最新美国发明专利第2017-02-21期 - 专利汇|PatentHub专利检索|专利查询网|发明专利查询分析

Document	Document Title
US09577303B2	Microwave attenuator module An attenuator module having a substrate; a attenuator disposed on one surface of the substrate, the attenuator having an input terminal at one end of the attenuator and an output terminal at an opposite end of the attenuator; an electrical conductor disposed on an opposite surface of the substrate; and an electrically conductive via passing from the output terminal through the substrate to the electrical conductor disposed on the opposite surface of the substrate.
US09577299B2	Air cell An air cell includes a positive electrode and a negative electrode, and an outer frame member located at outer peripheries of the positive electrode and the negative electrode. The positive electrode and the outer frame member are integrally joined together. An assembled battery includes a plurality of air cells, the air cells being stacked on top of each other. This configuration can increase mechanical strength and improve sealing performance for an electrolysis solution in the positive electrode. In addition, a reduction in thickness of the entire air cell can be achieved so that the assembled battery suitable for use in a vehicle can be provided.
US09577298B2	High efficiency iron electrode and additives for use in rechargeable iron-based batteries An iron electrode and a method of manufacturing an iron electrode for use in an iron-based rechargeable battery are disclosed. In one embodiment, the iron electrode includes carbonyl iron powder and one of a metal sulfide additive or metal oxide additive selected from the group of metals consisting of bismuth, lead, mercury, indium, gallium, and tin for suppressing hydrogen evolution at the iron electrode during charging of the iron-based rechargeable battery. An iron-air rechargeable battery including an iron electrode comprising carbonyl iron is also disclosed, as is an iron-air battery wherein at least one of the iron electrode and the electrolyte includes an organosulfur additive.
US09577296B2	Electric vehicle battery with series and parallel fluid flow A fluid cooled series/parallel battery pack is provided with a fluid flow system. A plurality of prismatic battery cells are arranged in parallel in two or more rows. Fluid flows in a series flow configuration from an upstream row of batteries to a downstream row of batteries. A bypass passageway provides additional fluid flow to an inner plenum located between the rows of batteries to reduce pressure drop and provide more uniform temperatures within the rows of battery cells.
US09577295B2	Battery system and temperature controlling unit thereof A battery system may include a plurality of unit batteries each having a panel shape and stacked in series. The system may also include a plurality of heat conduction plates each having a panel shape and inserted between the unit batteries such that a first part of each respective heat conduction plate is inserted between opposing faces of corresponding unit batteries, with upper and lower faces of each respective heat conduction plate being in contact with the opposing faces of the corresponding unit batteries, and a second part of each respective heat conduction plate is exposed to an outside of the stacked unit batteries. The system may further include at least one heat pipe thermally coupling the plurality of heat conduction plates by successively penetrating the exposed second parts of the heat conduction plates, with an end of the heat pipe being thermally coupled to a heat radiator after penetrating a last heat conduction plate.
US09577294B2	Manufacturing method for secondary battery A method of manufacturing for a secondary battery. The secondary battery is configured to include an electrode group in a battery package. The electrode group includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator. The manufacturing method includes: (a) measuring a first voltage drop amount of the secondary battery with the passage of time in a state in which a compression force in a direction parallel to a lamination direction of the electrode group is applied to the electrode group via the battery package; (b) measuring a second voltage drop amount of the secondary battery with the passage of time in a state in which the compression force is released; and (c) detecting a small short circuit of the secondary battery by comparing the first voltage drop amount and the second voltage drop amount.
US09577292B2	Electronic device and battery pack An electronic device includes a storing unit which is provided on a battery pack and which retains power information of the battery pack, an acquiring unit which is provided in the main unit and which acquires the power information of the battery pack from the storing unit, and a control unit which is provided in the main unit and which controls the operation of the main unit based on the power information of the battery pack.
US09577290B2	Nonaqueous solvent, nonaqueous electrolyte, and power storage device A power storage device using an organic solvent as a nonaqueous solvent for a nonaqueous electrolyte, in which a CV charging period in CCCV charging can be prevented from being extended and which has high performance, can be provided. The power storage device includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a nonaqueous electrolyte. The nonaqueous electrolyte includes an ionic liquid including an alicyclic quaternary ammonium cation having one or more substituents and a counter anion to the alicyclic quaternary ammonium cation, a cyclic ester, and an alkali metal salt. In particular, in the power storage device, the ionic liquid content is greater than or equal to 70 wt % and less than 100 wt % per unit weight of the ionic liquid and the cyclic ester in the nonaqueous electrolyte, or greater than or equal to 50 wt % and less than 80 wt % per unit weight of the nonaqueous electrolyte.
US09577287B2	Galvanic cells and components therefor The present invention provides an electrolyte component containing one or more salts including lithium bis(oxalate)borate (LiBOB), a solvent, propylene carbonate (PC) and a crystallizable polymer wherein said LiBOB is present as a weight percentage of 0.5% or more, said propylene carbonate is present as a weight percentage of between 5% and 90% and the crystallizable polymer is present at a weight percentage of greater than 1%. It also provides a galvanic cell formed from the above and a process for forming same.
US09577286B2	Method of producing solid state lithium battery module The invention provides a method of producing a solid state lithium battery module in which the occurrence of short circuit caused by dendrites is suppressed. The invention solves this problem by providing a method of producing a solid state lithium battery module, including steps of: a pressing step of pressing a sulfide glass having an ion conductor containing a Li element, a P element, and a S element, and forming a solid electrolyte layer; and a restraining step of restraining a solid state lithium battery including the solid electrolyte layer, using restraining member, wherein, in the pressing step, the solid electrolyte layer is formed such that the average pore radius obtained by a mercury intrusion method is R (μm), and in the restraining step, the solid state lithium battery is restrained such that when the confining pressure is designated as P(MPa), the relationship: P≦−5900R+74 is satisfied.
US09577283B2	Energy storage battery A redox flow battery is described, mainly including a charge/discharge cell, a cathode electrolyte tank, and an anode electrolyte tank. The inside of the charge/discharge cell is divided into a cathode cell and an anode cell by a diaphragm. A collector plate and a cathode are contained in the cathode cell. An aqueous solution containing a Mn-polyethyleneimine complex is supplied from the cathode electrolyte tank to the cathode through a supply pipe. Thereby, an energy storage battery that has durability sufficient for practical applications in a wide range of fields can be provided.
US09577282B2	Redox flow battery A redox flow battery. A metal-ligand coordination compound including an aromatic ligand that contains an electron withdrawing group is used as the catholyte and/or the anolyte so that a redox flow battery having high energy density and excellent charge/discharge efficiency may be provided.
US09577281B1	Method of making a fuel cell device Two active cell structures are prepared each comprising anode/electrolyte/cathode layers, each anode and cathode layer having embedded spaced-apart physical structures therein. Two interconnect sublayers are prepared, each comprising a layer of non-conductive material with holes formed therein and a conductor layer formed on one surface. The sublayers are placed together with the conductor layers in contact and with the holes offset to form an interconnect layer, which is then stacked between the two active cell structures. The multi-layer stack is laminated together and the anode layer of one active cell structure and the cathode layer of the other active cell structure fill the adjacent holes in the interconnect layer. The physical structures are pulled out to reveal embedded gas passages, and the multi-layer stack is sintered to form two active cells connected in series by the interconnect layer.
US09577278B2	Hybrid membranes containing titanium dioxide doped with fluorine Hybrid membranes based on crystalline titanium dioxide containing fluorine atoms within the crystalline lattice comprising atoms of titanium and oxygen are described; these hybrid membranes are particularly suitable for the production of fuel cells and electrolysers. A process for producing the aforesaid hybrid membranes is also described.
US09577273B2	Fluidic interface module for a fuel cell system Purge valves that are manually turned ON but are automatically or electrically turned OFF as the fuel cell's production of electricity reaches a predetermined level, e.g., steady state or thereabout are disclosed. The purge valve may be opened at system start-up, or may be opened at system shut-down so that the purge valve is armed and the fuel cell system is purged at the next start-up. Also disclosed is an integrated fluidic interface module that contains various fluidic components including one of these purge valves. The integrated fluidic interface module can operate passively or without being actively controlled by a processor. Methods of operating a fuel cell system, wherein the fuel cell system is purged at system start-up, are also disclosed. The purging automatically stops when the anode plenum is fully purged and replaced with fuel.
US09577271B2	Fuel cell system and its control method A fuel cell system includes; a fuel cell which generates electricity by using a fuel gas and an oxidant gas as reaction gases; current control means which controls current of a fuel cell; voltage control means which controls voltage of the fuel cell; and heat value control means which calculates a heat value required by the fuel cell system and decides a target current value of the current control means and a target voltage value of the voltage control means so as to generate the calculated necessary heat amount, thereby controlling the heat value. Thus, it is possible to supply a heat required for the fuel cell system without increasing the size of the fuel cell system.
US09577266B2	Negative grid for battery A method for producing a negative grid for a battery which includes providing a strip of battery grid material and performing a punching operation on the battery grid material to remove material and form a grid. The punching operation produces a negative battery grid having a plurality of grid wires bounded by a frame. The battery grid includes a top frame member. A first side frame member is coupled to the top frame member at a first end thereof. A second side frame member is coupled to the top frame member at a second end thereof. A bottom frame member is spaced apart from the top frame member and coupled to the first side frame member and the second side frame member. The negative grid does not include exposed wire ends that may puncture a polymeric separator when the negative grid is provided within the separator.
US09577265B2	Thin film lithium ion battery A thin film lithium ion battery includes a cathode electrode, an anode electrode, and a solid electrolyte layer. The solid electrolyte layer is sandwiched between the cathode electrode and the anode electrode. At least one of the cathode electrode and the anode electrode includes a current collector. The current collector is a carbon nanotube layer consisting of a plurality of carbon nanotubes.
US09577263B2	Anode active material-containing slurry, anode using the slurry and electrochemical device comprising the anode The present disclosure relates to an anode active material-containing slurry, an anode using the slurry, and an electrochemical device comprising the anode. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a slurry comprising an anode active material; a polymer binder comprising styrene butadiene rubber and potassium polyacrylate; a conductive material; and a dispersing medium, an anode using the slurry, and an electrochemical device comprising the anode. The anode active material-containing slurry according to one aspect of the present disclosure can relieve the volume expansion of an anode active material by the intercalation and disintercalation of lithium during cycles of electrochemical devices to improve the durability of an anode active material layer, thereby enhancing the life characteristics of the electrochemical devices, and can form an anode active material layer having a high peeling force even though potassium polyacrylate with a relatively lower weight-average molecular weight is used.
US09577262B2	Positive electrode material for lithium ion secondary cell and lithium ion secondary cell A positive electrode material for a lithium ion secondary cell, includes: a binding agent in which an active material formed from a lithium metal oxide are dispersed together with barium titanate and conductive carbon.
US09577261B2	Lithium ion secondary battery and method for manufacturing the same A lithium ion secondary battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte provided between the positive electrode and the negative electrode. The positive electrode includes a positive electrode current collector and a positive electrode active material layer over the positive electrode current collector. The positive electrode active material layer includes a plurality of lithium-containing composite oxides each of which is expressed by LiMPO4 (M is one or more of Fe (II), Mn (II), Co (II), and Ni (II)) that is a general formula. The lithium-containing composite oxide is a flat single crystal particle in which the length in the b-axis direction is shorter than each of the lengths in the a-axis direction and the c-axis direction. The lithium-containing composite oxide is provided over the positive electrode current collector so that the b-axis of the single crystal particle intersects with the surface of the positive electrode current collector.
US09577260B2	Ultra-lightweight energy storage material Disclosed are compositions containing a formula of LixTiyV1Bz wherein x, y, and z are real numbers greater than zero. In certain embodiments, x is not greater than 7, and y is not greater than 6, or a combination thereof. The composition may be a microporous aerogel, a mesoporous aerogel, a crystalline structure, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, the composition may be an aerogel, and a surface of the aerogel comprises microcrystals, nanocrystals or a combination thereof. The compositions have very low densities. Also disclosed are methods to produce the composition and use of the composition in energy storage devices.
US09577258B2	Method of preparing composite cathode active material, composite cathode active material, and cathode and lithium battery containing the composite cathode active material Provided are a method of preparing a cathode active material, a composite cathode active material, and a cathode and a lithium battery containing the composite cathode active material. The method includes mixing a transition metal source and a reducing agent to prepare a cathode active material precursor; and mixing and calcining the cathode active material precursor to prepare a lithium transition metal oxide, wherein a supplied amount of the reducing agent is about 0.003 mole/hr or less with respect to 1 mole/hr of a supplied amount of the transition metal source.
US09577255B2	Negative electrode active material for non-aqueous electrolyte rechargeable battery, method of fabricating the same, and non-aqueous electrolyte rechargeable battery including the same A camera module is disclosed, the camera module including a PCB (Printed Circuit Board), a base arranged at an upper surface of the PCB, a holder member arranged at an upper surface of the base and formed with a plurality of magnet reception portions, a surface of which facing the base is opened, and a plurality of magnets coupled to the magnet reception portions, wherein the base is formed with a protrusion configured to support a bottom surface of the magnet by being protrusively formed at a position corresponding to an opening of the magnet reception portions.
US09577253B2	Positive-electrode materials: methods for their preparation and use in lithium secondary batteries A positive-electrode material for a lithium secondary battery which includes a lithium oxide compound or a complex oxide as reactive substance. The material also includes at least one type of carbon material, and optionally a binder. A first type of carbon material is provided as a coating on the reactive substance particles surface. A second type of carbon material is carbon black. And a third type of carbon material is a fibrous carbon material a mixture of at least two types of fibrous carbon material different in fiber diameter and/or fiber length. Also, a method for preparing the material as well as lithium secondary batteries including the material.
US09577249B2	Cathode material for lithium secondary battery, and method of producing said cathode material A cathode material for a lithium secondary battery, including fibrous carbon and a plurality of cathode active material particles bonded to a surface of the fibrous carbon. The cathode active material particles are composed of olivine-type LiMPO4 where M represents one or more kinds of elements selected from Fe, Mn, Ni, and Co. Also disclosed is a method of producing the cathode material and a lithium secondary battery.
US09577246B2	Negative electrode active material, negative electrode for nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery, and nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery Provided is a negative electrode active material containing SiOx and carbonaceous particles containing graphite and having both good discharge capacity and good electric conductivity. Also provided is a negative electrode using the negative electrode active material and a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery. When the carbonaceous particles have an average particle diameter D50 of α (μm) and a BET specific surface area of β (m2/g), the α and the β satisfy the following Formulae (1) and (2). β≦−(12/18)α+12 (1) 5≦α≦15 (2).
US09577243B2	Use of expanded graphite in lithium/sulphur batteries The present invention relates to a solid composite for use in the cathode of a lithium-sulphur electric current producing cell wherein the solid composite comprises 1 to 75 wt.-% of expanded graphite, 25 to 99 wt.-% of sulphur, 0 to 50 wt.-% of one or more further conductive agents other than expanded graphite, and 0 to 50 wt.-% one or more binder, based on the total amount of the solid composite, a lithium-sulphur electric current producing cell comprising (i) a cathode comprising the solid composite, (ii) an anode and (iii) an electrolyte interposed between said cathode and said anode, and a process for preparing the solid composite comprising the steps (I) preparing a slurry comprising sulphur, expanded graphite, and optionally further components in a liquid medium by dispersing the sulphur, the expanded graphite, and optionally the further components in the liquid medium; (II) casting the slurry provided in step (I) on a substrate or placing the slurry provided in step (I) into a mold; and (III) removing some or all of the liquid medium from the slurry cast in step (II) to form a solid composite.
US09577242B2	Internal header flow divider for uniform electrolyte distribution The present disclosure details header flow divider designs and methods of electrolyte distribution. Internal header flow dividers may include multiple flow channels and may be built into flow frames. Flow channels within internal header flow dividers may divide evenly multiple times in order to form multiple flow channel paths and provide a uniform distribution of electrolytes throughout electrode sheets within electrochemical cells. Furthermore, uniform electrolyte distribution across electrode sheets may not only enhance battery performance, but also prevent zinc dendrites that may be formed in electrode sheets. The prevention of zinc dendrite growth in electrode sheets may increase operating lifetime of flow batteries. The disclosed internal header flow dividers may also be included within end caps of electrochemical cells.
US09577236B2	Multi-region battery separators Disclosed is a battery separator, comprising two fiber regions comprising glass fibers, and a middle fiber region disposed between them comprising larger average diameter fibers and specified amounts of silica, or fine fibers, or both; and processes for making the separator. Also disclosed is a battery separator, comprising a fiber region and either one or two silica-containing region(s) adjacent thereto, each of the regions containing a specified amount of silica; and processes for making the separator. Such separators are useful, e.g., in lead-acid batteries.
US09577234B2	Separator material for forming a separator for a lead-acid accumulator The invention relates to a separator material (6) for forming a separator for a lead-acid accumulator, especially in the form of unfinished rolled product, and a method for the production thereof. The inventive separator material (6) comprises a first layer in the form of a microporous film (1) and at least one second layer in the form of a planar fleece material (7). At least one face of the microporous film (1), which is made of a thermoplastic material, is provided with a number of protrusions (2, 2′) defining an area with an increased film thickness on a basic film sheet. The fleece material (7) is welded to the film (1) by means of ultrasonic welding in such a way that the planar fleece material (7) is located at least at the level of the surface of the basic film sheet without invading the same in the area of the welded joints (8).
US09577231B2	Lithium ion battery module A lithium-ion battery module includes a housing having a plurality of partitions configured to define a plurality of compartments within a housing. The battery module also includes a lithium-ion cell element provided in each of the compartments of the housing. The battery module further includes a cover coupled to the housing and configured to route electrolyte into each of the compartments. The cover is also configured to seal the compartments of the housing.
US09577229B2	Secondary battery A secondary battery includes an electrode assembly including a first electrode plate including a first electrode non-coating portion on which an active material of the first electrode plate is not coated, a second electrode plate including a second electrode non-coating portion on which an active material of the second electrode plate is not coated, and a separator between the first and second electrode plates; a collector electrically connected to an electrode non-coating portion of the first and second electrode non-coating portions, the collector including an insulation part at an insulation region of the collector adjacent the first and second electrode plates; and a case accommodating the electrode assembly and the collector.
US09577226B2	Rechargeable battery with buffer sheet between electrode assembly and battery case A rechargeable battery includes an electrode assembly in a battery case, and a buffer sheet between the electrode assembly and the battery case, the buffer sheet contacting the electrode assembly and the battery case.
US09577222B2	Light-emitting device having multi-thickness transparent conductive layers To provide a novel light-emitting device with high productivity, the light-emitting device includes a first light-emitting element, a second light-emitting element, and a third light-emitting element. In the first light-emitting element, a first lower electrode, a first transparent conductive layer, a first light-emitting layer, a second light-emitting layer, and an upper electrode are stacked in this order. In the second light-emitting element, a second lower electrode, a second transparent conductive layer, the first light-emitting layer, the second light-emitting layer, and the upper electrode are stacked in this order. In the third light-emitting element, a third lower electrode, a third transparent conductive layer, the second light-emitting layer, and the upper electrode are stacked in this order. The first transparent conductive layer includes a first region. The second transparent conductive layer includes a second region as thick as the third transparent conductive layer. The first region is thicker than the second region.
US09577221B2	Three stack hybrid white OLED for enhanced efficiency and lifetime OLEDs containing a stacked hybrid architecture including a phosphorescent organic emissive unit and two fluorescent organic emissive units are disclosed. The stacked hybrid architecture includes a plurality of electrodes and a hybrid emissive stacked disposed between at least two of the electrodes. The stack contains at least three emissive units and at least two charge generation layers. At least one of the three emissive units is a phosphorescent organic emissive unit and at least two of the three emissive units are fluorescent organic emissive units. More specifically, the two fluorescent organic emissive units may be blue organic emissive units that emit light from the same or different color regions.
US09577219B2	Light-emitting module, light-emitting device, method of manufacturing the light-emitting module, and method of manufacturing the light-emitting device A highly reliable light-emitting module including an organic EL element or a light-emitting device using a highly reliable light-emitting module including an organic EL element is provided. Alternatively, a method of manufacturing a highly reliable light-emitting module including an organic EL element, or a method of manufacturing a light-emitting device using a highly reliable light-emitting module including an organic EL element is provided. The light-emitting module has a structure in which a light-emitting element formed over a first substrate and a viscous material layer are sealed in a space between the first substrate and a second substrate which face each other, with a sealing material surrounding the light-emitting element. The viscous material layer is provided between the light-emitting element and the second substrate and includes a non-solid material and a drying agent which reacts with or adsorbs an impurity.
US09577215B2	Display device with glass frit sealing portion A display device includes: a substrate on which a display is formed; an encapsulation portion covering the substrate; and a sealing portion arranged between the substrate and the encapsulation portion and surrounding the display, wherein at least one power wire passes between the substrate and the encapsulation portion, and wherein a metal layer is formed between the sealing portion and the at least one power wire.
US09577209B2	Light-emitting device and manufacturing method thereof, lighting device, and display device The present invention focuses on a structure in which an auxiliary wiring for increasing the conductivity of an upper electrode is provided on the substrate side. The conductive auxiliary wiring of a light-emitting device is provided over a substrate, and an upper portion of the auxiliary wiring protrudes in a direction parallel to the substrate. Further, an EL layer formed in a region including a lower electrode layer and the auxiliary wiring is physically divided by the auxiliary wiring. An upper electrode layer formed in a manner similar to that of the lower electrode layer may be electrically connected to at least part of a side surface of the auxiliary wiring. Such an auxiliary wiring may be used in a lighting device and a display device.
US09577207B2	Organic light emitting display device with insulating part and method of manufacturing the same Disclosed is an organic light emitting display device. The organic light emitting display device includes a substrate, a pixel electrode disposed on the substrate, an organic emission layer disposed on the pixel electrode, a common electrode including a metal layer disposed on the organic emission layer, a conductive organic layer disposed on the metal layer, and a first metal oxide layer disposed on the conductive organic layer, and an insulating part formed in a part of an area of a surface of the metal layer which is exposed to a foreign material. The insulating part insulates the pixel electrode from the common electrode.
US09577196B2	Optoelectronics integration by transfer process A method for fabricating an optoelectronic device includes forming an adhesion layer on a substrate, forming a material layer on the adhesion layer and applying release tape to the material layer. The substrate is removed at the adhesion layer by mechanically yielding the adhesion layer. A conductive layer is applied to the material layer on a side opposite the release tape to form a transfer substrate. The transfer substrate is transferred to a target substrate to join the target substrate to the conductive layer of the transfer substrate. The release tape is removed from the material layer to form a top emission optoelectronic device.
US09577192B2	Method for forming a metal cap in a semiconductor memory device Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are directed towards a method for fabricating a semiconductor memory device comprising selectively depositing a material to form a cap above a recessed cell structure in order to prevent degradation of components inside the cell structure in oxidative or corrosive environments.
US09577186B2	Non-volatile resistive oxide memory cells and methods of forming non-volatile resistive oxide memory cells A method of forming a non-volatile resistive oxide memory cell includes forming a first conductive electrode of the memory cell as part of a substrate. The first conductive electrode has an elevationally outermost surface and opposing laterally outermost edges at the elevationally outermost surface in one planar cross section. Multi-resistive state metal oxide-comprising material is formed over the first conductive electrode. Conductive material is deposited over the multi-resistive state metal oxide-comprising material. A second conductive electrode of the memory cell which comprises the conductive material is received over the multi-resistive state metal oxide-comprising material. The forming thereof includes etching through the conductive material to form opposing laterally outermost conductive edges of said conductive material in the one planar cross section at the conclusion of said etching which are received laterally outward of the opposing laterally outermost edges of the first conductive electrode in the one planar cross section.
US09577183B2	Methods of manufacturing a magnetoresistive random access memory device In a method of manufacturing a MRAM device, a lower electrode is formed on a substrate. A first magnetic layer, a tunnel barrier layer, and a second magnetic layer are sequentially formed on the lower electrode layer. An etching mask is formed on the second magnetic layer. An ion beam etching process in which a first ion beam and a second ion beam are simultaneously emitted onto the substrate is performed to form a MTJ structure including a first magnetic layer pattern, a tunnel layer pattern, and a second magnetic layer pattern from the first magnetic layer, the tunnel barrier layer, and the second magnetic layer, respectively, the MTJ structure has no by-products remaining after the ion beam etching process is performed.
US09577180B2	Electrostatically controlled magnetic logic device A magnetic logic cell includes a first electrode portion, a magnetic portion arranged on the first electrode, the magnetic portion including an anti-ferromagnetic material or a ferrimagnetic material, a dielectric portion arranged on the magnetic portion, and a second electrode portion arranged on the dielectric portion.
US09577177B1	System and method for fabricating super conducting circuitry on both sides of an ultra-thin layer A method of fabricating circuitry in a wafer includes depositing a superconducting metal on a silicon on insulator wafer having a handle wafer, coating the wafer with a sacrificial layer and bonding the wafer to a thermally oxide silicon wafer with a first epoxy. The method includes flipping the wafer, thinning the flipped wafer by removing a handle wafer, etching a buried oxide layer, depositing a superconducting layer, bonding the wafer to a thermally oxidized silicon wafer having a handle wafer using an epoxy, flipping the wafer again, thinning the flipped wafer, etching a buried oxide layer from the wafer and etching the sacrificial layer from the wafer. The result is a wafer having superconductive circuitry on both sides of an ultra-thin silicon layer.
US09577174B2	CVD nanocrystalline silicon thermoelectric material A process for forming a doped nc-Si thin film thermoelectric material. A nc-Si thin film is slowly deposited on a substrate, either by hot-wire CVD (HWCVD) with a controlled H2:SiH4 ratio R=6-10 or by plasma-enhanced (PECVD) with a controlled R=80-100, followed by ion implantation of an n- or p-type dopant and a final annealing step to activate the implanted dopants and to remove amorphous regions. A doped nc-Si thin film thermoelectric material so formed has both a controllable grain size of from a few tens of nm to 3 nm and a controllable dopant distribution and thus can be configured to provide a thermoelectric material having predetermined desired thermal and/or electrical properties. A final annealing step is used to activate the dopants and remove any residual amorphous regions.
US09577167B2	Semiconductor light emitting device A semiconductor light emitting device including a plurality of light emitting elements can be miniaturized while enabling to emit light with high luminance. The semiconductor light emitting device can include a mounting substrate, and a plurality of semiconductor light emitting elements mounted on the mounting substrate side by side, each of the semiconductor light emitting elements having a semiconductor structure layer that can include a first semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type, an active layer, and a second semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type, which are layered in that order. Each of the semiconductor light emitting elements can have a resonator constituted by end surfaces of the semiconductor structure layer opposite to each other, and also has a recessed portion recessed from the surface of the second semiconductor layer toward the active layer.
US09577166B2	Light emitting device package and lighting system including the same Provided are a light emitting device package and a lighting system including the light emitting device package. The light emitting device package includes a package body, at least one electrode on the package body, a light emitting device on the package body, a reflective structure around the light emitting device on the package body and a lens on the light emitting device and the electrode.
US09577158B2	Phosphor sheet-forming resin composition A phosphor sheet-forming resin composition uses a low-cost resin material having high light fastness and low visible light absorption and is capable of providing a phosphor sheet at low cost with deterioration of a phosphor due to moisture being suppressed. The phosphor sheet-forming resin composition contains a film-forming resin composition and a powdery phosphor that emits fluorescence when irradiated with excitation light. The film-forming resin composition contains a hydrogenated styrene-based copolymer, and uses a sulfide-based phosphor as the phosphor. Examples of the hydrogenated styrene-based copolymer include hydrogenated products of styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene block copolymers. CaS:Eu is used as a preferred sulfide-based phosphor.
US09577157B2	Light emitting diode chip having distributed Bragg reflector and method of fabricating the same A light-emitting diode package, including a package body and leads, the package body including a mounting surface, a light-emitting structure disposed on the mounting surface, the light-emitting structure including an active layer disposed between a first conductive-type semiconductor layer and a second conductive-type semiconductor layer, a phosphor layer disposed on the light-emitting structure, and a distributed Bragg reflector disposed between the light-emitting structure and the mounting surface. The distributed Bragg reflector includes a first distributed Bragg reflector and a second distributed Bragg reflector, and an optical thickness of material layers within the first distributed Bragg reflector is greater than an optical thickness of material layers within the second distributed Bragg reflector.
US09577155B2	Light emitting device A light emitting device includes at least one layer below or above a reflective layer to prevent delamination of the reflective layer from a layer below and/or above the reflective layer.
US09577154B2	Light emitting chip A light emitting chip includes a light emitting unit, a eutectic layer and a surface passivation layer. The eutectic layer has a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other. The light emitting chip connects to the first surface of the eutectic layer. The surface passivation layer covers the second surface of the eutectic layer. A material of the surface passivation layer includes at least a metal of an oxidation potential from −0.2 volts to −1.8 volts.
US09577150B2	Light emitting device and light emitting device package Disclosed are a light emitting device and a light emitting device package. The light emitting device includes a light emitting structure including a first conductive semiconductor layer, an active layer on the first conductive semiconductor layer, and a second conductive semiconductor layer on the active layer, an adhesive layer contacting a top surface of the first conductive semiconductor layer, a first electrode contacting a top surface of the first conductive semiconductor and a top surface of the adhesive layer, and a second electrode contacting the second conductive semiconductor layer, wherein the adhesive layer contacting the first electrode is spaced apart from the second electrode.
US09577148B2	Light emitting diode element and method of manufacturing the same An n-type GaN layer made of n-type gallium nitride (GaN) is formed on a sapphire substrate. A plurality of island-phased layered structures are formed in random sizes between the n-type GaN layer and a p-type GaN layer that is made of p-type GaN. Each of the layered structures is configured by stacking multiple AlN layers made of aluminum nitride (AlN) and multiple InGaN layers made of indium gallium nitride (InGaN) on an AlN base layer. The respective layered structures emit lights of different wavelengths. This accordingly allows for emission of light in a wider wavelength range.
US09577147B2	Light emitting device package and manufacturing method thereof A light emitting device (LED) package and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. The LED package includes an LED including a first electrode pad and a second electrode pad disposed on one surface thereof; a bonding insulating pattern layer configured to expose the first electrode pad and the second electrode pad; a substrate including a via hole bored from a first surface to a second surface and a wiring metal layer formed on an inner surface of the via hole to extend to a part of the second surface; and a bonding metal pattern layer bonded to the wiring metal layer exposed through the via hole at the first surface of the substrate and also bonded to the first electrode pad and the second electrode pad.
US09577144B2	Ultraviolet light-emitting device Disclosed is an ultraviolet light-emitting device. The light-emitting device includes: an n-type contact layer including a GaN layer; a p-type contact layer including an AlGaN or AlInGaN layer; and an active region of multiple quantum well structure positioned between the n-type contact layer and the p-type contact layer. In addition, the active region of multiple quantum well structure includes a GaN or InGaN layer with a thickness less than 2 nm, radiating an ultraviolet ray with a peak wavelength of 340 nm to 360 nm.
US09577142B2	Process for forming semiconductor laser diode implemented with sampled grating A method to produce a semiconductor laser diode (LD) including a sampled grating (SG) is disclosed. The method prepares various resist patterns each including grating regions and space regions alternately arranged along an optical axis. The grating regions and the space region in respective cavity types have total widths same with the others but the grating regions in respective types has widths different from others. After the formation of the grating patterns based on the resist patterns, only one of the grating patterns is used for subsequent processes.
US09577138B2	Solar cell and manufacturing method thereof A solar cell is formed to have a silicon semiconductor substrate of a first conductive type; an emitter layer having a second conductive type opposite the first conductive type and formed on a first surface of the silicon semiconductor substrate; a back surface field layer having the first conductive type and formed on a second surface of the silicon semiconductor substrate opposite to the first surface; and wherein the emitter layer includes at least a first shallow doping area and the back surface field layer includes at least a second shallow doping area, and wherein a thickness of the first shallow doping area of the emitter layer is different from a thickness of the second shallow doping area of the back surface field layer.
US09577136B2	Semiconductor light-receiving element and method for manufacturing same The present invention pertains to a semiconductor light-receiving element and a method for manufacturing the same, enabling operation in a wide wavelength bandwidth and achieving fast response and high response efficiency. A PIN type photodiode made by sequentially layering on top of the substrate a Si layer of a first conductivity type, a non-doped Ge layer and a Ge layer of a second conductivity type that is the opposite type of the first conductivity type and a Ge current-blocking mechanism is provided in at least part of the periphery of the PIN type photodiode.
US09577134B2	Solar cell emitter region fabrication using self-aligned implant and cap Methods of fabricating solar cell emitter regions using self-aligned implant and cap, and the resulting solar cells, are described. In an example, a method of fabricating an emitter region of a solar cell involves forming a silicon layer above a substrate. The method also involves implanting, through a stencil mask, dopant impurity atoms in the silicon layer to form implanted regions of the silicon layer with adjacent non-implanted regions. The method also involves forming, through the stencil mask, a capping layer on and substantially in alignment with the implanted regions of the silicon layer. The method also involves removing the non-implanted regions of the silicon layer, wherein the capping layer protects the implanted regions of the silicon layer during the removing. The method also involves annealing the implanted regions of the silicon layer to form doped polycrystalline silicon emitter regions.
US09577132B2	Solar cell module A solar cell module includes a plurality of solar cells each including a substrate, an emitter region positioned at a back surface of the substrate, first electrodes electrically connected to the emitter region, second electrodes electrically connected to the substrate, a first current collector positioned at ends of the first electrodes, and a second current collector at ends of the second electrodes, and a first connector connecting a first current collector of a first solar cell of the plurality of solar cells to a second current collector of a second solar cell adjacent to the first solar cell. The first current collector of the first solar cell and the second current collector of the second solar cell each have a different polarity.
US09577131B2	Concentrator photovoltaic module, concentrator photovoltaic panel, and flexible printed circuit for concentrator photovoltaic module A concentrator photovoltaic module including: a flexible printed circuit provided in contact with a bottom surface of a housing; and a primary concentrating portion formed by a plurality of lens elements being arranged, each lens element concentrating sunlight, wherein the flexible printed circuit includes: an insulating base material and a conductive pattern; a plurality of power generating elements provided on the pattern, so as to correspond to the lens elements, respectively; a cover lay as a covering layer having insulating property and a low water absorption not higher than a predetermined value, the cover lay covering and sealing a conductive portion including the pattern on the insulating base material; and an adhesive layer having insulating property and a low water absorption not higher than the predetermined value, the adhesive layer bonding the insulating base material and the covering layer together.
US09577127B1	Composite material for fluorescent quantum dot micro-nano packaging A composite material for fluorescent quantum dot micro-nano packaging. The composite material comprises fluorescent quantum dots, a mesoporous particle material having a nanometer lattice structure, and a barrier layer, wherein the fluorescent quantum dots are distributed in the mesoporous particle material, and the barrier layer is coated on the outer surface of the mesoporous particle material. In the composite material according to the invention, the quantum dot aggregation can be effectively retarded, with the barrier layer coated on the surface the water-oxygen micromolecule erosion is prevented, the compatibility and stability of the composite fluorescent particles is improved, and the service life of the composite material for fluorescent quantum dot micro-nano packaging is thus greatly improved.
US09577126B2	Solar cell emitter region fabrication using ion implantation Methods of fabricating solar cell emitter regions using ion implantation, and resulting solar cells, are described. In an example, a back contact solar cell includes a crystalline silicon substrate having a light-receiving surface and a back surface. A first polycrystalline silicon emitter region is disposed above the crystalline silicon substrate. The first polycrystalline silicon emitter region is doped with dopant impurity species of a first conductivity type and further includes ancillary impurity species different from the dopant impurity species of the first conductivity type. A second polycrystalline silicon emitter region is disposed above the crystalline silicon substrate and is adjacent to but separated from the first polycrystalline silicon emitter region. The second polycrystalline silicon emitter region is doped with dopant impurity species of a second, opposite, conductivity type. First and second conductive contact structures are electrically connected to the first and second polycrystalline silicon emitter regions, respectively.
US09577125B2	Colloidal semiconducting structure The present invention is based on a unique design of a novel structure, which incorporates two quantum dots of a different bandgap separated by a tunneling barrier. Upconversion is expected to occur by the sequential absorption of two photons. In broad terms, the first photon excites an electron-hole pair via intraband absorption in the lower bandgap dot, leaving a confined hole and a relatively delocalized electron. The second absorbed photon can lead, either directly or indirectly, to further excitation of the hole, enabling it to then cross the barrier layer. This, in turn, is followed by radiative recombination with the delocalized electron.
US09577123B2	Nanostructure and optical device having nanostructure Provided are nanostructures and optical devices having the nanostructures. The nanostructure may include a carbon nanomaterial layer, a nanopattern formed on the carbon nanomaterial layer, and a metal layer formed on a surface of the nanopattern. The nanostructure may be formed in a ring shape, and the metal layer may include a plurality of metal layers formed of different metals.
US09577122B2	Conductive paste-forming electrode, solar cell manufacturing method and solar cell A conductive paste is provided which can form electrodes in crystalline silicon solar cells at low cost while ensuring that the electrodes exhibit low contact resistance with respect to both p-type and n-type impurity diffusion layers. The conductive paste for forming a solar cell electrode includes a silver powder, a glass frit, an additive particle and an organic vehicle, the glass frit having a glass transition point of 150 to 440° C., the additive particle including an alloy material containing 20 to 98 mass % aluminum, the conductive paste including the additive particle in an amount of 2 to 30 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of the silver powder.
US09577121B2	Tetra-lateral position sensing detector The present invention is directed to a position sensing detector made of a photodiode having a semi insulating substrate layer; a buffered layer that is formed directly atop the semi-insulating substrate layer, an absorption layer that is formed directly atop the buffered layer substrate layer, a cap layer that is formed directly atop the absorption layer, a plurality of cathode electrodes electrically coupled to the buffered layer or directly to the cap layer, and at least one anode electrode electrically coupled to a p-type region in the cap layer. The position sensing detector has a photo-response non-uniformity of less than 2% and a position detection error of less than 10 μm across the active area.
US09577119B2	Solar module with a plug-in device A solar module with a front side surface and a rear side surface, has a front side encapsulation element which forms the front side surface of the solar module, a multiplicity of solar cells which are connected electrically to one another, a rear side encapsulation element which forms the rear side surface of the solar module with a rear side surface plane and has a polymer plastic film, and at least one plug-in device connecting to a complementary structure. The plug-in device is at least partially laminated into the rear side encapsulation element, in the region of an overlapping section, wherein the rear site encapsulation element has an opening and the plug-in device is arranged at least partially in the opening. The plug-in device projects beyond the rear side surface plane of the solar module by a maximum of 15 mm.
US09577114B2	Transistors, methods of forming transistors and display devices having transistors A transistor, a display device, and associated methods, the transistor including a substrate; an active layer pattern disposed on the substrate, the active layer pattern including silicon and graphene; a gate insulating layer disposed on the active layer pattern; a gate electrode disposed on the gate insulating layer; an insulating interlayer covering the active layer pattern and the gate electrode; and a source electrode and a drain electrode in contact with the active layer pattern.
US09577111B2	Method of fabricating thin film transistor A method of fabricating a thin film transistor including following steps is provided. Sequentially form a semiconductor layer, a metal layer and an auxiliary layer on a substrate. Perform a crystallization process to transform the semiconductor layer into an active layer after the metal layer and the auxiliary layer are disposed on the semiconductor layer. After the active layer is formed, pattern the metal layer to form a source and a drain. Form a gate insulator and a gate. The gate insulator is disposed between the gate and the source and drain.
US09577109B2	Transparent conducting film and preparation method thereof There are provided a transparent conductive film and a method for preparing the same. The transparent conductive film of the present application comprises a compound having a crystalline structure and represented by Chemical Formula 1 and thus can be applied as a technology substituting for conventional ITO conductive films.
US09577107B2	Oxide semiconductor film and method for forming oxide semiconductor film To improve crystallinity of an oxide semiconductor. To provide a crystalline oxide semiconductor film in which a crystallized region extends to the interface with a base or the vicinity of the interface, and to provide a method for forming the oxide semiconductor film. An oxide semiconductor film containing indium, gallium, and zinc is formed, and the oxide semiconductor film is irradiated with an energy beam, thereby being heated. Note that the oxide semiconductor film includes a c-axis aligned crystal region or microcrystal.
US09577101B2	Source/drain regions for fin field effect transistors and methods of forming same A method for forming a semiconductor device includes forming a fin extending upwards from a semiconductor substrate and forming a sacrificial layer on sidewalls of a portion of the fin. The method further includes forming a spacer layer over the sacrificial layer and recessing the portion of the fin past a bottom surface of the sacrificial layer. The recessing forms a trench disposed between sidewall portions of the spacer layer. At least a portion of the sacrificial layer is removed, and a source/drain region is formed in the trench.
US09577099B2	Diamond shaped source drain epitaxy with underlying buffer layer A semiconductor structure includes a fin upon a semiconductor substrate. A clean epitaxial growth surface is provided by forming a buffer layer upon fin sidewalls and an upper surface of the fin. The buffer layer may be epitaxially grown. Diamond shaped epitaxy is grown from the buffer layer sidewalls. In some implementations, the diamond shaped epitaxy may be subsequently merged with surrounding dielectric. A dopant concentration of the surrounding dielectric may be higher than a dopant concentration of the diamond shaped epitaxy.
US09577096B2	Salicide formation on replacement metal gate finFet devices A fin field effect transistor (finFET) device and a method of fabricating a finFET are described. The method includes forming a replacement gate stack on a substrate between inside walls of sidewall spacers, epitaxially growing a raised source drain (RSD) on the substrate adjacent to outside walls of the sidewall spacers, and forming a silicide above the RSD and along the outside walls of the sidewall spacers. The method also includes depositing and polishing a contact metal above portions of the replacement gate stack and the RSD, the contact metal contacting the silicide along the outside walls of the sidewall spacers adjacent to the portions of the replacement gate stack.
US09577094B2	Low cost demos transistor with improved CHC immunity An integrated circuit and method includes a DEMOS transistor with improved CHC reliability that has a lower resistance surface channel under the DEMOS gate that transitions to a lower resistance subsurface channel under the drain edge of the DEMOS transistor gate.
US09577091B2	Vertical transistor and manufacturing method thereof A vertical transistor and a manufacturing method thereof are provided herein. The manufacturing method includes forming a first patterned conductive layer on a substrate; forming a patterned metal oxide layer on the first patterned conductive layer, in which the patterned metal oxide layer includes a first patterned insulator layer, a second patterned insulator layer, and a second patterned conductive layer; forming a semiconductor layer; and forming a third patterned conductive layer. The first patterned insulator layer, the second patterned insulator layer, and the second patterned conductive layer are made by using a single metal oxide material. The oxygen concentration of the second patterned conductive layer is different from the oxygen concentrations of the first patterned insulator layer and the second patterned insulator layer.
US09577089B2	Structures and methods of fabricating dual gate devices First polysilicon (poly-1) is deposited into deep trenches that have been formed in a substrate. A first polysilicon polishing process is performed to planarize the exposed surfaces of the poly-1 so that the surfaces are flush with adjacent surfaces. Then, shallow trenches are formed in the substrate between the deep trenches, and second polysilicon (poly-2) is deposited into the shallow trenches. A second polysilicon polishing process is performed to planarize the exposed surface of the poly-2 so that the surface is flush with adjacent surfaces. Metal contacts to the poly-1 and the poly-2 are then formed.
US09577085B2	Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same A semiconductor device may include interlayer insulating layers stacked in a first direction and separated from each other, word lines formed between the interlayer insulating layers, and sacrificial insulating layers formed between the interlayer insulating layers so that the sacrificial insulating layers are arranged at layers where the word lines are formed. The semiconductor device may also include cell contact plugs each including a first pillar portion passing through at least one of the interlayer insulating layers and the sacrificial insulating layers in the first direction, and a first protruding portion protruding from a sidewall of the first pillar portion and contacting a sidewall of one of the word lines, wherein the cell contact plugs have different depths.
US09577083B1	Embedded hydrogen inhibitors for semiconductor field effect transistors A field effect transistor (FET) device including a substrate and a plurality of semiconductor layers provided on the substrate, where a top semiconductor layer is a heavily doped cap layer and another one of the semiconductor layers directly below the cap layer is a Schottky barrier layer, and where a gate recess is formed through the cap layer and into the Schottky barrier layer. The FET device also includes a gate terminal having a titanium layer, an inhibitor layer provided on the titanium layer and a gold layer provided on the inhibitor layer, where the gate terminal is formed in the recess so that the titanium layer is in contact with the Schottky barrier layer, and where the inhibitor layer is effective for preventing hydrogen gas from being dissociated into hydrogen atoms so as to reduce or prevent hydrogen poisoning of the FET device.
US09577073B2	Method of forming a silicon-carbide device with a shielded gate A silicon-carbide semiconductor substrate having a plurality of first doped regions being laterally spaced apart from one another and beneath a main surface, and a second doped region extending from the main surface to a third doped region that is above the first doped regions is formed. Fourth doped regions extending from the main surface to the first doped regions are formed. A gate trench having a bottom that is arranged over a portion of one of the first doped regions is formed. A high-temperature step is applied to the substrate so as to realign silicon-carbide atoms along sidewalls of the trench and form rounded corners in the gate trench. A surface layer that forms along the sidewalls of the gate trench during the high-temperature step from the substrate is removed.
US09577072B2	Termination design for high voltage device The present disclosure describes a termination structure for a high voltage semiconductor transistor device. The termination structure is composed of at least two termination zones and an electrical disconnection between the body layer and the edge of the device. A first zone is configured to spread the electric field within the device. A second zone is configured to smoothly bring the electric field back up to the top surface of the device. The electrical disconnection prevents the device from short circuiting the edge of the device. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
US09577070B2	Gate spacers and methods of forming Methods and structures for forming devices, such as transistors, are discussed. A method embodiment includes forming a gate spacer along a sidewall of a gate stack on a substrate; passivating at least a portion of an exterior surface of the gate spacer; and epitaxially growing a material in the substrate proximate the gate spacer while the at least the portion of the exterior surface of the gate spacer remains passivated. The passivating can include using at least one of a thermal treatment, a plasma treatment, or a thermal treatment.
US09577067B2	Metal gate and manufuacturing process thereof Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a semiconductor device including a semiconductive substrate, a metal gate including a metallic layer proximal to the semiconductive substrate. A dielectric layer surrounds the metal gate. The dielectric layer includes a first surface facing the semiconductive substrate and a second surface opposite to the first surface. A sidewall spacer surrounds the metallic layer with a greater longitudinal height. The sidewall spacer is disposed between the metallic layer and the dielectric layer. An etch stop layer over the metal gate comprises a surface substantially coplanar with the second surface of the dielectric layer. The etch stop layer has a higher resistance to etchant than the dielectric layer. A portion of the etch stop layer is over the sidewall spacer.
US09577065B2	Back-end transistors with highly doped low-temperature contacts A back end of line device and method for fabricating a transistor device include a substrate having an insulating layer formed thereon and a channel layer formed on the insulating layer. A gate structure is formed on the channel layer. Dopants are implanted into an upper portion of the channel layer on opposite sides of the gate structure to form shallow source and drain regions using a low temperature implantation process. An epitaxial layer is selectively grown on the shallow source and drain regions to form raised regions above the channel layer and against the gate structure using a low temperature plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition process, wherein low temperature is less than about 400 degrees Celsius.
US09577060B2	Piezoresistive resonator with multi-gate transistor An embodiment includes a first nonplanar transistor including a first fin that includes first source and drain nodes, and a first channel between the first source and drain nodes; a second nonplanar transistor including a second fin that includes second source and drain nodes, and a second channel between the second source and drain nodes; a nonplanar gate on the first fin between the first source and drain nodes and on the second fin between the second source and drain nodes; and first insulation included between the gate and the first fin and second insulation between the gate and the second fin; wherein the gate mechanically resonates at a first frequency when at least one of the gate and the first fin is actuated with alternating current (AC) to produce periodic forces on the gate. Other embodiments are described herein.
US09577054B2	Semiconductor device with varied electrodes A semiconductor device comprises an element region and a terminal region that surrounds the element region. The semiconductor device includes a first semiconductor region having a first conductivity type and a second semiconductor region having a second conductivity type and provided on the first semiconductor region. A third semiconductor region having the first conductivity type is provided on the second semiconductor region. A first electrode is electrically connected to the first semiconductor region. A second electrode is electrically connected to the third semiconductor region. A third and a fourth electrode are disposed in the element region. A distance from the first electrode to the third electrode is less than a distance from the first electrode to the fourth electrode.
US09577053B2	Zener diode having an adjustable breakdown voltage The present disclosure relates to a Zener diode including a Zener diode junction formed in a semiconductor substrate along a plane parallel to the surface of the substrate, and positioned between a an anode region having a first conductivity type and a cathode region having a second conductivity type, the cathode region extending from the surface of the substrate. A first conducting region is configured to generate a first electric field perpendicular to the plane of the Zener diode junction upon application of a first voltage to the first conducting region, and a second conducting region is configured to generate a second electric field along the plane of the Zener diode junction upon application of a second voltage to the second conducting region.
US09577041B2	Method for fabricating a transistor device with a tuned dopant profile A transistor device with a tuned dopant profile is fabricated by implanting one or more dopant migrating mitigating material such as carbon. The process conditions for the carbon implant are selected to achieve a desired peak location and height of the dopant profile for each dopant implant, such as boron. Different transistor devices with similar boron implants may be fabricated with different peak locations and heights for their respective dopant profiles by tailoring the carbon implant energy to effect tuned dopant profiles for the boron.
US09577040B2	FinFET conformal junction and high epi surface dopant concentration method and device A method of forming a source/drain region with an abrupt, vertical and conformal junction and the resulting device are disclosed. Embodiments include forming a gate electrode over and perpendicular to a semiconductor fin; forming first spacers on opposite sides of the gate electrode; forming second spacers on opposite sides of the fin; forming a cavity in the fin adjacent the first spacers, between the second spacers; partially epitaxially growing source/drain regions in each cavity; implanting a first dopant into the partially grown source/drain regions with an optional RTA thereafter; epitaxially growing a remainder of the source/drain regions in the cavities, in situ doped with a second dopant; and implanting a third dopant in the source/drain regions.
US09577039B2	Transistor structure with reduced parasitic side wall characteristics A MOS transistor structure for matched operation in weak-inversion or sub-threshold range (e.g. input-pair of operational amplifier, comparator, and/or current-mirror) is disclosed. The transistor structure may include a well region of any impurity type in a substrate (SOI is included). The well-region can even be represented by the substrate itself. At least one transistor is located in the well region, whereby the active channel-region of the transistor is independent from lateral isolation interfaces between GOX (gate oxide) and FOX (field oxide; including STI-shallow trench isolation).
US09577038B1	Structure and method to minimize junction capacitance in nano sheets A method of making a semiconductor device includes forming a nanosheet stack including a first layer and a second layer; patterning a gate stack on the nanosheet stack; forming a first spacer along a sidewall of the gate stack; removing an endwall portion of the nanosheet stack that extends beyond the first spacer such that a portion of the second layer is exposed from a sidewall of the first spacer; depositing a second spacer along a sidewall of the first spacer; recessing the substrate beneath the second spacer to form an isolation region; depositing an oxide on the gate stack and within the isolation region and partially recessing the oxide; removing a portion of the second spacer such that the portion of the second layer is exposed; and growing an epitaxial layer on the portion of the second layer that is exposed to form a source/drain over the isolation region.
US09577036B1	FinFET isolation structure and method for fabricating the same A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor device and a semiconductor fin on the semiconductor substrate, in which the semiconductor fin has a fin isolation structure at a common boundary that is shared by the two cells. The fin isolation structure has an air gap extending from a top of the semiconductor fin to a stop layer on the semiconductor substrate. The air gap divides the semiconductor fin into two portions of the semiconductor fin. The fin isolation structure includes a dielectric cap layer capping a top of the air gap.
US09577035B2	Isolated through silicon vias in RF technologies Disclosed are a structure for providing electrical isolation in a semiconductor substrate and an associated method for the structure's fabrication. The structure includes a deep trench isolation loop having a first depth disposed in the semiconductor substrate. A dielectric material is disposed in the deep trench isolation loop and one or more through silicon vias (TSVs), having a second depth, are disposed in the semiconductor substrate and within a perimeter of the deep trench isolation loop. A portion of the semiconductor substrate surrounding the deep trench isolation loop may be doped. A metallic filler may be disposed within the one or more TSVs and the metallic filler may be in direct electrical contact with the semiconductor substrate.
US09577032B2	Semiconductor device A groove for air ventilation is formed in a rib with a substantially rectangular ring shape which is provided so as to surround a concave portion provided in a rear surface of a semiconductor chip. The groove is provided in each side or at each corner of the rib so as to traverse the rib from the inner circumference to the outer circumference of the rib. The depth of the groove is equal to or less than the depth of the concave portion provided in the rear surface of the chip. In this way, it is possible to reliably solder a semiconductor device, in which the concave portion is provided in the rear surface of the semiconductor chip and the rib is provided in the outer circumference of the concave portion, to a base substrate, without generating a void in a drain electrode provided in the concave portion.
US09577031B2	Semiconductor structure and method for forming the same A semiconductor structure and a method for forming the same are provided. The semiconductor structure comprises: a substrate; and a plurality of convex structures formed on a surface of the substrate and arranged in a longitudinal direction of the substrate, each convex structure having a top surface, a bottom surface located on the surface of the substrate, a first end surface and a second end surface parallel to each other, and a front side surface and a rear side surface parallel to each other, in which the rear side surface of one of two adjacent convex structures and the front side surface of the other are located on a same plane to allow the plurality of convex structures to form a zigzag structure.
US09577029B2	Metal-insulator-metal capacitor structure and method for manufacturing the same A metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor structure and a method for manufacturing the same. The method includes a step hereinafter. A 5-layered dual-dielectric structure is provided on a substrate. The 5-layered dual-dielectric structure includes a bottom metal layer, a first dielectric layer, an intermediate metal layer, a second dielectric layer and a top metal layer in order. The first dielectric layer and the second dielectric layer have different thicknesses.
US09577027B2	Semiconductor device and process of making the same A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a seed layer, a first patterned metal layer, a dielectric layer and a second metal layer. The seed layer is disposed on a surface of the substrate. The first patterned metal layer is disposed on the seed layer and has a first thickness. The first patterned metal layer includes a first part and a second part. The dielectric layer is disposed on the first part of the first patterned metal layer. The second metal layer is disposed on the dielectric layer and has a second thickness, where the first thickness is greater than the second thickness. The first part of the first patterned metal layer, the dielectric layer and the second metal layer form a capacitor. The first part of the first patterned metal layer is a lower electrode of the capacitor, and the second part of the first patterned metal layer is an inductor.
US09577026B2	MIM capacitor and method of forming the same According to an exemplary embodiment, a method of forming a MIM capacitor is provided. The method includes the following operations: providing a first metal layer; providing a dielectric layer over the first metal layer; providing a second metal layer over the dielectric layer; etching the second metal layer to define the metal-insulator-metal capacitor; and oxidizing a sidewall of the second metal layer. According to an exemplary embodiment, a MIM capacitor is provided. The MIM capacitor includes a first metal layer; a dielectric layer over the first metal layer; a second metal layer over the dielectric layer; and an oxidized portion in proximity to the second metal layer and made of oxidized second metal layer.
US09577025B2	Metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor in redistribution layer (RDL) of an integrated device Some features pertain to an integrated device that includes a substrate, several metal layers coupled to the substrate, several dielectric layers coupled to the substrate, and a redistribution portion coupled to one of the metal layers. The redistribution portion includes a first metal redistribution layer, an insulation layer coupled to the first metal redistribution layer, and a second metal redistribution layer coupled to the insulation layer. The first metal redistribution layer, the insulation layer, and the second metal redistribution layer are configured to operate as a capacitor in the integrated device. In some implementations, the capacitor is a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor.
US09577023B2	Metal wires of a stacked inductor A method including forming a first metal wire in a first dielectric layer, the first metal wire including a first vertical side opposite from a second vertical side; and forming a second metal wire in a second dielectric layer above the first dielectric layer, the second metal wire including a third vertical side opposite from a fourth vertical side, where the first vertical side is laterally offset from the third vertical side by a first predetermined distance, and the second vertical side is laterally offset from the fourth vertical side by a second predetermined distance, where the first metal wire and the second metal wire are in direct contact with one another.
US09577020B2	Organic light-emitting display device An organic light-emitting display device includes a first substrate and a second substrate that face each other; an organic light-emitting device that is disposed between the first and second substrates and includes a pixel electrode separately formed in each pixel, a common electrode facing the pixel electrode, and an organic light-emitting layer disposed between the pixel electrode and the common electrode; and an electrode unit and at least one wiring unit that are disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, the electrode unit including at least one thin-film transistor for transmitting a light-emitting signal to the pixel electrode and at least one capacitor, wherein an optical property modification layer obtained by modifying an optical property of at least one of the electrode unit and the wiring unit is formed on a surface of the at least one of the electrode unit and the wiring unit.
US09577018B2	Display unit and electronic apparatus There are provided a display unit and an electronic apparatus that are capable of preventing color mixture in adjacent color pixels, and improving color reproducibility and chromaticity viewing angle. The display unit includes: a drive substrate having a plurality of pixels with a partition therebetween; and a first light shielding film provided on the partition.
US09577006B2	Solid-state imaging device and electronic apparatus A solid-state imaging device includes a layout in which one sharing unit includes an array of photodiodes of 2 pixels by 4×n pixels (where, n is a positive integer), respectively, in horizontal and vertical directions.
US09577004B2	Imaging apparatus, imaging system and manufacturing method of imaging apparatus One embodiment according to the present disclosure is an imaging apparatus including pixels. The pixel includes a junction type field effect transistor (JFET) provided in a semiconductor substrate. The JFET includes a gate region and a channel region. An orthogonal projection of the gate region onto a plane parallel to a surface of the semiconductor substrate intersects an orthogonal projection of the channel region onto the plane. Each of a source-side portion of the orthogonal projection of the channel region and a drain-side portion of the orthogonal projection of the channel region protrudes out of the orthogonal projection of the gate region.
US09576999B2	Backside structure and methods for BSI image sensors BSI image sensors and methods. In an embodiment, a substrate is provided having a sensor array and a periphery region and having a front side and a back side surface; a bottom anti-reflective coating (BARC) is formed over the back side to a first thickness, over the sensor array region and the periphery region; forming a first dielectric layer over the BARC; a metal shield is formed; selectively removing the metal shield from over the sensor array region; selectively removing the first dielectric layer from over the sensor array region, wherein a portion of the first thickness of the BARC is also removed and a remainder of the first thickness of the BARC remains during the process of selectively removing the first dielectric layer; forming a second dielectric layer over the remainder of the BARC and over the metal shield; and forming a passivation layer over the second dielectric layer.
US09576997B2	Imager module for a camera having an optically transparent, flexible coupling element and manufacturing method for such an imager module An imager module for a camera includes: a lens holder; a lens system which is accommodated in the lens holder and has a lens mount and at least one lens accommodated in the lens mount; and an image sensor; a rear lens area being formed between the image sensor and the at least one lens of the lens system; and an optically transparent, flexible coupling element provided in the rear lens area.
US09576994B2	Imaging device and electronic device An imaging device capable of obtaining high-quality imaging data is provided. The imaging device includes a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit includes a photoelectric conversion element, a first transistor, a second transistor, a third transistor, a fourth transistor, a fifth transistor, a sixth transistor, a seventh transistor, a first capacitor, a second capacitor, and a third capacitor. The second circuit includes an eighth transistor. Variation in threshold voltage of an amplifier transistor (the fifth transistor) included in the first circuit can be compensated.
US09576989B2	Array substrate and the method for making the same, and display device An array substrate and the method for making the same, and a display device are provided. The method includes step 1, forming a pattern comprising a gate electrode and a gate line on a substrate, and providing photoresist at a position reserved for a first via hole above the gate line in a non-display area; step 2, forming a pattern of functional layers of a thin film transistor (TFT) and a data line on the substrate after the above step; step 3, forming a pattern comprising a first pixel electrode on the substrate after the above steps, and then forming a passivation layer; step 4, removing the photoresist provided above the position reserved for the first via hole and film layer thereabove from the substrate after the above steps, so as to form the first via hole.
US09576988B2	Supporting device, method for manufacturing thin film transistor array substrate and method for manufacturing liquid crystal display A supporting device includes a main body and a ring-shaped glue layer. The main body includes a top surface and a bottom surface opposite to the top surface. The top surface defines a first groove. The first groove is substantially ring-shaped. The glue layer is arranged in the top surface and surrounds the first groove. A plurality of glass-frits is distributed in the glue layer.
US09576987B2	Display substrate and method of manufacturing the display substrate A display substrate includes a substrate having a first region and a second region, a conductive pattern is provided in the first region of the substrate and includes a first conductive pattern and a second conductive pattern, the first conductive pattern has a gate electrode and a source electrode, the second conductive pattern has a source electrode and a drain electrode, an insulation layer pattern is positioned on the conductive pattern and exposes an outer sidewall of the conductive pattern, an organic layer is provided in the first region and the second region of the substrate and covers the insulation layer pattern, and a pixel electrode is provided on the organic layer and is electrically connected to the drain electrode through a contact hole in the organic layer.
US09576979B2	Preventing strained fin relaxation by sealing fin ends A semiconductor structure includes a first strained fin portion and a second strained fin portion, a pair of inactive inner gate structures upon respective strained fin portions, and spacers upon outer sidewalls surfaces of the inactive inner gate structures, upon the inner sidewall surfaces of the inactive inner gate structures, and upon the first strained fin portion and the second strained fin portion end surfaces. The first strained fin portion and the second strained fin portion end surfaces are coplanar with respective inner sidewall surfaces of the inactive inner gate structures. The spacer formed upon the end surfaces limits relaxation of the first strained fin portion and the second strained fin portion and limits shorting between the first strained fin portion and the second strained fin portion.
US09576975B2	Monolithic three-dimensional NAND strings and methods of fabrication thereof A vertically repeating stack of a unit layer stack is formed over a substrate. The unit layer stack includes a sacrificial material layer, a lower silicon oxide material layer, a first silicon oxide material layer, and an upper silicon oxide material layer. A memory opening can be formed through the vertically repeating stack, and a layer stack including a blocking dielectric layer, a memory material layer, a tunneling dielectric, and a semiconductor channel can be formed in the memory opening. The sacrificial material layers are replaced with electrically conductive layers. The first silicon oxide material layer can be removed to form backside recesses. Optionally, portions of the memory material layer can be removed to from discrete charge storage regions. The backside recesses can be filled with a low-k dielectric material and/or can include cavities within a dielectric material to provide reduced coupling between electrically conductive layers.
US09576974B2	Manufacturing method of semiconductor device A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming on a lower structure, a first stack structure in which first material layers and second material layers are alternately stacked, forming, on the first stack structure, a second stack structure in which third material layers and fourth material layers are alternately stacked, forming preliminary holes penetrating the second stack structure, forming a fifth material layer covering the preliminary holes on the second stack structure to define a first air-gap inside the preliminary holes, and forming through holes connected to the preliminary holes by penetrating from the fifth material layer overlapping the preliminary holes to the first stack structure.
US09576972B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof A semiconductor device and a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device thereof are provided. The manufacturing method includes the following steps. Two stacked structures are formed a substrate. Each of the stacked structures includes a plurality of gate layers, a plurality of gate insulating layers and a top insulating layer. A charge trapping structure and a channel layer are formed. The charge trapping structure includes a plurality of first dielectric layers and a plurality of second dielectric layers. Part of each of first dielectric layers is etched and part of each of second dielectric layers is etched to expose part of the channel layer. A landing pad layer is formed on the first dielectric layers and the second dielectric layers to connect the channel layer.
US09576970B2	Three-dimensional semiconductor memory device A semiconductor device includes a first source layer; at least one of a second source layer, the second source layer formed substantially in the first source layer; a plurality of conductive layers stacked substantially over the first source layer; channel layers that pass through the plurality of conductive layers and couple to the second source layer; and at least one of a third source layer, the third source layer formed substantially in the second source layer, wherein the third source layer passes through the second source layer and is coupled to the first source layer.
US09576968B2	Semiconductor memory device with a three-dimensional stacked memory cell structure A semiconductor memory device comprises: a semiconductor substrate; a plurality of memory units provided on the semiconductor substrate and each including a plurality of memory cells that are stacked; and a plurality of bit lines formed above each of a plurality of the memory units aligned in a column direction, an alignment pitch in a row direction of the plurality of bit lines being less than an alignment pitch in the row direction of the memory units, and an end of each of the memory units aligned in the column direction being connected to one of the plurality of bit lines formed above the plurality of the memory units aligned in the column direction.
US09576967B1	Method of suppressing epitaxial growth in support openings and three-dimensional memory device containing non-epitaxial support pillars in the support openings Memory openings and support openings are formed through an alternating stack of insulating layers and spacer material layers over a semiconductor substrate. Deposition of a semiconductor material in the support openings during formation of epitaxial channel portions in the memory openings is prevented by Portions of the semiconductor substrate that underlie the support openings are converted into impurity-doped semiconductor material portions. During selective growth of epitaxial channel portions from the semiconductor substrate within the memory openings, growth of a semiconductor material in the support openings is suppressed due to the impurity species in the impurity-doped semiconductor material portions. Memory stack structures and support pillar structures are subsequently formed over the epitaxial channel portions and in the support openings, respectively. The support pillar structures are formed with an outermost dielectric layer to prevent a leakage path to electrically conductive layers to be subsequently formed.
US09576957B2	Self-aligned source/drain contacts A semiconductor substrate includes lower source/drain (S/D) regions. A replacement metal gate (RMG) structure is arranged upon the semiconductor substrate between the lower S/D regions. Raised S/D regions are arranged upon the lower S/D regions adjacent to the RMG structure, respectively. The raised S/D regions may be recessed to form contact trenches. First self-aligned contacts are located upon the raised S/D regions within a first active area and second self-aligned contacts are located upon the recessed raised S/D regions in the second active area. The first and second self-aligned contacts allows for independent reduction of source drain contact resistances. The first self-aligned contacts may be MIS contacts or metal silicide contacts and the second self-aligned contacts may be metal-silicide contacts.
US09576951B2	Devices formed from a non-polar plane of a crystalline material and method of making the same Materials, methods, structures and device including the same can provide a semiconductor device such as an LED using an active region corresponding to a non-polar face or surface of III-V semiconductor crystalline material. In some embodiments, an active diode region contains more non-polar III-V material oriented to a non-polar plane than III-V material oriented to a polar plane. In other embodiments, a bottom region contains more non-polar m-plane or a-plane surface area GaN than polar c-plane surface area GaN facing an active region.
US09576950B1	Contacts to transition metal dichalcogenide and manufacturing methods thereof A device includes a transition metal dichalcogenide layer having a first edge with a zigzag atomic configuration. A metallic material has a portion overlapping the transition metal dichalcogenide layer. The metallic material has a second edge contacting the first edge of the transition metal dichalcogenide layer.
US09576948B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a first and second transistor. Each of the first and the second transistors includes a well of a first conductivity type, a band-shaped region provided on the well, a drain region of a second conductivity type provided on the well, and a gate electrode. The band-shaped region, the drain region and the gate electrode extend in a first direction. The band-shaped region includes a back gate region of the first conductivity type and a source region of the second conductivity type. The back gate region and the source region are arranged alternately along the first direction in the band-shaped region. A ratio of a length of the source region to a length of the back gate region along the first direction of the first transistor is greater than the ratio of the second transistor.
US09576946B2	Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing same A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: providing a substrate; forming a first trough structure, which comprises at least a first sidewall, on the substrate; forming a first doping layer on the first sidewall; covering the first doping layer and a part of a surface of the substrate by a photoresist; forming a second trough structure, which comprises at least a second sidewall, on a part of the substrate which is not covered by the photoresist; removing the photoresist; forming an insulation layer on the substrate, the first trough structure, and the second trough structure; forming a conductive layer on the substrate, the first trough structure, and the second trough structure; and removing parts of the insulation layer and the conductive layer outside the first trough structure and the second trough structure to expose a surface of the first doping layer at the opening of the first trough structure.
US09576943B2	Apparatuses and methods of communicating differential serial signals including charge injection Apparatuses and methods are disclosed, including an apparatus that includes a differential driver with charge injection pre-emphasis. One such apparatus includes a pre-emphasis circuit and an output stage circuit. The pre-emphasis circuit is configured to receive differential serial signals, and buffer the differential serial signals to provide buffered differential serial signals. The output stage circuit is configured to receive the buffered differential serial signals and drive the buffered differential serial signals onto differential communication paths. The pre-emphasis circuit is configured to selectively inject charge onto the differential communication paths to assist with a signal transition on at least one of the differential communication paths. Additional embodiments are disclosed.
US09576940B2	Light emitting device and LCD backlight using the same The present invention provides a light emitting device which comprises blue and red light emitting diode (LED) chips and at least one phosphor for emitting green light by means of light emitted from the blue LED chip, and an LCD backlight including the light emitting device. According to the light emitting device of the present invention, uniform white light can be implemented and both high luminance and wider color reproduction range can also be obtained. Accordingly, an LCD backlight for uniform light distribution on an LCD as well as low power consumption and high durability can be manufactured using the light emitting device.
US09576935B2	Method for fabricating a semiconductor package and semiconductor package A method for fabricating semiconductor packages includes providing a first substrate having an aperture, providing a first semiconductor chip, connecting the first semiconductor chip to the first substrate, filling the aperture with a first insulating material and encapsulating the semiconductor chip with a second insulating material to create a first encapsulation body.
US09576933B1	Fan-out wafer level packaging and manufacturing method thereof A fan-out wafer-level-package (FOWLP) is provided. The FOWLP includes a redistribution layer (RDL) comprising a dielectric layer and a first metal layer; a passive device in the first metal layer; a first passivation layer covering a top surface of the RDL; a second passivation layer covering a bottom surface of the RDL; a chip mounted on the first passivation layer; a molding compound around the chip and on the first passivation layer; a via opening penetrating through the second passivation layer, the dielectric layer, and the second passivation layer, thereby exposing a terminal of the chip; a contact opening in the second passivation layer; and a second metal layer in the via opening and the contact opening to electrically connect one electrode of the passive device with the terminal of the chip.
US09576932B2	Universal surface-mount semiconductor package In the fabrication of semiconductor packages, a leadframe is formed by masking and etching a metal sheet from both sides, and a plastic block is formed over a plurality of dice attached to die pads in the leadframe. A laser beam is used to form individual plastic capsules for each package, and a second laser beam is used to singulate the packages by severing the metal conductors, tie bars and rails between the packages. A wide variety of different types of packages, from gull-wing footed packages to leadless packages, with either exposed or isolated die pads, may be fabricated merely by varying the patterns of the openings in the mask layers and the width of the plastic trenches created by the first laser beam.
US09576930B2	Thermally conductive structure for heat dissipation in semiconductor packages A method of forming a semiconductor package includes providing a substrate, wherein the substrate has at least one chip attached on an upper surface of the substrate. An insulating barrier layer is deposited above the substrate, wherein the at least one chip is at least partially embedded within the insulating barrier layer. A thermally conductive layer is formed over the insulating barrier layer to at least partially encapsulate the at least one chip.
US09576929B1	Multi-strike process for bonding A method includes performing a first strike process to strike a metal bump of a first package component against a metal pad of a second package component. A first one of the metal bump and the metal pad includes copper. A second one of the metal bump and the metal pad includes aluminum. The method further includes performing a second strike process to strike the metal bump against the metal pad. An annealing is performed to bond the metal bump on the metal pad.
US09576927B2	Bonding tool cooling apparatus and method for cooling bonding tool A bonding tool cooling apparatus (10) provided in the vicinity of a bonding stage, including a frame (12); a cooling member (16) including a ground plate (14) having a ground surface (14a) on which a front edge surface of a bonding tool (61) is grounded, and a heat radiation fin (15) attached to an opposite surface of the ground plate (14) to the ground surface (14a), wherein the cooling member (16) is supported on the frame (12) by a support mechanism (200) so that the cooling member (16) is rotatable about two axes, i.e., an X axis extending along the ground surface (14a) and a Y axis extending along the ground surface (14a). Bonding tool cooling time can be thereby reduced.
US09576926B2	Pad structure design in fan-out package A package includes a corner, a device die, a plurality of redistribution lines underlying the device die, and a plurality of non-solder electrical connectors underlying and electrically coupled to the plurality of redistribution lines. The plurality of non-solder electrical connectors includes a corner electrical connector. The corner electrical connector is elongated. An electrical connector is farther away from the corner than the corner electrical connector, wherein the electrical connector is non-elongated.
US09576925B2	Semiconductor device having a cylindrical shaped conductive portion A semiconductor device includes a first conductive portion, a second conductive portion, a first layer, and a second layer. The first conductive portion includes a first end portion and a first extending portion. The first extending portion extends in a first direction. The length of the first extending portion in a second direction is shorter than a length of at least a part of the first end portion in the second direction. The first layer includes multiple semiconductor chips, multiple passive chip components, and a resin. The first extending portion includes a first portion and a second portion. The first layer is provided around the first portion. The first layer expands along a first plane. The first plane intersects the first direction. The second layer includes a first multilayer wiring. The second layer expands along a second plane intersecting the first direction.
US09576922B2	Silver alloying post-chip join A method of forming a stacked surface arrangement for semiconductor devices includes joining a first surface to a second surface with a solder bump, the solder bump including a substantially pure first metal; depositing nanoparticles of a second metal onto a surface of the solder bump; performing an annealing operation to form a film of the second metal on the surface of the solder bump; and performing a reflow or a second annealing operation to transform the solder bump from the substantially pure first metal to an alloy of the first metal and the second metal.
US09576920B2	Moisture barrier for semiconductor structures with stress relief A semiconductor structure is disclosed. The semiconductor structure includes an electrically conductive layer disposed over a substrate. A moisture barrier layer is disposed over the substrate and between the substrate and the electrically conductive layer. A dielectric layer is disposed over the moisture barrier layer. The dielectric layer has an elastic modulus that is lower than an elastic modulus of the moisture barrier layer.
US09576917B1	Embedded die in panel method and structure Methods for an embedded die panel are disclosed and may include fabricating a first layered structure by: forming first redistribution layers on a first carrier, forming a first dielectric layer on the first redistribution layers and carrier, forming a mask pattern on the first dielectric layer exposing a portion of the first dielectric layer, forming a second dielectric layer on the exposed portion of the first dielectric layer, forming vias in the first and second dielectric layers, and forming second redistribution layers on the second dielectric layer. The mask pattern may be removed forming a die cavity defined by the second dielectric layer. A second layered structure coupled to the first layered structure may be formed comprising a second carrier, a third dielectric layer, third and fourth redistribution layers on opposite surfaces of the third dielectric layer, and a semiconductor die.
US09576915B2	IC-package interconnect for millimeter wave systems Consistent with an example embodiment, a System on Chip (SoC) device operates in millimeter wave frequencies. The SoC device comprises, a silicon device having at least one differential pair pad, the at least one differential pair pad having a shunt inductor coupled thereon. A parasitic capacitance on at least one differential pair pads is tuned out by resonance of the shunt inductor. A package has a redistribution layer (RDL), with an array of contact areas to which the silicon device is mounted and then encapsulated. A connection corresponds to the at least one differential pair pad and the connection is located about an outer row or column of the array of contact areas.
US09576914B2	Inducing device variation for security applications A Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, and regions, with implant regions and covered regions, in the semiconductor substrate. A hardmask covers a first covered region and a second covered. The first implant region having a first concentration of ions, and at least one second implant region having a second concentration that is less than the first concentration. First and second FETs are formed on the regions. The first and second FETs have a voltage threshold mismatch with respect to one another based on the first region and the at least one second region.
US09576911B2	Radio frequency module including segmented conductive ground plane A radio frequency (RF) module comprises an electrical reference, or ground, plane to which one or more RF devices disposed on the module are electrically coupled, and may be disposed beneath the RF devices. The reference plane may be segmented as to form one or more segments of the reference plane that are at least partially electrically isolated from surrounding segments or devices. A module may have a plurality of devices disposed thereon, wherein separate, at least partially isolated reference planes, correspond to different devices of the module. The reference plane may be etched or cut to achieve such segmentation.
US09576906B2	Methods related to a sputtered titanium tungsten layer formed over a copper interconnect stack structure Disclosed are devices and methods related to metallization of semiconductors. A metalized structure can include a stack disposed over a compound semiconductor, with the stack including a barrier, a copper (Cu) layer disposed over the barrier, and a first titanium (Ti) layer disposed over the Cu layer. The metalized structure can further include a sputtered titanium tungsten (TiW) layer disposed over the first Ti layer. The barrier can include an assembly of titanium nitride (TiN) and Ti layers. The metalized structure can further include a second Ti layer disposed over the sputtered TiW layer.
US09576902B2	Semiconductor device including landing pad A semiconductor device includes conductive lines spaced from a substrate, and an insulating spacer structure between the conductive lines and defining a contact hole. The insulating spacer structure is adjacent a side wall of at least one of the conductive lines. The device also includes an insulating pattern on the conductive lines and insulating spacer structure, and another insulating pattern defining a landing pad hole connected to the contact hole. A contact plug is formed in the contact hole and connects to the active area. A landing pad is formed in the landing pad hole and connects to the contact plug. The landing pad vertically overlaps one of the pair of conductive line structures.
US09576900B2	Switched power stage with integrated passive components A scalable switching regulator architecture has an integrated inductor. In some embodiments an area and current drive capability of switches of the switching regulator is matched with an inductor built within an area above the switches. In some embodiments the combined switches and inductor are constructed as a unit cell and can be combined to form larger elements as required for higher current drive capability and multiphase operation.
US09576899B2	Electrical fuse with high off resistance Electrical fuses and methods for forming an electrical fuse. A semiconductor substrate is implanted to define a modified region in the semiconductor substrate. Trenches that surround the modified region and that penetrate into the semiconductor substrate to a depth greater than a depth of the modified region are formed in the modified region so as to define a fuse link of the electrical fuse. The substrate is removed from beneath the fuse link with a selective etching process that removes the semiconductor substrate with a first etch rate that is higher than a second etch rate of the modified region.
US09576893B2	Semiconductor structure and semiconductor fabricating process for the same A semiconductor structure and a fabricating process for the same are provided. The semiconductor fabricating process includes providing a first dielectric layer, a transitional layer formed on the first dielectric layer, and a conductive fill penetrated through the transitional layer and into the first dielectric layer; removing the transitional layer; and forming a second dielectric layer over the conductive fill and the first dielectric layer.
US09576891B1	Isolation device An isolation device for isolating a first signal of a first circuit from a second circuit disclosed. The isolation device may have a substrate and a plurality of metal layers disposed on the substrate. The plurality of metal layers have a topmost metal layer disposed furthest away from the substrate and a first interconnect metal layer formed nearest to the substrate. The first interconnect metal layer is disposed at a first distance away from the substrate, whereas the topmost metal layer is disposed at an isolation distance away from a first adjacent metal layer formed nearest to the topmost metal layer. A portion of the topmost metal layer forms a first plate. The first plate is configured to transmit the first signal from the first circuit to a second plate that is connected to the second circuit, but electrically isolated from the first plate.
US09576887B2	Semiconductor package including conductive carrier coupled power switches In one implementation, a semiconductor package including conductive carrier coupled power switches includes a first vertical FET in a first active die having a first source and a first gate on a source side of the first active die and a first drain on a drain side of the first active die. The semiconductor package also includes a second vertical FET in a second active die having a second source and a second gate on a source side of the second active die and a second drain on a drain side of the second active die. The semiconductor package includes a conductive carrier attached to the source side of the first active die and to the drain side of the second active die, the conductive carrier coupling the first source to the second drain.
US09576884B2	Low profile leaded semiconductor package In a semiconductor package a lead having a bottom surface coplanar with the flat bottom surface of the plastic body extends outward at the bottom of the vertical side surface of the plastic body. The result is a package with a minimal footprint that is suitable for the technique known as “wave soldering” that is used in relatively low-cost printed circuit board assembly factories. Methods of fabricating the package are disclosed.
US09576881B2	Semiconductor device According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor substrate, the semiconductor substrate having first and second surfaces; conductive regions extending in a direction from the first surface side toward the second surface side of the semiconductor substrate, the conductive regions including first and second vias; a first semiconductor region surrounding a part of each of the conductive regions on the second surface side of the semiconductor substrate, a portion other than a front surface of the first semiconductor region being surrounded by the semiconductor substrate; a first electrode provided on the second surface side; second electrodes provided on the first surface side, one of the second electrodes being in contact with one of the conductive regions; and an insulating film provided between each of the conductive regions and the semiconductor substrate, and between each of the conductive regions and the first semiconductor region.
US09576879B2	Heat-dissipation structure and electronic device using the same A heat-dissipation structure includes a first carbon nanotube layer and a thermal interface material layer. The first carbon nanotube layer and the thermal interface material layer are stacked on each other. The first carbon nanotube layer includes at least one first carbon nanotube paper, and the density of the first carbon nanotube paper ranges from about 0.3 g/cm3 to about 1.4 g/cm3. An electronic device applying the heat-dissipation structure is also disclosed.
US09576877B2	Electronic component, electronic device, method of manufacturing mounted member, and method of manufacturing electronic component A frame member includes a first portion, a second portion, and a third portion located between the first portion and the second portion, and wherein the lengths of the first portion and the second portion in a circumferential direction are longer than the length of the third portion in the circumferential direction, and a Young's modulus of the third portion is lower than the Young's moduli of the first portion and the second portion.
US09576875B2	Methods for manufacturing a chip arrangement, methods for manufacturing a chip package, a chip package and chip arrangements A method for manufacturing a chip arrangement is provided, the method including: forming a hole in a carrier including at least one chip, wherein forming a hole in the carrier includes: selectively removing carrier material, thereby forming a cavity in the carrier, forming passivation material over one or more cavity walls exposed by the selective removal of the carrier material; selectively removing a portion of the passivation material and further carrier material exposed by the selective removal of the passivation material, wherein a further portion of the passivation material remains over at least one cavity side wall; the method further including subsequently forming a layer over the further portion of passivation material remaining over the at least one cavity side wall.
US09576872B2	Semiconductor devices and methods for manufacturing semiconductor devices A method includes arranging multiple semiconductor chips over a first carrier and depositing a first material layer over surfaces of the multiple semiconductor chips, wherein depositing the first material layer includes a vapor deposition, and wherein the first material layer includes at least one of an organic material and a polymer.
US09576870B2	Module package and production method The invention relates to a module package which comprises a module substrate 1, a chip 2, 3 applied using the flip chip process, and an encapsulation layer 8, and to a method for producing same. The chip 2, 3 has component structures on the top side 13, 14 thereof. Said top said 13, 14 faces the module carrier 1, wherein a gap 4, 5 is formed between the top side 13, 14 of the chip and the module carrier 1. A filler is added to the encapsulation layer 8. The encapsulation layer 8 partly fills underneath the chip 2, 3, wherein at most the part of the chip 2, 3, on which no component structures are present, is underfilled, and at a minimum the material of the encapsulation layer 8 completely encloses the sides of the chip 2, 3.
US09576868B2	Semiconductor device and method for reduced bias temperature instability (BTI) in silicon carbide devices A system includes a silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor device and a hermetically sealed packaging enclosing the SiC semiconductor device. The hermetically sealed packaging is configured to maintain a particular atmosphere near the SiC semiconductor device. Further, the particular atmosphere limits a shift in a threshold voltage of the SiC semiconductor device to less than 1 V during operation.
US09576865B2	Film for semiconductor package, semiconductor package using film and display device including the same A semiconductor package may include a first output test pad and a second output test pad disposed on a first surface of an insulating film, and a semiconductor chip disposed between the first output test pad and the second output test pad on a second surface opposing to the first surface of the insulating film.
US09576863B2	Method of fine-tuning process controls during integrated circuit chip manufacturing based on substrate backside roughness Disclosed is a method of manufacturing integrated circuit (IC) chips. In the method, wafers are received and the backside roughness levels of these wafers are determined. Based on the backside roughness levels, the wafers are sorted into different groups. Chips having the same design are manufactured on wafers from all of the different groups. However, during manufacturing, process(es) is/are performed differently on wafers from one or more of the different groups to minimize systematic variations in a specific parameter (e.g., wire width) in the resulting chips. Specifically, because systematic variations may occur when the exact same processes are used to form IC chips on wafers with different backside roughness levels, the method disclosed herein selectively adjusts one or more of those processes when performed on wafers from one or more of the different groups to ensure that the specific parameter is approximately equal in the resulting integrated IC chips.
US09576860B2	Method and apparatus providing inline photoluminescence analysis of a photovoltaic device A method and apparatus are disclosed which use a photoluminescent light intensity signature to characterize a processed photovoltaic substrate.
US09576859B2	Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same A method for fabricating a semiconductor device comprises: Firstly, a semiconductor fin comprising a first sub-fin and a second sub-fin protruding from a surface of a substrate is provided. An isolation structure having an opening extending therein is then provided in the semiconductor fin to electrically isolate the first sub-fin and the second sub-fin. Subsequently, a first dummy structure disposed on the first isolation structure and having at least one metal layer entirely overlapping on the first isolation structure along a long axis of the semiconductor fin is formed, wherein the metal layer laterally conformally extends downwards into the opening and extends upwards beyond the first isolation structure along the long axis of the semiconductor fin, so as to form a stepped structure overlapping on sidewalls and a bottom of the opening, a portion of the first sub-fin and a portion of the second sub-fin.
US09576857B1	Method and structure for SRB elastic relaxation A method of forming SRB finFET fins first with a cut mask that is perpendicular to the subsequent fin direction and then with a cut mask that is parallel to the fin direction and the resulting device are provided. Embodiments include forming a SiGe SRB on a substrate; forming a Si layer over the SRB; forming an NFET channel and a SiGe PFET channel in the Si layer; forming cuts through the NFET and PFET channels, respectively, and the SRB down to the substrate, the cuts formed on opposite ends of the substrate and perpendicular to the NFET and PFET channels; forming fins in the SRB and the NFET and PFET channels, the fins formed perpendicular to the cuts; forming a cut between the NFET and PFET channels, the cut formed parallel to the fins; filling the cut with oxide; and recessing the oxide down to the SRB.
US09576851B2	Interconnect structure and methods of making same A method of manufacturing a semiconductor interconnect structure may include forming a low-k dielectric layer over a substrate and forming an opening in the low-k dielectric layer, where the opening exposes a portion of the substrate. The method may also include filling the opening with a copper alloy and forming a copper-containing layer over the copper alloy and the low-k dielectric layer. An etch rate of the copper-containing layer may be greater than an etch rate of the copper alloy. The method may additionally include patterning the copper-containing layer to form interconnect features over the low-k dielectric layer and the copper alloy.
US09576846B2	Methods for manufacturing a data storage device Methods for manufacturing a data storage device are provided. A method may include forming an interlayer dielectric layer on a substrate, patterning the interlayer dielectric layer in a peripheral region of the substrate to form first trenches, forming first bit lines in the first trenches, patterning the interlayer dielectric layer between the first bit lines in the peripheral region to form second trenches extending along the first trenches after the formation of the first bit lines, and forming second bit lines in the second trenches.
US09576841B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method A semiconductor device includes a first-conductivity-type semiconductor layer including an active region in which a transistor having impurity regions is formed and a marginal region surrounding the active region, a second-conductivity-type channel layer formed between the active region and the marginal region and forming a front surface of the semiconductor layer, at least one gate trench formed in the active region to extend from the front surface of the semiconductor layer through the channel layer, a gate insulation film formed on an inner surface of the gate trench, a gate electrode formed inside the gate insulation film in the gate trench, and at least one isolation trench arranged between the active region and the marginal region to surround the active region and extending from the front surface of the semiconductor layer through the channel layer, the isolation trench having a depth equal to that of the gate trench.
US09576838B2	Devices for methodologies related to wafer carriers Disclosed are systems, devices and methodologies for handling wafers in wafer processing operations through use of wafer carriers. In an example situation, a wafer carrier can be configured as a plate to allow bonding of a wafer thereto to provide support for the wafer during some processing operations. Upon completion of such operations, the processed wafer can be separated from the support plate so as to allow further processing. Various devices and methodologies related to such wafer carriers for efficient handling of wafers are disclosed.
US09576821B2	Package structures including a capacitor and methods of forming the same A package includes a die, an encapsulant, and a capacitor. The package has a package first side and a package second side. The die has a die first side corresponding to the package first side, and has a die second side corresponding to the package second side. The die first side is opposite the die second side. The encapsulant surrounds the die. The capacitor includes a first plate and a second plate in the encapsulant, and opposing surfaces of the first plate and the second plate extend in a direction from the package first side to the package second side. The external conductive connectors are attached to at least one of the package first side and the package second side.
US09576816B2	Method for roughness improvement and selectivity enhancement during arc layer etch using hydrogen A method of patterning a silicon containing ARC (anti-reflective coating) layer underlying a patterned layer is described that includes establishing a flow of a process gas to a plasma processing system, selecting a process condition that increases an etch selectivity of the silicon containing ARC layer relative to the patterned layer, igniting plasma from the process gas using a plasma source in accordance with the process condition, and exposing the substrate to the plasma to extend the feature pattern of the patterned layer into the silicon containing ARC layer. The process gas includes a first gaseous molecular constituent composed of C, F and optionally H, a second gaseous molecular constituent composed of C, F, and optionally H, and a third gaseous molecular constituent containing atomic hydrogen, diatomic hydrogen, or a CxHy-containing gas, wherein x and y are real numbers greater than zero.
US09576812B2	Partial etch memorization via flash addition Provided is a method of creating structure profiles on a substrate using faceting and passivation layers. A first plasma etch process performed generating a faceted sidewall and a desired inflection point; a second plasma etch process is performed using an oxygen, nitrogen, or combined oxygen and nitrogen plasma, generating a passivation layer; and a third plasma etch process using operating variables of an etch chemistry on the faceted sidewall and the passivation layer to induce differential etch rates to achieve a breakthrough on near-horizontal surfaces of the structure, wherein the third plasma etch used is configured to produce a target sidewall profile on the substrate down to the underlying stop layer. Selected two or more plasma etch variables are controlled in the performance of the first plasma etch process, the second plasma etch process, and/or the third plasma etch process in order to achieve target sidewall profile objectives.
US09576794B2	Cyclical deposition of germanium In some aspects, methods for forming a germanium thin film using a cyclical deposition process are provided. In some embodiments, the germanium thin film is formed on a substrate in a reaction chamber, and the process includes one or more deposition cycles of alternately and sequentially contacting the substrate with a vapor phase germanium precursor and a nitrogen reactant. In some embodiments, the process is repeated until a germanium thin film of desired thickness has been formed.
US09576792B2	Deposition of SiN Methods and precursors for forming silicon nitride films are provided. In some embodiments, silicon nitride can be deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD), such as plasma enhanced ALD. In some embodiments, deposited silicon nitride can be treated with a plasma treatment. The plasma treatment can be a nitrogen plasma treatment. In some embodiments the silicon precursors for depositing the silicon nitride comprise an iodine ligand. The silicon nitride films may have a relatively uniform etch rate for both vertical and the horizontal portions when deposited onto three-dimensional structures such as FinFETS or other types of multiple gate FETs. In some embodiments, various silicon nitride films of the present disclosure have an etch rate of less than half the thermal oxide removal rate with diluted HF (0.5%). In some embodiments, a method for depositing silicon nitride films comprises a multi-step plasma treatment.
US09576791B2	Semiconductor devices including semiconductor structures and methods of fabricating the same Semiconductor devices and methods for fabricating semiconductor devices are provided. In one example, a semiconductor device includes a semiconductor structure. An electrically semi-insulating passivation layer overlies the semiconductor structure. An electrically substantially fully insulating passivation layer overlies the electrically semi-insulating passivation layer.
US09576790B2	Deposition of boron and carbon containing materials Methods of depositing boron and carbon containing films are provided. In some embodiments, methods of depositing B, C films with desirable properties, such as conformality and etch rate, are provided. One or more boron and/or carbon containing precursors can be decomposed on a substrate at a temperature of less than about 400° C. One or more of the boron and carbon containing films can have a thickness of less than about 30 angstroms. Methods of doping a semiconductor substrate are provided. Doping a semiconductor substrate can include depositing a boron and carbon film over the semiconductor substrate by exposing the substrate to a vapor phase boron precursor at a process temperature of about 300° C. to about 450° C., where the boron precursor includes boron, carbon and hydrogen, and annealing the boron and carbon film at a temperature of about 800° C. to about 1200° C.
US09576788B2	Cleaning high aspect ratio vias A method of removing an amorphous silicon/silicon oxide film stack from vias is described. The method may involve a remote plasma comprising fluorine and a local plasma comprising fluorine and a nitrogen-and-hydrogen-containing precursor unexcited in the remote plasma to remove the silicon oxide. The method may then involve a local plasma of inert species to potentially remove any thin carbon layer (leftover from the photoresist) and to treat the amorphous silicon layer in preparation for removal. The method may then involve removal of the treated amorphous silicon layer with several options possibly within the same substrate processing region. The bottom of the vias may then possess exposed single crystal silicon which is conducive to epitaxial single crystal silicon film growth. The methods presented herein may be particularly well suited for 3d NAND (e.g. VNAND) device formation.
US09576786B2	Intelligent radio-controlled plasma light The user of plasma light technology and remote lighting control techniques may enable a single master controller to control a large number of lighting fixtures. Multiple lighting fixtures may be equipped with control applications. Each control application may control the radio frequency driver of a lighting fixture that drives the plasma bulbs of the lighting fixture to produce light output for growing plants. The master controlled may execute on one or more computing devices. The master controller may send input instructions to the control applications of the lighting fixtures via a network. The instructions may be implemented by the control applications to command the radio frequency drivers to regulate a spectral distribution and/or intensity of the light output of the lighting fixtures.
US09576785B2	Electrodeless single CW laser driven xenon lamp An ignition facilitated electrodeless sealed high intensity illumination device is disclosed. The device is configured to receive a laser beam from a continuous wave (CW) laser light source. A sealed chamber is configured to contain an ionizable medium. The chamber has an ingress window disposed within a wall of a chamber interior surface configured to admit the laser beam into the chamber, a plasma sustaining region, and a high intensity light egress window configured to emit high intensity light from the chamber. A path of the CW laser beam from the laser light source through the ingress window to a focal region within the chamber is direct. The ingress window is configured to focus the laser beam to within a predetermined volume, and the plasma is configured to be ignited by the CW laser beam, optionally by heating of a non-electrode ignition agent located entirely within the chamber.
US09576783B2	Time-of-flight mass spectrometers with cassini reflector The invention relates to embodiments of high-resolution time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometers with special reflectors. The invention provides reflectors with ideal energy and solid angle focusing, based on Cassini ion traps, and proposes that a section of the flight path of the TOF mass spectrometers takes the form of a Cassini reflector. It is particularly favorable to make the ions fly through this Cassini reflector in a TOF mass spectrometer at relatively low energies, with kinetic energies of below one or two kiloelectronvolts. This results in a long, mass-dispersive passage time in addition to the time of flight of the other flight paths, without increasing the energy spread, angular spread or temporal distribution width of ions of the same mass. It is also possible to place several Cassini reflectors in series in order to extend the mass-dispersive time of flight. Several TOF mass spectrometers for axial as well as orthogonal ion injection with Cassini reflectors are presented.
US09576780B2	Mass spectrometer with timing determination based on a signal intensity in a chromatogram A mass spectrometer including chromatogram creation means for creating a chromatogram showing changes over time in an ion intensity within a predetermined mass range based on the MS analysis results, and timing determination means for determining a timing to perform MS/MS analysis based on the chromatogram. The timing determination means determines, as a timing to perform MS/MS analysis, a point in time at which a signal intensity in the chromatogram reaches a predetermined upper limit after exceeding a predetermined lower limit or a point in time at which a signal intensity in the chromatogram reaches a top of a peak without reaching the upper limit after exceeding the lower limit. It is thus possible to collect precursor ions at a timing at which the signal intensity of a peak originating from sample components is highest between the upper limit and lower limit, thereby obtaining a high quality MS/MS spectrum.
US09576778B2	Data processing for multiplexed spectrometry Multiplexed spectrometry, such as multiplexed ion mobility spectrometry (IMS), time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS), or hybrid IM-TOFMS, is carried out on a sample, and the resulting measurement data are deconvoluted. Noise may be removed from the measurement data prior to deconvolution. Alternatively or additionally, noise may be removed from the deconvoluted data.
US09576777B2	Multi-dimensional survey scans for improved data dependent acquisitions A method of analyzing ions is disclosed comprising performing an initial multi-dimensional survey scan comprising separating parent ions according to a first physico-chemical property (e.g. ion mobility) and then separating the parent ions according to a second physico-chemical property (e.g. mass to charge ratio). A plurality of parent ions of interest are then determined from the initial multi-dimensional survey scan. Once parent ions of interest have been determined, the plurality of parent ions of interest are sequentially selected based upon the first and second physico-chemical properties during a single cycle of separation. The parent ions of interest may then be fragmented and corresponding fragment ions may then be mass analyzed.
US09576775B2	Plasma generating device The invention relates to a plasma generation device comprising a plurality of plasma modules for generating a plasma. Each plasma module has a module housing with at least one gas inlet for supplying a process gas. Furthermore, a discharge device for generating the plasma from the process gas and a plasma outlet are provided. The plasma generation device has at least two plasma modules for generating a plasma. Each plasma module has at least one gas outlet for some of the process gas, wherein the at least one gas outlet of at least one plasma module issues into a respective gas inlet of another plasma module.
US09576772B1	CAD-assisted TEM prep recipe creation An improved process workflow and apparatus for S/TEM sample preparation and analysis is provided. Preferred embodiments provide improved methods for an automated recipe TEM sample creation, especially for small geometry TEM lamellae, employing CAD data to automatically align various stages of sample preparation. The process automatically verifies and aligns the position of FIB-created fiducials by masking off portions of acquired images, and then comparing them to synthesized images from CAD data. SEM beam positions are verified by comparison to images synthesized from CAD data. FIB beam position is also verified by comparison to already-aligned SEM images, or by synthesizing an FIB image from CAD using techniques for simulating FIB images. The automatic alignment techniques herein allow creation of sample lamellas at specified locations without operator intervention.
US09576765B2	Electron beam emitter with increased electron transmission efficiency An electron beam emitter comprises an electron emission source capable of emitting electrons; a vacuum chamber containing the electron emission source; and a transmission window that keeps airtightness of the vacuum chamber and is capable of transmitting the electrons from the electron emission source. The transmission window includes a foil that transmits the electrons and a grid that does not transmit the electrons. The electron emission source includes an emission portion that emits the electrons and a non-emission portion that does not emit the electrons. The emission portion has a lower work function than the non-emission portion. The non-emission portion is prepared so as to prevent the electrons from reaching the grid.
US09576763B2	Removable device for an electronic trip unit, power supply method of such a device and assembly comprising an electronic trip unit and one such removable device The removable device (20) according to the invention is designed to be connected to an electronic trip unit (10). The trip unit (10) comprises an internal electrical power supply bus (55) and the device (20) is adapted to be supplied with electrical energy via the internal electrical power supply bus (55). The device (20) comprises a withdrawal member (68) for withdrawing electrical energy on the internal electrical power supply bus (55). The trip unit (10) includes a switched-mode power supply (54) capable of delivering a power supply signal (S1). The withdrawal member (68) comprises detection means for detecting each rising edge of the power supply signal (S1), and the electrical energy of the power supply signal (S1) is withdrawn as of the detection of a rising edge.
US09576761B2	Circuit breaker crossbar assembly A circuit breaker crossbar assembly includes a crossbar having a first and second segment, the first and second segment each operatively coupled to a respective moveable contact arm assembly. Also included is a coupling segment disposed between the first and second segment, the crossbar and the coupling segment rotatable about an axis. Further included is at least one support assembly operatively coupled to the coupling segment. The support assembly includes a bushing coupled to the coupling segment and rotatable with the crossbar and the coupling segment. The support assembly also includes a support bracket configured for affixation to a stationary structure and disposed adjacent to the bushing, the bushing rotatable relative to the support bracket. The support assembly further includes a fixing bracket engaged with the support bracket and disposed adjacent to the bushing, the bushing rotatable relative to the fixing bracket.
US09576760B2	Contact device An electromagnet device is configured to generate a magnetic attractive force between a stationary core and a movable core when electricity is applied to a coil, so that the movable core is moved in a direction for coming into contact with the stationary core, and a movable shaft is moved in a direction in which a first end face of the movable shaft separates from a movable terminal. After the movable contact comes in contact with the fixed contact, the movable core moves further in a direction for coming into contact with the stationary core. A yoke made of a magnetic body is disposed between the movable terminal and the first end of the movable shaft.
US09576757B2	Circuit interrupters with air trap regions in fluid reservoirs Circuit interrupting devices, power distribution switchgear assemblies, and pole units for power distribution are provided. A circuit interrupting device includes a solid insulation housing, a disconnect, a window, and an insulating fluid. The solid insulation housing defines a first external opening and a first cavity extending into the solid insulation housing from the first external opening. The disconnect has a moving contact in selective engagement with a stationary contact in the first cavity. The window is secured to the solid insulation housing at the first external opening. The insulating fluid is disposed within the first cavity. The window, the solid insulation housing, or a combination thereof is configured to form a trap region that is in fluid communication with the first cavity and is configured to trap air bubbles in the insulating fluid.
US09576756B2	Switch control apparatus for electric plant A switch control apparatus for electric plants includes a box-like body which is adapted to be anchored to a fixed o movable part of an electric plant and has a closing panel with at least one passage therethrough, at least one contact unit which is accommodated in the box-like body at the passage and is adapted to be electrically connected to at least one respective electric circuit of the plant for selective open/close control thereof, at least one actuator which is adapted to interact with the contact unit for the latter to ensure selective opening/closing of the respective circuits, an anchor system for anchoring the contact unit to the actuator. The anchor system includes a container member which is adapted to enclose and contain the contact unit and to be anchored to the closing panel in the box-like body for stably securing the contact unit on the actuator.
US09576754B2	Lockout devices for electrical control switches Electrical switch lockout devices for selectively maintaining a position of an electrical switch on an electrical switch base are described. The electrical switch lockout devices include a base adapter configured to be fitted around the electrical switch base, a housing that is moveable between an engaged position and a disengaged position, and a locking mechanism. The housing includes walls, an opening on one side of the housing, a first lateral lip disposed on a first edge of the opening, and a second lateral lip disposed a second edge of the opening. The first lateral lip and the second lateral lip are configured to engage and disengage with the base adapter in the engaged and disengaged positions, respectively.
US09576753B2	Moveable contact arm releases latch plate engagement in a circuit breaker A contact system of a circuit breaker includes a fixed contact. The contact system also includes a moveable contact arm assembly comprising at least one moveable contact arm having a moveable contact thereon, the moveable contact arm moveable to define a closed condition and a blow open condition. The contact system further includes a carrier assembly operatively coupled to the moveable contact arm. The contact system yet further includes a latch plate operatively coupled to the carrier assembly. The contact system also includes a trip shaft operatively coupled to the carrier assembly, the trip shaft having a non-circular region defining an engagement surface disposed in contact with the latch plate in the closed condition. The contact system further includes a biasing portion of the moveable contact arm configured to rotate the trip shaft out of engagement with the latch plate and into the blow open condition.
US09576751B1	Motorized vacuum isolation switch Methods, systems, devices for a motorized isolation switch including a switch enclosure with a set of fixed insulated floating input line connectors and output load connectors movably fixed to the rear panel, a removable contactor bucket insertable into the isolation switch enclosure with mating movable insulated line terminals and load terminals and a set of insulated circuit interrupters, a motorized rack and pinion assembly connected to a base of the switch enclosure, coupled for moving a contactor pan connectable to the contactor bucket along a stationary rack gear along the base of the switch enclosure between and switch open position and a switch closed position, an insulating grounding block with ground connectors, the contactor bucket with corresponding movable ground terminals to mate with the insulated ground connectors in the switch open position, and ancillary controls for communicating with remotely located controls to electrically control the operation.
US09576750B2	Conductor guide member for a circuit breaker terminal assembly A conductor guide member for a circuit breaker terminal assembly includes a body having at least one conductor guide surface configured and disposed to facilitate alignment between at least one terminal connection member of the terminal assembly and at least one conductor. The at least one conductor guide surface gradually slopes from a first end to a second end. The second end defines a recess.
US09576737B2	Parallel capacitor and high frequency semiconductor device Certain embodiments provide a parallel capacitor including a substrate configured by a dielectric, upper electrodes, and a lower electrode. The upper electrodes are provided in an upper electrode region on a surface of the substrate. The lower electrode is provided on an entire surface of a lower electrode region including a region corresponding to the upper electrode region of an underside of the substrate, the lower electrode region being wider than the region. A single-operation capacity of each capacitor on both ends is smaller than the single-operation capacity of a capacitor in a center portion. The capacitors on the both ends are configured by the upper electrodes arranged on both ends of the substrate, the lower electrode, and the substrate. The capacitor in the center portion is configured by the upper electrode arranged in a center portion of the substrate, the lower electrode, and the substrate.
US09576735B2	Vertical capacitors with spaced conductive lines A capacitor structure includes a first metal layer including a first plurality of horizontally-spaced neutral conductive lines positioned horizontally between a first plurality of horizontally-spaced high voltage conductive lines. The capacitor structure further includes a second metal layer including a second plurality of horizontally-spaced neutral conductive lines positioned horizontally between a second plurality of horizontally-spaced high voltage conductive lines. The capacitor structure further includes a third metal layer positioned vertically below the first metal layer and above the second metal layer, the third metal layer including a third plurality of horizontally-spaced neutral conductive lines positioned horizontally between a first plurality of horizontally-spaced low voltage conductive lines. The first plurality of low voltage lines are positioned vertically between the first and second plurality of neutral lines.
US09576726B2	Electronic equipment, module, and system An electronic equipment is provided with an antenna including a coil, a load, a power feeding unit for feeding power received by the antenna to the load, a communication unit for communicating with the outside world via the antenna, a switching circuit installed between the antenna and the communication unit, and a switching control unit for controlling ON/OFF of the switching circuit according to power to be received by the antenna.
US09576724B2	Integrated sound shield for air core reactor An air core power reactor (10) having a noise mitigating sound shield (40). In one embodiment the sound shield includes a plurality of sound absorbing panels (42p) configured for positioning about an outermost reactor layer (12′) so that the panels reduce radiation of acoustic energy when the reactor coil layers carry current. One or more flexible members (48) are attached along the first side of each sound absorbing panel for contact with the outermost reactor layer. Sound barrier material (44) is positioned along the second side of each panel. When the flexible members are attached to a panel and the panel is installed about the outermost first layer of the reactor, the flexible members are positioned against the outermost first layer and the flexible members provide a gap between the first side of the panel and the outermost first layer of the reactor.
US09576720B2	Transformer A transformer (900) comprising a primary-side auxiliary winding (976, wherein in use the primary-side auxiliary winding (976) is configured such that a first electric potential distribution is induced in the primary-side auxiliary winding (976); and a secondary-side auxiliary winding (982) configured such that a second electric potential distribution is induced in the secondary-side auxiliary winding (982). The primary-side auxiliary winding (976) is physically located between (a) a main pair of windings; and (b) the second-side auxiliary winding (982). A first portion of the secondary-side auxiliary winding (982) is positioned adjacent to a shield-portion of the primary-side auxiliary winding (976) such that the first electric potential distribution matches the second electric potential distribution: (1) along the respective lengths of the first portion of the secondary-side auxiliary winding (982) and the shield-portion of the primary-side auxiliary winding (975); and (2) over a frequency range that is greater than a particular threshold frequency.
US09576717B2	Planar transformer A multi-layered printed circuit board, PCB, includes first windings for a first side of a planar magnetic transformer and second windings for a second side of the planar magnetic transformer. The PCB further includes conductive layers configured as the first windings, conductive layers configured as the second windings, and layers of an isolation material. Each layer of the isolation material is arranged between two conductive layers to provide electrical isolation between the two conductive layers. A group of two or more adjacent conductive layers are all conductive layers of the first windings and are all arranged between two conductive layers of the second windings. The thickness of the isolation material between the group of adjacent conductive layers of the first windings is less than the thickness of the isolation material between a conductive layer of the second windings and a conductive layer of the first windings.
US09576716B2	Common mode choke and integrated connector module automation optimization The subject disclosure relates improved common mode choke (CMC) and integrated connector module (ICM) designs for Ethernet applications. Some aspects provide an improved CMC component, including an upper chassis element having a first plurality of comb structures vertically protruding from an edge of the upper chassis element, and a lower chassis element comprising a second plurality of comb structures vertically protruding from an edge of the lower chassis element, the second plurality of comb structures configured to interlock with the first plurality of comb structures to form an enclosure when the upper chassis element is mechanically coupled with the lower chassis element.
US09576711B2	Coil component and board having the same There are provided a coil component and a board having the same. The coil component includes: a magnetic body including a substrate having two cores, first and second coil parts disposed on one surface of the substrate and wound in the same direction, and third and fourth coil parts disposed on the other surface of the substrate to be spaced apart from each other; and first to fourth external electrodes disposed on outer surfaces of the magnetic body and connected to the first to fourth coil parts.
US09576702B2	Flexible armored cable An armored cable features a core and an armor generally surrounding the core and having an inner diameter. The armor has a thickness of 0.001 to 0.100 times the inner diameter of the armor. In addition, the armor has corrugations with a pitch of 0.050 to 1.000 times the inner diameter of the armor. The armor has a corrugation depth of 0.010 to 0.400 times the inner diameter of the armor.
US09576701B2	High-voltage wire wiring structure in vehicle A high-voltage wiring structure in a vehicle includes an extending member extending in an extending direction which is a longitudinal direction or a width direction of the vehicle, a plurality of bulkheads respectively provided at a plurality of portions of the extending member in the extending direction, a high-voltage wire extended from a battery for driving the vehicle, and a pipe, in which the high-voltage wire is inserted, and which is surrounded by the extending member. A plurality of portions of the pipe in a longitudinal direction of the pipe are respectively fixed to the bulkheads by welding.
US09576700B2	Binding tape member and wire harness A binding tape member and a wire harness having a binding tape member configured to having the same function of conventional wire harnesses without the need for corrugated tube, pre-wrapping or post wrapping. The binding tape member has a tape member body that covers a group of electrical lines by being wrapped around the group of electrical lines. The tape body has a trapezoidal upper surface portion with an upper side and a lower side that correspond to the tape width end edges and a trapezoidal lower surface portion facing a direction opposite to the trapezoidal upper surface portion are alternatingly arranged in the tape length direction. Also, in a trapezoidal upper surface portion and a trapezoidal lower surface portion that are adjacent to each other, sides thereof in the tape length direction are connected to each other in an integrated manner by a rectangular side wall portion.
US09576698B2	Methods for forming polyimide-carbon nanotube composite film, and polyimide-carbon nanotube composite films formed thereof A method for forming a polyimide-carbon nanotube composite film on a substrate is provided. The method comprises: suspending carbon nanotubes in a solution comprising a poly(amic acid) and a suitable solvent; casting the solution onto a substrate to form a layer on the substrate; and heating the layer to convert the poly(amic acid) into a polyimide to form the polyimide-carbon nanotube composite film. A polyimide-carbon nanotube composite film and an electronic device comprising the polyimide-carbon nanotube composite film are also provided.
US09576695B2	Graphene-based laminate including doped polymer layer A graphene-based laminate including a doped polymer layer is disclosed. The graphene-based laminate may include a substrate; a graphene layer disposed on the substrate and including at least one layer; and a doped polymer layer disposed on at least one surface of the graphene layer and including an organic dopant.
US09576694B2	Applications for alliform carbon This invention relates to novel applications for alliform carbon, useful in conductors and energy storage devices, including electrical double layer capacitor devices and articles incorporating such conductors and devices. Said alliform carbon particles are in the range of 2 to about 20 percent by weight, relative to the weight of the entire electrode. Said novel applications include supercapacitors and associated electrode devices, batteries, bandages and wound healing, and thin-film devices, including display devices.
US09576691B2	Techniques for on-demand production of medical isotopes such as Mo-99/Tc-99m and radioactive iodine isotopes including I-131 A system for radioisotope production uses fast-neutron-caused fission of depleted or naturally occurring uranium targets in an irradiation chamber. Fast fission can be enhanced by having neutrons encountering the target undergo scattering or reflection to increase each neutron's probability of causing fission (n, f) reactions in U-238. The U-238 can be deployed as one or more layers sandwiched between layers of neutron-reflecting material, or as rods surrounded by neutron-reflecting material. The gaseous fission products can be withdrawn from the irradiation chamber on a continuous basis, and the radioactive iodine isotopes (including I-131) extracted.
US09576689B2	Critical heat flux prediction device, critical heat flux prediction method and safety evaluation system A critical heat flux prediction device, a critical heat flux prediction method, a safety evaluation system, and a core monitoring system using the safety evaluation system can predict critical heat flux in a core of a reactor with a high degree of accuracy by obtaining a correlation plot distribution representing a relation of critical heat flux on a thermal equilibrium quality based on experimental data, approximating a correlation plot distribution through a logistic function that is a model function in which critical heat flux is expressed by a function of a thermal equilibrium quality, and obtaining a critical heat flux correlation of critical heat flux and a thermal equilibrium quality.
US09576673B2	Sensing multiple reference levels in non-volatile storage elements Disclosed herein are techniques for sensing multiple reference levels in non-volatile storage elements without changing the voltage on the selected word line. One aspect includes determining a first condition of a selected non-volatile storage element with respect to a first reference level based on whether a sensing transistor conducts in response to a sense voltage on a sense node. Then, a voltage on the source terminal of the sensing transistor is modified after determining the first condition with respect to the first reference level. A second condition of the selected non-volatile storage element is then determined with respect to a second reference level based on whether the sensing transistor conducts in response to the sense voltage on the sense node. This allows two different reference levels to be efficiently sensed. Dynamic power is saved due low capacitance of the sensing transistor relative to the sense node.
US09576670B1	Method and system for managing a writing cycle of a data in a EEPROM memory cell An operation for writing at least one datum in at least one memory cell of the electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory type comprises at least one step of erasing or of programming of the cell by a corresponding erasing or programming pulse. The correct or incorrect conducting of the writing operation is checked by an analysis of the form of the erasing or programming pulse during the corresponding erasing or programming step. The result of this analysis is representative of the writing operation being conducted correctly or incorrectly.
US09576668B2	Semiconductor device and operating method thereof The semiconductor device includes a memory block including programmed pages and non-programmed pages, a peripheral circuit configured to perform a read operation of the memory block, and a control circuit configured to control the peripheral circuit so that a read voltage is applied to a word line coupled to a selected page among the pages for the read operation, a first pass voltage is applied to word lines coupled to the programmed pages among pages that are not selected for the read operation, and a second pass voltage lower than the first pass voltage is applied to word lines coupled to non-programmed pages among the pages that are not selected for the read operation.
US09576658B2	Systems, and devices, and methods for programming a resistive memory cell Embodiments disclosed herein may relate to programming a memory cell with a programming pulse that comprises a quenching period having different portions. The memory cell may have more than two possible programmed states, where each programmed state of the memory cell includes a different fraction of amorphous material. A memory element may be melted and then quenched. The fraction of amorphous material, and thus the programmed state, may be controlled by selecting one of multiple quenching periods for the programming pulse.
US09576652B1	Resistive random access memory apparatus with forward and reverse reading modes The invention provides a resistive memory apparatus including at least one first resistive memory cell, a first bit line selecting switch, a first source line selecting switch, a first pull down switch and a second pull down switch. The first bit line selecting switch is coupled between a first bit line and a sense amplifier. The first source line selecting switch is coupled between a source line and the sense amplifier. The first and second pull down switches are respectively coupled to the bit line and source line. When a reading operation is operated, on or off statuses of the first bit line selecting switch and the second pull down switch are the same, on or off statuses of the first source line selecting switch and the first pull down switch are the same, and on or off statuses of the first and second pull down switches are complementary.
US09576648B2	Method and apparatus for decoding memory A thin-film memory may include a thin-film transistor-free address decoder in conjunction with thin-film memory elements to yield an all-thin-film memory. Such a thin-film memory excludes all single-crystal electronic devices and may be formed, for example, on a low-cost substrate, such as fiberglass, glass or ceramic. The memory may be configured for operation with an external memory controller.
US09576646B2	SRAM cell with dynamic split ground and split wordline An SRAM cell with dynamic split ground (GND) and split wordline (WL) for extreme scaling is disclosed. The memory cell includes a first access transistor enabled by a first wordline to control access to cross coupled inverters by a first bitline. The memory cell further includes a second access transistor enabled by a second wordline to control access to the cross coupled inverters by a second bitline. The memory cell further includes a split ground line comprising a first ground line (GNDL) separated from a second ground line (GNDR). The GNDL is connected to a transistor of a first inverter of the cross coupled inverters and the GNDR is connected to a first transistor of a second inverter of the cross coupled inverters.
US09576645B2	Three dimensional dual-port bit cell and method of using same A three dimensional dual-port bit cell generally comprises a first portion disposed on a first tier, wherein the first portion includes a plurality of port elements. The dual-port bit cell also includes a second portion disposed on a second tier that is vertically stacked with respect to the first tier using at least one via, wherein the second portion includes a latch.
US09576641B2	Semiconductor device verifying signal supplied from outside Disclosed herein is a semiconductor device that includes an access control circuit generating an internal command based on a verification result signal and an external command. The external command indicates at least one of a first command that enables the access control circuit to access a first circuit and a second command that enables the access control circuit not to access the first circuit or enables the access control circuit to maintain a current state of the first circuit. The access control circuit, when the verification result signal indicates a first logic level, generates the internal command based on the external command. The access control circuit, when the verification result signal indicates a second logic level, generates the internal command that corresponds to a second command even if the external command indicates a first command.
US09576640B2	Semiconductor memory device, method of controlling read preamble signal thereof, and data transmission system A system, includes a controller comprising a plurality of first external terminals configured to supply a command and an address, and communicate a data, and communicate a strobe signal related to the data; and a semiconductor memory device including a plurality of second external terminals corresponding to the plurality of first external terminals, at least one of the plurality of first external terminals and at least one of the plurality of second external terminals each being capable of supplying an information specifying a length of a preamble of the strobe signal before the semiconductor memory device communicates the data between the controller and the semiconductor memory device, the semiconductor memory device further including a preamble register configured to be capable of storing the information.
US09576636B1	Magnetic memory having ROM-like storage and method therefore A magnetoresistive memory device that stores data in the reference portion of spin-torque memory cells provides for more robust data storage. In normal operation, the memory cells use the free portion of the memory cell for data storage. Techniques for storing data in the reference portions of memory cells are presented, along with techniques for recovering data stored in the reference portions of memory cells.
US09576632B2	Magnetic storage device A magnetic storage device of one embodiment includes a first and second magnetoresistive effect elements. The first magnetoresistive element includes a first magnetic layer having a first coercivity, a second magnetic layer having a second coercivity higher than the first coercivity, and a third magnetic layer having a third coercivity higher than the second coercivity. Magnetization orientations of the second and third magnetic layers are antiparallel. The second magnetoresistive effect element includes a fourth magnetic layer having a fourth coercivity, a fifth magnetic layer having a fifth coercivity higher than the fourth coercivity, and a sixth magnetic layer having a sixth coercivity higher than the fifth coercivity. Magnetization orientations of the fifth and sixth magnetic layers are parallel.
US09576629B2	Memory device and memory system including the same, and operation method of memory device A memory device includes a memory cell array having a plurality of memory cells, a storage unit suitable for storing a fail address corresponding to a fail memory cell in the memory cell array, an available storage capacity determination unit suitable for generating available capacity information indicating an available storage capacity in the storage unit, and an output circuit suitable for outputting the available capacity information.
US09576628B1	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device may include a driving control signal generation circuit configured to generate a driving control signal by determining whether a corresponding operation is a gapless read operation, according to a read strobe signal. The semiconductor device may also include a power driving circuit configured to drive a supply voltage to a power supply voltage in response to the driving control signal, and a read control signal generation circuit configured to generate a read control signal for controlling a read operation from the read strobe signal in response to the supply voltage.
US09576627B2	Semiconductor device, semiconductor system, and method for use in operating the same based on operation mode information A semiconductor device includes a flag signal generating circuit, a reference voltage generating circuit, and a first buffer. The flag signal generating circuit generates a flag signal based on an internal command and a training control code which are extracted from an external signal. The reference voltage generating circuit receives a set code based on the flag signal, an input control code and an output control code, and generates a reference voltage whose level is set based on the set code. The first buffer buffers the external signal based on the reference voltage to generate an internal signal, and generates a calibration code from the internal signal based on the flag signal to output the calibration code.
US09576626B2	Nonvolatile memory device and storage device having the same A nonvolatile memory device includes a data path; and a FIFO memory including a plurality of registers connected to the data path. The plurality of registers sequentially receive data from the data path in response to data path input clocks and sequentially output the received data to an input/output pad in response to data path output clocks. The data path output clocks are clocks that are generated by delaying the data path input clocks as long as a delay time.
US09576623B2	Sense amplifier and semiconductor memory device employing the same The present disclosure herein relates to a sense amplifier and a semiconductor memory device employing the same. The sense amplifier includes an inverter including a pull-up transistor and a pull-down transistor, and a switching unit configured to change a connection relationship between the pull-up transistor and the pull-down transistor according to whether an input terminal of the inverter is precharged or a signal applied to the input terminal is sensed.
US09576622B2	Reading data from a memory cell In response to a write operation to a memory cell that causes a data line of the memory cell to have a first voltage direction, causing the data line to have a second voltage direction opposite the first voltage direction.
US09576621B2	Read-current and word line delay path tracking for sense amplifier enable timing A static random-access memory (SRAM) in an integrated circuit with circuitry for timing the enabling of sense amplifiers. The memory includes read/write SRAM cells, along with word-line tracking transistors arranged in one or more rows along a side of the read/write cells, and read-tracking transistors arranged in a column along a side of the read/write cells. A reference word line extends over the word-line tracking transistors, with its far end from the driver connected to pass transistors in the read-tracking transistors. The read-tracking transistors are preset to a known data state that, when accessed responsive to the reference word line, discharges a reference bit line, which in turn drives a sense amplifier enable signal.
US09576620B2	Semiconductor apparatus and operating method thereof A semiconductor apparatus including a register input selection block configured to serially receive input data and output the input data in parallel as first and second data sets, or receive register selection output signals and output the register selection output signals as the first and second data sets, in response to a shift control signal and a capture control signal; a first data register configured to receive and store the first data set and output stored data as first register output signals; a second data register configured to receive and store the first and second data sets and output stored data as second register output signals; a register output selection block configured to output ones of the first and second register output signals as the register selection output signals; and a data output selection block configured to serially output one of the first and second data sets as output data.
US09576618B2	Memory devices, memory device operational methods, and memory device implementation methods Memory devices, memory device operational methods, and memory device implementation methods are described. According to one arrangement, a memory device includes memory circuitry configured to store data in a plurality of different data states, temperature sensor circuitry configured to sense a temperature of the memory device and to generate an initial temperature output which is indicative of the temperature of the memory device, and conversion circuitry coupled with the temperature sensor circuitry and configured to convert the initial temperature output into a converted temperature output which is indicative of the temperature of the memory device at a selected one of a plurality of possible different temperature resolutions, and wherein the converted temperature output is utilized by the memory circuitry to implement at least one operation with respect to storage of the data.
US09576616B2	Non-volatile memory with overwrite capability and low write amplification Providing for a non-volatile memory architecture having write and overwrite capabilities providing low write amplification to a storage system is described herein. By way of example, a memory array is disclosed comprising blocks and sub-blocks of two-terminal memory cells. The two-terminal memory cells can be directly overwritten in some embodiments, facilitating a write amplification value as low as one. Furthermore, the memory array can have an input-output multiplexer configuration, reducing sneak path currents of the memory architecture during memory operations.
US09576613B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device may include a semiconductor substrate; a test circuit array region; a pad region on the semiconductor substrate and at at least a first side of the test circuit array region and outside of the test circuit array region, transistors arranged in the test circuit array region in a first direction and a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, source lines spaced apart from each other in the second direction, each of the source lines extending in the first direction and electrically connected to corresponding source electrodes of the transistors, and drain lines spaced apart from each other in the second direction, each of the drain lines extending in the first direction and electrically connected to drain electrodes of the transistors.
US09576606B1	Long latency interface protocol A storage controller interface includes, on a disk controller side of the storage controller interface, a first transceiver circuit configured to transfer a first block of user data to a read channel during a write operation, and a gate transmit circuit configured to, subsequent to the first block of user data being transferred, assert a gate signal to flush the first block of user data from the read channel. The storage controller interface further includes, on a read channel side of the storage controller interface, a second transceiver circuit configured to receive the first block of user data, a gate receive circuit configured to receive the gate signal, and a write fault transceiver circuit configured to selectively assert a write fault signal if the gate transmit circuit does not assert the gate signal subsequent to the first block of user data being transferred to the read channel.
US09576603B2	Suspension board with circuit A suspension board with circuit includes a first layer having electrically conductive properties, a second layer having insulation properties and formed at one side in a thickness direction of the first layer, a third layer having electrically conductive properties and formed at one side in the thickness direction of the second layer, and a fourth layer having insulation properties and formed at one side in the thickness direction of the third layer. The first layer includes an electronic component connecting terminal for being electrically connected to an electronic component. The second layer includes a first opening portion passing through in the thickness direction. The third layer includes a first conductive circuit having a magnetic head, and a second conductive circuit. The fourth layer and the second layer are formed with a second opening portion.
US09576594B1	Detection of open write heads and/or cables in tape drives A computer-implemented method, according to one embodiment, includes: receiving a first output signal from a write driver, the write driver having an operating voltage applied thereto, receiving a second output signal from a comparator circuit, the comparator circuit having a reference voltage applied thereto, comparing a voltage of the first output signal with a voltage of the second output signal, and detecting a high resistance condition in response to determining that the voltage of the first output signal is less than the voltage of the second output signal. According to the present embodiment, the high resistance condition indicates open and/or partially open circuitry in the write driver. Moreover, the operating voltage is equal to the reference voltage. Other systems, methods, and computer program products are described in additional embodiments.
US09576592B2	Communication system and terminal device A communication system according to the present invention includes a plurality of terminal devices that are able to communicate mutually. Each of the terminal devices includes a voice input conversion device, a voice transmitting device, a voice receiving device, and a voice reproducing device. When there is a plurality of voice signals which has not been completed reproduction, the voice reproducing device reproduces after arranging the voice signals so that respective voices corresponding to the respective voice signals do not overlap.
US09576589B2	Harmonic feature processing for reducing noise Devices, systems and methods are disclosed for reducing noise in input data by performing a hysteresis operation followed by a lateral excitation smoothing operation. For example, an audio signal may be represented as a sequence of feature vectors. A row of the sequence of feature vectors may, for example, be associated with the same harmonic of the audio signal at different points in time. To determine portions of the row that correspond to the harmonic being present, the system may compare an amplitude to a low threshold and a high threshold and select a series of data points that are above the low threshold and include at least one data point above the high threshold. The system may iteratively perform a spreading technique, spreading a center value of a center data point in a kernel to neighboring data points in the kernel, to further reduce noise.
US09576587B2	Example-based cross-modal denoising A method for cross-modal signal denoising, the method comprising using at least one hardware processor for: providing a first multi-modal signal comprising at least two relatively clear modalities; correlating features exhibited simultaneously in the at least two relatively clear modalities of the first multi-modal signal; providing a second multi-modal signal comprising at least one relatively noisy modality and at least one relatively clear modality; and denoising the at least one relatively noisy modality of the second multi-modal signal by associating between (a) features exhibited in the at least one relatively noisy modality of the second multi-modal signal and (b) the features of the first multi-modal signal.
US09576586B2	Audio coding device, audio coding method, and audio codec device An audio coding device includes a memory; and a processor configured to execute a plurality of instructions stored in the memory, the instructions comprising: selecting a main lobe among a plurality of lobes detected from a frequency signal configuring an audio signal on a basis of bandwidth and power of the lobes; and coding the audio signal in such a manner that a first amount of bits per a unit frequency domain allocated to coding of the frequency signal of the main lobe is larger than a second amount of bits per the unit frequency domain allocated to the coding of the frequency signal of a side lobe as a lobe other than the main lobe.
US09576585B2	Method and apparatus for normalized audio playback of media with and without embedded loudness metadata of new media devices A decoder device for decoding a bitstream so as to produce therefrom an audio output signal, the bitstream having audio data and optionally loudness metadata containing a reference loudness value, wherein a gain control device has a reference loudness decoder configured to create a loudness value, wherein the loudness value is the reference loudness value in case that the reference loudness value is present in the bitstream; wherein the gain control device has a gain calculator configured to calculate a gain value based on the loudness value and based on a volume control value, which is provided by an external user interface allowing a user to control the volume control value, and a loudness processor configured to control the loudness of the audio output signal based on the gain value.
US09576581B2	Metatagging of captions A method for the real-time metatagging and captioning of an event. The method for the real-time metatagging and captioning of an event may include embedding metatag information in a caption file provided by a captioner. The embedded metatag information may allow a user to access additional information via the text of the captioned event. The metatag information may be embedded using a captioning device that creates both the text code and embeds the metatag code.
US09576579B1	Method and apparatus of providing semi-automated classifier adaptation for natural language processing Example embodiments of the present invention may include a method that provides transcribing spoken utterances occurring during a call and assigning each of the spoken utterances with a corresponding set of first classifications. The method may also include determining a confidence rating associated with each of the spoken utterances and the assigned set of first classifications, and performing at least one of reclassifying the spoken utterances with new classifications based on at least one additional classification operation, and adding the assigned first classifications and the corresponding plurality of spoken utterances to a training data set.
US09576574B2	Context-sensitive handling of interruptions by intelligent digital assistant Methods and systems related to intelligent interruption handling by digital assistants are disclosed. In some embodiments, a first information provision process is initiated in response to a first speech input. The first information provision process comprises preparing a first response and a second response to the first speech input. After or concurrent with the provision of the first response to the user, but before provision of the second response to the user, an event operable to initiate a second information provision process is detected. The second information provision process is initiated in response to detecting the event. The second information provision process comprises preparing a third response to the event. A relative urgency between the second response and the third response is determined. One of the second response and the third response is provided to the user in an order based on the determined relative urgency.
US09576572B2	Methods and nodes for enabling and producing input to an application Methods and nodes for enabling and producing input generated by speech of a user, to an application. When the application has been activated (2:1), an application node (200) detects (2:2) a current context of the user and selects (2:3), from a set of predefined contexts (204a), a predefined context that matches the detected current context. The application node (200) then provides (2:4) keywords associated with the selected predefined context to a speech recognition node (202). When receiving (2:5) speech from the user, the speech recognition node (202) is able to recognize (2:6) any of the keyword in the speech. The recognized keyword is then used (2:7) as input to the application.
US09576567B2	Ergonomic tubular anechoic chambers for use with a communication device and related methods Disclosed, in general, are devices that provide a substantially sound-tight chamber over a sound source while absorbing fields of sounds from the sound source. In general, the devices feature: an anechoic chamber that is configured to receive a sound source in a substantially sound-tight manner; and an anechoic channel that is in fluid communication with the ambient atmosphere. The anechoic chamber is adapted to capture air containing sound energy generated by the sound source, and distribute the air about an internal surface area on the inside of the chamber, wherein the internal surface area is sufficiently large to dampen or otherwise absorb the sound energy. Preferably, the air is directed from the anechoic chamber through an anechoic channel extending therefrom to the ambient to further dampen or absorb the sound energy. In one configuration, the outer wall of the apparatus is configured to reflect ambient sounds.
US09576563B2	Tank drum tuning structure A percussion instrument, specifically a tank drum having tongues that form playing parts and including a ground clearance in its body, and a tuning structure which by changing the center of gravity of the tank drum, enables its tuning. A magnet is placed under the tongues. A channel is provided on the tongues enabling the magnet to be moved back and forth with the help of a key.
US09576561B2	Pick for stringed musical instruments A pick for use with stringed musical instruments is disclosed. In some embodiments the pick is characterized by a roughened texture on the front and back substantially planar surfaces of the narrowed bottom portion of a substantially teardrop shaped body for the purpose of altering the tonal properties produced as it moves against strings that are strummed or picked. In further embodiments the roughened textured picking portion is combined with a separate second picking portion that is substantially smooth and useable to produce a conventional sound.
US09576558B2	Capacitive sensing during non-display update times Embodiments of the invention generally provide an input device with display screens that periodically update (refresh) the screen by selectively driving common electrodes corresponding to pixels in a display line. In general, the input devices drive each electrode until each display line (and each pixel) of a display frame is updated. In addition to updating the display, the input device may perform capacitive sensing using the display screen as a proximity sensing area. To do this, the input device may interleave periods of capacitive sensing between periods of updating the display based on a display frame. For example, the input device may update the first half of display lines of the display screen, pause display updating, perform capacitive sensing, and finish updating the rest of the display lines. Further still, the input device may use common electrodes for both updating the display and performing capacitive sensing.
US09576557B2	Distributed blanking for touch optimization Embodiments of the invention generally provide an input device with display screens that periodically update (refresh) the screen by selectively driving common electrodes corresponding to pixels in a display line. In general, the input devices drive each electrode until each display line (and each pixel) of a display frame is updated. In addition to updating the display, the input device may perform capacitive sensing using the display screen as a proximity sensing area. To do this, the input device may interleave periods of capacitive sensing between periods of updating the display based on a display frame. For example, the input device may update the first half of display lines of the display screen, pause display updating, perform capacitive sensing, and finish updating the rest of the display lines. Further still, the input device may use common electrodes for both updating the display and performing capacitive sensing.
US09576554B2	Determining a dominant color of an image based on pixel components A digital magazine server determines a dominant color present in an image using a clustering algorithm. Color components of each pixel in the image are identified used to generate vectors associated with each pixel. Based on the vectors associated with the pixels, clusters including one or more pixels are generated using a clustering algorithm (e.g., k-means). The digital magazine server generates a characteristic vector for each cluster based on the vectors included in the cluster and selects a set of clusters based on their characteristic vectors. A centroid identifying the dominant color of the image is determined from the characteristic vectors of clusters in the set.
US09576551B2	Method and apparatus for gesture interaction with a photo-active painted surface A method and apparatus for gesture interaction with an image displayed on a painted wall is described. The method may include capturing image data of the image displayed on the painted wall and a user motion performed relative to the image. The method may also include analyzing the captured image data to determine a sequence of one or more physical movements of the user relative to the image displayed on the painted wall. The method may also include determining, based on the analysis, that the user motion is indicative of a gesture associated with the image displayed on the painted wall, and controlling a connected system in response to the gesture.
US09576543B2	Shift register, gate driving unit and display device performing scanning sequence control Provided are a shift register, a gate driving unit and a display device. By disposing a scanning sequence control circuit configured to control output sequence of a first gate signal and a second gate signal according to the received first and second scanning sequence control signals, a first control circuit and a second control circuit in the shift register unit, it may settle a Vertical mura problem in the prior art and may improve an image quality of the display device.
US09576542B1	Using display components for light sensing This disclosure relates to, among other things, devices, systems, methods, computer-readable media, techniques, and methodologies that utilize and/or incorporate display components capable of being configured to detect light.
US09576541B2	Vision inspection apparatus and method of compensating gamma defect and mura defect thereof A vision inspection apparatus includes a first luminance profile generator configured to generate a plurality of first luminance profiles corresponding to the plurality of reference grayscales, a gamma corrector configured to calculate a gamma correction value of the display apparatus using the plurality of first luminance profiles corresponding to the plurality of reference grayscales, and a second luminance profile generator configured to apply the gamma correction value to each of the plurality of first luminance profiles and to generate a plurality of second luminance profiles corresponding to the plurality of reference grayscales.
US09576539B2	Light source apparatus and method for controlling same A light source apparatus includes a light source, a detection unit configured to detect light emitted by the light source, a determination unit configured to determine a target brightness, and a control unit configured to periodically perform control of light emission from the light source, wherein the control unit divides one period of the control into a first period during which the light source is caused to emit light that is to be detected by the detection unit and a second period during which the light source is caused to emit light at the target brightness, and during the first period, drives the light source using a driving signal with a value smaller than a value during the second period, and the detection unit detects light emitted by the light source during the first period.
US09576535B2	Pixel and organic light emitting display using the same A pixel includes an organic light emitting diode, a first driver and a second driver. The second driver controls an amount of current supplied from a first power source to the organic light emitting diode, corresponding to a previous data signal. The first driver stores a current data signal supplied from a data line and supplies the previous data signal to the second driver. In the pixel, the second driver includes a sixth transistor coupled between an initialization power source and a first node coupled to a gate electrode of a first transistor, the sixth transistor being configured to turn on when a first control signal is supplied; and a seventh transistor coupled between the first power source and a second node commonly coupled to the first and second drivers, the seventh transistor being configured to turn on when the first control signal is supplied.
US09576531B2	Display device and driving method thereof A display device includes a pixel unit including scan lines, data lines crossing the scan lines, and pixels connected to the scan lines and the data lines; a timing control unit configured to receive first data from an outside; a conversion unit configured to receive the first data from the timing control unit, to extract luminance components of the first data corresponding to the pixels to determine luminance distribution of the first data, to divide the luminance distribution into a plurality of luminance distribution ranges, and to convert the first data into second data by regulating an input gray level of the first data based on a conversion equation corresponding to a variation between data of the luminance distribution ranges; and a data drive unit configured to receive the second data from the conversion unit and to provide the second data to the data lines.
US09576530B2	Electro-optical device An optoelectronic device includes a first transistor, a second transistor, and a control circuit. The first transistor is electrically connected between a power supply and a light-emitting element, has a gate to receive a gray scale voltage, and supplies the light-emitting element with a driving current corresponding to the gray scale voltage. The second transistor has a gate electrically connected to an electrode of the light-emitting element and a source or drain electrically connected to a circuit including a voltmeter. The control circuit reads a measurement value of the voltmeter when the gate of the first transistor receives the gray scale voltage, and corrects a next gray scale voltage applied to the gate of the first transistor based on the measurement value.
US09576529B2	Driving circuit for a display panel and liquid crystal display device using the same A driving circuit is provided to reduce threshold voltage shifting of a driving switch thereof, and includes a capacitor, a pre-charging switch, a scanning switch, a driving switch, three stabilizing switches, and a light emitting device. A gate electrode of the pre-charging switch receives a first control signal, a drain electrode thereof receives a second control signal, and a source electrode thereof is connected to the capacitor, so as to pre-charge the capacitor to switch on the driving switch. The capacitor then discharges through the driving switch. When the driving circuit reaches a stable state, the driving switch drives the light emitting device to emit light.
US09576528B2	Display unit, method of manufacturing the same, and electronic apparatus A method of manufacturing a display unit in which the method includes: forming a transistor on a substrate, in which a first direction to be scanned by an ion implantation apparatus intersects with a second direction to be scanned by an Excimer Laser Anneal apparatus; and forming a display element.
US09576521B2	Drive device and drive method for vacuum fluorescent display Provided are a drive device and drive method for a vacuum fluorescent display that can suppress brightness variations in display images and improve display quality. A drive device for a vacuum fluorescent display is provided with a positive electrode unit in which a plurality of positive electrodes to which a phosphor is applied are disposed in a matrix shape and a negative electrode filament that discharges electrons toward the positive electrode unit. The device is provided with: a first magnetic field generating means that generates a first magnetic field perpendicular to the direction in which the positive electrode unit and the negative electrode filament face each other and that can periodically switch polarity; and a second magnetic field generating means that generates a second magnetic field that is perpendicular to the direction in which the positive electrode unit and the negative electrode filament face each other and crosses the first magnetic field and that can periodically switch polarity.
US09576519B2	Display method and display device The invention provides a display method and a display device. The display method in the invention is applicable to a display panel comprising multiple rows of sub-pixels, each row of sub-pixels are formed of sub-pixels of various colors which are alternately and circularly arranged, the sub-pixels in each row are arranged in the same order, and in column direction, sub-pixels of the same color are not adjacent, wherein the display method comprises steps of: S1, generating a primary image based on image information, the primary image is formed of virtual pixels arranged in a matrix, each virtual pixel is formed of sub-pixels of different colors and size of the virtual pixel is the same as that of the sub-pixel of the display panel; S2, calculating a display component of each sub-pixel by using primary components of sampling virtual sub-pixels of the sub-pixel.
US09576517B2	Shift register A shift register includes a plurality of shift register circuits. Each of the shift register circuits includes a first switch, an input circuit, a pull-down circuit and a ripple reduction circuit. The first switch is used to output a scanning signal of the shift register circuit according to voltage levels of a node and a clock signal. The input circuit is used to pull up the voltage level of the node according to a scanning signal of a previous shift register circuit. The pull-down circuit is used to pull down the voltage levels of the node and the scanning signal of the shift register circuit according to a scanning signal of a following shift register circuit. The ripple reduction circuit is used to suppress ripples on the voltage levels of the node and the scanning signal caused by the coupling effect of the clock signal.
US09576515B2	Bright dot detection method and display panel A bright dot detection method adapted to be used in a display panel including a plurality of gate lines, a plurality of source lines and a bright dot detection module. The plurality of gate lines and the plurality of sources line are interlaced thereby forming a plurality of pixels. The bright dot detection method includes: driving the plurality of pixels through enabling the plurality of gate lines simultaneously, thereby forming a first bright line in a first direction; and driving the plurality of pixels through enabling the plurality of gate lines sequentially and providing a control signal to the bright dot detection module, thereby forming a second bright line in a second direction, wherein a bright dot is positioned where the first and second bright lines meet with each other. A display panel is also disclosed.
US09576509B2	Merchandise labeling A unitary sheet-like merchandise labeling article that has a labeling tag flatly conjoined along a unifying flat bond zone with a flexible elastic layer that extends away from the tag and includes an elastic fastening loop. The loop sides that define the loop are wider than the thickness of the elastic layer. Further, the flexible elastic layer that extends away from the tag has a thickness greater than the thickness of the tag and has a dispersion zone adjacent the unifying flat bond zone. The dispersion zone allows dissipation of elastic loop in-line stretching forces sufficiently to reduce transmission of such forces into the bond zone.
US09576508B2	Label and related method A label and related method of manufacture that includes a fabric made of yarn. The yarn includes a fiber that has been recycled, that is recyclable, that is organic, that is biodegradable, and/or that can be derived from a material that is known to be environmentally friendly.
US09576505B2	Reorganizing display of a railway timetable diagram A method and apparatus for reorganizing display of a railway timetable diagram. A method of reorganizing the display of a railway timetable diagram, including: generating a relational graph by using a multiple of stations in the railway timetable diagram and correlations between the stations; partitioning the relational graph according to a partition rule, where the partition rule reduces lines crossing in at least one page and/or section in at least one page in a reorganized railway timetable diagram, where the lines representing an association between respective stations along a path in the reorganized railway timetable diagram; and displaying a reorganized railway timetable diagram based on a result of the partitioning. An apparatus for reorganizing the display of a railway timetable diagram.
US09576504B2	Mechanical model of the cardiovascular system and method of demonstrating the physiology of the cardiovascular system A hydraulic model of the cardiovascular system for illustrating a plurality of physiological concepts and relationships including arterial compliance, venous compliance, and peripheral resistance, said model comprising: a.) a cardiac subsystem for moving a fluid in a singular direction in a closed hydraulic system; b.) an arterial subsystem for modeling arterial compliance, the arterial subsystem fluidically coupled with the cardiac subsystem to receive the fluid discharged from the cardiac subsystem; c.) a peripheral resistance subsystem for modeling peripheral resistance, the peripheral resistance subsystem fluidically coupled with the arterial subsystem to receive the fluid discharged from arterial subsystem; d.) a peripheral venous (PV) subsystem for modeling peripheral venous compliance and for modeling a peripheral venous pump (PVP), the peripheral venous subsystem fluidically coupled with the peripheral resistance subsystem to receive the fluid discharged from the at least one downstream conduit; and e.) a central venous (CV) subsystem for modeling central venous compliance and for modeling a thoracic pump (TP), the CV subsystem fluidically coupled with the PV subsystem to receive the fluid discharged from the PV subsystem and to pass the fluid to the cardiac subsystem to complete the cardiovascular cycle.
US09576502B2	Universal AED training adapter A training adapter (28) for an automated external defibrillator (AED) (10) which provides for safe training use of any AED. The training adapter includes a circuit which ensures that any defibrillation voltage/current is shunted away from the trainee, training electrodes (26), and patient simulation equipment. The training adapter simultaneously provides to the AED a simulated patient ECG signal which causes the AED to operate as if an actual cardiac rescue were occurring, thus heightening the realism of the training experience.
US09576500B2	Training supporting apparatus and system for supporting training of walking and/or running A training supporting system has a training supporting apparatus and an exercise form analyzing apparatus, the both apparatuses being connected to each other through a communication network. The training supporting apparatus is worn on the arm of a user and measures acceleration rates of motion of the user's body where the apparatus is fitted on, at least in the three directions along X-, Y- and Z-axes, while the user is walking or running. Receiving the measured acceleration rates from the training supporting apparatus through the communication network, the exercise form analyzing apparatus analyzes an exercise form including balance between arm swing and foot landing, and sends back the analysis result of the exercise form to the training supporting apparatus through the communication network.
US09576497B2	Chord playing attachment A chord playing attachment and related method is disclosed. The chord playing attachment may be attached to a guitar or similar stringed instrument, and the user may use the chord playing attachment to learn to play the instrument. Unlike other chord playing attachments, the present invention discloses a design that does not function as a capo, which allows the user play chords in standard keys. The present invention also discloses tabs that may be removed or swapped by the user to allow the user to play some chords by pressing the strings directly and some by pressing a finger pad. The present invention encourages novices to learn to play the instrument in stages and eventually remove the invention entirely. A companion teaching manual is also disclosed.
US09576496B2	Flight training system The present invention provides a system for training a subject to recognize the onset of hypoxia, the system including (i) a flight simulation system, and (ii) a hypoxia induction system, wherein the flight simulation system is operably linked to the hypoxia induction system. The system provides a tool for pilot training to a pilot, allowing for the delivery of standardized training programs where the tasks required for the operation of an aircraft are able to be coordinated with an induction of hypoxia in the subject. Such a system is also able to provide an assessment tool to demonstrate when a pilot has had sufficient training in recognizing the effects of hypoxia.
US09576493B2	Unmanned aerial vehicle communication, monitoring, and traffic management A computer-implemented method of communicating with an unmanned aerial vehicle includes transmitting a first message via a communications transmitter of a lighting assembly for receipt by an unmanned aerial vehicle. The first message includes an identifier associated with the lighting assembly, and the lighting assembly is located within a proximity of a roadway. The method also includes receiving a second message from the unmanned aerial vehicle via a communications receiver of the lighting assembly. The second message includes an identifier associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle. The method further includes transmitting a third message via the communications transmitter of the lighting assembly for receipt by the unmanned aerial vehicle. The third message includes an indication of an altitude at which the unmanned aerial vehicle should fly.
US09576491B1	School child tracking system A system for tracking school buses and school children to enhance the security and safety of schoolchildren and provide real-time information about the location of students and buses to teachers and administrators and parents. The system utilizes GPS components to determine a location of the school buses and biometric scanning technology to determine the identity of the students. The system transmits location and student identity data to a Main Station using a radio network component. Parents and school teacher and administrators can access the data to monitor.
US09576489B2	Apparatus and method for providing safe driving information Provided are an apparatus and method for providing safe driving information. The method includes building a database including group information obtained by grouping driving environment information and driving situation information according to attributes of the driving environment information and the driving situation information, and provision forms and provision timings of safe driving information determined according to conditions in groups; collecting driving environment information, driving situation information, obstacle information, and information on a driver's line of sight in real time; determining a provision form and a provision timing of safe driving information based on the collected information and the database; and providing the safe driving information according to the determined provision form and timing.
US09576482B2	Management of moving objects A system comprising a plurality of mobile object servers respectively assigned to a plurality of regions in a geographic space, the plurality of mobile object servers including at least one mobile object server including a mobile object agent assigned to a moving object in the assigned region; and a plurality of event servers operable to manage events occurring in the geographic space; wherein each mobile object server is operable to transfer the mobile object agent to one of the plurality of mobile object servers assigned to a neighboring region in response to the moving object moving to the neighboring region, and execute the mobile object agent to collect information of events from at least one event server, and provide the moving object with information that assists the moving object with traveling in the geographic space.
US09576481B2	Method and system for intelligent traffic jam detection Disclosed is a method, apparatus, system and computer program configured to process traffic data and provide relevant information to a driver of a vehicle. A method that is disclosed includes receiving probe data from mobile probes; deriving, from the received probe data, an approximate traffic jam shape and traffic jam area; determining when and at what point a vehicle enters the traffic jam area, and an estimated trajectory of the vehicle within the traffic jam area; and based on the step of determining, generating and sending a message to the vehicle informing the vehicle of at least an estimated time when the vehicle will exit the traffic jam area.
US09576478B2	Apparatus and associated methods for designating a traffic lane An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: based on received traveller data, the traveller data representing polled traveller usage of a particular traffic lane, designating the particular traffic lane as a restricted-use lane, the designation for use in subsequent navigation guidance.
US09576475B2	Wireless-enabled tension meter A wireless-enabled tension meter is disclosed. The wireless-enabled tension meter can include a pulley arrangement through which a portion of a guiding member is routed for use during a pull of conductor through a conduit network. A tension force is exerted on the guiding member during the pull as the guiding member is pulled through the pulley arrangement. The wireless-enabled tension meter can also include a sensor for measuring the tension force, a wireless network interface, and a control module for performing operations. The operations performed by the control module can include capturing data corresponding to the tension force and causing the wireless network interface to send the data to a wireless communication device.
US09576472B2	Real-time monitoring and dissemination of energy consumption and production data A facility comprising systems, methods, and techniques for collecting data indicative of energy consumption and/or energy production by energy systems and devices and providing the data to interested users and devices in real-time is described. The facility may comprise an energy gateway device coupled to one or more monitored devices, one or more energy data extraction servers, and one or more client computers. The energy gateway devices and energy data extraction servers are coupled to a network and are configured to collect energy consumption and/or energy production data from one or more devices and provide an indication of the collected data in real-time or near real-time. The facility may collect current energy consumption or production rates, predicted energy consumption or production levels over a future period of time, and/or amounts of energy that has been consumed or produced by the device over a previous period of time.
US09576471B2	Radio frequency remote controller device, integrated circuit and method for selecting at least one device to be controlled A radio frequency (RF) remote controller device comprises radio frequency (RF) circuitry operably coupled to an antenna arrangement and arranged to transmit and receive RF signals to and from controllable devices. The RF remote controller device further comprises signal process logic operably coupled to the RF circuitry and to a user interface. The antenna arrangement is arranged to comprise a directivity characteristic. The signal processing logic upon receipt of a command input from the user interface, is arranged to: determine at least one link quality value that is at least partly dependent upon the directivity characteristic for the at least one controllable device; and select the controllable device for remote controlling based on the determined at least one link quality value.
US09576468B2	Human motion feature extraction in personal emergency response systems and methods A non-wearable Personal Emergency Response System (PERS) architecture is provided, having a synthetic aperture antenna based RF interferometer followed by two-stage human state classifier and abnormal states pattern recognition. Systems and methods transmit ultra-wide band radio frequency signals at, and receive echo signals from, the environment, process the received echo signals to yield a range-bin-based slow signal that is spatio-temporally characterized over multiple spatial range bins and multiple temporal sub-frames, respectively, and derive from the slow signal a Doppler signature and a range-time energy signature as motion characteristics of human(s) in the environment and optionally also derive location data as movement characteristics thereof. The decision process is carried out based on the instantaneous human state (local decision) followed by abnormal states patterns recognition (global decision).
US09576467B2	Emergency detection device, emergency detection system, recording medium, and method therefor The emergency detection system includes a position information acquisition section, a presumption section, a determination section, and a notification section. The position information acquisition section acquires position information that indicates temporal changes of current positions of a plurality of portable terminals obtained using a GPS. The presumption section presumes a point of emergency occurrence on the basis of the position information acquired by the position information acquisition section. The determination section examines whether or not the point presumed by the presumption section corresponds to an exclusion area, and determines that the point presumed by the presumption section is the point of the emergency occurrence in the case where the point does not correspond to the exclusion area. The notification section notifies the point of the emergency occurrence, which is determined by the determination section, to terminals at a preset destination of the notification.
US09576466B2	Backup contact for security/safety monitoring system A method includes receiving an indication that an event has occurred in a physical space being monitored by a monitoring device that includes a plurality of sensors. In response to the indication, the method includes sending one or more primary notifications of the event over a computer-based network to each of one or more persons primarily associated with the physical space being monitored. If, after a designated amount of time, none of the primary notifications have been viewed by any of the persons primarily associated with the physical space being monitored, the method includes sending a backup notification of the event over the computer-based network to one or more persons designated as backup contacts. The backup notification is logically associated with information that the one or more backup contacts can access about the event. The logical association can be embodied by a link (e.g., a hyperlink) in the backup notification.
US09576465B1	System and method for identifying stolen wireless devices A first antenna configured to receive a signal from each of a plurality of devices. A library contains at least one unique identifier for at least one target device. A second antenna is used to geolocate the target device once the first antenna locates it in the vicinity of the system. A processor is coupled to the first antenna to receive the signal from the plurality of devices and extract the unique identifier from the signal. The processor compares the unique identifier from the signal to the unique identifiers in the library. Upon a match, the second antenna is used to locate the target device.
US09576461B2	Primary tag and a secondary tag for communication with each other, and a system comprising a primary tag and one or more secondary tags Various embodiments relate to tags, methods of using tags, systems, and methods of using systems. Various embodiments may be suitable for identifying a human or an animal. Various embodiments may provide mother-infant matching and cot-infant matching for both single and multiple births; monitoring of the location, movement, and status of the tags; detection of tampering and unauthorized removal of infant tags; and organizing of tags.
US09576459B2	Evacuation guidance notification device and system The present invention relates to an evacuation guidance notification system that can detect a fire, can provide notification, can provide guidance on an evacuation route, and can re-ensure a field of vision. The evacuation guidance notification system includes an evacuation guidance notification device installed on a banister post at an edge of a staircase, and the evacuation guidance notification device includes a device housing including a display window, a speaker, a beam output unit, an LED unit, a sensor unit, a control unit, a power unit, a communication unit, and an evacuation direction guidance unit. Furthermore, the device housing constituting part of the evacuation guidance notification device may further include a communication unit configured to communicate with the outside and a control room composed of a computer for controlling the evacuation guidance notification device, and the control room may remotely control the evacuation guidance notification device via the communication unit.
US09576458B2	Aspirating smoke detectors Improvements in and Relating to Aspirating Smoke Detectors Disclosed is an aspirating smoke detection system comprising: at least two different types of detector; and a processor operable to receive signals from the at least two different types of detector, and to determine an alarm status, wherein the alarm status is one of: an all clear status; a critical status; and a status intermediate between the all clear status and the critical status.
US09576457B1	Identification system and method of use A marking and identification system and method includes a dispersing device configured to disperse marker therefrom when in an activated mode. An activating device is configured to arm the dispersing device from an inactivated mode wherein the dispensing device does not disperse marker to the activated mode. A triggering device is configured to operate the dispersing device and disperse marker when in the activated mode. The marker can be identified at a later time to positively identify a person that triggered the marking and identification system.
US09576456B2	Solar battery-driven object detection system A reception unit 2 of a detection unit 3 includes a transmitter 30 that transmits a reception (detection) level of an infrared beam to a transmission unit 1, and a demand signal output unit 26 that transmits to the transmission unit 1 a demand signal M, demanding to control the intensity of the infrared beam to be transmitted so that the reception level matches a predetermined value. The transmission unit 1 includes an infrared ray (detection beam) intensity control unit 15 that controls, upon receipt of the demand signal M, the intensity of the infrared beam to be transmitted so that the reception level matches the predetermined value. A power source unit 31 is a solar battery unit including a solar panel and a charging medium that stores power from the solar panel.
US09576453B2	Consumer removable tag housing assembly for attachment to a bottle neck An electronic tag housing assembly is attachable to the extending neck of a bottle having an undercut thereabout. The tag housing includes an annular wall having a central opening for insertion over the extending bottle neck. At least one electronic tag is supported in the housing. The housing has a plurality of resilient fingers extending into the aperture for engagement with undercut on the bottle neck for securing the housing thereto. The housing further includes a portion of the annular wall having a location of reduced thickness for effecting severing of the annular wall thereat so as to remove the housing from the bottle neck.
US09576452B2	Programmable security system and method for protecting merchandise A programmable security system and method for protecting an item of merchandise includes a programming station, a programmable key and a security system. The programming station generates a security code and communicates the security code to a memory of the programmable key. The programmable key initially communicates the security code to a memory of the security device and subsequently operates the security device upon a matching of the security code in the memory of the security device with the security code in the memory of the programmable key. The programmable key may also transfer power via electrical contacts or inductive transfer from an internal battery to the security device to operate a lock mechanism. The security code may be communicated by wireless infrared (IR) systems, electrical contacts or inductive transfer. A timer inactivates the programmable key and/or the security device after a predetermine period of time. A counter inactivates the programmable key after a predetermined maximum number of activations.
US09576450B2	Security wrap with breakable conductors A security wrap (20) for protecting an electronic component includes a substrate (22) having a first side and a second side opposite to each other. A security screen (26) is disposed over the first side of the substrate (22) and includes a pair of screen terminals (48) and a frangible and electrically conductive path (46) between the pair of screen terminals (48). A layer of adhesive (30) is over the first side of the substrate (22) and bonds the first side of the substrate (22) to the electronic component with the security screen (26) sandwiched there between.
US09576449B2	Door and window contact systems and methods that include time of flight sensors Systems and methods that address the gap, security, and robustness limitations of known door and window contact systems and methods without increasing the overall cost thereof are provided. A system can include a time of flight sensor for mounting in or on a first portion of a window unit or a door unit and a microcontroller unit in communication with the time of flight sensor. The sensor can measure a time for a signal to travel from the sensor to a second portion of the window unit or the door unit and back to the sensor, the sensor can transmit the measured time to the microcontroller unit, and the microcontroller unit can use the measured time to make a security determination.
US09576447B1	Communicating information to a user A method and device for providing information to a user are provided. The method includes providing at least one user indicator device in operable communication with the user for providing non-visual and non-verbal communications to the user, and enabling information to be received by the user indicator device from a remote source. The method further includes communicating information to the user via the user indicator device in a non-visual and non-verbal way that may be substantially indicative of at least one instruction for the user so the user can operate in one or more environments in conformance with the information provided.
US09576440B2	Gaming machine with carryover feature units associated with particular symbols In a gaming machine having virtual reels, certain symbols are modified to identify feature units associated with that particular symbol. The feature units carry over for multiple games until extinguished by being used. If a symbol having one or more feature units is involved in a winning combination, the function associated with its feature units, such as an award multiplier, is applied to the player's award. The symbols adjacent to a winning combination of symbols, or the symbols in the winning combination, may be augmented with a feature unit. A symbol accumulating a certain number of feature units may become a wild symbol. By continuing to accumulate feature units over many games, the symbols progressively become more valuable, and the player is incentivized to keep playing the machine. When the player cashes out, the feature units are extinguished.
US09576436B2	Card selection game with feature A gaming machine and method are disclosed. A selected symbol is displayed in a non-revealed manner, for example on a display, a player having nominated at least one characteristic of the symbol. If the selected symbol is revealed to have the nominated characteristic a prize is awarded to the player, and if the symbol is revealed to be a special symbol a game controller awards the player a feature outcome that comprises a plurality of bonus plays of a feature game that includes at least one special symbol. Progression to the next bonus play in the plurality of bonus plays is dependent on selection of the special symbol.
US09576434B2	Implementing computer activity-based challenges A computer activity-based challenge may be posted by a computer system to a social network associated with a user of the computer system. A notification may be received from the social network by the computer system indicating acceptance of the challenge for each subscriber of the social network who accepts the challenge. A result obtained by each subscriber who accepted the challenge may be recorded by the computer system after receiving the result from the social network. In some implementations a value associated with the challenge may be updated using dynamic scoring.
US09576432B2	Gaming machine and gaming method A game is executed in a normal round, in a first-type free round, and in a second-type free round. The normal round is executed with a first symbol set including a plurality of symbols. The first-type free round is executed with a second symbol set that includes at least one first symbol in addition to the symbols in the first symbol set. The second-type free round is executed with a third symbol set that includes at least one second symbol in addition to the symbols in the first symbol set, the at least one second symbol being different from the at least one first symbol.
US09576423B2	Gaming system and method of gaming A method of populating symbol spaces on a gaming device includes providing a plurality of designated spaces arranged to display a plurality of symbols, wherein one of the designated spaces is populated with a symbol from the plurality of symbols by moving the symbol from an initial location, to a final location within the designated space, wherein the game outcome is at least partly dependent on the final location of the symbol.
US09576419B2	Merchandiser The present application and the resultant patent provide a merchandiser. The merchandiser may include an ambient compartment with at least one ambient product therein, a temperature controlled compartment with at least one temperature controlled product therein, and a rotary internal transport system within the temperature controlled compartment so as to dispense a temperature controlled product in response to an ambient product being placed therein.
US09576418B2	Item dispensing apparatus Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to a dispenser configured for storing one or more items and dispensing the stored items to authorized users. According to various embodiments, the dispenser generally includes a housing defining an interior portion dimensioned to receive a plurality of items and an access assembly configured to prevent unauthorized user access to the interior portion of the dispenser while providing selective access to certain items in response to input received from an authorized user. According to various embodiments, the access assembly comprises a pair of flexible barriers coupled to a sliding door assembly, which includes one or more lockable access doors. Together, the door assembly and flexible barriers prevent access to the interior of the dispenser when in a locked configuration and permit access to certain items when in an unlocked configuration.
US09576412B2	Network-assisted remote access portal A computing system contains a processor that is configured to receive, with the user interface, a registered access code and access permissions from a remote user of a property having a property location. The registered access code may be configured to provide access to the property. The access permissions may include a predefined access period that the access code is valid to provide access to the property. The processor may further be configured to receive a provided access code of a local user of the property in response to a user location of the local user being near the property location, match the provided access code with the registered access code, and grant or deny access to the property based in part on the provided access code matching the registered access code and being received within the predefined access period.
US09576411B2	Apparatus and method for providing security keypad through shift of keypad An apparatus and method for providing a security keypad are provided. The apparatus for providing a security keypad includes a coordinate generation unit, a keypad output unit, and a key value processing unit. The coordinate generation unit computes a displacement by which a security keypad is to be shifted, and rearranges at least some of keys included in the security keypad by shifting the at least some keys so that the central axis of the security keypad is translated by the displacement. The keypad output unit displays the rearranged security keypad to a user. The key value processing unit processes key values in response to the user's input to the rearranged security keypad, and transfers the processed key values to an application for which the rearranged, security keypad is used.
US09576408B2	Battery powered trainable remote garage door opener module A remote garage door opener module for after-market assembly into a vehicle for transmitting signals to a garage door opener includes a bezel positionable against a headliner of the vehicle along an interior surface thereof in a position over a hole in the headliner. The module further includes a housing enclosing a power source and electronic circuitry for transmitting the signals. The housing extends away from a first side of the bezel and is positionable at least partially through the hole in the headliner. The module further includes a button exposed at a second side of the bezel and coupled to the electronic circuitry and a mounting element selectively engageable with the headliner adjacent the hole and coupled with one of the housing or the bezel for coupling the module with the headliner.
US09576403B2	Method and apparatus for fusion of images A method and an apparatus for improving a main image by fusing the richer information contained in a secondary image are described. A 3D structure of objects contained in the secondary image is retrieved and a parallax-corrected version of the secondary image is generated using the 3D structure. For this purpose a camera pose for which a projection of the 3D structure of the objects contained in the secondary image best resembles the perspective in the main image is determined and the parallax-corrected version of the secondary image is synthesized based on the determined camera pose. The parallax-corrected version of the secondary image is then fused with the main image.
US09576397B2	Reducing latency in an augmented-reality display Disclosed are methods and systems for generating display pixel data so as to reduce latency when rendering a representation of a graphic on a display, such as for augmented-reality applications. The method comprises: receiving a set of display pixel coordinate-pairs at the graphics processing unit; applying a transform matrix to the set of display pixel coordinate-pairs to obtain a set of graphic pixel coordinate-pairs, the transform matrix calculated using orientation data received from an external reference; retrieving a set of graphic pixel data associated with the set of graphic pixel coordinate-pairs; and, determining a set of display pixel data based on the retrieved set of graphic pixel data.
US09576394B1	Leveraging a multitude of dynamic camera footage to enable a user positional virtual camera A virtual camera within a volumetric model of a real world environment during an event occurring within the real world environment can be identified. The virtual camera can be associated with at least one of a location and an orientation within the real world environment. A virtual stream for the virtual camera can be constructed. The field of view of the stream can include video obtained from two cameras present within the real world environment and video not captured by a camera within the real world environment. The video field point of view can correspond to at least one of the location and orientation of the virtual camera. The virtual stream of the virtual camera can be presented within an interface of computing device responsive to the constructing.
US09576391B2	Tomography apparatus and method of reconstructing a tomography image by the tomography apparatus A tomography apparatus includes a data acquirer which acquires a first image which corresponds to a first time point and a second image which corresponds to a second time point by performing a tomography scan on an object; an image reconstructor which acquires first information which relates to a relationship between a motion amount of the object and the time based on a motion amount between the first image and the second image, predicts a third image which corresponds to a third time point between the first and second time points based on the first information, corrects the first information by using the predicted third image and measured data which corresponds to the third time point, and reconstructs the third image by using the corrected first information; and a display which displays the reconstructed third image.
US09576390B2	Visualization of volumetric ultrasound images Various embodiments include systems and methods for adaptive visualization enhancement in volumetric ultrasound images. One or more structures may be determined or identified to be visually enhanced in the volumetric ultrasound images, and one or more visualization changes may be determined, for each of the one or more structures to be visually enhanced. Rendering adjustments required to achieve each of the one or more visualization changes, for each of the one or more structures to be visually enhanced, may then be determined; and the rendering adjustments may be applied during volume rendering of the volumetric ultrasound images.
US09576383B2	Interactive chart authoring through chart merging A first chart and a second chart are parsed to determine one or more measures, dimensions, and filters visualized in the first chart and the second chart. The number of measures, dimensions, and filters visualized in the first chart and the second chart are calculated. It is determined how many of the number of measures, dimensions, and filters visualized in the first chart and the second chart are the same. One or more merge rules corresponding to the number of measures, dimensions, and filters visualized in the first chart and to the number of measures, dimensions, and filters visualized in the second chart that aren't the same as measures, dimensions, and filters visualized in the first chart are obtained, and one or more merge permutations are derived based on the obtained merge rules. The first chart and the second chart are merged in accordance with one of the merge permutations.
US09576381B2	Method and device for simplifying space data A method and a device for simplifying space data are provided, and the method includes: an original coordinate point of original space data is transformed into a view coordinate point of a view window according to predetermined view control parameters; the view coordinate point is analyzed that whether it accords with a simplification condition; the original coordinate point corresponding to the view coordinate point that accords with the simplification is simplified according to an analysis result. The method for simplifying space data transforms the original coordinate point of original space data into the view coordinate point of the view window and performs analysis processing, which can ensure that not only the space relation of each simplified space data of random complex itself is displayed correctly, but also the space relations between all the simplified space data are displayed correctly.
US09576376B2	Interactive method of locating a mirror line for use in determining asymmetry of an image A method and apparatus are provided for locating a mirror line for conducting a mirror analysis of an image by reflecting extracted image content from a portion of the image on one side of the mirror line and overlaying this reflected image content onto the corresponding portion of the image on the opposing side of the mirror line. The extracted image content that is reflected onto the corresponding portion of the image on the opposite side of the mirror line is continuously updated in real-time as the user manipulates the location or orientation of the mirror line.
US09576373B2	Geospatial imaging system providing segmentation and classification features and related methods A geospatial imaging system may include a geospatial data storage device configured to store a geospatial dataset including geospatial data points. A processor may cooperate with the geospatial data storage device to determine segments within the geospatial dataset, with each segment including neighboring geospatial data points within the geospatial dataset sharing a common geometric characteristic from among different geometric characteristics. The processor may further determine border geospatial data points of adjacent segments, compare the border geospatial data points of the adjacent segments to determine bare earth segments having respective heights below those of the border geospatial data points of adjacent segments, and classify geospatial data points within each bare earth segment as bare earth geospatial data points.
US09576366B2	Tracking system and tracking method using the same A tracking system and method using the same is disclosed which is capable of minimizing a restriction of surgical space by achieving a lightweight of the system as well as a reduction of a manufacturing cost through calculating a three-dimensional coordinates of each of makers using one image forming unit. In the tracking system and method using the same, lights emitted from the markers are transferred to one image forming unit through two optical paths, an image sensor of the image forming unit forms two images (direct image and reflection image) of the two optical paths of the markers, and therefore, the system and method using the same has an effect of reducing a manufacturing cost of the tracking system with small and lightweight, and relatively low restriction of surgical space comparing with conventional tracking system since it is possible to calculate a spatial position and direction of the markers attached on a target by using one image forming unit.
US09576358B2	Individual-characteristic prediction system, individual-characteristic prediction method, and recording medium An individual-characteristic prediction system obtains three-dimensional information from brain images of a subject. Further, the individual-characteristic prediction system detects characteristic values of each part of the cerebrum of the subject, and compares the detected characteristic values with stored information prepared in advance to thereby search out stored information having characteristic values similar to the detected characteristic values. Further, the individual-characteristic prediction system predicts abilities or qualities of the subject based on information about abilities or qualities of a brain having the searched out characteristic values.
US09576356B2	Region clustering forest for analyzing medical imaging data Systems and methods for training a region clustering forest include receiving a set of medical training images for a population of patients. A set of image patches is extracted from each image in the set of medical training images. A plurality of region clustering trees are generated each minimizing a loss function based on respective randomly selected subsets of the set of image patches to train the region clustering forest. Each of the plurality of region clustering trees cluster image patches at a plurality of leaf nodes and the loss function measures a compactness of the cluster of image patches at each leaf node in each of the plurality of region clustering trees.
US09576355B2	System and method of monitoring and confirming medication dosage A medication monitoring system including a patient information unit having a processor, a memory and a patient monitoring unit and a program executing in the memory executing the steps of communicatively coupling a first device with a second device, transmitting live images from the first device to the second device, analyzing the content of the live images to identify at least one biometric attribute of a user in the image and at least one bar code on a container in the image, determining whether the bar code is associated with at least one biometric attribute, and notifying the user whether to consume the contents of the container based on the association of the bar code with the biometric attribute.
US09576352B2	Method to determine skin-layer thickness in high pressure die castings A quantitative metallographic method to measure skin layer thickness in high pressure die cast aluminum components. Because the faster-cooling skin layer region exhibits a higher volume fraction of eutectic phases than that of a slower-cooling inner region, measurements showing such higher eutectic phases can be used to quantify such layer thickness. An image at various thicknesses of a location of interest in a cast component sample is first obtained using an image analyzer, from which eutectic volume fractions within each of the received images may be determined. Comparisons of the determined volume fractions can be made against a known or predicted quantity for a particular alloy composition, and then correlated to the skin layer thickness via differences between the received or measured quantities and those of the known standard.
US09576351B1	Style transfer for headshot portraits Techniques are disclosed for automatically transferring a style of at least two reference images to an input image. The resulting transformation of the input image matches the visual styles of the reference images without changing the identity of the subject of the input image. Each image is decomposed into levels of detail with corresponding energy levels and a residual. A style transfer operation is performed at each energy level and residual using the reference image that most closely matches the input image at each energy level. The transformations of each level of detail and the residual of the input image are aggregated to generate an output image having the styles of the reference images. In some cases, the transformations are performed on the foreground of the input image, and the background can be transformed by an amount that is proportional to the aggregated transformations of the foreground.
US09576350B2	Medical image processing apparatus, X-ray diagnostic apparatus, medical image processing method and X-ray diagnostic method According to one embodiment, a medical image processing apparatus includes a subtraction image acquisition part, a threshold processing part, an image processing part and an image operation part. The subtraction image acquisition part is configured to acquire subtraction image data between X-ray contrast image data and X-ray non-contrast image data of an object. The threshold processing part is configured to perform threshold processing of the subtraction image data or image data generated based on the subtraction image data. The image processing part is configured to perform image processing of image data after the threshold processing. The image operation part is configured to generate image data for a display by an image operation between the subtraction image data and image data after the image processing.
US09576348B2	Facilitating text identification and editing in images Facilitating text identification and editing in images in which in one or more embodiments, a user selection of a location in an area of text in an image is received. Given the location, a region of interest that includes text (including the location of the user selection) in the image is determined. Distortion resulting from a surface in the image on which the text is situated being at some angle other than parallel to the image capture plane is also corrected. One or more fonts and font sizes of the text in the region of interest are also detected. Various actions can be taken on the text in the region of interest (e.g., editing the text and/or identifying the text).
US09576339B2	Mobile terminal, display device and controlling method thereof A display device including an interface unit configured to be connected to a mobile terminal having a first display unit displaying a mobile screen image; a second display unit for displaying a monitor window having two orientation directions; and a controller configured to display the monitor window in a first orientation direction for displaying a monitor screen image corresponding to the mobile screen image on the second display unit; receive a user command relating to a modification of the mobile screen image; transmit a control signal relating to the user command to the mobile terminal; and display a modified monitor screen image in response to the user command on a second orientation direction of the monitor window.
US09576338B2	Method for increasing resolutions of depth images A resolution of a low resolution depth image is increased by applying joint geodesic upsampling to a high resolution image to obtain a geodesic distance map. Depths in the low resolution depth image are interpolated using the geodesic distance map to obtain a high resolution depth image. The high resolution image can be a gray scale or color image, or a binary boundary map. The low resolution depth image can be acquired by any type of depth sensor.
US09576336B2	Display method and display device A display method for displaying an image on a transparent display component of a display device includes receiving a display content, determining a background resolution of the image, selecting one of background images as a first background image based on the display content and the background resolution, performing image processing on the first background image to generate a second background image, adding the display content to the second background image to generate the image, and displaying the image on the transparent display component.
US09576332B1	Systems and methods for remote graphics processing unit service Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems and methods for providing remote graphics processing unit (GPU) availability to one or more computing components of a data center. In particular, the present disclosure provides the remote location of one or more GPUs within a computing environment for use by one or more computing devices within the computing environment. Thus, each computing device may utilize the remotely located GPUs to perform the tasks of the computing device associated with a GPU, without the need for the GPU to be located within the computing device itself or within the same rack of the computing device. In this manner, one or more GPUs of a computing environment may provide GPU services to any number of computing devices, even though the GPUs are remote from the computing devices.
US09576328B2	Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and non-transitory computer readable medium An information processing apparatus includes a configuration information acquiring unit, an operation information acquiring unit, an estimating unit, and a first power calculator. The configuration information acquiring unit acquires configuration information representing a configuration of a device. The operation information acquiring unit acquires operation information representing an operation state of the device. The estimating unit estimates a first device maximum power and a first device minimum power in accordance with the configuration information, the first device maximum power being a maximum power consumed by the device, the first device minimum power being a minimum power consumed by the device. The first power calculator calculates a first power consumed by the device, in accordance with the first device maximum power, the first device minimum power, and the operation information.
US09576327B2	Managing time-substitutable electricity usage using dynamic controls A predictive-control approach allows an electricity provider to monitor and proactively manage peak and off-peak residential intra-day electricity usage in an emerging smart energy grid using time-dependent dynamic pricing incentives. The daily load is modeled as time-shifted, but cost-differentiated and substitutable, copies of the continuously-consumed electricity resource, and a consumer-choice prediction model is constructed to forecast the corresponding intra-day shares of total daily load according to this model. This is embedded within an optimization framework for managing the daily electricity usage. A series of transformations are employed, including the reformulation-linearization technique (RLT) to obtain a Mixed-Integer Programming (MIP) model representation of the resulting nonlinear optimization problem. In addition, various regulatory and pricing constraints are incorporated in conjunction with the specified profit and capacity utilization objectives.
US09576326B2	Identification of a propagator-type leader in a social network Techniques for identification of a propagator-type leader in a social network are described. According to various embodiments, a specific content item posted by a particular actor of a plurality of actors and interactions by other actors of the plurality of actors with the specific content item are identified. A leadership score associated with the particular actor is calculated, the leadership score indicating a propensity of the particular actor to spread information among the plurality of actors of the online social network service. The particular actor is then classified as an information propagator among the plurality of actors of the online social network service, based on the calculated leadership score.
US09576324B2	Penalty and interest assessment detail display Systems and methods are provided for displaying tax penalty and interest assessment calculation details on demand, in real time. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving a request for a penalty and interest assessment value and determining if the request includes a request for calculation details. When the request includes a request for calculation details, the penalty and interest assessment value is calculated using data received with the request. One or more calculation details are populated based on the calculation of the penalty and interest assessment. The method includes displaying the calculated penalty and interest assessment value and the calculation details.
US09576323B2	System for facilitating multi-channel purchase of FSA eligible items In a database that is associated with the retailer POS system, inventory is flagged as being FSA-eligible and a retailer POS system is programmed to support FSA debit card auto-adjudication, i.e., the retailer POS system is IIAS certified. The FSA-eligible information that is stored in the retailer POS database is also used to flag for a customer FSA-eligible items presented to the user online, e.g., in an online catalog. When an FSA-eligible item is purchased on-line or at a retailer POS, the FSA debit card information is captured and the purchase transaction is processed by the retailer POS system so the customer has easy access to FSA purchases via either channel.
US09576319B2	Methods and systems of four-valued Monte Carlo simulation for financial modeling Automatic trading environments with their high degree of automation have become the backbone of modern financial markets. The ability to process orders and manage risk in these systems while maintaining a low latency between participants is crucial for the safety and liquidity of these markets. The disclosed system describes a four valued Monte Carlo simulation for the stochastic modeling of risk and syntactic pattern matching techniques to facilitate the design of these systems. The system is a self-compiling, machine independent system capable of dividing, scaling and communicating multiple-asset instruments efficiently in a parallel environment. The system also allows for the integration of computerized financial heuristics on financial instruments and user interfaces for creating trading strategies to monitor and hedge risk over a trading desk for financial institutions.
US09576317B2	Collaborative system for online search A collaborative real estate search is described. Overlay data including indications of properties for sale within a geographic area are provided to a first user device. The overlay data are capable of being overlaid on a map of the geographic area on a user interface. Selections of some of the properties for sale are received from the first user device and a list of those properties is stored within a folder associated with the first user. The system enables a second user device—associated with a second user who is associated with the first user—to access the list of the properties selected by the user. This includes enabling the second user device to cause information regarding the properties to be stored within the folder. The information is made available for display on a user interface of the first user device.
US09576314B2	Adapting legacy endpoints to modern APIs Example methods and systems are directed to adapting legacy endpoints to modern application protocol interfaces (APIs). A legacy endpoint may provide a powerful and complex API. A modern application may desire access to the legacy endpoint. One or more layers may be added between the modern application and the legacy endpoint. Each layer may provide a different API. These layers of APIs may transform the interface from a powerful and complex interface to a more limited but simpler and easier to use interface. In some example embodiments, a proxy layer, an adapter layer, a facade layer, and a service layer may be used.
US09576313B2	Recommendation systems and methods using interest correlation A search technology generates recommendations with minimal user data and participation, and provides better interpretation of user data, such as popularity, thus obtaining breadth and quality in recommendations. It is sensitive to the semantic content of natural language terms and lets users briefly describe the intended recipient (i.e., interests, eccentricities, previously successful gifts). Based on that input, the recommendation software system and method determines the meaning of the entered terms and creatively discover connections to gift recommendations from the vast array of possibilities. The user may then make a selection from these recommendations. The search/recommendation engine allows the user to find gifts through connections that are not limited to previously available information on the Internet. Thus, interests can be connected to buying behavior by relating terms to respective items.
US09576311B2	Footcare product dispensing kiosk A kiosk apparatus that may select for a person a recommended footcare product based on pressure measurements collected from pressures sensors or calculated biomechanical data estimates. Pressure measurements and calculated biomechanical data estimates may be used to determine if a foot is unshod on the pressure sensor and also group a person into a classified subgroup. The pressure measurement and calculated biomechanical data estimates may also be used to select a recommended footcare product.
US09576310B2	Normalizing universal product codes The current disclosure extends to normalizing UPCs so the normalized UPCs can be readily compared against each other and used for item lookups in a local cache. Embodiments of the present disclosure include a UPC cache on a user's mobile device, such as a smartphone. In such embodiments, a UPC that is normalized following processes set forth in the present disclosure may act as a cache key for related product information stored in the cache. By conducting item lookups in a local cache, requests for that data can be served faster than if the data were stored on a remote server.
US09576306B2	Devices, systems and methods for identifying and/or billing an individual in a vehicle Devices, systems, and methods are disclosed for identifying a driver versus a passenger within a smart vehicle. This involves a determination of the relative positions of the wireless communication devices within the smart vehicle using near-field communication (NFC) or GPS, AGPS, etc. The wireless communication device detected closest to the driver seat is assumed to be the device owned by the driver. Once identified, the driver can be billed for tolls and other road services, based on the location of the smart vehicle. For instance, as the smart vehicle approaches a toll, a notification can be sent to all of the wireless communication devices. A response from a particular wireless communication device will result in the corresponding user's account being billed for the toll. Further, the smart vehicle can communicate with near-field transceivers placed, for instance, alongside a High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane. A driver of the vehicle can be billed, fined, or ticketed based upon a determination of an absence of passengers in the smart vehicle.
US09576305B2	Detecting competitive product reviews One embodiment provides a system for recommending products. The system may include a search engine to retrieve, from a collection of product reviews, product review results using at least two input product names. The system may also include a template builder to build comparative sentence templates to define relationships between at least two product names, in which each comparative sentence template has a weight as a function of the defined relationship, and the search engine extracts one or more snippets matching at least one of the comparative sentence templates within each product review result. The system may further include a review ranking device to rank the product review search results based on the one or more extracted snippets, in which each snippet has a same weight as its matched comparative sentence template.
US09576302B2	System and method for dynamic generation of video content An automated system method for dynamically generating a composite video clip by a computer. In some embodiments of the invention, a template may be provided including at least one digital media asset and one or more placeholders, each placeholder associated with a respective dynamic content object and a respective layout. The system and method may extract from one or more websites, for example, e-commerce sites, data items corresponding to each of the dynamic content objects, and generated a composite video clip including the media asset, wherein the dynamic content objects are replaced with respective extracted data and presented in association with the media asset based on their respective layouts.
US09576300B2	System and method for wireless software download and remote transaction settlement A portable computer in a store can be carried past a kiosk and wirelessly receive from the kiosk demonstration versions of software, along with an ID of the store. Later, after using the demonstration version, the user can access a Web server and purchase a full version of the software. During the transaction, the store ID is provided to the server, which can then credit the particular store at which the demonstration version was obtained with a sale.
US09576294B2	System and method for providing coupon-less discounts based on a user broadcasted message The systems and methods provide an offer to a user that may be accepted by the user through an action by the user. The action may be, for example, a broadcast through a social media channel. The parameters of the offer may defined that the broadcast comprise an offer identifier and may require that a user take subsequent action to fulfill the offer. The systems and methods may also be configured to monitor one or more broadcast channels, identify the source of a broadcast, identify transaction accounts associated with the source, evaluate transaction data associated with the transaction account, and provide benefits to the source and/or the transaction account.
US09576291B2	Method and system for detection of a fuel card usage exception Determining a fuel card usage exception with the use of a computer that receives fuel card transaction data responsive to a fuel purchase event. The fuel card transaction data identifies a quantity of fuel purchased for a vehicle using a fuel card. In addition, the computer receives first fuel level data and second fuel level data of the vehicle that identifies a quantity of fuel present in a fuel tank of the vehicle prior to a fuel purchase event and after a fuel purchase event respectively. The computer can determine an exception associated with the fuel purchase event based on the fuel card transaction data, the first fuel level data, and the second fuel level data. Responsive to detecting an exception associated with the fuel purchase event, the computer may generate an alert and transmit the alert for presentation by a computing device of a user.
US09576287B1	Payment event feed Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for processing payment events. One of the systems includes one or more processing engines configured to periodically retrieve information from a payment event feed that comprises a list of payment events in an order, and a server configured to perform a sequence of steps for a payment transaction, the sequence of steps including receiving a request for authorization of the payment transaction from a merchant, receiving an indication that the payment transaction has been authorized, and sending authorization to the merchant for the payment transaction without receiving acknowledgment that the one or more transaction processing engines have received the request for authorization, wherein the server is configured to record completion of each step in the sequence of steps as a payment event in the list of payment events to generate the payment event feed.
US09576285B2	One gesture, one blink, and one-touch payment and buying using haptic control via messaging and calling multimedia system on mobile and wearable device, currency token interface, point of sale device, and electronic payment card Methods and systems for messaging, calling, and one blink, one-touch, and one gesture payments and buying via mobile and wearable devices are disclosed. An exemplary system comprises a database in communication with a processor, the processor configured to provide a haptic control associated with the system. The haptic control is shown on a display of a mobile and wearable device overlapping other visual elements. The haptic control provides mode selection elements associated with a payment, messaging, and calling modes. The processor receives a selection of the payment mode via the mode selection elements from a user. Upon the selection, context is extracted from the display. Based on the context, a payment transaction type which the user intends to perform is determined. The payment transaction type includes a payment receiving transaction and a payment sending transaction. Based on the determining, a transaction request is sent to a financial institution using the extraction.
US09576284B2	Social proximity payments An application or App on a payer's mobile device is used to discover people known to the user and who are in close proximity to the user at the time of a payment request. Discovery can be through searching contact lists and/or social networks of the payer and/or through the payer device discovering contacts around the payer and then searching the payer's contact or social network list to see if there are any matches. These people are then shown to the user on the user device, such as with a photo, icon, name, and/or email address. The user selects desired ones, which causes requests to be sent to the selected people, such as through text, voice, or email, to the respective devices. The selected people can then easily confirm or authorize a payment be sent to the user or to a payee.
US09576276B2	Context-informed summarization of communications A method and computer program product for context-informed summarization is described. A method may comprise determining, via a computing device, a context of a communication. The method may further comprise determining, via the computing device, a summarization attribute for the communication based upon, at least in part, the context of the communication. The method may also comprise creating a summary of the communication based upon, at least in part, the summarization attribute.
US09576269B2	Document management systems and methods A method for managing documents in a computer implemented document management system, includes: creating a document profile that is associated with a document and includes fields of attributes of the document; and creating a link in the document profile to a file type that is not created within the document management system.
US09576267B2	System and method for taking an inventory of containers for liquid A computer based system for taking the physical inventory of liquids dispensed in full and partially full containers. A database stores images of containers and their associated volumes. The containers to be inventoried are identified by a user and input to a computer at a graphical user interface (GUI) input/output. A computer causes the display of an image of the container and a sliding level indicator at the GUI. The level indicator is slidable along the image. The computer calculates a volume of liquid remaining in the container as a function of the position of the level indicator along the image of the container.
US09576266B2	Material harmonization disposition system for electronic inventories A material harmonization disposition system is provided to harmonize disparate material databases by identifying volumes of common database inventory parts and operating as a database authorizing tool for declaring and recording common inventory parts in categorized manner for disposition.
US09576265B2	Automatic inventory variance identification Performing an inventory count is provided. A scan of an object is initiated according to a profile in order to perform the inventory count of the object. A scan result is compared with a recorded level for the object to determine if a variance exists between the scan result and the recorded level. A variance analysis is performed if the variance exists.
US09576258B1	Computer executable service A method comprises receiving a set of variable parameters, determining at least one computer executable service based on the set of variable parameters, determining if there are more than one computer executable services based on the set of variable parameters, and if there are more than one computer executable services, resolving any conditional attributes between the more than one computer executable services. Each of the at least one computer executable service is characteristically dependent on at least one variable parameter of the set of variable parameters.
US09576256B2	Kiosk for energy industry logistics An automated kiosk and related apparatus provide check-in and boarding services to energy sector passengers, such as helicopter passengers. Preferably, the kiosk and related apparatus can take and store a picture of the passenger, calculate and/or measure the weight of the passenger and the passenger's luggage, print luggage tags and boarding printouts, check third parties' databases (such as a no-fly list (NFL)) for approval for the passenger's flight and can transmit data to another location (server, third party employer, pilot).
US09576245B2	Identifying electric vehicle owners The subject disclosure relates to methods and systems for identifying and classifying electric-vehicle (EV) owners. Methods of the subject technology can include steps for generating an initial model based on a plurality of load-curve characteristics, and training the initial model using a training data set to produce a configured model. In some implementations, the methods can also include steps for determining a probabilistic classification for each of a second plurality of users by analyzing load-curve data associated with the second plurality of users using the configured model. Systems and computer readable media are also provided.
US09576240B2	Execution allocation cost assessment for computing systems and environments including elastic computing systems and environments Techniques for allocating individually executable portions of executable code for execution in an Elastic computing environment are disclosed. In an Elastic computing environment, scalable and dynamic external computing resources can be used in order to effectively extend the computing capabilities beyond that which can be provided by internal computing resources of a computing system or environment. Machine learning can be used to automatically determine whether to allocate each individual portion of executable code (e.g., a Weblet) for execution to either internal computing resources of a computing system (e.g., a computing device) or external resources of an dynamically scalable computing resource (e.g., a Cloud). By way of example, status and preference data can be used to train a supervised learning mechanism to allow a computing device to automatically allocate executable code to internal and external computing resources of an Elastic computing environment.
US09576239B2	Computer-implemented system and method for identifying tasks using temporal footprints A computer-implemented system and method for identifying tasks using temporal footprints is provided. A database of temporal footprints is maintained. Each temporal footprint is representative of a different task and includes one or more significant patterns of two or more sequential events. Events performed by one or more users are tracked. At least one pattern including sequential occurrences of two or more of the tracked events is identified. The identified pattern is compared to each of the significant patterns of the temporal footprints. A footprint score for the identified pattern is determined with respect to each temporal footprint. The task associated with the temporal footprint having the highest footprint score is assigned to the identified pattern.
US09576231B1	Interpreting a matrix code with increased information density In an approach for interpreting a matrix code with increased information density, a processor identifies a first portion of an extended matrix code and a second portion of the extended matrix code, where each portion of the extended matrix code has a different combination of at least one positioning marker and at least one location marker. A processor locates at least one location marker of the first portion of the extended matrix code and at least one location marker of the second portion of the extended matrix code. A processor concatenates the first portion of the extended matrix code and the second portion of the extended matrix code based on at least one location marker of the first portion of the extended matrix code and at least one location marker of the second portion of the extended matrix code. A processor generates the extended matrix code.
US09576225B2	Electronic card connector having ejecting mechanism An electronic card connector (100) includes an insulative housing (1), a plurality of terminals (2) retained in the insulative housing, a tray (5) movable between an original position and a final position and having a notch (51) and a stepping part (52), a shielding shell (4) having an elastic part (43), and an ejecting mechanism (6). The elastic part has a holding part (432) for latching with the stepping part at a final position. The ejecting mechanism has a lever (62) including a buckling portion (624) and a spring (61) cooperated with the lever. The lever is movable forwardly against with the spring to disengage the holding part from the stepping part and to plunge the buckling portion into the notch, thereby permitting the tray together with the lever to return to the original position under a restoring force provided by the spring.
US09576223B2	Method and system for evaluating the resemblance of a query object to reference objects A method and a system for evaluating the class of a test datum in a data space of dimension D where D≧3, each datum belonging to at least one class grouping together several data, comprising: projecting a suite of reference data of the data space into a space of dimension Q where Q
US09576219B2	Method and system for detection of contraband narcotics in human digestive tract A method for automated detection of illegal substances smuggled inside internal cavities of a passenger, e.g., as capsules. The method provides for an automated detection of narcotics hidden in a passenger's stomach area using pictures produced by an X-ray scanner. According to an exemplary embodiment, throughput of the scanner is increased by an automated detection algorithm, which takes less time than visual analysis by an operator. The operator is only involved in cases when narcotics are detected. The automated detection method has a consistent precision, because the effects of tiredness of the operator are eliminated. Efficiency and costs of the process are improved, since fewer qualified operators can service several scanners.
US09576216B2	Hyperspectral resolution using three-color camera A method for capturing hyperspectral images using a regular color camera. In the method, the camera takes multiple images of a scene, with the camera oriented differently for each image. For a camera carried by an aircraft or spacecraft, this allows hyperspectral imaging without the cost or weight of a hyperspectral camera.
US09576210B1	Sharpness-based frame selection for OCR A system to select video frames for optical character recognition (OCR) based on feature metrics associated with blur and sharpness. A device captures a video frame including text characters. An edge detection filter is applied to the frame to determine gradient features in perpendicular directions. An “edge map” is created from the gradient features, and points along edges in the edge map are identified. Edge transition widths are determined at each of the edge points based in local intensity minimum and maximum on opposite sides of the respective edge point in the frame. Sharper edges have smaller edge transition widths than blurry images. Statistics are determined from the edge transition widths, and the statistics are processed by a trained classifier to determine if the frame is or is not sufficiently sharp for text processing.
US09576208B2	Emergency vehicle detection with digital image sensor A display system for a vehicle comprises a display mounted within a passenger compartment of a vehicle and at least one camera mounted to the vehicle and facing at least partially in a rear direction. The display shows the images recorded by the camera(s) to provide a rear view for the driver of the vehicle. An ECU is controllably connected to the display screen and the at least one camera to analyze an image from the at least one camera to detect when an object in the image is an emergency vehicle; and to activate an alert on the display when an emergency vehicle is detected.
US09576207B2	Method for angle calibration of the position of a video camera on board an automotive vehicle The method consists in taking, when the vehicle is running, images of the road markings delimiting the circulation lanes of the road, and in fully estimating, through an iterative process, the orientation of the camera with respect to the vehicle, based on the position of two lanes located side-by-side on the image. The calibration essentially comprises: correcting the position of the lane edges in the image (10, 12); estimating the residual pitch and yaw (16); updating the rotation matrix (18); estimating the residual roll (20); updating the rotation matrix (24). These steps are iterated until the corrective angles estimated by each module are negligible (22).
US09576205B1	Method and system for determining location of an occupant A method and system for determining a location of an occupant in a space include detecting a shape of an occupant in an image of a space; determining a location of the occupant on a floor of the space in the image, based on the shape of the occupant; and transforming the location on the floor in the image to a location of the occupant on the floor in the space.
US09576196B1	Leveraging image context for improved glyph classification A system to recognize text or symbols contained in a captured image using machine learning models leverages context information about the image to improve accuracy. Contextual information is determined for the entire image, or spatial regions of the images, and is provided to a machine learning model when a determination is made as to whether a region does or does not contain text or symbols. Associating features related to the larger context with features extracted from regions potentially containing text or symbolic content provides an incremental improvement of results obtained using machine learning techniques.
US09576185B1	Classifying objects detected by 3D sensors for autonomous vehicle operation A method of autonomous driving includes generating, with a 3D sensor, 3D points representing objects in the environment surrounding a vehicle. The method further includes, with a computing device, identifying, from the 3D points, a temporal series of clusters of 3D points representing the same object in the environment surrounding the vehicle as a track, identifying cluster-based classifiers for the object based on identified local features for the clusters in the track, identifying track-based classifiers for the object based on identified global features for the track, combining the cluster-based classifiers and the track-based classifiers to classify the object, with the cluster-based classifiers being weighted based on an amount of information on the clusters from which they are identified, and with the weight increasing with increasing amounts of information, and driving the vehicle along a route based on the object's classification.
US09576183B2	Fast initialization for monocular visual SLAM Apparatuses and methods for fast visual simultaneous localization and mapping are described. In one embodiment, a three-dimensional (3D) target is initialized immediately from a first reference image and prior to processing a subsequent image. In one embodiment, one or more subsequent reference images are processed, and the 3D target is tracked in six degrees of freedom. In one embodiment, the 3D target is refined based on the processed the one or more subsequent images.
US09576180B2	Method for imaging biologic fluid samples using a predetermined distribution A method for analyzing a biologic fluid sample includes the steps of: a) providing a spatially mapped chamber; b) providing a predetermined repeatable non-uniform spatial distribution of one or more constituents within the sample, which distribution indicates the presence or absence of a statistically significant number of constituents within the sample in each chamber sub-region; c) selecting one or more image techniques for each sub-region based on the presence or absence of the statistically significant number of one or more constituents in that sub-region as indicated by the distribution; d) creating image data representative of the biologic fluid sample in each sub-region, using the one or more image techniques selected for that sub-region; and e) analyzing the sample.
US09576179B2	User authentication method and apparatus based on fingerprint and electrocardiogram (ECG) signal An authentication apparatus includes a biometric data acquirer configured to acquire fingerprint data and an electrocardiogram (ECG) waveform of a user, and a humidity level acquirer configured to acquire a humidity level of skin of the user. The apparatus further includes a similarity extractor configured to adjust a first similarity between the fingerprint data and reference fingerprint data of a pre-registered user, and a second similarity between the ECG waveform and a reference ECG waveform of the pre-registered user, based on the humidity level, and extract a combined similarity based on the adjusted first similarity and the adjusted second similarity. The apparatus further includes an authenticator configured to authenticate whether the user is the pre-registered user based on the combined similarity.
US09576173B1	Methods and systems for a bind free pivoting trigger mechanism A trigger assembly including a cylindrical pivot shaft having a pivot-shaft longitudinal axis; a trigger key having a front face, a back face opposite the front face, an actuator extending from the back face, and a trigger-key longitudinal axis, wherein the a first end on the of the trigger key has a plurality of through holes arranged to receive the cylindrical pivot shaft; a trigger-key support having an aperture for the actuator to pass through, the trigger-key support further having a plurality of pivot-shaft supports, wherein each pivot-shaft support includes a concave surface configured to receive the cylindrical pivot shaft; and a trigger bezel having a plurality of substantially flat surfaces positioned to constrain the pivot shaft in opposition to the plurality of pivot-shaft supports, wherein the substantially flat surfaces are located at different positions along the pivot-shaft longitudinal axis than are the pivot-shaft supports.
US09576171B2	Portable scanning device A portable scanning device includes a first outer shell defining a receiving space therein, a second outer shell configured to couple with the first outer shell to cover the receiving space, a connecting band coupled to the first outer shell and configured to be secured to a body part of a user, and an electronic assembly including a number of electronic components. The number of electronic components includes a battery configured to provide power for the portable scanning device, a printed circuit board, a scanner configured to scan a plurality of codes, a speaker configured to broadcast an audio during a process of scanning the plurality of codes, a connection port configured to couple the battery to an external power source to charge the battery, a number of buttons for operating the portable scanning device, and a number of indication lights configured to indicate statuses of the portable scanning device.
US09576155B2	Trusted computing host A trusted computing host is described that provides various security computations and other functions in a distributed multitenant and/or virtualized computing environment. The trusted host computing device can communicate with one or more host computing devices that host virtual machines to provide a number of security-related functions, including but not limited to boot firmware measurement, cryptographic key management, remote attestation, as well as security and forensics management. The trusted computing host maintains an isolated partition for each host computing device in the environment and communicates with peripheral cards on host computing devices in order to provide one or more security functions.
US09576154B2	Methods of operating storage systems including using a key to determine whether a password can be changed An embodiment of a method of operating a storage system includes combining a password, a first number, and a number of iterations to produce a first key, encrypting the first key, receiving a second number, and encrypting the second number with the first key to produce an encrypted second key.
US09576153B2	Device and method for providing information from a backend component to a frontend component by a secure device management abstraction and unification module An exemplary system that includes a computing device that stores an abstraction and unification module, the abstraction and unification module being executable by a processor of the computing device to receive from a frontend component a request for information located within a backend component of the computing device and validate that the frontend component is authorized to receive the information specified in the request. The abstraction and unification module may further pass the request to an abstraction engine that extracts the information from the backend component and provides the information extracted from the backend component to frontend component.
US09576151B2	Data privacy employing a k-anonymity model with probabalistic match self-scoring According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system for protecting data determines a desired duplication rate based on a level of desired anonymity for the data and generates a threshold for data records within the data based on the desired duplication rate. The system produces a data record score for each data record based on comparisons of attributes for that data record, compares the data record scores to the threshold, and controls access to the data records based on the comparison. Embodiments of the present invention further include a method and computer program product for protecting data in substantially the same manners described above.
US09576145B2	Alternate files returned for suspicious processes in a compromised computer network Methods and systems are presented of presenting false and/or decoy content to an intruder operating on a computer system by obfuscating critical files on a computer storage device with data that directs subsequent infiltration and propagation to designated decoy hosts and decoy applications.Method and systems are provided for selectively presenting different contents to different viewers/users of application resource files for the purpose of preventing the valuable content from being read, tampered with, exfiltrated, or used as a means to perform subsequent attacks on network resources.
US09576144B2	Secured file system management Systems and methods for accessing data secured and encrypted using a file system manager are disclosed. One method includes determining whether a community of interest (COI) key obtained from a security appliance matches a COI key associated with a file structure managed by the file system manager that is the subject of a file system request issued by a caller. The method further includes identifying an entry included in a key bank associated with the COI key and the file structure that is the subject of the file system request, the key bank storing encrypted versions of a metadata key. The method also includes decrypting the metadata key using the COI key, decrypting at least one block encryption key using the metadata key, and decrypting a block of data associated with the at least one block encryption key.
US09576136B2	Method and device for providing a private page Methods and devices for providing a private page are provided. A method includes operations of entering a security mode based on a user input; extracting the private page that corresponds to the security mode; and providing both the private page and a normal page that is provided during a normal mode, wherein the private page includes at least one object that is selected by a user so as to be provided during the security mode. A device includes a user input configured to receive a user input; a controller configured to enter a security mode based on the received user input, and extracting a private page that corresponds to the security mode; and a display configured to provide both the private page and a normal page that is provided during a normal mode, wherein the private page comprises at least one object that is selected by a user so as to be provided during the security mode.
US09576124B2	Multi-level password authorization A method and system for using multi-level passwords is provided. The method includes receiving a request for access to a first level of access associated with secure components associated with a device of a user. In response, a portion of a passcode is received. The portion of the passcode does not include an entire portion. The portion of the passcode is compared to security group policy it is determined that the portion of the passcode meets requirements the security group policy. Access is enabled to a group of components of secure components based on the security requirements. The group of components is associated with the first level of security access.
US09576121B2	Electronic device and authentication system therein and method An authentication system and method thereof capture an image of a user and extract biometric features of the user from the image to determine whether a stored biometric feature matches with the extracted biometric features. If there is a match, an interactive information is generated to invite the user to perform actions shown or specified or described by the interactive information. The user will be authenticated if an action of the user matches the required action in a timely fashion. An electronic device using the same is also provided.
US09576120B2	Authenticating activities of accounts A system, a medium, and a method involve a communication interface of a server device that receives first activity data associated with a first activity of an account and second activity data associated with a second activity of the account. A processor of the server device determines a first location of the first activity from the first activity data and a second location of the second activity from the second activity data. An authentication circuit of the server device determines a first authentication of the first activity based at least on the first activity data. The authentication circuit determines a second authentication of the second activity based on at least one of the first authentication, the first location, and the second location. A transmitter of the communication interface transmits an indication of the second authentication to a client device.
US09576117B2	Electronic device and protection method A protection method for an electronic device includes generating a control command using a processor of the electronic device when it is determined to acquire information of a current user of the electronic device. The electronic device is controlled to acquire the information of the current user and to acquire data of the electronic device according to the control command. The acquired information is stored. The acquired information and the acquired data is transmitted to the server.
US09576116B2	Secure software components anti-reverse-engineering by table interleaving A method of securely implementing functions in a secure software application, including: determining, by a processor, two functions to be implemented by the secure software application; generating a first function lookup table; encrypting the first function lookup table; sorting the first function lookup table by encrypted operand; generating a second function lookup table; encrypting the second function lookup table; sorting the second function lookup table by encrypted operand; generating a flattened lookup table from a combination of the encrypted first and second function lookup tables; permutating the flattened table indices e.g. by use of public key cryptography encryption; and sorting the flattened table by the permutated flattened table indices.
US09576114B2	System and method for securely retrieving and playing digital media A system for securely downloading and playing coherent digital content such as music and preventing its play by unauthorized users. The system may include mass server/storage devices for receiving and storing digital content having predetermined gaps; and client devices communicating with the server/storage devices, and providing authorization to proceed. During playing of the digital content by the client devices, the missing gaps may be filled into the appropriate places, to allow the play of the coherent digital content.
US09576111B2	Uniform modular framework for a host computer system A security framework for a host computer system which allows a host to control access to a compliant security token by ensuring enforcement of established security policies administered by a middleware application. Processing between the host computer system and the security token is performed using one or more modular security application agents. The modular security application agents are counterpart applications to security applications installed in the security token and may be retrieved and installed upon to ensure compatibility between counterpart token and host security applications. The security policies are a composite of host security policies and token security policies which are logically combined by the middleware application at the beginning of a session.
US09576103B2	Bioinformatics systems, apparatuses, and methods executed on an integrated circuit processing platform A system, method and apparatus for executing a sequence analysis pipeline on genetic sequence data includes a structured ASIC formed of a set of hardwired digital logic circuits that are interconnected by physical electrical interconnects. One of the physical electrical interconnects forms an input to the structured ASIC connected with an electronic data source for receiving reads of genomic data. The hardwired digital logic circuits are arranged as a set of processing engines, each processing engine being formed of a subset of the hardwired digital logic circuits to perform one or more steps in the sequence analysis pipeline on the reads of genomic data. Each subset of the hardwired digital logic circuits is formed in a wired configuration to perform the one or more steps in the sequence analysis pipeline.
US09576102B1	Timing constraints formulation for highly replicated design modules Embodiments of the present invention provide efficient systems and methods for creating an optimal set of partitions across replica blocks using two checkpoints during the design process. The two checkpoints group a set of macros according to a timing constraint and a location proximity to the other macros. Clustering of the macros is iteratively performed until a distance parameter exceeds a pre-defined threshold.
US09576101B2	Configurable cell design using capacitive coupling for enhanced timing closure A method for achieving clock timing closure in an integrated circuit (IC) design includes designing an IC using one or more component cells selected from a cell library to produce the design. A timing analysis of the design is performed to determine if timing constraints are satisfied. When a given time constraint is not satisfied, a component cell selected from the cell library is replaced with a replacement cell that has the same function and the same footprint as the replaced component cell, but has a different timing characteristic based on the phase relationship of the signal being capacitively coupled to enhance the likelihood of meeting the given time constraint. The timing analysis is repeated with the replacement cell. The process of replacing component cells and performing timing analysis may be iterative.
US09576094B2	Logic circuit and system and computer program product for logic synthesis A logic circuit includes first and second input, an output, an input acknowledgement node, an output acknowledgement node, a logic evaluation block, a pre-charging circuit, and a completion detection circuit. The logic evaluation block performs a logic evaluation of first and second input signals at the first and second inputs, and to output an output signal corresponding to the logic evaluation. The pre-charging circuit pre-charges the logic evaluation block in response to the first input signal and an acknowledgement signal at the input acknowledgement node. The completion detection circuit generates an acknowledgement signal at the output acknowledgement node in response to the second input signal and the output signal.
US09576093B2	Mixed-width memory techniques for programmable logic devices Various techniques are provided to efficiently implement user designs in programmable logic devices (PLDs). In one example, a computer-implemented method includes receiving a design identifying operations to be performed by a PLD and synthesizing the design into a plurality of PLD components. The synthesizing includes detecting a mixed-mode memory operation in the design. The mixed-mode memory operation specifies memory access having different read and write data widths using a plurality of embedded memory blocks each having a fixed data width. The synthesizing further includes determining a reduced number of embedded memory blocks to implement the mixed-mode memory operation, and modifying the mixed-mode memory operation to remap the memory access to the reduced number of embedded memory blocks.
US09576090B2	Co-design of a testbench and driver of a device This disclosure concerns the co-design of a testbench (100) and driver (102) of a device. It is an advantage in at least some embodiments that it improves driver reliability and reduces development cost. It does this by re-using the device functional layer (70) that is dependent on the device class but independent of the specific device and specific operating system (OS) of the driver. The device functional layer (70) is re-used as it is implemented in the device's testbench (100) and also as the core part of the device (driver (102). A scenario layer (68) is also used that is able to test the generic device interface (72) and device functional layer (70) in the testbench (100) environment, and the testing includes testing for responses to OS requests. This helps provide more exhaustive testing.
US09576089B2	Unified application framework for finite-difference modeling A finite difference wavefield modeling framework decouples the tasks of physical modeling and hardware-software optimization through the use of a platform-agnostic intermediate representation in the form of a dataflow graph. In at least some embodiments a wavefield simulation method includes specifying a kernel of operations to be applied at each point in a space and representing the kernel as a platform-agnostic dataflow graph. For each of multiple implementation platforms, the method further includes: deriving from the platform-agnostic graph a customized graph for the implementation platform; translating the customized graph into configuration information for the implementation platform; supplying the configuration information to the implementation platform to obtain a wavefield simulator; and employing the wavefield simulator to repeatedly apply said kernel of operations to each point in the space with specified input or output signals.
US09576088B2	Methods for orienting material physical properties using constraint transformation and isoparametric shape functions Constraint-based methods for determining orientations of material physical properties using an isoparametric shape function are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of defining an orientation of an material physical property includes defining nonlinear and/or discontinuous design constraints of design values in a geometric domain associated with one or more physical attributes of the material physical property, and translating the nonlinear and/or discontinuous design constraints into continuous, first order design constraints of the design values by applying an isoparametric shape function. The method further includes performing a topology optimization using the continuous, first order design constraints of the design values, and reverse-translating results of the topology optimization back into the geometric domain using the isoparametric shape function. The results of the topology optimization in the geometric domain are indicative of the orientation of the material physical property.
US09576086B2	Motor simulator without requiring a motor A motor simulator without requiring a motor is a testing motor controller used for inputting a driving signal according to a power supply driving signal, feeding back a status response of a dynamic calculator of the motor simulator, outputting a voltage and current reference command value required by the motor simulator to the motor simulator, so that the dynamic calculator and the electric power converter installed in the motor simulator generate a voltage and a current of an actual motor in an operating status. Therefore, the testing motor controller keeps converting and adjusting the electric energy for driving an operation of the motor simulator according to a status response fed back by the dynamic calculator of the motor simulator, so as to achieve a control function of the testing motor controller for testing the rotation speed and positioning of the motor.
US09576082B2	Ionospheric slant total electron content analysis using global positioning system based estimation A method, system, apparatus, and computer program product provide the ability to analyze ionospheric slant total electron content (TEC) using global navigation satellite systems (GNSS)-based estimation. Slant TEC is estimated for a given set of raypath geometries by fitting historical GNSS data to a specified delay model. The accuracy of the specified delay model is estimated by computing delay estimate residuals and plotting a behavior of the delay estimate residuals. An ionospheric threat model is computed based on the specified delay model. Ionospheric grid delays (IGDs) and grid ionospheric vertical errors (GIVEs) are computed based on the ionospheric threat model.
US09576081B2	Pressurized water distribution network management A computerized method for scalable management optimization of pressurized water distribution networks, comprises receiving a network model representing a pressurized water distribution physical network having water flow variables. The network model is simulated by solving non-linear mathematical equations representing the behavior of the water flow variables. One or more result sets are fed to the non-linear mathematical equations. The non-linear mathematical equations are linearized. Network model optimization requirements are received from a user. The linearized mathematical equations are optimized according to the received network model optimization requirements. A local search starting from the at least one optimized solution is performed using the non-linearized mathematical equations, thereby generating a solution.
US09576080B2	Node creation with physical modeling Systems, methods, and devices of the various embodiments enable valid links or nodes between pieces of material handling equipment to be identified based on a physical model of a material handling system in a facility. A model of a material handling system in a facility may indicate data associated with pieces of material handling equipment. Rules for each piece of material handling equipment may be applied to the data and used to identify infeed and/or discharge edges of the pieces of material handling equipment. Valid links between the pieces of material handling equipment may be identified based at least in part on the infeed and/or discharge edges.
US09576079B2	Rapid prototyping apparatus Apparatus for producing an object by sequentially forming thin layers of a construction material one on top of the other responsive to data defining the object, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of printing heads each having a surface formed with a plurality of output orifices and controllable to dispense the construction material through each orifice independently of the other orifices; a shuttle to which the printing heads are mounted; a support surface; and a controller adapted to control the shuttle to move back and forth over the support surface and as the shuttle moves to control the printing heads to dispense the construction material through each of their respective orifices responsive to the data to form a first layer on the support surface and thereafter, sequentially the other layers; wherein each printing head is dismountable from the shuttle and replaceable independently of the other printing heads.
US09576076B2	Catalog taxonomy for storing product information and system and method using same A catalog taxonomy organized in a tree-like configuration including at least one first tier product category having at least one first tier attribute associated with products in the first tier category, and a plurality of second tier product categories branching from the first tier product category and defining subcategories, at least one of the plurality of second tier product categories having a second tier attribute associated with products in a subcategory defined by the plurality of second tier product categories, wherein each of the second tier product categories inherits the first tier attribute of the first tier product category from which the plurality of second tier product categories branches. In addition, a system and method utilizing such catalog taxonomy.
US09576075B2	Context aware query selection Context data is determined for a web page. The context data includes textual data that describes subject matter displayed on the web page. A client query is retrieved from a client-retrieved instance of the web page. An identifier associated with the web page capable of distinguishing the web page from other web pages is determined. In response to receiving the client query, a plurality of queries are retrieved from a database. Whether one or more of the retrieved queries correlate the determined web page context and the received client query is determined. A set of one or more queries from the plurality of queries is selected based on the selected set of queries each having been determined to correlate the web page context data and the client query. The selected set of the plurality of the queries is sent to the client-retrieved instance of the web page.
US09576072B2	Database calculation using parallel-computation in a directed acyclic graph Disclosed herein are technologies related to database calculation that utilizes parallel-computation of tasks in a directed acyclic graph. In accordance with one aspect, dependency of tasks is converted into a directed acyclic graph that topologically orders the tasks into layers of tasks. A database calculation may be performed, wherein the database calculation computes in parallel the tasks in each layer of the layers of tasks.
US09576067B2	Enhancing client-side object caching for web based applications An object request associated with a requesting entity can be identified. The object request can comprise of an object identifier and an object type associated with an object instance which can be a renderable entity. The entity can be a widget within an application executing within a client device. An object type associated with the object request can be determined which can be decomposed into an attribute request based a selected schema. The attribute request can comprise of an object instance identifier and an attribute identifier associated with an attribute value. An attribute index associated with a client-side object cache can be queried for the attribute value. When the attribute value exists in the attribute index, an appropriate attribute value associated with the attribute can be conveyed to the entity. When the attribute value is absent from the attribute index, the attribute request can be conveyed to a request aggregator.
US09576066B2	Webpage form optimization Exemplary methods, apparatuses, and systems parse a form from a webpage to identify a plurality of input areas and corresponding input types. A multi-sequence form including a plurality of stages is generated. Each stage of the multi-sequence form is to be displayed and submitted independently of other stages of the multi-sequence form. Each stage of the multi-sequence form corresponds to a subset of the parsed form including one or more of the identified input areas. One of the plurality of identified input areas is identified to be of an input type categorized as having a higher likelihood of being completed and submitted by a user. The multi-sequence form is ordered such that the identified input area is ordered first. An updated version of the webpage is generated including the generated multi-sequence form in the determined order in place of the parsed form.
US09576062B1	Resource object resolution management Systems and methods are disclosed for management of resource objects (“resources”) within a computing environment. Resources may be stored in a number of resource spaces, each including service endpoints configured to facilitate access to resources. On creation of a resource, an identifier may be assigned to the resource. Thereafter, the identifier may be used to determine an appropriate service endpoint for accessing the resource. For example, each resource space may submit a set of resolution rules to a resolution server. Each set of resolution rules may be used to identify an appropriate endpoint for accessing a resource. Thereafter, a request for a resource may first retrieve the set of resolution rules, and use such rules to determine an appropriate service endpoint. Illustratively, utilization of resource resolution rules may enable the service endpoint to be modified without requiring modification of client devices.
US09576061B2	Information processing system and data update control method An arithmetic operation unit receives a request to update a first data group during restoration using first history information and generates second history information indicating a history of updates. The arithmetic operation unit predicts a time taken until completion of restoration using the second history information on the basis of an amount of the second history information. The arithmetic operation unit compares the predicted time with a threshold and limits at least part of updates of the first data group during the restoration using the second history information on the basis of the comparison result.
US09576056B2	Recommender system for identifying a new set of media items responsive to an input set of media items and knowledge base metrics Systems and methods are disclosed for identifying a new set of media items in response to an input set (or “query set”) of media items and knowledge base metrics. The system uses a knowledge base consisting of a collection of mediasets. Various metrics among media items are considered by analyzing how the media items are grouped to form the mediasets in the knowledge base. Such association or “similarity” metrics are preferably stored in a matrix form that allows the system to efficiently identify a new set of media items that complements the input set of media items.
US09576055B2	Techniques for including collection items in search results Techniques are provided for including collection items in the ranked set of search results that are returned to a user in response to a search query. Collection scoring techniques are also provided for generating relevance scores for collection items in a different manner than relevance scores are generated for base items that are not collections. The collection scoring techniques may be applied to non-base collection items, base collection items, or both. Items that match the search query, including base items and collection items, are ranked in a unified ranking based on their respective relevance scores, thereby allowing searches to readily determine the relevance ranking of matching collection items relative to matching base items.
US09576053B2	Method and system for ranking content of objects for search results A method and system for ranking an object that contains one or more keywords is disclosed. All linking objects are retrieved that contain a keyword of interest. Each linking object links to the object to be ranked. The locations of each link in each linking object are determined relative to the keywords in the linking objects. A drop off rate is computed for the keyword in each of the linking objects. A perceived importance of the keyword in the each of the linking objects is computed. A partial link rating for each of the linking objects is computed. A total link rating is computed for the at least one keyword across all linking objects. The link ratings each keyword is stored in the object to be ranked.
US09576052B2	Systems and methods of web crawling Methods and systems for dynamically training a web crawler. The web crawler maintains one or more categories each comprising a set of words. The method includes selecting at least one hyperlink in response to a query received from a user. The method further includes determining a hyperlink score for the at least one hyperlink based on a category score associated with each of one or more categories. The category score associated with each of the one or more categories is updated based at least in part on the hyperlink score. The updated category score is compared with the hyperlink score to select a category from the one or more categories. The set of words associated with the category is updated based on content of a web page pointed by the at least one hyperlink.
US09576051B2	Business application fingerprinting and tagging Various embodiments relate to a system and related method for scanning active instances of an application within a system. Unique identifiers in the form of fingerprints, tags, or metadata can be associated with a target application. A manager can then scan the process tables and file system directories of the servers within the system to find active processes and stored files that include the unique identifier. In some embodiments, the manager scans the active processes while they are running to search for the unique ID within the process' command line structure. In some embodiments, the manager also finds processes or files that do not have the unique identifier, but were previously associated with the unique identifier. The manager can then report the server and application information to user. Such information can include which of the one or more servers has the target application as an active process.
US09576048B2	Complex service network ranking and clustering Offline functionality-based co-ranking and clustering is carried out on a knowledge base that characterizes a heterogeneous information technology services network including a plurality of services, a plurality of providers, and a plurality of attributes. Results of the functionality-based co-ranking and clustering are stored as annotations of the services and the providers in the knowledge base, to obtain an annotated knowledge base. A service requirement is obtained from a customer requiring information technology services. The annotated knowledge base is queried, based on the service requirement; and an ordered list of at least given ones of the services, based on the querying, is returned to the customer.
US09576045B2	Tagging questions from users on a social networking system Users of a social networking system post questions for other users to answer. Questions are automatically tagged based on keywords extracted from text within the posted questions as well as user-selected tags. Answers may be voted on and sorted by social information related to the browsing user. Affinities for tags are recorded based on users' interactions with the question and answer service. Affinities for tags may also be used to target questions to other users and sort answers.
US09576039B2	Resource provisioning systems and methods Example resource provisioning systems and methods are described. In one implementation, an execution platform accesses multiple remote storage devices. The execution platform includes multiple virtual warehouses, each of which includes a cache to store data retrieved from the remote storage devices and a processor that is independent of the remote storage devices. A resource manager is coupled to the execution platform and monitors received data processing requests and resource utilization. The resource manager also determines whether additional virtual warehouses are needed based on the data processing requests and the resource utilization. If additional virtual warehouses are needed, the resource manager provisions a new virtual warehouse.
US09576037B2	Self-analyzing data processing job to determine data quality issues Techniques are disclosed to determine data quality issues in data processing jobs. The data processing job is received, the data processing job specifying one or more processing steps designed based on one or more data schemas and further specifies one or more desired quality metrics to measure at the one or more processing steps. One or more state machines are provided, that are generated based on the quality metrics and on the data schemas. Input data to the data process job are processed using the one or more state machines, in order to generate output data and a set of data quality records characterizing a set of data quality issues identified during the execution of the data processing job.
US09576033B2	System, method and user interface for content search A system and method for searching content and user interface for presenting results of the search are provided, wherein visual elements representing the content are distributed in three dimensions on a display, with the various axes representing criteria that relate to a central starting point of the search and the proximity to the central point indicating the degree of relevance. The outer bounds of the display contain a large amount of varied material of various types to allow a user to select content of a different type, with the content at the periphery of the display being essentially random and representing little or no link to the starting point of the search. Any displayed element may be selected, as a source for a next level search, in which case content relationships will be re-drawn, with the selected content used as the center point for a next level search.
US09576032B2	Providing dynamic content in context of particular equipment A computer system receives input of a search term for a query. The search term is related to equipment. The computer system identifies a key that corresponds to the search term and dynamically obtains content that is associated with the key from data sources. The data sources include structured data that is associated with the equipment and unstructured data that is associated with the equipment. The computer system automatically populates a results page template that is associated with the key with the content from the data sources to create a results page that includes the equipment related results for the query.
US09576029B2	Trust propagation through both explicit and implicit social networks The present invention is directed towards systems and methods for trust propagation. The method according to one embodiment comprises calculating a first feature vector for a first user, calculating a second feature for a second user and comparing the first feature vector with the second feature vector to calculate a similarity value. A determination is made as to whether the similarity value falls within a threshold. If the similarity value falls within the threshold, a relationship is recorded between the first user and the second user in a first user profile and a second user profile.
US09576022B2	Identifying missing content using searcher skill ratings An approach for identifying missing content is provided. An approach includes: receiving a search string; determining a skill rating associated with a searcher that generated the search string; and searching a database using the search string. The approach also includes: updating at least one of a first score associated with the search string and a second score associated with the database based on the skill rating; and generating an alert based on one of the first score exceeding a first threshold and the second score exceeding a second threshold.
US09576021B2	Item matching Methods and system for item matching are described. In one embodiment, compatibility-based text for an item may be accessed. A compatibility identifier may be identified based on the compatibility-based text. The compatibility identifier may be associated with an item cluster. The compatibility identifier may be used to identify a plurality of matching items. A result may be provided based on identification of the plurality of matching items. Additional methods and systems are disclosed.
US09576020B1	Methods, systems, and computer program products for storing graph-oriented data on a column-oriented database Systems, methods, and computer program products for efficiently storing and accessing graph-oriented information retrieved from disparate sources using an interface that effectively emulates a graph database to access a set of indexed, column-oriented tables. One embodiment is a system that includes a server and a plurality of storage nodes. The server retrieves graph-oriented social networking data for multiple users, identifies vertices, edges and associated properties within the data and stores this information in key-value lookup tables within a column-oriented database. The server can receive graph-oriented queries, convert the graph-oriented query to corresponding key-value lookup queries, and search the tables of the column-oriented database using the key-value lookup queries. The results of the lookup queries can be converted to a graph-oriented representation and presented to a user.
US09576015B1	Domain-specific language for dataset transformations Techniques related to a domain-specific language for dataset transformations are disclosed. A server computer may process a table definition composed in a domain-specific language. The table definition may include a sequence of one or more dataset transformations to be performed on one or more source tables to generate a target table. The sequence may include a customized transformation. A source dataset may be provided as input to an implementation of the customized transformation. An output dataset may be generated as a result of executing the implementation. An intermediate table may be generated based on performing at least one dataset transformation on a particular source table. A supplemental portion for the intermediate table may be generated based on performing the at least one dataset transformation on an appended portion of the particular source table. The target table may be generated based on combining the supplemental portion with the intermediate table.
US09576012B2	Hierarchical tablespace space management A method, apparatus, and system for hierarchical organization of tablespace free space metadata in a database are provided. The hierarchy is divided into at least two levels: level 1 or L1 bitmap blocks are stored as a shared data structure and map free space in a tablespace, whereas level 2 or L2 bitmap blocks are stored as separate local copies at each database instance and map to the L1 bitmap blocks. This hierarchical organization provides a mechanism for finer grained concurrency control, enabling highly parallel tablespace metadata processing to accommodate the performance requirements of large tablespaces with big data sets. By integrating the hierarchical organization as part of the tablespace stack layer in a database management system (DBMS), implementations can be provided transparently to database end users without demanding any additional administrative, maintenance, or development burdens.
US09576010B2	Monitoring an application environment In various embodiments, a system and related method for organizing transactional data from an application environment is disclosed. In some embodiments, a system includes a file system and one or more daemon indexers in electrical communication with the file system. The file system is arranged as a non-relational and serverless file system to allow for cost-effectiveness with ready scalability. The file system is to receive, in substantially real-time, unsorted transactional data from a publishing module. The one or more daemon indexers are arranged to receive the unsorted transactional data from the file system, organize the unsorted transactional data by operational characteristics, and store the organized transactional data on the file system. Other systems and methods are disclosed.
US09576009B1	Automatic generation of narratives from data using communication goals and narrative analytics The exemplary embodiments described herein are related to techniques for automatically generating narratives about data based on communication goal data structures that are associated with configurable content blocks. The use of such communication goal data structures facilitates modes of operation whereby narratives can be generated in real-time and/or interactive manners.
US09576005B2	Search system A search system includes a storage device and a search server. The storage device stores an index database storing an index encrypted with an index key and the index key encrypted with a user key and associated with the encrypted index and stores a document database storing a document encrypted with a document key and the document key encrypted with the user key and associated with the encrypted document. The search server extracts a term for search from a requested search query, decrypts the encrypted index key with a user key which belongs to a user requesting the search query, encrypts the extracted term with the decrypted index key without storing the decrypted index key in a non-transitory storage device, searches the index database with the index encrypted using the encrypted first term, and sends a search result to a terminal.
US09575997B2	Methods, systems, and products for recalling and retrieving documentary evidence Methods, systems, and products help users recall memories and search for content of those memories. When a user cannot recall a memory, the user is prompted with questions to help recall the memory. As the user answers the questions, a virtual recollection of the memory is synthesized from the answers to the questions. When the user is satisfied with the virtual recollection of the memory, a database of content may be searched for the virtual recollection of the memory. Video data, for example, may be retrieved that matches the virtual recollection of the memory. The video data is thus historical data documenting past events.
US09575996B2	Emotion image recommendation system and method thereof A emotion image recommendation system and method are disclosed, where a recommended emotion image is provided in replace with a selected emotion image as conventionally used by a user, thereby an emotion image corresponding to an emotional word used by the user may be provided, so that the efficacy of a reduced frequency for locating the appropriate emotion image for the user may be achieved.
US09575994B2	Methods and devices for data retrieval Methods and device are disclosed for data retrieval. At first images and reports are analyzed by respective parser units to detect both structures and text passages that are related to respective structures and text passages of a knowledge data-base. The detected structures and text passages are stored together with a unique resource located that identifies the respective structure and/or text passage at the knowledge database in a semantic annotation database. In addition a feature extraction can be performed to provide specific features of the images and/or regions of the images, whereby the features are stored in an image feature database. Finally an input query can ask questions that are used to provide a result to the query based on the semantic annotation database and the image feature database. The methods and devices may be used for data preparation and data retrieval of medical images and associated medical reports.
US09575987B2	System and method for providing assured database updates via a one-way data link A system for assuredly copying information from a reference database to a remote database. A send server is coupled to a first network. A receive server is coupled to a second network. A one-way data link provides unidirectional transfer of information from the send server to the receive server. A monitor application iteratively forwards update files including sequence information to the send server. An update application receives each update file and updates the remote database based therein. The update files are also sequentially stored in the send server in groups and each group is sent to the receive server and stored in memory. If an update file is not received in proper sequential order, the receive server stops sending update files in the current group and instead reads the missing update file and subsequent update files in the current group from memory and forwards such files to the update application.
US09575986B2	Method for managing design files shared by multiple users and system thereof A method for managing design files shared by multiple users is provided. A plurality of design files are stored in a design library. A lock table is moved to a memory of a first computer when information of the lock table indicates that the design files were locked by a first process corresponding to a first user, wherein the memory is only accessible to performance of the first process. The lock table is moved from the memory to a common memory of the first computer when one design file is locked by a second process corresponding to a second user. The first and second processes are being performed in the first computer. The lock table is moved from the memory to the design library when the one design file is locked by the second process corresponding to the second user, wherein the second process is performed in a second computer.
US09575984B2	Similarity analysis method, apparatus, and system A similarity analysis method, an apparatus, and a system where the method includes acquiring file fingerprint information of a file to be analyzed, sending an analysis request that carries the file fingerprint information to at least two MDSs, selecting at least one group according to an analysis result returned by each MDS, where the analysis result includes a group number and a similarity of at least one group that has the highest similarity with the file fingerprint information and is found by the MDS, and the MDS locally queries a duplicate data block in the selected group. Hence, each MDS needs to query only a file fingerprint information set of a group that the MDS itself is responsible for, which reduces the amount of data retrieval and waiting time of reading, writing, and locking a database file.
US09575983B2	Calculating deduplication digests for a synthetic backup by a deduplication storage system Input backup data is deduplicated with data of a synthetic backup previously constructed by a deduplication storage. A synthetic backup is constructed by processing metadata instructions provided by a backup application. Deduplication digests are calculated based on the data of the synthetic backup and the deduplication digests are stored in a digests index. When new backup data is processed, deduplication digests of the new data are calculated and searched in the digests index. A data segment of the synthetic backup is partitioned into fixed sized sub-segments. The calculated digests of sub-segment are aggregated to produce the deduplication digest, and the deduplication digest is formed for the synthetic backup.
US09575979B1	Determining application composition and ownership Techniques are described for automatically determining application composition and application ownership of an application that may include a plurality of files deployed to a plurality of host devices. The determination of application composition may be based on analyzing various types of metadata that may provide evidence of associations between deployed files, such as metadata describing the deployment of files to host devices, metadata describing the files tracked within a source control system, or other types of metadata. The determination of application ownership may also be based on analyzing the various types of metadata that provide evidence of associations between files and individuals or groups of individuals within an organization.
US09575978B2	Restoring objects in a client-server environment Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for restoring objects in a client-server environment. An entry is added to an index for each chunk identifier. Each index entry includes one of the chunk identifiers and a reference to the chunk of data in the target storage from which the chunk identifier was calculated. A request is transmitted to a server recovery agent to recover an object from the storage server. Chunk identifiers of chunks of data in the requested object to recover are received from the server recovery agent. A determination is made from the index of whether the received chunk identifiers for the requested object matches the chunk identifiers indicated in the index. A request is made of the chunks from the server recovery agent for the received chunk identifiers not matching chunk identifiers in the index entries.
US09575975B2	Cluster-wide unique ID for object access control lists A redundant array of independent nodes are networked together. Each node executes an instance of an application that provides object-based storage. The nodes are grouped into systems each having multiple nodes. Objects in the systems have access control lists (ACLs) associated therewith. A method of providing a search key to each ACL in any one system comprises: selecting a region for each metadata object pertaining to the objects in the system; and generating, for each ACL associated with an object in the system, an ACL ID (identifier) as a search key which includes the region number of the region selected for the metadata object pertaining to the object, a region map level corresponding to the region selected, and a monotonically increasing counter value that is automatically incremented each time an ACL ID is generated. The ACL ID remains unique during reconfiguration via splitting/merging existing distributed portions of the database.
US09575974B2	Distributed file system gateway Technology is disclosed for managing data in a distributed file system (“the technology”). The technology can gather metadata information associated with the data stored within a first file system, store the metadata information in association with a data identifier within a second file system, retrieve the stored metadata information using the data identifier from within the second file system and locate and retrieve the data associated with the metadata information from within first file system.
US09575973B2	System and method for systematically removing customer personal information from an electronic device A system and method for flashing one or more electronic devices. A flashing program executed by a server is accessed from a computing device. The one or more electronic devices are received for communication with the computing device. The one or more electronic devices are identified in response to receiving the one or more electronic devices. The one or more electronic devices are flashed to remove the customer private information through the computing device as instructed through the server.
US09575970B2	System for synchronizing remotely delivered audio with live visual components A method and system are provided to synchronize an audio program output at a location remote to a site of a visual display such as a fireworks show, a water and light show, or other event or show with a large visual display visible from distances over which the originally sourced audio is delayed, degraded in quality, or lost. The method includes providing a live show including a visual display with components triggered by one or more control signals. The method further includes concurrently providing an audio output that may include playback of a soundtrack associated with the visual display with a sound system of a mobile device. The audio output is provided at a location that is remote from the site of the visual display, and the audio output is synchronized in time with the components of the visual display using the control signals or a preset start time.
US09575966B2	Optimizing relational database queries with multi-table predicate expressions Responding to relational database queries (for example, SQL queries) in a new way. More specifically, qualifying queries are written (for example, written by a human individual) in a way so that a join operation precedes a row limiting operation. Notwithstanding the fact that the join operation precedes the row limiting operation, when responding to the query, machine logic (for example, software) performs the row limiting operation before the join operation. This can improve time and processing efficiency.
US09575962B2	Method, system and apparatus for assembling a recording plan and data driven dialogs for automated communications Method, system and apparatus for assembling a recording plan and data driven dialogs for automated communications are provided. At a computing device comprising a memory, a communication interface and a processor, the memory storing a database of statements comprising one or more of first names, last names, greeting statements, sentiment statements, influence statements, call to action statements, and legal statements: one or more statements from the database are automatically assembled, via the processor, into one or more phrases to be recorded; instructions for applying linguistic rules are associated with the one or more phrases, via the processor, including where to insert pauses in the one or more phrases; and, the recording plan, comprising the one or more phrases in association with the instructions, is stored at the memory.
US09575961B2	Systems and methods for analyzing document coverage A system including a memory storing a meaning taxonomy is provided. The meaning taxonomy includes meaning loaded entities and associations between meaning loaded entities and syntactic structures. Each association links a meaning loaded entity to a syntactic structure. The system includes a processor coupled with the memory and components executable by the processor configured to receive content generated by a source, the content including syntactic structures, identify meaning loaded entities that are linked to the syntactic structures by associations, calculate a content summary indicating a level of coverage of the meaning loaded entities within the content, and provide a representation of the summary to an external entity.
US09575957B2	Recognizing chemical names in a chinese document A method and system for recognizing chemical names in a Chinese document. The method includes: receiving a Chinese document including chemical names; recognizing chemical name segments in the document; recognizing non-chemical name segments in the document; and combining the chemical name segments to get chemical names based on the recognized chemical name segments and non-chemical name segments. Specific embodiments of the present invention can effectively recognize chemical names from a chemical document.
US09575952B2	Unsupervised topic modeling for short texts Topics are determined for short text messages using an unsupervised topic model. In a training corpus created from a number of short text messages, a vocabulary of words is identified, and for each word a distributed vector representation is obtained by processing windows of the corpus having a fixed length. The corpus is modeled as a Gaussian mixture model in which Gaussian components represent topics. To determine a topic of a sample short text message, a posterior distribution over the corpus topics is obtained using the Gaussian mixture model.
US09575951B2	Methods and systems of four valued analogical transformation operators used in natural language processing and other applications A system for the dynamic encoding in a semantic network of both syntactic and semantic information into a common four valued logical notation. The encoding of new information being benign to prior syntactic constructions, tests for N conditionals in time O(C) and allows for the proper quantification of variables at each recursive step. The query/inference engine constructed from such an implementation is able to optimize short term memory for maximizing long term storage in the automaton. In a parallel context this can be viewed as optimizing communication and memory allocation between processes. The self-referencing system is capable of analogically extending knowledge from one knowledge source to another linearly. Disclosed embodiments include machine translation, text summarization, natural language speech recognition natural language.
US09575949B2	Multi-view runtime interrogator Methods, computer systems and computer readable media for designing and displaying device and platform-specific forms are provided. In embodiments, base forms are utilized and modified to create custom forms that are platform and device specific, without breaking the parent-child relationship between the base form and the custom form for any non-modified characteristics of the base form. Custom forms enhance the performance and appearance. In embodiments, interrogators are executed at runtime to specify a set of instructions that will be executed, further enhancing the performance and appearance associated with the form and the particular device displaying the form. In various embodiments of the present invention, user interfaces provide the designer visual representations of the forms as they appear on selected platforms and/or devices.
US09575946B2	Text browsing, editing and correction methods for automotive applications An automotive text display arrangement is described which includes a driver text display positioned directly in front of an automobile driver and displaying a limited amount of text to the driver without impairing forward visual attention of the driver. The arrangement may include a boundary insertion mode wherein when the active text position is an active text boundary, new text is inserted between the text items separated by the active text boundary, and when the active text position is an active text item, new text replaces the active text item. In addition or alternatively, there may be a multifunctional text control knob offering multiple different user movements, each performing an associated text processing function.
US09575945B2	Efficient data structures for parsing and analyzing a document Some embodiments provide a method that parses an unstructured document that includes a number of primitive elements. The method stores the primitive elements in a random order in a first storage. The method stores references to the primitive elements in a second storage in an order based on locations of the primitive elements in the unstructured document. The method receives instructions to perform a document reconstruction operation. The method performs the received instructions without storing any new references to the primitive elements.
US09575941B1	Dynamic adjustment to content for a display device A computing device is described that identifies an element that specifies content in accordance with a markup language, where an attribute of the element defines a size of at least a portion of the content specified by the element. Prior to rendering the content specified by the element for display at a display device, the computing device modifies, based at least in part on a screen size of the display device, the attribute of the element to adjust the size of the portion of the content specified by the element based on the screen size of the display device. The computing device renders, for display, the content in accordance with the element and the modified attribute.
US09575939B2	Linked code generation report A method includes generating source code corresponding to a block diagram model and generating hypertext links associating elements of the generated source code with elements of the block diagram model.
US09575938B2	Real-time shared web browsing among social network contacts A determination is made that each of at least two social network contacts involved in a social messaging interaction initiate a separate web search associated with the social messaging interaction. A separate set of web search results returned to each of the at least two social network contacts is captured in association with each initiated separate web search. A combined live search results view that includes each captured separate set of web search results is provided to each of the at least two social network contacts. The combined live search results view provides navigation to web content returned to other social network contacts.
US09575937B2	Document analysis system, document analysis method, document analysis program and recording medium As a document analysis system to calculate a similarity degree between texts with high accuracy, an information processing device includes: a common character string calculation unit to extract character strings that are common between two texts and to determine whether or not the two texts are to be set as calculation objects based on a number of the extracted character strings that are common; and a similarity degree calculation unit to calculate, when the two texts are the determined calculation objects, a similarity degree therebetween by using an approximation of a Kolmogorov complexity, and when the two texts are not the calculation objects, handling the similarity degree between the two texts as being dissimilar.
US09575936B2	Word cloud display Machine learning-based methods to improve the knowledge extraction process in a specific domain or business environment, and then provides that extracted knowledge in a word cloud user interface display capable of summarizing and conveying a vast amount of information to a user very quickly. Based on the self-training mechanism developed by the inventors, the ontology programming automatically trains itself to understand the domain or environment of the communication data by processing and analyzing a defined corpus of communication data. The developed ontology can be applied to process a dataset of communication information to create a word cloud that can provide a quick view into the content of the dataset, including information about the language used by participants in the communications, such as identifying for a user key phrases and terms, the frequency of those phrases, the originator of the terms of phrases, and the confidence levels of such identifications.
US09575935B2	Document file generating device and document file generation method Provided is to create a document file for drawing a picture finely, without increasing a file size. When a size of a first file computed before a process of vectorization is smaller than a size of a file of a manuscript, a process of vectorization is performed. When a size of a second file computed in the process of vectorization is smaller than the size of the file of the manuscript, a process after an end of the process of vectorization is performed. When a size of a third file computed in the process after the end of the process of vectorization is smaller than the size of the file of the manuscript, a vectorization file that is written in vectorized data is generated.
US09575933B2	Circuit arrangement and method for evaluating signals of a crankshaft sensor and of a camshaft sensor of an internal combustion engine A circuit assemblage and a method for evaluating signals of a crankshaft sensor and of a camshaft sensor of an internal combustion engine are provided, the times at which the signals occur being evaluated. A position signal of a shaft of the internal combustion engine is formed from the times. Storage units are provided which simultaneously store the occurrence times of the signals of the crankshaft sensor and the occurrence times of signals of the camshaft sensor. A decision unit is provided as to whether the position signal is formed from the occurrence times of the signals of the crankshaft sensor or from the occurrence times of the signals of the camshaft sensor.
US09575931B2	Determining implantation configuration for a prosthetic component or application of a resurfacing tool Systems and methods for modifying a shoulder joint configuration exhibiting wear that take into account resultant of forces responsible for the wear of the glenoid surface from geometric characteristics of wear.
US09575930B2	Conjugate gradient solvers for linear systems A conjugate gradient solver apparatus is provided for generating data defining a solution vector x for a linear system represented by Ax=b where A is a predetermined matrix and b is a predetermined vector. The apparatus includes solver circuitry and a precision controller. The solver circuitry processes input data, defining said matrix A and vector b, in accordance with an iterative conjugate gradient method to generate said data defining the solution vector x. The solver circuitry is adapted to process data items, corresponding to vectors used in said conjugate gradient method, having a variable fixed-point data format. The precision controller determines the fixed-point data formats of respective said data items adaptively during progress of the conjugate gradient method in the solver circuitry.
US09575923B2	Input/output interface A method of operating an input/output interface includes selecting one of a plurality of output driver circuits according to a mode selection signal, and outputting a data signal using the selected one of the plurality of output driver circuits. Another method of operating an includes generating a mode selection signal based on a received command signal, and controlling an on-die termination (ODT) circuit included in the input/output interface according to the mode selection signal. Another method of operating an includes generating a mode selection signal based on a received command signal, and controlling an ODT circuit included in the input/output interface according to the mode selection signal.
US09575918B2	Collaboration server A collaboration server comprising: a switch fabric; and a plurality of processing modules, each processing module including a CPU core; wherein the plurality of processing modules are interconnected via the switch fabric.
US09575913B1	Techniques for addressing topology specific replicated bus units A technique for handling cache-inhibited operations in a data processing system includes receiving, at a topology specific replicated bus unit, a cache-inhibited (CI) operation that is scope limited. The replicated bus unit determines whether an address associated with the CI operation matches an address for the replicated bus unit. In response to the address associated with the CI operation matching the address for the replicated bus unit, the replicated bus unit processes the CI operation based on the scope being limited to that of the replicated bus unit. In response to the address associated with the CI operation not matching the address for the replicated bus unit, the replicated bus unit ignores the CI operation.
US09575911B2	Interrupt controller and a method of controlling processing of interrupt requests by a plurality of processing units An interrupt controller for controlling processing of interrupt requests by a plurality of processing units. The processing units have at least two modes: an active mode and an inactive mode. The interrupt controller comprises a controller input, an interrupt router coupled to the controller input and a monitoring unit. The monitoring unit outputs a routing change signal to the interrupt router if it determines that a selected processing unit, to which, in response to a received interrupt request, an execution of an interrupt service routine was initially routed, is in inactive mode while a preselected one is in the active mode. The interrupt router reroutes the execution of the interrupt service routine to the preselected processing unit.
US09575910B2	USB RAM device with buffer descriptor table and dynamically configurable endpoint allocation A compound USB device has a controller and a N+1 component USB devices. Each component USB device Ci is assigned Ei endpoints, where 0≦i≦N and where each component USB device is assigned at least as many endpoints as required by its functionality. At least one component USB device is assigned the maximum number endpoints. At least one other component USB device is assigned the minimum number of endpoints, which is less than the maximum. The controller includes a RAM-share subsystem with a RAM module. The RAM module includes a USB RAM segment that has a buffer descriptor (BD) table and an endpoint data buffer. The BD table includes a corresponding entry for each assigned endpoint. At least a portion of the USB RAM segment is assigned for non-USB uses.
US09575903B2	Security perimeter Embodiments of memory devices, computer systems, security apparatus, data handling systems, and the like, and associated methods facilitate security in a system incorporating the concept of a security perimeter which combines cryptographic and physical security. The memory device can comprise a memory operable to store information communicated with a processor, and a logic operable to create at least one cryptographic security perimeter enclosing at least one selected region of the memory and operable to manage information communication between the processor and the at least one selected region of the memory.
US09575902B2	Apparatus, system, and method for managing commands of solid-state storage using bank interleave An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for efficiently managing commands in a solid-state storage device that includes a solid-state storage arranged in two or more banks. Each bank is separately accessible and includes two or more solid-state storage elements accessed in parallel by a storage input/output bus. The solid-state storage includes solid-state, non-volatile memory. The solid-state storage device includes a bank interleave that directs one or more commands to two or more queues, where the one or more commands are separated by command type into the queues. Each bank includes a set of queues in the bank interleave controller. Each set of queues includes a queue for each command type. The bank interleave controller coordinates among the banks execution of the commands stored in the queues, where a command of a first type executes on one bank while a command of a second type executes on a second bank.
US09575901B2	Programmable address-based write-through cache control This invention is a cache system with a memory attribute register having plural entries. Each entry stores a write-through or a write-back indication for a corresponding memory address range. On a write to cached data the cache the cache consults the memory attribute register for the corresponding address range. Writes to addresses in regions marked as write-through always update all levels of the memory hierarchy. Writes to addresses in regions marked as write-back update only the first cache level that can service the write. The memory attribute register is preferably a memory mapped control register writable by the central processing unit.
US09575896B2	Fast, dynamic cache packing A method for storing information may include determining whether a received data object fits inside a particular one of a plurality of free blocks in a memory bitmap. Each of the plurality of free blocks may include a column of the memory bitmap with a top margin, a bottom margin, and a predetermined width. If the received data object fits, the received data object may be stored in the particular one of the plurality of free blocks, starting at the margin of the particular one of the plurality of free blocks. The particular one of the plurality of data blocks may be resized by moving the margin to start below or next to the stored received data object. The determining may include, for each of the plurality of free blocks, a height of the received data object may be compared with a height of each of the free data blocks.
US09575894B1	Application aware cache coherency A distributed processing system includes a first site and a second site, each containing at least one device having cache storage, nonvolatile storage, where, in response to moving a process running on the processor of the first site to the processor running on the second site, data in the cache storage of the first site is no longer accessed by the process, the data being read into the cache of the storage of the first site in response to the process accessing data in the non-volatile memory of the first site prior to being moved to the second site. A process running on the processor of the first site moving to the processor running on the second site and corresponding cache slots may be detected by parsing the VMFS containing virtual machine disks used by the process.
US09575893B2	Snoop filter for multi-processor system and related snoop filtering method A snoop filter for a multi-processor system has a storage device and a control circuit. The control circuit manages at least a first-type entry and at least a second-type entry stored in the storage device. The first-type entry is configured to record information indicative of a first cache of the multi-processor system and first requested memory addresses that are associated with multiple first cache lines each being only available in the first cache. The second-type entry is configured to record information indicative of multiple second caches of the multi-processor system and at least a second requested memory address that is associated with a second cache line being available in each of the multiple second caches.
US09575891B2	Sidecar SRAM for high granularity in floor plan aspect ratio A system and method for floorplanning a memory. A computing system includes a processing unit which generates memory access requests and a memory. The size of each memory line in the memory includes M bits. The memory includes at least a primary bank and a sidecar bank. The primary bank includes a first portion with (M−A) bits of the M bits of a memory line being accessed. The sidecar bank includes a second portion with A bits of the M bits of the memory line being accessed. The primary bank and the sidecar bank have a same height, which is less than a height that would be used if the primary bank included all M bits in each memory line. The completion of the access request for the M bits of the memory line is done at a similar time, such as a same clock cycle.
US09575890B2	Supporting atomic accumulation with an addressable accumulator Atomically accumulating memory updates in a computer system configured with an accumulator that is memory mapped. The accumulator includes an accumulator memory and an accumulator queue and is configured to communicatively couple to a processor. Included is receiving from the processor, by the accumulator, an accumulation request. The accumulation request includes an accumulation operation identifier and data. Based on determining, by the accumulator, that the accumulator can immediately process the request, immediately processing the request. Processing the request includes atomically updating a value in the accumulator memory, by the accumulator, based on the operation identifier and data of the accumulation request. Based on determining, by the accumulator, that the accumulator is actively processing another accumulation request, queuing, by the accumulator, the accumulation request for later processing. Further included is signaling the processor, by the accumulator, the completion of the accumulation request.
US09575889B2	Memory server A memory server providing remote memory for servers independent from the memory server. The memory server includes memory modules and a page table. A memory controller for the memory server allocates memory in the memory modules for each of the servers and manages remote memory accesses for the servers. The page table includes entries identifying the memory module and locations in the memory module storing data for the servers.
US09575885B2	Data storage apparatus for scrambled data and management method thereof A data storage apparatus has a transmission interface, a nonvolatile memory and a controller. The controller records a non-completed flag. When the controller starts a card opening process, the nonvolatile memory is configured under card opening, and the non-completed flag is set non-completed status. When the controller receives a format command form the transmission interface, the nonvolatile memory is formatted and the non-completed flag is set as completed status. When the controller receives a write command, the write data are scrambled before being written to the nonvolatile memory. When in non-completed status, when the controller receives a read command from the transmission interface, no matter whether the data corresponding to the requested address are scrambled, the data are descrambled and descrambled are provided via the transmission interface.
US09575883B2	Control device, storage device, and storage control method A control device includes: a management information generation unit configured to generate or update logical-physical block address management information with respect to either data to be written to a non-volatile memory or data which has been already written in the non-volatile memory, the logical-physical block address management information indicating association between a logical block address and a physical block address on the non-volatile memory; and an access control unit configured to, during write of the data to the non-volatile memory, control write of the data as well as the logical-physical block address management information to a physical write unit of the non-volatile memory.
US09575882B2	Non-volatile memory interface Apparatuses, systems, methods, and computer program products are disclosed for a memory controller. An apparatus includes a volatile memory medium located on a memory module. An apparatus includes a non-volatile memory medium located on a memory module. A memory controller is located on a memory module. A memory controller may be configured to provide access to at least a non-volatile memory medium over a direct wire interface with a processor.
US09575879B2	Managing memory in a computer system Methods, computer program products, and systems for managing memory in a computer system in which memory locations in use at any given time are represented as a set of memory objects in a first object graph. The first object graph includes a system root object associated by references to each of the memory objects. A method includes creating a second root object for the memory so as to form a second object graph for the memory. The method also includes, in response to the dereferencing of a first object from the first object graph, associating the dereferenced first object with the second object graph so that the second object graph includes at least one dereferenced object.
US09575878B2	Data-driven testing without data configuration In software development, the provision of a testing tool which includes a method for defining a data source dynamically during an execution run, instead of programming such a definition within test script.
US09575876B2	Performance testing of software applications Identifying performance issues in an application under test (AUT). The AUT executes on a system under test (SUT) in a test environment, and uses one or more context parameters of the SUT and/or the test environment. A rule engine identifies performance antipatterns in trace data generated by the AUT when executing a set of test suites, based on a set of performance antipattern definition rules, each performance antipattern associated with one or more context parameters. One or more performance test suites are identified that cause the AUT to use at least one of the one or more context parameters associated with the identified antipatterns. The list of identified performance test suites is ranked, based on respective priority values associated with each identified antipattern.
US09575874B2	Error list and bug report analysis for configuring an application tracer Error logs, bug reports, and other databases identifying problems with a tracer system may be mined to determine how a tracer may interact with a given function, module, or other group of functions. Based on such reports, a tracer may be configured to avoid certain functions or to trace such functions in a specific manner. In some cases, tracer may be configured to limit tracing to certain parameters or with other limitations to avoid any known conditions under which errors occur.
US09575870B2	Streaming breakpoint for data tuples that stay in an operator graph too long A streams manager monitors data tuples processed by a streaming application represented by an operator graph. The streams manager includes a tuple breakpoint mechanism that allows defining a tuple breakpoint that fires when a tuple has been in the operator graph too long. What constitutes too long can be defined in a number of different ways, including a time limit, a processing limit for multiple operators, and a processing limit for an individual operator. When the tuple breakpoint fires, one or more operators in the operator graph are halted according to specified halt criteria. Information corresponding to the breakpoint that fired is then displayed. The tuple breakpoint mechanism thus provides a way to debug a streaming application that may have data tuples that stay in the operator graph too long.
US09575869B2	Service implementation based debugger for service oriented architecture projects A meta-debugger receives a first debugging command from a debugger client to set a breakpoint in a first service in a first language and sets the breakpoint in a first native debugger. After receiving a service message invoking the first service, the breakpoint is triggered and the meta-debugger provides to the debugger client a first graphical representation of the first native debugger. The meta-debugger receives a second debugging command from the debugger client, converts the second debugging command into a third debugging command to provide to the first native debugger. After invoking a second service in a second language, the meta-debugger provides to the debugger client a second graphical representation of the second native debugger. The meta-debugger receives a fourth debugging command from the debugger client, converts the fourth debugging command into a fifth debugging command to provide to the second native debugger.
US09575867B2	Processor stressmarks generation One aspect is a method that includes analyzing, by a processor of an analysis system, an instruction set architecture of a targeted processor to generate an instruction set profile for each instruction of the instruction set architecture. A combination of instruction sequences for the targeted processor is determined from the instruction set profile that corresponds to a desired stressmark type. The desired stressmark type defines a metric representative of functionality of interest of the targeted processor. Performance of the targeted processor is monitored with respect to the desired stressmark type while executing each of the instruction sequences. One of the instruction sequences is identified as most closely aligning with the desired stressmark type based on performance results of execution of the instruction sequences with respect to the desired stressmark type.
US09575866B1	Diagnostic module for monitoring electronic data transmission A Sub-Diagnostic Module incorporated into a System Module. The Sub-Diagnostic Module receives signals from the System Modules through the diagnostic signal interface. The diagnostic signal interface passes the signals through to the diagnostic signal evaluation logic where it determines if a signal or combination of signals is an event to be recorded in the sub-diagnostic registers and/or the sub-diagnostic log memory. The events recorded in the registers and log memory are accessed by the Portable Diagnostic Module through the Sub-Diagnostic Module's diagnostic protocol interface. Recorded events placed in log memory are synchronized by the sub-diagnostic time synchronizer. The time synchronizer receives high resolution time information from a local clock, such as a physical layer clock, and lower resolution network synchronized information from the diagnostic protocol interface.
US09575865B2	Information processing system and monitoring method An abnormal state of an allocated task in a processing node is detected correctly without using any resource of the processing node. A power usage statistics storing unit 240 stores a statistical value representing a power usage of the processing node in a state of executing the task. A power usage comparing unit 250 compares a newly collected power usage of the processing node in a state of executing the task with the statistical value representing a power usage of the processing node, which is stored in the power usage statistics storing unit 250, to detect an abnormal state of the task in the processing node.
US09575861B2	System on chip including built-in self test circuit and built-in self test method thereof A system on chip is provided which performs a built-in self-test operation using an error access pattern. The system on chip includes a master device and a slave device. A bus is configured to transfer an instruction from the master device to the slave device. A built-in instruction capture circuit is configured to receive and store the instruction. The built-in instruction capture circuit stores the instruction as the error access pattern when an error occurs in the slave device due to the instruction.
US09575857B1	Active/active replication A computer implemented method, system, and computer program for providing co-temporanious access to a single volume at a first site and a second site, the method comprising exposing the volume at the first site, exposing the volume at the second site; wherein the volume has the same identifier at the first site and the second site and wherein the write IO to the first volume is being replicated to the second volume, and redirecting IO to the second volume to the first volume.
US09575855B2	Storage apparatus and failure location identifying method A storage apparatus has a redundant configuration equipped with a plurality of components and includes a first controller and second controller, wherein the first controller is provided with a first processor and a third processor for monitoring the first controller; wherein the second controller is provided with a second processor and a fourth processor for monitoring the second controller; wherein the first processor and the second processor are connected via a first path and the third processor and the fourth processor are connected via a second path; and wherein if a failure occurs at the first controller, the second processor blocks the first path, acquires failure information including a failure location of the first controller via the third processor, the fourth processor, and the second path, executes first failure location identifying processing, and notifies a management terminal of the failure location.
US09575853B2	Accelerated data recovery in a storage system One embodiment provides a storage system. The storage system includes storage system control logic to identify at least one target storage device in response to detection of a failed storage device, request a state of a target device logical block address (LBA) from each of the at least one target storage device, and read data associated with a mapped device LBA from each target storage device and write the data to at least one replacement storage device. Another embodiment provides a storage device. The storage device includes device control logic to determine a state of a target device logical block address (LBA) in response to a request; a host interface to provide a reply to the request, the reply including a state indicator related to the state of the target device LBA; a map table including a plurality of device LBAs and respective state indicators; and non-volatile memory (NVM) including data related to at least one mapped LBA.
US09575851B1	Volume hot migration A computer implemented method, system, and computer program product for non-disruptively moving a replicated volume from a first storage medium to a second storage medium, the method comprising notifying a first data protection appliance that the replicated volume is moving from a first storage medium to a second storage medium; setting a replication connection between second volume and target of the first volume while maintaining replication connection from first volume to target of the first volume.
US09575847B2	Transfer of user data between logical data sites The present application is directed to systems and methods for transferring data between data backup sites. A backup data transfer of data associated with a client device is scheduled, and backup data is transferred from a source data backup site to a destination data backup site. A backend process associated with the client device is suspended, and a determination is made as to whether all backup data for the client has transferred from the source backup data site to the destination backup data site. Responsive to the determination, the backend process associated with the client device is resumed.
US09575845B2	Transfer of user data between logical data sites The present application is directed to systems and methods for transferring data between data backup sites. Backup data for transferring from a source data backup site to a destination data backup site is determined based on a storage parameter, the backup data comprising data associated with a client device. A transfer parameter is received from the destination data backup site, the transfer parameter comprising a storage logical site available for data storage. The determined backup data is matched to the storage logical site based on a parameter selected from a group consisting of the storage parameter, and the transfer parameter. A transfer of the determined backup data to the storage logical site is scheduled based on a parameter selected from a group consisting of the storage parameter, the transfer parameter, and a schedule parameter.
US09575842B2	Multiplex backup using next relative addressing According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for multiplex backup using next relative addresses may be provided. The method may include receiving a first chunk and a second chunk that are each associated with a first file. A next relative address may be appended to the first chunk. The next relative address may indicate a position in a storage device. The first chunk with the next relative address may be written to the storage device at a first address. The method may further include writing the second chunk to the storage device at the position indicated by the next relative address of the first chunk.
US09575838B2	Method and apparatus for implementing changes within a data system The present invention provides a method of and apparatus for implementing changes within a data system. The method receiving a request including one or more objects to be imported into a data system, creating a back up request comprising a copy of the objects included within the request, implementing the back up request in the system to generate a modified back up request including a log of the objects modified in the request, storing the modified back up request. This allows a log of changes to objects in the data system to be generated using a copy of a request including a list of changes to the objects. Once the modified back up request has been generated the request may be imported into the system.
US09575835B2	Error correction in a memory device A dynamic random access memory (DRAM) array is configured for selective repair and error correction of a subset of the array. Error-correcting code (ECC) is provided to a selected subset of the array to protect a row or partial row of memory cells where one or more weak memory cells are detected. By adding a sense amplifier stripe to the edge of the memory array, the adjacent edge segment of the array is employed to store ECC information associated with the protected subsets of the array. Bit replacement is also applied to defective memory cells. By implementing ECC selectively rather than to the entire array, integrity of the memory array is maintained at minimal cost to the array in terms of area and energy consumption.
US09575834B2	Detecting single event upsets and stuck-at faults in RAM-based data path controllers In one embodiment, a system includes a processor and logic configured to receive data including a plurality of data elements, each data element having one or more bits, and pass each data element along with a corresponding parity bit to an input of a data path, a first binary sequence generator configured to create a binary sequence having a plurality of bonus bits, wherein a total length of the binary sequence is equal to or greater than a maximum burst size of the data, and a first parity module configured to provide a parity calculation using bits of each data element of the data with a bonus bit from the binary sequence to produce a parity bit for each data element. Other systems, methods, and computer program products for providing end-to-end parity generation and checking that the scheme provides coverage for both data and sequencing faults are also disclosed.
US09575831B2	Detecting the use of stale data values due to weak consistency An apparatus and method detect the use of stale data values due to weak consistency between parallel threads on a computer system. A consistency error detection mechanism uses object code injection to build a consistency error detection table during the operation of an application. When the application is paused, the consistency error detection mechanism uses the consistency error detection table to detect consistency errors where stale data is used by the application. The consistency error detection mechanism alerts the user/programmer to the consistency errors in the application program.
US09575829B2	Probability-based remedial action for read disturb effects A method may be performed in a data storage device that includes a memory and a controller, in response to a request to read data from the memory. The data is located within a first word line of the memory. The method includes accessing the data from the first word line and determining, based on a probability threshold, whether to perform a remedial action with respect to a second word line.
US09575819B2	Local buffers for event handlers A technique is described for generating error buffer that includes errors from both a program and event handlers called by the program. A program in an event-driven environment triggers an event. In response to the triggered event, the program calls event handlers related to the event. The event handlers are executed and error messages generated during the execution are stored in a local error buffer. Upon completion of the event handlers, the local error buffers are returned to the program and the program merges the local error buffers with an error buffer associated with the program.
US09575817B2	System, method and computer program product for sharing information in a distributed framework A system, method and computer program product are provided for sharing information in a distributed system. After information is received, it is stored on a bulletin board. In use, the information is shared, in real-time, among a plurality of heterogeneous processes.
US09575815B1	Translation entry invalidation in a multithreaded data processing system In a multithreaded data processing system including a plurality of processor cores, storage-modifying requests of a plurality of concurrently executing hardware threads are received in a shared queue. The storage-modifying requests include a translation invalidation request of an initiating hardware thread. The translation invalidation request is removed from the shared queue and buffered in sidecar logic in one of a plurality of sidecars each associated with a respective one of the plurality of hardware threads. While the translation invalidation request is buffered in the sidecar, the sidecar logic broadcasts the translation invalidation request so that it is received and processed by the plurality of processor cores. In response to confirmation of completion of processing of the translation invalidation request by the initiating processor core, the sidecar logic removes the translation invalidation request from the sidecar. Completion of processing of the translation invalidation request at all of the plurality of processor cores is ensured by a broadcast synchronization request.
US09575813B2	Pattern matching process scheduler with upstream optimization Processes in a message passing system may be launched when messages having data patterns match a function on a receiving process. The function may be identified by an execution pointer within the process. When the match occurs, the process may be added to a runnable queue, and in some embodiments, may be raised to the top of a runnable queue. When a match does not occur, the process may remain in a blocked or non-executing state. In some embodiments, a blocked process may be placed in an idle queue and may not be executed until a process scheduler determines that a message has been received that fulfills a function waiting for input. When the message fulfills the function, the process may be moved to a runnable queue.
US09575809B2	Distributed stochastic clustering for automated formation of connected networks of agents A “Stochastic Clustering-Based Network Generator” enables rapid formation of an interconnected hierarchical network structure from an arbitrary number of agents via an iterative turn-based coalescence process. Given N agents wishing to coalesce into one hierarchical network, a turn-based process allows each agent (or the head of each hierarchical cluster of agents), to randomly decide whether to issue or listen for merge requests in each round. Issuing a request amounts to contacting a randomly chosen agent with a merge request. Given multiple received requests, a cluster head will randomly accept one request for a merge received by any agent in that cluster. The requesting cluster then merges as a hierarchical child of the accepting cluster. In a related embodiment, given multiple merge requests, the request from the smallest cluster is accepted. In further embodiments, ties of the smallest cluster size are broken based on various options.
US09575808B1	Managing virtual machines Management of virtual machines can include receiving a request associated with a job that is to be executed using one or more virtual machines from among multiple virtual machines. For each virtual machine of the multiple virtual machines, a respective attribute can be determined. The respective attribute can be determined based on a modulo of an uptime of the respective virtual machine and a predetermined time increment. The particular virtual machine of the multiple virtual machines that is to be used to execute the job can be determined based on the respective attribute associated with the particular virtual machine having a highest value or a lowest value among multiple attributes corresponding to the multiple virtual machines. Based on determining that the particular virtual machine is to be used to execute the job, the particular virtual machine can execute the job.

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