| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US09373917B2 |
Electrical connector having a grounding lattice
Electrical connector including a connector housing having a front side that faces along a mating axis and contact passages that open to the front side. The contact passages are configured to receive corresponding ground shields of a system connector during a mating operation. The electrical connector also includes signal contacts that are coupled to the connector housing and configured to engage corresponding contacts of the system connector. The electrical connector also includes a grounding lattice that is held by the connector housing. The grounding lattice includes a support frame and lattice springs that are interconnected by the support frame. The support frame extends generally transverse to the mating axis. The lattice springs are positioned to engage the ground shields of the system connector as the ground shields are inserted into the corresponding contact passages of the connector housing. |
| US09373916B2 |
Receptacle structure
A receptacle structure, which is specifically referred to a joint assembly of terminal with plural signal pins, a main isolator and a metallic casing, wherein the terminal with plural pins is further separated with an upper row terminator and a lower row terminator, the metallic casing is extended with a fixing part at the back side and is configured with an upper rib and at least a spring on the top surface of fixing part, and both laterals are formed as side curvatures with each side opening. Thus, the present invention provides a better shielding protection against ESD—Electrostatic Discharge and enables a high frequency characteristic control which stabilizes the impedance variation within the error range. |
| US09373915B1 |
Ground shield for circuit board terminations
A cable-circuit board assembly is disclosed for use in providing a high speed transmission line for connecting electronic devices together. The circuit board is joined to a ground extension member that extends rearwardly of the circuit board and between sets of wires that are terminated to respective surfaces of the circuit board. The extension portion places a ground plane in the termination area of the connector, rear of the trailing edge of the circuit board to provide shielding between pairs of wires on opposite sides of the paddle card where the cable shields are cut back. |
| US09373914B2 |
Linkage apparatus for plugging PCB board
A linkage apparatus is provided. The linkage apparatus is disposed between a bottom plate and a carrier plate, and the linkage apparatus includes a drag link and an “L” shape swing link. The drag link is rotatably connected to an end of the “L” shape swing link, and the drag link and the bottom plate are connected to a fixing pin by using a horizontal guide groove; a corner in the middle of the swing link is rotatably connected to the bottom plate, and another end is fastened to the carrier plate; another fixing pin connects the bottom plate and the carrier plate. The swing link is driven by the drag link, so that the carrier plate can be driven to vertically move. Therefore, hot plugging of a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) express card fastened on the carrier plate and plugging of another printed circuit board (PCB) that requires two-dimensional plugging can be implemented without interrupting a power supply. |
| US09373911B2 |
Waterproof audio connector
The present invention is to provide a waterproof audio connector which includes an isolation base mounted in the electronic device, having an inserting port and an assembly port respectively at a front end and a rear end thereof, having a plurality of first assembly slots longitudinally and concavely disposed at an inner surface thereof between the two ports; a plurality of signal terminals each having a contacting portion at the end thereof and fastened with the first assembly slot corresponding thereto; an isolation plate having a side surface abutted against outer edges of the first assembly slots and forming a filler space between another side surface thereof and an edge of the assembly port; and a waterproof sealant formed by waterproof glue which is filled into the filler space and solidified later, so as to watertightly seal all gaps among the signal terminals, the isolation plate and the assembly port. |
| US09373908B2 |
Dual contact pogo pin assembly
A contact assembly includes a base and a pair of electrical contacts supported by the base. A first end of the first electrical contact corresponds to a first end of the base and is configured to engage a first external conductive circuit element. A first end of the second electrical contact also corresponds to the first end of the base and is configured to engage a second external conductive circuit element. The first contact and the second contact are electrically isolated from one another and configured to compress when engaging an external connector element. The base includes an aperture positioned on a second end of the base outboard of a second end of the first and second electrical contacts. The aperture presents a narrowing shape with a wide mouth distal the electrical contacts and a narrow internal through-hole proximate the electrical contacts. |
| US09373907B2 |
Flexible flat cable, electrical connector, and flexible flat cable assembly
A flexible flat cable includes conductive wires disposed on a first surface of an insulation layer, and a cover shield covering an opposite second surface and side surfaces of the insulation layer. An electrical connector includes an insulation case defining an insertion space for receiving an insertion portion of the flexible flat cable, conductive terminals disposed on the base and contacting respectively with the conductive wires, and a ground unit. The ground unit includes a contacting portion disposed in the insertion space and contacting with the cover shield of the flexible flat cable, and a conductive portion extending out of the insulation case for grounding the flexible flat cable. |
| US09373906B2 |
Communication module and communication module connector
To suppress degradation of signals exchanged between the semiconductor chip and each of the communication modules while a large number of communication modules are mounted near a semiconductor chip at a high density. A connector includes a plug connector provided in a communication module and a receptacle connector provided in a motherboard to which the connection module is connected. The plug connector has an inserting convex portion that is connected to a module substrate included in the communication module. The receptacle connector has an inserting concave portion into which the inserting convex portion is inserted. A plurality of first connection terminals are arranged in two outer side surfaces in parallel with each other, of the inserting convex portion. A plurality of second connection terminals in contact with the first connection terminals are arranged in two inner side surfaces in parallel with each other, of the inserting concave portion. A thickness of the module substrate is one half or less of a thickness of the inserting convex portion. |
| US09373905B2 |
Electrical card connector compatibly receiving two cards
An electrical card connector (100) includes an insulative housing (1) defining a receiving space (10) along a front-and-rear direction thereof, a number of first contacts (211) and a number of second contacts (212) respectively retained in a front row and a rear row of the insulative housing, and a number of third contacts (221) retained in the rear row of the insulative housing. The first and second contacts constitute a first terminal group. The third and second contacts constitute a second terminal group. The first terminal group is adapted for engaging with a first card and the second terminal group is adapted for engaging with a second card. |
| US09373904B2 |
Pin contact element and electronics housing
The invention describes a pin contact element (1) having a contact support (2) which is composed of insulating material and having at least two pin contacts (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d) which are installed in the contact support (2). The pin contact element (1) is intended to be installed in an electronics device housing (13) and to be connected to a printed circuit board. The pin contacts (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d) project from a platform (5) of the contact support (2) in order to receive a spring-force plug connector (19) by way of a straight contact section (4). The contact sections (4) of the pin contacts (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d) are surrounded in a fixing region (6) of the platform (5) by the contact support (2) and the pin contacts (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d) are secured in the contact support (2) in the fixing region. At least one of the pin contacts (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d) is routed past at least one further pin contact (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d) of the same pin contact element (1) such that it adjoins the straight contact section (4) by way of at least two angled portions (8). At least two pin contacts (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d) are arranged with their straight contact sections (4) in a row next to one another. The opposite free ends (7a, 7b, 7c, 7d) of these pin contacts (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d), which free ends are intended to be connected to a printed circuit board, extend parallel to the direction (R) in which the straight contact sections (4) are lined up next to one another in at least one row, and project laterally out of the contact support (2). |
| US09373903B2 |
Flexible flat cable connector and flexible flat cable thereof
A flexible flat cable connector is described. The flexible flat cable connector comprises an insulating housing having first terminal holes in front end of the insulating housing and having second terminal holes in rear end of the insulating housing, wherein first terminal holes and second terminal holes are arranged in upward/downward dual-row configuration to form first insertion space and second insertion space respectively; and a plurality of terminals, forwardly extending each terminal to form first resilient portion and backwardly extending to form either second resilient portion or soldering portion, wherein terminals are secured inside the insulating housing in upward/downward dual-row configuration, first resilient portions are inserted to first insertion space and arranged in upward/downward dual-row configuration, and second resilient portions are inserted to second insertion space and arranged in upward/downward dual-row configuration; wherein soldering portions of terminals are arranged in and exposed from rear end of the insulating housing. |
| US09373899B2 |
Butterfly spring connector
A butterfly spring connector made from a one-piece blank is disclosed. comprising a The butterfly spring connector includes: a frame, comprising a first, second and third frame pieces defining a bottom plane; a butterfly spring comprising the connection of an upper piece, a lower piece and a lateral piece, wherein the lateral piece extends from the first frame piece to a direction perpendicular to the bottom plane; a support formed at the third frame piece to support the lower piece; and a clip piece formed at the second frame piece, to clip a wire or a cable in association with the upper piece. The support and the clipping piece extend in the same direction of the lateral piece. |
| US09373898B1 |
Swaged-on, external electrode anchoring connection
A swaged-on fitting, for anchoring exterior wires to a cable, includes an outer ring and a split inner ring. The inner ring has an inside grooved pattern, which is substantially an angled cross-hatching of shallow grooves. The two grooved halves of the inner ring are placed under the bare ends of the wires and pressed on either side of the cable jacket such that the pattern contacts the jacket. The outer ring is slid over the wires, so it overlaps the inner halves. The fitting is swaged-on, locking in the wires between the rings and embossing the jacket with the cross-hatching pattern of the inner ring, without puncturing the jacket. The grooves on the inner ring thus grip the cable jacket, preventing rotational and translational movement of the wires on the jacket while maintaining the structural integrity of the jacket. |
| US09373896B2 |
True time delay compensation in wideband phased array fed reflector antenna systems
Systems, devices, and methods for determining and applying true time delay (TTD) values for compensating for free-space path length differences between a phased array and a reflector in wideband communication are disclosed. TTD values are determined for individual and groups of antenna elements in phased array fed reflector (PAFR) antennas based distances from a focal region of the reflector. The distance from the focal region of the reflector and the offset of the phased array from the reflectors focal plane can be used to determine path length differences. Corresponding TTD values for antenna elements are then determined based on the path length difference associated with the antenna elements. Each antenna element can be coupled to a TTD element to provide the corresponding TTD value to the signals received by and generated by the antenna elements of the phased array. The TTD elements include transverse electromagnetic (TEM) mode mechanisms. |
| US09373893B2 |
Method for optimizing a Yagi-Uda antenna for a RFID inlay or integrated circuit
An RFID tag and a method for optimizing a Yagi-Uda antenna for a RFID inlay or integrated circuit is provided. The method has steps comprise: 1) selecting an electrically conductively first element; 2) generating an electrically conductive second element by taking a mirror image of the electrically conductive first element and trimming the second element; 3) generating a third element” along a line of axis of symmetry of the first two elements and on the opposite side of the first element as the electrically conductive second element; 4) adjusting the distance between the first three elements for optimum performance using Et(x)=EXP[a−x·b]+E∞; and 5) optionally, if the electrically conductive first element does not contain an IC (integrated circuit) or RFID inlay, then adding an IC or RFID inlay adjacent to/or physically touching the electrically conductive first element along the line of symmetry. |
| US09373890B2 |
Antenna
Disclosed is an antenna. The antenna includes a first radiating part bent in a predetermined direction, a second radiating part under the first radiating part, a conductive member connected to the second radiating part, and a coupling part spaced apart from the conductive member while surrounding a lateral side of the conductive member. |
| US09373888B1 |
Method and apparatus for reducing sidelobes in large phased array radar with super-elements
Methods and apparatus for a phased array radar system including an array comprising columns of super-elements containing radiator elements located along a length of the super-element, wherein the super-elements form the columns such that super-elements are arranged end-to-end, wherein the super-elements are arranged in the column at randomized locations to reduce sidelobes. In a further embodiment, super element lengths can be randomized. |
| US09373885B2 |
Radio system for high-speed wireless communication
Indoor/outdoor broadband wireless combined radio/antennas configured to include an integrated adjustable mount allowing mounting to a pole or stand and adjustment of the angle of the device (e.g., the altitude) by a lockable ball joint. The device may include a compact array antenna having a high gain configured to operate in, for example, the 5.15 to 5.85 GHz band and/or the 2.40-2.48 GHz band. The antenna emitters may be arranged in a separate plane from a plane containing the antenna feed connecting the emitting elements and also from a ground plane. The antenna array may be contained within a protective weatherproof housing along with the radio control circuitry. The antenna may be manufactured by a simple stamping/forming process. The apparatuses may be configured for low impedance mismatch and may have a high gain relative to a very small and compact overall shape. |
| US09373882B2 |
Near field communication reader with variable power supply
The present application relates to a near field communications (NFC) reader which includes an amplifier that drives an antenna. Capacitors of fixed value are connected in series between differential outputs of the amplifier and inputs of the antenna and form a series resonant circuit with the impedance of the antenna. Variable capacitances are provided in series with the fixed value capacitors, and the capacitance of these variable capacitances can be adjusted to compensate for manufacturing tolerances in the fixed value capacitors which cause a frequency offset between a desired resonant frequency of the series resonant circuit its actual resonant frequency, and to compensate for changes in the input impedance of the antenna that occur as the distance between the antenna of the reader and an antenna of an NFC tag changes. |
| US09373879B2 |
Compact power divider/combiner with flexible output spacing
A compact power divider/combiner with flexible port spacing is disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, an apparatus includes a three port circuit having first, second, and third ports, and a matching circuit configured to couple the second and third ports to ground. The matching circuit includes a first transmission line connected between a first port and a second port, a second transmission line connected between the first port and a third port, a first matching circuit connected between the second port and a first node, a second matching circuit connected between the first node and the third port, and a third matching circuit connected between the first node and a ground. |
| US09373876B2 |
Multiple-mode filter for radio frequency integrated circuits
A fully integrated silicon-based bandpass filter which lends itself to applications in the gigahertz region is disclosed. The bandpass filter is fabricated on an integrated circuit and operates as a microwave/millimeter-wave filtering circuit. In accordance with one aspect, the bandpass filter includes a first set and a second set of filter coupled elements, a three-port “T” transmission line junction and a perturbing element. The three-port “T” transmission line junction has a first port coupled to a first end of a first one of the first set of filter coupled elements and a second port coupled to a first end of a first one of the second set of filter coupled elements. The perturbing element is coupled to a third port of the three-port “T” transmission line junction. A second one of the first set of filter coupled elements includes an input transmission line and has a first end thereof coupled to an input port and an opposite end thereof having an open end. A second one of the second set of filter coupled elements includes an output transmission line and has a first end thereof coupled to an output port and an opposite end thereof having an open end. |
| US09373873B2 |
Cooling system for automotive battery
Method and apparatus for thermal management of a battery cell or a battery assembly including a plurality of battery cells. One or more fins are in thermal contact with one or more battery cells. A fluid is caused to flow from a high pressure side of a plenum fluidly coupled to each fin, through a cavity in each fin, and back to a low pressure side of the plenum. The fins are fluidly coupled to the plenum using flexible connections that can accommodate movement of the fins with respect to the plenum. |
| US09373870B2 |
Battery damage indicator
The present disclosure provides systems and methods for indicating battery damage. A battery may comprise an odorant and/or visible indicator material configured to be released in response to battery damage. The battery may be configured to release the odorant and/or visible indicator in response to damage to the battery housing, a cell or cells in the battery, a seal of the battery, or any other specific component of the battery. The odorant and/or visible indicator may be stored in free space in the battery housing, a battery cell, or other battery component. The battery may be configured to emit an audible and/or visible indication of battery damage in addition to releasing the odorant and/or visible indicator. |
| US09373867B2 |
Secondary battery and electrolyte liquid
The object is to provide a secondary battery which has an excellent cycle property even in high-temperature environment and which has small resistance increase even when it is used in high-temperature environment. An exemplary embodiment of the invention is a secondary battery, comprising: a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte liquid; wherein the electrolyte liquid comprises a chain-type fluorinated sulfone compound represented by a predetermined formula. |
| US09373866B2 |
Solid electrolyte battery
Provided is a solid electrolyte battery that has favorable charge-discharge characteristics with impedance reduced.This solid electrolyte battery has, on a substrate 10, a stacked body of a positive electrode side current collector film 30, a positive electrode protective film 31, a positive electrode active material film 40, a solid electrolyte film 50, a negative electrode potential formation layer 64, and a negative electrode side current collector film 70 stacked in this order. The positive electrode active material film 40 is composed of an amorphous positive electrode active material. The positive electrode protective film 31 is composed of LiCoO2, LiMn2O4, LiNiO2, or the like. |
| US09373865B2 |
Method and device for producing electrode windings
A method produces electrode windings, in which method a strip- or ribbon-like anode and a strip- or ribbon-like cathode are provided and flat collector lugs are formed on at least one longitudinal side of the anode and of the cathode at varying distances and/or contours are cut into the longitudinal sides of the electrodes. The anode and the cathode are wound up together with a strip- or ribbon-like separator to form a winding with the sequence anode/separator/cathode. The method is distinguished, in particular, in that the process of forming collector lugs and/or of cutting contours and the process of winding up overlap with respect to time. |
| US09373862B2 |
Thermal management in a fuel cell stack
A fuel cell stack comprising multiple arrays of one or more fuel cells, each comprising an electrolyte layer, an anode layer and a cathode layer; gas separator plates between adjacent fuel cells; and oxidant gas distribution passages and fuel gas distribution passages between adjacent fuel cells; and gas separators opening to the cathode layers and the anode layers, respectively, of the fuel cells. The fuel cell arrays comprise at least first stage fuel cell arrays having associated first fuel gas distribution passages to receive fuel gas from one or more fuel gas supply manifolds and second stage fuel cell arrays having associated second fuel gas distribution passages which receive fuel exhaust from the fuel cells of the first stage fuel cell arrays. The second stage fuel cell arrays are interleaved in the stack between first stage fuel cell arrays to improve thermal gradients. Other interleaving arrangements are possible. |
| US09373860B2 |
Method and apparatus for diagnosing fault within fuel cell stack
To diagnose a fault of a fuel cell stack, an alternating current having a first optimal frequency of a first frequency domain to diagnose a drop in cell voltage and an alternating current having a second optimal frequency of a second frequency domain to diagnose a cause of the drop in cell voltage are supplied to the fuel cell stack are provided. A distortion rate is then calculated based on voltage of the fuel cell stack according to the alternating current of the first optimal frequency, and the drop in cell voltage is diagnosed based on the calculated distortion rate. Also, impedance is calculated based on voltage and a current of the fuel cell stack according to the alternating current of the second optimal frequency and amount of water is calculated based on the calculated in the fuel cell stack, and the cause of the drop in cell voltage is diagnosed based on the calculated impedance and amount of water. |
| US09373859B2 |
Fuel cell stack
A fuel cell stack has a stacked plurality of cell modules, each of the plurality of cell modules comprising a stacked plurality of single cells, each of the plurality of single cells comprising a membrane electrode assembly sandwiched between a pair of separators, a pair of end plates that sandwich the plurality of cell modules in the stacking direction, sealing plates to seal a reactant gas, disposed between the plurality of cell modules and between outermost cell modules and the end plates, and a voltage measuring terminal protruding to an outside of the cells, provided in at least one of the sealing plates. |
| US09373856B2 |
Method of recycling and tapping off hydrogen for power generation apparatus
A power generation apparatus comprises a fuel cell and a reforming module, wherein the reforming module is adapted to reform hydrocarbon fuel into hydrogen and other components, and to separate the hydrogen from the other components. The apparatus is arranged so that the hydrogen is fed from the reforming module to the anode of the fuel cell. Carbon dioxide may be separated in the reforming module. Hydrogen may be recycled from the anode outflow back to the anode and/or tapped off. The apparatus may also contain a desorption module for releasing carbon dioxide. The absorption and release of carbon dioxide may be integrated and the carbon dioxide absorbent and/or desorbent may be recycled. Components of the apparatus may be thermally integrated. The apparatus may be used to generate electricity and produce hydrogen. |
| US09373853B2 |
Fuel cell employing multiple reactant supply passages
A fuel cell includes a cathode side separator. An oxygen-containing gas flow field is formed on a surface of the cathode side separator. The oxygen-containing gas flow field includes an inlet channel having a plurality of flow grooves connected to the oxygen-containing gas supply passage, an outlet channel having a plurality of flow grooves connected to the oxygen-containing gas discharge passage, and an intermediate channel having flow grooves with both ends connected to the inlet channel and the outlet channel respectively. The flow grooves of the outlet channel are longer than the flow grooves of the inlet channel, and the flow grooves of the outlet channel are narrowed toward the oxygen-containing gas discharge passage. |
| US09373850B2 |
Process for preparing a catalytic material
A process for preparing a catalytic material including (i) a support material and (ii) a thin film catalyst coating, the coating including one or more first metals, wherein the process includes the steps of: providing a multilayer thin film coating of a second metal on the support material; and spontaneous galvanic displacement of at least some of the second metal with the one or more first metals; wherein the second metal is less noble than the one or more first metals. |
| US09373844B2 |
Positive electrode active substance containing lithium-containing metal oxide
A positive electrode active substance including a lithium-containing metal oxide represented by the following general formula (1): LiFe1-xMxP1-ySiyO4 (1) wherein M represents an element selected from Sn, Zr, Y, and Al; 0 |
| US09373842B2 |
Compound, method for preparation of the same, and lithium secondary battery comprising the same
Disclosed are a novel compound, a method for preparing the same, and a lithium secondary battery comprising the same. More specifically, disclosed are a compound in which five MO6 octahedrons are bonded to one another around one MO6 octahedron such that the MO6 octahedrons share a vertex, to form hollows and Li cations substituted instead of Na cations using an ion substitution method are present in the hollows, and a crystal structure thereof is not varied even upon intercalation and deintercalation of Li cations, a method for preparing the same, and a lithium secondary battery comprising the same as a cathode active material. |
| US09373841B2 |
Battery active material, nonaqueous electrolyte battery, and battery pack
According to one embodiment, there are provided an active material for a battery having a high effective capacity, a nonaqueous electrolyte battery, and a battery pack. The active material contains a niobium-titanium composite oxide. When the active material is subjected to powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) using a Cu-Kα ray source, a peak appears in a range of 2θ=5°±0.5° in the diffraction pattern. |
| US09373840B2 |
Negative electrode active material for secondary battery and method for producing the same
A negative electrode active material for a secondary battery contains an aluminum alloy. The internal structure of the aluminum alloy has a crystalline aluminum phase in a magnesium-supersaturated solid solution state, and an amorphous aluminum phase. The amorphous aluminum phase is dispersed in the crystalline aluminum phase in the magnesium-supersaturated solid solution state. Each of these phases has a columnar shape. The magnesium content of the aluminum alloy preferably is greater than 22 at % and less than 35 at %, and more preferably, lies within a range of 25±2 at %. |
| US09373838B2 |
Electrodes, lithium-ion batteries, and methods of making and using same
Described herein are improved composite anodes and lithium-ion batteries made therefrom. Further described are methods of making and using the improved anodes and batteries. In general, the anodes include a porous composite having a plurality of agglomerated nanocomposites. At least one of the plurality of agglomerated nanocomposites is formed from a dendritic particle, which is a three-dimensional, randomly-ordered assembly of nanoparticles of an electrically conducting material and a plurality of discrete non-porous nanoparticles of a non-carbon Group 4A element or mixture thereof disposed on a surface of the dendritic particle. At least one nanocomposite of the plurality of agglomerated nanocomposites has at least a portion of its dendritic particle in electrical communication with at least a portion of a dendritic particle of an adjacent nanocomposite in the plurality of agglomerated nanocomposites. |
| US09373837B2 |
Methods of manufacturing multi-functional electrode devices for fast-charging of energy-storage devices
Methods for manufacturing multi-functional electrode (MFE) devices for fast-charging of energy-storage devices are provided. The method includes assembling first MFE structure for forming a suitable electrochemical half-couple, the first MFE structure having a first fast-charging component (FCC) and a first MFE assembly and a counter-electrode structure for forming a complementary electrochemical half-couple and supplying an internal voltage controller (IVC) for applying a bias potential to the first MFE structure and/or the counter-electrode structure, the bias potential is set in accordance with the first MFE structure and said counter-electrode structure. The IVC is configured to regulate an intra-electrode potential gradient between the first FCC and the first MFE assembly to control a charge rate from the first FCC to the first MFE assembly. |
| US09373836B2 |
Active material for battery, non-aqueous electrolyte battery and battery pack
According to one embodiment, a non-aqueous electrolyte battery includes an outer package, a positive electrode housed in the outer package, a negative electrode housed with a space from the positive electrode in the outer package and including an active material, and a non-aqueous electrolyte filled in the outer package. The active material includes a lithium-titanium composite oxide particle, and a coating layer formed on at least a part of the surface of the particle and including at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Zr, Fe, Nb, Co, Ni, Cu and Si, an oxide of at least one metal selected from the group or an alloy containing at least one metal selected from the group. |
| US09373834B2 |
Method for forming positive electrode for lithium-ion secondary battery
To provide a positive electrode for a lithium-ion secondary battery, which is highly filled with a positive electrode active material and has a high-density positive electrode active material layer. To provide a lithium-ion secondary battery having high capacity and improved cycle characteristics with use of the positive electrode. After graphene oxide is dispersed in a dispersion medium, a positive electrode active material is added and mixed to form a mixture. A binder is added to the mixture and mixed to form a positive electrode paste. The positive electrode paste is applied to a positive electrode current collector and the dispersion medium contained in the positive electrode paste is evaporated, and then, the graphene oxide is reduced, so that a positive electrode active material layer containing graphene is formed over the positive electrode current collector. |
| US09373833B2 |
Battery pack containing PCM employed with conductive pattern having fusible part
A battery pack including a battery cell having an electrode assembly of a cathode/separator/anode structure mounted in a battery case together with an electrolyte in a sealed state, and a protection circuit module (PCM) electrically connected to the battery cell. The PCM includes a protection circuit board (PCB) electrically connected to the battery cell, the PCB being provided on a region where a circuit is connected with a conductive pattern including a fusing part, having relatively high resistance, configured to fuse itself for interrupting the flow of current when a large amount of current is conducted. |
| US09373832B2 |
Spacer for battery pack and battery pack comprising the same
Disclosed herein is a spacer used in a battery pack having a plurality of battery cells mounted in a pack case, wherein the spacer is configured to have a top shape corresponding to the inner shape of the pack case in vertical section and a bottom shape corresponding to the outer circumferential shape of the battery cells in vertical section so that the spacer can be mounted in a space defined between the battery cells and the pack case, grooves, in which electrical connection members are mounted, are formed at the top of the spacer, and the spacer includes at least one temperature detection member mounting part including a horizontal opening open in one direction or in opposite directions and a vertical opening communicating with the horizontal opening so that a temperature detection member is inserted from one side of the spacer and mounted in a space defined between the battery cells. In the spacer, the temperature detection member is inserted into the horizontal opening from one side of the spacer so that the temperature detection member can be fixed between the battery cells and the spacer, and therefore, a process of bonding the temperature detection member is omitted. Also, the electrical connection members for electrical connection between the battery cells and between the battery cells and a protection circuit member are mounted in the grooves so that the electrical connection members are fixed in an insulated state, thereby preventing the occurrence of a short circuit due to vibration or impact and simplifying an assembly process. |
| US09373831B2 |
Architecture with stacking of storage and/or electrical energy generating elements with configurable electrical output, method of producing such an architecture
An electrical energy storage and/or generation device with an architecture including a stack of electrical storage and/or generation elements, such as microbatteries. An electrical connection is not made between the different stacked elements during manufacture, but subsequently with assistance of an electronic control unit to configure, in series and/or in parallel, all or a proportion of the elements, and to configure electrical outputs of the device, such as the electrical voltage or the storage capacity. |
| US09373824B2 |
Method of fabricating organic electroluminescent device
A method of fabricating an organic electroluminescent display includes: forming a plastic layer on a substrate including a first pixel region; patterning the first plastic layer to form a first opening in the first pixel region; forming a first organic light emitting layer on the first plastic layer having the first opening; and removing the first plastic layer from the substrate to form a first organic light emitting pattern in the first opening. |
| US09373823B2 |
Organic electronic device and method for manufacturing the same
In a coating-type electron injection layer or electron transport layer using a metal oxide, the present invention aims at improving uniformity or stability of composition distribution and adhesion with another adjoining constituent layer, and improving film forming property, to thereby provide an organic electronic device and manufacture of the device whose efficiency is improved. In the organic electronic device having one pair of electrodes on a substrate, and having at least one organic layer between the electrodes, the electron injection layer or the electron transport layer is formed by application of a liquid material in which an alkaline metal salt and zinc-oxide nano particles are dissolved in alcohol. |
| US09373822B2 |
Method for producing organic light-emitting element, organic display panel, organic light-emitting device, method for forming functional layer, ink, substrate, organic light-emitting element, organic display device, and inkjet device
To provide a method of efficiently manufacturing an organic light-emitting element with excellent light-emitting characteristics by application, the method includes: preparing ink and filling an inkjet device having an ink ejection nozzle with the ink; preparing a substrate having a base layer including a first electrode; and positioning the inkjet device above the substrate, and causing the inkjet device to eject a drop of the ink onto the base layer, wherein, in the preparation of the ink, a value Z denoting a reciprocal of the Ohnesorge number Oh determined by density ρ (g/dm3), surface tension γ (mN/m), and viscosity η (mPa·s) of the ink and a diameter r (mm) of the ink ejection nozzle satisfies Formula 1, in the ejection of the drop of the ink, speed V (m/s) of the ejected drop satisfies Formula 2, and the value Z and the speed V (m/s) satisfy Formula 3. |
| US09373821B2 |
Display apparatus
A display apparatus includes a substrate, a display unit, a first metal oxide layer on the display unit, and a second metal oxide layer. The display unit may include an emission region and a non-emission region. The second metal oxide layer may be on the first metal oxide layer in the non-emission region. The first metal oxide layer and the second metal oxide layer may each include a metal oxide, the transparency of which varies according to a degree of oxidization of the metal oxide. |
| US09373820B2 |
Substrate for organic electronic device
The present application relates to a substrate for an organic electronic device, an organic electronic device, and a lighting device. In an embodiment of the present application, a substrate or an organic electronic device which may form an organic electronic device capable of ensuring performance including light extraction efficiency or the like and reliability by applying a scattering layer capable of exhibiting different scattering properties according to an angle of incident light may be provided. |
| US09373815B2 |
Sealing layer of organic EL device
Provided is an organic EL device which can prevent invasion of moisture to an organic EL element. The organic EL device has an organic EL element in which a first electrode layer, a functional layer, and a second electrode layer are stacked in sequence on a transparent substrate having a planar expanse, and an inorganic sealing layer for sealing at least an emission area of the organic EL element. A soft adhesion layer is stacked directly onto the inorganic sealing layer with a planar expanse, and the soft adhesion layer is made of a resin, and has flexibility. |
| US09373812B2 |
White OLED display device and packaging method thereof
The present invention provides a white OLED display device and a packaging method thereof. The white OLED display device includes: a glass cover plate, a color filter layer coated on the glass cover plate, a transparent protective layer covering the color filter layer, a hydrophobic layer self-assembled on the transparent protective layer, a desiccant layer disposed on the hydrophobic layer, and a TFT substrate disposed with a white OLED layer. The color filter layer, the transparent protective layer, the hydrophobic layer and the desiccant layer are sandwiched between the glass cover plate and the TFT substrate disposed with the white OLED layer. The white OLED display device provided by the invention disposes the hydrophobic layer on the transparent protective layer, which can avoid the occurrence of mura caused by uneven distribution of desiccant. |
| US09373811B2 |
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display panel substrate and method of cutting OLED display panels from the substrate
A method of cutting an organic light-emitting display panel substrate into OLED display panels is disclosed. In one aspect, the method includes forming a plurality of OLEDs over a lower mother substrate, wherein the OLEDs are divided into a plurality of groups. The method also includes forming a plurality of sealant lines over at least one of an upper mother substrate or the lower mother substrate such that each sealant line surrounds a corresponding group of the OLEDs. The method further includes forming a plurality of assistance sealant lines between adjacent sealant lines, attaching the upper mother substrate to the lower mother substrate with the sealant lines and the assistance sealant lines interposed therebetween, and cutting the upper mother substrate and the lower mother substrate along the assistance sealant lines. |
| US09373809B2 |
Electroluminescent device and method of manufacturing thereof
A highly reliable light-emitting device is provided. A light-emitting device in which problems due to a metal mask are prevented is provided. A light-emitting devi in which a problem due to the resistance of an upper electrode layer of a light-emitting element is prevented is provided. An electrode layer is provided over a substrate in advance, and an EL layer and an upper electrode layer are formed in the same pattern without use of a metal mask so as to overlap with the electrode layer. After that, the electrode layer is electrically connected to the upper electrode layer. As a connection method, a laser light irradiation method, a method in which physical pressure is applied, a method in which heating is performed under the state where physical pressure is applied, or the like is used. |
| US09373807B2 |
Radiative fibers
The present invention relates inter alia to light emitting fibers for the application in general lighting, display backlit, information display, and for treatment and/or prophylaxis and/or diagnosis of diseases and/or cosmetic conditions. The fibers can be used for the preparation of any kind of canvas and light emitting devices. |
| US09373797B2 |
Compounds for use in light-emitting devices
Included herein is the compound: and related compounds, and light-emitting devices comprising the same. |
| US09373795B2 |
Organic semiconductor composition including a non-polymeric material having a polydispersity equal to one, at least one solvent, and a crystallization modifier, and an organic thin-film transistor using the same
An organic semiconductor composition including at least one solvent, a polymer, a first small molecule organic semiconductor and a small molecule crystallization modifier. The first small molecule organic semiconductor:small molecule crystallization modifier weight ratio is at least 6:1, optionally at least 10:1, optionally at least 20:1. The small molecule crystallization modifier increases the uniformity of the first small molecule organic semiconductor distribution in an organic semiconductor layer deposited in the channel of an organic transistor, with the effect that the mobility of the organic transistor is higher than the mobility of an organic device including a composition without the small molecule crystallization modifier. |
| US09373794B2 |
Phosphorescent compounds and organic light emitting diode devices using the same
A phosphorescent compound is disclosed. The phosphorescent compound represented by the following Chemical Formula 1, where X, Y, and Z are each selected from the group consisting of carbon and nitrogen, and when x, y, and z are all carbon, R is any one selected from the group consisting of carbazole, α-carboline, β-carboline, γ-carboline, fluorine, dibenzothiophene, dibenzofuran, triphenylsilane, tetraphenylsilane, pyridine, quinoline, isoquinoline, pyrimidine, diphenylphosphineoxide, and substituents thereof. |
| US09373787B2 |
Nonvolatile memory devices
A nonvolatile memory device includes an inserted electrode line disposed between a first and a second electrode lines and extending in parallel with the second electrode line. The inserted electrode line is coupled to the second electrode line. A first intermediate pattern disposed between the inserted electrode line and a second intermediate pattern is disposed between the inserted electrode line and the second electrode line. One of the first and second intermediate patterns is a variable resistor and the other of the first and second intermediate patterns is a selector. The first intermediate pattern covers a bottom surface and a portion of sidewalls of the inserted electrode line. |
| US09373783B1 |
Spin torque transfer MRAM device formed on silicon stud grown by selective epitaxy
A technique relates magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM). A dielectric layer is disposed on a transistor, and the transistor is formed in a uniform crystalline substrate. A hole is formed through the dielectric layer to reach the transistor. A polycrystalline material is disposed in the hole by using selective epitaxial growth (SEG), and the polycrystalline material is annealed to create an epitaxial stud. A magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) is disposed on the epitaxial stud (SEG). |
| US09373782B2 |
MTJ structure and integration scheme
A memory device may comprise a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack, a bottom electrode (BE) layer, and a contact layer. The MTJ stack may include a free layer, a barrier, and a pinned layer. The BE layer may be coupled to the MTJ stack, and encapsulated in a planarized layer. The BE layer may also have a substantial common axis with the MTJ stack. The contact layer may be embedded in the BE layer, and form an interface between the BE layer and the MTJ stack. |
| US09373780B2 |
Co/X and CoX multilayers with improved out-of-plane anisotropy for magnetic device applications
A MTJ for a spintronic device is disclosed and includes a thin seed layer that enhances perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in an overlying laminated layer with a (Co/X)n or (CoX)n composition where n is from 2 to 30, X is one of V, Rh, Ir, Os, Ru, Au, Cr, Mo, Cu, Ti, Re, Mg, or Si, and CoX is a disordered alloy. The seed layer is preferably NiCr, NiFeCr, Hf, or a composite thereof with a thickness from 10 to 100 Angstroms. Furthermore, a magnetic layer such as CoFeB may be formed between the laminated layer and a tunnel barrier layer to serve as a transitional layer between a (111) laminate and (100) MgO tunnel barrier. The laminated layer may be used as a reference layer, dipole layer, or free layer in a MTJ. Annealing between 300° C. and 400° C. may be used to further enhance PMA in the laminated layer. |
| US09373778B2 |
Co/Ni multilayers with improved out-of-plane anisotropy for magnetic device applications
A MTJ for a spintronic device includes a thin seed layer that enhances perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in an overlying laminated layer with a (Co/Ni)n composition or the like where n is from 2 to 30. The seed layer is preferably NiCr, NiFeCr, Hf, or a composite thereof with a thickness from 10 to 100 Angstroms. Furthermore, a magnetic layer such as CoFeB may be formed between the laminated layer and a tunnel barrier layer to serve as a transitional layer between a (111) laminate and (100) MgO tunnel barrier. There may be a Ta insertion layer between the CoFeB layer and laminated layer to promote (100) crystallization in the CoFeB layer. The laminated layer may be used as a dipole layer in a MTJ. Annealing between 300° C. and 400° C. may be used to further enhance PMA in the laminated layer. |
| US09373775B2 |
Methods of forming magnetic memory cells
Methods of forming memory cells, magnetic memory cell structures, and arrays of magnetic memory cell structures are disclosed. Embodiments of the methods include patterning a precursor structure to form a stepped structure including at least an upper discrete feature section and a lower feature section with a broader width, length, or both than the upper discrete feature section. The method uses patterning acts directed along a first axis, e.g., an x-axis, and then along a second axis, e.g., a y-axis, that is perpendicular to or about perpendicular to the first axis. The patterning acts may therefore allow for more unifoimity between a plurality of formed, neighboring cell core structures, even at dimensions below about thirty nanometers. Magnetic memory structures and memory cell arrays are also disclosed. |
| US09373773B2 |
Multi-layer piezoelectric element, and piezoelectric actuator, injection device, and fuel injection system provided with the multi-layer piezoelectric element
There are provided a multi-layer piezoelectric element which is capable of suppressing separation of an external electrode plate, as well as a piezoelectric actuator, an injection device, and a fuel injection system that are provided with the multi-layer piezoelectric element. A multi-layer piezoelectric element includes a stacked body composed of piezoelectric layers and internal electrode layers which are laminated; an external electrode plate attached to a side face of the stacked body via an electrically-conductive joining member; and a metal cover layer being disposed on a surface of the external electrode plate, an area of the metal cover layer corresponding to one end portion of the stacked body in a stacking direction of the stacked body having a thick-walled portion which is larger in thickness than an area of the metal cover layer corresponding to a midportion of the stacked body. |
| US09373771B2 |
Enhanced metal-core thermoelectric cooling and power generation device
In various embodiments of the present invention, a thermoelectric device is provided. The thermoelectric device includes one or more thermoelements that transfer heat across the ends of the thermoelectric device. A method for creating the thermoelectric device includes forming a metal substrate, and etching one or more surfaces of the metal substrate to form etched portions. The unetched flat portions on the metal substrate are referred to as mesa cores. Thereafter, thermoelectric films are deposited on the one or more surfaces of the metal substrate. The deposition of the thermoelectric films on the mesa cores results in the formation of a thermoelement. |
| US09373768B2 |
Flip-chip light-emitting diode unit
A flip-chip light-emitting diode (LED) unit includes a substrate, an electrode pad set disposed on the substrate, and three flip-chip LEDs disposed on the electrode pad set in a flip-chip manner and including one first LED and two second LEDs that are spaced apart from the first LED and that are electrically coupled to the first LED in a series configuration. |
| US09373767B2 |
Light emitting device with light reflecting member having protrusion over bonding ball of wire
A light emitting device of the invention includes a substrate having a metal on a surface thereof; a light emitting element installed on the surface of the substrate; a wire that connects the light emitting element and the metal; and a light reflecting member that covers the metal, the wire having a first bonding ball that is disposed on a surface of the metal, and an extension that extends above the first bonding ball, and the light reflecting member having a protrusion over the first bonding ball. |
| US09373766B2 |
Optoelectronic semiconductor component
An optoelectronic semiconductor component includes an optoelectronic semiconductor chip having a first surface. The semiconductor chip is embedded in a mold body. The first surface is elevated with respect to a top side of the mold body. A reflective layer is arranged on the top side of the mold body. |
| US09373760B2 |
Optoelectronic semiconductor component and method for producing an optoelectronic semiconductor component
The invention relates to an optoelectronic semiconductor element that emits mixed-color radiation when in operation. The optoelectronic semiconductor component comprises an optoelectronic semiconductor chip, a conversion element that has a curvature, and a spacer element that is arranged between the optoelectronic semiconductor chip and conversion element. The spacer has a curved surface that faces the conversion element, with the conversion element being in direct contact with the curved surface. |
| US09373758B2 |
Structure and method for LED with phosphor coating
The present disclosure provides a light emitting diode (LED) apparatus. The LED apparatus includes an LED emitter having a top surface; and a phosphor feature disposed on the LED emitter. The phosphor feature includes a first phosphor film disposed on the top surface of the LED emitter and having a first dimension defined in a direction parallel to the top surface of the LED emitter; a second phosphor film disposed on the first phosphor film and having a second dimension defined in the direction; and the second dimension is substantially less than the first dimension. |
| US09373753B2 |
Method for manufacturing semiconductor light emitting device
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor light emitting device includes a stacked structure body and an electrode. The stacked structure body has a first conductivity type first semiconductor layer including a nitride-based semiconductor, a second conductivity type second semiconductor layer including a nitride-based semiconductor, and a light emitting layer provided between the first and second semiconductor layers. The electrode has first, second and third metal layers. The first metal layer is provided on the second semiconductor layer and includes silver or silver alloy. The second metal layer is provided on the first metal layer and includes at least one element of platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium, osmium. The third metal layer is provided on the second metal layer. A thickness of the third metal layer along a direction from the first toward the second semiconductor layer is equal to or greater than a thickness of the second metal layer. |
| US09373751B2 |
Light emitting element including first electrode with first connecting portion and first extending portion, and second electrode with second connecting portion and two second extending portions
A light emitting element includes a first conductivity-type semiconductor layer, a first electrode, a second conductivity-type semiconductor layer and a second electrode. The second conductivity-type semiconductor layer has a square peripheral shape. The first electrode includes a first connecting portion on a first diagonal line and a first extending portion extending from the first connecting portion onto the first diagonal line. The second electrode includes a second connecting portion on the first diagonal line facing the first connecting portion via the first extending portion. Two second extending portions extend from the second connecting portion and having a first portion and a second portion respectively. The first connecting portion includes an end portion closer to the second connecting portion than a straight line intersecting the tip ends of the two second extending portions, and a center portion at a side father from the second connecting portion than the second diagonal line. |
| US09373747B2 |
Method for producing an optoelectronic component
A method for producing an optoelectronic component is provided. A transfer layer, containing InxGa1-xN with 0 |
| US09373743B2 |
Silicon heterojunction photovoltaic device with wide band gap emitter
A photovoltaic device including a single junction solar cell provided by an absorption layer of a type IV semiconductor material having a first conductivity, and an emitter layer of a type III-V semiconductor material having a second conductivity, wherein the type III-V semiconductor material has a thickness that is no greater than 50 nm. |
| US09373741B2 |
Heterostructure germanium tandem junction solar cell
A photovoltaic device that includes an upper cell that absorbs a first range of wavelengths of light and a bottom cell that absorbs a second range of wavelengths of light. The bottom cell includes a heterojunction comprising a crystalline germanium containing (Ge) layer. At least one surface of the crystalline germanium (Ge) containing layer is in contact with a silicon (Si) containing layer having a larger band gap than the crystalline (Ge) containing layer. |
| US09373740B1 |
Wavelength converting structure for near-infrared rays and solar cell comprising the same
Provided is a wavelength converting structure for near-infrared rays and a solar cell using the same. More particularly, provided is a novel wavelength converting structure for near-infrared rays using gap plasmon characteristics and up-conversion nanoparticles. When applying the wavelength converting structure for near-infrared rays to a solar cell, it is possible to convert the light within a wavelength range of near-infrared rays into electric energy so that the photoconversion efficiency may be improved. |
| US09373739B2 |
Conversion of solar energy
A solar energy plant/system includes different combinations of solar energy receivers and arrangements of the receivers that make it possible to optimize solar energy collection and conversion into other forms of energy to maximize value. |
| US09373735B2 |
Polyimide-metal laminate and solar cell
A polyimide-metal laminate comprising a polyimide film and a metal layer for use as an electrode, which is formed on the side (Side B) of the polyimide film which was in contact with a support when producing a self-supporting film in the production of the polyimide film, is used to produce a CIS solar cell. |
| US09373734B1 |
High-efficiency solar energy device
A high-efficiency solar cell including an Indium, Gallium, Aluminum and Nitrogen (in a combination comprising InGaN, or InAlN, or InGaAlN) alloy which may be blended with a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) material, and which may include an absorption-enhancing layer including one of more of carbon nanotubes, quantum dots, and undulating or uneven surface topography. |
| US09373717B2 |
Stress-inducing structures, methods, and materials
Stress-inducing structures, methods, and materials are disclosed. In one embodiment, an isolation region includes an insulating material in a lower portion of a trench formed in a workpiece and a stress-inducing material disposed in a top portion of the trench over the insulating material. |
| US09373716B2 |
Impact ionization devices, and methods of forming impact ionization devices
Impact ionization devices including vertical and recessed impact ionization metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) devices and methods of forming such devices are disclosed. The devices require lower threshold voltage than conventional MOSFET devices while maintaining a footprint equal to or less than conventional MOSFET devices. |
| US09373709B2 |
All-electric spin field effect transistor
An all-electric spin field effect transistor is disclosed, which includes an injection node, injecting an electron in a first spin direction; a detection node, detecting the electron in the first spin direction; and a gate, disposed between the injection node and the detection node such that the electron changes from the first spin direction to a second spin direction by carrying out precession; if the second spin direction is parallel to the first spin direction, the electron is able to pass through the detection node; if the second spin direction is antiparallel to the first spin direction, the electron is unable to pass through the detection node. |
| US09373707B2 |
Manufacturing method of semiconductor device with steps of heat treatment in nitrogen containing atmosphere, oxygen doping treatment and heat treatment in oxygen containing atmosphere
A semiconductor device using an oxide semiconductor, with stable electric characteristics and high reliability. In a process for manufacturing a bottom-gate transistor including an oxide semiconductor film, dehydration or dehydrogenation is performed by heat treatment and oxygen doping treatment is performed. The transistor including the oxide semiconductor film subjected to the dehydration or dehydrogenation by the heat treatment and the oxygen doping treatment is a transistor having high reliability in which the amount of change in threshold voltage of the transistor by the bias-temperature stress test (BT test) can be reduced. |
| US09373706B2 |
Methods of forming semiconductor devices, including forming a semiconductor material on a fin, and related semiconductor devices
Methods of forming a semiconductor device are provided. A method of forming a semiconductor device includes forming a semiconductor layer on a fin, where the fin and the semiconductor layer include first and second semiconductor materials, respectively. Moreover, the method includes defining first and second active fins that include the second semiconductor material, by removing at least a portion of the fin. Related semiconductor devices are also provided. |
| US09373701B2 |
Method for fabricating array substrate
Disclosed is a method for fabricating an array substrate, comprising: forming a pattern layer comprising a gate and a gate connection on a substrate; sequentially forming an insulation layer film and an active layer film on the substrate, and forming a pattern of a gate insulation layer having a first via hole and a pattern of an active layer through a single patterning process, wherein the first via hole is located above the gate connection; sequentially forming a transparent conductive film and a metal film on the substrate, and forming a pattern layer comprising a first electrode and a pattern layer comprising a data line, a source, a drain and a TFT channel through a single patterning process. |
| US09373696B2 |
Techniques to form uniform and stable silicide
In one aspect, a method of fabricating a metal silicide includes the following steps. A semiconductor material selected from the group consisting of silicon and silicon germanium is provided. A metal(s) is deposited on the semiconductor material. A first anneal is performed at a temperature and for a duration sufficient to react the metal(s) with the semiconductor material to form an amorphous layer including an alloy formed from the metal(s) and the semiconductor material, wherein the temperature at which the first anneal is performed is below a temperature at which a crystalline phase of the alloy is formed. An etch is used to selectively remove unreacted portions of the metal(s). A second anneal is performed at a temperature and for a duration sufficient to crystallize the alloy thus forming the metal silicide. A device contact and a method of fabricating a FET device are also provided. |
| US09373695B2 |
Method for improving selectivity of epi process
The present disclosure provides a method of fabricating a semiconductor device that includes providing a semiconductor substrate, forming a gate structure over the substrate, forming a material layer over the substrate and the gate structure, implanting Ge, C, P, F, or B in the material layer, removing portions of the material layer overlying the substrate at either side of the gate structure, forming recesses in the substrate at either side of the gate structure, and depositing a semiconductor material in the recesses by an expitaxy process. |
| US09373694B2 |
System and method for integrated circuits with cylindrical gate structures
A device and method for integrated circuits with surrounding gate structures are disclosed. The device includes a semiconductor substrate and a fin structure on the semiconductor substrate. The fin structure is doped with a first conductivity type and includes a source region at one distal end and a drain region at the opposite distal end. The device further includes a gate structure overlying a channel region disposed between the source and drain regions of the fin structure. The fin structure has a rectangular cross-sectional bottom portion and an arched cross-sectional top portion. The arched cross-sectional top portion is semi-circular shaped and has a radius that is equal to or smaller than the height of the rectangular cross-sectional bottom portion. The source, drain, and the channel regions each are doped with dopants of the same polarity and the same concentration. |
| US09373691B2 |
Transistor with bonded gate dielectric
A method for forming a semiconductor device includes forming a dielectric layer on a first substrate and wafer bonding the dielectric layer of the first substrate to a second substrate including SiC with a passivating layer formed on the SiC. A portion of the first substrate is removed from a side opposite the dielectric layer. The dielectric layer is patterned to form a gate dielectric for a field effect transistor formed on the second substrate. |
| US09373688B2 |
Normally-off high electron mobility transistors
A normally-off transistor includes a first region of III-V semiconductor material, a second region of III-V semiconductor material on the first region, a third region of III-V semiconductor material on the second region and a gate electrode adjacent at least one sidewall of the third region. The first region provides a channel of the transistor. The second region has a band gap greater than the band gap of the first region and causes a 2-D electron gas (2DEG) in the channel. The second region is interposed between the first region and the third region. The third region provides a gate of the transistor and has a thickness sufficient to deplete the 2DEG in the channel so that the transistor has a positive threshold voltage. |
| US09373686B2 |
Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing same and semiconductor substrate
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a first semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type made of silicon carbide; and a second semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type made of silicon carbide, placed in junction with the first semiconductor layer, and containing an electrically inactive element. |
| US09373685B2 |
Graphene device and electronic apparatus
A graphene device and an electronic apparatus including the same are provided. According to example embodiments, the graphene device includes a transistor including a source, a gate, and a drain, an active layer through which carriers move, and a graphene layer between the gate and the active layer. The graphene layer may be configured to function both as an electrode of the active layer and a channel layer of the transistor. |
| US09373683B2 |
Thin film transistor
The thin film transistor includes a gate, a gate insulating layer, a semiconductor layer, and a source and a drain. The gate insulating layer covers the gate. The semiconductor layer is located on the gate insulating layer which is disposed above the gate. The source and the drain are disposed above the gate insulating layer and are electrically connected to the semiconductor layer, respectively. The source and the drain are respectively located in different layers. A first contact resistance is existed between the semiconductor layer and the source, a second contact resistance is existed between the semiconductor layer and the drain, and. the first contact resistance is less than the second contact resistance. |
| US09373672B2 |
Display unit
A display unit includes a plurality of light emitting devices, each of the light emitting devices including a function layer including at least an organic layer is sandwiched between a first electrode and a second electrode, and which have a resonator structure for resonating light by using a space between the first electrode and the second electrode as a resonant section and extracting the light through the second electrode are arranged on a substrate, wherein in the respective light emitting devices, the organic layer is made of an identical layer, and a distance of the resonant section between the first electrode and the second electrode is set to a plurality of different values. |
| US09373666B2 |
System and method of forming semiconductor devices
Systems and methods including bonding two or more separately formed circuit layers are provided using, for example, cold welding techniques. Processing techniques may be provided for combining inorganic and/or organic semiconductor devices in apparatus including, for example, microchips, optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells, photodetectors and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), and other apparatus with multi-layer circuitry. Methods of bonding preformed circuit layers may include the use of stamping and pressure bonding contacts of two or more circuit layers together. Such methods may find applicability, for example, in bonding circuitry to shaped substrates, including various rounded and irregular shapes, and may be used to combine devices with different structural properties, e.g. from different materials systems. |
| US09373665B2 |
Resistance change nonvolatile memory device, semiconductor device, and method of manufacturing resistance change nonvolatile memory device
A resistance change nonvolatile memory device, includes: a first wiring; an interlayer insulating layer formed over the first wiring; and a second wiring formed over the interlayer insulating layer, wherein the interlayer insulating layer is interposed between the first wiring and the second wiring and includes a hole having a width not greater than a width of the first wiring, wherein the resistance change nonvolatile memory device further includes a lower electrode formed at a bottom portion of the hole and contacting the first wiring; a resistance change layer formed on the lower electrode; and an upper electrode formed over the resistance change layer, wherein the lower electrode, the resistance change layer, and the upper electrode are formed inside the hole, wherein an entirety of the resistance change layer is disposed inside the hole. |
| US09373664B2 |
Variable resistance memory devices and methods of manufacturing the same
A variable resistance memory device, and methods of manufacturing the same, include a plurality of first conductive structures extending in a first direction, a plurality of second conductive structures extending in a second direction crossing the first direction over the first conductive structures, the second conductive structures, and a plurality of memory cells that are formed at intersections at which the first conductive structures and the second conductive structures overlap each other, and each includes a selection element and a variable resistance element sequentially stacked. An upper surface of each of the first conductive structures has a width in the second direction less than a width of a bottom surface of each of the selection elements. |
| US09373662B2 |
Display panel for compensating negative power supply voltage, display module and mobile device including the same
A display panel including: a cathode electrode formed in a cathode region of the display panel, the cathode electrode entirely covering an active region of the display panel a plurality of pixel units in columns and rows in the active region of the display panel; a ring-shaped edge negative voltage line formed in a ring-shaped edge portion of the cathode electrode configured to supply a negative power supply voltage to the cathode electrode; and a plurality of compensation negative voltage lines connected to the ring-shaped edge negative voltage line, the compensation negative voltage lines extending along a column direction of the display panel and arranged along a row direction of the display panel. |
| US09373661B2 |
Solid state transducer devices, including devices having integrated electrostatic discharge protection, and associated systems and methods
Solid state transducer devices having integrated electrostatic discharge protection and associated systems and methods are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a solid state transducer device includes a solid state emitter, and an electrostatic discharge device carried by the solid state emitter. In some embodiments, the electrostatic discharge device and the solid state emitter share a common first contact and a common second contact. In further embodiments, the solid state lighting device and the electrostatic discharge device share a common epitaxial substrate. In still further embodiments, the electrostatic discharge device is positioned between the solid state lighting device and a support substrate. |
| US09373658B2 |
Solid-state image pickup apparatus, image pickup system including solid-state image pickup apparatus, and method for manufacturing solid-state image pickup apparatus
A method for manufacturing a solid-state image pickup device is provided. The image pickup apparatus includes a photoelectric conversion portion disposed on the semiconductor substrate, a first insulating film over the photoelectric conversion portion, functioning as an antireflection film, a second insulating film on the first insulating film, disposed corresponding to the photoelectric conversion portion, and a waveguide having a clad and a core whose bottom is disposed on the second insulating film. The method includes forming an opening by anisotropically etching part of a member disposed over the photoelectric conversion portion, thereby forming the clad, and forming the core in the opening. In the method, the etching is performed under conditions where the etching rate of the second insulating film is lower than the etching rate of the member. |
| US09373655B2 |
Imaging device and electronic apparatus
An imaging device includes: a photoelectric conversion region that generates photovoltaic power for each pixel depending on irradiation light; and a first element isolation region that is provided between adjacent photoelectric conversion regions in a state of surrounding the photoelectric conversion region. |
| US09373654B2 |
Solid-state imaging device, layout data generating device and layout data generating method
A solid-state imaging device includes pixels respectively having photoelectric conversion units and arranged in matrix in basic pattern units, and an optical member arranged on the incidence side of incident light than the pixels and having constituent elements respectively corresponding to the pixels. The pixels include first, second and third wavelength range light pixels. Each basic pattern is comprised of a combined arrangement pattern of the wavelength range light pixels. Misregistration constituent elements with the occurrence of misregistration exist in the constituent elements. The misregistration increases toward the misregistration constituent elements separated from a center position of a pixel array of the pixels. The misregistration of the misregistration constituent element for the first wavelength range light pixel and that of the misregistration constituent element for the third wavelength range light pixel are smaller and larger than that of the misregistration constituent element for the second wavelength range light pixel, respectively. |
| US09373649B2 |
Array substrate and method for manufacturing the same, and display device
The invention belongs to the field of display technology, and particularly provides an array substrate and a method for manufacturing the same, and a display device. The array substrate includes a base substrate, and a thin film transistor and driving electrodes provided on the base substrate, the thin film transistor includes a gate, a gate insulating layer, an active layer, a source and a drain, the driving electrodes include a slit-shaped electrode and a plate-shaped electrode which are located in different layers and at least partially overlap with each other in the orthographic projection direction, the source, the drain and the active layer are formed so that part of their bottom surfaces are located in the same plane, and a resin layer is further provided between the thin film transistor and the plate-shaped electrode. |
| US09373646B2 |
Polysilicon TFT device and manufacturing method thereof
The present invention discloses a polysilicon TFT device and the manufacturing method thereof. The polysilicon TFT device comprises: a scanning line and a data line arranged alternately; a semiconductor layer electrically connected with the scanning line and the data line; and a pixel electrode electrically connected with the semiconductor layer. Multiple channel regions and multiple doped regions are provided sequentially with interval between the connecting point of the semiconductor layer with the data line and the connecting point of the semiconductor layer with the pixel electrode, the channel regions are the portions of the semiconductor layer overlapping the scanning line, the rest portions are the doped regions, the width of at least one said doped region is 0.5˜3 μm, the ion doping concentration is 2*E11˜5*E15. In the present invention, the pattern of the semiconductor layer is designed as a bending pattern, which sequentially intersects the scanning lines and forms multiple channel regions and multiple doped regions provided with interval. It reduces the leakage current by controlling the width of the doped region and the ion doping concentration. |
| US09373642B2 |
Thin film transistor and method for repairing the same, GOA circuit and a display device
The present disclosure provides a thin film transistor and method for repairing the same, GOA circuit and a display device, which aims to solve the problem that the source and/or drain of thin film transistor can not be repaired once it is short circuited with other conductive functional layers. The thin film transistor comprises a source, a drain, and a gate. The source and the drain have a comb shape and respectively comprise a plurality of comb-tooth portions and comb-handle portions for connecting each comb-tooth portion, and the gate is insulated from the source and the drain. Comb-tooth portions of the source are arranged by an interval with respect to comb-tooth portions of the drain. The comb-handle portion of the source and the gate do not overlap in their projections in the vertical direction, and the comb-handle portion of the drain and the gate do not overlap in their projections in the vertical direction. |
| US09373641B2 |
Methods of forming field effect transistors using a gate cut process following final gate formation
Disclosed are field effect transistor (FET) formation methods using a final gate cut process and the resulting structures. One method forms an elongated gate across first and second semiconductor bodies for first and second FETs, respectively. An opening is formed in a portion of the elongated gate between the semiconductor bodies, cutting at least the gate conductor layer. The opening is filled with an isolation layer, thereby forming an isolation region that segments the elongated gate into first and second gates for the first and second FETs, respectively. Another method forms at least three gates across an elongated semiconductor body. An isolation region is formed that extends, not only through a portion of a center one of the gates, but also through a corresponding portion of the elongated semiconductor body adjacent to that gate, thereby segmenting the elongated semiconductor body into discrete semiconductor bodies for first and second FETs. |
| US09373639B2 |
Thin channel-on-insulator MOSFET device with n+ epitaxy substrate and embedded stressor
A method of forming a field effect transistor (FET) device includes forming a recess in a PFET region of a starting semiconductor substrate comprising a bulk semiconductor layer an epitaxial n+ layer formed on the bulk semiconductor layer, a buried insulator (BOX) layer formed on the epitaxial n+ layer, and an active semiconductor or silicon-on-insulator (SOI) layer formed on the BOX layer, the recess being formed completely through the SOI layer, the BOX layer, and partially into the epitaxial n+ layer; epitaxially growing a silicon germanium (SiGe) transition layer on the epitaxial n+ layer, the SiGe transition layer having a lower dopant concentration than the epitaxial n+ layer; and epitaxially growing embedded source/drain (S/D) regions on the SiGe transition layer and adjacent the SOI layer in the PFET region, the embedded S/D regions comprising p-type doped SiGe. |
| US09373635B2 |
Semiconductor memory devices and methods of fabricating the same
A semiconductor memory device may include stacks arranged in a first direction and vertical channel structures provided through the stacks. Each of the stacks may include gate electrodes and insulating layers alternately stacked on a substrate. Each of the vertical channel structures may include a semiconductor pattern connected to the substrate and a vertical channel pattern connected to the semiconductor pattern. Each of the semiconductor patterns may have a recessed sidewall, and the semiconductor patterns may have minimum widths different from each other. |
| US09373634B2 |
Method for manufacturing semiconductor device and semiconductor device
According to one embodiment, a method is disclosed for manufacturing a semiconductor device. The second insulating film seals the hole near an interface of the insulating layer and the select gate. The second insulating film is provided on a side wall of the channel body with a space left in the hole above the select gate. The method can include burying a semiconductor film in the space, in addition, forming a conductive film in contact with the channel body. |
| US09373633B2 |
Methods of forming non-volatile memory devices including vertical NAND strings
A NAND based non-volatile memory device can include a plurality of memory cells vertically arranged as a NAND string and a plurality of word line plates each electrically connected to a respective gate of the memory cells in the NAND string. A plurality of word line contacts can each be electrically connected to a respective word line plate, where the plurality of word line contacts are aligned to a bit line direction in the device. |
| US09373632B2 |
Twisted array design for high speed vertical channel 3D NAND memory
Roughly described, a memory device has a multilevel stack of conductive layers. Vertically oriented pillars each include series-connected memory cells at cross-points between the pillars and the conductive layers. SSLs run above the conductive layers, each intersection of a pillar and an SSL defining a respective select gate of the pillar. Bit lines run above the SSLs. The pillars are arranged on a regular grid which is rotated relative to the bit lines. The grid may have a square, rectangle or diamond-shaped unit cell, and may be rotated relative to the bit lines by an angle θ where tan(θ)=±X/Y, where X and Y are co-prime integers. The SSLs may be made wide enough so as to intersect two pillars on one side of the unit cell, or all pillars of the cell, or sufficiently wide as to intersect pillars in two or more non-adjacent cells. |
| US09373622B2 |
CMOS device with improved accuracy of threshold voltage adjustment and method for manufacturing the same
An CMOS device comprises a plurality of NMOS transistors and a plurality of PMOS transistors, each of which comprises a gate stack constituted of a gate insulating layer and a gate metal layer on a substrate, a source/drain region in the substrate on both sides of the gate stack and a channel region below the gate stack, wherein the gate metal layer of each NMOS transistor comprising a first barrier layer, an NMOS work function adjusting layer, a second barrier layer, and a filling layer, and wherein the gate metal layer of each PMOS transistor comprising a first barrier layer, a PMOS work function adjusting layer, an NMOS work function adjusting layer, a second barrier layer, and a filling layer, and wherein the first barrier layer in the gate metal layer of the NMOS transistor and the first barrier layer in the gate metal layer of the PMOS transistor contain a doping ion to finely adjust the work function. The semiconductor device and the method for manufacturing the same according to the present disclosure utilize the sacrificial layer to diffuse impurity to the barrier layer so that the adjusting accuracy of the threshold voltage may be effectively improved, thereby facilitating in improving the whole performance of the device. |
| US09373621B2 |
Analog circuit cell array having some transistors that include two connected gate electrodes and two connected source regions
An analog circuit cell array includes a plurality of transistor cell arranged in an array. Each of the transistor cells includes a first source region, a first channel region, a common drain region, a second channel region, and a second source region arranged in sequence one adjacent to another; and a first gate electrode and a second gate electrode formed on the first channel region and the second channel region, respectively, and wherein the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode are connected together for use, and the first source region and the second source region are connected together for use. |
| US09373620B2 |
Series connected transistor structure and method of manufacturing the same
A series-connected transistor structure includes a first source, a first channel-drain structure, a second channel-drain structure, a gate dielectric layer, a gate, a first drain pad and a second drain pad. The first source is over a substrate. The first channel-drain structure is over the first source and includes a first channel and a first drain thereover. The second channel-drain structure is over the first source and substantially parallel to the first channel-drain structure and includes a second channel and a second drain thereover. The gate dielectric layer surrounds the first channel and the second channel. The gate surrounds the gate dielectric layer. The first drain pad is over and in contact with the first drain. The second drain pad is over and in contact with the second drain, in which the first drain pad and the second drain pad are separated from each other. |
| US09373619B2 |
High voltage resistor with high voltage junction termination
Provided is a high voltage semiconductor device. The high voltage semiconductor device includes a substrate that includes a doped well disposed therein. The doped well and the substrate have opposite doping polarities. The high voltage semiconductor device includes an insulating device disposed over the doped well. The high voltage semiconductor device includes an elongate resistor disposed over the insulating device. A non-distal portion of the resistor is coupled to the doped well. The high voltage semiconductor device includes a high-voltage junction termination (HVJT) device disposed adjacent to the resistor. |
| US09373612B1 |
Electrostatic discharge protection circuits and methods
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit includes an electrostatic discharge bus, first and second resistors coupled in series, first and second capacitors coupled in series, and first and second transistors. The first resistor is coupled to the electrostatic discharge bus. The first capacitor is coupled to the second resistor. The first transistor has a control input that is coupled between the first and the second resistors. The second transistor has a control input that is coupled between the first and the second capacitors. |
| US09373610B2 |
Process for forming package-on-package structures
A device includes an inter-layer dielectric, a device die under the inter-layer dielectric; and a die-attach film under the inter-layer dielectric and over the device die, wherein the die-attach film is attached to the device die. A plurality of redistribution lines includes portions level with the die-attach film. A plurality of Z-interconnects is electronically coupled to the device die and the plurality of redistribution lines. A polymer-comprising material is under the inter-layer dielectric. The device die, the die-attach film, and the plurality of Z-interconnects are disposed in the polymer-comprising material. |
| US09373609B2 |
Bump package and methods of formation thereof
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a semiconductor package includes a semiconductor chip and a bump. The semiconductor chip has a contact pad on a major surface. The bump is disposed on the contact pad of the semiconductor chip. A solder layer is disposed on sidewalls of the bump. |
| US09373607B2 |
Light emitting diode package
Provided is a light emitting diode package including: a molded portion having a housing; a plurality of light emitting chips housed in the housing; a plurality of main lead portions on which the plurality of light emitting chips is mounted, respectively; at least one sub-lead portion formed spaced from the main lead portions and electrically connected to at least any one of the plurality of main lead portions and the plurality of light emitting chips with wires for electrically connecting the plurality of light emitting chips each other; first space maintaining portions formed such that the plurality of light emitting chips respectively on the plurality of main lead portions are opposite to one another with one of the first space maintaining portions disposed therebetween; and second space maintaining portions formed on both sides of each of the first space maintaining portions. |
| US09373599B2 |
Methods and apparatus for package on package devices
Package on package (PoP) devices and methods of packaging semiconductor dies are disclosed. A PoP device is formed by connecting a top package and a bottom package together using a plurality of PoP connectors on the bottom package connected to corresponding connectors of the top package. The PoP device further comprises a plurality of dummy connectors contained in the bottom package and not connected to any corresponding connector in the top package. |
| US09373598B2 |
Connector structures of integrated circuits
A die includes a substrate, a metal pad over the substrate, and a passivation layer covering edge portions of the metal pad. A metal pillar is formed over the metal pad. A portion of the metal pillar overlaps a portion of the metal pad. A center of the metal pillar is misaligned with a center of the metal pad. |
| US09373595B2 |
Mounting structure and manufacturing method for same
In a provided mounting structure, an electronic component such as a semiconductor chip having a fragile film is mounted on a substrate such as a circuit board with higher connection reliability. A junction that connects an electrode terminal (4) of an electronic component (1) and an electrode terminal (5) of a substrate (2) contains an alloy (8) and a metal (9) having a lower modulus of elasticity than the alloy (8). The junction has a cross section structure in which the alloy (8) is surrounded by the metal (9) having the lower modulus of elasticity. |
| US09373588B2 |
Stacked microelectronic dice embedded in a microelectronic substrate
Embodiments of the present description include stacked microelectronic dice embedded in a microelectronic substrate and methods of fabricating the same. In one embodiment, at least one first microelectronic die is attached to a second microelectronic die, wherein an underfill material is provided between the second microelectronic die and the at least one first microelectronic die. The microelectronic substrate is then formed by laminating the first microelectronic die and the second microelectronic die in a substrate material. |
| US09373585B2 |
Polymer member based interconnect
An interconnect (124) suitable for attachment of integrated circuit assemblies to each other comprises a polymer member (130), possibly dielectric, coated with a conductive material (144) which provides one or more conductive lines. In some embodiments, the conductive material covers a part, but not all, of the polymer member. In some embodiments, multiple conductive lines are formed on the polymer member. In some embodiments, the polymer member is conductive. Such interconnects replace metal bond wires in some embodiments. Other features are also provided. |
| US09373584B2 |
Methods and apparatuses to form self-aligned caps
At least one conductive line in a dielectric layer over a substrate is recessed to form a channel. The channel is self-aligned to the conductive line. The channel can be formed by etching the conductive line to a predetermined depth using a chemistry comprising an inhibitor to provide uniformity of etching independent of a crystallographic orientation. A capping layer to prevent electromigration is deposited on the recessed conductive line in the channel. The channel is configured to contain the capping layer within the width of the conductive line. |
| US09373580B2 |
Dual hard mask lithography process
A first metallic hard mask layer over an interconnect-level dielectric layer is patterned with a line pattern. At least one dielectric material layer, a second metallic hard mask layer, a first organic planarization layer (OPL), and a first photoresist are applied above the first metallic hard mask layer. A first via pattern is transferred from the first photoresist layer into the second metallic hard mask layer. A second OPL and a second photoresist are applied and patterned with a second via pattern, which is transferred into the second metallic hard mask layer. A first composite pattern of the first and second via patterns is transferred into the at least one dielectric material layer. A second composite pattern that limits the first composite pattern with the areas of the openings in the first metallic hard mask layer is transferred into the interconnect-level dielectric layer. |
| US09373577B2 |
Hybrid semiconductor package
A semiconductor package includes a substrate, an RF semiconductor die attached to a first side of the substrate, a capacitor attached to the first side of the substrate, and a first terminal on the first side of the substrate. The semiconductor package further includes copper or aluminum bonding wires or ribbons connecting the first terminal to an output of the RF semiconductor die, and gold bonding wires or ribbons connecting the capacitor to the output of the RF semiconductor die. The gold bonding wires or ribbons are designed to accommodate greater RF Joule heating during operation of the RF semiconductor die than the copper or aluminum bonding wires or ribbons. Corresponding methods of manufacturing are also described. |
| US09373571B2 |
Integrating multi-output power converters having vertically stacked semiconductor chips
An electronic multi-output device has a substrate including a first pad, a second pad and a plurality of pins. A first chip with a first transistor has a first terminal on one chip surface and a second and third terminals on the opposite chip surface. The first chip with its first terminal is tied to the first pad. A second chip with a second transistor has a first terminal on one chip surface and a second and third terminals on the opposite chip surface. The second chip with its first terminal is tied to the second pad. The second terminals are connected by a discrete first metal clip and a second metal clip to respective substrate pins. A composite third chip has a third and a fourth transistor integrated so that the first terminals of the transistors are on one chip surface. The second terminals are merged into a common terminal. The patterned third terminals are on the opposite chip surface. The first terminals are vertically attached to the first and second metal clips, respectively. The common terminal is connected by a common clip to a substrate pin. |
| US09373570B2 |
Semiconductor module and driving device for switching element
A semiconductor module includes: a semiconductor element; first and second main current passages for energizing the semiconductor element, the first and second main current passages being opposed to each other in such a manner that a first energization direction of the first main current passage is opposite to a second energization direction of the second main current passage, or an angle between the first energization direction and the second energization direction is an obtuse angle; and a coil unit sandwiched between the first and second main current passages. The coil unit includes a coil, which generates an induced electromotive force when a magnetic flux interlinks with the coil, the magnetic flux being generated when current flows through the first and second main current passages. |
| US09373567B2 |
Lead frame, manufacture method and package structure thereof
Disclosed herein are various chip lead frame and packaging structures, and methods of fabrication. In one embodiment, a lead frame can include: (i) a horizontal plate arranged at a bottom of the lead frame, where the horizontal plate is conductive; and (ii) a plurality of conductive bumps arranged on a surface of the horizontal plate, where the plurality of conductive bumps are configured to support and electrically connect to at least one chip. In one embodiment, a method of making the lead frame can include: (i) forming the horizontal plate by a mold; (ii) arranging a mask with a through-hole on the surface of the horizontal plate; (iii) electroplating conducting material on a portion of the horizontal plate that is exposed by the through-hole; and (iv) removing the mask after formation of the plurality of conductive bumps. Also, a package structure can be formed using the lead frame. |
| US09373564B2 |
Semiconductor device, manufacturing method and stacking structure thereof
A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a redistribution layer, a plurality of through-silicon vias (TSVs), and a plating seed layer. The substrate has a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other, and a plurality of cavities. The redistribution layer is disposed on the first surface, and the TSVs are respectively disposed in the cavities. The plating seed layer is disposed between the inner wall of each of the cavities and the corresponding TSVs. The anti-oxidation layer is disposed between the plating seed layer and the corresponding TSVs. The buffer layer covers the first surface and exposes the redistribution layers. Furthermore, a manufacturing method and a stacking structure of the semiconductor device are also provided. |
| US09373563B2 |
Semiconductor assembly having a housing
A semiconductor assembly, power semiconductor module, a housing and methods for assembling the power semiconductor housing is disclosed. One embodiment provides an electrically insulating substrate has an inner housing having a cover and a peripheral rim, and at least one pressure element arranged adjacent a side-face of the peripheral rim. The pressure element is resiliently coupled to the inner housing. |
| US09373557B2 |
Enhanced modularity in heterogeneous 3D stacks
A method for generating and implementing a three-dimensional (3D) computer processing chip stack plan that includes receiving system requirements from a plurality of clients, identifying common processing structures and technologies from the system requirements, and assigning the common processing structures and technologies to a layer in the 3D computer processing chip stack plan. The method also includes identifying uncommon processing structures and technologies from the system requirements and assigning the uncommon processing structures and technologies to a host layer in the 3D computer processing chip stack plan. The method further includes determining placement and wiring of the uncommon structures on the host layer, storing placement information in the plan, and transmitting the plan to manufacturing equipment. The manufacturing equipment generates and integrates both the layer including the common structures and technologies and the host layer including the uncommon structures and technologies to form the 3D computer processing chip stack. |
| US09373556B2 |
Module IC package structure and method for manufacturing the same
A module IC package structure for increasing heat-dissipating efficiency includes a substrate unit, an electronic unit, a package unit, a first heat-dissipating unit and a second heat-dissipating unit. The substrate unit includes a circuit substrate. The electronic unit includes a plurality of electronic components disposed on the circuit substrate and electrically connected to the circuit substrate. The package unit includes a package gel body disposed on the circuit substrate for enclosing the electronic components. The first heat-dissipating unit includes a heat-dissipating base layer disposed on the top surface of the package gel body. The second heat-dissipating unit includes a plurality of heat-dissipating auxiliary layers disposed on the top surface of the heat-dissipating base layer. Whereby, the heat-dissipating efficiency of the module IC package structure can be increased by matching the heat-dissipating base layer and the heat-dissipating auxiliary layers. |
| US09373555B2 |
Power semiconductor module, method for manufacturing the same, and power converter
A power semiconductor module includes a metal plate having a through hole with an eaves; an insulated metal block including a metal block having an element mounting region on an upper surface, and an insulating layer on surfaces other than the upper surface and a portion of the upper surface other than the element mounting region; a circuit pattern disposed over the metal plate with the insulating material interposed therebetween; a power semiconductor element fixed to the element mounting region of the upper surface of the metal block; and a connection conductor connecting the power semiconductor element and the circuit pattern. The insulated metal block is fitted into the through hole in the metal plate so that the insulating layer on the upper surface of the insulated metal block contacts the eaves of the through hole to electrically insulate between the metal block and the metal plate. |
| US09373554B2 |
Organic light emitting diode fabrication with hole transport/injection layer thickness measurement
A method of monitoring an OLED production process for making an OLED device is disclosed. According to the method, at least one reference OLED device similar to said OLED device is fabricated. Said at least one reference OLED device has a layered structure corresponding to said OLED device and a range of hole injection and/or transport layer thicknesses. A spectral variation of a light output of said at least one reference OLED device with respect to variation in said hole injection and/or transport layer thickness is characterized. A said OLED device is partially fabricated by depositing one or more layers comprising at least said hole injection and/or transport layer and a thickness of said one or more layers is measured such that a light output for said partially fabricated OLED device can be predicted, in a target color space, from said measuring, using said characterized spectral variation. |
| US09373550B2 |
Selectively degrading current resistance of field effect transistor devices
A method includes selectively degrading a current capacity of a first finned-field-effect-transistor (finFET) relative to a second finFET by forming a material on a fin of the first finFET to increase a current resistance of the first finFET. The second finFET is electrically connected to the first finFET in a circuit such that a current flow through the second finFET is a multiple of a current flow through the first finFET. |
| US09373549B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of forming the same
A semiconductor device and method for fabricating a semiconductor device is disclosed. An exemplary semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate including an active region including a plurality of device regions. The semiconductor device further includes a first device disposed in a first device region of the plurality of device regions, the first device including a first gate structure, first gate spacers disposed on sidewalls of the first gate structure, and first source and drain features. The semiconductor device further includes a second device disposed in a second device region of the plurality of device regions, the second device including a second gate structure, second gate spacers disposed on sidewalls of the second gate structure, and second source and drain features. The second and first source and drain features having a source and drain feature and a contact feature in common. The common contact feature being a self-aligned contact. |
| US09373546B2 |
Self aligned replacement Fin formation
Methods and apparatus for forming FinFET structures are provided. Selective etching and deposition processes described herein may provide for FinFET manufacturing without the utilization of multiple patterning processes. Embodiments described herein also provide for fin material manufacturing methods for transitioning from silicon to III-V materials while maintaining acceptable crystal lattice orientations of the various materials utilized. Further embodiments provide etching apparatus which may be utilized to perform the methods described herein. |
| US09373545B2 |
Semiconductor structure including a through electrode, and method for forming the same
A semiconductor structure including a through electrode includes a lamination body including at least three layers, including respective vertically aligned electrode parts, the electrode part on the surface of an uppermost layer and including an aperture, the electrode part of the intermediate layer having an aperture smaller than the aperture of the uppermost layer; a through-hole extending from the aperture of the electrode part on the uppermost layer to the surface of the electrode part on a lowermost layer, the through-hole having a depressed part on a side wall thereof between the electrode parts therein; an insulating layer disposed on the entire side wall in the through-hole at a part other than on surfaces of the electrode parts; and a conductive material filling the through-hole from the surface of the electrode part on the lowermost layer to the surface of the electrode part on the uppermost layer. |
| US09373544B2 |
Semiconductor arrangement and formation thereof
A semiconductor arrangement and method of formation are provided. The semiconductor arrangement comprises a conductive contact in contact with a substantially planar first top surface of a first active area, the contact between and in contact with a first alignment spacer and a second alignment spacer both having substantially vertical outer surfaces. The contact formed between the first alignment spacer and the second alignment spacer has a more desired contact shape then a contact formed between alignment spacers that do not have substantially vertical outer surfaces. The substantially planar surface of the first active area is indicative of a substantially undamaged structure of the first active area as compared to an active area that is not substantially planar. The substantially undamaged first active area has a greater contact area for the contact and a lower contact resistance as compared to a damaged first active area. |
| US09373540B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same
A semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the same are provided. The semiconductor device includes conductive patterns and interlayer insulating patterns having a stair structure and being alternately stacked, pad patterns connected to end portions of upper surfaces of the conductive patterns exposed through the stair structure, and a channel film penetrating the conductive patterns and the interlayer insulating patterns. |
| US09373539B2 |
Collapsible probe tower device and method of forming thereof
A collapsible probe tower device and methods of forming thereof, are disclosed. In one example embodiment, a method of forming a device includes providing a semiconductor die substrate having a contact pad and a probe pad, wherein the contact pad and probe pad are adhered to the substrate, forming a contact bump by applying a conductive material to a contact structure surface of a contact tower, wherein the contact tower includes the contact pad, forming a probe bump by applying a conductive material to a probe structure surface of a probe tower, wherein the probe tower includes the probe pad, and heating the conductive material that forms the contact bump and the probe bump to provide a first reflow, wherein after the first reflow, the height of a top surface of the probe bump exceeds the height of a top surface of the contact bump. |
| US09373535B2 |
T-shaped fin isolation region and methods of fabrication
Semiconductor devices and fabrication methods are provided having an isolation feature within a fin structure which, for instance, facilitates isolating circuit elements supported by the fin structure. The fabrication method includes, for instance, providing an isolation material disposed, in part, within the fin structure, the isolation material being formed to include a T-shaped isolation region and a first portion extending into the fin structure, and a second portion disposed over the first portion and extending above the fin structure. |
| US09373532B2 |
Guide apparatus, exposure apparatus, and method of manufacturing article
The present invention provides a guide apparatus including a guide member located on a base, and a moving member movable along the guide member. The guide apparatus comprising a plurality of plate members each including a portion facing the base and extending from the portion in a direction to separate from the base, wherein the plurality of plate members are located apart from each other in a direction to separate from the moving member. |
| US09373525B2 |
Method for manufacturing semiconductor device
An object is to establish a processing technique in manufacture of a semiconductor device in which an oxide semiconductor is used. A gate electrode is formed over a substrate, a gate insulating layer is formed over the gate electrode, an oxide semiconductor layer is formed over the gate insulating layer, the oxide semiconductor layer is processed by wet etching to form an island-shaped oxide semiconductor layer, a conductive layer is formed to cover the island-shaped oxide semiconductor layer, the conductive layer is processed by dry etching to form a source electrode, and a drain electrode and part of the island-shaped oxide semiconductor layer is removed by dry etching to form a recessed portion in the island-shaped oxide semiconductor layer. |
| US09373513B2 |
Methods of manufacturing semiconductor devices including variable width floating gates
A semiconductor device includes a substrate including an active region defined by a device isolation pattern and a floating gate on the active region. The floating gate includes an upper portion, a lower portion having a width greater than a width of the upper portion, and a step-difference portion between the upper portion and the lower portion. A dielectric pattern is on the floating gate, and a control gate is on the dielectric pattern. The lower portion of the floating gate has a height of about 4 nm or more. |
| US09373501B2 |
Hydroxyl group termination for nucleation of a dielectric metallic oxide
A surface of a semiconductor-containing dielectric material/oxynitride/nitride is treated with a basic solution in order to provide hydroxyl group termination of the surface. A dielectric metal oxide is subsequently deposited by atomic layer deposition. The hydroxyl group termination provides a uniform surface condition that facilitates nucleation and deposition of the dielectric metal oxide, and reduces interfacial defects between the oxide and the dielectric metal oxide. Further, treatment with the basic solution removes more oxide from a surface of a silicon germanium alloy with a greater atomic concentration of germanium, thereby reducing a differential in the total thickness of the combination of the oxide and the dielectric metal oxide across surfaces with different germanium concentrations. |
| US09373486B2 |
Species detection using mass spectrometry
Systems and methods are provided for species detection using mass spectrometry. In various embodiments, a multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) experiment is performed on a sample targeting one or more peptide transitions that are unique to one or more species using a tandem mass spectrometer. One or more measured product ion spectra are received from the tandem mass spectrometer using the processor. The one or more measured product ion spectra are compared to product ions of the one or more peptide transitions that are unique to one or more species using the processor. One or more species of the sample are detected by reporting product ions of the one or more peptide transitions that are unique to one or more species that match the one or more measured product ion spectra using the processor. |
| US09373477B2 |
Electron emission device and electron emission display
An electron emission device includes a number of electron emission units spaced from each other, wherein each of the number of electron emission units includes a first electrode, a semiconductor layer, an insulating layer, and a second electrode stacked with each other, the first electrode includes a carbon nanotube layer, a number of holes defines in the semiconductor layer, and a portion of the carbon nanotube layer suspended on the number of holes. |
| US09373470B2 |
Electrical relay with header connectors
A disclosed electrical relay may include a line electrical terminal adapted for connection to an electrical conductor carrying an electrical voltage, a normally-closed connector and a normally-open connector each having a housing and multiple electrical terminals arranged within a cavity of the housing, and a switching element. The switching element is configured to electrically connect the line electrical terminal to at least one of the electrical terminals of the normally-closed connector when not enabled, and to electrically connect the line electrical terminal to at least one of the electrical terminals of the normally-open connector when enabled. The normally-closed connector and the normally-open connector may be tab header connectors, and may be adapted to receive plug connectors of different devices. The electrical relay may include two normally-open connectors each having three electrical terminals, where corresponding electrical terminals of the normally-open connectors are electrically connected to one another. |
| US09373469B2 |
Molded case circuit breaker
Disclosed is a molded case circuit breaker. The molded case circuit breaker includes include: a case; an interrupter assembly installed in the case, and provided with an arc gas outlet; an exhaustion guiding portion disposed between the interrupter assembly and the terminal portion; an exhaustion cover mounted to the case, with a structure to cover the exhaustion guiding portion; and exhaustion guides spaced from each other in the exhaustion guiding portion, in a direction perpendicular to an arc gas discharge direction, in a state where the gas divergence portion is disposed therebetween, the exhaustion guides forming the arc gas passage together with the gas divergence portion. Under such configuration, arc gas discharged out of the arc gas outlet can be rapidly discharged to outside through the exhaustion guides, without an eddy current. |
| US09373468B2 |
Arc control for contactor assembly
A contactor or switch assembly adapted for switching power to a circuit. The housing has internal walls that laterally extend within the interior compartment to define a protection chamber. Current carrying contacts are disposed in the protection chamber of the housing. The current carrying contacts include conductive bodies that protrude from the housing and are configured to close the circuit. Arc dissipation areas are provided in the protection chamber and are located proximate to the current carrying contacts. Magnets are provided proximate ends of the dissipation areas. The magnets create magnetic flux or a magnetic field that extends across the current carrying contacts. The magnetic flux directs electric arcs radiating from one or more of the current carrying contacts into the arc dissipation areas, thereby increasing the effective distance that the electric arcs travel wherein the electric arcs are dissipated in the dissipation areas. |
| US09373466B2 |
Switching device
An inner wall for partitioning a storage chamber is disposed in a case. A switching member operating a movable contact inside the storage chamber is positioned inside a penetrating portion formed between an inner recess formed on an inner wall and a first cutout portion formed in an inner clamping piece of a lid body. The switching member is formed integrally with a flange portion, and the flange portion closes the penetrating portion. As a result, dust, dirt and moistures are unlikely to enter the storage chamber through the penetrating portion. |
| US09373463B2 |
Systems and methods for providing inputs to an electronic device with a button assembly
This is directed to systems and methods for providing inputs to an electronic device with a button assembly. The button assembly may include a center region, a first end region that may extend from a first side of the center region, and a second end region that may extend from a second side of the center region. Each one of the first end region and the second end region may include a first flexibility, and the center region may include a second flexibility that may be less than the first flexibility. |
| US09373462B2 |
Push switch
The invention provides a push switch including a keytop movable in a first direction, a switch, first and second circuit boards, an electronic component mounted on the second circuit board, first and second circuits electrically connected to the switch, and a body. The switch is turned on or off in response to movement of the keytop. The first circuit on the first circuit board is configured to protect the switch. The second circuit on the second circuit board is configured to actuate the electronic component in response to a turn-on or turn-off of the switch. The body includes a main body and first and second holders. The first holder at the main body holds the first circuit board. The second holder at the main body or the first holder holds the second circuit board in spaced relation to the first circuit board in the first direction. |
| US09373459B1 |
Lockout/tagout device for control switches
A pivoting lockout member that is mounted to a pair of hinge member installed onto a control switch. Each of the hinge members includes a planar flange having a hole formed therethrough that is dimensioned to accept the face plate screw of a control switch. The lockout member has a pair of hinge arms that are connected together and spaced apart by a central U-shaped member. A pair of lock flanges extend at right angles to the U-shaped member and have holed formed therethrough that are aligned with each other to accept a conventional padlock. The locking member is moved between an unlocked position where the control switch handle is free to move, and a locked position where the U-shaped member captures the handle and prevent it from being operated. |
| US09373458B2 |
Hand-held power tool
In a hand-held power tool with a device for presetting a selected rotation direction of a drive motor that is associated with the power tool and contained in a tool housing. The device is equipped with an actuating element accessible from outside the tool housing for mechanically actuating a switch element, which is situated inside the tool housing and is at least embodied for electrically switching between a first and second rotation direction of the drive motor, the switch element is situated in the vicinity of the actuating element. |
| US09373457B2 |
Circuit breaker indicating cam having a profile which reduces transmission of mechanical shocks to the auxiliary release
An electric power circuit breaker with an energy storage device and an indicating device including an indicator lever with an indicator and an indicating cam of loaded and unloaded states of the loading mechanism. The indicating cam is mounted on the loading shaft in proximity to the loading cam, and includes a notch for receipt of the indicator lever when the mechanism is in the loaded state. The indicating cam includes a single ramp for progressively bringing the indicator lever into position up to the notch to guarantee latching of the opening latch maintained in a tripped position by the auxiliary release. |
| US09373454B2 |
Key switch and keyboard
Provided is a key switch that enables sufficiently enhancement of the rigidity of a key top. A key switch includes a support plate; a key top disposed on the support plate; a link configured to link the key top with the support plate; a switch; a first arm disposed on a back surface of the key top between the link and a first short-side end of the key top, and extending in a long-side direction of the key top; a second arm disposed on the back surface of the key top between the link and a second short-side end of the key top, and extending in the long-side direction of the key top; and a reinforcement plate mounted on the key top. The reinforcement plate comprises a short-side part extending in the short-side direction of the key top between the first arm and the second arm. |
| US09373446B2 |
Multilayer ceramic electronic part, board having the same mounted thereon, and manufacturing method thereof
A multilayer ceramic electronic part may include: a ceramic body; an active layer including a plurality of first and second internal electrodes disposed to be alternately exposed to both end surfaces of the ceramic body, having the dielectric layer therebetween; an upper cover layer formed on an upper portion of the active layer; a lower cover layer formed on a lower portion of the active layer and having a thickness thicker than that of the upper cover layer; and first and second external electrodes electrically connected to the first and second internal electrodes, wherein the first and second external electrodes include: first and second conductive layers extended from both end surfaces of the ceramic body onto upper and lower main surfaces thereof; and first and second insulation layers formed on the first and second conductive layers disposed on both end surfaces of the ceramic body. |
| US09373445B2 |
Multilayer ceramic capacitor and method of manufacturing the same
A multilayer ceramic capacitor includes a multilayer body including a plurality of stacked dielectric layers including a dielectric ceramic that includes a plurality of crystal grains and a plurality of internal electrodes disposed at a plurality of interfaces between the dielectric layers, and external electrodes. The multilayer body includes a Ba and Ti containing perovskite compound, La, Mg, Mn and Al, and satisfies conditions such that in a case in which a content of Ti is set to 100 molar parts, a fraction of each content of La, Mg, Mn and Al relative to the content of Ti is such that La is about 0.2 to about 1.2 molar parts, Mg is about 0.1 molar part or less, Mn is about 1.0 to about 3.0 molar parts and Al is about 0.5 to about 2.5 molar parts, and an average number of crystal grains included in each of the dielectric layers in the stacking direction is one or more to three or less. |
| US09373441B2 |
Composite electronic component
A composite electronic component with a built-in coil is provided which can be produced inexpensively, which can effectively increase insulating reliability, and which has the antistatic function. Coil wirings are disposed inside a sintered body that is formed by stacking a plurality of ferrite layers, which are fired as an integral unit. Voltage nonlinear members are incorporated in the sintered body at a different height position from those of the coil wirings. First inner electrodes and second inner electrodes are disposed in opposing relation with the voltage nonlinear members interposed therebetween. A magnetic circuit forming portion is constituted by a part of the ferrite layers and the coil wirings in a portion in which the coil wirings are arranged, and an antistatic portion is constituted in a portion in which the remaining ferrite layers, the voltage nonlinear members, and the first and second inner electrodes are arranged. |
| US09373436B2 |
Liquid cooled inductors
An inductor assembly includes an inductor core, a winding, and a coolant conduit. The inductor core defines a cavity and the winding is disposed about the inductor core such that a portion of the winding is disposed within the cavity. The coolant conduit extends from a first end of the cavity towards an opposed second end of the cavity and includes an inlet port and an outlet port in fluid communication with each other through the coolant conduit. |
| US09373435B2 |
Electronic component and method for manufacturing the same
A laminate has a structure in which magnetic layers and a non-magnetic layer containing glass are stacked. A coil is incorporated in the laminate. The magnetic permeability μ2 in portions (low-magnetic-permeability portions), of the magnetic layers, which are adjacent to the non-magnetic layer and into which the glass diffuses is lower than the magnetic permeability μ1 in portions (high-magnetic-permeability portions), of the magnetic layers, which are not adjacent to the non-magnetic layer. |
| US09373434B2 |
Inductor assembly and method of using same
An inductor assembly generally comprises at least one helical inductive component comprising that includes a plurality of conductive line layers having conductive lines therein. A plurality of vias are configured to couple conductive lines from two or more conductive line layers such that a spacing between two adjacent parallel conductive lines, in different conductive line layers from each other, is two or more times a distance between respective bottom surfaces of two adjacent conductive line layers. |
| US09373427B2 |
Flexible circuits
Methods and devices for transporting and/or providing electricity are provided herein. In some embodiments, this includes a flexible conduit and charge carrying microparticles provided therein. In some embodiments the microparticles are charged at a first charging terminal, moved to a new location where there is a charge collecting terminal, where the charge on the microparticle can then be discharged. |
| US09373420B2 |
Semiconductor test device
A semiconductor test device performs a test using a high-speed internal clock. The semiconductor test device includes a clock generator suitable for generating an internal clock in response to a test mode signal during a test mode, a data generator suitable for generating internal data in response to the internal clock, and a data latch circuit suitable for latching the internal data in response to the internal clock, and outputting the latched data to an internal logic circuit. |
| US09373419B2 |
Semiconductor memory apparatus and operating method thereof
A semiconductor memory apparatus includes: a user setting unit configured to generate test data and a delay control signal in response to an external command and an external address; a delay locked loop (DLL) clock generation unit including a replica configured to have a delay time controlled in response to the delay control signal; and a data output unit configured to output the test data in response to a DLL clock signal outputted from the DLL clock generation unit. |
| US09373415B2 |
Dynamic hard error detection
A method of testing a circuit includes halting a flow of normal data through the circuit, running test data through the circuit while subjecting the circuit to a stress condition, and determining whether a hard error exists in the circuit based on the running of the test data. |
| US09373412B2 |
System and method of programming a memory cell
An apparatus includes a semiconductor transistor structure. The semiconductor transistor structure includes dielectric material, a channel region, a gate, a source overlap region, and a drain overlap region. The source overlap region is biasable to cause a first voltage difference between the source overlap region and the gate to exceed a breakdown voltage of the dielectric material. The drain overlap region is biasable to cause a second voltage difference between the drain overlap region and the gate to exceed the breakdown voltage. The apparatus includes a well line coupled to a body of the semiconductor transistor. The apparatus includes circuitry configured to apply a voltage to the well line to prevent a breakdown condition between the channel region and the gate. |
| US09373409B2 |
Systems and methods for reduced program disturb for 3D NAND flash
Common problems when programming 3D NAND Flash memory having alternating page orientation include the back-pattern effect and pattern-induced program disturb. Improved programming techniques may substantially reduce these problems and, in turn, increase precision when setting memory cells' threshold voltages. Provided are exemplary techniques that combine aspects of “by-word-line” programming and “by-page” programming. As such, each page may be programmed beginning with the memory cells that are closest to string select structures, and memory cells on multiple even or odd pages may be programmed substantially simultaneously. |
| US09373406B2 |
Flash memory based on storage devices and methods of operation
A method transfers read data from a flash memory to a controller synchronously with respect to a data strobe signal during a read data transfer period. During an initial control period of the read data transfer period, the cycle of the data strobe signal is expanded such that a pulse width of the resulting cycle-controlled data strobe signal is greater than a pulse width of the data strobe signal. |
| US09373404B2 |
Sensing memory cells coupled to different access lines in different blocks of memory cells
In an embodiment, a target memory cell in a first block of memory cells of a memory device and a target memory cell in a second block of memory cells of the memory device are sensed concurrently while a read voltage is applied to a selected access line coupled to the target memory cell in the first block of memory cells and while a read voltage is applied to another selected access line coupled to the target memory cell in the second block of memory cells. |
| US09373402B2 |
Semiconductor memory device including a dummy memory cell and method of programming the same
A semiconductor memory and a method of programming the same are provided. A semiconductor memory device may include a memory cell array including a plurality of normal memory cells, a select transistor, and a dummy memory cell. The semiconductor memory device may include a voltage generator configured for generating a program voltage applied to a normal memory cell selected among the plurality of normal memory cells, and for generating a dummy word line voltage applied to the dummy memory cell in a program operation. The semiconductor memory device may include a control logic configured for controlling the voltage generator to adjust the dummy word line voltage based on the program voltage. |
| US09373401B2 |
Method of programming non-volatile memory device and apparatuses for performing the method
A non-volatile memory device is provided. The non-volatile memory device includes a cell string including a plurality of non-volatile memory cells; and an operation control block configured to supply a program voltage to a word line connected to a selected non-volatile memory cell among the plurality of non-volatile memory cells during a program operation, configured to supply a first negative voltage to the word line during a detrapping operation, and configured to supply a second negative voltage as a verify voltage to the word line during a program verify operation. |
| US09373399B2 |
Resistance variable element methods and apparatuses
Apparatus and methods are disclosed, including a method that performs a first operation on a first resistance variable element using a common source voltage, a first data line voltage and a first control gate voltage, and then performs a second operation on a second resistance variable element using the common source voltage, a second data line voltage and a second control gate voltage. Additional apparatus and methods are described. |
| US09373398B1 |
Prototyping integrated circuit devices with programmable impedance elements
A method can include programming programmable resistive elements (PREs) in a first integrated circuit (IC) device to establish functions of configurable circuits of the first IC device; and creating at least one second IC device by forming non-programmable connections based on resistive states of the PREs of the first IC device to provide the functions of the first IC device in the second IC device. |
| US09373395B1 |
Apparatus to reduce retention failure in complementary resistive memory
Described is an apparatus which comprises: a complementary resistive memory bit-cell; and a sense amplifier coupled to the complementary resistive memory bit-cell, wherein the sense amplifier includes: a first output node; and a first transistor which is operable to cause a deterministic output on the first output node. |
| US09373392B2 |
Memory cells with rectifying device
Memory devices and methods described are shown that provide improvements, including improved cell isolation for operations such as read and write. Further, methods and devices for addressing and accessing cells are shown that provide a simple and efficient way to manage devices with multiple cells associated with each access transistor. Examples of multiple cell devices include phase change memory devices with multiple cells associated with each access transistor. |
| US09373391B1 |
Resistive memory apparatus
A resistive memory apparatus is provided. The resistive memory apparatus includes a plurality of memory cell pairs, and each of the memory cell pairs includes an active area, first and second word lines, a source line, first and second resistors and first and second bit lines. The active area is formed on a substrate, and the first and second word lines are formed on the substrate, and intersected with the active area. The source line is formed on the substrate and coupled to the active area. The first and second resistors are disposed on the substrate, and respectively coupled to the active area. The first and second bit lines are formed on the first and second resistors and coupled to the first and second resistors. The first and second bit lines are extended along a first direction which is substantially parallel to the first and second word lines. |
| US09373389B2 |
Semiconductor memory device
A semiconductor memory device having a memory cell array in which a plurality of memory cells are arranged in columns and rows to form a matrix pattern includes read word lines, read bit lines, and read source lines. Each of the plurality of memory cells includes: first and second inverters which are cross-coupled to each other; a first transistor which is connected between a read bit line and a read source line and of which the gate is connected to the output terminal of the first inverter; and a second transistor which is connected in series to the first transistor and of which the gate is connected to a read word line. |
| US09373386B2 |
Dual-port SRAM systems
Schematic circuit designs for a dual-port SRAM cell are disclosed, together with various layout schemes for the dual-port SRAM cell. The dual-port SRAM cell comprises: a data latch storage unit comprising a first terminal and a second terminal; a first dummy circuit coupled to the first terminal of the data latch storage unit, the first dummy circuit comprising a first partial dummy transistor and a second partial dummy transistor, wherein the first partial dummy transistor is formed in a first active area of a substrate and the second partial dummy transistor is formed in a second active area of the substrate; and a first gate electrode extending over an edge of the first active area and over an edge of the second active area, wherein the edges of the first active area and the second active area are disposed within a width of the first gate electrode. |
| US09373385B2 |
Semiconductor memory and method for operating the same
A semiconductor memory may include: a bank control signal generation unit suitable for sequentially generating a plurality of bank control signals for controlling a memory bank based on an active command, a signal detection unit suitable for detecting a firstly activated signal and a lastly activated signal among the bank control signals, and a bank enable control unit suitable for controlling an active period of the memory bank in response to the detected signals. |
| US09373382B1 |
Method for healing phase-change memory device and applications thereof
A method for healing phase-change memory device includes steps as follows: At least one memory cell comprising a phase-change material with a shifted current-resistance characteristic function (shifted I-R function) is firstly provided. A healing stress is then applied to the phase-change material to transform the shifted I-R function into an initial current-resistance characteristic function (initial I-R function), wherein the shifted I-R function is a translation function of the initial I-R function. |
| US09373373B2 |
Stack type semiconductor apparatus
The invention may include a semiconductor apparatus comprising: a first die configured to latch and output external input data according to a strobe signal, to detect a valid pulse from among pulses of the strobe signal, and to generate a valid signal; and a second die configured to write data transmitted from the first die in response to the valid signal. |
| US09373371B2 |
Dynamic burst length output control in a memory
A memory, a system and a method for controlling dynamic burst length control data can generate clocks for both an upstream counter and a downstream counter by using substantially the same latency delayed received command indications. A downstream clock generation circuit generates a clock signal from a received command indication delayed by both a delay locked loop and latency delays stored in latency control circuits. An upstream clock generation circuit generates a clock signal from the received command indication delayed by the delay locked loop and capture indications from the latency control circuits. |
| US09373369B1 |
Data storage device and operating method thereof
A data storage device includes a nonvolatile memory apparatus including a plurality of memory areas, and a controller configured to randomize write data and generate random write data based on an offset value of a target memory area of the memory areas and a flag corresponding to the target memory area. |
| US09373367B1 |
Data storage device and operating method thereof
A data storage device may include: a nonvolatile memory device including first and second memory cells adjacent to each other; and a controller suitable for performing a distribution adjusting operation for adjusting a threshold voltage of the second memory cell based on whether a read operation on the first memory cell fails. |
| US09373366B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device and method of operating the same
A nonvolatile memory device may include a power-on reset signal generation unit suitable for receiving a power supply voltage, and generating a power-on reset signal that changes based on the power supply voltage, and a discharging signal generation unit suitable for generating a discharging signal for discharging a word line to be activated earlier than an activation timing of the power-on reset signal when the power supply voltage decreases. |
| US09373364B2 |
Semiconductor memory and method of operating semiconductor memory
Deterioration of holding characteristics due to fluctuations in power supply voltage VDD is prevented. During writing or reading in one of memory circuits, a pair of bit lines in the other memory circuit is controlled to a dummy-bit-line voltage ranging from a ground voltage to ½×VDD. In a subsequent precharge period, a pair of bit lines in one of the memory circuits and the pair of bit lines in the other memory circuit are coupled to a reference voltage generating circuit. |
| US09373360B2 |
Instantaneous preview of data associated with a video
A method comprising using at least one hardware processor for receiving a video and metadata associated with the video, indicating, in a video player, a current time in the video, receiving an indication of a different time in the video and responsive to said receiving of the indication, displaying a datum of the metadata, wherein the datum is correlated with the different time in the video. |
| US09373359B2 |
Systems and methods for rendering text onto moving image content
A method for rendering text onto moving image content. The method comprises receiving a request to translate dialog associated with moving image content, transmitting an interface, transmitting a time-stamped transcription, and receiving a translation of the dialog. |
| US09373357B1 |
Error protection of data stored using variable-length headers
In one embodiment, a system includes logic configured to cause data, organized into a plurality of logical arrays including rows and columns of symbols, to be written to a first write section of a magnetic medium as a plurality of CWI-4 sets, each row of the logical arrays including four interleaved headerized C1′ codewords (a headerized CWI-4), where each CWI-4 set includes M concurrently written rows of a logical array having M corresponding first headers, and cause some of the data to be written to a rewrite section of the magnetic medium as one or more rewritten CWI-4 sets, where a length of at least one rewritten row is greater than at least one of: a length of another rewritten row in the same rewritten CWI-4 set, and a length of at least one row in a CWI-4 set stored to the first write section of the magnetic medium. |
| US09373355B1 |
Compensating for interference via a multi-reader system
The disclosure is related to systems and methods of compensating for interference via a multi-reader system. A transducer or read/write head may include a write element and multiple read elements. A compensation circuit can be configured to process read signals from the multiple read elements to reduce noise within the read signals, such as caused by the writer being simultaneously active or for other reasons. The read signals may be combined to produce a compensated read signal that has less noise than the original read signals. |
| US09373349B1 |
Relaxing media design constraints with two-dimensional magnetic recording
Technologies are described herein for relaxing design constraints on magnetic recording media through the use of two-dimensional magnetic recording in a storage device. A storage device comprises a magnetic recording surface comprising a plurality of discrete storage locations formatted in an ordered pattern, the magnetic recording surface configured so that a single bit of data is stored in two or more of the discrete storage locations. The storage device further includes a read-write channel configured to utilize two-dimensional magnetic recording to read and write data to the magnetic recording surface. |
| US09373348B2 |
Storage medium with layer(s) for enhanced heating
An apparatus that includes a storage layer and a heating assistance element. The heating assistance element is adjacent to the storage layer or doped into the storage layer. The heating assistance element is configured to enhance spatial confinement of energy from a field to an area of the storage layer to which the field is applied. |
| US09373347B2 |
Data write management
Implementations disclosed herein provide systems and methods for data write management in a storage device responsive to detection of a disturbance. Responsive to the detection of the disturbance, a write operation is paused and a transducer head is moved from a first position on the target data track to a second position separated from the first position by at least one data track. At the second position, the write operation is resumed. |
| US09373346B1 |
Adjustable spacing formatter head
An apparatus, according to one embodiment, includes a magnetic head having a plurality of servo writer elements, and an actuator, the actuator being sandwiched between first and second servo writer elements of the plurality of servo writer elements. The actuator is also configured to actively adjust a distance between the first and second servo writer elements. Other systems, methods, and computer program products are described in additional embodiments. |
| US09373345B1 |
Pro-active protection of communication devices that are senstive to vibration or shock
A communication device includes a vibroscope or an accelerometer for detecting vibration or shock, a hard disk drive for storing data, and a wireless communication transceiver. In response to detecting vibration or shock, the communication device automatically broadcasts an alert message that identifies a physical location of the communication device at the time that the vibration or shock is sensed. In response to receiving an alert message from another communication device, the communication device automatically temporarily parks a read-write head of the hard disk drive to prevent damage from the vibration or shock. |
| US09373338B1 |
Acoustic echo cancellation processing based on feedback from speech recognizer
An automatic speech recognition engine receives an acoustic-echo processed signal from an acoustic-echo processing (AEP) module, where said echo processed signal contains mainly the speech from the near-end talker. The automatic speech recognition engine analyzes the content of the acoustic-echo processed signal to determine whether words or keywords are present. Based upon the results of this analysis, the automatic speech recognition engine produces a value reflecting the likelihood that some words or keywords are detected. Said value is provided to the AEP module. Based upon the value, the AEP module determines if there is double talk and processes the incoming signals accordingly to enhance its performance. |
| US09373336B2 |
Method and device for audio recognition
A method and device for performing audio recognition, including: collecting a first audio document to be recognized; initiating calculation of first characteristic information of the first audio document, including: conducting time-frequency analysis for the first audio document to generate a first preset number of phase channels; and extracting at least one peak value characteristic point from each phase channel of the first preset number of phrase channels, where the at least one peak value characteristic point of each phase channel constitutes the peak value characteristic point sequence of said each phase channel; and obtaining a recognition result for the first audio document, wherein the recognition result is identified based on the first characteristic information, and wherein the first characteristic information is calculated based on the respective peak value characteristic point sequences of the preset number of phase channels. |
| US09373329B2 |
Speech recognition with parallel recognition tasks
The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method that includes receiving an audio signal and initiating speech recognition tasks by a plurality of speech recognition systems (SRS's). Each SRS is configured to generate a recognition result specifying possible speech included in the audio signal and a confidence value indicating a confidence in a correctness of the speech result. The method also includes completing a portion of the speech recognition tasks including generating one or more recognition results and one or more confidence values for the one or more recognition results, determining whether the one or more confidence values meets a confidence threshold, aborting a remaining portion of the speech recognition tasks for SRS's that have not generated a recognition result, and outputting a final recognition result based on at least one of the generated one or more speech results. |
| US09373328B2 |
Speech retrieval method, speech retrieval apparatus, and program for speech retrieval apparatus
A method for speech retrieval includes acquiring a keyword designated by a character string, and a phoneme string or a syllable string, detecting one or more coinciding segments by comparing a character string that is a recognition result of word speech recognition with words as recognition units performed for speech data to be retrieved and the character string of the keyword, calculating an evaluation value of each of the one or more segments by using the phoneme string or the syllable string of the keyword to evaluate a phoneme string or a syllable string that is recognized in each of the detected one or more segments and that is a recognition result of phoneme speech recognition with phonemes or syllables as recognition units performed for the speech data, and outputting a segment in which the calculated evaluation value exceeds a predetermined threshold. |
| US09373327B2 |
Method for refining a search
A method for refining a search is provided. Embodiments may include receiving a first speech signal corresponding to a first utterance and receiving a second speech signal corresponding to a second utterance, wherein the second utterance is a refinement to the first utterance. Embodiments may also include determining a first quantity of search results based upon the first speech signal information and determining a second quantity of search results based upon the second speech signal information. Embodiments may also include comparing at least one of the first quantity of search results and the second quantity of search results with a third quantity of search results and determining an information gain from the comparison. |
| US09373321B2 |
Generation of wake-up words
A method, system and tangible computer readable medium for generating one or more wake-up words are provided. For example, the method can include receiving a text representation of the one or more wake-up words. A strength of the text representation of the one or more wake-up words can be determined based on one or more static measures. The method can also include receiving an audio representation of the one or more wake-up words. A strength of the audio representation of the one or more wake-up words can be determined based on one or more dynamic measures. Feedback on the one or more wake-up words is provided (e.g., to an end user) based on the strengths of the text and audio representations. |
| US09373318B1 |
Signal rate synchronization for remote acoustic echo cancellation
A system may be configured to interact with a user through speech using a first and second audio devices, where the first device produces audio and the second device captures audio. The second device may be configured to perform acoustic echo cancellation with respect to a microphone signal based on a reference signal provided by the first device. The reference and microphone signals may have the same nominal signal rates. However, the signal rates may drift from each other over time. In order to synchronize the rates of the signals, each of the devices maintains a signal index. The second device compares the values of the two signal indexes over time to determine rate differences between the reference and microphone signals and then corrects for the rate differences. |
| US09373316B2 |
Vibration plate for a music box
The invention relates to a vibration plate for a striking mechanism of musical watches or music boxes. According to the invention, the vibration plate includes at least two parts, joined to each other, manufactured in at least two materials, a first part forming a first set of strips made of a first material so as to produce sounds in a first frequency range, and at least a second part forming a second set of strips made of a second material so as to produce sounds in a second frequency range. |
| US09373315B1 |
Cartridge receiver for a tone effects system
A cartridge receiver for a tone effects system used with an electric instrument that allows for reduced or eliminated signal loss before sound effects are applied. The cartridge receiver is integrated into the body of a desired electric instrument, while an effects cartridge is attached to the electric instrument via the cartridge receiver; the cartridge receiver providing electronic connections between the electric instrument and the effects cartridge. The effects cartridge provides an effects circuit for manipulating the received electronic signal, as well as an at least one effects control for adjusting the extent to which the effect is applied to the electronic signal. The cartridge receiver can be internally mounted within the electric instrument, wherein the cartridge receiver is fully recessed, or the cartridge receiver can be externally mounted to the electric instrument. |
| US09373314B2 |
Installation structure for acoustic transducer
An installation structure for an acoustic transducer for vibrating a vibrated body in a first direction includes a magnetic-path forming portion; a movable unit having an electromagnetic coupling portion and configured to vibrate in the first direction; an attachment portion which attaches the magnetic-path forming portion to a fixed portion; a connector connected to the vibrated body and connecting the movable unit to the vibrated body; and a displacement permitting mechanism configured to permit electromagnetic coupling between the magnetic-path forming portion and the electromagnetic coupling portion to be maintained and to permit the vibration of the movable unit to be transmitted to the vibrated body when the connector is displaced with respect to the fixed portion within a predetermined range in an intersecting direction that intersects the first direction. The displacement permitting mechanism is provided at at least one of the attachment portion, the movable unit, and the connector. |
| US09373313B2 |
System and method of storing and accessing musical performance on remote server
A musical system uses a musical instrument with a first communication link and music related accessory with a second communication link for transmitting and receiving the audio signal and control data. A controller within the musical instrument or music related accessory is coupled to the first communication link for receiving control data to control operation of the musical instrument and transmitting an audio signal originating from the musical instrument through the first communication link as a cloud storage recording on a server connected to the first communication link. The cloud storage recording is initiated by detecting motion of the musical instrument or presence of the audio signal. The cloud storage recording is terminated a predetermined period of time after detecting no motion of the musical instrument or absence of the audio signal. A user control interface configures the musical instrument and the music related accessory. |
| US09373312B1 |
Stable positioning harness for suspending a musical instrument on the player
A harness for suspending a large stringed instrument on the player. A peg belt wraps around and secures the harness to the peg box. A strap assembly stretches diagonally across the player's back from the peg belt to the endpin or anchor. The strap assembly has a central sash with a bottom extension and a top extension. Optional detachable sash cushions attach to the inner surface of the sash. An eyelet in the bottom extension attaches at the endpin. A neck connector extends from the outer surface of the sash near the top end of the sash. The free end of the neck connector loops between the neck/fingerboard and instrument body and detachably attaches to the free end of the top extension. The peg belt detachably attaches to the neck connector. An optional chest cushion hangs from the instrument where the neck/fingerboard attach to the instrument body. |
| US09373310B2 |
Drum lug holders providing isolated resonance
Some embodiments provide a drum structural framework comprising a top shell mount, bottom shell mount, rod holders, and tension rods. The top shell mount and bottom shell mount are mounted to either ending edge of a drum shell disposed between the two mounts. A first set of the rod holders are coupled to the top shell mount and an aligned second set of the rod holders are coupled to the bottom shell mount. The tension rods link the two sets of rod holders without hindering resonance of the drum shell. Tuning assemblies on the rod holders adjust the distance separating the top shell mount from the bottom shell mount, thereby controlling the force imposed on the drum shell. Each rod holder includes one or more dampeners that isolate energy passing from the drumhead to the shell from also reverberating throughout the structural framework of the tension rods and rod holders. |
| US09373303B2 |
Display apparatus for changing color distribution of light generated by display and method thereof
A display apparatus and a control method which displays an image based on an image signal transmitted from the outside are provided. The display apparatus includes a display which generates light in a plurality of colors and displays an image; a signal receiver which receives an image signal; a signal processor which processes the received image signal in order to display an image based on the image signal; and a controller which analyzes the image signal received by the signal receiver and obtains color reproduction feature information of the image signal, and changes each color distribution of light generated by the display to display an image in a color which corresponds to the color reproduction feature information obtained, based on the image signal. |
| US09373302B2 |
Stacked device position identification
Methods and electronic devices for identifying a location of a top electronic device stacked on top of a bottom electronic device are described. In one example embodiment, the top electronic device and the bottom electronic device are configured to communicate. In one example embodiment, the method includes: receiving camera data associated with a camera of the top electronic device; obtaining display data identifying a pixel arrangement on at least a portion of a display of the bottom electronic device; and identifying the position of the top electronic device relative to the bottom electronic device based on the camera data and the display data. |
| US09373301B2 |
Image processing device, image processing chip and image processing method
An image processing device for processing an image signal is provided. The image processing device includes a circuit board, a slot and an image processing module. The slot, disposed on the circuit board, is to be plugged in by either a first connector corresponding to a first image interface format or a second connector corresponding to a second image interface format. The image processing module, disposed on the circuit board and coupled to the slot, detects the image signal inputted from either the first connector or the second connector to determine a target image interface format, and processes the image signal by an image processing method corresponding to the target image interface format. |
| US09373297B2 |
Power saving drive mode for bi-level video
Liquid crystal display (LCD) driver circuits, and corresponding driving methods, having selectable grayscale and bi-level modes, that also provide DC restore are presented, including an example embodiment driver circuit having selectable direct current (DC) restore voltage switches including a digital to analog converter, a high voltage video signal path including a high voltage video amplifier, a set of high voltage level switches, a high voltage capacitor and a low voltage video signal path including a low voltage video amplifier, a set of low voltage level switches, a low voltage capacitor. Advantages include, for some applications, a display operates in a bi-level mode saving power relative to operating in a grayscale mode, while also being able to offer full grayscale mode in other applications. Further, advantages of some example embodiments include an extended DC-restore mode providing a longer period of DC restore voltage. |
| US09373294B2 |
Liquid crystal display with one third driving structure of pixel array of display panel
A liquid crystal display (LCD) including a display panel and a source driver is provided. The display panel includes a plurality of pixels arranged in an array. The source driver is coupled to the display panel and includes a plurality of source lines. Each of the source lines of the source driver is responsible for performing the pixel-writing to six corresponding pixel columns in the display panel. |
| US09373290B2 |
Display module with E-paper display component and auxiliary display component
A display module is disclosed herein. The display module includes a substrate, an auxiliary display component, and an e-paper display component. The auxiliary display component is disposed on the substrate. The e-paper display component is disposed on the auxiliary display component. In a shutter mode, the e-paper display component is substantially transparent, such that an image displayed by the auxiliary display component can pass along the e-paper display component and can be presented on a viewing side of the display module. |
| US09373286B2 |
Method to display an image on a display device
In one embodiment, a method a method of displaying an image on a display device is described. The display device includes a plurality of clusters. Each cluster has a plurality of pixels and an independent light source associated therewith. Each of the plurality of clusters are illuminated with their associated independent light source. The plurality of pixels in a cluster are refreshed with bits of gray scale. Simultaneously with the refreshing, the light source associated with the cluster where the plurality of pixels are being refreshed is switched off. When the plurality of pixels have been refreshed, the light source is switched on with a predetermined intensity of light. Each of the clusters are refreshed at a rate that is fast enough to eliminate flicker. |
| US09373285B2 |
Display device for vehicle
Provided is a display device for a vehicle such that the life of display elements can be made long even when used in a high temperature environment and, further, unpleasant sensations due to changes in brightness of display images can be prevented. A control unit (90) provides a display period (Fa) in which an illumination control unit (91) turns on light sources (11), and a display control unit (92) generates a display image (M) in display elements (30) within a frame (F) that constitutes the display image (M) on the basis of a display image signal and a non-display period (Fb) in which the illumination control unit (91) turns off all light sources (11). When the display control unit (92) changes the display period proportions (A) for mirrors (E) for the display elements (30) according to prescribed conditions, drive currents (I) and drive periods (H) for the light sources (11) are changed simultaneously such that brightness is not changed. |
| US09373279B2 |
Method and system for providing a screen saver in a mobile electronic device
A system and method for providing a screen saver for a display panel in a mobile electronic device are provided. After a time period of inactivity has been sensed, a screen saver image is retrieved from memory and transmitted to a display panel. The method and system also preferably provide means for controlling the color of the screen saver image to balance the aging of the primary colors within the display panel. |
| US09373278B2 |
Scanning drive circuit and display device including the same
A display device, including display elements two-dimensionally disposed in a matrix; scanning lines, initialization control lines, and display control lines extending in a first direction; data lines extending in a second direction different from the first direction; and a scanning drive circuit. |
| US09373277B2 |
Extending dynamic range of a display
A method for extending dynamic range of a display that can attenuate brightness to match scene brightness is disclosed. Standard RGB sub pixel filtering as well as neutral density sub pixel filtering is performed. The color addressability of the display is utilized to extend the dynamic range of the emitted energy by more than one order of magnitude with the standard RGB sub pixel filtering. The standard filtering extends the dynamic range of the emitted energy by more than one order of magnitude, while the neutral density filtering extends the dynamic range of the emitted energy by two or more orders of magnitude. |
| US09373273B2 |
Marketing information display assembly
An assembly includes an electronic price label having an outer casing, a cover attached to the electronic price label and a marketing sign that highlights the electronic price label. The outer casing of the electronic price label module houses a display screen and circuitry for sending and receiving data signals over a network. The cover includes a front panel having a window. The window exposes the display screen of the electronic price label and a sensor on the electronic price label that sends and receives the data signals over the network. The marketing sign includes an opening defined by a perimeter. The perimeter surrounds the outer casing of the electronic price label and at least a portion of the marketing sign is located behind the front panel of the cover. |
| US09373272B2 |
Dynamically updating map projections
Embodiments of the invention may provide the ability to dynamically create and update map projections to reduce the spatial distortion in a desirable way for a specific map view. For example, as a map view is changed, a new central meridian may be selected and a new map projection may be created based on the selected central meridian. Dynamically updating map projections so that all map layers are correctly representing the most important spatial attributes for the given situation may enable a map analyst to correctly interpret the maps being viewed. |
| US09373268B2 |
Speech aid system
A speech aid system includes a tube for mounting at a tracheostomy of a user, a voice parameter acquiring device mounted to the tube and generating a voice parameter signal according to airflow applied within the tube resulting from attempt by the user to speak, a processor generating an audio signal corresponding to the voice parameter signal, and a sound generator for mounting in an oral cavity of the user. The sound generator produces a substitute glottal sound corresponding to the audio signal. |
| US09373267B2 |
Method and system for controlling context-aware cybersecurity training
A context-aware training system senses a user action that may expose the user to a threat, such as a cybersecurity threat. The system selects a training action from a collection of available training actions and causes the training action to be delivered to the user or a group of users. The system includes an administrator interface that enables an administrator to select, customize and/or assign constraints to the training action that will be delivered to the user(s). |
| US09373263B2 |
Dynamic and individualized scheduling engine for app-based learning
Systems and methods can dynamically set user-specific schedules for prompting users to access educational content objects. An educational performance metric is identified for a user. A learning schedule is accessed that includes an identification of a plurality of learning episodes. Each of the plurality of learning episodes is associated with a time-related variable indicative of when the learning episode is to occur and a substance-related variable indicative of a learning substance for the learning episode. The learning schedule is adjusted based on the identified educational performance metric and associated with the user. A presentation time is identified based on a time-related variable in the learning schedule. An electronic content object associated with the presentation time is identified based on a substance-related variable the learning schedule. A notification with an offer to access the identified electronic content object is presented at the presentation time via a device of the user. |
| US09373262B2 |
Autonomous intelligence surveillance reconnaissance and payload delivery system and method of using same
An intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system is disclosed including a ground station and one or more aerial vehicles. The aerial vehicles are autonomous systems capable of communicating intelligence data to the ground station and be used as part of a missile delivery package. A plurality of aerial vehicles can be configured to cast a wide net of reconnaissance over a large area on the ground including smaller overlapping reconnaissance areas provided by each of the plurality of the aerial vehicles. |
| US09373259B2 |
Situation-aware mobile travel advisory to public transport commuters
A method for managing a public transport system comprises receiving information indicating a change of status of a component of a public transport system; identifying a commuter who is affected by the change of status; generating an alternative travel advisory for the commuter based on the change of status; and transmitting the alternative travel advisory to the commuter. In some embodiments the change of status includes a delay in an expected time of arrival of a public transport vehicle; identifying the commuter includes locating the commuter in the vehicle; and the alternative travel advisory includes a message advising the commuter to leave the vehicle. In some embodiments, locating the commuter in the vehicle is based on comparing a location of the commuter with a location of the vehicle. In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving from the commuter information indicating that the commuter has boarded the vehicle. |
| US09373255B2 |
Method and system for producing an up-to-date situation depiction
The invention relates to a method for creating a current situation depiction, particularly a current city-center situation depiction, in which environment data and/or map data and/or position data describing a locally bounded situation are sent to a database by a multiplicity of vehicles using vehicle-to-X communication means. The environment data are captured by means of ambient sensors and/or vehicle sensors, the map data are read from a digital memory, and the position data are determined at least by means of a global satellite position system. The method is distinguished in that the environment data and/or the map data and/or the position data are continually merged with a situation depiction that is already present in the database to form a current situation depiction, and both the database and the situation depiction are fixed in location. The invention also relates to an appropriate system. |
| US09373253B2 |
Safety controller and safety control method
A safety controller includes a first interrupt signal output unit outputting a first interrupt signal in a cycle synchronous with that of a first carrier signal defining a control cycle of a control target; a second interrupt signal output unit outputting a second interrupt signal in a cycle synchronous with that of a second carrier signal defining a control cycle of the control target, the first and second carrier signals having the same cycle and a predetermined phase difference; and a control unit executing tasks and controlling the control target by switching and scheduling time partitions according to outputs of the first and second interrupt signals from the first and second interrupt signal output units. The control unit stops controlling the control target upon detecting, as an abnormality related to the first and second interrupt signals, that the first and second interrupt signals are not output in a predetermined order. |
| US09373250B2 |
Remote controller having one shot automatic mapping of learned function
A learning remote controller for learning functions received from a source controller. The learning remote controller includes a memory and a processor that executes a program stored in the memory. The program controls operations of the processor select and retrieve a device map corresponding to a source remote controller having functions that are to be learned by the learning remote controller, the device map establishing a correspondence between a key pressed on the source remote controller and a key on the learning remote controller to which a function received from the source remote controller is to be mapped. When a code corresponding to a function received from the source remote controller, corresponds to a first signal received from the source remote controller, the code is stored for comparison with subsequent codes received by the learning remote controller. Upon comparison with subsequent codes received, the processor inserts a code corresponding to no function in a sequence of learned codes in response to the comparison of the received code and the stored code being a match. |
| US09373247B2 |
Disaster monitoring and pre-warning system and method thereof
A disaster monitoring and pre-warning system comprises a disaster informing system, peer-to-peer wireless communication devices, a monitoring host and a pre-warning message issuing host. The disaster informing system transfers at least one first disaster information. The peer-to-peer wireless communication devices sense at least one disaster event to generate at least one second disaster information. The at least one second disaster information is transferred by a peer-to-peer technology. The monitoring host receives the at least one first disaster information and the at least one second disaster information to generate a first pre-warning information. The pre-warning message issuing host issues the first pre-warning information. |
| US09373245B2 |
Smart notification appliances
Smart notification appliances used in a mass notification system (MNS) have integrated software and distributed hardware for real time information to in-building, immediate vicinity and distributed recipients during emergency situations. Programmable control configurations in the smart notification appliances provide flexible installations. A distributed architecture system provides distributed intelligence in the smart notification appliances for maximum survivability and robust operation of the MNS. Audio messages are stored in each smart notification appliance with a one-to-one relationship to a speaker circuit. This configuration provides any circuit with either a live page or a plurality of preconfigured messages, in effect a multi-channel system limited only by the number of stored messages and controllable by software. Similarly, programmable light strobe intensity, flash rate and color may be controlled through the smart notification appliances. |
| US09373241B2 |
System and method for monitoring a wireless tracking device
Monitoring systems and methods may monitor locations and/or speeds of a wireless tracking device. An administrative hub comprising a location database including speed limit data for at least selected road segments may be configured to monitor locations of the wireless tracking device based on data reported by the wireless tracking device. The administrative hub may also be configured to compare a speed of the wireless tracking device based on the data reported by the wireless tracking device to the speed limit data for a road segment associated with the location of the wireless tracking device. |
| US09373238B2 |
Multi-channel aspirated smoke detector
An aspirated smoke detector includes a manifold coupled to a smoke sensing chamber of the smoke detector. The manifold couples ambient smoke from a plurality of locations to the smoke sensing chamber. A location of the origin of the smoke can be determined by associating a member of a plurality of a different type of smoke sensor with each of the locations. When smoke is detected in the sensing chamber, the members of the plurality can be interrogated to determine the location of the origin of the smoke in the sensing chamber. |
| US09373237B1 |
Security tag positioning
A tag controller is configured to interface with a security tag adapted to be disposed on a corresponding product in a monitoring environment. The tag controller includes processing circuitry configured to perform a tag position estimation by receiving information indicative of signal strength measured at the security tag relative to each of a plurality of locating beacons disposed in the monitoring environment, defining an order of a selected number of the locating beacons based on signal strength, determining a first midpoint between two of the selected number of the locating beacons having the lowest signal strengths, determining at least a second midpoint between the first midpoint and a locating beacon having a next lowest signal strength, and determining a location of the security tag at least in part based on the second midpoint. |
| US09373236B2 |
Systems and methods for securing handheld electronic devices
Systems and methods are provided for securing handheld electronic devices. To provide an optimal shopping experience for consumers, handheld electronic devices must be made accessible to users, while simultaneously being secured to prevent theft. A security system can include a coupler connected to an electronic device. The coupler can include a connector operative to provide power and/or data to the electronic device. A cable transferring the power and data can also include an alarm path and a security cable for providing security. The security cable may be difficult to cut, and the alarm path can direct an alarm to sound if the cable is cut or if the electronic device is disconnected from the coupler. |
| US09373234B1 |
Security tape for intrusion/extrusion boundary detection
A security tape comprises a mesh sensor strip in which a filament is woven or otherwise provided to serve as a single continuous signal path across substantially the entire area of the mesh strip. The filament may be an electrical wire or an optical fiber to carry, respectively, an electrical signal or an optical signal. A layer of flexible insulative material is bonded to each side of the mesh strip by an adhesive on the bonding surface of each of the layers. During bonding of the layers to the mesh strip, the adhesive flows into the mesh structure and structurally fixes the filament in its position in the mesh. The mesh sensor strip and bonded layers can be cut to any desired length and each end of the filament is connectable to respective connector units. One connector unit is connected to a signal source, and the other connector unit is connected to a signal receiver. A break in the filament will cause a loss of constant continuous conduction and therefore loss of signal received by the receiver thereby indicating an alarm condition. The security tape protects against both intrusion and extrusion events across any boundary of a volumetric space which cause breakage of the signal path and trigger an alarm indication. The absence of a required real-time electrical or optical conduction signal signifies an alarm state, hence the system is fail-safe. |
| US09373229B2 |
Automated banking system controlled responsive to data bearing records
An automated banking machine operative to cause financial transfers responsive to data read from data bearing records. The automated banking machine includes a card reader that is operative to read card data from user cards corresponding to financial accounts. The automated banking machine is operative responsive to the card data to carry out transactions that transfer and/or allocate funds between accounts. The automated banking machine is further operative to provide users with a receipt for transactions conducted. The automated banking machine includes a cash dispenser operative to dispense cash to machine users and to cause the value of cash to be assessed to financial accounts corresponding to card data. The automated banking machine is further operative to receive currency bills or other sheets from a user and to process and store such sheets through operation of a currency accepting device. The account corresponding to card data may be credited for the value of bills or other sheets received. |
| US09373226B1 |
Determining paylines in a slot game based on player characters
A system and method for determining paylines in a slot game based on player characters are disclosed. A given player character may correspond to distinctive paylines along which symbols in a pull outcome may be assessed for rewards, for gameplays to be implemented in a game space, and/or any for other types of results provided by a slot game. In some examples, the number of the paylines corresponding to the given player character may correlate with various aspects regarding the given player character such as, without limitation, a class, a level, a race, a number of experience points, one or more skills, virtual items, and/or any other aspects regarding the given player character. In some examples, the combinations of symbols appearing on active paylines in a pull outcome may trigger one or more gameplays for implementation in a game space associated with the slot game. |
| US09373222B2 |
Computer implemented frameworks and methodologies for virtualization of linked gaming
In overview, the technology is primarily directed to the implementation of linked gaming in respect of a plurality of gaming machines. In particular, a controller device is disclosed, this controller device being adapted to enable the management of a plurality of linked games via a single piece of hardware. This is achieved in part by virtualization of jackpot controllers within the controller device. More specifically, a user is enabled to configure a plurality of virtual jackpot controllers by way of interaction with a graphical user interface, and select compatible electronic gaming machines to participate in a linked game provided by a given one of the virtual jackpot controllers. |
| US09373220B2 |
Methods of playing wagering games and related apparatuses
Methods of administering wagering games may comprise receiving a first wager from each player. Cards comprising a partial hand, which may be three player cards available to respective players individually, may be dealt to each player. An election to fold or a second wager, which may be between one and four times an amount of the ante wager, at the player's option, to continue participation in the wagering game may be received from each player. Additional cards, which may be two community cards available to all players, may be dealt to complete the hand, which may be a five-card poker hand, of each player. The first and second wagers may be resolved and a payout may be paid on each of the first and second wagers to each player holding a complete hand of a predetermined rank, which may be a pair of jacks, or higher. |
| US09373219B2 |
System for randomly and dynamically checking configuration integrity of a gaming system
A gaming system for performing integrity checks of a gaming machine is described. The gaming system includes a host server comprising having a processor, an interface for communicating with a plurality of gaming machines, an oversight module, and a database of expected gaming machine configurations. The gaming system further includes the plurality of gaming machines configured to present game play of a wager-based game. Each gaming machine includes a cabinet, a display coupled to the cabinet, and a processor coupled to the cabinet. The gaming system is configured to perform an integrity check of the plurality of gaming machines through the host server. |
| US09373201B2 |
Rental/car-share vehicle access and management system and method
A rental/car-share (RCS) vehicle access and management system and method, in some embodiments, utilizes barcodes, QR codes (or NFC/RFID), GPS, and a mobile app coupled with a wireless network to enable customers to bypass the reservation desk and pickup and drop off reserved RCS vehicles using a mobile phone, tablet or laptop. The QR code, RFID, or NFC communication with the mobile application allows for identification of the vehicle by a mobile application, which, if authorized, can access the vehicle via a temporary access code issued by remote servers. The remote servers and/or mobile application communicates with a control module that plugs into the on-board diagnostics module of the rental/car-share (RCS) vehicle and includes a host processing unit with a processor, an accelerometer, data storage, a GPS with internal GPS antenna; a wireless modem with internal antenna, and CAN bus transceivers connected with the processor, and a USB programmable interface. |
| US09373199B2 |
Autonomous system, device and method to provide data of the autonomous system
A device to provide data of an autonomous system is configured to receive, from the autonomous system, data that are generated by the autonomous system, and to send the received data to an archiving device for storage. The archiving device is arranged external to the autonomous system and is independent of the operation of the autonomous system. The device provides the stored data for an independent evaluation device. An improved data provision is ensured by the storage of the data accumulating in the autonomous system, independent of the operation of the autonomous system. The provided data can be used for maintenance or setup of the autonomous system. An autonomous system includes such a device, and a method to provide data of an autonomous system; and a method to produce an autonomous system operate by using such a device. |
| US09373197B2 |
Methods and systems for electronic payment for on-street parking
This disclosure describes a method of payment for parking of a vehicle including determining the location of the vehicle with a wireless communication device. Determining the location includes using a satellite radio navigation system such as GPS with the facility for user provided corrections and avoiding the use of zone IDs. The method also includes automatically extending an initiated parking session with subsequent prepaid time durations until certain predetermined conditions are met. The method includes automatically determining the end of an initiated parking session based on detecting movement of the vehicle away from a parking spot provided the Handset containing the parking payment App has sensed a Bluetooth tag in the vehicle or paired with the built-in Bluetooth system of the vehicle. The method also includes targeted parking enforcement where parked vehicles are identified wirelessly by short range radio beacons emitted by tags placed in/on the vehicles and their session status checked with information downloaded from a parking application server. |
| US09373193B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting and avoiding conflicts of space entity element annotations
A method for conflict detection and avoidance of spatial entity element annotations may include transforming, according to a preset view control parameter, original coordinates of spatial data of an original element into view coordinates in a view window; rasterizing, in the view window, an element to be avoided by annotations; and analyzing an annotation of the original element according to the view coordinates, and determining a plane annotation region that satisfies a preset display condition and corresponds to the annotation as an annotation display region for the annotation. |
| US09373192B2 |
Shape preserving mesh simplification
Systems and methods for simplifying a three-dimensional mesh providing a three-dimensional model, such as a three-dimensional model of a cityscape, are provided. In particular, mesh simplification techniques can preserve important structural shapes in the original three-dimensional mesh. Important features in a representation of a city scene or other scene can be represented by structural edges (e.g. building outlines, bridges, curved structures such as curved highway overpasses, etc.). These structural edges can be detected and a representation of the structural edges can be constructed in the mesh. The mesh can then be simplified using the structural edges as high-level simplification criterion such that the structural edges are preserved during simplification. |
| US09373189B2 |
Constructing 3D surfaces for multi-color objects
This document describes techniques and apparatuses for constructing three dimensional (3D) surfaces for multi-colored objects. In some aspects, these techniques determine, from a color image and coarse depth information, an illumination model and albedo for a multi-color object. The coarse depth information may then be refined based on the illumination model and combined with the albedo to provide a 3D surface of the multi-color object. |
| US09373188B2 |
Techniques for providing content animation
Techniques for enabling content animation in substantially real time are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for content animation in substantially real time includes providing content for display including at least one image, detecting an interaction of a user with respect to the at least one image, determining a boundary within the image comprising a contour of an object represented in the at least one image, applying a set of movement constraints to the object within the determined boundary, and enabling animation of a portion of the at least one image corresponding to the object in the displayed content based at least in part upon the applied movement constraints. The animation may occur in response to a user selecting a portion of the object and moving the object within the selected image. |
| US09373185B2 |
Interactive design, synthesis and delivery of 3D motion data through the web
Systems and methods are described for animating 3D characters using synthetic motion data generated by generative models in response to a high level description of a desired sequence of motion provided by an animator. In a number of embodiments, an animation system is accessible via a server system that utilizes the ability of generative models to generate synthetic motion data across a continuum to enable multiple animators to effectively reuse the same set of previously recorded motion capture data to produce a wide variety of desired animation sequences. One embodiment of the invention includes a server system configured to communicate with a database containing motion data including repeated sequences of motion, where the differences between the repeated sequences of motion are described using at least one high level characteristic. In addition, the server system is configured to train a generative model using the motion data, the server system is configured to generate a user interface that is accessible via a communication network, to receive a high level description of a desired sequence of motion via the user interface, to use the generative model to generate synthetic motion data based on the high level description of the desired sequence of motion and to transmit a stream via the communication network including information that can be used to display a 3D character animated using the synthetic motion data. |
| US09373180B2 |
Dynamic tomography angle selection
A method for determining a projection angle for use in tomographic imaging comprises obtaining projection data including at least one projection view from at least one projection angle. The at least one projection view is generated by scanning a test object with a tomographic imaging device. Each projection view comprises at least one observation value obtained at least one detection location, providing a plurality of candidate projection angles, for each candidate projection angle, calculating a function value indicative of an amount of information that may be gained by adding to the projection data a further projection view generated by scanning of the test object with the tomographic imaging device from the candidate projection angle, and selecting a candidate projection angle from the plurality of candidate projection angles taking into account the function values. A corresponding system and computer program product also is provided. |
| US09373179B2 |
Saliency-preserving distinctive low-footprint photograph aging effect
Technologies for modifying a digital image to take on the appearance of an antique image. Such modifying is typically based on generating and rendering various effects that are blended with the input image, such as color transformation, simulating film grain, dust, fibers, tears, and vintage borders. Such effects may be rendered to various layers that are overlaid on a color transformed image resulting in what appears to be an antique image. |
| US09373176B2 |
Image compression method and apparatus for encoding pixel data of frame into interleaved bit-stream, and related image decompression method and apparatus
An image compression method includes at least the following steps: receiving a plurality of pixels of a frame, wherein pixel data of each pixel has a plurality of color channel data corresponding to a plurality of different color channels, respectively; encoding the pixel data of each pixel and generating bit-streams corresponding to the plurality of color channel data of the pixel, wherein the bit-streams corresponding to the plurality of color channel data of the pixel are separated; packing bit-streams of a same color channel data of different pixels into color channel bit-stream segments, wherein each of the bit-stream segments has a same predetermined size; and concatenating color channel bit-stream segments of the different color channels into a final bit-stream. Alternatively, color channel bit-stream segments of the same pixel are concatenated into a concatenated bit-stream portion, and concatenated bit-stream portions of different pixels are concatenated into a final bit-stream. |
| US09373174B2 |
Cloud based video detection and tracking system
A method for detecting and tracking multiple moving targets from airborne video within the framework of a cloud computing infrastructure. The invention simultaneously utilizes information from an optical flow generator and an active-learning histogram matcher in a complimentary manner so as to rule out erroneous data that may otherwise, separately, yield false target information. The invention utilizes user-based voice-to-text color feature description for track matching with hue features from image pixels. |
| US09373173B2 |
Method and system for atlas-based segmentation
A method for atlas-based segmentation is provided where a patient image is rigidly registered with each of a plurality of atlas images. Based on the rigid registration results, which indicate a degree of similarity for each atlas, an atlas image is selected for deformable registration where the rigid registration result is used as initialization. Regions of interest are segmented in the patient image using the results of the deformable registration. |
| US09373171B2 |
Method for generating a depth map, related system and computer program product
A depth map is generated from at least a first and a second image. Generally, a plurality of reference pixels are selected in the first image and associated with respective pixels in the second image. Next, the disparity between each reference pixel and the respective pixel in said second image is determined, and for each reference pixel a depth value as a function of the respective disparity. In particular, each reference pixel is associated with a respective pixel in the second image via a matching and a filtering operation. The matching operation selects for each reference pixel a plurality of candidate pixels in the second image and associates with each candidate pixel a respective cost function value and a respective disparity value. |
| US09373163B2 |
Method for controlling a laser processing operation by means of a reinforcement learning agent and laser material processing head using the same
The present invention relates to a method for controlling a processing operation of a workpiece by means of a Reinforcement Learning (RL) agent unit, comprising the steps of: (a) observing an interaction zone in the workpiece by means of at least one radiation sensor to generate at least one sensor signal st, wherein the workpiece is processed using an actuator having an initial actuator value at; (b) determining a basis function Φ(st) from the set of sensor signals st; (c) determining a reward function rt giving the probability of good results of the processing operation; (d) choosing a next actuator value at+1 on the basis of a policy π depending on the reward function rt and the basis function Φ(st); and (e) repeating the steps (a) to (d) for further time points to perform a RL controlled processing operation. |
| US09373160B2 |
System, method and computer-accessible medium for restoring an image taken through a window
Systems, methods and computer-accessible mediums for modifying an image(s) can be provided. For example, first image information for the image(s) can be received. Second image information can be generated by separating the first image information into at least two overlapping images. The image(s) can be modified using a prediction procedure based on the second image information. |
| US09373159B2 |
Method and system for compressed sensing image reconstruction
A Compressed Sensing (CS) based image reconstruction method and system is described herein which may be used to reduce the X-ray dose radiation in Computed Tomography (CT) or to decrease the scan duration in MR imaging (MRI). Methods and systems described herein may address problems that have hindered the clinical usage of CS, i.e. computation complexity and modeling problems. Using the described algorithm, high quality images may be recovered from undersampled data which may help to reduce the scan time and the exposed invasive radiations. Using the same set of data in conventional image reconstruction algorithms (e.g. Filtered Back Projection (FBP) in CT) may cause severe streak artifacts and may take significantly more time using Graphics Processing Units (GPU) and parallel clusters with the conventional CS-based methods. This method can be used other imaging modalities using Radon transform (such as C-Arm and electron tomography, for example). |
| US09373158B2 |
Method for reducing image artifacts produced by a CMOS camera
The present invention relates to a system and method for reducing image artifacts for a CMOS camera used as an optical detector for a line confocal fluorescent imager. The method for reducing image artifacts in a monochromatic image comprises subtracting RGB channel offset mismatch; and correcting random row offset for each row. Preferably, the method also comprises correcting random column offset and gain. Optionally, the method also comprises clipping of defective pixels, and/or subtracting dark current. When the monochromatic image is a fluorescence image, the method also comprises a step of compressing CMOS camera noise. Also provided are a system for reducing image artifacts in a monochromatic image from a CMOS camera, as well as an image artifact reduction system for a CMOS camera-based line confocal fluorescent microscope. |
| US09373156B2 |
Method for controlling rotation of screen picture of terminal, and terminal
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method for controlling display interface rotation of a terminal, including: collecting human face image data of a user; processing the human face image data of the user to acquire human face posture information; and rotating a display interface according to the human face posture information to adjust a direction of the display interface of the terminal. The embodiments of the present invention further disclose a terminal. According to the present invention, a display interface of the terminal may remain in an orthophoric direction of a user, which can improve the visual experience of the user and make the terminal more intelligent. |
| US09373155B2 |
Search results with structured image sizes
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for generating search results with structured image sizes. According to one exemplary implementation, a process includes the operations of determining an initial height and an initial width of an image that is associated with a search result, wherein the image is to be displayed in the search result in line with text associated with the search result, and wherein the search result includes an in-line image region for displaying the image in line with the text, and a text region for displaying the text, and determining an initial height of the text region of the search result based at least on (i) the text associated with the search result, and (ii) an initial width of the text region. The process also includes outputting the scaled image for display in the search result in line with the text. |
| US09373153B2 |
Diagnosing graphics display problems
A mechanism is provided for diagnosing graphics display problems during running of an application. A frame of the application drawn by a graphics processing unit is selected. A central processing unit draws the frame. The graphics processing unit drawn frame and the central processing unit drawn frame are compared to determine if there is a graphics problem. |
| US09373152B2 |
Processing of graphics data of a server system for transmission including multiple rendering passes
Methods, systems and apparatuses for selecting graphics data of a server system for transmission are disclosed. One method includes a plurality of graphic render passes, wherein one or more of the graphics render passes includes reading data from graphics memory of the server system. The data read from the graphics memory is placed in a transmit buffer if the data is being read for the first time, and was not written by a processor of the server system. One system includes a server system including graphics memory, a frame buffer and a processor. The server system is operable to read data from the graphics memory. The server system is operable to place the data in a transmit buffer if the data is being read for the first time, and was not written by the processor during rendering. |
| US09373142B2 |
Method and system for locating a mobile asset
An improved system and method for creating and accessing a centralized database containing an assorted variety of information related to a debtor such as physical addresses of the debtor or his friends, associates and relatives, as well as information related to a mobile asset, such as physical description information, collectively referred to as “identifying information.” Methods are also disclosed for lenders and others to send identifying information to the centralized database, and for users such as skip tracers to be able to download and use the information located in the database for asset recovery purposes. |
| US09373137B2 |
Mapping transactions between the real world and a virtual world
A method for mapping transactions between a real world and a virtual world may include receiving information associated with a real world item at a virtual business object (VBO) controller. Information associated with a user is received at the VBO controller. In response to receiving by the VBO controller a decision to buy the real world item, the VBO controller generates a VBO, which includes the information associated with the real world item. In response to receiving at the VBO controller a decision not to buy the real world item, the VBO controller generates a VBO light, which includes the information associated with the real world item. Either the generated VBO or the VBO light is transmitted to a VBO inventory database associated with the user based on the user's information. |
| US09373133B2 |
Peer-to-peer email with video and advertising aspects
A Peer-to-Peer (“P2P”) email and social networking system for use by plural users to exchange emails and attachments includes a mesh network that includes plural node computers, each running a P2P email client, and each constructed to transmit and receive emails. The emails are stored in mailboxes residing on each node computer, and may be encrypted during transmission, and may remain encrypted while stored at each node computer. |
| US09373128B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining similarity information for users of a network
A method for determining similarity information for users of a network is disclosed. The method comprises constructing a graph from user interaction data, wherein the graph links users of the network according to their interaction, and weighting links between users according to the strength of interaction between the users. The method further comprises, for each of a plurality of users, identifying from among the other users with whom the user interacts: a maximum similarity user to whom the user is connected via a maximum weight link, and a minimum similarity user to whom the user is connected via a minimum weight link. Finally the method comprises assembling a plurality of relative similarity triplets, each triplet comprising a user and that user's identified maximum and minimum similarity users. |
| US09373126B2 |
Matching advertising to game play content
An advertisement is associated with a particular user move in a gaming environment where playing of the user move by a user results in the advertisement being displayed at the user's gaming device. With multiple users, each play of a unique user move results in a corresponding uniquely targeted advertisement being displayed at the respective gaming device of each user. User moves and associated advertisements are bound to one another based on a frequency of use of the user move in game play and the desirability of the advertiser to associate the advertisement with the user move. |
| US09373125B2 |
Matching advertising to game play content
An advertisement is associated with a particular user move in a gaming environment where playing of the user move by a user results in the advertisement being displayed at the user's gaming device. With multiple users, each play of a unique user move results in a corresponding uniquely targeted advertisement being displayed at the respective gaming device of each user. User moves and associated advertisements are bound to one another based on a frequency of use of the user move in game play and the desirability of the advertiser to associate the advertisement with the user move. |
| US09373124B2 |
Delivering promotions associated with user profiles through multiple digital channels associated with the user profiles
Multiple copies of the same coupon are delivered to a consumer simultaneously via different delivery channels. After one copy of the coupon has been presented in connection with a transaction and used, the coupon is marked as used with respect to all delivery channels for that consumer. Different copies of the coupon can have different coupon identifiers, for example when delivered through different channels. Consumers also can access such multichannel coupons without having to login each time they wish to access their coupons from multiple channels. In one implementation, each consumer has a user profile. A promotion is associated with that consumer's user profile. Each user profile also is associated with different channel identifiers representing communication channels to deliver instances of the promotion to the consumer. Each delivered instance of the promotion includes a coupon identifier associated with the promotion. |
| US09373117B2 |
Contextual user interface elements from external triggers
A method for retrofitting a vending machine with a video communications device includes securing a video communications device with a mounting feature of the video communications device removably coupled with a mounting location on a vending machine. The video communications device includes a video communications module for real-time interactions with a ticket office. The video communications module includes a display, a camera, a speaker, and a microphone. The video communications device includes a video communication device communications interface. The method includes electronically coupling the video communications device with a power supply of the vending machine and communicatively coupling the video communications device with the vending machine such that functions of the vending machine are controllable using the video communications device. The method includes communicatively coupling the video communications device with the ticket office for real-time video communications with the ticket office. |
| US09373114B2 |
Automated teller machine with an encrypting card reader and an encrypting pin pad
A banking system operates responsive to data read from data bearing records. The system includes an automated banking machine comprising a card reader. The card reader includes a movable read head that can read card data along a magnetic stripe of a card that was inserted long-edge first. The card reader includes a card entry gate. The gate is opened for a card that is determined to be properly oriented for data reading. The card reader can encrypt card data, including account data. The machine also includes a PIN keypad. The card reader can send encrypted card data to the keypad. The keypad can decipher the encrypted card data. The keypad can encrypt both deciphered card data and a received user PIN. The card data and the PIN are usable by the machine to authorize a user to carry out a financial transfer involving the account. |
| US09373113B2 |
Payment terminal sharing
Methods, systems, and computer program products for payment terminal sharing. A payment terminal is configured to become usable as a payment terminal shared by a plurality of operators with cryptographic segregation between the different operators of the payment terminal. An operator- and terminal-specific transport key is provided to the payment terminal. An operator- and terminal-specific initial-encryption key is derived, by the payment provider, from an operator-specific base-derivation key using the terminal-identification number, or an additional identification number of the payment terminal. The operator- and terminal-specific initial-encryption key is transmitted to the payment terminal, and is decrypted at the payment terminal. An operator- and transaction-specific encryption key is derived, both at the payment provider and the payment terminal, from the operator- and terminal-specific initial-encryption key using a transaction-specific number associated with this transaction, when performing a transaction with the payment terminal. |
| US09373109B2 |
Helping customers select a checkout lane with relative low congestion
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for helping customers select lesser congested checkout lanes. A cashier can adjust a user-interface control to indicate customer congestion at his or her checkout lane. The indicated customer congestion is combined with indicated customer congestions for other checkout lanes (which may be more or less congested). The combined indicated customer congestions are used to form a lane congestion report for a physical store location. The lane congestion report can be sent to and presented at customer mobile devices at or near the physical store location. Customers can use the information presented in the lane congestion report to select a lesser congested checkout lane. |
| US09373097B2 |
Mobile access control system with geo-tagging
A system and method for tracking passengers during travel events and generating alerts if rules for those travel events are violated includes readers, which are installed in vehicles and obtain location data from one or more positioning systems. As passengers enter or exit the vehicles, the passengers swipe access cards in the readers. The readers then tag passenger identity information with the obtained location data. This information is then transmitted to a monitoring system, which generates rules for each of the travel event of the passengers. During the travel events, the received location data and time information is analyzed and to determine if any of the vehicles are violating the generated rules. The monitoring system generates alerts if any of the generated rules are violated. |
| US09373095B2 |
Method of controlling component for network system
Provided is a method of controlling a component for a network system. The method of controlling the component for the network system includes recognizing low-price period or high-price period information, recognizing a scheduled operation time including a scheduled operation start time of the component, determining whether a change condition of the scheduled operation time is satisfied, and changing the scheduled operation time when the change condition is satisfied and operating the component at the changed scheduled operation time. |
| US09373093B2 |
Gateway service manager for business object applications
A system includes a backend server with business applications within a business object processing framework. The business object processing framework includes a framework data format. The system also includes a generic gateway service manager coupled to the business object processing framework, and a gateway coupled to the generic gateway service manager. The gateway includes a gateway data format, and the generic gateway service manager is positioned between the business object processing framework and the gateway. The generic gateway service manager is configured to retrieve the framework data format from the business object processing format and store the framework data format in the gateway. The gateway is configured to transfer data between the business object processing framework and a user interface using the framework data format stored in the gateway. |
| US09373090B2 |
Work-item notification classifier
Embodiments of the present invention provide a system, method, and program product for predicting the classification of a work-item notification generated by an issue tracking system. A computing device analyzes a new work-item notification using a trained binary classifier that was trained using at least a past and/or current work-item history that was collected as a tuple that includes information reflecting the workitem-ID, actor, timestamp, attribute, work-item start-value, and work-item end-value. The computing device, in response to analyzing the new work-item notification, predicts a classification of the new work-item notification. In an embodiment, the classification is used for display of the new work-item notification. |
| US09373086B1 |
Crowdsource reasoning process to facilitate question answering
Mechanisms are provided, in association with a Question and Answer (QA) system, for implementing corpus identified reasoning when evaluating questions. An input question is received and an answer to the input question and supporting evidence for the answer are determined based on an evaluation of a corpus of information. The supporting evidence is analyzed to identify reasoning criteria specifying a reason as to why the answer is considered to be a correct answer by a provider of the supporting evidence. Rules are generated based on the identified reasoning criteria with the rules correlating the answer with the identified reasoning criteria and features of the input question. The rules are stored as entries in a reasoning data structure a subsequent question is processed based on the reasoning data structure. |
| US09373080B1 |
Using historical accuracy of user decision making to improve accuracy of predictive modeling based automatic classification
A plurality of user made decisions concerning unknown data objects are received from a plurality of users. Each specific user made decision concerns a specific unknown data object made by a specific user, wherein the specific decision could not be made automatically with a sufficient level of confidence without user input. Accuracy of the received user made decisions is automatically determined, as empirical data determinative of the accuracy of the decisions becomes available over time. User weights are automatically dynamically calculated, based on the determined accuracy of decisions made by associated users. Multiple user made decisions received from multiple users concerning a specific unknown data object are aggregated, taking into account the user weights. A definitive decision concerning the specific unknown data object is automatically made without prompting any user for confirmation, based on the aggregating of the user made decisions concerning the specific unknown data object. |
| US09373078B1 |
Methods and systems for predictive alerting
Systems and methods to provide predictive alerting are disclosed. Trends and characteristics in the data may be identified in advance of actual occurrence, with an expected event being predicted or extrapolated based on data and a predictive model associated with stored and/or incoming data. This may be done by, for example, developing a set of rules associated with the model that may then be used to trigger predictive alerts based on predicted trends. Various data and associated characteristics may be determined based on past data and/or analogous data taken from similarly modeled systems. For example, seasonal trends may be factored into the model so that a prediction is based on both a received set of data and expected seasonal (or other temporal) trends. Various other characteristics may also be used in the predictive model. |
| US09373077B1 |
System and method for identifying constraint solver calls
The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method for electronic design simulation. The method may include providing, using at least one computing device, an electronic design. The method may also include associating, using the at least one computing device, an identifier with each constraint solver call utilized in a simulation of the electronic design. The method may also include generating, using the at least one computing device, an application programming interface configured to allow a user to navigate through electronic design simulation results based upon, at least in part, the identifier associated with each constraint solver call. |
| US09373076B1 |
Systems and methods for building and using social networks in image analysis
Computer-implemented systems and methods for identifying an object in an image are provided. In one example, the method includes identifying a first object related to an electronic image. The image includes at least a second object. Based at least in part on the identity of the first object, social networking information related to the first object is used to programmatically identify the second object. The first object and/or the second object may be a person. In some embodiments, metadata associated with the image may be used to identify the second object. Based at least in part on the identifications, social networking information may be associated between the first object and the second object. |
| US09373072B2 |
Antenna, method of manufacturing the antenna, and wireless IC device
An antenna includes first and second radiation portions including one lead wire that is folded back into a loop shape to define a folded-back portion and that includes a first power feed portion at a first end and a second power feed portion at a second end. The lead wire portion extending toward the folded-back portion and the lead wire portion extending through the folded-back portion are close enough to each other near each of the first and second power feed portions in the first and second radiation portions, respectively, to be electromagnetically coupled to each other. The power feed portions of the antenna are coupled to a wireless IC chip. The power feed portions may be coupled to a feed circuit in a feed circuit board coupled to a wireless IC. |
| US09373064B2 |
Ink jet printing apparatus, ink jet printing method, and image processing apparatus
An ink jet printing apparatus and an ink jet printing method capable of suppressing the occurrence of the texture or the feeling of granularity at a joint part even in the case where a thinning ratio in a boundary region is adjusted in order to reduce a joint streak are provided. To achieve such purposes, one dot arrangement pattern is set from a plurality of dot arrangement patterns for each pixel in accordance with a gradation level and a position on a printing medium. At this time, in a pixel region located at the joint part, a second dot arrangement pattern whose number of dots is different from a first dot arrangement pattern, which is set in the pixel region located at a part other than the joint part, is arranged so that low frequency components are less than high frequency components. |
| US09373063B2 |
Establishing ink usage of process channels
Systems and methods for establishing ink usage of process channels are provided. Separation curves are generated that determine how multiple ink channels are used to render a corresponding process channel of an image. The separation curves are generated using process values and density measurements or estimations. A PVR curve is established to identify target densities. When a combination of ink channels are used, the model is accessed based on one of the ink channels to determine a contribution of the other ink channel to achieve the target density. Each ink channel has a corresponding curve and all of the curves collectively provide a smooth and predictable progression from zero coverage to full coverage for the ink channels. |
| US09373062B2 |
Printing apparatus and printing method
A printer and printing control method to enable print data received from a host computer to be selectively deleted without modifying the host computer or application. A data receiving unit 100 receives print data from a host computer 40. A deletion line parameter unit 81 sets the number of deletion lines that are to be deleted from the received print data. A print data deletion unit 87 deletes the print data corresponding to the deletion lines set by the deletion line parameter unit 81. A printing unit 120 then prints a receipt using the actual (i.e., corrected) print data, which is the received print data remaining after deletion of the selected deletion lines by the print data deletion unit 87. |
| US09373061B2 |
Non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, computing device, and display method of user interface of printer driver
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a printer driver includes a printer driver core component and a print setup user interface component. The print setup user interface component causes the computing device to control a display section to display one or more setup user interface portions by determining whether a setup user interface portion designated by designation information obtained from the printer driver core component is implemented in the print setup user interface component; in response to determining that the designated setup user interface portion is not implemented, searching for a compatible setup user interface portion; and in response to determining that the designated or compatible setup user interface portion is implemented, controlling the display section to display the designated or compatible setup user interface portion. |
| US09373059B1 |
Systems and methods for applying a convolutional network to spatial data
Systems and methods for test object classification are provided in which the test object is docked with a target object in a plurality of different poses to form voxel maps. The maps are vectorized and fed into a convolutional neural network comprising an input layer, a plurality of individually weighted convolutional layers, and an output scorer. The convolutional layers include initial and final layers. Responsive to vectorized input, the input layer feeds values into the initial convolutional layer. Each respective convolutional layer, other than the final convolutional layer, feeds intermediate values as a function of the weights and input values of the respective layer into another of the convolutional layers. The final convolutional layer feeds values into one or more fully connected layers as a function of the final layer weights and input values. The one or more full connected layers feed values into the scorer which scores each input vector to thereby classify the test object. |
| US09373058B2 |
Scene understanding using a neurosynaptic system
Embodiments of the invention provide a method for scene understanding based on a sequence of image frames. The method comprises converting each pixel of each image frame to neural spikes, and extracting features from the sequence of image frames by processing neural spikes corresponding to pixels of the sequence of image frames. The method further comprises encoding the extracted features as neural spikes, and classifying the extracted features. |
| US09373057B1 |
Training a neural network to detect objects in images
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for training a neural network to detect object in images. One of the methods includes receiving a training image and object location data for the training image; providing the training image to a neural network and obtaining bounding box data for the training image from the neural network, wherein the bounding box data comprises data defining a plurality of candidate bounding boxes in the training image and a respective confidence score for each candidate bounding box in the training image; determining an optimal set of assignments using the object location data for the training image and the bounding box data for the training image, wherein the optimal set of assignments assigns a respective candidate bounding box to each of the object locations; and training the neural network on the training image using the optimal set of assignments. |
| US09373053B2 |
Image processor with edge selection functionality
An image processing system comprises an image processor configured to perform an edge detection operation on a first image to obtain a second image, to identify particular edges of the second image that exhibit at least a specified reliability, and to generate a third image comprising the particular edges and excluding other edges of the second image. By way of example only, in a given embodiment the first image may comprise a depth image generated by a depth imager, the second image may comprise an edge image generated by applying the edge detection operation to the depth image, and the third image may comprise a modified edge image having only the particular edges that exhibit at least the specified reliability. |
| US09373051B2 |
Statistical approach to identifying and tracking targets within captured image data
A facility implementing systems and/or methods for creating statistically significant signatures for targets of interest and using those signatures to identify and locate targets of interest within image data, such as an array of pixels, captured still images, video data, etc., is described. Embodiments of the facility generate statistically significant signatures based at least in part on series approximations (e.g., Fourier Series, Gram-Charlier Series) of image data. The disclosed techniques allow for a high degree of confidence in identifying and tracking targets of interest within visual data and are highly tolerant of translation and rotation in identifying objects using the statistically significant signatures. |
| US09373049B1 |
Straight line gesture recognition and rendering
Techniques for determining whether touch-input gestures approximate straight lines and for animating a display with such gestures are described. Some techniques receive a gesture input through a display, define an oriented bounding box for the gesture, and determine whether the gesture approximates a straight line based on an amount of the gesture that is contained within the oriented bounding box. Other techniques determine a linear regression line for pixel locations comprising a gesture, determine distances of the pixel locations from the linear regression line, and render the set of pixel locations to the display based on the distances and a threshold. Further techniques record a gesture input through a display, determine a sequence of frame updates for the gesture, each frame update including a part of the gesture, and provide the frame updates for sequential updating of the display to effect an animation of the gesture on the display. |
| US09373046B2 |
Detection system for color blind drivers
A detection system for vehicle operation according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure includes, among other things, at least one camera operable to generate an image and a display unit operable to communicate information on a display. A controller is coupled to the at least one camera. The controller is configured to command the display unit to communicate the information in response to detecting data within the image corresponding to visible light emitted in at least one predetermined frequency range. A controller and a method of detecting a traffic device are also disclosed. |
| US09373044B2 |
Trailer lane departure warning system
A lane departure warning system has a trailer detector for detecting that a trailer is attached to a vehicle, a lane boundary detector for detecting a position of a lane boundary on a roadway over which the vehicle is travelling, and an information processor including a calibrator for generating calibration parameters used in determining an unintended lane departure event with respect to the lane boundary. The information processor initiates a process for allowing an operator to provide trailer width information when the trailer detector indicates that the vehicle is towing a trailer. The lane departure warning system also includes a sensor for detecting a hitch angle between the vehicle and the trailer. A controller determines a lateral offset of the trailer relative to the vehicle based on the hitch angle and a length of the trailer for generating a warning signal when the lateral offset crosses the lane boundary. |
| US09373043B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting road partition
A method and an apparatus are used for detecting a road partition, the method comprising: a step of obtaining a disparity top view having a road area; and a step of detecting parallel lines as the road partitions from the disparity top view. |
| US09373036B1 |
Collaborative distance metric learning for method and apparatus visual tracking
A collaborative distance metric leaning method and apparatus for visual tracking utilizes a distance metric to match the target with the best candidate. A collaborative distance metric learning algorithm is used for visual tracking by fusing two distance metrics learnt for different representations of the target. To further improve the performance of the trained distance metrics, a sample selection mechanism is also used that exploits the intrinsic structure of dense sampling. |
| US09373035B2 |
Image capturing method for image recognition and system thereof
An image capturing method includes providing at least three image capturing devices arranged along a same direction and an image processor, the at least three image capturing devices capturing at least three first images, determining a target object in the at least three first images, activating a first pair of image capturing devices of the at least three image capturing devices according to shooting angles of the target object in the at least three first images in order to capture a first pair of motion images, and the image processor performing image recognition to the target object of the first pair of motion images. |
| US09373027B2 |
Object detection device
It's an object of the invention to provide an object detection device capable of detecting an object for detection in an input image with high precision. In an object detection device 1, a detection window setting unit 11 receives a photographic image 21 photographed by a camera. The detection window setting unit 11 sets a detection window area in the photographic image 21 and generates a normal window image 22 by cutting out the detection window area from the photographic image 21. An image processing unit 12 performs image processing such as enlargement and reduction, etc. on the photographic image 21. Each modified window images 23 is cut out from each of the enlarged photographic image 21 and the reduced photographic image 21. A degree calculation unit 13 calculates matching rates indicating a possibility the object for detection in the window image for each window images on the basis of feature data 51 indicating a feature of the object for detection. A determination unit 14 determines whether or not the detection object is present in the detection window area on the basis of the matching rates of each window image. |
| US09373023B2 |
Method and apparatus for robustly collecting facial, ocular, and iris images using a single sensor
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for standoff facial and ocular acquisition. Embodiments of the invention address the problems of atmospheric turbulence, defocus, and field of view in a way that minimizes the need for additional hardware. One embodiment of a system for acquiring an image of a facial feature of a subject includes a single wide field of view sensor configured to acquire a plurality of images over a large depth of field containing the subject and a post processor coupled to the single sensor and configured to synthesize the image of the facial feature from the plurality of images. |
| US09373022B2 |
Image processing apparatus, method of processing image, and computer-readable storage medium
A method of processing an image involves detecting a face from a first image; determining a composition of the first image; selecting a composition of a second image according to the composition of the first image; and generating the second image including the face by trimming the first image, according to the composition of the second image. |
| US09373019B2 |
Passive light-based data communication
Techniques are disclosed for light-based communication using a passive light-reflective device having specially coded reflective or printed optics. The optics can be mounted to an object and configured to reflect light such that a receiver is able to receive the reflected light. The optics are further configured to alternatively display a number of different patterns that change as the receiver moves with respect to the optics, thus causing the receiver to receive an apparent stream of modulated light, which represents coded information that can be decoded into meaningful information. The optics can be mounted to a traffic control or other roadside device. As a vehicle approaches and passes the traffic control device, light reflects off of the optics in a series of patterns. This reflected light can be received by the vehicle and processed to relay the information to the operator or on-board vehicle system. |
| US09373017B2 |
Scanning system
A scanning system has a collimated light source and a movable reflective surface. The surface receives light from the light source, reflects the received light to a target surface, receives light reflected from the target surface, and reflects this light to a detector. An aperture disposed between the reflective surface and the target surface has a non-transmissive portion with a width in a direction perpendicular to the laser scan direction that varies over the scan direction. |
| US09373015B2 |
Asset verification and tagging
A method for managing mobile assets includes initially certifying a physical existence and location of a mobile asset. The certifying includes receiving certification information about the location and data representing the physical existence of the mobile asset into a database. After certification, interrogation information is received into the database. The interrogation information includes read information from an electronically readable tag associated with the mobile asset, user-entered information about at least one of an instant location of the mobile asset and user-entered data representing the physical existence of the mobile asset, and geolocation information of the reader. At least one of the instant location and the user-entered data representing the physical existence of the mobile asset is validated by cross-referencing the certification information and the interrogation information to identify any discrepancies. The absence of discrepancies indicates a positive validation and the presence of any discrepancies indicates a negative validation. |
| US09373010B1 |
Passive RFID tag coil alignment and communication
A passive tag embedded in a package includes multiple conductive coils. A first coil receives radio frequency (RF) energy used to power the tag. Additional coils receive and/or transmit data signals, clock signals, and carrier signals. The RF energy and other signals may be at different frequencies. An RF probe includes a first coil to emit the RF energy to power the tag. The RF probe includes additional coils corresponding to the additional coils in the tag. The RF probe may turn off the RF signal used for power during communication. The RF energy may be rectified to provide DC power to circuits in the tag, or may be used directly for adiabatic circuits. The RF probe and the package may have complementary shapes to facilitate alignment of the coils. |
| US09373009B2 |
Tag clusters for silent tags
Tags may be grouped into a tag cluster to be represented by a master tag. Tag transmission reports may be received from one or more tag readers that receive wireless transmissions from a plurality of tags. Tag IDs corresponding to each tag of the plurality of tags in the tag transmission reports may be determined. A plurality of the tag IDs may be grouped into a tag cluster and one of the tag IDs may be selected as a master tag ID to represent the tag cluster. A control command may be transmitted to each tag of the tag cluster except for the master tag. The control command may instruct each tag of the tag cluster except the master tag to stop broadcasting wireless transmissions. The tags in the tag cluster will be represented by the master tag. |
| US09373007B2 |
Low-cost capacitive sensing decoder
A low-cost system comprising a pattern arranged to encode information and a decoder for decoding the information encoded in the pattern is described. In particular, the mechanism employs a capacitive sensing technique. Electrodes are arranged (or stimulated, during operation) to each generate an electric field, and sense disturbances on the electric field caused by the pattern when the pattern is positioned over the electrodes. The spatial arrangement of the pattern allows information to be encoded on a strip or surface and decoded by capacitive sensors arranged to detect disturbances caused by possible patterns. The resulting solution is cheaper and less complex than optical solutions, e.g., barcodes and optical barcode readers. The mechanism may be used in a glucose meter for encoding and decoding an identifier for distinguishing batches of glucose meter test strips. |
| US09373006B2 |
Card payment system
In one example embodiment, a card payment apparatus includes a member having a magnetic strip reader configured to read account information from a magnetic strip of a first payment card and an integrated chip (IC) reader configured to read account information from an IC chip of a second payment card; a sliding face configured to allow the first payment card to slide thereon, when the magnetic strip reader reads the account information from the magnetic strip; and a card receptacle configured to receive the second payment card, when the IC reader reads the account information from the IC chip. |
| US09373001B2 |
Distributed encryption and access control scheme in a cloud environment
System, computer readable medium and method for decryption. The method may include receiving, by a third computerized system and from a fourth computerized system, a first encrypted file entity key and signed access metadata. The first encrypted file entity key is created by encrypting a file entity key by a first computerized system using an encryption key of a second computerized system. The signed access metadata is signed by the file entity key. The encrypted file entity is created by encrypting a file entity by the first computerized system using the file entity key. Sending, by the third computerized system, the signed access metadata and the first encrypted file entity key to the second computerized system. Receiving a response from the second computerized system. Determining, based on the response from the second computerized system, whether to facilitate a decryption of the encrypted file entity by the fourth computerized entity. |
| US09373000B1 |
Selective physical world correlation of virtual world interactions
Techniques described herein relate to facilitating interaction in the physical world, after initial interaction has occurred within the virtual world, while also maintaining at least a degree of privacy, anonymity, safety, and/or deniability for the physical world parties. This may be accomplished, according to some example embodiments, by the exchange of one or more self-identifiers between virtual world personas, each of which is defined by its sending physical world party but that lacks any personal identification information associated with the sending party. Content of a self-identifier may only be known to the sending physical world party, at least until the receiving party is authorized and/or consents to view or display the self-identifier in a manner that may be perceived by the sending party. A sending party that perceives their own self-identifier, as displayed by a receiving party, may correlate the receiving party with a virtual world persona to which the self-identifier was sent. |
| US09372999B2 |
Method and system for child authentication
Methods and systems for child authentication are described. In one embodiment, a communication enablement request may be received to enable electronic communications between a first child and a second child. A confirmation acceptance code may be electronically generated. The confirmation acceptance code may be associated with the first child and the second child. The confirmation acceptance code may be received from a parental representative of the second child. The electronic communication may be enabled between the first child and the second child based on the receiving of the confirmation acceptance code from the parental representative of the second child. Additional methods and systems are disclosed. |
| US09372996B2 |
Protecting data owned by an operating system in a multi-operating system mobile environment
An approach is provided for protecting data owned by an operating system on a mobile computing device having multiple operating systems. A map specifying protected data regions for the operating systems on the mobile computing device is generated. At least a portion of the map is secured with a shared key. Based on the map and the shared key, and in response to a data cleanup activity being performed by a software utility being executed on another, currently running operating system included in the multiple operating systems, a data region included in the protected data regions is determined to be owned by the operating system. Based on the data region being owned by the operating system and the data region being specified by the map, the data cleanup activity is blocked from being performed on the data region owned by the operating system. |
| US09372995B2 |
Vulnerability countermeasure device and vulnerability countermeasure method
A vulnerability countermeasure device stores configuration information associating multiple computers connected via a network and software possessed by each computer, vulnerability information associating the software with information related to the vulnerability of the software, and countermeasure policy information associating the software with a countermeasure policy to be executed if there is a vulnerability in the software; calculates the computer that data will reach based on information related to a route of the data included in the data received from a used terminal; acquires software existing in the computer based on the calculated computer and configuration information; assesses whether or not there is a vulnerability in the acquired software based on the acquired software and the vulnerability information; and is provided with countermeasure unit for executing a countermeasure to a vulnerability in accordance with a countermeasure policy with respect to the software assessed to have the vulnerability. |
| US09372992B1 |
Ensuring integrity of a software package installer
A method comprises capturing a first state of a computer prior to installing a software package on the computer; using an installer to install the software package on the computer; capturing a second state of the computer after installation of the software package; and identifying file differences between the first and second states to ensure integrity of the installation. |
| US09372989B2 |
Robust malware detector
A system, method and computer readable medium for detecting and diffusing malware on a computer. Malware is analyzed to generate signatures and determine a fixing moment. All of the system calls of the operating system of a client computer are hooked and processed without emulation or the need for unpackers or decrypters, and a multi-level filter removes all system calls that are not associated with malware. The resulting system calls are accumulated on a per-thread basis and scanned, and the relevant threads are compared with the signatures to match with malware. The threads associated with malware are addressed at the fixing moment before the malware can operate to cause undesirable effects on the client computer. |
| US09372988B2 |
User controllable platform-level trigger to set policy for protecting platform from malware
Embodiments of systems, apparatuses, and methods to protect data stored in a storage system of a device from malware alternation are described. In some embodiments, a system receives an indication that the data is to be protected. In addition, the system further triggers an interrupt of the device and secures the data from the malware alternation. |
| US09372987B1 |
Apparatus and method for masking a real user controlling synthetic identities
A machine has a processor and a memory storing instructions executed by the processor to issue a challenge in response to a first request, evaluate a response to the challenge to establish confirmation that the first request originated from a human user, issue a user identification in response to the confirmation, store the user identification with encrypted identity data, receive a second request that includes the user identification, and return the encrypted identity data in response to the second request. |
| US09372986B1 |
Selective password synchronization
A mechanism is provided for selective password synchronization. An indication is received that a password is to be changed for an account in a plurality of accounts associated with an individual, where the indication includes a new password. Responsive to receiving the indication of the password change, the account is grouped with one or more other accounts in the plurality of accounts thereby forming a first subset of accounts, where grouping the account with the one or more other accounts in the plurality of accounts excludes at least one account in the plurality of accounts thereby forming a second subset of accounts. The new password is propagated to the first subset of accounts according to a first policy. The new password is propagated to a second subset of accounts of the plurality of accounts according to a second policy, where the second policy is different from the first policy. |
| US09372978B2 |
Device, method, and graphical user interface for accessing an application in a locked device
A device with a touch sensitive display and a plurality of applications, including a camera application, while the device is in a locked, passcode-protected state: displays a lock screen interface, the lock screen interface including a camera access indicia; detects a gesture; in response to a determination that the gesture starts on the camera access indicia: ceases to display the lock screen interface; starts a restricted session for the camera application; displays an interface for the camera application, without displaying a passcode entry interface; and maintains the device in the locked, passcode-protected state for the applications other than the camera application; and in response to a determination that the gesture starts at a location other than the camera access indicia: displays a passcode entry interface, wherein in response to entry of a correct passcode in the passcode entry interface, the device enters an unlocked state. |
| US09372975B2 |
Secure recording and sharing system of voice memo
According to an aspect of an embodiment, a system for secure recording and sharing of audio data includes a communication interface, a registration module, a microphone, an encryption engine, and a storage device. The registration module is configured to register an attendee device associated with an attendee for a meeting. The microphone is configured to convert sound generated at the meeting to audio data representing the sound. The encryption engine is configured to encrypt the audio data. The storage device is configured to store and associate the encrypted audio data with the attendee device for subsequent access by the attendee. |
| US09372974B2 |
CAPTCHA challenge incorporating obfuscated characters
A method for determining if a user of a computer system is a human. A processor receives an indication that a computer security program is needed and acquires at least one image depicting a first string of characters including at least a first and second set of one or more characters. A processor assigns a substitute character to be used as input for each of the second set of one or more characters. A processor presents the at least one image and an indication of the substitute character and when to use the substitute character to the user. A processor receives a second string of characters from the user. A processor determines whether the second string of characters substantially matches the first string of characters based on the substitute character assigned to each of the second set of one or more characters and determines whether the user is a human. |
| US09372970B2 |
Gesture entry techniques
Techniques are provided for entering and saving a gesture on a touch-sensitive display device. In one embodiment, the device displays an array of visible graphical elements and may detect a gesture based on a user's touch of the visible graphical elements as well as on hidden areas not displayed to the user. For example, the device may detect a user's touch over hidden dots between the visible graphical elements or through hidden lines connecting the visible graphical elements. Some embodiments may include algorithms for improving accuracy in detecting the intended gesture. For example, the device may estimate possible or probable paths based on a current user touch position. In some embodiments, the visible graphical elements may be illuminated when a touch of the visible graphical elements is detected, or a disc representing a user's touch may be displayed as the user enters a gesture. |
| US09372966B2 |
Method and system for resolving a naming conflict
A method and a system for naming-conflict-free integration of software components originating from software component manufacturers (OEM), comprising software development devices from different software component manufacturers (OEM) that manufacture and encrypt software components with the respective cryptographic key, wherein when a naming conflict occurs during the integration of encrypted software components, at least one of the encrypted software components in which the naming conflict occurred is expanded by a naming conflict resolution rule to thereby allows for the resolution of naming conflicts in encrypted software components that can originate from different software component manufacturers without the source code of the software components becoming visible to third parties. |
| US09372962B2 |
Systems and methods for identifying drug targets using biological networks
Certain embodiments of the invention may include systems and methods for identifying drug targets using biological networks. According to an example embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for predicting the effects of drug targets on treating a disease. The method can include constructing a structure of a Bayesian network based at least in part on knowledge of drug inhibiting effects on a disease; associating a set of parameters with the constructed Bayesian network; determining values of a joint probability distribution of the Bayesian network via an automatic procedure; deriving a mean Bayesian network with one or more averaged parameters based at least in part on the joint probability values; and calculating a quantitative prediction based at least in part on the mean Bayesian network. |
| US09372961B1 |
Pharmaceutical verification camera system and method
A pharmaceutical verification (PV) camera system that captures an image of the contents of a vial on an automated dispensing line is closed. Faster image processing time is achieved by utilizing a learning algorithm that stores camera parameters for a successful image associated with data for a prescription processed on the automated dispensing line. During processing of a prescription order, when the vial contents and availability of stored parameters is confirmed, the stored parameters are transmitted to the camera and an image of the vial contents is captured and stored. When a previously un-encountered or un-trained vial is detected, the camera engages the autofocus feature to capture an image. The learning algorithm evaluates the image based on feedback from one or more metric. Upon agreement with the metric standards, an image is accepted and archived and the camera parameters associated with that vial prescription are stored for later use. |
| US09372960B2 |
Medical support system and method thereof
A medical support system enables one server bidirectionally connected to one terminal to bidirectionally communicate with another server bidirectionally connected to another terminal. Each of the one server and the other server comprises: a conference processing unit configured to perform a conference between the one terminal and the other terminal; an image sharing processing unit configured to bidirectionally share an image between the one server and the other server; and a control unit configured to control the entire server over a network, wherein the control unit of the one server transmits only operation information sent from the one terminal to the control unit of the other server, and the control unit of the other server controls based on the received operation information. |
| US09372957B2 |
Three-dimensional mask model for photolithography simulation
A three-dimensional mask model of the invention provides a more realistic approximation of the three-dimensional effects of a photolithography mask with sub-wavelength features than a thin-mask model. In one embodiment, the three-dimensional mask model includes a set of filtering kernels in the spatial domain that are configured to be convolved with thin-mask transmission functions to produce a near-field image. In another embodiment, the three-dimensional mask model includes a set of correction factors in the frequency domain that are configured to be multiplied by the Fourier transform of thin-mask transmission functions to produce a near-field image. |
| US09372954B2 |
Semiconductor device design system and method
A system and method of designing a semiconductor device comprising loading a design rule manual (DRM) and a design rule check (DRC) into an electronic design tool, wherein the DRM comprises one or more design rules and the DRC comprises one or more design rule checks. Each design rule check is both associated with a corresponding design rule and configured to verify compliance with the corresponding design rule. The method further includes receiving a relevant information, wherein the relevant information comprises a layer number or a selected feature of the semiconductor device, creating, by a processor, a condensed DRM from the DRM, a condensed DRC from the DRC and displaying at least the condensed DRM or condensed DRC by a user interface. The condensed DRM is a portion of the DRM and the condensed DRC is a portion of the DRC. |
| US09372953B1 |
Increasing operating frequency of circuit designs using dynamically modified timing constraints
Processing a circuit design includes determining that an operating frequency for a first placement and routing for the circuit design does not exceed a target operating frequency, distinguishing between loop paths and feed-forward paths in the circuit design, and, responsive to determining that the operating frequency does not exceed the target operating frequency, relaxing timing constraints of the feed-forward paths using a processor. A second placement and routing is performed on the loop paths and the feed-forward paths of the circuit design. |
| US09372951B2 |
Semiconductor device design methods and conductive bump pattern enhancement methods
Semiconductor device design methods and conductive bump pattern enhancement methods are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method of designing a semiconductor device includes designing a conductive bump pattern design, and implementing a conductive bump pattern enhancement algorithm on the conductive bump pattern design to create an enhanced conductive bump pattern design. A routing pattern is designed based on the enhanced conductive bump pattern design. A design rule checking (DRC) procedure is performed on the routing pattern. |
| US09372948B1 |
Interconnect speed model characterization in programmable integrated circuits
Techniques for using a speed measurement circuit to measure speed of an integrated circuit. The speed measurement circuit includes a ring oscillator and a counter circuit. The ring oscillator includes an AND gate with an inverting input and a non-inverting input. The ring oscillator also includes a programmable interconnect point context (PIP-context) having a first programmable interconnect point (PIP), a first interconnect, a second PIP, and a second interconnect coupled in series. The ring oscillator also includes a third interconnect and a third PIP coupled in series with the PIP-context and with an inverting input of the AND gate. The counter circuit is coupled to an output of the AND gate and configured in the programmable integrated circuit. |
| US09372946B2 |
Defect injection for transistor-level fault simulation
Aspects of the invention relate to techniques of defect injection for transistor-level fault simulation. A circuit element in a circuit netlist of a circuit is first selected for defect injection. Next, a defect is determined based on whether the selected circuit element is a design-intent circuit element or a parasitic circuit element. After the defect is determined, the defect is injected into the circuit netlist and then the circuit is simulated. |
| US09372945B2 |
Method and system for modeling anomalous density zones in geophysical exploration
A method for modeling a subsurface anomalous density zone including the steps of forming a density model, computing a response to the density model, inverting the response to arrive at a geometric model of the anomalous density zone, and applying a sharpening function to boundary regions of the geometric model to distinguish between the anomalous density zone and a surrounding region. |
| US09372941B2 |
Data processing apparatus and method of processing data
Data processing apparatus comprising: a chunk store configured for containing specimen data chunks, a discrete manifest store, configured for containing at least one manifest that represents at least a part of a data set and that comprises at least one reference to at least one of said specimen data chunks, the processing apparatus being operable to process input data into input data chunks and to identify at least one manifest in the manifest store that includes at least one said reference to a said specimen data chunk corresponding to at least one of said input data chunks. |
| US09372940B2 |
Apparatus and method for determining user attention using a deep-content-classification (DCC) system
A method for determining a user attention to at least one multimedia data element (MMDE) displayed in a web-page over a user computing device. The method comprises receiving a request to determine the user attention, wherein the request includes at least the web-page and an identification of the at least one MMDE in the web-page; receiving at least one sensory signal captured by at least one sensor connected to the user computing device; querying a deep-content-classification (DCC) system to find a match between at least one concept structure and the received sensory signal; receiving a first set of metadata related to the at least one matched concept structure; analyzing the returned set of metadata to determine the user attention with respect to the at least one MMDE; and associating the at least one MMDE with the determined user attention. |
| US09372939B2 |
Internet based system and apparatus for paying users to view content and receiving micropayments
An Internet service is configured to provide information to a user of the service in ranked order according to demographic profile information about the user provided by the user. Such information might include advertising information and/or search results (e.g., rendered as hyperlinks) to search queries posed by the user. The information may be returned in a ranked order according to reward credits offered by advertisers and/or content providers associated with the advertising information and/or web sites represented by the search results. A process for verifying whether or not an Internet operation (e.g., sending an e-mail message or accessing a web site) is being attempted by a human being or an automated process may be incorporated with the service by using a quiz process that requires user interaction. |
| US09372928B2 |
System and method for parallel search on explicitly represented graphs
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for partitioning a graph representing customer purchases to facilitate parallel computations. During operation, the system initially receives graph data indicating vertices and edges of the graph, wherein the vertices represent customers and products and the edges represent purchases. Next, the system partitions edges of the graph to generate a partitioned graph such that each edge of the graph is a member of a respective partition. The system may then perform parallel computations on the graph data in one or more partitions to determine product recommendations. |
| US09372923B2 |
Systems and methods for analyzing documents
Systems and methods are provided for analyzing documents. In one implementation, a computer implemented method is provided for analyzing a patent application and providing a visual representation. According to the method, a selection is received from a user to view claims of the patent application in a claim tree hierarchy and a computer displays the claims in the claim tree hierarchy on a display. The claim tree hierarchy visually depicts relationships between the claims. The method identifies one or more words of at least one of the claims that constitutes an element and displays, in the claim tree hierarchy, the words constituting the element in association with the claim. |
| US09372922B2 |
Data consolidation mechanisms for internet of things integration platform
A method of consolidating Internet of Things (IoT) devices connected via an IoT network is disclosed. The method includes extracting a first data record from a data source connected to the IoT integration platform; analyzing the first data record to generate a derivative record relevant to a user context; aggregating the first data record and the derivative record to a contextually grouped data cluster; and presenting the derivative record on an integration interface along with other data records in the data cluster. |
| US09372921B2 |
Method and device for publishing cross-network user behavioral data
The present invention relates to summarizing cross-network user behavioral data. The summarizing cross-network user behavioral data may particularly include publishing the data to one or more data structures that become accessible to a server hosting an authorized domain when a user accesses the authorized domain. |
| US09372920B2 |
Identifying textual terms in response to a visual query
A method, system, and computer readable storage medium is provided for identifying textual terms in response to a visual query is provided. A server system receives a visual query from a client system. The visual query is responded to as follows. A set of image feature values for the visual query is generated. The set of image feature values is mapped to a plurality of textual terms, including a weight for each of the textual terms in the plurality of textual terms. The textual terms are ranked in accordance with the weights of the textual terms. Then, in accordance with the ranking the textual terms, one or more of the ranked textual terms are sent to the client system. |
| US09372918B2 |
Universal data relationship inference engine
While a user is viewing content on a computer display, the universal data relationship inference engine presents related information from disparate data sources. A normalized index is maintained that indexes content to a set of standard taxonomy terms. The inference engine parses content being viewed by the user. If the content includes tags for some of the standard taxonomy terms, then the system may provide the user with the ability to view the related content that is indexed by the normalized index. If there are not taxonomy tags then the system may attempt to recognize non-standard taxonomy terms in the content in order to provide the user with related content. The inference engine may also identify related content by identifying synonyms to the taxonomy terms. |
| US09372917B1 |
Advanced logistics analysis capabilities environment
The different advantageous embodiments provide a system for modeling supply chain networks comprising a model manager, a node manager, a pipeline manager, a requisitions manager, and a supply control manager. The model manager is configured to initialize a model. The node manager is configured to initialize a number of nodes within the model. The pipeline manager is configured to generate a number of pipeline data objects describing supply chain relationships between a number of nodes. The requisitions manager is configured to generate and receive requests for supplies. The supply control manager is configured to send and receive supplies according to requests for supplies. |
| US09372915B2 |
System and method for probabilistic relational clustering
Relational clustering has attracted more and more attention due to its phenomenal impact in various important applications which involve multi-type interrelated data objects, such as Web mining, search marketing, bioinformatics, citation analysis, and epidemiology. A probabilistic model is presented for relational clustering, which also provides a principal framework to unify various important clustering tasks including traditional attributes-based clustering, semi-supervised clustering, co-clustering and graph clustering. The model seeks to identify cluster structures for each type of data objects and interaction patterns between different types of objects. Under this model, parametric hard and soft relational clustering algorithms are provided under a large number of exponential family distributions. The algorithms are applicable to relational data of various structures and at the same time unify a number of state-of-the-art clustering algorithms: co-clustering algorithms, the k-partite graph clustering, and semi-supervised clustering based on hidden Markov random fields. |
| US09372913B2 |
Apparatus and method for harmonizing data along inferred hierarchical dimensions
A server includes a data processing module with executable instructions executed by a processor to produce a first inferred data type from first received data and a second inferred data type from second received data. The first inferred data type is utilized to augment the first received data with computed values that aggregate the first received data along a first hierarchical dimension. The second inferred data type is utilized to augment the second received data with computed values that aggregate the second received data along a second hierarchical dimension. The first hierarchical dimension and the second hierarchical dimension are harmonized to a lowest common unit value. A first visualization of the first received data is provided based upon the lowest common unit value. A second visualization of the second received data is provided based upon the lowest common unit value. |
| US09372912B2 |
Method, server, database and computer program for enriching comparison data of a decision making application
A method, a server, a database and a computer program product by means of which comparison data of decision making applications can be enriched so that they may be utilized in other decision making applications. An application specific default database is first defined by selecting attributes to be assessed; selecting items to be compared; linking the selected attributes to the items by default attribute values and saving the defined default database of the decision making application to a global database. From the saved default attributes of items it is then calculated global attribute values to said items. The global attributes are then saved also to the global database. A second decision making application may be converted from the global attributes by first selecting a sub-group of items from all items of the global database. Then global attributes of items of the sub-group are converted to the local attributes, whereby speeding up creation of the second decision making application. |
| US09372910B2 |
Managing remote data replication
Various systems, processes, and products may be used to manage remote data replication. In particular implementations, a system and process for managing remote data replication may include the ability to store versions of a disk at a first site, a second site, and a third site. The version of the disk at the first site may store input/output for a host system, the version at the second site may be a synchronous replication of the version at the first site, and the version at the third site may be an asynchronous replication of the version at the first site. The system and process may also include the ability to synchronize the version at the first site with the version at the third site if the second site is unavailable and synchronize the version at the second site with the version at the third site if the first site is unavailable. |
| US09372904B2 |
Data compass
A system contains at least one load server that receives subscriber files including encrypted and unencrypted data from a vendor server connected to a subscriber network. The load server includes a load server processor that sorts the encrypted files to a decryption route and the unencrypted files to a direct loading route. The decryption route includes a decryption module that decrypts the encrypted files. The data warehouse includes at least one data warehouse processor having a job tasking module that assigns dedicated load jobs to each file. The data warehouse processor includes a staging module that loads data to a staging table. The data warehouse processor loads data from the staging table to a target table and aggregates the data into a report. |
| US09372896B1 |
Reverse engineering circumvention of spam detection algorithms
A spam score is assigned to a business listing when the listing is received at a search entity. A noise function is added to the spam score such that the spam score is varied. In the event that the spam score is greater than a first threshold, the listing is identified as fraudulent and the listing is not included in (or is removed from) the group of searchable business listings. In the event that the spam score is greater than a second threshold that is less than the first threshold, the listing may be flagged for inspection. The addition of the noise to the spam scores prevents potential spammers from reverse engineering the spam detecting algorithm such that more listings that are submitted to the search entity may be identified as fraudulent and not included in the group of searchable listings. |
| US09372892B1 |
Bloom filter construction method for use in a table join operation portion of processing a query to a distributed database
A method for use in processing database queries performed on a database, having tables made up of outer table data and corresponding inner table data, distributed among storage associated with multiple nodes of a multi-threaded cluster of computers is described. The method involves constructing a Bloom filter at nodes by merging Bloom filter components on each node using different startingOffset positions for each thread and then, once the Bloom filter is complete at a node and using the complete Bloom filter as a join filter in a table join operation, without regard to Bloom filter construction occurring at others of the multiple nodes. |
| US09372881B1 |
System for identifying a correspondence between a COBOL copybook or PL/1 include file and a VSAM or sequential dataset
A computer system for matching format defining data structures with at least one data-containing structure of a group of potentially corresponding data-containing structures is disclosed. The system is made up of at least one processor, non-volatile storage, multiple data-containing structures and multiple format defining data structures. The processor will analyze attributes of at least some of the data-containing structures according to a set of validation rules to identify a set of potential candidate format defining data structures for potentially corresponding to the data-containing structures, analyze at least some of the multiple format defining data structures according to at least one of the validation rules to identify a set of candidate data-containing structures containing data elements having formats substantially corresponding to at least one of the format defining data structures, and rank the set based upon correspondence between one or more of data types or values. |
| US09372880B2 |
Reclamation of empty pages in database tables
Provided are techniques for reclamation of empty pages in database tables. In response to receiving a plurality of records for insertion into a database table, the plurality of records are inserted into one or more contiguous pages. In response to at least some of the plurality of records being deleted from the database table, the one or more contiguous pages are reclaimed by: relocating any records from the plurality of records remaining in the one or more contiguous pages and releasing the one or more contiguous pages. |
| US09372878B2 |
Analyzing social proximity of users of a digital magazine server
Connections between an online system user and one or more social networking system users maintained by various social networking systems are analyzed to determine social proximity between the online system user and social networking system users connected to the online system user via a social networking system. Social networking system users connected to the online system user via each of a plurality of social networking systems are identified. Based on a number of social networking system users connected to both the online system user and to a social networking system user connected to the online system user, a social proximity score indicating relative social “closeness” of the digital magazine server user and the social networking system user connected to the digital magazine server user is generated. |
| US09372874B2 |
Content processing apparatus, content processing method, and program
A content processing apparatus according to the present disclosure includes: a content input unit that acquires target content that is content to be processed; a content analysis unit that extracts at least one object included in the target content and feature information indicating a feature of the object, and specifies context information based on analytical information and the extracted feature information, the context information indicating contexts of the objects and including attribute information for supplementing the features of the objects, and the analytical information being information for specifying the contexts of the objects; an output control unit that calculates processing priority of each of the objects based on the context information; and a candidate process extracting unit that extracts a candidate process that is executable on the target content based on the context information and the processing priority. |
| US09372866B2 |
System and method for creating deduplicated copies of data by sending difference data between near-neighbor temporal states
Systems and methods are disclosed for using a first deduplicating store to update a second deduplicating store with information representing how data objects change over time, said method including: at a first and a second deduplicating store, for each data object, maintaining an organized arrangement of temporal structures to represent a corresponding data object over time, wherein each structure is associated with a temporal state of the data object and wherein the logical arrangement of structures is indicative of the changing temporal states of the data object; finding a temporal state that is common to and in temporal proximity to the current state of the first and second deduplicating stores; and compiling and sending a set of hash signatures for the content that has changed from the common state to the current temporal state of the first deduplicating store. |
| US09372862B2 |
Automatic resource ownership assignment system and method
A method for automatic folder ownership assignment, including ascertaining which first folders, among a first multiplicity of folders, have at least one of modify and write permissions to non-IT administration entities, adding the first folders to a list of candidates for ownership assignment, defining a second multiplicity of folders which is a subset of the first multiplicity of folders and not including the first folders and descendents and ancestors thereof, ascertaining which second folders among the second multiplicity of folders, have permissions to non-IT administration entities, adding the second folders to the candidates, defining a third multiplicity of folders, which is a subset of the second multiplicity of folders and not including the second folders and descendents and ancestors thereof, ascertaining which third folders among the third multiplicity of folders are topmost folders, adding the third folders to the candidates, and recommending possible assignment of ownership of the candidates. |
| US09372861B2 |
Identifying unstructured elements of a collaborative place in a hierarchically structured manner
Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to element identification for elements in a collaborative computing environment and provide a method, system and computer program product for identifying unstructured elements of a collaborative place in a hierarchically structured manner. In one embodiment of the invention, a method for locating an unstructured element in a collaborative computing environment can be provided. The method can include receiving a request for an unstructured element in the collaborative environment, extracting a hierarchy of unique identifiers from the request, locating a last folder referenced by the hierarchy of unique identifiers, and returning a reference to the folder as a location of the unstructured element. |
| US09372860B2 |
Method, system and device for content recommendation
A method for content recommendation for a user, wherein a song or a video is recommended to the user and a confidence measure is determined for the recommended song. The confidence measure is displayed to the user, so the user may get more confidence into the recommendation of the system. |
| US09372859B1 |
Methods, devices, and mediums for displaying information having different formats
A first document may be identified, wherein the first document may be created in a first file format. A second document may be identified, wherein the second document may be created in a second file format. A page of the first document may be linked with a page of the second document. The page of the first document may be stored with the page of the second document in a file. The page of the first document may be displayed. An input may be received selecting the page of the second document and the page of the second document may be displayed in response to the input. |
| US09372858B1 |
Systems and methods to present automated suggestions in a document
A method for providing automated suggestions in a document stored on a cloud computing service includes providing collaborators with access to the document, who may each insert suggested edits into the document. The cloud computing service provides a plurality of suggestion robots for the collaborators to activate within the document, where each suggestion robot has an associated editing objective. The cloud computing service receives a request from a first collaborator to activate a first suggestion robot and activates the robot to present to the first collaborator a plurality of suggested edits of the document according to the editing objective of the robot, where the plurality of suggested edits by the first suggestion robot are displayed with any suggested edits by the one or more collaborators, and the first collaborator may accept or reject each of the plurality of suggested edits of the robot and the collaborators. |
| US09372857B2 |
Information processing apparatus, trail collection system, information processing method, and non-transitory computer readable medium
An information processing apparatus includes a sample extracting unit, a trail information memory, a trail acquisition instructing unit, a trail accepting unit, and a trail determining unit. The sample extracting unit extracts samples from a population. The trail information memory stores information about trails. The trail acquisition instructing unit provides an instruction to acquire a trail for a sample extracted by the sample extracting unit. The trail accepting unit accepts trails. The trail determining unit determines, every time the trail accepting unit accepts a trail, whether the accepted trail is valid or invalid in accordance with the information stored in the trail information memory. If the trail determining unit determines that the accepted trail is invalid, the trail acquisition instructing unit provides again an instruction to acquire a trail. |
| US09372850B1 |
Machined book detection
A system and method for determining whether a textual work submitted for publishing is machine generated or non-machine generated by identifying and quantifying various aspects of the textual work and comparing those aspects to known works. For example, the system and method may identify aspects of a textual work, including, a relationship between the sentences within the textual work, a writing style of the author of the textual work, a grammatical structure of the sentences within the textual work, a quality of the textual work, and other aspects of the textual work. Upon determining that the textual work is machine generated the textual work may be rejected for publishing. |
| US09372848B2 |
Systems and methods for language detection
Implementations of the present disclosure are directed to a method, a system, and a computer program storage device for detecting a language in a text message. A plurality of different language detection tests are performed on a message associated with a user. Each language detection test determines a set of scores representing a likelihood that the message is in one of a plurality of different languages. One or more combinations of the score sets are provided as input to one or more distinct classifiers. Output from each of the classifiers includes a respective indication that the message is in one of the different languages. The language in the message may be identified as being the indicated language from one of the classifiers, based on a confidence score and/or an identified linguistic domain. |
| US09372846B1 |
Method for abstract syntax tree building for large-scale data analysis
A method and computer program product for an abstract syntax tree (AST) builder for faster Earley parser. The algorithm for building an AST based on an amplified LRE (Left Recursive Earley parser) technique is provided. The proposed method constructs the AST during the recognition process. The proposed method preserves enough structural information during recognition phase that allows to avoid a mapping step and to eliminate the converter module. The LRE method is used in such a way that the AST processor can produce its output working directly with LRE data structures. This important feature leads to essential performance improvement of the entire parsing process. |
| US09372845B2 |
Managing product configuration
A computer-implemented method, carried out by one or more processors, for managing product configuration files. In an embodiment, the method comprises the steps of receiving, by one or more processors, a document containing one or more annotations, wherein the one or more annotations are associated with one or more files; determining, by one or more processors, an annotation has been selected from the one or more annotations to access a particular file associated with the selected annotation; linking, by one or more processors, a storage location for the particular file associated with the selected annotation to the received document; and displaying, by one or more processors, content of the particular file associated with the selected annotation in the received document. |
| US09372844B2 |
Automatically generating a business process flow GUI using a symbolic annotation language
A method, system, and computer program product for displaying an automatically generated graphical display of a business process flow to facilitate user interaction with enterprise software applications. A compact symbolic annotation language is used in conjunction with a flow generator to automatically generate a computer renderable description of the business process flow. The method commences by defining symbols to form an alphabet to be used in the symbolic annotation language. The compact symbolic language is capable of representing rich semantics including process operations, fork operations, and join operations. Once an agent (e.g., a person, a computer agent) has captured a particular business process flow using symbols of the compact symbolic annotation language, then a computer process performs a mapping of the symbols to a markup language. The markup language can be rendered in a graphical display. The markup language can be HTML/CSS, SVG, UML, or another markup language. |
| US09372840B1 |
Method and system for accelerated transformation of content based on predictive chunking
A stored document is converted into a “web-friendly” format by dividing the conversion job into chunks. Each chunk specifies a subset of the document pages to be converted. The result of processing a chunk is a set of “web-friendly” page images. The page images are stored in a repository and are available for viewing at the client. The remaining chunks are processed in a similar manner. The perceived performance of the system is enhanced because a chunk can be processed much faster than the entire document. If the user happens to advance to a page in the document that is not yet processed, a real-time request is made to process a particular subset of pages that includes the page advanced to. |
| US09372838B2 |
Systems and methods for content extraction from mark-up language text accessible at an internet domain
Systems and methods are presented for content extraction from markup language text. The content extraction process may parse markup language text into a hierarchical data model and then apply one or more filters. Output filters may be used to make the process more versatile. The operation of the content extraction process and the one or more filters may be controlled by one or more settings set by a user, or automatically by a classifier. The classifier may automatically enter settings by classifying markup language text and entering settings based on this classification. Automatic classification may be performed by clustering unclassified markup language texts with previously classified markup language texts. |
| US09372833B2 |
Systems and methodologies for document processing and interacting with a user, providing storing of events representative of document edits relative to a document; selection of a selected set of document edits; generating presentation data responsive to said selected set of documents edits and the stored events; and providing a display presentation responsive to the presentation data
A system an method provide for user interaction document processing via event generation and processing. An underlying document is displayed and worked with (ranging from a blank document, or a presentation display of a non-blank document or an image of anything relative to which a user can make annotations that can result in a respective combined display presentation of the underlying image combined with the selected ones of the annotations). The annotations to be displayed are selected by criteria such as user, time, location, etc. A combined display presentation is generated responsive to respective display presentation data, and is associated with and representative of a specific combination view of edit events. A second version of a display presentation can be provided by selecting the events associated with a respective one or more users' annotations to form a selected set that is used to generate said display presentation data. |
| US09372828B2 |
Method and device for inputting equation
The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for inputting equations. An equation input apparatus includes a learning context recognizer for extracting learning context information regarding a learner; a target equation group extractor for generating a target equation group including target mathematical symbols based on the extracted learning context information; and a predicted equation provider for providing a predicted mathematical symbol list relating to information, input or selected from the target equation group by user command, and for reflecting an equation selected from the predicted mathematical symbol list in the input or selected information. |
| US09372826B2 |
RDMA-optimized high-performance distributed cache
For remote direct memory access (RDMA) by a client to a data record stored in a cache on a server, a hash map is received by a client from a server. The hash map includes one or more entries associated with a key for the data record stored in the cache on the server that stores a server-side remote pointer referencing the data record stored in the cache on the server. The client, using the key, looks up the server-side remote pointer for the data record from the hash map, and then performs one or more RDMA operations using the server-side remote pointer that allow the client to directly access the data record stored in the cache on the server. |
| US09372820B2 |
Network resource management system utilizing physical network identification for bridging operations
The disclosed network resource management system employs a hardware configuration management (HCM) information handling system (IHS) that may couple to a single administered IHS or to multiple administered IHSs via an administrative network. An HCM tool in the HCM IHS may generate, modify and store hardware configuration information, including physical network identifications (PNet IDs), in an HCM database and share the HCM database with the administered IHSs. The administered IHS may be a bridging IHS. A bridging tool may extract hardware configuration information, including PNet IDs, from the HCM database. The bridging tool may utilize the hardware configuration information, including PNet IDs, to enable the bridging IHS to bridge networks internal to the bridging IHS with networks external to the bridging IHS. |
| US09372819B2 |
I/O device N—port ID virtualization
An I/O device obtains multiple unique N_Port IDs (identifiers) for a NPIV N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) capable physical adapter. Fabric management routines are able to assign the multiple unique N_Port IDs to distinct fabric zones. LUNs (logical unit numbers) are able to be associated with the multiple unique N_Port IDs such the LUNs associated with unique N_Port ID do not exceed a limitation. The I/O device is able to associate different resources with different unique N_Port IDs to limit the scope of actions of one or more hosts. The I/O device is able to configure one or more LUNs by the multiple unique N_Port IDs to control access. Different unique N_Port IDs are able to be configured to have different quality of service attributes and/or different levels of security. The I/O device may include multiple independent logical partitions (LPARs) and assign each multiple unique N_Port IDs. |
| US09372818B2 |
Proactive quality of service in multi-matrix system bus
A multi-matrix bus system is disclosed that provides proactive quality of service (QoS) by propagating, as soon as possible through an arbitration node in a network transfer request path, a highest priority value coming from an upstream arbitration node or master that has a current bus request pending at the arbitration node. The bus system ensures that any last downstream arbitration node knows at any time which is the highest priority request pending in the network transfer request path from the masters that are competing to share the bus layer switches and arbitration nodes in the network transfer request path. |
| US09372817B2 |
High perfomance DMA controller for video processors
This invention for a VDMA will enable ultra HD resolution (4K) encode/decode at 30 frames per second. This invention maximizes interconnect/DDR utilization and reduces CPU intervention using virtual alignment, sub-tile optimization, transaction breakdown strategy, 4D indexing, a dedicated interface with the host and frame padding. The VDMA has separate buffers for non-determinative synchronous data transfers and determinative asynchronous data transfers. |
| US09372816B2 |
Advanced programmable interrupt controller identifier (APIC ID) assignment for a multi-core processing unit
Following a restart or a reboot of a system that includes a multi-core processor, the multi-core processor may assign each active and eligible core a unique advanced programmable interrupt controller (APIC) identifier (ID). Initialization logic may detect a state of each of the plurality of processing cores as active or inactive. The initialization logic may detect an attribute of each of the plurality of processing cores as eligible to be assigned an APIC ID or as ineligible to be assigned the APIC ID. |
| US09372812B2 |
Determining policy actions for the handling of data read/write extended page table violations
Embodiments of systems, apparatuses, and methods for determining if an instruction of a virtual machine is allowed to modify a protected memory region are described. In some embodiments, a system detects an indication of an attempt by the instruction to write to the protected memory region. In addition, the system determines if the instruction is allowed to write to the protected memory region based on a starting address and data length of the instruction. Furthermore, if the instruction is allowed to write to the protected memory region, the system updates the protected memory region with the instruction results. |
| US09372809B2 |
System and method for storing data off site
A system and method for efficiently storing data both on-site and off-site in a cloud storage system. Data read and write requests are received by a cloud data storage system. The cloud storage system has at least three data storage layers. A first high-speed layer, a second efficient storage layer, and a third off-site storage layer. The first high-speed layer stores data in raw data blocks. The second efficient storage layer divides data blocks from the first layer into data slices and eliminates duplicate data slices. The third layer stores data slices at an off-site location. |
| US09372802B2 |
Data writing method, hard disc module, and data writing system
A data writing method, a hard disc module, and a data writing system for writing data into the hard disc module are provided, wherein the hard disc module includes a plurality of memory units. The data writing method includes the following steps. A cache data is received and a data class of the cache data is determined. If the data class of the cache data belongs to a first type, the cache data is distributed and written to the memory units. If the data class of the cache data belongs to a second type, the cache data is written to one of the memory units. |
| US09372796B2 |
Optimum cache access scheme for multi endpoint atomic access in a multicore system
The MSMC (Multicore Shared Memory Controller) described is a module designed to manage traffic between multiple processor cores, other mastering peripherals or DMA, and the EMIF (External Memory InterFace) in a multicore SoC. The invention unifies all transaction sizes belonging to a slave previous to arbitrating the transactions in order to reduce the complexity of the arbitration process and to provide optimum bandwidth management among all masters. The two consecutive slots assigned per cache line access are always in the same direction for maximum access rate. |
| US09372794B2 |
Using logical block addresses with generation numbers as data fingerprints to provide cache coherency
The technique introduced here involves using a block address and a corresponding generation number as a “fingerprint” to uniquely identify a sequence of data within a given storage domain. Each block address has an associated generation number which indicates the number of times that data at that block address has been modified. This technique can be employed, for example, to maintain cache coherency among multiple storage nodes. It can also be employed to avoid sending the data to a network node over a network if it already has the data. |
| US09372790B2 |
Nonvolatile memory device having wear-leveling control and method of operating the same
A method is provided for controlling a write operation in a nonvolatile memory device to provide wear leveling, where the nonvolatile memory device includes multiple memory blocks. The method includes reading write indication information with respect to at least a selected memory block of the multiple memory blocks; determining whether a write order of data to be stored in the selected memory block is an ascending order or a descending order, based on the write indication information of the selected memory block; and generating addresses of memory regions in the selected memory block in an ascending order when the write order of the data is determined to be an ascending order, and generating addresses of the memory regions in the selected memory block in a descending order when the write order is determined to be a descending order. |
| US09372778B1 |
Collaborative based caching
A computer-implemented method for collaborative caching of files during a collaboration session includes receiving a request from a first electronic device for a first file. The method determines whether the first file is stored in one or more caches, wherein the one or more caches are associated with one or more electronic devices. Responsive to determining the first file is stored in a cache of a second electronic device, the method determines whether the first file stored in the cache of the second electronic device meets a set of guidelines. Responsive to determining the first file stored in the cache of the second electronic device meets the set of guidelines, the method sends the first file from the cache of the second electronic device via an internal network to the first electronic device. |
| US09372771B1 |
Method of grouping embedded memories for testing
A method of ganging memories in an Integrated Circuit (IC) design identifies a first subset of a first set of the memories that have word counts in a common power of two range, a common count of memory blocks, and a common column multiplexing factor, a first memory that does not have a word count in the common power of two range, a second memory of the first set of memories that does not have at least one of a common count of memory blocks and a common column multiplexing factor, and then inserts a common scrambling unit, a common chip select unit, a common comparator, a common repairing unit, a first scrambling unit, a second scrambling unit, a first comparator, and a first repairing unit into the IC design. |
| US09372770B2 |
Hardware platform validation
A system for validating a hardware platform is provided. The system includes a database that stores one or more test specifications, a compiler that generates a target image based on (i) a device driver obtained from a device driver generator, (ii) a platform independent target application code, (iii) a kernel source, and (iv) a run time environment, and a software driven validation generator that analyzes the run time specification and the device programming specification and generates (i) one or more test cases based on (a) the one or more test specifications, and (b) the device programming specification, and (ii) a control software based on the test cases. The test cases include configurations that are specific to the hardware platform. The hardware platform is validated based on (i) an execution of the target image and the control software on the hardware platform, and (ii) the one or more test cases. |
| US09372769B2 |
Server and inspecting method thereof
Disclosed herein are a server and an inspecting method thereof. The server comprises a baseboard management controller (BMC), a non-volatile memory coupled with the baseboard management controller, and a basic input/output system. After the server is powered on, the basic input/output system starts running, performs power-on self-test for the server to generate current hardware configuration data. The BMC then determines whether preset hardware configuration data, stored beforehand in the non-volatile memory, and the current one agree. If the preset and the current hardware configuration data have one or more mismatches, the BMC records the mismatch or mismatches in an event log. |
| US09372766B2 |
Circumventing load imbalance in parallel simulations caused by faulty hardware nodes
The present disclosure describes methods, systems, and computer program products for circumventing parallel processing load imbalance. One computer-implemented method includes generating a library function for a plurality of parallel-processing nodes, receiving timing statistics from each of the plurality of parallel-processing nodes, the timing statistics generated by executing the library function on each parallel-processing node, determining that a faulty parallel-processing node exists, signaling a simulator to checkpoint and stop a simulation executing on the parallel processing nodes, and removing the faulty parallel-processing node from parallel processing nodes available to execute the simulation. |
| US09372762B2 |
Systems and methods for restoring application data
A computer-implemented method for restoring application data may include (1) receiving a request to restore resource data for a resource to a selected state, (2) identifying a plurality of backup datasets, each backup dataset within the plurality of backup datasets including at least a portion of backed up data for the resource, (3) determining an order in which to restore the plurality of backup datasets in order to restore the resource data to the selected state, and (4) restoring the resource data for the resource to the selected state by restoring the plurality of backup datasets in the order as determined. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed. |
| US09372760B1 |
Systems and methods for securely storing backup data while facilitating fast failovers
A computer-implemented method for securely storing backup data while facilitating fast failovers may include 1) identifying, at a primary site, a virtual disk file that includes a backup image, 2) modifying a boot sector within the virtual disk file to add a boot loader that supports reading disks encrypted with whole disk encryption, 3) encrypting the backup image within the virtual disk file, except for at least one decryption area, with whole disk encryption, and 4) storing the virtual disk file at a secondary site after encrypting the backup image within the virtual disk file. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed. |
| US09372759B2 |
Computing system with adaptive back-up mechanism and method of operation thereof
A computing system includes: an adaptive back-up controller configured to calculate an adaptive back-up time based on a reserve power source for backing up a volatile memory to a nonvolatile memory; and a processor core, coupled to the adaptive back-up controller, configured to back up at least a portion of the volatile memory to the nonvolatile memory within the adaptive back-up time. |
| US09372756B2 |
Recovery of operational state values for complex event processing based on a time window defined by an event query
Methods by a processing system are disclosed that control recovery of operational state values of a complex event processing (CEP) engine that processes values of events. A window size is determined based on a property of an event query. Events' values are retrieved from a distributed log which are restricted to occurring within a timeframe defined based on the window size. The distributed log stores events' values that have been processed by the CEP engine. The retrieved events' values are replayed to the CEP engine for processing to recover the operational state values of the CEP engine. Related processing systems are disclosed that control recovery of operational state values of a CEP engine that processes values of events. |
| US09372755B1 |
Adaptive power cycle sequences for data recovery
The present invention relates to an apparatus, method, and/or sequence that adaptively provide the recovery of data after a power cycle sequence, wherein only minimal updates are provided for control blocks associated with the data. |
| US09372752B2 |
Assisted coherent shared memory
An apparatus for coherent shared memory across multiple clusters is described herein. The apparatus includes a fabric memory controller and one or more nodes. The fabric memory controller manages access to a shared memory region of each node such that each shared memory region is accessible using load store semantics, even in response to failure of the node. The apparatus also includes a global memory, wherein each shared memory region is mapped to the global memory by the fabric memory controller. |
| US09372750B2 |
Method and apparatus for non-volatile RAM error re-mapping
A memory module comprising a non-volatile cell array and a re-mapper. A page map table is stored in the non-volatile cell array, and includes mappings of old page addresses to new page addresses. The re-mapper is configured to direct memory operations referencing an old page address to the new page address that the old page address is mapped to. The mappings are created when a memory cell is determined to be in a failure state. |
| US09372747B2 |
Evaluating reliability of a software module using development life cycle
Reliability of one or more software modules is projected according to a current state in a development life cycle of the software modules and any of various additional indicators. Preferably, a data processing support provider separate from the service-providing enterprise maintains historical field support data concerning significant field defect events with respect to various resources, and uses this data for projecting reliability of the resources. Preferably, software module reliability projections are used to support an analysis of risk of degradation of a service specified in a service requirements specification when provided by a configuration of data processing resources specified in a configuration specification. |
| US09372744B2 |
Method for detecting failure and slave station for use in same
A transmission signal transmitted via a common data signal line, includes a management data region different from a control/monitoring data region including data of control data and monitoring data signals. The slave station acquires input information from an input part corresponding to its own station, acquires control data for reference by an output part of another station in a correspondence relation with the input part from the transmission signal, and obtains a pseudo output change timing equal to a true output change timing of the output part based on the control data. A signal configuring data indicating a first failure state when a time difference between the pseudo output change timing and an input change timing of the input part is smaller than a first threshold value or a second failure state when the time difference is larger than a second threshold value is superimposed on the management data region. |
| US09372743B1 |
System and method for storage management
A method, computer program product, and computing system for defining a transactional log file for a data storage system including defining a transactional log file for a data storage system including a data array. A plurality of IO requests for the data storage system are processed. The transactional log file is updated to include information concerning the plurality of IO requests, wherein the information includes an LGT indicator for each of the plurality of IO requests. The occurrence of a malfunction within the data storage system is sensed. |
| US09372738B2 |
Data processing method and system for acquiring drawing data
A data processing method comprises: an Adobe Flex acquiring a user drawing command, the drawing command comprising an initial end serial number and a termination end serial number; the Adobe Flex searching for drawing data in a buffer according to the initial end serial number and the termination end serial number; when some drawing data corresponding to the initial end serial number and the termination end serial number is only found, the Adobe Flex sending a data acquisition request to java swing by using javascript, the data acquisition request comprising an initial end serial number and a termination end serial number corresponding to drawing data that are not found; and the java swing returning the corresponding drawing data to the Adobe Flex according to the initial end serial number and the termination end serial number corresponding to the drawing data that are not found. Also provided is a corresponding data processing system. In the embodiments, data required by a graph is acquired by an interval, and data to be acquired by javascript is reduced, thereby effectively solving the problem that the drawing speed under a large data amount is slow due to slow javascript data processing speed. |
| US09372736B2 |
Leveraging path information to generate predictions for parallel business processes
Systems and methods for determining a representation of an execution trace include identifying at least one execution trace of a business process model, the business process model including parallel paths where a path influences an outcome of a decision. Path information of the business process model is determined using a processor, the path information including at least one of task execution order for each parallel path, task execution order across parallel paths, and dependency between parallel paths. A path representation for the at least one execution trace is selected based upon the path information to determine a representation of the at least one execution trace. |
| US09372733B2 |
System and method for a distribution manager
Embodiments of systems and methods for a distribution manager are presented herein. Specifically, embodiments may receive a request for support for a mobile application and determine a platform server to support the mobile application based on capacity data associated with a set of platform servers in an application table associated with the mobile application. Embodiments may also deliver identification of the platform server over the network, the identification of the platform server comprises connectivity information configured to allow the mobile application to connect to the platform server. |
| US09372732B2 |
Data processing work allocation
A method, system, and/or computer program product allocates computer processing work. One or more processors identify: an input data that is stored in a first computer for processing by a computer program; a virtual machine, stored in a second computer, that is capable of executing the computer program; a first set of constraint rules against moving the input data from the first computer; and a second set of constraint rules against moving the virtual machine from the second computer. The one or more processors assign a weight to each constraint rule, and sum the weight of all constraint rules that are applicable. In response to the first total constraint rule weight exceeding the second total constraint rule weight, movement of the input data from the first computer to the second computer is prohibited and the virtual machine is moved from the second computer to the first computer. |
| US09372730B1 |
Method, system and computer readable medium for notification delivery
In a system, method and computer readable medium for managing message delivery, message delivery jobs are dynamically prioritized into a plurality of priority queues based on a delivery timeframe for each job. A delivery manager controls delivery of the message delivery jobs through a number of delivery channels and ports. A priority manager reviews jobs pending in the queues. If the priority manager determines that a message delivery job will not be completed within its delivery timeframe, the priority manager assigns a higher priority to the message delivery job. |
| US09372727B2 |
Cross architecture virtual machine migration
A system, method and computer program for transferring a running virtual machine from a first to a second physical machine, where each of the physical machines has a different instruction set architecture. The system may comprise a receiver for receiving a transfer request. In response to receiving the transfer request, the virtual machine is paused and a state of the virtual machine is collected. A first interface component operable on the first physical machine stopped and a second interface component operable on the second physical machine is started. The state is transferred to the second interface component. The virtual machine is started on the second physical machine in response to the state transfer. |
| US09372717B2 |
Interruption of chip component managing tasks
Embodiments include an apparatus comprising a processor and a computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code. The computer usable program code can be configured to determine whether priority of a requested task is higher than a priority of a currently executing task. The computer usable program code can be further configured to determine whether a value indicates that the currently executing task can be interrupted. The computer usable program code can be configured to trigger execution of the requested task on the processor, if the value indicates that the currently executed task can be interrupted. The computer usable program code can be further configured to wait for lapse of a time period and, interrupt the currently executing task upon detection of lapse of the time period or detection of a change to the value, if the value indicates that the currently executing task cannot be interrupted. |
| US09372714B2 |
Information terminal apparatus and method for switching control of a user interface between concurrently executing operating systems
An information terminal apparatus includes a memory and a processor. The memory stores information indicating a front operating system. The processor runs a first virtual machine that executes a first operating system. The processor runs a second virtual machine that executes a second operating system. The processor controls user interface of the information terminal apparatus by executing the front operating system. The processor detects, by referring to the information stored in the memory, that the front operating system is changed from the first operating system to the second operating system. The processor notifies, upon the detection, the first virtual machine of a first notification indicating that the user interface stops. The processor notifies, upon the detection, the second virtual machine of a second notification indicating that the user interface restarts. |
| US09372711B2 |
System and method for initiating a multi-environment operating system
Various embodiments of the present invention provide a mobile computing device that operates multiple, co-existing and independent operating system environments on a common kernel. A booting process for initiating a multiple operating system environment is also provided. Additionally, various embodiments of the present invention include processes for managing a switch between one operating system environment to a second operating system environment. |
| US09372705B2 |
Selecting a host for a virtual machine using a hardware multithreading parameter
A cloud manager monitors available resources on host computer systems, including a number of hardware threads supported by CPUs on the host computer systems. The cloud manager receives a request to provision a virtual machine (VM) that includes a hardware multithreading parameter that specifies the amount of hardware multithreading required on the host computer system. The cloud manager then selects a host computer system for the VM taking the hardware multithreading parameter into consideration. |
| US09372704B2 |
Virtual environment having harvard architecture
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, relating to software execution. One of the methods includes executing, on a computer including a single memory for storing data and instructions, a virtual environment including a data memory and an instruction memory, the instruction memory configured to be unreadable by instructions stored in the instruction memory; receiving, at the virtual environment, a software module comprising multiple instructions; and performing validation of the software module including: identifying, in the software module one or more calls to the single memory; and verifying that the one or more calls to the single memory are in the data memory. |
| US09372703B2 |
Simulation apparatus and simulation method
A simulation apparatus includes: operations of: dividing code of a program in a target processor into blocks; setting an execution result of an externally-dependant instruction depending on an external environment as a prediction result; carrying out function simulation based on the prediction result; calculating an execution time of the externally-dependant instruction according to instruction execution timing information and a function simulation result; generating host code which makes a host processor execute performance simulation based on the function simulation result: correcting the execution time of the externally-dependant instruction based on a delay time of the externally-dependent instruction and a execution time of an instruction executed before or after the externally-dependent function if an execution result of the externally-dependent function when the host processor executes the host code differs from the prediction result; and setting a corrected execution time of the external-dependent instruction as the execution time of the externally-dependant instruction. |
| US09372702B2 |
Non-disruptive code update of a single processor in a multi-processor computing system
Updating code of a single processor in a multi-processor system includes commencing of a self-reset of a first processor if a bit is found in a first state, and interrupts associated with the first processor are disabled. Only those system resources exclusively associated with the first processor are reset, and memory transactions associated with the first processor are disabled. An image of the new code is copied into memory associated with the first processor, registers associated with the first processor are reset and the new code is booted by the first processor. |
| US09372700B2 |
Network boot system
[SUBJECTS] To suppress decrease in boot speed and slowness in operation of a terminal even when the terminal is booted the second or subsequent time in a private mode in which the terminal directly writes to a virtual disk.[SOLVING MEANS] In a network boot system 100, a network boot server 10 and a terminal 20a are connected over a network 30, the network boot server 10 providing a disk image, as a virtual disk 22b, containing an operating system that operates on the terminal, the terminal 20a being provided with a storage device 21a. The OS is provided with a read cache mechanism that stores data read from the server as cache data in the storage device. Generation management data M and rewrite management table T2 are provided. When the client terminal is booted the second or subsequent time in a private mode in which the terminal directly writes to the virtual disk, the read cache mechanism replaces the rewrite management table with the generation management data and boots up a read cache while avoiding using cache data that has been modified. |
| US09372699B2 |
System and method for processing requests to alter system security databases and firmware stores in a unified extensible firmware interface-compliant computing device
A mechanism for allowing firmware in a UEFI-compliant device to implement the UEFI specification driver signing and Authenticated Variable elements while at the same time protecting the system security database holding the library of approved keys and lists of allowed and forbidden programs from unauthorized modifications is discussed. |
| US09372691B2 |
Method of manufacturing display device
A method includes: preparing a substrate having a plurality of light sources on a front side, a case to be provided on a back side of the substrate, the case having a side wall along a periphery of the case, and a mask having a light shielding member and a side wall projecting to the back side at a periphery of the mask, the light shielding member having a plurality of windows for transmitting light from the plurality of light sources, an outer shape of the mask being larger than an outer shape of the substrate and an outer shape of the case when viewed from the front side; fixing the case, the substrate, and the mask; filling a fluid material between a side wall of the case and a side wall of the light shielding member; and hardening the fluid material. |
| US09372689B2 |
Synchronizing comments in source code with text documents
Various embodiments synchronize comments in a source code file with text of a source code document. In one embodiment, a source code document is compared to a corresponding source code file. The source code document comprises a set of text corresponding to a set of source code comment text in the corresponding source code file. The source code document is configured to display the set of text in a stylized format when presented to a user. The set of text in the source code document is determined to be different than the set of source code comment text in the source code file based on the comparison. At least the set of source code comment text in the source code file is automatically changed based on the set of text from the source code document and in response to the determination. |
| US09372687B1 |
Product customization based on user contributions
A method to customize an online software application. The method includes displaying, using a user interface of the online software application, a message inviting user contribution to a customizable component of the online software application, receiving, from an initial seed user via a network connection and in response to displaying the message, a structural specification of the customizable component suggested by the initial seed user according to a requirement based on an attribute of the initial seed user, determining that a new user of the online software application matches the attribute of the initial seed user, and configuring, based on the structural specification of the customizable component suggested by the initial seed user, an instantiation of the online software application for the new user to perform a pre-determined task according to the requirement. |
| US09372684B1 |
System and method for providing supplemental functionalities to a computer program via an ontology instance
Supplemental functionalities may be provided for an executable program via an ontology instance. In some embodiments, a computer program (e.g., an executable program or other computer program) associated with an ontology may be caused to be run. The ontology may include information indicating attributes for a set of applications. An instance of the ontology may be obtained, which may correspond to an application of the set of applications. Based on the ontology instance, supplemental information may be generated for the computer program. The supplemental information may be related to one or more functionalities of the application to be added to the executable program. The supplemental information may be provided as input to the computer program. The supplemental information, at least in part, may cause the one or more functionalities of the application to be made available via the executable program. |
| US09372683B2 |
Automatic generation of class identifiers from source code annotations
A method for generating identifiers for software components is provided. A processing device scans source code for an annotation associated with generating an identifier for an object. The processing device generates, using the annotation, an identifier value for the object. When the object does not have a previously assigned value, the processing device assigns the identifier value to the object. When the object has a previously assigned value, the processing device concatenates the identifier value to the previously assigned value of the object and assigns the concatenated identifier value to the object. The processing device then recursively descends into the sub-object's hierarchy by repeating the steps of scanning, generating, and assigning or concatenating and assigning described above. |
| US09372682B2 |
Parallel programming and updating of lighting bus subscribers
The invention relates to a method for programming lighting bus subscribers, comprising the steps of: determining available lighting bus subscribers, e.g. sensors and/or actuators such as for example operating devices for lighting means, by a central unit connected to the lighting bus subscribers via a bus; selecting, by means of the central unit, at least one lighting bus subscriber from the available lighting bus subscribers; setting the selected lighting bus subscribers into an update mode and allocating an update identification to the lighting bus subscribers; and transferring update software, in particular firmware, provided with the update identification to the selected lighting bus subscribers. |
| US09372681B1 |
Redirection of a document URL to a natively-operating application
A method includes declaring, in a manifest of an application, a document URL type. The application is configured for native operation outside a web browser on a user's computing device and is coded to open a document corresponding to a document URL which conforms to the declared document URL type in the manifest. The method further includes providing the application for installation on the user's computing device. |
| US09372679B2 |
Method and system for software delivery service
Provided herein are techniques for distributing software. An embodiment operates by receiving a software product request including a unique identification information, verifying the unique identification information, and distributing a software product associated with the unique identification information in response to the request. |
| US09372678B2 |
Compiler optimization for complex exponential calculations
Technologies for optimizing complex exponential calculations include a computing device with optimizing compiler. The compiler parses source code, optimizes the parsed representation of the source code, and generates output code. During optimization, the compiler identifies a loop in the source code including a call to the exponential function having an argument that is a loop-invariant complex number multiplied by the loop index variable. The compiler tiles the loop to generate a pair of nested loops. The compiler generates code to pre-compute the exponential function and store the resulting values in a pair of coefficient arrays. The size of each coefficient array may be equal to the square root of the number of loop iterations. The compiler applies rewrite rules to replace the exponential function call with a multiplicative expression of one element from each of the coefficient arrays. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US09372674B2 |
Dynamic generation of user interface placeholder templates
Embodiments are disclosed that relate to dynamically generating a preview placeholder template for presenting data in a user interface. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a method comprising receiving a request to display a list of items, each item of the list of items comprising a plurality of parts each having a full appearance defined by a corresponding portion of a full version template. The method further comprises, for an item in the list of items, rendering a full version of a representation of the item, and generating via the full version template a preview placeholder template defining an appearance of a thin version of a list item representation comprising a subset of the plurality of parts. The method further comprises storing the preview placeholder template, and retrieving the preview placeholder template from storage and rendering a thin version of each of one or more list items. |
| US09372668B2 |
Interconnecting portal components with dialog state transitions
In one embodiment, a method for interconnecting portlets is disclosed. A first view is displayed on a computing device, wherein the first view is associated with a software application in a first state and includes a first portlet. A first event is received from the first portlet. A state model for the software application is accessed, wherein the state model includes a plurality of transitions between states of the software application, and wherein one transition of the plurality of transitions is triggered to bring the software application into a second state based on a type of the first portlet and data associated with the type of the first portlet. The one transition is executed to bring the software application into the second state, and a second view is displayed, wherein the second view is associated with the software application in the second state. |
| US09372666B2 |
Random number generating device
A random number generating device includes a processing request part, a receiving part, a counting part, and a random number generation part. The processing request part makes a request for a predetermined processing to a processing requested object. The receiving part receives a response from the processing requested object in response to the request. The counting part performs a counting operation to increase or decrease a count value with a predetermined cycle, the counting operation being started at least prior to receipt of the response. The random number generation part acquires at least one count value of the counting part at least one predetermined acquisition timing after the receipt of the response is started, and generates a random number by using the at least one count value that is acquired. |
| US09372661B2 |
Apparatus and method of generating a sound effect in a portable terminal
An apparatus and method of a portable terminal outputting a sound effect are provided. An operation method of the portable terminal includes sensing an input, identifying a handwriting tool used for the input and a handwriting face displayed, and outputting a sound that mimics an actual handwriting operation of the portable terminal. |
| US09372651B2 |
Processing documents in a hot folder for printing
When it is detected that a file has been stored in a hot folder, an apparatus stands by for a predetermined period of time not to process the file based on settings associated with the hot folder. When the predetermined period of time elapses, the apparatus processes the file based on the settings associated with the hot folder. |
| US09372650B2 |
Communication control method in image forming system which comprises a plurality of applications and an image forming apparatus and in which at least a print job described in JDF code is transmitted from said applications to said image forming apparatus and a message described in JMF code is exchanged between said applications and said image forming apparatus, storage medium stored with program for said image forming system, and said image forming system
A communication control method in an image forming system according to the present invention includes a step (a) of specifying an application based on the description of a print job or the like transmitted from any of applications to an image forming apparatus, a step (b) of managing the rules of describing the print job for dynamic value including any values assigned per print job, which are added to the print job, per application together with operations associated with the dynamic values, and a step (c) of recognizing the dynamic value by analyzing the print job according to the rules managed in the step (b) for the application specified in the step (a) for the print job, and performing the operations associated with the dynamic value for the dynamic value. |
| US09372648B2 |
Image forming device capable of exchanging print data with another image forming device, and control method and storage medium therefor
An image forming device capable of acquiring to-be-printed data from any of external image forming devices, without making inquiries about the presence or absence of the to-be-printed data to all the external image forming devices. An image forming apparatus receives, from another image forming apparatus that has received print data, bibliographic information containing identification information that identifies the another image forming apparatus, and registers the received bibliographic information. When receiving a bibliographic information acquisition request, the image forming apparatus transmits bibliographic information, among pieces of bibliographic information registered in the image forming apparatus, to the image forming apparatus that has transmitted the bibliographic information acquisition request. |
| US09372644B2 |
Sending a job processing notice to a social network contact
In one embodiment, a directive is received at a computer system. The directive is to send to social network contacts of a sharer user, via a web application, processing information relating to print or scan jobs associated with the sharer user. Data is received, the data indicative of first processing of a print or scan job associated with the sharer user. A notice of the first processing is sent to a first social network contact of the sharer user via the web application. |
| US09372643B2 |
Data set management
A method of and system for managing a data set stored on units of storage space in a storage facility is disclosed. The method and system may include identifying prospect extents of the data set. The prospect extents may include a first prospect extent stored on a first unit of storage space and a second prospect extent stored on a second unit of storage space. The method and system may include congregating the first prospect extent and the second prospect extent on a destination unit of storage space in the storage facility. |
| US09372640B2 |
Configure storage class memory command
An abstraction for storage class memory is provided that hides the details of the implementation of storage class memory from a program, and provides a standard channel programming interface for performing certain actions, such as controlling movement of data between main storage and storage class memory or managing storage class memory. |
| US09372632B2 |
Controller with extended status register and method of use therewith
The embodiments described herein provide a controller with an extended status register and a method of use therewith. In one embodiment, a controller is provided with a first interface through which to communicate with a host and a second interface through which to communicate with a plurality of flash memory devices. The controller also comprises a status register, an extended status register, and a processor. The processor is operative to store, in the extended status register, status information of a plurality of events in time across the plurality of flash memory devices. The extended status register stores event status information, whereas the ONFI status register stores command status information. In response to a request from the host, the processor sends the status information of the plurality of events to the host for analysis. |
| US09372627B2 |
Dynamic feedback-based throughput control for black-box storage systems
Embodiments of the present invention relate to dynamic feedback-based throughput control for storage systems. In one embodiment, a method of and computer program product for storage throughput control are provided. A plurality of I/O requests is received at a rate controller. The plurality of I/O requests is sent from the rate controller to a storage system at a first rate. Throughput of the storage system is observed. The first rate is dynamically adjusted based on the variance between the observed throughput of the storage system and the first rate. |
| US09372625B2 |
Controller, data storage device, and data communication system having variable communication speed
Apparatuses having variable communication speeds are disclose. In one example, an apparatus may comprise a controller configured to: receive a signal from a host, the signal being compatible with a data communication protocol at a first data communication speed; selectively implement a first data communication protocol from a plurality of data communication protocols to communicate with a first memory or implement a second data communication protocol from the plurality of data communication protocols to communicate with a second memory based on the data communication speed; store data in the first memory via the first data communication protocol when the data communication speed is a first speed; and store data in the second memory via the second data communication protocol when the data communication speed is a second speed that is different than the first speed. |
| US09372621B2 |
Operating method of electronic device
An operating method of an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a display module and a detecting module. The operating method includes: detecting a first input signal by the detecting module; triggering an auxiliary displaying module according to the first input signal, and displaying the auxiliary displaying module on the display module; detecting a second input signal by the detecting module; determining whether the second input signal is in a sensing zone corresponding to the auxiliary displaying module; and displaying a drawing track along an edge of the auxiliary displaying module according to the second input signal when the second input signal is in the sensing zone. |
| US09372619B2 |
Display apparatus and method thereof
A display apparatus is provided that includes a user interface unit which displays a content, a storage unit which stores a scribble pattern, and a control unit which, if a scribble is inputted according to the stored scribble pattern, sets a content area corresponding to a spot where the scribble is inputted and stores the set content area to the storage unit, making it possible to more efficiently manage the content. |
| US09372618B2 |
Gesture based application management
Methods and apparatus for controlling one or more displays using an application manager. The application manager may be displayed in response to a received gesture input. The application manager may provide information regarding applications or screens executing in one or more physical displays on the device. Furthermore, the application manager may be manipulated to change various aspects regarding the applications or screens executing in the one or more displays. This manipulation may include changing the actively displayed screen for a display, movement of screens between displays, or other manipulation of the arrangement or status of the screens. |
| US09372613B2 |
Scrolling method and electronic device thereof
A method and an electronic device for scrolling a display on a touchscreen are disclosed. The scrolling method for the electronic device includes setting a scroll direction based on a first touch input movement direction, and scrolling a display image in the scroll direction, based on a second touch input movement distance, irrespective of a second touch input movement direction. |
| US09372612B2 |
Exposing inertial snap points
A scroll viewer control that displays associated content having inertial snap points in a scrollable view. The scroll viewer control applies inertial movement to displayed content such that even after a user completes a scroll gesture, the displayed content continues to scroll with reducing velocity until the scroll slows to a stop within the scrollable view. In so doing, the scroll viewer control enforces an inertial snap point by causing the scroll to stop when a boundary of the scrollable view coincides with the inertial snap point. A content control may implements an interface that allows the scroll viewer control to discover the snap point set associated with the content. Furthermore, the content control may notify the scroll viewer control of changes in the snap point set. |
| US09372611B2 |
Electronic device
Disclosed is an electronic device. The electronic device comprises a display device; an input/output device which is separated from the display device and which operates as a means for providing visual information and as a means for inputting information through touch; and a controller which changes configuration setting value based on the touch on the input/output device, and which, upon receiving a predetermined form of touch through the input/output device, changes the sensitivity on the change of the configuration setting value relative to the touch on the input/output device. |
| US09372610B2 |
Media system controller interface
Embodiments are provided for media playback controller interfaces, interface layouts, and interactions for facilitating a user's navigation and control of a media playback system. Implementation of a controller interface may involve displaying in an information window, content associated with a first tab at a position directly above the information window, displaying a second tab at a position directly below the information window, and in response to a first input, causing (i) the second tab to be displayed at a position directly below the first tab, (ii) the information window to be displayed at a position directly below the second tab, and (iii) the information window to display content associated with the second tab. Other configurations of tab and information window displays, some of which may be modified in response to user interactions with the controller interface, are also provided. |
| US09372609B2 |
Asset-based animation timelines
An asset-based animation timeline is provided that displays information for a selected visual asset, such as information associated with one or more motion effects which are applied to the asset. Because the asset-based animation timeline is configured to provide information for only the selected visual asset, complexities associated with overlapping assets, sequential assets, and large numbers of assets are eliminated. The asset-based animation timelines disclosed herein can be configured to provide direct access to tools that allow a user to manipulate the motion effects that are applied to a given asset and to add additional motion effects to a selected asset. Animation timelines for other assets included in a given animation production can be accessed by selecting a different asset from an animation canvas. A user can interact with the various asset-based animation timelines disclosed herein using gestures, thus making such embodiments particularly well-suited for implementation using a touch-based interface. |
| US09372608B2 |
Systems and methods for identifying and suggesting emoticons
Computer-implemented systems and methods are provided for suggesting emoticons for insertion into text based on an analysis of sentiment in the text. An example method includes: determining a first sentiment of text in a text field; selecting first text from the text field in proximity to a current position of an input cursor in the text field; identifying one or more candidate emoticons wherein each candidate emoticon is associated with a respective score indicating relevance to the first text and the first sentiment based on, at least, historical user selections of emoticons for insertion in proximity to respective second text having a respective second sentiment; providing one or more candidate emoticons having respective highest scores for user selection; and receiving user selection of one or more of the provided emoticons and inserting the selected emoticons into the text field at the current position of the input cursor. |
| US09372605B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling the operation of an operating system and application programs by ocular control
The method and apparatus object of this invention refer to a system for using generic software applications by means of ocular control characterized by simple interaction techniques which minimize the cognitive effort of the user required to manipulate the software and which permit to overcome the problems resulting from the intrinsic problem of accuracy of eye-tracking systems. Indeed, such technique does not provide using the pointer of the mouse moved by means of the gaze to control the various software applications but to use a separate application which through the use of suitable interaction techniques is comfortable and does not involve an increased effort of concentration by the user. An attempt has indeed been made to simplify the process of interaction between the user and machine also by means of the use of visual feedback which allows the same operations of the mouse to be performed by the user without the typical user frustration due to the problems of accuracy of the eye-tracking device. |
| US09372603B2 |
Data sampling method for determining salient values in a large data stream
Techniques are disclosed for presenting users with relevant data and statistics related to the operations of an industrial system. Data obtained by a SCADA system may be stored in a real-time status database (which reflects the current process data of the industrial system) and a historian database (which archives the process data from the industrial system as it changes over time). A user may request from the SCADA system process data obtained during a specified period of time. The request may be subdivided into a plurality of time intervals, and process data associated with each time interval may be analyzed to determine one or more salient values that are representative of the interval. The salient values associated with each time interval then may be transmitted to the user in response to the process data request. |
| US09372598B2 |
Reference-based circular scrolling menu
Provided are techniques for reference-based circular scrolling on a computer display. Techniques include generating a circular scrolling bar in a computer display, the scrolling bar comprising a plurality of segments; populating the circular scrolling bar with reference-based information corresponding to an information source, wherein each segment of the plurality of segments displays a unique reference corresponding to a corresponding discrete portion of the information source; presenting the corresponding discrete portion of the information source corresponding to a particular segment in response to contact with the particular segment. |
| US09372595B2 |
Surface texture measurement device
A surface texture measurement device displays in a display an operation screen based on display information of a current operation screen, and displays in the display a guidance screen when guidance display is requested by pressing a guidance screen display button on the operation screen. The operation screen has icon display for one or more buttons that activate predetermined functions. The guidance screen has a button list field that displays a list of icon display and function name display for the buttons included in the current operation screen and a description display field that displays a function description for any of the buttons included in the current operation screen. |
| US09372591B2 |
Methods of interfacing with multi-input devices and multi-input display systems employing interfacing techniques
Methods and systems for interfacing with multi-input devices employ various techniques for controlling the window framing of images. Such techniques provide control, including moving, sizing, and orientating, of one or more displayed window frames in which one or more images are displayed. |
| US09372590B2 |
Magnifier panning interface for natural input devices
A magnifier movement system is described herein that provides a more user-friendly experience for users of natural input devices when moving the magnifier and interacting with magnified user interface elements. The system receives an indication that a user has touched the screen with a natural input device at a particular location. The system displays a drag control for moving the magnifier, but does not move the magnifier unless the user selects the drag control and moves the natural input device. If the drag control is unselected and the system receives additional natural input, then the system passes the input on to the magnified application. Thus, the magnifier movement system provides a more satisfying user experience for users of natural input-based computer systems and screen magnifiers. |
| US09372587B2 |
Methods and apparatus for arranging electrode layers and associated routing traces in a sensor device
A capacitive input device including a substrate, a first plurality of sensor electrodes disposed proximate a top surface of the substrate and extending along a first direction, a second plurality of sensor electrodes disposed proximate a bottom surface of the substrate and extending along a second direction different from the first direction, and a plurality of routing traces coupled to the second sensor electrodes. Each routing trace is configured to extend along the first direction between respective first sensor electrodes, and to extend along the second direction underneath a second sensor electrode. |
| US09372583B2 |
Display device having a touch screen and method of driving the same
A display device including a touch screen and method of driving the same are provided. In a method of driving display device including a touch screen, the display device including a panel including a plurality of gate lines, and a plurality of electrodes respectively corresponding to the plurality of gate lines, the method includes: applying, by a touch sensing unit, a touch scan signal to a display driving unit, applying, by the display driving unit: a gate signal to a subset of the plurality of gate lines, a common voltage to a first subset of the plurality of electrodes, corresponding to the subset of the plurality of gate lines, and a touch scan signal to a second subset of the plurality of electrodes, other than the first subset of the plurality of electrodes. |
| US09372581B2 |
Interference estimation and adaptive reconfiguration of a capacitive touch controller
Adaptive reconfiguration of a capacitive touch controller is implemented by estimating the interference spectrum of the signal received by the touch controller. The spectrum of the received signal is used to determine a desired frequency, and the touch panel transmitter is configured to use that desired frequency. The spectrum of the received signal is also used to determine an desired filter transfer function. A filter in the touch panel received signal path is configured to use that desired filter transfer function. The adaptive reconfiguration is focused on improving the signal to noise ratio of the received signal without the need for shielding the touch panel, performing additional scans of the touch panel, or using components that operate at higher power levels. |
| US09372577B2 |
Method and device to reduce swipe latency
A plurality of methods 600-800 that collectively reduces touch swipe latency within a user interface (210) of an electronic device 100/200 includes: activating 610 a predictive touch utility 120; and in response to detecting 710 a sliding movement of an external manipulator 165 from a set of prior positions on a touchpanel 148 to a current position on the surface: dynamically computing 712 a predicted next position 392 based on the set of prior positions and the current position, before the external manipulator 165 arrives at an end position 240 while continuously touching the surface; and triggering 714 advancement of 536 the user interface 210 to a predicted next frame corresponding to the predicted next position 392. Activating the predictive touch utility 120 includes selecting and loading 612 a predictive touch profile 134 having a response curve 1500/1600 that correlates to gains applied to compute the predicted next position 392. |
| US09372571B2 |
Computing device canvas invocation and dismissal
A canvas (e.g., a digital page or sheet of paper) on which a user can input data is displayed on a display device of a computing device in response to the canvas being invoked. The canvas can be invoked in different manners, such as by the user activating a switch or button at an “eraser” end of a stylus that mimics a pen/pencil configuration. The user can input any digital data such as notes, drawings, and so forth on the canvas that he or she desires. In response to the canvas being dismissed (e.g., by the user again activating a switch or button at an “eraser” end of a stylus that mimics a pen/pencil configuration), display of the canvas ceases. The digital data input by the user is saved or otherwise processed by the computing device. |
| US09372570B2 |
User interface
An apparatus, method and computer program are provided. The method comprises: controlling a touch sensitive display, while a user digit is detected hovering a distance from the touch sensitive display, to display a transient indication of first content for pasting, wherein if the user subsequently moves the user digit away from the touch sensitive display such that the user digit is no longer detected, the transient indication of the first content for pasting is removed from display on the touch sensitive display. |
| US09372569B2 |
Liquid crystal display device with a built-in touch panel
A difference between a length Ls of a slit and a length Ld of a dummy electrode is within ±15% of the length Ld. A difference between a length Le in the first direction of a portion between the slits adjacent to each other in the first direction in a detection electrode and the length Ld of the dummy electrode is within ±15% of the length Ld. A difference between a width Ws of the slit and a gap Dde between the dummy electrode and the detection electrode adjacent to each other in the second direction is within ±15% of the gap Dde. A difference between a width We in the second direction of a portion obtained by dividing the detection electrode by the slit and a width Wd of the dummy electrode is within ±15% of the width Wd. |
| US09372563B2 |
Editing on a touchscreen
A touchscreen device is configured to facilitate editing on a touchscreen. The touchscreen device determines a position of a guide device on the touchscreen and determines an axis of the guide device on the touchscreen. The touchscreen device displays a first line on the touchscreen parallel to the axis of the guide device, while the touchscreen displays a second line on the touchscreen. The touchscreen device detects movement of the guide device on the touchscreen and moves the first line on the touchscreen based on the detected movement. The touchscreen device moves the first line to coincide with the second line in response to a determination that the first line is within the threshold distance of the second line. The touchscreen device then indicates that the second line is selected for potential editing. |
| US09372559B2 |
Touch screen, method of manufacture the same, and mobile terminal having the same
A touch screen, a method of manufacturing the same, and a mobile terminal having the same for minimizing a border area of the mobile terminal are provided. The touch screen includes a flexible display panel including an active area in which an image is displayed and a wiring area including signal lines for transmitting data corresponding to the image, and a flexible touch panel attached to a front surface of the display panel and including a touch detection area at which touch sensors for detecting a touch are positioned and a wiring area at which signal lines for transmitting a touch signal are positioned, wherein the wiring area of the display panel and the wiring area of the touch panel are bent so as not to be parallel to the active area and the touch detection area. |
| US09372556B2 |
Electronic device, informing control method, and storage medium storing control program
According to an aspect, an electronic device includes an informing unit, an operating unit, and a control unit. The informing unit performs informing of first information and informing of second information to be informed after the first information. The operating unit accepts an operation. The control unit causes the informing unit to suppress the informing of the second information when the operation is performed for the operating unit during a period of time from when the informing of the first information is performed until the second information is informed, or during the informing of the second information. |
| US09372554B2 |
Electronic pen, electronic pen connection structure connecting to the electronic pen, and portable device having the electronic pen connection structure
An electronic pen, an electronic pen connection structure connecting to the electronic pen, and a portable device having the electronic pen connection structure are provided. An electronic pen that controls an on/off operation of a switch provided on an electronic pen connection structure of a portable device using at least one groove provided on the electronic pen, the electronic pen connection structure connecting to the electronic pen, and the portable device having the electronic pen connection structure are provided. The electronic pen connected to a portable device by the electronic pen connection structure formed on the portable device includes a pen point portion that generates a user input on the portable device, and a penholder portion that is connected to the pen point portion and has at least one groove formed thereon to be able to accommodate at least one switch provided on the electronic pen connection structure. |
| US09372552B2 |
Using physical objects in conjunction with an interactive surface
An interaction management module (IMM) is described for allowing users to engage an interactive surface in a collaborative environment using various input devices, such as keyboard-type devices and mouse-type devices. The IMM displays digital objects on the interactive surface that are associated with the devices in various ways. The digital objects can include input display interfaces, cursors, soft-key input mechanisms, and so on. Further, the IMM provides a mechanism for establishing a frame of reference for governing the placement of each cursor on the interactive surface. Further, the IMM provides a mechanism for allowing users to make a digital copy of a physical article placed on the interactive surface. The IMM also provides a mechanism which duplicates actions taken on the digital copy with respect to the physical article, and vice versa. |
| US09372550B2 |
Automatic audio-video switching
A technique is disclosed for automatic switching of a mobile device between a videoconference operating mode and a teleconference operating mode, where the automatic switching is based on a detected functional use and current position of the device in relation to a user of the device. In at least some embodiments, the disclosed technology includes a video-audio switching system that works in coordination with a sensor mechanism associated with the device to enable the automatic switching. The technology disclosed herein enables the user to carry out a conversation via the device (i.e., conference session) without interruption when transitioning between different settings, (e.g., using the device while sitting at an office to using it while on-the-go to an appointment). |
| US09372544B2 |
Gesture recognition techniques
In one or more implementations, a static geometry model is generated, from one or more images of a physical environment captured using a camera, using one or more static objects to model corresponding one or more objects in the physical environment. Interaction of a dynamic object with at least one of the static objects is identified by analyzing at least one image and a gesture is recognized from the identified interaction of the dynamic object with the at least one of the static objects to initiate an operation of the computing device. |
| US09372538B2 |
Multiple-force, dynamically-adjusted, 3-D touch surface with feedback for human machine interface (HMI)
A control interface system for a vehicle includes an input module, a feedback module, and a system controller. The input module has a touchscreen and a control icon arranged thereon. The feedback module includes a pressure sensor in communication with the input module. The pressure sensor provides a sensor signal to the input module indicative of an applied force on the touchscreen. The system controller is in communication with the pressure sensor through the input module. The system controller provides at least one of a haptic feedback, an audible feedback, and a visual feedback, where the feedback is indicative of one of a selection mode, a slow change mode, and a fast change mode. |
| US09372537B2 |
Providing non-visual feedback for non-physical controls
Techniques are described herein to assist users to operate non-physical controls in situations where the users are unable to visually locate the controls. According to one embodiment, the device containing the non-physical controls is designed to give non-visual feedback to the user based, at least on part, on the distance between (a) the current position of user input, and (b) the location of the non-physical control. At least one characteristic of the non-visual feedback changes as that distance changes. |
| US09372535B2 |
Systems, articles, and methods for electromyography-based human-electronics interfaces
Human-electronics interfaces in which at least two wearable electromyography (“EMG”) devices are operated to control virtually any electronic device are described. A first wearable EMG device is worn on a first part/location of a user's body and a second wearable EMG device is worn on a second part/location of the user's body. Muscle activity is detected by the two wearable EMG devices and corresponding communication signals are transmitted to an electronic device to control functions thereof. The two wearable EMG devices may communicate with one another. This configuration enables a user to perform elaborate gestures having multiple components (e.g., “two-arm” gestures) with each wearable EMG device detecting a different component, as well as separate gestures (e.g., separate “one-arm” gestures) individually detected and processed by each wearable EMG device. |
| US09372534B2 |
Interactive wearable videogame through the use of wireless electronic sensors and physical objects
The invention is an interactive wearable video game (1), in which one or more players interact with physical objects through physical actions/contact/physiological signals to control a video game. The apparatus includes a series of wireless electronic sensors (7 to 16) to be placed in the user's body/surrounding environment, detecting the user's input actions in real time—output result is visualized on a binocular see-through display glasses system (2). The invention allows for the players to move around by connecting with the physical space, and to use their full bodies to control the game, exercise and share interactions. It allows for the connection between both virtual and physical realities—mixed reality concept by augmenting the user's perceptions among the surrounding environment. Users can either communicate from maximum physical proximity through a Web connection. The invention is rechargeable by converting produced solar energy into electric energy. |
| US09372531B2 |
Detecting an event within interactive media including spatialized multi-channel audio content
As a user is being presented with interactive media by a presenting device, a separate monitoring device may be used to monitor the presentation of the interactive media and detect an event that occurs therein. Such a monitoring device may be configured and positioned to access media content from the presentation of the interactive media. For example, the monitoring device may be configured and positioned to record video content with a camera and record audio content with a microphone. Having accessed this media content, the monitoring device may generate an identifier, such as a fingerprint or watermark, of the media content and compare the generated identifier with a reference identifier that is generated from the source of the media content. Based on the generated identifier matching the reference identifier, the monitoring device may detect that an event has occurred within the interactive media presentation and present a corresponding notification. |
| US09372520B2 |
Reverse performance binning
Various embodiments provide systems, computer program products and computer implemented methods. In some embodiments, the system includes a computer-implemented method of binning at least one integrated circuit chip, the method including determining a baseline operational voltage for the at least one integrated circuit chip, determining a total operational power threshold for the at least one integrated circuit chip, determining an initial performance characteristic for a first component of the at least one integrated circuit chip, operating the first component at a driving voltage higher than the baseline voltage to raise the initial performance characteristic of the first component to a raised performance characteristic while ensuring that operational power does not exceed the operational power threshold and assigning the at least one integrated circuit chip to a performance bin based on the raised performance characteristic. |
| US09372516B2 |
Building level dehumidification and cooling
A system for cooling heat producing components in a building includes a duct coupled to a room of the building and one or more air moving devices. The duct includes a constricted section. The air moving devices move air through the constricted section of the duct such that water in the air is converted from water vapor to water droplets. The water droplets are carried downstream from the constricted section in a two-phase mixture comprising air and water. |
| US09372511B2 |
Electronic device
An electronic device including a first body and a second body is provided. The first body has a first connection end. The second body has a second connection end, in which the second connection end has a first magnetic component and a first convex arc surface, and the second body is detachably connected to the first body through a magnetic attractive force between the first magnetic component and the first connection end. The first body and the second body are configured to rotate around a rotation axis relatively to each other, and the first convex arc surface faces the first connection end and extends along a direction parallel to the rotation axis. |
| US09372506B2 |
Electronic device
An electronic device includes: a battery; a fixing member coupled to the battery; a printed board partially fixed to the fixing member; and a housing that houses the battery, the fixing member, and the printed board, the battery being fixed to the housing. |
| US09372505B2 |
Displays with polarizer windows and opaque masking layers for electronic devices
An electronic device may have a display. Inactive portions of the display such as peripheral portions of the display may be masked using an opaque masking layer. An opening may be provided in the opaque masking layer to allow light to pass. For example, a logo may be viewed through an opening in the opaque masking layer and a camera may receive light through an opening in the opaque masking layer. The display may include upper and lower polarizers, a color filter layer, and a thin-film transistor layer. The opaque masking layer may be formed on the upper polarizer, may be interposed between the upper polarizer and the color filter layer, or may be interposed between the color filter layer and the thin-film transistor layer. The upper polarizer may have unpolarized windows for cameras, logos, or other internal structures. |
| US09372504B2 |
Multi display apparatus and hinge device therefor
A multi display apparatus is provided. The multi display apparatus includes a first display device and a second display device arranged adjacent to each other, and a hinge device provided to rotate the first display device and the second display device relative to each other, wherein the hinge device includes a first hinge member fixed to the first display device, and a second hinge member fixed to the second display device and connected to the first hinge member such that the second hinge member is movable in a circumferential direction with respect to an interface between adjacent side surfaces of the first display device and the second display device. |
| US09372502B1 |
System clock distribution in a distributed computing environment
A system clock signal distributed to electronic configurable and reconfigurable computing devices within a distributed computing system. The distributed computing devices, which may be dual-die chip carriers (DDCC), include input addressable data/clock ports on which system clock signals are accepted and may be propagated on one or more data/clock output ports. The input and/or output ports of various distributed computing devices may be configured and reconfigured according to system preferences or requirements. |
| US09372500B2 |
Generating a timeout signal based on a clock counter associated with a data request
Various aspects provide for generating a timeout signal based on a clock counter associated with a data request. An interface component is configured for receiving a data request from a master device and forwarding the data request to a slave device. A timeout component is configured for maintaining a clock counter associated with the data request and generating a timeout signal in response to a determination that a threshold level associated with the clock counter is reached before receiving a data response associated with the data request from the slave device. |
| US09372498B2 |
Rotary/push operating device for a human-machine interface
The rotary/push operating device (10) for a human-machine interface, in particular for a vehicle component, such as an air conditioning system, is provided with a rotary/push operating element (12) that can be rotated about a guide shaft (14) in a rotary movement and moved axially along the guide shaft (14). Furthermore, the rotary/push operating device (10) has a rolling bearing unit (30) having an outer bearing ring (32), an inner bearing ring (34) and rolling elements (36,38) arranged therebetween, wherein one of the bearing rings (32, 34) is connected with the rotary/push operating element (12) in a rotationally fixed manner and can be rotated therewith. |
| US09372496B2 |
Electronic device and method for generating a curvature compensated bandgap reference voltage
The invention relates to an electronic device with a bandgap reference generator including a first path with series connection of a first bipolar transistor, a first resistor and a second resistor, and a second path with series connection of a second bipolar transistor and a third resistor. The first and second paths are supplied current via a common node through a fourth resistor controlled by an amplifier sensing voltage drops within the first and second paths. A curvature compensation stage compensates for a variation of base emitter voltage of the bipolar transistors by drawing a compensation current from the common resistor node. |
| US09372493B2 |
M2LC system and method for controlling same
A modular multilevel converter system. The system includes a plurality of series connected two-terminal M2LC cells arranged into at least two output phase modules. A first one of the output phase modules has an inductance and an effective capacitance associated therewith. The first one of the output phase modules is configured so that a natural resonant frequency of the inductance with the effective capacitance of the first one of the output phase modules is greater than at least one of the following: an operating frequency of the first one of the output phase modules; a switching frequency of the first one of the output phase modules; and a switching frequency of any of the M2LC cells of the first one of the output phase modules. |
| US09372492B2 |
Programmable frequency range for boost converter clocks
Techniques for generating a boost clock signal for a boost converter from a buck converter clock signal, wherein the boost clock signal has a limited frequency range. In an aspect, the boost clock signal has a maximum frequency determined by Vbst/T, wherein Vbst represents the difference between a target output voltage and a battery voltage, and T represents a predetermined cycle duration. The boost converter may include a pulse insertion block to limit the minimum frequency of the boost clock signal, and a dynamic blanking/delay block to limit the maximum frequency of the boost clock signal. Further techniques are disclosed for generally implementing the minimum frequency limiting and maximum frequency limiting blocks. |
| US09372491B2 |
Maintaining the resistor divider ratio during start-up
Circuits and methods to maintain a resistive voltage divider ratio during start-up of an electronic circuit comprising a feed-forward capacitor across a feedback resistor using a dynamic start-up circuit are disclosed as e.g. a LDO or an amplifier. In a preferred embodiment of the disclosure is applied to an LDO. Modification of the resistive voltage divider ratio caused by the feed-forward capacitor during start-up is prevented while the voltage level of a voltage access point of the voltage divider on the feed-forward capacitor is maintained. A start-up circuit comprises a start-up capacitor and a start-up comparator. |
| US09372486B2 |
System, method, and apparatus for monitoring, regulating, or controlling fluid flow
A flow meter, and related system and method are provided. The flow meter includes a coupler, a support member, an image sensor, a valve, and one or more processors. The coupler is adapted to couple to a drip chamber. The support member is operatively coupled to the coupler. The image sensor has a field of view and is operatively coupled to the support member. The image sensor is positioned to view the drip chamber within the field of view. The one or more processors are operatively coupled to the image sensor to receive image data therefrom and to the actuator to actuate the valve. The one or more processors are configured to estimate a flow of fluid through the drip chamber and to actuate the valve to control the flow of fluid through the drip chamber to achieve a target flow rate. |
| US09372484B2 |
Automated guided vehicles
The present invention relates to automated guided vehicles, hereinafter referred to as AGVs, and specifically to AGVs used for entertainment purposes. More specifically, the present invention relates to a safety system for a passenger carrying AGV used for entertainment purposes. The present invention acts to prevent a passenger carrying automated guided vehicle from deviating from its intended path. |
| US09372481B2 |
Encoder, motor with encoder, servo system, and signal processing method for encoder
An encoder includes a measurement target which is coupled to a motor, a module which is positioned relative to the measurement target and generates signals based on motion of the measurement target, and a control device which generates and outputs position data based on the signals from the module and includes a position detector, an abnormality detector, a cause analyzer, a non-volatile memory, and a non-volatile memory controller. The position detector detects a position of the motor, the abnormality detector detects an abnormality based on state information including a state of the position detector, the cause analyzer analyzes the state information when the abnormality detector detects the abnormality such that a cause of the abnormality detected by the abnormality detector is identified, and the non-volatile memory controller stores in the non-volatile memory a result of analysis obtained by the cause analyzer. |
| US09372478B2 |
Control system for a power application
A control system for a power application is provided, including a control module and a configuration tool. The control module is in communication with the power application. The control module includes control logic for controlling the power application by a plurality of frame states. All of the frame states are executed within a period of time referred to as a frame rate. The control module includes control logic for allotting an adjustable amount of time for each of the frame states. The configuration tool is in communication with the control module. The configuration tool includes control logic for modifying the adjustable amount of time of each of the plurality of frame states without modifying the frame rate. |
| US09372467B2 |
Image forming apparatus having photoreceptor with lubricant supplying part and lubricant removal part
To provide an image forming apparatus that suppresses occurrence of image deletion in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment and provides good toner cleanability. Provided is an image forming apparatus including a photoreceptor having a protective layer containing a crosslinked polymer as a surface layer, wherein, along with the rotation direction of the photoreceptor in the external area of the rotating photoreceptor, a lubricant supplying part that supplies lubricant onto the surface of the photoreceptor, a charging part that charges the surface of the photoreceptor by a charging roller, an exposure part that exposes the charged photoreceptor by the charging part, a developing part that supplies toner to the exposed photoreceptor by the exposure part to form a toner image, a transfer part that transfers the toner image formed on the photoreceptor, a cleaning part that removes the toner remained on the surface of the photoreceptor and a lubricant removing part that removes the lubricant adhered on the surface of the photoreceptor are sequentially disposed. |
| US09372466B2 |
Cleaning blade lubricant having high aspect ratio
A cleaning blade lubricant including an acicular shape lubricant is provided. The cleaning blade lubricant is applied to a cleaning blade of an electrophotographic printing device for improving the cleaning performance of a cleaning blade of an electrophotographic printing device. |
| US09372465B2 |
Cooling device and image forming apparatus including same
A recording-material cooling device is disposed downstream from a fixing device in a transport direction of a recording material. The fixing device includes a fixing member and a pressing member to fix an unfixed toner image on the recording material. The recording-material cooling device includes a first cooling unit disposed at a same side as the pressing member relative to the recording material, a second cooling unit disposed at a same side as the fixing member relative to the recording material, and a third cooling unit disposed at the same side as the pressing member relative to the recording material. The first cooling unit, the second cooling unit, and the third cooling unit are arranged in an order of the first cooling unit, the second cooling unit, and the third cooling unit from upstream to downstream in the transport direction of the recording material. |
| US09372463B2 |
Image forming apparatus including fixing section having heat generating members switchable between series and parallel connection conditions
An image forming apparatus, where, at suitable positions in a power supply path of a first heat generating member and a second heat generating member which can be switched to a series connection condition and a parallel connection condition, there are arranged a current detection section including a circuit which detects a current subjected to rectification of a positive half wave and a circuit which detects a current subjected to rectification of a negative half wave, and an applied voltage detection section including a circuit which detects a voltage subjected to full-wave rectification. Consequently, in the image forming apparatus which can be used in locations using different power supply voltages, failure of the apparatus can be detected, and reliability of the apparatus can be enhanced. |
| US09372460B2 |
Image forming apparatus holding tone correction table
An image forming apparatus includes: a correction unit configured to correct image data based on a correction condition; an image forming unit configured to form an image based on the image data corrected by the correction unit; a measurement unit configured to measure a measurement image formed by the image forming unit; an update unit configured to control the correction unit to correct measurement image data based on the correction condition, control the image forming unit to form the measurement image based on the corrected measurement image data, and update the correction condition based on a measurement result and reference data corresponding to the measurement image; and a control unit configured to control whether or not to convert a measuring result of a target measurement image by the measurement unit to target reference data corresponding to the target measurement image. |
| US09372459B2 |
Image forming apparatus for forming images using different developer
An image forming apparatus includes a developer image forming portion configured to form a developer image on a recording medium; a fixing portion configured to fix the developer image to the recording medium; a transportation portion configured to transport the recording medium to form a second image on the recording medium; and a transportation speed setting portion configured to set a transportation speed of the recording medium when the fixing portion fixes the developer image to the recording medium. The transportation speed setting portion sets a first transportation speed when the first image is fixed to the recording medium and a second transportation speed when the second image is fixed to the recording medium according to first developer used for forming the first image and second developer used for forming the second image. The first transportation speed is different from the second transportation speed. |
| US09372458B2 |
Image forming apparatus that protects a heater from electrical breakdown
In an image forming apparatus including a fixing unit having a film and a heater in contact with the inner surface of the film, an electrical breakdown may occur in the protection layer of the heater, when a surge voltage is applied to a power supply line connected to the heater. An arrester is provided on a power supply line connected to the heater of the image forming apparatus. |
| US09372455B2 |
Image heating apparatus
An image heating apparatus includes a heating belt having a heat generating layer configured to generate heat by energization, a pressing roller configured to abut on an outer peripheral surface of the heating belt to form a nip portion, a pressing mechanism configured to press the heating belt against the pressing roller, an outer ring electrically connected to the heating belt in an end portion of the heating belt, a power feed member configured to abut on the outer ring to feed power to the outer ring, and an inner ring configured to clamp the end portion of the heating belt between the inner ring and the outer ring. A chamfered portion of the inner ring is chamfered. |
| US09372454B2 |
Fixing device comprising heat insulating member interposed between rotating member and bearing and rotated around rotation axis and image forming apparatus including the same
A fixing device includes a rotating member, a bearing and a heat insulating member. The rotating member fixes a toner image onto a recording medium. The bearing rotatably supports the rotating member. The heat insulating member is interposed between the rotating member and the bearing and rotated around a rotation axis. A notch part is arranged in a portion in a circumferential direction of the heat insulating member so as to continue from an end part at an inside to an end part at an outside in a direction of the rotation axis. At least one groove part is formed in a contact portion with the rotating member or the bearing in a circumference face of the heat insulating member. |
| US09372450B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes: heating and pressing rollers for fixing a toner image; a contacting and spacing portion for contacting and spacing between the rollers; an air feeder for cooling the pressing roller during a job; a guide for the sheet having been subjected to an image fixing process; an acquiring portion for acquiring the temperature of the guide: and an executing portion for executing a warming-up process of the heating roller and the pressing roller to raise the temperatures of the heating roller and the pressing roller. The executing portion controls the contacting and spacing portion and the air feeder so that the air is fed toward the guide through between the heating roller and the pressing roller at least in a part of the warming-up process, when the temperature is lower than a predetermined temperature upon activation of a main voltage source. |