CEP query itself, then the CEP query processor can be instructed to propagate the fault through the query processing system until the fault ultimately causes the problematic CEP query to be halted.
US09047245B2	Location-based people matching system and method A location-based matching system and method matches users of a computer-implemented system in accordance with inferences of mutual interest between the users, whereby the inferences of mutual interest are based on mutual computer-implemented relationships and user location information. Inferences of mutual interest may also be in accordance with a physical object. The inferences of mutual interest may be with respect to interests by users in being physically proximal to each other or being physically proximal to a location associated with one of the users. Information associated with user matches may be delivered to a matched user in the form of a computer-implemented map.
US09047240B2	Minimum mean square error processing A first systolic array receives an input set of time division multiplexed matrices from a plurality of channel matrices. In a first mode, the first systolic array performs triangularization on the input matrices, producing a first set of matrices, and in a second mode performs back-substitution on the first set, producing a second set of matrices. In a first mode, a second systolic array performs left multiplication on the second set of matrices with the input set of matrices, producing a third set of matrices. In a second mode, the second systolic array performs cross diagonal transposition on the third set of matrices, producing a fourth set of matrices, and performs right multiplication on the second set of matrices with the fourth set of matrices. The first systolic array switches from the first mode to the second mode after the triangularization, and the second systolic array switches from the first mode to the second mode after the left multiplication.
US09047231B2	Apparatus system and method for deterministically transferring data by rebooting to a data transfer kernel A data saving device, system, and method rapidly and deterministically saves data of a computer system. The device may mark data that must be saved when the computer is shut down. In certain embodiments, a boot control module detects a condition requiring a rapid deterministic data saving operation, such as a power failure and reboots the computer, deterministically terminating all existing processes. Additionally, the boot control module loads a data transfer kernel in place of a standard operating kernel used for normal operation. The data transfer kernel supports a set of processes exclusively dedicated to saving data. The data transfer kernel configures the computer and storage devices for the data transfer and saves the marked data with a minimum of interruptions from other processes. Also, the data transfer kernel may shut down the computer and the storage devices after transferring data.
US09047230B2	Techniques for improving the efficiency of mixed radix fast fourier transform Techniques for implementing mixed-radix FFT on SIMD vector processors efficiently for the latest standard in wireless communication technology by dynamically reordering stages are provided. In one aspect, a mixed-radix FFT implementation method for vector processors is provided which includes the following steps. Input data is decomposed into segments of factors based on a size of the input data, wherein the decomposing is performed in one or more stages, and wherein at each of the stages the input data is processed in blocks using one or more FFT butterfly computations for each of the blocks. The stages in which the decomposing is performed are reordered to insure complete utilization of the vector processors. The butterfly computations for one or more of the blocks are reordered to insure that the input data have memory addresses which are next to each other and contiguous.
US09047226B2	Computing device having optimized file system and methods for use therein A computing device having an optimized file system and methods for use therein. File system optimizations include sector-aligned writes, anchored cluster searches, anchored index searches, companion caches dedicated to particular file management data types and predictive cache updates, all of which expedite processing on the computing device. The file system optimizations are especially advantageous for data collection systems where an embedded device is tasked with logging to a target memory data received in a continuous data stream and where none of the streamed data is deleted until after the target memory has been offloaded to another device.
US09047210B2	Data storage device and method to correct bit values using multiple read voltages A data storage device includes a memory including a plurality of storage elements. The memory is configured to read a group of the storage elements using a first read voltage to obtain a first plurality of bit values. A controller is coupled to the memory. The controller is configured to initiate a first error correction code (ECC) procedure on the first plurality of bit values. In response to the first ECC procedure determining that the first plurality of bit values is not correctable, the controller is further configured to instruct the memory to read the group of the storage elements using a second read voltage to obtain a second plurality of bit values, and to change one or more values of the first plurality of bit values to corresponding values of the second plurality of bit values to generate a first plurality of corrected bit values.
US09047209B2	Controlling communication between a point of sale terminal and a printer without changing an application on the point of sale terminal Communication performance can be appropriately and easily improved without changing an application on the host side when controlling communication between electronic devices. A computer that operates according to an operating system on an OS kernel layer, has an application on an application layer that outputs a first unit of command data causing a connected electronic device to perform an operation, and has a communication port on a physical layer that sends data output from the application to the electronic device: receives data output from the application on the OS kernel layer before the data is received by the communication port; accumulates the received data and generates a second unit of data that is larger than the first unit; and outputs the generated second unit of data to the communication port.
US09047205B1	Data storage device employing orthogonal equalization and sequence detection to compensate for two-dimensional intersymbol interference A data storage device is disclosed comprising a non-volatile memory (NVM), wherein data is read from the NVM to generate a two dimension matrix of signal samples, including a first dimension and a second dimension. The matrix of signal samples is first equalized to reduce intersymbol interference (ISI) in the first dimension to generate second dimension signal samples, and second equalized to reduce ISI in the second dimension to generate first dimension signal samples. A first data sequence is detected in response to the first dimension signal samples, and a second data sequence is detected in response to the second dimension signal samples.
US09047204B2	Techniques to perform forward error correction for an electrical backplane Techniques to perform forward error correction for an electrical backplane are described including forward error correction (FEC) circuitry to perform forward error correction, physical coding sublayer circuitry, and physical medium attachment (PMA) circuitry. The FEC circuitry provides primitives comprising a FEC_UNITDATA.request primitive, a FEC_UNITDATA.signal primitive, and FEC_UNITDATA.indication primitive, the FEC sublayer and includes an encoder having a reverse gearbox and a pseudo-noise generator.
US09047200B2	Dynamic redundancy mapping of cache data in flash-based caching systems A method for managing redundancy of data in a solid-state cache system including at least three solid-state storage modules. The method may include designating one or more extents of each dirty mirror pair to be of a particular priority order of at least two priority orders. The at least two priority orders can include at least a highest priority order. The highest priority order can have a higher relative priority than the other priority orders. The method may also include performing at least one redundancy conversion iteration. Each redundancy conversion iteration includes converting extents of at least two dirty mirror pairs into at least one RAID 5 group and at least one unconverted extent. The extents of the at least two dirty mirror pairs can include extents designated to be of a highest remaining priority order. Each redundancy conversion iteration can also include deallocating the at least one unconverted extent.
US09047199B2	Reducing penalties for cache accessing operations A computer program product for reducing penalties for cache accessing operations is provided. The computer program product includes a tangible storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method. The method includes respectively associating platform registers with cache arrays, loading control information and data of a store operation to be executed with respect to one or more of the cache arrays into the one or more of the platform registers respectively associated with the one or more of the cache arrays, and, based on the one or more of the cache arrays becoming available, committing the data from the one or more of the platform registers using the control information from the same platform registers to the one or more of the cache arrays.
US09047198B2	Prefetching across page boundaries in hierarchically cached processors Processors and methods for preventing lower level prefetch units from stalling at page boundaries. An upper level prefetch unit closest to the processor core issues a preemptive request for a translation of the next page in a given prefetch stream. The upper level prefetch unit sends the translation to the lower level prefetch units prior to the lower level prefetch units reaching the end of the current page for the given prefetch stream. When the lower level prefetch units reach the boundary of the current page, instead of stopping, these prefetch units can continue to prefetch by jumping to the next physical page number provided in the translation.
US09047196B2	Usage aware NUMA process scheduling Processes may be assigned to specific processors when memory objects consumed by the processes are located in memory banks closely associated with the processors. When assigning processes to threads operating in a multiple processor NUMA architecture system, an analysis of the memory objects accessed by a process may identify processor or group of processors that may minimize the memory access time of the process. The selection may take into account the connections between memory banks and processors to identify the shortest communication path between the memory objects and the process. The processes may be pre-identified as functional processes that make little or no changes to memory objects other than information passed to or from the processes.
US09047195B2	Computer system with virtualization mechanism and management table, cache control method and computer program At least one of a first application program and a second application program sends an access request to a second cache management module, which receives the access request, and references the second cache management table to identify the storage location of the access-target data conforming to the access request. When access-target data exists in first cache area, the second cache management module sends a request to the first cache management module storing the access-target data, and where access-target data does not exist in the first cache area, acquires the access-target data from the second storage device. When the access-target data is in first cache area, the first cache management module acquires the access-target data conforming to the request from the relevant first cache area, and sends access-target data to the second cache management module.
US09047193B2	Processor-cache system and method A digital system is provided. The digital system includes an execution unit, a level-zero (L0) memory, and an address generation unit. The execution unit is coupled to a data memory containing data to be used in operations of the execution unit. The L0 memory is coupled between the execution unit and the data memory and configured to receive a part of the data in the data memory. The address generation unit is configured to generate address information for addressing the L0 memory. Further, the L0 memory provides at least two operands of a single instruction from the part of the data to the execution unit directly, without loading the at least two operands into one or more registers, using the address information from the address generation unit.
US09047192B2	Signature-based store checking buffer A system and method for optimizing redundant output verification, are provided. A hardware-based store fingerprint buffer receives multiple instances of output from multiple instances of computation. The store fingerprint buffer generates a signature from the content included in the multiple instances of output. When a barrier is reached, the store fingerprint buffer uses the signature to verify the content is error-free.
US09047188B2	State machine based parsing algorithm on a data-status FIFO with multiple banks In the L2 FIFO architecture incoming frames are stored in a multi bank FIFO to enable offloading the programmable real-time unit to do other tasks. The L2 FIFO buffers data coming from the L1 FIFO, reducing the polling time for received data. Status is always checked for errors before processing the data and updating the state variables. Implementing a state machine to perform some of the checks results in a PRU utilization that is not a function of the bytes that need to be processed.
US09047185B2	Inadvertent freed storage recovery An abnormal termination recovery is performed where storage is referenced shortly after the storage has been freed. More specifically, when storage is freed, and that storage is accessed, an abnormal termination error (e.g., a page translation exception event) occurs due to referencing storage that has not been obtained. When the abnormal termination error occurs, an abnormal termination recovery operation is accessed. The abnormal termination recovery operation scans a history of storage freeing operations (e.g., FREEMAIN operations) to determine whether the storage location accessed by the storage access that caused the abnormal termination error was recently freed from within the same address space. If the storage location was recently freed, then the abnormal termination recovery operation reverses the storage freeing operation by issuing a storage obtaining operation (e.g., a GETMAIN operation) to re-obtain the storage.
US09047183B2	Systems and methods for detecting outages in a medical record exchange system Systems and methods for detecting an issue with a message flow between two or more data systems. In an embodiment, at a first time, a number of first request messages and a number of first response messages transmitted or received during a first look-back period are determined. A first ratio is calculated based on these numbers and compared to an alerting threshold. If the first ratio is less than the alerting threshold, an alert is generated. Then, at a second time, a number of second request messages and a number of second response messages transmitted or received during a second look-back period are determined. A second ratio is calculated based on these numbers and compared to a clearing threshold. Based on this comparison, it is determined whether to maintain or clear the alert.
US09047179B2	Level placement in solid-state memory Methods and apparatus are provided for determining level placement in q-level cells of solid-state memory, where q>2. Groups of the cells are programmed to respective levels of a predetermined plurality of programming levels, and each cell is then read at a series of time instants to obtain a sequence of read metric values for that cell. The sequences of read metric values for the group of cells programmed to each programming level are processed to derive statistical data as a function of time for that level. The statistical data for each programming level is processed to determine for that level at least one parameter of a model defining variation with time of the statistical data for programming levels. The parameters for the levels are extrapolated to define parameter variation as a function of level. A set of q programming levels which has a desired property over time is then calculated from said parameter variation and said model.
US09047177B2	Memory system, data management method, and computer According to one embodiment, a memory system includes a non-volatile memory, a volatile memory, a controller, and a compression/decompression processor. When data transmission is performed through the volatile memory between a host apparatus and the non-volatile memory, the controller updates management information stored in the volatile memory. In addition, the compression/decompression processor compresses the management information in the case where a first condition is satisfied, and decompresses the compressed management information in the case where a second condition is satisfied. The controller stores the compressed management information in the non-volatile memory.
US09047176B2	Storage device and method for utilizing unused storage space A storage device and method for utilizing unused storage space are provided. In one embodiment, a storage device identifies unused storage space in the memory. The storage device then performs risk analysis on the identified unused storage space. Based on the risk analysis, the storage device uses the identified unused storage space for an internal storage device operation. Other embodiments are disclosed, and each of the embodiments can be used alone or together in combination.
US09047174B2	Method and system for hierarchically managing storage resources The disclosure discloses a method for hierarchically managing storage resources, which comprises: planning a storage space, establishing an address management index, and storing or reading data according to the index and a type of the data. The disclosure further discloses a system for hierarchically managing storage resources. Through the method and system of the disclosure, space can be better saved, storage requirements of data of different sizes can be met, and the storage space can be flexibly recorded and released.
US09047173B2	Tracking and eliminating bad prefetches generated by a stride prefetcher A method, an apparatus, and a non-transitory computer readable medium for tracking prefetches generated by a stride prefetcher are presented. Responsive to a prefetcher table entry for an address stream locking on a stride, prefetch suppression logic is updated and prefetches from the prefetcher table entry are suppressed when suppression is enabled for that prefetcher table entry. A stride is a difference between consecutive addresses in the address stream. A prefetch request is issued from the prefetcher table entry when suppression is not enabled for that prefetcher table entry.
US09047172B2	Adaptive power control of memory map storage devices An apparatus includes a storage resource to store data. The data can be accessible by a host computer system. The apparatus includes a set of dynamically powered volatile memory devices that are configured to store mapping information. The mapping information maps logical addresses of received access requests to corresponding physical addresses of the storage resource to which the access requests pertain. In accordance with received mode setting information, the controller logic adaptively controls power settings of the volatile memory devices storing the mapping information. If an abundance of power such as 120 VAC power is available, more of volatile memory devices can be powered to store a greater portion of the mapping information. If only battery power is available, fewer than all of the volatile memory devices can be powered to store a smaller portion of the mapping information.
US09047168B2	Automatically generating documentation for a diagram including a plurality of states and transitions System and method for generating documentation for a diagram including states and transitions. The diagram may be received or otherwise stored and may specify a plurality of states and a plurality of transitions between the states. The first diagram also specifies first functionality. User documentation may be automatically generated for the first diagram based on the first diagram. The user documentation may describe the first diagram, e.g., the plurality of states and the plurality of transitions of the first diagram. Automatic generation of the user documentation may be performed without manual user input specifying the user documentation. The user documentation may be displayed on a display and/or stored in a memory medium.
US09047166B2	System for generating application software installed on a mobile terminal An application generation system configured to automatically generate an application having a desired function is disclosed. The application generation system has a mobile terminal including computation means for performing predetermined computation processing, image capture means for capturing an information code, decoding means for decoding the information code to extract character information, display means for displaying predetermined information, and first communication means for communicating character information. The system includes a server having second communication means for communicating with the first communication means, an assessment database storing assessment rules, a program component database storing program components, and analysis means which analyzes character information received by the second communication means to determine results of the analysis based on the assessment rules stored in the assessment database to determine information related to attributes and configuration of an application to be generated as well as program components configuring the application.
US09047165B1	Multiversion model versioning system and method A version control unit may maintain separate version numbers for multiple traits of a single model. In particular, a number of model traits may be identified, such as a model behavior trait, a software architecture trait, a simulation trait and a code generation trait. Version information for each trait may be maintained separately for the single model. Groups of elements of the model, such as graphical objects, relationships among the objects, object parameters, model parameters, etc., may be mapped to the model traits. The version control unit may determine what model elements are changed since a prior version, and identify the model traits to which the changed model elements are mapped. Version numbers for these traits may be incremented, while version numbers for the other traits may be left unchanged.
US09047160B2	Designing and building virtual images using semantically rich composable software image bundles A virtual image is created by receiving a selection of at least one composable software bundle. The at least one composable software bundle includes a first set of metadata and a first set of artifacts comprising a first set of executable instructions associated with a first set of operations. A virtual image asset is selected and received. The virtual image asset includes one or more virtual image disks, a second set of metadata, and a second set of artifacts including a second set of executable instructions associated with a second set of operations. A new virtual image asset is created based on the at least one composable software bundle and the virtual image asset. The new virtual image asset includes a third set of metadata that is based on the first set of metadata and the second set of metadata.
US09047156B2	System image customization tool A system image customization tool provides an efficient and cost effective way to implement a highly customizable system image for a digital device. The system image customization tool controls application installation, device settings, and selection, delivery methods and licensing options for products, applications and services with minimal or no customer interaction from the customer's first out of box experience with the device and through the lifecycle use of the device. The system image customization tool provides retailers, original equipment manufacturers and products, applications and services providers a way to create new distribution channels and partnerships.
US09047153B2	Selective delay of data receipt in stochastic computation Circuitry for stochastic computation includes processing nodes, including a first processing node and a second processing node, each configured to process an outcome stream having a plurality of outcomes, each outcome being in one of a plurality of states, wherein an outcome from said outcome stream is in a particular state with a particular probability; communication links configured to transmit outcome streams between pairs of said processing nodes; and a delay module on each of said communication links, said delay module configured to delay outcome streams traversing said communication link by an assigned delay; wherein said first and second processing nodes are connected by a plurality of data paths, at least one of which comprises a plurality of communication links, each of said data paths causing an aggregate delay to an outcome stream traversing said data path; wherein no two aggregate delays impose the same delay on an outcome stream.
US09047151B1	Methods and systems for processing commands by a device interfacing with a computing system Method and system for processing a command received from a processor executable computing entity from among a plurality of computing entities of a computing system that interfaces with a device is provided. The method includes receiving the command by a command processing module executed by a processor of the computing system; generating a command object for the command by the command processing module, where the command object format does not change regardless of a computing entity type or a command type; placing the command object in a command queue maintained by the command processing module; sending the command to a device in a same context as a context of the computing entity, when the command object is a first command object in the command queue with the command that is ready to be sent to the device; and sending the command to the device in a different context as the context of the computing entity, when the command object is not the first command object in the command queue with the command that is ready to be sent to the device.
US09047144B2	System and method for providing Quality-of-Services in a multi-event processing environment A system and method for providing Quality-of-Service (QoS) functions to concurrent event-processing applications in a multi-processing database environment are described. The system includes an Event-Listener interface for determining the QoS functions applicable to the events being processed and an Event-Service interface for invoking the determined QoS functions. The Event-Service interface loads, initializes and activates the QoS functions. The QoS functions are based on service definitions. The Event-Service interface further initializes the service providers and sends the events that need QoS support to the respective service providers for processing. The QoS functions include the services commonly needed in a clustered event-processing database system like Event-Sequencing, Event-Isolation, High-Availability, Event-Filtering and Flow-Control. Other QoS functions might be added to the database system using the same interfaces provided by the invention.
US09047142B2	Intelligent rendering of information in a limited display environment Methods for the intelligent rendering of information in a limited display environment are provided. Display environments, especially in mobile devices, are limited with regard to physical space and technical capability. The present invention provides for the scaling of information in the display in light of those limitations. Additional methods for intelligently determining information to be or not to be displayed in the environment are further provided. Determinations of information to be displayed may be a result of a user-determination or automatic determinations made by a user device. Zooming and ‘quick look’ features are also provided.
US09047141B2	System and method for limiting the impact of stragglers in large-scale parallel data processing A large-scale data processing system and method including a plurality of processes, wherein a master process assigns input data blocks to respective map processes and partitions of intermediate data are assigned to respective reduce processes. In each of the plurality of map processes an application-independent map program retrieves a sequence of input data blocks assigned thereto by the master process and applies an application-specific map function to each input data block in the sequence to produce the intermediate data and stores the intermediate data in high speed memory of the interconnected processors. Each of the plurality of reduce processes receives a respective partition of the intermediate data from the high speed memory of the interconnected processors while the map processes continue to process input data blocks an application-specific reduce function is applied to the respective partition of the intermediate data to produce output values.
US09047139B2	Primitives for software transactional memory Software transactional memory (STM) primitives are provided that allow the results of prior open calls to be used by subsequent open calls either as-is or through another STM primitive that consumes the results of the previous invocation. The STM primitives are configured to ensure that the address of a shadow copy representing a memory location will not changed across a wide range of operations and thereby enable re-use of the shadow copy.
US09047135B2	Qualitative assignment of resources to a logical partition in a multipartitioned computer system A qualitative resource assignment wizard receives qualitative information for a logical partition (LPAR) and calculates computer resource assignments for the LPAR based on the qualitative information and a set of conversion functions. For example, the qualitative resource assignment wizard may calculate a processing unit assignment, a memory assignment, and an I/O slot assignment for the LPAR. The qualitative information may be input by a user, for example, utilizing a graphical user interface (GUI). In one embodiment, the conversion functions are calculated during a training phase, in which a user periodically provides qualitative information while resource usage data is gathered. The wizard may reside in a hardware management console (HMC) or other administrative console and/or may be a component of a hypervisor or other partition management code. Software code associated with the wizard may be provided by a network server application to a client system for enabling a user to remotely input the qualitative information.
US09047130B2	Method, server and system for converging desktop application and web application A method, Web server and computer system are provided for converging a desktop application and a Web application. The method includes in response to a request from a client user for using a target desktop application, starting a desktop application initialization process on the Web server and determining an appropriate corresponding hosting server for the user; preparing and provisioning desktop application environment on the corresponding hosting server and starting the target desktop application; transmitting the corresponding hosting server's address to the client so as to make desktop application interaction between the client and the corresponding hosting server; and in response to the completion of the desktop application interaction, stopping and exiting the target desktop application on the corresponding hosting server. The client user is provided with a unified Web console for accessing desktop applications and Web applications, and Web files are shared between the desktop applications and the Web applications.
US09047129B2	Systems and methods for load balancing of time-based tasks in a distributed computing system A load manager comprises a configuration manager and a load monitor. The load manager is configured to monitor and manage aspects of a distributed computer system comprising a plurality of servers. Each server is configured to perform tasks according to a respective time-based scheduler configuration. In some embodiments, the load monitor monitors one or more load metrics of each of the one or more servers. In response to one or more load metrics exceeding a threshold, the configuration manager determines the current time-based task scheduler configuration of the server exceeding the threshold. The load manager is further configured to modify the time-based task scheduler configuration to adjust a further task load on the server based on the at least on or more load metrics.
US09047121B2	System and method for scheduling jobs in a multi-core processor A multi-core processor, comprising a plurality of processor cores to process jobs, a multicore navigator coupled to the plurality of processor cores to evaluate a job for atomicity and, based on determining the job to have atomicity, to determine whether there is an atomic wait queue associated with the job's atomicity. Based on there being an atomic wait queue associated with the job's atomicity, the multicore navigator is to push the job to the atomic wait queue.
US09047118B2	Computationally efficient compression of floating-point data Compression of floating-point numbers is realized by comparing the exponents of the floating-point numbers to one or more exponent thresholds to classify the floating-point numbers and to apply different compression types to the different classes. Each class and compression type is associated with an indicator. An indicator array contains M indicators for M floating-point numbers. The position of the indicator in the indicator array corresponds to one of the floating-point numbers and the indicator value specifies the class and compression type. The floating-point number is encoded in accordance with the compression type for its class. A compressed data packet contains the indicator array and up to M encoded floating-point numbers. Decompression extracts the indicator array and the encoded floating-point numbers from the compressed data packet and decodes the encoded floating-point numbers in accordance with the compression type associated with the indicator value to form a reconstructed floating-point number.
US09047115B2	Composite task framework A primary task manager, which is a local task manager, can perform a distributed task on a local server. If the performing of the task with the local task manager succeeds, the distributed task can then be propagated to at least one secondary task manager, which is a remote task manager. The remote task manager is capable of performing the distributed task. If the performing of the task with the local task manager fails, an undo task that is associated with the distributed task can be performed.
US09047112B2	Installation of virtual service processor to computer system having existing operating system System and method for installation of a virtual service processor (VSP) are disclosed. The system include a computer that has a processor, a physical drive having a first partition and a master boot record (MBR) with initial settings indicating the first partition as an active bootable partition, and a non-transitory computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions. The instructions cause the processor to (a) load and execute a hypervisor from the computer storage medium, the hypervisor having a privileged domain and an unprivileged domain; (b) initiate a VSP in the privileged domain, the VSP being configured to manage at least one health, operation, or performance related aspect of the computer system; (c) configure the unprivileged domain to allow an operating system to run therein, the operating system (OS) being executable directly on the computer system; and (d) load and execute the OS in the unprivileged domain.
US09047104B2	Internationalization technology, including associating a text string in a target computer program with an attribute of a user-interface element Internationalizing a target program includes associating a text string in the program with an attribute of a user interface element (“UI”). The UI element is defined in the program and the associating is provided at least partly by a non-executable UI element annotation in the program. A resource bundle annotation in the program defines a name for a resource bundle to which the text string of the UI element annotation may be extracted. An annotation processor program automatically creates the resource bundle by processing source code of the target program, including the UI element annotation and the resource bundle annotation. Executing a method in the target program causes the text string to be displayed on the attribute for a displayed instance of the UI element. The method determines whether to obtain the displayed text string from the UI element annotation or from the resource bundle.
US09047102B2	Instant remote rendering Cross-environment rendering and user interaction support provide a seamless computing experience in a multi-operating system computing environment. The multi-operating system computing environment may include a mobile operating system and a desktop operating system running concurrently and independently on a mobile computing device. Real-time or instant display of an application running in the mobile operating system within an environment of the desktop operating system is provided by rendering application graphics for the application within the desktop operating system. A console application of the desktop operating system may access surface information for the application from shared memory and render the application within a console window of the computing environment associated with the desktop operating system. The mobile computing device may be a smartphone running the Android mobile operating system and a full desktop Linux distribution on a modified Android kernel.
US09047100B2	Abstract syntax tree transformation The transformation of an abstract syntax tree of a dynamic language program at evaluation time in a manner that is helpful for evaluating the program. For instance, the abstract syntax tree may be altered such that metadata is attached to variables generated during execution. The tree might also be altered to force code to execute faster or more likely than would occur otherwise. This might occur so that the dynamic language program might be executed at authoring time up to a halt point that represents a point of interest to the author. Without transformation of the abstract syntax tree, the execution might have not proceeded to the halt point or might have taken a long time. Once at the halt point, the program state at the halt point may be evaluated, allowing the program to perform functions such as generating an available symbol set at the halt point.
US09047092B2	Resource management within a load store unit A load store pipeline 18 includes an issue queue 20 and load store circuitry 24. The load store circuitry 24 includes the plurality of access slot circuits 26 to 40. Dependency tracking circuitry 42, 44, 46, 48 serves to track a freeable number of access slot circuits 26 to 42 corresponding to the sum of access slot circuits that are empty and those processing data access instructions which have not bypassed any preceding data access instructions within the program execution order.
US09047091B2	Collective operation protocol selection in a parallel computer Collective operation protocol selection in a parallel computer that includes compute nodes may be carried out by calling a collective operation with operating parameters; selecting a protocol for executing the operation and executing the operation with the selected protocol. Selecting a protocol includes: iteratively, until a prospective protocol meets predetermined performance criteria: providing, to a protocol performance function for the prospective protocol, the operating parameters; determining whether the prospective protocol meets predefined performance criteria by evaluating a predefined performance fit equation, calculating a measure of performance of the protocol for the operating parameters; determining that the prospective protocol meets predetermined performance criteria and selecting the protocol for executing the operation only if the calculated measure of performance is greater than a predefined minimum performance threshold.
US09047087B2	Power management and virtual machine migration between logical storage units based on quantity of shared physical storage units In a shared storage system for supporting virtual machines, virtual machine images are opportunistically migrated between logical storage units to free up physical storage units and achieve better storage hardware resource utilization and reduced power consumption by powering down freed-up physical storage units. The destination for the opportunistic migration of a virtual machine is selected based on the extent to which the physical storage units are shared between the logical storage unit in which the virtual image is currently stored and the destination. In situations where the demand for storage hardware resources increases, the powered-down physical storage units may be opportunistically powered up to meet the increased demand.
US09047086B1	Method and apparatus for supplying power to a device over a communication link Embodiments provide a method comprising using a link to couple an electronic device to a host, wherein the electronic device is operable in at least one of a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation; while the electronic device is operating in the first mode of operation, supplying, to a first component of the electronic device, power received from a power source; and while the electronic device is operating in the second mode of operation, (i) supplying, to the first component of the electronic device, power received from the host via the link, and (ii) not supplying, to the first component of the electronic device, power received from the power source.
US09047083B2	Reducing power consumption in a server cluster A method of reducing power consumption of a server cluster of host systems with virtual machines executing on the host systems is disclosed. The method includes recommending host system power-on when there is a host system whose utilization is above a target utilization, and recommending host system power-off when there is a host system whose utilization is below the target utilization. Recommending host system power-on includes calculating impact of powering on a standby host system with respect to reducing the number of highly-utilized host systems in the server cluster. The impact of powering on is calculated by simulating moving some virtual machines from highly utilized host systems to the standby host system being recommended to be powered on. Recommending host system power-off includes calculating impact of powering off a host system with respect to decreasing the number of less-utilized host systems in the server cluster. The impact of powering off is calculated by simulating moving all virtual machines from the host system, which is being recommended to be powered-off, to less -utilized host systems.
US09047080B1	Compression of processor instructions A custom processor is adapted for performing at least one predetermined application. The instruction sequence for the custom processor is compressed by performing at least one identification process on the instructions of the instruction sequence, in order to identify relationships between the contents of the bit positions in the instructions. A compressed instruction sequence then includes one compressed instruction corresponding to each instruction of the predetermined instruction sequence, with each compressed instruction comprising a reduced number of bits, based on the identified relationships between the contents of said bit positions in said instructions of said predetermined instruction sequence.
US09047079B2	Indicating disabled thread to other threads when contending instructions complete execution to ensure safe shared resource condition A technique for indicating a safe shared resource condition with respect to a disabled thread provides a mechanism for providing a fast indication to other hardware threads that a temporarily disabled thread can no longer impact shared resources, such as shared special-purpose registers and translation look-aside buffers within the processor core. Signals from pipelines within the core indicates whether any of the instructions pending in the pipeline impact the shared resources and if not, then the thread disable status is presented to the other threads via a state change in a thread status register. Upon receiving an indication that a particular hardware thread is to be disabled, control logic halts the dispatch of instructions for the particular hardware thread, and then waits until any indication that a shared resource is impacted by an instruction has cleared. Then the control logic updates the thread status to indicate the thread is disabled.
US09047078B2	Extract CPU time facility An efficient facility for determining resource usage, such as a processor time used by tasks. The determination is performed on behalf of user applications that do not require a call to operating system services. The facility includes an instruction that determines elapsed time and reports it to the user as a single unit of operation.
US09047076B1	Uninterruptable power supply system and method An uninterruptable power supply (UPS) system/method providing power line conditioning and power factor correction (PFC) that incorporates centralized battery backup energy storage architecture is disclosed. The system generally comprises an AC-DC power supply with active PFC (power factor correction) function, a battery transfer switch, an isolated battery charger placed between the utility power source and battery strings, battery strings connecting the battery charger and the battery transfer switch, EMI/Lightning circuitry that provides lighting/line surge protection as well noise suppression functions, and a controller monitoring the quality of the utility power source. Uninterruptable power for data centers is achieved in this context via use of the battery strings, battery transfer switch, battery charger, and controller system configuration. Disclosed methods associated with this system generally permit the UPS to operate in a distributed fashion in support of computing systems within data centers.
US09047074B2	Apparatus and method for managing power capacity in data centers using a wireless sensor network Various embodiments for managing power capacity in a facility include: a plurality of wireless sensor devices deployed in a facility, each wireless sensor device to monitor electrical power usage of at least one of a plurality of electrical devices in the facility; periodically obtaining system power data from each of the wireless sensor devices, the system power data including electrical power usage data corresponding to associated electrical devices, the system power data being received from the wireless sensor devices via a wireless sensor network; using the system power data to determine the electrical loading levels of each of the electrical devices; identifying at least one lightly loaded electrical device based on the determined electrical loading levels; dynamically commanding the identified lightly loaded electrical device to migrate its workload to another one of the electrical devices; and dynamically commanding the identified lightly loaded electrical device to deactivate.
US09047071B2	Method and apparatus for controlling distribution of power A method and an apparatus for controlling distribution of power. The apparatus is used for controlling application of power to a plurality of devices including at least one master device and at least one controlled device. The apparatus includes: a power inlet constructed and arranged to receive power from a power source; a plurality of power outlets including at least one master power outlet (12M) and at least one controlled power outlet (12S); and means for generating a power profile of the at least one master device electrically connected to the master power outlet, determining a characteristic of a stand-by power consumption level of the at least one master device and controlling a supply of power from the power inlet to the at least one controlled power outlet in response to a comparison of a characteristic of power delivered to the at least one master device with the characteristic of the stand-by power consumption level.
US09047070B2	System, method and computer program product for defining applications using metadata records created from an object specifying a predefined metadata format In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for defining applications using metadata records created from an object specifying a predefined metadata format. These mechanisms and methods for defining applications using metadata records created from an object specifying a predefined metadata format can enable embodiments to provide third party developers a manner of defining a custom format for metadata that is separate from any existing standard metadata formats that are part of a platform maintaining the metadata.
US09047068B2	Information handling system storage device management information access Management information for managing thermal conditions within an information handling system is retrieved from a storage device drive information area by request to a logical block address associated with the management information. The controller of the storage device maps the logical block address to the drive information area to respond to the request to the logical block address with the management information. For example, storage device temperature information measured with a temperature sensor of the storage device and stored to a log page or diagnostics page of the storage device maps from the drive information area to the logical block address so that a controller of the storage device responds with the log page or diagnostics page when a request is made to the logical block address.
US09047065B2	Computer case and cooling device thereof A computer case includes a housing and a cooling device. The cooling device includes a first pillar, a second pillar, a movable element, and a heat-dissipating element. The first pillar penetrates a top guidance slot hole and a bottom guidance slot hole of the housing and has an elongated slot hole; the second pillar penetrates a first side guidance slot hole, a second side guidance slot hole, and the elongated slot hole and forms an intersection portion of the first and the second pillar. The movable element is disposed in the intersection portion, and a heat-dissipating element is fixed to the movable element. When the first pillar moves along a first direction and/or the second pillar moves along a second direction, the movable element drives the heat-dissipating element to move along the first direction and/or the second direction, so as to adjust the position of the heat-dissipating element.
US09047061B2	Electronic device case and method of use The present invention relates to improved protective cases for hand-held electronic devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to cases that protect and modify the functionality of an electronic device.
US09047059B2	Controlling a voice site using non-standard haptic commands A method for controlling a voice site using a haptic input modality. The method includes validating a haptic input from an instrument capable of accessing a voice site, processing the haptic input on a server to determine a voice site command corresponding to the haptic input, and processing the voice site command at the server to control an interaction with the voice site.
US09047058B2	Electronic device with support mechanism An electronic device includes a main body and a support mechanism assembled within the main body, and a cover body. The main body defines an ejecting hole. The cover body is rotatably hinged to the main body for releasing the support mechanism, or for retracting the support mechanism into the main body when not required. The support mechanism includes a rotating member, a support member, and an elastic member. The rotating member is rotatably assembled within the main body and partially exposed from a top plate of the main body, the support member is assembled to the rotating member, a distal end of the support member aligns with one ejecting hole of the bottom plate, the elastic member is assembled within the main body and elastically resisting against the support member; the cover body resists against the rotating member in a folded state.
US09047057B2	Accessing additional memory space with multiple processors An apparatus and method is provided for coupling additional memory to a plurality of processors. The method may include determining the memory requirements of the plurality of processors in a system, comparing the memory requirements of the plurality of processors to an available memory assigned to each of the plurality of processors, and selecting a processor from the plurality of processors that requires additional memory capacity. The apparatus may include a plurality of processors, where the plurality of processors is coupled to a logic element. In addition, the apparatus may include an additional memory coupled to the logic element, where the logic element is adapted to select a processor from the plurality of processors to couple with the additional memory.
US09047056B2	Protective casing having keyboard A protective casing includes a main body, a keyboard, and two connecting members. The main body includes a support plate having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, a fixing frame protruding from the second surface of the support plate and defining a receiving space for retaining a tablet computer; and two parallel sidewalls protruding from the first surface of the support plate and each comprising a sliding portion on an inner side thereof. The opposite sidewalls of the fully-functioning keyboard each define a first sliding groove to receive one of the sliding portions. The connecting members are pivotally attached to the sidewalls and each defines a second sliding groove to receive one of the sliding portions. The sliding portions are slidable in the first and second sliding grooves.
US09047055B2	Foldable flexible display device The present invention provides a foldable flexible display device. A foldable flexible display device according to the present invention includes: first and second plates having a predetermined area; a hinge member for connecting the first plate and the second plate; and a flexible display screen attached to the tops of the first plate and the second plate and the hinge member, in which the hinge member folds the first plate and the second plate and the flexible display screen while folding with smooth curvature. According to this configuration, the operation for folding or unfolding the screen of a flexible display device can be smoothly operated and damage to the display screen can be prevented, resulting in remarkable improvement in reliability of a product.
US09047054B1	User location-based management of content presentation Features are disclosed for managing presentation of content to improve the content consumption experience as a user moves around or when there are multiple users. Based on user positions within a content consumption location and optionally on the layout of the location, presentation of content can be adjusted. The volume of audio content may be raised or lowered based on a user's position. Audio or visual content can be paused or stopped if a user leaves the location or the user's view is obstructed. When multiple users are consuming a content item, one or more users may have priority and any adjustment may be made to first improve the experience of the priority user. In some cases, no user has priority, and adjustments may be made to improve the experience of many or all users.
US09047049B2	Docking station, electronic system and operating method of releasing connection between two devices A docking station suitable for detachably assembling to an electronic device is provided. A bracket of the docking station includes a housing, a pushing element, a restoring element, and a main hook. When the pushing element is slid relative to the housing through the restoring element so the main hook is buckled to a main groove of the electronic device, a main hook relation between the bracket and the electronic device is established. When the pushing element is slid relative to the housing so the main hook departs from the main groove, a secondary hook of the docking station establishes a secondary hook relation between the bracket and the electronic device. When the electronic device is removed from the bracket until the secondary hook relation between the bracket and the electronic device is released, the restoring element restores the pushing element relative to the housing.
US09047047B2	Allowing multiple orientations in dual screen view A dual-screen user device and methods for revealing a combination of selected desktops and applications on single and dual screens are disclosed. Desktops and applications can be shifted between screens by user gestures, and/or moved off of the screens and therefore hidden. Hidden desktops and screens can be re-displayed by other gestures. The desktops and applications are arranged in a window stack that represents a logical order of the desktops and applications providing a user with an intuitive ability to manage multiple applications/desktops running simultaneously. One embodiment provides the user with the ability to selectively change the orientation of one display and leaving the other display unaffected when the user has two applications or desktops displayed on respective screens. The user can therefore selectively change on a screen-by-screen basis the orientation of any desktops or applications displayed.
US09047045B2	Multi-directional display console for an electronic equipment cabinet An apparatus for a multi-directional display comprising, a first surface situated in an electronic equipment cabinet, wherein the first surface is capable of retracting out of a plurality of sides of the electronic equipment cabinet. A first electronic display mechanically coupled to a first hinge. A first mount mechanically coupled to the first hinge, such that the first electronic display is capable of rotating independently from the first mount. The first mount coupled to the first surface, such that the first electronic display is viewable from the plurality of sides of the electronic equipment cabinet.
US09047043B2	Electronic apparatus Disclosed herein is an electronic apparatus, including: a base chassis formed as a unitary member from a transparent material and having two faces positioned on the opposite sides to each other and individually formed as a first mounting face section and a second mounting face section; a display unit having a display panel thereon and attached to said first mounting face section of said base chassis; a control circuit board attached to said second mounting face section of said base chassis; and a rear cover attached to said second mounting face section of said base chassis and configured to cover said control circuit board.
US09047039B2	Configurable imaging system A configurable imaging system and methods therefor are provided. For each respective display unit in an imaging system having an image source and display units, presence of adjacent display units is detected, each of the display units configured to generate respective portions of an image, the display units arranged in a geometrical configuration. A map of the one of the geometrical configurations is generated based on detection of the presence of the adjacent display units.
US09047033B2	Image processing device, method and computer readable medium for transmitting management information There is provided an image processing device communicatably connected to a network. The image processing device comprises a storage unit configured to store format information representing a format in which management information should be created; a condition obtaining unit configured to obtain condition information concerning conditions of the image processing device; a management information creation unit configured to create the management information, based on the condition information obtained by the condition obtaining unit, in the format represented by the format information stored in the storage unit; and a transmission unit configured to transmit the management information created by the management information creation unit to an external device.
US09047032B2	Information processing apparatus and method, and control program An information processing apparatus for processing a print setting in a printer driver configured to generate data to be sent to and printed from a printing device, the information processing apparatus including storage unit configured to store constraint rules each defining a constraint for avoiding conflict between print settings; an instruction unit configured to instruct fixing of a print setting; and a rule priority setting unit configured to increase a priority of a constraint rule concerning a print setting for which fixing has been instructed is disclosed as an example.
US09047030B2	Caching network service resources An application service includes a device interface manager, an acquisition manager, and a job manager. The device interface is configured to receive, from a device, a print instruction defining a context. The acquisition manager is configured to use the context to acquire context compatible content. The job manager is configured to communicate a reference to a print service for accessing cached context compatible print data for the print instruction if the context compatible print data is available in a cache, and to otherwise communicate to the print service, context compatible print data for context compatible content acquired by the acquisition manager.
US09047026B2	Labeling inserted pages within print previews of a print job Systems and methods are provided for labeling inserted pages within a print preview of a print job. The system receives print data comprising logical pages, and receives instructions for inserting pages among the logical pages of the print data. The system further receives a request for a print preview for the print data, identifies inserts for the print data based on the instructions, rasterizes the logical pages of the print data and the inserts to generate sheet images for the print preview, and includes non-printing marks in the sheet images for the inserts that distinguish the inserts from rasterized logical pages of the print data. The system further transmits the sheet images of the print preview.
US09047023B2	Host device, managing server and method of controlling image formation thereof A host device includes a user interface to receive user information to log in a managing server, a communication interface to transmit the user information to the managing server, a display unit, and a controller that, if login to the managing server is performed, controls the display unit to display information corresponding to an image forming apparatus connected to the host device.
US09047022B2	Method and apparatus for a print spooler to control document and workflow transfer A method and apparatus for a print spooler to control document and workflow transfer are described. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving a request to print an electronic document from a print driver. The method may also comprise retrieving a workflow configuration utilizing a workflow print spooler, where the workflow print spooler provides pre-configured workflow configuration data for a corresponding workflow. In one embodiment, the method further comprises deploying the electronic document into the workflow based on the workflow configuration data.
US09047020B2	Storage system group including scale-out storage system and management method therefor A management system is coupled to a storage system group including a scale-out storage system (a virtual storage system). The management system has storage management information, which includes information denoting, for each storage system, whether or not a storage system is a component of a virtual storage system. The management system, based on the storage management information, determines whether or not a first storage system is a component of a virtual storage system, and in a case where the result of this determination is affirmative, identifies, based on the storage management information, a second storage system, which is a storage system other than the virtual storage system that includes the first storage system, and allows a user to perform a specific operation only with respect to this second storage system.
US09047019B2	Shared temporary storage management in a shared disk database cluster System, method, computer program product embodiments and combinations and sub-combinations thereof for temporary storage management in a shared disk database cluster are provided. Included is the reserving of units on-demand and of variable size from shared temporary storage space in the SDC. The utilization of the reserved units of the shared temporary storage space is tracked, and the shared temporary storage space is administered based on the tracking.
US09047018B1	Method and system for zero-copy disk IO using sector unaligned buffers Data is transferred between a requesting application and a storage device by passing the application IO buffer to the disk driver. Techniques are provided to avoid data copying to an intermediate sector aligned buffer and passing the intermediate buffer to the disk driver. The techniques allow the use of layered block device drivers such as a Logical Volume Manager (LVM), Distributed Replicated Block Device (DRBD), or both. A look-ahead can determine the IO constraints imposed by the layered block device drivers. Based on the constraints, an entire portion of the buffer may be added to an IO request, or the buffer may be split into a first portion and a second portion. The first portion may be added to a first IO request. The second portion may be added to a second IO request, different from the first IO request.
US09047015B2	Migrating thin-provisioned volumes in tiered storage architectures A method for migrating volumes in a storage system includes identifying an extent of data (belonging to a volume) requiring migration from a source extent to a target extent. The method allocates a selected number of copiers to the extent of data to migrate the extent of data from the source extent to the target extent. Each copier is configured to copy a unit of data, which is a smaller division of the extent of data. The method monitors destages (i.e., writes) that occur to the source extent as the copiers migrate the extent of data from the source extent to the target extent. In the event the destages occur faster than the copiers can copy units to the target extent, the method allocates additional copiers to the extent of data to assist in migrating the extent of data. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also disclosed.
US09047014B2	Frequency and voltage scaling architecture A method and apparatus for scaling frequency and operating voltage of at least one clock domain of a microprocessor. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to techniques to divide a microprocessor into clock domains and control the frequency and operating voltage of each clock domain independently of the others.
US09047009B2	Electronic device having display and surrounding touch sensitive bezel for user interface and control An electronic device has a display and has a touch sensitive bezel surrounding the display. Areas on the bezel are designated for controls used to operate the electronic device. Visual guides corresponding to the controls are displayed on the display adjacent the areas of the bezel designated for the controls. Touch data is generated by the bezel when a user touches an area of the bezel. The device determines which of the controls has been selected based on which designated area is associated with the touch data from the bezel. The device then initiates the determined control. The device can have a sensor for determining the orientation of the device. Based on the orientation, the device can alter the areas designated on the bezel for the controls and can alter the location of the visual guides for the display so that they match the altered areas on the bezel.
US09047003B2	Touch input device and method for portable device A touch input device and method for a portable device that is capable of inputting various user commands with diversified touch events detected on a touch screen is provided. A touch input method for a mobile terminal having a touch screen may include displaying a plurality of representative images representing content objects on the touch screen, selecting at least one representative image in response to a first command designated for a first touch event on the touch screen, and executing a second command designated for a second touch event on the touch screen. The second touch event may be defined by a movement direction, speed, a lift position of a touch, and the representative images selected by the first command.
US09047000B2	Apparatus and method to input a position and scrolling a displayed image relative to the input position An image processing apparatus includes a position movement input unit configured to receive a position movement instruction from a user, a pointer movement unit configured to set a position of a pointer that moves in accordance with the instruction, and a screen movement unit configured to scroll a screen based on a relative position of the pointer with respect to a reference point of a predefined area around the pointer, the screen movement unit configured to move the predefined area to keep the pointer inside the predefined area when the pointer is at a border of the predefined area and moves towards an outside of the predefined area.
US09046999B1	Dynamic input at a touch-based interface based on pressure Disclosed herein are methods, devices, and systems that may enable a touch-based interface to receive dynamic user inputs based on pressure. An exemplary method may involve: (a) detecting a touch interaction including an increase in pressure greater than a first threshold pressure-increase followed by a reduction in pressure greater than a threshold pressure-reduction; and (b) responsive to detecting the touch interaction, initiating an operation based on a region of the touch-based interface that corresponds to the touch interaction, wherein the operation is associated with the touch interaction.
US09046997B2	Systems and methods for image handling and presentation Certain embodiments provide systems and methods for adaptive compression, transmission, and display of clinical images. Certain embodiments provide a method for adaptive compression of image data for transmission and display at a client workstation. The method includes identifying one or more images for display, the one or more images including a plurality of image slices. The method also includes determining a compression scheme for the one or more images based on at least one of bandwidth, processing power, and diagnostic modality. The method further includes transferring the one or more images for display at the client workstation. The method additionally includes adapting the compression scheme based on resource availability.
US09046993B2	System and method for content management A content management system and method work as a companion to other applications that control the system. The system and method draw information from the operations or structure of the controlling application to display and manage the content objects relevant to a record displayed by a user of the controlling application and stored in the content management system. The system and method operate in conjunction with the controlling application so that this management and display of content objects is dynamic, real-time, and context-sensitive for the user.
US09046992B2	Gesture controls for multi-screen user interface Method and apparatus for controlling a computing device using gesture inputs. The computing device may be a handheld computing device with multiple displays. The displays may be capable of displaying a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI may be a multi screen GUI or a single screen GUI such that receipt of gesture inputs may result in the movement of a GUI from one display to another display or may result in maximization of a multi screen GUI across multiple displays.
US09046989B2	Mobile terminal and icon control method for the same A mobile terminal and an icon control method for the same are provided. The icon control method includes detecting a selection event in relation to displayed icons, determining, when the selection event is detected, a number of icons mapped to a zone in which the selection event is detected, and changing, when the number of icons mapped to the zone is greater than one, an order of the multiple icons mapped to the zone for successive icon display according to a time during which contact is maintained after the selection event. When multiple displayed icons overlap each other on a display screen, a user can easily select a desired one of the overlapping icons without having to move any of the icons.
US09046986B2	Method and mobile device for displaying supplementary window A method and mobile device for displaying a supplementary window dependent on a main window include displaying the main window corresponding to a selected user function on a display unit, and receiving an input signal for invoking the supplementary window dependently associated with the main window. In response to the input signal, the device displays the supplementary window on the display unit such that at least a part of the supplementary window is connected to the main window.
US09046984B2	Tile space user interface for mobile devices Systems and methods for providing a user interface for mobile devices enable data and services available through the mobile device to be represented as a set of tiles maintained in a display space. The tiles provide a snapshot of the current state of content available through the mobile device without requiring any interaction by the user. The tiles and display space are customizable and can be dynamically updated to display content to a user. In addition, tiles can provide functionality, including simple tasks to a user without requiring the user to navigate away from the tile display space. Tiles can also provide quick access to start software applications. Tiles can be organized in the display space by the user or the tiles can be automatically grouped based upon associated metadata.
US09046977B2	Sensor device and method for detecting proximity events Methods, systems and devices are described for determining positional information for objects using an input device. The various embodiments provide improved user interface functionality by facilitating user input with input objects that are at the surface and objects that are away from the surface. The input device includes a processing system and an array of sensor electrodes adapted to capacitively sense objects in a sensing region. The processing system is configured to determine first positional information for an input object in a first portion of the sensing region based on a difference between a first frame of the first plurality of frames and a filtered frame even when the input object is determined to be in the sensing region when the first plurality of frames are acquired, wherein the filtered frame is based on one or more of the first plurality of frames.
US09046973B2	Touch screen system A touch screen system has an electrically non-conductive substrate. At least one electrically conductive pad is disposed upon the substrate, and an electrically non-conductive cover is placed over the pad. The system further includes a controller having a touch switch interface and at least one output, the touch switch interface being electrically coupled to the pad. The controller generates an AC signal, the AC signal being electrically coupled from the controller to the pad through the touch switch interface, thereby generating an electrostatic field proximate the pad. The controller is also configured to detect at the touch switch interface a change in the electrostatic field resulting from an actuating member contacting the cover proximate the pad. The controller provides at the output a signal relating to the change in the electrostatic field.
US09046972B2	Structure for a tactile display In accordance with the exemplary embodiments there is at least an apparatus including a multi-layer graphical user interface stack, a piezoelectric material disposed on a suspending member and attached to the multi-layer graphical user interface stack by a first bonding member, in which the suspending member includes a lateral section substantially perpendicular to a direction of actuation of the piezoelectric material, and vertical sections outboard of the lateral section extending substantially parallel to the direction of actuation and configured for mounting to a frame of a host device.
US09046964B2	Frame component for infrared touch screen and infrared touch screen A frame component for an infrared touch screen is provided, which can reduce the thickness of the infrared touch screen. The frame component has a light transmission body which is provided with a plurality of first avoid holes and/or first avoid slots along the length direction for avoiding locations of the infrared emitting tubes and infrared receiving tubes. An infrared touch screen comprising the frame component is also provided. The infrared touch screen further comprises a printed circuit board and a lower support component. A plurality of second avoid holes and/or second avoid slots is arranged on the lower support component for avoiding locations of electronic devices. A light transmission part, the printed circuit board and the support components are mutually clamped tightly to form a sandwich structure. The infrared touch screen according to the present invention has advantages of ultra-thinness and good circuit board firmness.
US09046959B2	Noise reduction in electronic device with touch sensitive surface The invention relates to an electronic device with a touch sensitive surface comprising: a sensing means for capturing an acoustic signal, a touch location determining unit configured to determine the location of a touch event on the touch sensitive surface based on the acoustic signal. To improve the reliability of the touch localization process, the device further comprises a filtering unit configured to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the acoustic signal based on one or more signals provided by one or more spurious acoustic signal generating devices of the electronic device and/or based on one or more parameters of the one or more spurious acoustic signal generating devices of the electronic device. The invention also relates to a corresponding method. The invention furthermore relates to a method for improving the confidentiality of a user input.
US09046957B2	Method for displaying pages of E-book and mobile device adapted thereto A page display method is provided that detects information related to pages of an e-book that the user inputs in a mobile device with a touch screen, and displays the pages on the touch screen, according to the detection. A system adapted to the method is also provided. The method includes: displaying a page of an e-book on the touch screen in a preset mode; detecting a touch at a spot on the displayed page; detecting a press by detecting a contact period of time of the detected touch; and, in response to at least one of a location of the spot and a strength of the detected press, displaying the spot on the page as being deformed.
US09046952B2	Display device integrated with touch screen panel A display device integrated with a touch screen panel. The display device includes a plurality of pixels formed on a substrate, color filter patterns on a surface of the display device, corresponding to the pixels and containing a conductive material, and a black matrix formed between the color filter patterns. Each of the color filter patterns is electrically connected to an adjacent one of the color filter patterns to be used as sense electrodes of a touch screen panel.
US09046947B2	Touch panel apparatus with piezoelectric element A touch panel apparatus includes a touch panel (11), a piezoelectric element (12) disposed on the touch panel (11) and capable of expansion and contraction, and a plurality of support members (14a-14f) disposed on a fixing portion (13) and configured to support and allow for flexure vibration of the touch panel (11), such that the support members (14a-14f) are disposed in greater number in a direction orthogonal to an expansion and contraction direction of the piezoelectric element (12) than in the expansion and contraction direction so that a bending direction of the touch panel (11) due to a press matches a flexure direction of the touch panel (11) due to the expansion and contraction of the piezoelectric element (12).
US09046945B2	Touch control device Disclosed is a touch control device, comprising a substrate, a plurality of sensing units, an insulating layer, an electric bridge, a protection layer, a supporting part, an element layer and a glue part. A plurality of sensing units are disposed on the substrate in an interval between two of sensing units to expose portions of the substrate. The insulating layer covers the exposed substrate. The electric bridge covers the insulating layer, and two ends of the electric bridge are respectively connected to two sensing units among the plurality of sensing units. The protection layer covers the electric bridge and the sensing unit. The supporting part covers the protection layer. The element layer is disposed on the supporting part. As a result, an accommodating space is formed therebetween. The accommodating space is filled up with the glue part to glue the protection layer and the element layer.
US09046943B1	Virtual control for touch-sensitive devices A virtual control is displayed on a touch-responsive display screen. The virtual control visually is displayed as multiple control segments, and layered over an active graphical user interface (GUI). When a contact and subsequent movement is detected on the surface of the display screen at a selected control segment, the selected control segment visually detaches and moves in the direction of the movement. Simultaneously, the GUI is instructed to cycle through a plurality of available program options based on a current position of the selected control segment on the display screen. When the contact is released, the GUI is set to a selected option corresponding to the current position of the selected control segment.
US09046941B1	System and method for sharing logic in a network device Method and system for processing information at a network device connected to a network is provided. The method includes receiving information conforming to a first protocol at a first clock rate at a first sub-port; receiving information conforming to a second protocol at a second clock rate at a second sub-port; storing received information in a temporary storage device at the base-port; reading information out of the temporary storage device at a third clock rate; and processing the information at a MAC module that includes logic that is time-shared among the plurality of sub-ports to process information at the third rate for both the first protocol and the second protocol. The first sub-port is granted access to the logic in a first phase and the second sub-port is granted access to the logic in a second phase for processing the information.
US09046937B2	High fidelity remote controller device for digital living room A device disclosed herein can include a six-axis motion sensor to accurately track three dimensional hand motions. For example, the sensors can include a three-axis accelerometer and a three-axis gyroscope. The remote control device can also include a processing unit integrated with the motion sensors in a single module. The processing unit can convert data regarding the hand motion to data regarding a cursor motion for a cursor that will be displayed on a screen of an electronic device. The processing unit can be integrated with the motion sensors in a single module (e.g. an integrated circuit chip (IC)).
US09046934B2	Controlling acceleration of mouse cursor movement based on screen segments and image features A method for controlling movements of a pointer through computer processing, where the pointer is displayed on a display device, includes the steps of: dividing a display area in which the pointer is movable into a predetermined number of regions, acquiring a current position of the pointer, determining in which of the divided regions the pointer is present (hereinafter referred to as a present region), computing a speed scale-factor for the pointer based on an image characteristic in the present region, and setting, as a moving speed in the present region, a normal moving speed of the pointer multiplied by the speed scale-factor.
US09046916B2	Cache prefetch for NFA instructions Disclosed is a method of pre-fetching NFA instructions to an NFA cell array. The method and system fetch instructions for use in an L1 cache during NFA instruction execution. Successive instructions from a current active state are fetched and loaded in the L1 cache. Disclosed is a system comprising an external memory, a cache line fetcher, and an L1 cache where the L1 cache is accessible and searchable by an NFA cell array and where successive instructions from a current active state in the NFA are fetched from external memory in an atomic cache line manner into a plurality of banks in the L1 cache.
US09046915B2	Circuit and method for initializing a computer system A circuit for use in a computing system including a bus interface unit and an autoload controller. The autoload controller has an input to receive an initialization signal. In response to receiving the initialization signal, the autoload controller searches for a signature using the bus interface unit and, in response to finding the signature at a signature address, loads a plurality of base addresses corresponding to a plurality of controllers from memory locations having a predetermined relationship to the address, and provides the plurality of base addresses to a control output thereof.
US09046914B2	Object transformation of arrays of formulas and values Embodiments of the invention relate to reducing memory required to store an array of formulas and values corresponding to a formula-array. A set of formula-array representations is provided and arranged in a successive order. Each formula-array representation is evaluated for an associated memory requirement to support use thereof, followed by conversion to a structure of the formula-array representation at a successive level. Selection of the formula-array representation is determined based upon a minimal memory requirement from the formula-array representations in the order.
US09046902B2	Power supply circuit Disclosed is a power supply circuit of an electric device. The power supply circuit comprises a power source configured to output a power source voltage; a power source voltage detecting circuit configured to detect the power source voltage, and to output a first voltage control signal; a leading edge delay circuit configured to receive the first voltage control signal, and to output a second voltage control signal; an electronic switch connected in series between the power source and the load, configured to turn on or turn off power supply from the power source to the load; and a slow turn-on circuit configured to receive the second voltage control signal.
US09046901B2	Device and method for reducing a magnetic unidirectional flux fraction in the core of a transformer A device for reducing a magnetic unidirectional flux fraction in the core of a transformer is provided. The device has a measuring device that provides a sensor signal corresponding to the magnetic unidirectional flux fraction, a compensation winding that is magnetically coupled to the core of the transformer, a switching unit arranged electrically in a current path in series with the compensation winding in order to feed a current into the compensation winding. The action of the current is directed opposite to the unidirectional flux fraction. The switching unit can be controlled by a regulating variable provided by a control device and can be switched into a conductive state during a predefined time interval and in accordance with the regulating variable, the switch-on time being mains-synchronous. A device for limiting the current in the current path is provided and the sensor signal is fed to the control device.
US09046897B2	System for monitoring and controlling the performance of an environmental control unit An system for monitoring the performance of a mobile environmental control unit (ECU) includes sensors for monitoring and detecting operating parameters of the ECU. A monitor processing and communications unit is coupled to the sensors for receiving and processing the operating parameter data signals from the sensors and relaying the processed operating parameter data signals to a computerized graphical user interface display via a network. The processed operating parameter data signals are graphically displayed to technical support personnel for determining problems or performance issues which may exist or may occur on an ECU remotely and offer corrective action.
US09046894B2	Navigation aid method for determining the path of an aircraft Navigation aid method for determining, by an instruction giver, the path of an aircraft initially following a predetermined path in an approach phase and upon which are defined a safety altitude and an alarm limit, said aircraft including a navigation system of the INS/GNSS type including a satellite information receiver and at least one inertial unit producing position information, said method including determining a future path; estimating predicted protection radii on the future path are estimated, starting at the calculation time in the case of a critical situation, in terms of position information, which starts at the calculation time; calculating a limit time after which the predicted protection radius is greater than or equal to the alarm limit; and calculating a limit time after which the predicted protection radius is greater than or equal to the alarm limit.
US09046892B2	Supervision and control of heterogeneous autonomous operations The different advantageous embodiments may provide an apparatus that may include a number of robotic machine groups, a mission planner, and a mission control. The mission planner may be capable of generating a mission for the number of robotic machine groups. The mission control may be capable of executing the mission using the number of robotic machine groups.
US09046890B2	Line tracking data over Ethernet A robot control system includes a line tracking encoder that measures a reference position of a conveyor line and transmits a tracking signal representing tracking data including the reference position of the conveyor line. A master controller is in communication with the encoder to receive the tracking signal, process the tracking data represented by the tracking signal, and generate a data packet in response to processing of the tracking data. A slave controller is in communication with the master controller and at least one robot for receiving the data packet and controlling the movement of the at least one robot in response to the data packet. A communications network directly interconnects the master controller and the slave controller and transmits the data packet from the master controller to the slave controller.
US09046885B2	Method for ascertaining functional parameters for a control unit A method for ascertaining functional parameters for a control unit and to a control unit in which the provided method is carried out. The control unit is provided for controlling a technical system wherein, in the method, at least one target variable on a system response is specified and a variation of the functional parameters is carried out, from a response received to the functional parameters, a valuation being carried out of the set functional parameters while taking into account the at least one specified target variable.
US09046884B2	Mood-actuated device This document describes techniques and apparatuses for implementing a mood-actuated device. In various embodiments, indicators of an emotional state of a user are sensed, and a mood-actuated device is controlled to react based on the emotional state of the user. In some embodiments, the mood-actuated device includes a mechanical component that is configured to react by moving based on the emotional state of the user.
US09046883B2	Method and apparatus for station energy consumption management and presentation The present invention discloses a station energy consumption management method, which includes: obtaining location information of a station and an energy consumption value that corresponds to the station; according to the obtained location information and corresponding energy consumption value of the station, graphically representing the station and the energy consumption value on a display interface; generating an energy consumption value selection control that is graphical and presented on the display interface; obtaining the at least one target energy consumption value or the target energy consumption value range through the energy consumption value selection control, and accordingly highlighting, the graphical station complying with a preset display rule and the corresponding graphical energy consumption value.
US09046868B2	Interlock/connector system for a replaceable item for an image forming device A connector having a magnetically attractable support loosely attachable to an exterior surface of the replaceable item for use in an image forming device. The connector is interconnectable with a second connector of the image forming device, the second connector having a magnet and an electrical contact adjacent to an operating position of the replaceable item wherein when the connector is attached to the replaceable item and the replaceable item is in the operating position, a magnetic field draws the support away from the replaceable item and the electrical contact of the connector into operational contact with the electrical contact of the second connector. The mounting of the support allows the support to be drawn away from the replaceable item and remain attached thereto.
US09046865B2	Cleaner, image forming apparatus using the cleaner, and voltage setting device A cleaner includes at least two cleaning brush members to electrostatically remove toner on an object; a memory; a voltage applicator to apply a voltage to the cleaning brush members based on setup voltage values stored in the memory; a current detector to detect the amounts of currents flowing through contact portions of the object with the cleaning brush members; and a setup voltage changing device to change the setup voltage values based on the amounts of currents detected by the current detector. The voltage applicator applies a first voltage for removing residual toner or a second voltage higher than the first voltage in absolute value for removing non-transferred toner to at least one of the cleaning brush members, and the setup voltage changing device performs change of the setup voltage value for the second voltage prior to change of the setup voltage value for the first voltage.
US09046862B2	Image forming apparatus congigured to form an image by using a recolorable decolorable colorant and undecolorable colorant or anunrecolorable decolorable colorant and fix both colorant at the same time, and method for reuse of sheet According to one embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes an image forming section, a fixing device, and a control section. The image forming section forms images on a sheet with a recolorable decolorable colorant and an undecolorable colorant. The fixing device heats the sheet to fix the recolorable decolorable colorant and the undecolorable colorant on the sheet. The control section performs temperature control for the fixing device and fixes the recolorable decolorable colorant and the undecolorable colorant on the sheet at temperature higher than decoloring start temperature of the recolorable decolorable colorant to thereby fix the recolorable decolorable colorant on the sheet in a decolored state and fix the undecolorable colorant on the sheet in a colored state.
US09046859B2	Sheet conveyance apparatus and image forming apparatus A curl correction apparatus includes a supporting member. The supporting member supports a shaft of an elastic roller and a shaft of a metal roller at a first position, and supports only one of the shaft of the elastic roller and the shaft of the metal roller at a second position. When the supporting member is located at the second position, the nip between the elastic roller and the metal roller can be opened by moving the other of the elastic roller and the metal roller.
US09046852B2	Method for determining abnormality of temperature sensor and image forming apparatus using the same A method for determining abnormality of a temperature sensor and the image forming apparatus, the method comprises: detecting an actual temperature of a fixing apparatus and an input voltage; calculating an actual temperature variation amount in a predetermined time period; comparing the detected input voltage and a predetermined voltage; comparing the calculated actual temperature variation amount and a first reference temperature variation amount if the input voltage is greater than the predetermined voltage; determining that the temperature sensor is abnormal if the actual temperature variation amount is less than the first reference temperature variation amount; comparing the calculated actual temperature variation amount and a smaller second reference temperature variation amount if the input voltage is equal to or less than the predetermined voltage; determining that the temperature sensor is abnormal if the actual temperature variation amount is less than the second reference temperature variation amount.
US09046851B2	Method of operating a printer with unfused toner process control Methods for operating a toner printer are provided. In one method a toner image is printed according to first printing instructions. An amount of toner in a target area of the toner image is determined and second printing instructions are generated causing the toner printer to print at least one subsequent toner image based upon the determined amount of first toner.
US09046848B2	Image forming apparatus and color registration method of the same An image forming apparatus which obtains rotational variance factors of an intermediate transfer belt for each of plurality of colors based on locations with respect to second pattern image being obtained by a location calculation unit, corrects the location obtained with respect to a first pattern image based on the rotational variance factor obtained with respect to the color of the first pattern image, obtains an offset of another color with respect to a reference color based on the location after correction, and performs color registration based on the obtained offset to reduce the offset.
US09046845B2	Image forming apparatus capable of changing internal environment settings, and non-transitory computer-readable medium of changing internal environment settings of image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus includes an internal environment setting, a setting changing unit, an operation invalidation unit, and a change prohibition unit. The setting changing unit changes an item of the internal environment setting in response to an operation input performed on an operation input unit or in response to an external input. The operation invalidation unit receives an invalidation instruction and invalidates the operation input performed on the operation input unit. The change prohibition unit prohibits the external input from changing an item of the internal environment setting that is locked at the operation input unit in response to the operation invalidation unit receiving the invalidation instruction.
US09046840B2	Image heating apparatus having pressing mechanism configured to press a first unit toward a second unit An image heating apparatus includes: first and second rotatable members configured to form a nip for heating of a toner image on a sheet; a first unit configured to rotatably hold the first rotatable member; a second unit configured to rotatably hold the second rotatable member; and a pressing mechanism configured to press the first unit toward the second unit. The pressing mechanism includes: an abutting member capable of abutting against the first unit; an arm member, including a supporting portion configured to be rotatably supported by the abutting member, capable of abutting against the abutting member; and a spring member which is fixed to the second unit at one end portion thereof and which is mounted, at another and portion thereof, to the arm member at a position closer to a free end of the arm member than the supporting portion of the arm member.
US09046839B2	Fixing device including a heat shield and image forming apparatus A fixing device includes a fixing rotator rotatable in a predetermined direction of rotation, a heater disposed opposite the fixing rotator to heat the fixing rotator, and an opposed rotator contacting an outer circumferential surface of the fixing rotator. A heat shield interposed between the heater and the fixing rotator shields the fixing rotator from the heater. A support supports the heat shield. The heat shield includes a first section supported by the support and having a decreased thermal conductivity and a second section abutting the first section in an axial direction of the heat shield and having an increased thermal conductivity greater than the decreased thermal conductivity of the first section.
US09046838B2	Fixing device and image forming apparatus A fixing device includes a fixing rotary body and a heater disposed opposite the fixing rotary body. A heat shield is movable in a circumferential direction of the fixing rotary body and interposed between the heater and the fixing rotary body to shield the fixing rotary body from the heater. An overheating suppressor is interposed between the heater and the heat shield to shield the heat shield from the heater. The heat shield includes an intermediate portion spanning in the circumferential direction of the fixing rotary body and movable between a shield position where the intermediate portion is disposed opposite the heater directly and a retracted position where the intermediate portion is disposed opposite the heater via the overheating suppressor.
US09046836B2	Image forming apparatus for restricting excessive temperature rise of fixing member An image forming apparatus includes a fixing unit, a power supply switch, a timer unit, a backup memory, and a controller. The backup memory is configured to nonvolatilely store an accumulated time, the accumulated time being a total period of time during which a heater is energized for detection of disconnection of a temperature-detecting unit after the power supply switch is turned on. The controller is configured to: recognize temperature of a heated member based on an output from the temperature-detecting unit, control the energization of the heater, and start the energization of the heater when the power supply switch is turned on. The controller is configured to determine that a disconnection of the temperature-detecting unit has occurred if the temperature recognized based on the output from the temperature-detecting unit remains in a predetermined low-temperature zone when the accumulated time has become a predetermined detecting-execution time period.
US09046834B2	Fixing device and image forming apparatus A fixing device includes a fixing belt, a pressuring rotator, a pressing member, a holding member, and an end cap. The fixing belt is rotatably provided. The pressuring rotator is rotatably provided, and comes into pressure contact with the fixing belt to form a fixing nip between the fixing belt and the pressuring rotator. The pressing member presses the fixing belt from inside toward the pressuring rotator. The holding member holds the pressing member. The end cap is mounted to an end part in a direction of a rotation axis of the fixing belt, and is movable in a radial direction of the fixing belt with respect to the holding member.
US09046831B2	Fixing device and image forming apparatus capable of effectively suppressing thermal energy released externally from device due to thermal convection and hot air flow A fixing device for fixing a toner image onto a recording paper includes a heating member for heating the recording paper, a pressing member for pressing the heating member by pressure-applying contact, a casing accommodating the heating member and the pressing member, and being provided with an exit port for discharging the recording paper, and a closing unit added to the exit port for keeping a temperature of the casing. The closing unit has a rotation member, and an opposed member forming a nip region together with the rotation member.
US09046829B2	Image formation apparatus that adjusts density of current flowing through a recording medium An image formation apparatus includes a primary transfer unit configured to transfer a developer image from an image carrier to an intermediate transfer body, a secondary transfer unit configured to transfer the developer image to a recording medium, a voltage application unit configured to apply a voltage to the secondary transfer unit, a voltage controller configured to control the voltage to be applied to the secondary transfer unit by the voltage application unit, a recording medium type detector configured to detect a type of the recording medium, and a recording medium width detector configured to detect a width of the recording medium in a direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the intermediate transfer body. The voltage controller controls the voltage to be applied to the secondary transfer unit, based on the detected recording medium type and the detected recording medium width.
US09046827B2	Belt driving apparatus and image forming apparatus A belt driving apparatus is configured so as to satisfy a relationship μ1(2T sin(θ1/2)+f1)<μ2(2T sin(θ2/2)+f2), wherein μ1 is a dynamic friction coefficient between the supporting roller and the endless belt, μ2 is a dynamic friction coefficient between the steering roller and the endless belt, θ1 is a winding angle of the endless belt with respect to the supporting roller, θ2 is a winding angle of the endless belt with respect to the steering roller, f1 is the first external force applied to the supporting roller through the endless belt, f2 is the second external force applied to the steering roller through the endless, and T is a tension force applied to the endless belt by the tension roller.
US09046826B2	Belt unit, transfer unit and image formation apparatus A belt unit includes rolls being rotatably supported and a belt to be conveyed by the rolls. In a dynamic viscoelasticity test with conditions of tensile load set in a frequency range of 0.01 to 100 [Hz], the belt unit satisfies 1≦G10/G70≦3.1, and L70≧10 [MPa]. A storage elastic modulus of the belt at a temperature of 10[° C.] is indicated by G10. A storage elastic modulus of the belt at a temperature of 70[° C.] is indicated by G70. A loss elastic modulus of the belt at a temperature of 70[° C.] is indicated by L70.
US09046823B2	Developer accommodating container and process cartridge A developer accommodating container for accommodating a developer, includes: a frame provided with a hole; a rotatable member penetrating the hole; and a seal member, provided on the frame by injection molding, for sealing a gap between a circumference of the hole of the frame and an outer peripheral surface of the rotatable member to prevent the developer from leaking out of the developer accommodating container. The seal member includes a projected portion which projects toward an inside of the hole and contacts the outer peripheral surface of the rotatable member.
US09046822B2	Systems and methods for universal imaging components A method of operating a cartridge chip installed in an imaging device includes: causing, by the cartridge chip, the imaging device to enter an error condition; monitoring the timing or sequence of communication signals received from the imaging device during at least a portion of the error condition; and operating, based on the timing or sequence of the communication signals received from the imaging device during at least a portion of the error condition, in a first mode of operation compatible with a first type of imaging device not having a list of banned serial numbers or in a second mode of operation compatible with a second type of imaging device having a list of banned serial numbers.
US09046820B1	Sealing member, toner accommodating container and image forming apparatus A toner supply container includes a toner container body including a cylindrical portion and an opening, and a sealing member provided at one axial end portion of the container body. The sealing member is movable relative to the container body in an axial direction and includes a sealing portion provided at a side adjacent the container body and a coupling portion provided at a side remote from the container body. The coupling portion includes a supporting portion provided on the sealing portion, and an engaging portion provided at a free end of the supporting portion, and a displacing force receiving portion is provided on the supporting portion at a position closer to the container body than the engaging portion. The displacing force receiving portion is displaceable with the supporting portion and has a radially outermost part that is more remote from a rotation axis of the container body than a radially outermost part of the engaging portion, and a radially outermost part of the container body is more remote from the rotation axis of the container body than the radially outermost part of the displacing force receiving portion.
US09046809B2	Image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member, a charging unit, an image exposure unit configured to form image portion potential by exposing the photosensitive member to light, a weak exposure unit configured to form non-image portion potential by exposing the photosensitive member to weak light having a lower exposure amount than the light for forming the image portion potential, and a developer bearing member configured to carry developer, wherein a relationship of Ldev
US09046807B2	Surface emitting laser A surface emitting laser includes a stepped structure including portions having different thicknesses. The optical path length from a plane defined above the stepped structure and extending parallel to a base substrate to an interface between a front mirror and the stepped structure is set to a specific value in each of the portions of the stepped structure.
US09046806B2	Electrode for image forming apparatus and image forming apparatus An electrode for an image forming apparatus, the electrode including: an elastically deformable spring portion that is formed in a cylindrical shape by spirally winding a wire; a ring portion that is an electrical contact portion having an annular shape and provided to one end side of the spring portion in an axial direction of the spring portion, the ring portion being formed by winding the wire around a center line, which intersects with the axial direction of the spring portion, at least twice; an inner portion that is formed by the wire forming the ring portion and is positioned at an inside of the ring portion; and an outer portion that is formed by the wire forming the ring portion and is positioned at an outside of the ring portion.
US09046805B1	Charging member, image-forming apparatus, and process cartridge A charging member includes a conductive support and a conductive elastic layer on the conductive support. The conductive elastic layer is made of a crosslinked product of a rubber composition containing a ternary epichlorohydrin rubber that is a copolymer of epichlorohydrin, an alkylene oxide, and allyl glycidyl ether; 4,4′-dithiodimorpholine; and a vulcanization accelerator that is a metal salt in an amount corresponding to 0.003 to 0.04 mol of metal per 100 g of the ternary epichlorohydrin rubber. The conductive elastic layer has a compression set of 20% or less.
US09046803B2	Charging roll, charging unit, process cartridge, image forming apparatus, and method of manufacturing charging roll A charging roll includes a cylindrical base member that has a metal-containing surface, a conductive adhesive layer that includes a halogen atom-containing resin and has surface roughness Rz in a range of 0.5 μm to 8 μm on an outer peripheral surface side on the base member, and a conductive elastic layer that is disposed to be brought into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the conductive adhesive layer and includes a halogen atom-containing rubber.
US09046802B2	Liquid developer containing electro-conductive particles and an electro-conductive pattern forming method using said material and an electro-conductive pattern forming apparatus using said material A novel liquid toner development system is disclosed. The liquid development system includes conductive core-shell particles comprising silver-copper or copper-silver. A novel apparatus and method relying on the novel liquid toner development system results in electro-conductive patterning capable of high conductivity with low background fogging, reduced processing time and reduced environmental impact.
US09046799B2	Clear toner composition Disclosed is an emulsion aggregation toner substantially free of added colorants comprising a resin and a silicone wax of the formula wherein the silicone wax has a weight average molecular weight of from about 5,000 to about 17,000 and a melting temperature of from about 38° C. to about 65° C.
US09046797B2	Process for producing electrophotographic photosensitive member To provide a process for producing an electrophotographic photosensitive member that can not easily cause any fog due to an increase in dark attenuation, a conductive layer is formed with use of a coating liquid for conductive layer prepared with use of a solvent, a binder material and metal oxide particles. The metal oxide particles (P) and binder material (B) in the coating liquid for conductive layer are in a mass ratio (P/B) of from 1.5/1.0 to 3.5/1.0. The metal oxide particle is a titanium oxide particle coated with tin oxide doped with phosphorus or tungsten. Where powder resistivity of the metal oxide particle is represented by x (Ω·cm) and powder resistivity of the titanium oxide particle as a core particle constituting the metal oxide particle is represented by y (Ω·cm), the y and the x satisfy the following relations (i) and (ii): 5.0×107≦y≦5.0×109 (i) 1.0×102≦y/x≦1.0×106 (ii).
US09046795B2	Optical element unit for exposure processes having sealing element An optical element unit includes a first optical element module and a sealing arrangement. The first optical element module occupies a first module space and includes a first module component of a first component type and an associated second module component of a second component type. The first component type is optical elements and the second component type being different from the first component type. The sealing arrangement separates the first module space into a first space and a second space and substantially pre-vents, at least in a first direction, the intrusion of substances from one of the first space and the second space into the other one of the first space and the second space. The first module component at least partially contacts the first space and, at least in its area optically used, not contacting the second space. The second module component at least partially contacts the second space.
US09046793B2	Light transmissive mold and apparatus for imprinting a pattern onto a material applied on a semiconductor workpiece and related methods A light transmissive mold used for imprinting a pattern onto a material applied on a semiconductor workpiece. The mold includes a first surface having an area of a pattern to be imprinted onto the material, a second surface located opposite from the first surface, and a third surface disposed between the first surface and the second surface, at a position inwardly away from the first surface. The third surface is arranged opposite to an area of the workpiece subjected to dicing. An alignment structure, provided for alignment between the mold and the workpiece, is formed in the third surface.
US09046792B2	Projection exposure tool for microlithography and method for microlithographic imaging A projection exposure tool for microlithography for imaging mask structures of an image-providing substrate onto a substrate to be structured includes a measuring apparatus configured to determine a relative position of measurement structures disposed on a surface of one of the substrates in relation to one another in at least one lateral direction with respect to the substrate surface and to thereby simultaneously measure a number of measurement structures disposed laterally offset in relation to one another.
US09046789B2	Immersion lithography system using a sealed wafer bath Immersion lithography system and method using a sealed wafer bottom are described. One embodiment is an immersion lithography apparatus comprising a lens assembly comprising an imaging lens and a wafer stage for retaining a wafer beneath the lens assembly, the wafer stage comprising a seal ring disposed on a seal ring frame along a top edge of the wafer retained on the wafer stage, the seal ring for sealing a gap between an edge of the wafer and the wafer stage. The embodiment further includes a fluid tank for retaining immersion fluid, the fluid tank situated with respect to the wafer stage for enabling full immersion of the wafer retained on the wafer stage in the immersion fluid and a cover disposed over at least a portion of the fluid tank for providing a temperature-controlled, fluid-rich environment within the fluid tank fluid-rich environment within the fluid tank.
US09046786B2	Illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a light source to produce projection light beam, and a first and a second diffractive optical element between the light source and a pupil plane of the illumination system. The diffractive effect produced by each diffractive optical element depends on the position of a light field that is irradiated by the projection light on the diffractive optical elements. A displacement mechanism changes the mutual spatial arrangement of the diffractive optical elements. In at least one of the mutual spatial arrangements, which can be obtained with the help of the displacement mechanism, the light field extends both over the first and the second diffractive optical element. This makes it possible to produce in a simple manner continuously variable illumination settings.
US09046784B2	Nanoporous film patterned by direct photolithography and method for preparing the same A nanoporous film patterned by direct photolithography and a method for preparing the same are provided. Since a precursor of the material is the mixture of a nano template material and a photoresist and the mixture still has the basic physical properties of the photoresist, a film is formed on a substrate by a standard photolithography process and a micro-sized patterned structure is realized. The mixture with the patterned structure is chemically etched to remove the template material to form a porous polymer film, or the mixture with the patterned structure is carbonized at a high temperature and then the template material is removed to form a porous carbon film. The nanoporous film patterned by direct photolithography and the method for preparing the same have the advantages of simple operation, low cost and good integration with other micro electric mechanical systems.
US09046783B2	Photomask, and pattern formation method and exposure apparatus using the photomask A photomask includes a translucent substrate; and a light-shielding film formed on the translucent substrate, and including a light-shielding portion and an opening which serves as a translucent region. A plurality of recesses are formed in a region of the translucent substrate, which is exposed from the opening. Widths of the plurality of recesses gradually increase with an increase in distances from a focal point so that light transmitted by the plurality of recesses is focused in a predetermined position.
US09046781B2	Structure and method for reflective-type mask The present disclosure provides an embodiment of a reflective mask that includes a substrate; a reflective multilayer formed on the substrate; a capping layer formed on the reflective multilayer and having a hardness greater than about 8; and an absorber layer formed on the capping layer and patterned according to an integrated circuit layout.
US09046772B2	Monomer, polymer, resist composition, and patterning process A polymer for resist use is obtainable from a monomer having formula (1) wherein R1 is H, CH3 or CF3, R2 and R3 are a monovalent hydrocarbon group, R4 to R9 are hydrogen or a monovalent hydrocarbon group, R10 is a monovalent hydrocarbon group or fluorinated hydrocarbon group, A1 is a divalent hydrocarbon group, k1 is 0 or 1, and n1A is 0, 1 or 2. A resist composition comprising the polymer displays a high dissolution contrast during organic solvent development.
US09046767B2	Photoacid generator, photoresist, coated substrate, and method of forming an electronic device A photoacid generator compound has the formula (1) wherein a, b, c, d, e, x, L1, L2, L3, L4, R1, R2, X, and Z− are defined herein. The photoacid generator compound exhibits good solubility in solvents typically used to formulate photoresist compositions and negative tone developers. Described herein are a photoresist composition including the photoacid generator compound, a coated substrate including the photoresist composition, and a device-forming method utilizing the photoresist composition.
US09046766B2	Actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition and pattern forming method using same An actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition comprises (A) a resin that exhibits an increased solubility in an alkali developer when acted on by an acid, and (B) at least two types of sulfonic acid generators that generate a sulfonic acid when exposed to actinic rays or radiation, wherein the two types of sulfonic acid generators (B) consist of sulfonic acid generators (B1) and (B2) satisfying the following requirements, namely the sulfonic acid generator (B1) generates a sulfonic acid composed of 9 to 20 elements with an acid strength (pKa) satisfying the relationship pKa<−3.50, and the sulfonic acid generator (B2) generates an acid composed of 17 or more elements with an acid strength (pKa) satisfying the relationship −2.00>pKa≧−3.50, provided that no hydrogen atom is included in the number of elements of the generated acids.
US09046764B2	Resist underlayer film composition, method for producing polymer for resist underlayer film, and patterning process using the resist underlayer film composition A resist underlayer film composition, wherein the composition contains a polymer obtained by condensation of a condensed body, the body being obtained by condensation of one or more kinds of a compound shown by the following general formula (1-1) with one or more kinds of a compound shown by the following general formula (2-3) and an equivalent body thereof, with one or more kinds of a compound shown by the following general formula (2-1), a compound shown by the following general formula (2-2), and an equivalent body thereof; a method for producing a polymer for a resist underlayer film; and a patterning process using the same.
US09046760B2	Imaging system for imaging fast-moving objects An imaging system intended for imaging fast-moving objects, comprising an X-ray source, a scintillating screen, a shutter and a detector of the beam emitted by the shutter, and a processing unit connected to the detector, where the shutter is positioned between the scintillator screen and the detector, and a support for the object to be observed is positioned downstream from the X-ray source and upstream from the scintillator screen, where the shutter is a shutter which can be controlled at high frequencies, for example higher than approximately 1 kHz, where the shutter is fixed and the transmission of the signal originating from the scintillator screen towards the detector is controlled by electrical polarization means controlled by a control unit.
US09046757B2	Moving image pickup apparatus, method for observing moving image, moving image observing program, and computer-readable recording medium A moving image is divided with imaging timing aligned without using a synchronous input. A moving image pickup apparatus to pick up a moving image of one or more objects as an imaging target includes an image obtaining unit for obtaining an input moving image composed of a plurality of frames containing a scene of the object making a periodic motion, a representative image selecting unit for selecting a representative image representing a cycle, a standard timing selecting unit for selecting a standard timing based on the representative image, in order to divide the input moving image obtained by the image obtaining unit with respect to each cycle, and a cycle extracting unit for dividing the input moving image with respect to each cycle, based on the standard timing selected by the standard timing selecting unit.
US09046755B2	High elastic modulus projection screen substrates A stiffening strip at selected edges of a screen may enable the use and mounting of a high-elastic modulus substrate screen material. Such screen materials may be engineered to provide polarization-preserving characteristics, and be applied to or part of the high-elastic modulus substrate. Furthermore, the stiffening strip may enable the use of screen vibration techniques to reduce speckle in display applications that use projection screens, particularly those display applications using illumination sources prone to speckle such as laser-based projection. The screen vibration may be provided by a vibrating device attached to the stiffening strip.
US09046752B2	Projector having blue light alleviating part A projector includes a light modulation part modulating light generated by a light source part, a video signal processing part processing a video signal to be input, and a projection optical system projecting the light modulated by the light modulation part onto an external projection target to obtain a projected video image. The video signal processing part includes a blue light effect alleviating part alleviating effects of blue light on retinas. In a case where only a ratio of a blue signal included in the video signal is high, the blue light effect alleviating part performs control to reduce the brightness of the projected video image as a whole by reducing signal values of the blue signal, a green signal, and a red signal.
US09046751B2	Optical excitation device, light source module, and projector using the same An optical excitation device for exciting a laser light source includes a wavelength converter and a moving element. The laser light source emits a first light beam. The wavelength converter includes a wheel, a motor connected to the wheel, and a wavelength converting layer disposed on a light receiving surface of the wheel for converting the first light beam with the first wavelength into a second light beam with a second wavelength. The moving element is connected to the wavelength converter for moving the wavelength converter relative to the laser light source. There is a first reaction area between the laser light source and the wavelength converter when only the motor is operated, there is a second reaction area between the laser light source and the wavelength converter when both the motor and the moving element are operated, and the second reaction area is greater than the first reaction area.
US09046747B2	Image processing apparatus, projector, image processing method, and computer program An image processing apparatus includes a projection control section configured to cause a projecting device, which projects an image on a projection surface, to project an image for correction including at least six correction points, a changing section configured to change, according to an instruction of a user, the position of at least one correction point among the at least six correction points projected on the projection surface by the projection control section, and a determining section configured to determine the position of the at least one correction point among the at least six correction points such that, when the image for correction is divided into a first image and a second image by a straight line connecting two correction points among the at least six correction points, the image for correction maintains a continuous shape in a joining portion of the first image and the second image.
US09046746B2	Projector with optical component fixing assembly having screw and spacers An optical device includes an optical component fixed to a base member via spacers by screws. The spacers are inserted in at least one of a first space defined between the optical component and the base member and a second space defined between the base member and head portions of the screws, and a total thickness of the spacers is made constant.
US09046745B2	Illumination system, projection device and illumination method An illumination system, a projection device, and an illumination method are provided. The illumination system includes a polarized light source, a polarization switching element, a beam splitting element, a wavelength conversion element, a reflective element, and a wave plate. The polarized light source emits a polarized light beam with a first color. The polarization switching element switches a polarized direction of the polarized light beam at different time points. The beam splitting element separates polarized light beams having different polarized directions. The wavelength conversion element converts the polarized light beam having a first polarized direction to a converted light beam. The reflective element reflects the polarized light beam having a second polarized direction to form a reflected light beam. The beam splitting element combines the converted light beam and the reflected light beam comes from the wave plate disposed between the beam splitting element and the reflective element.
US09046743B2	Slider support member A slider support member (S) according to the present invention providing a movable connection between a camera and a support member secured to the ground comprises two tracks (1); a member (2) connecting the tracks (1) to each other from one of their ends; movable connection members (3a, 3b), each thereof comprising a connection part (7a, 7b) to be connected to the camera or to the support member, and one (3a) thereof comprising a movable member (4a) and being connected to the tracks (1) in a movable manner so as to leave the tracks (1) between the movable members (4a), and the other (3b) thereof being connected to the tracks (1) in a movable manner so as to stay between the tracks (1); and a control unit (9) comprising a motor providing the drive of a belt (5), a controller controlling the operation of the motor, an adjustment switch (10) to transfer the operation parameter of the motor to the controller, and at least one sensor detecting the presence of the hand of the respective user and controlling the displacement of the motor by transmitting a trigger signal to the controller.
US09046741B2	Lens cap assembly with integrated display Disclosed are lens cap assemblies wherein a removable lens cap may include a lens cap body that is configured to be removably attached to an end of a lens. The lens cap can further include a cap communication interface configured to receive lens information from a lens communication interface while the lens cap is in an attached position. The lens cap can include a display to allow for the displaying of lens characteristics and information.
US09046739B2	Digital image capture under conditions of varying light intensity An approach is provided to adjust a camera shutter lag. In the approach, data is collected that corresponds to an ambient light found in a physical environment with the ambient light being controlled using a pulse-width modulation (PWM). The pulse-width modulation corresponds to a PWM timing model. When an exposure request is received, the camera shutter lag is calculated using the PWM timing model. The calculated shutter lag is based on a future point in time at which the ambient light of the physical environment is predicted to be at a selected light output level, such as a power level selected by the user of a camera. When the calculated camera shutter lag has expired, a shutter of the camera is opened causing a camera lens to be exposed that results in a captured exposure.
US09046737B2	Driving apparatus for camera lens assembly Provided is a driving apparatus for a camera lens assembly, the driving apparatus including a lens assembly portion which includes a magnetic object and a support member, a driving base portion which includes a coil portion for generating a driving force to correspond to the magnetic object, and a position sensor portion positioned in the driving base portion eccentrically to a side from a center of the magnetic object.
US09046736B2	Image stabilizer and image capturing device An image stabilizer includes a stationary frame, a moveable frame, and a driving assembly. The stationary frame defines a central axis and includes an upper end, a lower end opposite to the upper end, and a first protrusion extending from the upper end. The moveable frame is elastically connected to the upper end and coincides with the stationary frame. The driving assembly includes two first metal clips and a first SMA line. The first metal clips are connected to two neighboring side surfaces of the moveable frame. Opposite ends of the first SMA line are clipped to the respective first metal clips. A bending portion of the first SMA line between the opposite sides contacts and hooks the first protrusion.
US09046733B2	E-paper printing system An e-paper printing system comprising a set of electrodes comprising a number of electrodes to erase a portion of e-paper as the e-paper moves relative to the set of electrodes in which the set of electrodes causes a first electric field to be applied to the e-paper with a magnitude of the first electric field increasing at a first rate sufficiently high to cause the erasure of the portion of the e-paper, and causes a second electric field to be applied to the e-paper with a magnitude of the second electric field decreasing at a second rate that is sufficiently low to preserve the erasure of the portion of the e-paper.
US09046724B1	Liquid crystal display device The present invention discloses an LCD device. The LCD device includes a bezel, a light guide plate on the light source for guiding light, an optical film on the light guide plate for processing the guided light through the light guide plate, an LCD panel directly carried on the optical film, a driving chip, a FPC with metal wires, wherein the driving chip bonds with the FPC and is used for being coupled to the LCD panel via the metal wires of the FPC, and a heat sink attached between the bezel and the FPC and used for dissipating heat generated from the driving chip.
US09046722B2	Method of fabricating In-Plane Switching (IPS) screen electrode A method of fabricating an In-Plane Switching (IPS) screen electrode is disclosed. In the method, a first ITO layer is etched, and the etched first ITO layer is annealed. Subsequently, a second ITO layer is etched, and the etched first ITO layer and the etched second ITO layer are concurrently annealed. With this method, the etched first ITO layer is annealed after the first ITO layer is etched, subsequent etching of the second ITO layer will have no influence upon the annealed first ITO layer, thus making it possible to ensure the line widths of the two ITO layers and a spacing between the respective ITO layers to thereby effectively avoid the problem of a short circuit due to a too small spacing between the respective ITO layers.
US09046719B2	Liquid crystal display device A liquid crystal display in which a first substrate includes a sub-pixel electrode extending in a first direction, and first and second main pixel electrodes connected with opposite ends of the sub-pixel electrode and extending in a second direction orthogonally crossing the first direction. A second substrate includes first and second sub-common electrodes arranged on both sides sandwiching the sub-pixel electrode, a first main common electrode connected with the first sub-common electrode and extending along the second direction opposite to the extending direction of the first main pixel electrode on one end side of the sub-pixel electrode, and a second main common electrode connected with the second sub-common electrode and extending along the second direction opposite to the extending direction of the second main pixel electrode on the other end side of the sub-pixel electrode.
US09046713B2	Liquid crystal display A liquid crystal display is provided. A liquid crystal display includes: a first substrate; a thin film transistor disposed on the first substrate; and a first electrode disposed on the thin film transistor and connected to an output terminal of the thin film transistor, wherein the first electrode includes a first region and a second region each including a plurality of minute branches separated from each other by open parts, portions of at least two minute branches among the plurality of minute branches are connected to form a plurality of minute plate branches, and wherein the minute plate branch has a wider width than a minute branch.
US09046708B2	Display device A display device includes a display panel, a protective plate which is provided opposed to the display panel, a member having touch sensor function, and a transparent organic layer which is provided between the display panel and the protective plate. The transparent organic layer includes an outer organic layer which is shaped like a frame to enclose at least a portion of an effective display area of the display panel, and an inner organic layer which is formed from the same material as the frame to fill a space enclosed by the frame. At least a part of the outer organic layer overlaps the effective display area of the display panel; and at least one of the display panel and the protective plate forms a portion of the member having touch sensor function.
US09046706B2	Display device and method for manufacturing the same Disclosed is a display device and a method for manufacturing the same, the display device comprising a display panel including an upper substrate, a lower substrate confronting the upper substrate, and a film member attached to a front surface of the upper substrate; a cover member receiving the display panel, and covering a lateral side of the display panel; and a bumper between the lateral side of the display panel and the cover member, wherein the film member is provided with an extending part which extends more than the end of the upper substrate by a predetermined range in a longitudinal direction.
US09046701B2	Spectacle attachment that provides protection Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention implement spectacle attachments that can provide protection from radiation. In one embodiment, a spectacle attachment that provides protection from radiation includes: a body of material that is a barrier to at least some form of radiation; where the body of material is configured so that it can couple with either temple of a pair of glasses; and where the body of material is sized to protect the side of a wearer's face from at least approximately the wearer's temple to approximately below the wearer's cheek when the body of material is coupled to a temple of a pair of glasses and the pair of glasses is worn.
US09046694B2	Cooling apparatus for endoscope and endoscope system The endoscope cooling device is to cool an insertion portion having an observation portion at the distal end. The device is provided with an inner sheath into which the distal end portion of the insertion portion including the observation portion is inserted to form a first flow path of a cooling fluid between the outer circumferential face of the insertion portion and the inner circumferential face of the inner sheath, an outer sheath into which the inner sheath is inserted to form a second flow path of the cooling fluid between the outer circumferential face of the inner sheath and the inner circumferential face of the outer sheath, a regulating means for regulating the distal end portion in moving at least either through the inner sheath or the outer sheath, and a fluid supply means for supplying the cooling fluid to the first flow path and the second flow path.
US09046693B2	Illumination optical system unit for endoscope and method of manufacturing the same An illumination optical system unit 26A includes an optical fiber 39A, a fluorescent body 40, a ferrule 60 as a holding member that holds the fluorescent, body 40 and the optical fiber 39A, a cylindrical first sleeve member 61 that covers the outer periphery of the fluorescent body 40, and a protective cover 38 that seals the tip side of the fluorescent body 40. The ferrule 60 holds the optical fiber 39A and the fluorescent body 40, and is inserted into the first sleeve member 61. A magnetic metal film 67 is provided on the surface of a fluorescent body-holding portion 69 of the ferrule 60. The tip of the protective cover 38 and a magnet 75 are allowed to come into contact wife each other to generate magnetic force between those two, so that the fluorescent body 40 comes into close contact with the protective cover 38.
US09046687B2	Virtual image display apparatus A light guide section is directly fixed to a frame via an attachment portion that is part of a peripheral portion of the light guide section, whereby not only can the light guide section be readily fixed and the weight of a virtual image display apparatus can be readily reduced but also the strength at which the frame supports the light guide section is improved. Further, except the attachment portion, the remaining peripheral portion of the light guide section is not fixed to the frame. Therefore, when the light guide section and the frame differ from each other in terms of the coefficient of thermal expansion, the light guide section is allowed to expand with respect to the frame, whereby no distortion, deformation, or breakage of the light guide section will occur.
US09046685B2	Information processing apparatus, control method of information processing apparatus, and transmission head-mount type display device An information processing apparatus includes an operation part and a display part to display an object selection image. The object selection image includes a position designation figure group including N (N is an integer of 3 or more) position designation figures which are arranged in a ring shape and on each of which one object can be arranged. In the object selection image, the display part rotates and moves the position designation figure group, together with the arranged objects, along a circumferential direction of the ring, and causes a specific position designation figure in the position designation figure group to be displayed to enable recognition that the object arranged on the specific position designation figure can be selected by an operation of the operation part.
US09046682B2	Mechanical stress mitigation in electrowetting display structures The subject matter disclosed herein relates to an electrowetting display comprising: a dielectric barrier layer formed on a substrate; a hydrophobic layer formed on the dielectric barrier layer, wherein the dielectric barrier layer maintains a separation between the hydrophobic layer and the substrate; a patterned pixel grid formed on the hydrophobic layer, wherein the patterned pixel grid comprises rows and columns of pixel walls that form field pixels and border pixels; an oil film overlying the hydrophobic layer, wherein the oil film is partitioned by the patterned pixel grid; and an electrolyte overlying the oil film and the patterned pixel grid, wherein one or more of the rows or the columns of pixel walls of the patterned pixel grid includes a substantially nonlinear-shaped portion to reduce sheer stress between the patterned pixel grid and the hydrophobic layer.
US09046681B2	Electro-wetting element and operation method thereof, electro-wetting display device The disclosure provides an electro-wetting element, including: a first substrate and a second substrate, wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are disposed oppositely; a first electrode formed on the first substrate; a photoreactive layer formed on the first electrode, wherein the photoreactive layer includes a reversible photoreactive material; a second electrode formed on the first substrate or the second substrate; and a polar fluid and a non-polar fluid disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate.
US09046673B2	Optoelectronic apparatus An optoelectronic apparatus includes an optical device with an optical structure including a plurality of optical elements and a concentrator which is a hollow body having a reflective inner area, and a radiation-emitting or radiation-receiving semiconductor chip with a contact structure including a plurality of contact elements that make electrical contact with the semiconductor chip and are spaced apart vertically from the optical structure, wherein the contact elements are arranged in interspaces between the optical elements upon projection of the contact structure into a plane of the optical structure, wherein the concentrator has an aperture on a side facing the semiconductor chip that is smaller than a side facing away from the semiconductor chip, and the optical structure is arranged on a side of the concentrator facing the semiconductor chip.
US09046672B2	Imaging lens Disclosed herein is an imaging lens including: a first lens having positive (+) power; a second lens having positive (+) power; a third lens having positive (+) or negative (−) power; a fourth lens having positive (+) or negative (−) power; a fifth lens having positive (+) or negative (−) power; and a sixth lens having negative (−) power.
US09046670B2	Monolithic polymer optical fiber ribbon The present disclosure includes an optical fiber ribbon, using polymer optical fibers and an extremely thin adhesive coating to provide adhesion between the fibers. The external surfaces of the optical fiber ribbons are precisely placed with respect to the optical cores of the constituent fibers, and the optical cores of the fibers are precisely placed with respect to each other. Therefore, the external surface of the ribbon is used as a reference surface for aligning the array of optical fiber cores to arrays of optical emitters or detectors at the ends of the ribbon. Thus, the optical fiber ribbon of the present disclosure is cut, either by a sharp blade or other tool as suitable to expose a cross-section of the ribbon, and inserted as a single unit into a receptacle that aligns the outer surface of the ribbon with respect to the array of optical emitters or detectors.
US09046669B2	Hardware and methods for secure alarmed armored protective distribution systems and management A fiber optic network has alarmed fiber optic lines in the cables connecting a secured junction box to plural user lock boxes. An outgoing alarm line and return alarm line in each cable connect the junction box to each user box. The outgoing alarm line is looped to the return alarm line inside the user lock box. The return alarm line is looped to the outgoing alarm line of a different cable inside the junction box to interconnect a plurality of alarm lines passing through a plurality of user boxes. A detector detects an alarm signal in the connected alarm lines to trigger an intrusion alarm. Power to the components in the box is disconnected when the box is opened and ventilation openings to the box are closed when the box is closed.
US09046667B2	Photoelectric conversion device and optical fiber coupling connector A photoelectric conversion device includes a circuit board, light-emitting modules, light-receiving modules, an optical coupling module, and a lens strip. The light-emitting modules and the light-receiving modules are mounted on the circuit board. The optical coupling module is mounted on the circuit board and includes first and second optical surfaces, a reflection surface, and first converging lenses formed on the second optical surface and corresponding to the light-emitting modules and the light-receiving modules. The lens strip is mounted on the circuit board and includes a body portion and second converging lenses. The body portion includes an upper surface and an opposing lower surface defining a receiving cavity. The second converging lenses are formed on the upper surface. The light-emitting modules and the light-receiving modules are received in the receiving cavity and are aligned with the second converging lenses.
US09046664B2	Optical connector module The object of this invention is to provide an optical connector module 1 in which the possibility of scraped wastes to exist between the lens and the tip face of the optical fiber is less and which has high optical coupling efficiency. The optical connector module 1 comprises: an optical fiber 2 having a core 2a and a plastic cladding 2b made of a first resin; a positioning device 3 made of a second resin and including a fixing portion 4 in which the optical fiber 2 is inserted; and a lens 5, wherein the hardness of the second resin is higher than that of the first resin. The tip face 2ac of a glass core 2a may protrude from the tip face 2bc of the cladding 2b toward the bottom face 4c, or otherwise the tip face 2bc of the cladding 2b may protrude from the tip face 2ac of the glass core 2a toward the bottom face 4c.
US09046662B2	Optical connector with alignment device An optical connector includes a printed circuit board, a photoelectric element, a positioning element, and a lens element. The positioning element is positioned on the printed circuit board and covers the photoelectric element. The positioning element includes a top surface facing away from the printed circuit board, and defines a through hole in a top surface thereof to expose the photoelectric element. The positioning element also includes a mark system formed on the top surface for facilitating alignment between the positioning element and the photoelectric element. The lens element is positioned on the positioning element and includes a first surface facing the photoelectric element, and a first lens aligned with the photoelectric element.
US09046660B2	Fiber optic connector A fiber optic connector has an opening for receiving a fiber optic cable, a pair of locating pins positioned adjacent to a front end ferrule and a housing for providing a covering between the opening and the locating pins. The locating pins are configured to be moveable between a first forward position where the locating pins extend out of the front ferrule and the housing and a second retracted position where the locating pins are retracted within the front ferrule and the housing. The locating pins are moveable from the first forward position and the second retracted position by a user via a mechanism accessible outside of the housing and without opening the housing.
US09046658B2	Fiber optic cable and connector assembly A fiber optic cable assembly includes a fiber optic cable and a connector assembly. The fiber optic cable includes an optical fiber, having a core surrounded by a cladding, and a jacket, which surrounds the optical fiber. The jacket includes a plurality of reinforcement members integrated into a matrix material of the jacket. The connector assembly includes a rear housing having a connector end that is directly engaged with an end portion of the jacket. A fiber optic cable includes an optical fiber with a core surrounded by a cladding. The fiber optic cable also includes a jacket that surrounds the optical fiber. The jacket includes about 40% to about 70% by weight of a plurality of reinforcement members integrated into a matrix material of the jacket.
US09046644B2	Low water content soft lens for eye, and method for producing the same A low water content soft lens for eye is provided, which includes a layer made of an acidic polymer and a basic polymer on at least a part of a surface of a base material containing a polysiloxane compound. Adhesion of the lens to the cornea during wear, which has hitherto been regarded as a problem in a conventional low water content soft lens for eye, can be reduced or avoided when using the low water content soft lens.
US09046642B2	Lens holder driving device including fracture preventing member for suspension wires A lens holder driving device includes an auto-focusing lens holder driving portion moving a lens holder holding a lens barrel along an optical axis, and an image stabilizer portion stabilizing image blurred by moving the auto-focusing lens holder driving portion in first and second directions which are orthogonal to the optical axis and which are perpendicular to each other. The image stabilizer portion includes: a fixed portion disposed apart from the auto-focusing lens holder driving portion in the direction of the optical axis; a plurality of suspension wires having first end portions fixed to the fixed portion at outer regions thereof, extending along the optical axis, having second end portions fixed to the auto-focusing lens holder driving portion, and swingably supporting the auto-focusing lens holder driving portion in the first direction and the second direction; and a fracture preventing member preventing the suspension wires from fracturing.
US09046638B2	White reflection film A white reflection film includes a coating layer including spherical particles on at least one surface of a white film, wherein, when particle diameters of the spherical particles are R and a thickness of the coating layer is H, an average number of the particles satisfying R>H in 100H square in a surface area of the coating layer is at least 10. The white film, which is capable of contributing to the improvement of luminance of a backlight being used in the backlight, can be provided.
US09046637B1	Tubular lighting systems with inner and outer structured surfaces Lighting systems include a light-transmissive tube and a light source assembly disposed to inject light into a cavity defined by the tube. The cavity extends along a longitudinal axis. At least a portion of the tube includes an inner structured surface facing the cavity, and an outer structured surface facing away from the cavity. The inner structured surface is configured to direct a first portion of the injected light towards the outer structured surface, and a second portion of the injected light back into the cavity. The inner structured surface includes elongated first features and the outer structured surface includes elongated second features. At least one of the elongated first features and the elongated second features are oriented obliquely relative to the longitudinal axis such that they form respective helixes along the tube.
US09046636B2	Light guiding element and backlight module A light guide element includes a hollow housing defining a cavity and a reflective film. The housing includes a front wall with an opening, a closed rear wall opposite to the front wall, and four sidewalls interconnected between the front wall and the rear wall. One of the sidewalls defines a number of light output holes. The opening and the light output holes communicate with the cavity. The reflective film is formed on the entirely inner side surfaces of the housing in the cavity. Light from the opening is repeatedly reflected by the reflective film in the cavity and finally exits the housing through the light input holes.
US09046635B2	Backlight assembly, and liquid crystal display module and liquid crystal display device having the same A liquid crystal display (“LCD”) module includes a backlight assembly emitting light, a LCD panel overlapping the backlight assembly, and an upper cover. The backlight includes a light source module emitting the light, a light guide plate (“LGP”) including edges and a middle portion, and a LGP support overlapping the edges of the LGP. The LGP support includes a plurality of LGP supporting pieces connected to each other so as to form a polygonal shape, each of the LGP supporting pieces including a LGP supporting portion including a LGP supporting surface overlapping the edges of the LGP, and the LGP supporting surfaces of each of the LGP supporting pieces of the LGP support are placed on a same plane. Opposing LGP supporting pieces are interconnected by an LCD module mounting member.
US09046630B2	Optical sheet and backlight assembly having the same An optical sheet includes a base film, a prism pattern formed in a first area of the base film, and a diffusion member formed in a second area of the base film. The prism pattern has a plurality of parallel prisms on a light-exiting surface. The diffusion member includes a plurality of scatter members in the base film to scatter light, or a plurality of irregularly arranged lenses on one or more of the light-incident surface and the light-exiting surface.
US09046626B2	Performing reverse time imaging of multicomponent acoustic and seismic data A technique includes performing reverse time imaging to determine an image in a region of interest. The reverse time imaging includes modeling a pressure wavefield and a gradient wavefield in the region of interest based at least in part on particle motion data and pressure data acquired by sensors in response to energy being produced by at least one source.
US09046621B2	Locate apparatus configured to detect out-of-tolerance conditions in connection with underground facility locate operations, and associated methods and systems In connection with a locate operation to detect a presence or absence of an underground facility, a magnetic field from an underground facility is detected, and one or more signals also are obtained that are indicative of one or more environmental conditions in an environment in which the underground facility is detected. The signal(s) indicative of the environmental condition(s) are compared to a target value or range of values to determine if an out-of-tolerance condition exists.
US09046612B2	Double helix boron-10 powder thermal neutron detector A double-helix Boron-10 powder detector having intrinsic thermal neutron detection efficiency comparable to 36″ long, 2-in diameter, 2-bar Helium-3 detectors, and which can be used to replace such detectors for use in portal monitoring, is described. An embodiment of the detector includes a metallic plate coated with Boron-10 powder for generating alpha and Lithium-7 particles responsive to neutrons impinging thereon supported by insulators affixed to at least two opposing edges; a grounded first wire wound in a helical manner around two opposing insulators; and a second wire having a smaller diameter than that of the first wire, wound in a helical manner around the same insulators and spaced apart from the first wire, the second wire being positively biased. A gas, disposed within a gas-tight container enclosing the plate, insulators and wires, and capable of stopping alpha and Lithium-7 particles and generating electrons produces a signal on the second wire which is detected and subsequently related to the number of neutrons impinging on the plate.
US09046609B2	Portable radiation imaging system A portable radiation imaging system (10) includes a radiation source (11), a radiation detector (7), a remote trigger unit (17) that activates the radiation source (11) and the radiation detector (7) to initiate an imaging operation, a computing device (13) that receives and processes image data generated by the radiation detector (7), and a universal power box (UPB) (1) operatively connected to the radiation source, the radiation detector, the trigger unit and the computing device. A first wireless link (50) is established between the UPB (1) and the computing device (13), and a second wireless link (60) is established between the trigger unit (17) and the UPB (1). Under the control of the UPB (1), the trigger unit uses the second wireless link (50) to send a control signal to the radiation source (11) to initiate the radiation operation, and the computing device (13) uses the first wireless link (50) to receive image data from the radiation detector (7). The trigger unit (17) can remotely initiate the radiation operation.
US09046607B2	Radar system and detection method A radar system includes an arithmetic processing unit, which sends a warning command to a warning device when a local minimum point of the intensity of the reflected wave from a target within a predetermined detection range is detected. By determining whether it is necessary to send a warning command based on whether there is a local minimum point of the intensity within the detection range, it is made possible to determine whether it is necessary to send a warning command more quickly as compared to the conventional system.
US09046605B2	Three-dimensional holographical imaging A holographic imaging system including a transmission line coupled to an antenna at one end and to a signal source at another end. The antenna defines an aperture through which a signal generated by the signal source is transmitted incident to an object located remotely from the aperture and through which a signal reflected from the object is received by the antenna aperture. A standing wave probe phase-referenced to the antenna aperture samples the reflected signal. A detector connected to the standing wave probe receives the sampled reflected signal and provides an output signal that represents a real-valued signal proportional to an in-phase component of the reflected signal from the object. A processor executes an imaging algorithm for generating a multi-dimensional profile representative of the object based on the output signal from the detector.
US09046603B2	Radar sensor for motor vehicles, in particular RCA sensor Radar sensor for motor vehicles, including a transmitting antenna in the form of a planar array antenna having multiple adjacent antenna elements, and including a power supply system for supplying the antenna elements with microwave power. The power supply system is designed for supplying each pair of directly adjacent antenna elements with microwave power in phase opposition.
US09046600B2	Method and apparatus for intensity calibration of multi-beam lidar sensors A method of multi-beam Lidar intensity measurement calibration including determining, by a positioning device, position information of a moving platform within a global reference frame, collecting a plurality of data points, each data point including the position information and intensity information from a plurality of beams, segmenting the plurality of data points into a plurality of voxels, based on the position information associated with each data point, finding a subset of voxels in the plurality of voxels that include a point corresponding to a certain beam in the plurality of beams and an intensity value in a predetermined neighborhood of a certain intensity value, estimating a probability density based on the subset of voxels, and generating a calibration map that maps the certain intensity value of the certain beam to a calibrated intensity value for the certain beam, based on the probability density and a prior density.
US09046599B2	Object detection apparatus and method An object detection apparatus includes: a first radar configured to measure first positional information regarding a first object existing in a first scan range; a second radar configured to measure second positional information regarding a second object existing in a second scan range on the basis of second reflected wave of second wave radiated onto the second scan range including the first region and a second region, the second wave being radiated in such a way as to scan the first region in a direction opposite a direction in which the first radar radiates the first wave; and a processor configured to detect a third object existing in the first region on the basis of the first positional information and the second positional information.
US09046597B2	Monitoring sensor with activation A monitoring sensor for detecting a test signal from an external signal generator at an input for receiving signals, to switch the monitoring sensor from a passive state to an active state when a signal is detected, to switch the monitoring sensor to a test state after a test period “t2” has expired, to change an output signal from an output of the monitoring sensor after an activation period “t3” has expired, this change in the output signal corresponding to a signal which arises when the monitoring sensor triggers a switching operation after an object has been detected, to convert the output signal to the initial state again after the withdrawal of the test signal has been detected, and to provide this renewed signal change as the signal for an external signal generator, the monitoring sensor changing to the monitoring state after this signal sequence.
US09046596B1	Systems and methods for determining a distance between a first device and a second device in a network A first device including a timing module and a control module. The timing module is configured to calculate a first delay period between a first time a data frame is transmitted to a second device and a second time an acknowledgement frame is received from the second device. The timing module is further configured to calculate a second delay period between a third time the data frame is transmitted to the second device and a fourth time the acknowledgement frame is received from the second device. The control module is configured to calculate a total delay period corresponding to a sum of the first delay period and the second delay period and determine a distance between the first device and the second device based on the total delay and a number of times for the data frame to be transmitted to the second device.
US09046594B1	Radar detector with navigation function A GPS enabled radar detector incorporated in a general purpose navigation device dynamically handles radar sources based upon previously-stored geographically-referenced information on such sources and data from the GPS receiver. The detector may ignore detections received in an area known to contain a stationary source, or may only ignore specific frequencies or may handle frequencies differently based upon historic trends of spurious police radar signals at each frequency. Notification of the driver may take a variety of forms depending on the stored information, current operating modes, and vehicle speed. The device includes navigational functions as well. In one embodiment, the detector uses a transparent touch screen and a readily aligned mounting.
US09046593B2	Method and apparatus for detecting and classifying signals A method and apparatus for detecting signals. According to an embodiment, energy waves are received at a first receiver system and a second receiver system. The first receiver system generates first information using the energy waves received at the first receiver system. The first receiver system receives second information generated using the energy waves received at the second receiver system from the second receiver system. The first receiver system identifies desired information about a repetitive portion of a signal carried in the energy waves received at the first receiver system using the first information and the second information.
US09046586B2	Method and device for diagnosing secondary battery degradation During charging of a secondary battery, a rate of voltage change dV/dt is obtained when a voltage V of the secondary battery reaches a predetermined voltage Vpre, a charge current I for charging the secondary battery is detected, and a rate of change dQ/dt in a quantity of charged electricity Q of the secondary battery is calculated on the basis of the result of the detection. Here, the predetermined voltage Vpre is a voltage higher than a discharge cutoff voltage and lower than a charge cutoff voltage. Thereafter, a ratio X: dQ/dV, of the rate of change dQ/dt in the quantity of charged electricity to the rate of voltage change dV/dt is calculated. The calculated ratio X is compared with a reference value Xref, and degradation of the secondary battery is determined on the basis of the result of the comparison.
US09046580B2	Battery thermal event detection system utilizing battery pack isolation monitoring A system for detecting cell failure within a battery pack based on variations in the measured electrical isolation resistance of the battery pack is provided. The system includes an electrical isolation resistance monitoring subsystem for monitoring the electrical isolation resistance of the battery pack; a system controller coupled to the isolation resistance monitoring subsystem that detects when the electrical isolation resistance falls below a preset value; and a cell failure response subsystem that performs a preset response upon receipt of a control signal from the system controller, where the control signal is transmitted when the electrical isolation resistance falls below the preset value. The system may include a secondary effect monitoring system, wherein the cell failure response subsystem performs the preset response when the electrical isolation resistance falls below the preset value and the secondary effect is detected by the secondary effect monitoring system.
US09046576B2	Identifying defective components on a wafer using component triangulation Methods and apparatus are disclosed to simultaneously, wirelessly test semiconductor components formed on a semiconductor wafer. The semiconductor components transmit respective outcomes of a self-contained testing operation to wireless automatic test equipment via a common communication channel. Multiple receiving antennas observe the outcomes from multiple directions in three dimensional space. The wireless automatic test equipment determines whether one or more of the semiconductor components operate as expected and, optionally, may use properties of the three dimensional space to determine a location of one or more of the semiconductor components. The wireless testing equipment may additionally determine performance of the semiconductor components by detecting infrared energy emitted, transmitted, and/or reflected by the semiconductor wafer before, during, and/or after a self-contained testing operation.
US09046575B2	TAP test clock control circuitry connected to device address port The disclosure describes a novel method and apparatus for making device TAPs addressable to allow device TAPs to be accessed in a parallel arrangement without the need for having a unique TMS signal for each device TAP in the arrangement. According to the disclosure, device TAPs are addressed by inputting an address on the TDI input of devices on the falling edge of TCK. An address circuit within the device is associated with the device's TAP and responds to the address input to either enable or disable access of the device's TAP.
US09046571B2	Tap with test compression architecture and start bit detector circuit The disclosure describes novel methods and apparatuses for controlling a device's TCA circuit when the device exists in a JTAG daisy-chain arrangement with other devices. The methods and apparatuses allow the TCA test pattern set used during device manufacturing to be reused when the device is placed in a JTAG daisy-chain arrangement with other devices, such as in a customers system using the device. Additional embodiments are also provided and described in the disclosure.
US09046568B2	Universal spring contact pin and IC test socket therefor A universal spring contact pin for use in an IC test Socket includes a depressible probe member at one end and a fixed probe member at the other end. The fixed probe member preferably has a projection length chosen to allow z-axis loading of different surface mount package types within the same test socket. It also can have a relatively large tip angle which preferably terminates at a relatively sharp termination point. Preferably, the tip angle is about 90 degrees and the radius of the termination point of the tip is about 0.001 inches (0.0254 millimeters) or less.

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