| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US07640802B2 |
Method and system for analysing tachometer and vibration data from an apparatus having one or more rotary components
A method of analysing tachometer and vibration response data from an apparatus having one or more rotary components is provided. The method comprises the steps of: providing vibration response data and corresponding tachometer data from the apparatus for a period over which a rotary component of the apparatus varies in rotational speed, the tachometer data being for that component; repeatedly performing at intervals throughout the period the sub-steps of: determining a forcing frequency of the component from the tachometer data and a corresponding vibration response frequency of the apparatus from the vibration response data, comparing the forcing and vibration response frequencies to determine the relative phase difference between the frequencies, and determining the corresponding amplitude of the vibration response from the vibration response data; and plotting the relative phase differences and vibration amplitudes on a polar diagram. The plot trajectory is characteristic of the behavior of the apparatus over the period. |
| US07640799B2 |
Potential separation for fill level radar
For safety reasons the potential of an electrical supply line of a radar sensor may be separated from the potential of the fill level container. A fill level radar with potential separation includes a separation element for insulating the aerial from a feed device. The separation element is arranged directly at the aerial, or forms part of the aerial. In this way insulation of the aerial from the exterior of the container is provided. |
| US07640796B2 |
Wind tunnel
The invention relates to closed-circuit tunnels used for aerodynamic researches, sportsmen-parachutists training and other purposes. The inventive closed-circuit tunnel comprises a confuser, a working area, a diffuser, one or several return channels, a blower unit and turning bends having different flow deflection angle, wherein the bend having the smaller flow deflection angle is placed in a high-speed flow cross-section, whereas the bend having the greater flow deflection angle is arranged in a low flow speed cross-section. In a preferred embodiment, the tunnel comprises a first turning bend containing one turning gut for turning the airflow at 60 degrees, a second turning bend containing two turning guts for turning the airflow at 120 degrees, and a third turning bend containing three turning guts for turning the airflow at 180 degrees. The invention makes it possible to reduce air pressure losses, the drive power and a specific amount of metal per structure. |
| US07640794B2 |
Airflow balance for a twin turbocharged engine system
As one example, a method of operating an engine system including a first air intake passage branch including a first compression device and a second air intake passage branch including a second compression device, wherein each of the first branch and the second branch are fluidly coupled to at least a combustion chamber the engine via a common intake passage, a first sensor arranged along the first branch and at least a second sensor arranged along the common intake passage, wherein the first sensor is a mass airflow sensor and wherein the second branch does not include a mass airflow sensor. The method comprises increasing the mass airflow through the first branch relative to the mass airflow through the second branch when an amount of decrease in the mass airflow through the first branch is more than half an amount of a corresponding decrease in the combined mass airflow. |
| US07640793B2 |
Systems and methods for determining airflow parameters of gas turbine engine components
Systems and methods for determining airflow parameters of gas turbine engine components are provided. In this regard, a representative method includes: receiving information from multiple test systems regarding a first airflow parameter of a gas turbine engine component; and using the information to establish a desired performance parameter that is to be exhibited by a repaired component. |
| US07640792B2 |
Percolation testing apparatus and methods
A storm water run-off percolation rate test system includes a turbid water generator having a silt or sediment source providing silt into a mixing tank. A pipeline carries turbid water from the mixing tank to a test pit or test site. A flow meter measures the amount of turbid water moved into the test pit. Detectors detect a water level in the test pit. A controller automatically controls the turbid water generator and flow of turbid water into the test pit, and records data on the amount of turbid water provided into the test pit over time, to determine a percolation rate. In a method for determining a percolation rate, turbid water is created and used in the percolation rate testing, to more accurately simulate run-off. |
| US07640790B2 |
Method for operating a hydrogen test leak unit
For operating a hydrogen test leak unit including a chamber defined by a membrane, a test gas mixture of hydrogen and an added gas is used. The added gas has a permeation coefficient relative to the material of the membrane ranging between 50% and 200% of that of hydrogen. In this manner, demixing of the test gas mixture is limited and significant concentration variations in the chamber are prevented. Preferably, helium is used as added gas. |
| US07640780B2 |
Ram retraction selection
A compression tool including a ram; a drive system, a battery and a user selectable retraction control. The drive system is connected to the ram to extend the ram and allow retraction of the ram. The battery is connected to the drive system to at least partially power the drive system. The user selectable retraction control is connected to the drive system. The user selectable retraction control includes a plurality of ram retraction settings which are adapted to be selected by a user to at least partially control respective different retraction stopping locations of the ram. |
| US07640779B2 |
Holder unit and hemming apparatus having the holder unit
A hemming apparatus (1) includes a holder unit (2), a lower die (3) on which the holder unit (2) is installed, and an upper die (4) which is installed on the lower die (3) vertically movably. The holder unit (2) includes a base (5) secured to the lower die (3) by means of bolts or the like; a working tool holder (7) which is rotatably supported on the base (5) so that a hemming punch (6) can be disposed at a nonworking position and a working position; and a resilient means (8) for resiliently urging the working tool holder (7) so as to dispose the hemming punch (6) at the nonworking position. |
| US07640776B2 |
Expanded metal machine
Expanded metal machine includes a fixed blade, a displaceable blade, displaceable in a vertical and a transverse direction and which has a cutting edge with cutting projections interspaced in the transverse direction. Conveying device for conveying a flat material in a direction of conveyance between the blades. Ram for effecting a periodic vertical movement of displaceable blade, and a transverse displacing device for effecting a transverse displacement of displaceable blade that is synchronized with reciprocating motion. To enable a precise fine adjustment of the cutting gap, fixed blade is held in a fixed one-piece or multiple piece blade holding fixture vertically adjustable by a depth of cut adjusting device for adjusting a vertical depth of cut between the blades. Depth of cut adjusting device has at least two oppositely tapering wedges, displaceable in a coupled manner and having parallel sloped surfaces held in blade holding fixture in a sliding manner. |
| US07640775B2 |
Apparatus and method for joining the edges of folded sheet material to form three-dimensional structure
A sheet of material formed for folding into a three-dimensional structure. The sheet has edges formed with joinder structures, such as dovetails, and a plurality of folding structures, such as slits, grooves or displacements, that control folding of the sheet in a manner causing the joinder structures to be folded into interlocking interengagement. The folding structures are configured for very precise folding of the sheet so that the folding structures will be in precise registered juxtaposition. Additionally, the sheet of material includes a retention structure, such as a retention fold or a retention deformation, which will prevent unfolding of the sheet. A method for fastener-free joining of sheet edges together also is disclosed, as are the resulting three-dimensional structures. |
| US07640772B2 |
Watersports apparatus locking device
A locking device for a watersports apparatus which in one embodiment, comprises a pair of interlocking brackets which form an inverted “T” when slidably disposed in a channel associated with a fin box. Apertures are provided to allow a cable or other security device to traverse the inverted “T” locking device for securing the watersports apparatus. In a second embodiment, a pair of generally planar scissor members having a pair of unguiform clasping elements aligned in opposition and configured to clasp a rod disposed in a tether plug aperture by scissor action. Useful watersport tools may be provided on the distal ends of the generally planar scissor members. The useful tools include a screwdriver, a wax comb, a bottle cap opener and a wax scrapper. |
| US07640771B2 |
Suds container for a washing machine and method for making a suds container
A suds container for a washing machine includes a cylindrical vessel surrounding a drum of the washing machine, the cylindrical vessel including a cylindrical wall and a front wall. A metallic hub for a drive shaft for the drum is integrated into a plastic compound of the front wall. Reinforcing plastic fiber strands are integrated into the plastic compound. The fiber strands extend from the hub outward toward the outer circumference of the front wall. |
| US07640770B2 |
Fabric knitting method and knitted product
In one embodiment of the present application, a knitting method is disclosed for a knitting fabric capable of eliminating the need of stitch transfer during knitting and easily knitting even a thick and less stretchable knitting fabric. Three types of stitching including knits marked with “O,” tacks marked with “V,” and missings marked with “-” are knitted repeatedly in a course direction and a wale direction. The thickness of the clothing fabric of a knitted product is 1.5 times that by plain knitting or thicker which is equal to a thickness obtained by rib knitting. The elongation of the knitted product in the course direction is approximately 1.5 times that by the other methods which is approximately half an elongation obtained by plain knitting which is approximately three times that by the other methods. The elongation of the knitted product in the wale direction is approximately 1.7 to 1.8 times that obtained by the other methods which is equal to an elongation obtained by plain knitting. Since the three types of stitches including the knits, tacks, and missings may be repeatedly knitted in each course for knitting the knitting fabric, the stitch transfer is not required during the knitting, and the thick and laterally less stretchable knitting fabric can be easily knitted. |
| US07640769B1 |
Portable self-contained storage apparatus for biologicals
A portable storage apparatus for biologicals has plural temperature-controlled compartments, each compartment having specially arranged shelves and sample trays or carousel bins. The device also has door-ajar annunciators and a built-in self-contained rechargeable power supply. Portability is enhanced by an optional free-standing roller base. |
| US07640768B2 |
Heating/cooling system for indwelling heat exchange catheter
A cooling system for an indwelling heat exchange catheter includes a heat exchange bath that is configured to receive a conduit that carries saline to and from the catheter. A heating/cooling fluid is in the bath and exchanges heat with the saline. The heating/cooling fluid flows through a heat exchanger that includes a refrigerant and two variable speed DC compressor for removing heat from the refrigerant. A gear pump circulates the working fluid to and from the catheter and is removably engaged with a pump support platform. |
| US07640767B2 |
Low voltage variable speed drive for application on medium/high voltage mains
The present invention is directed to a power transformer and VSD mounted on the chiller equipment. The transformer is preferably a liquid-filled transformer rated for medium/high voltage input, and at least two output low voltages, one voltage for the VSD and other power equipment, and another voltage for the control panel and control equipment. The placement of the power transformer on the chiller eliminates the need to allocate additional floor space for an auxiliary transformer or medium/high voltage VSD. The transformer also includes cooling means in the form of a heat exchanger in which the liquid is cooled by circulating condenser water, chilled water or refrigerant from the chiller system. The cooling means may also be connected to cooling coils connected to the VSD. The size of the power transformer is significantly reduced by the use of the chiller system to remove heat from the transformer while in operation, thereby maintaining the ambient temperature rise of the transformer within its rated operating temperature range. The transformer and VSD heat is discharged to the outside ambient eliminating additional cooling requirements for the equipment room. |
| US07640766B2 |
Method and apparatus for disinfecting a refrigerated water cooler reservoir
A method and apparatus for providing sanitized water in a cabinet and spigot type bottled water dispenser features an ozone generating system to generate ozone for sanitizing the water. Ozone is generated and collected within an ozone generator housing. A blower transmits air to the ozone generator housing. The air carries the ozone that is generated through a flow line to an air diffuser that is positioned upstream of the spigot (or spigots) used to dispense water. In one embodiment, a valve that is activated on the spigot to dispense water also activates the blower and ozone generator. In other embodiments, a flow sensor activates the ozone generator and blower. Various spigot and flow sensor arrangements are disclosed as a part of the overall apparatus and method. |
| US07640765B2 |
Portable cooling device
A portable cooling device has a vacuum bottle, a pump, an outflow pipe, a thermal exchanger and a return pipe. The vacuum bottle holds a coolant and has an outer casing and a vacuum flask. The outer casing has a chamber. The vacuum flask is mounted in the chamber. The pump is mounted on the vacuum bottle to pump the coolant out of the vacuum bottle. The outflow pipe connects to the pump. The thermal exchanger connects to the outflow pipe, is filled by the coolant and is placed adjacent to a person to lower his body temperature. The return pipe connects between the thermal exchanger and the vacuum bottle to form a flow circle. Consequently, the portable cooling device efficiently cools the body temperature. Moreover, having the vacuum bottle to hold and insulate the coolant elongates effective cooling time of the cooling device. |
| US07640757B2 |
Air conditioner having an enhanced user perception
An air conditioner having an enhanced user perception and a controlling method thereof are provided. A predetermined character and/or its applied character image are/is displayed on a display window of the air conditioner. The character and/or the character image are/is changed depending on the operational states of the air conditioner, so that the user perceives the operational state of the air conditioner more conveniently. The air conditioner has advantages in that the user can perceive the operational state of the air conditioner more conveniently, the user can be stimulated to purchase the product, and a use term of the air conditioner can be extended. |
| US07640754B2 |
Insert duct piece for thermal electric module
A climate control device comprises a housing, the housing having a first intake port, a first exhaust port, and a second exhaust port, wherein the first exhaust port opens in a different direction than the second exhaust port. A fan is disposed within the housing and is configured to draw air through the first intake port and expel air towards the first exhaust port and the second exhaust port. a separate insert piece configured to be inserted within the housing and adapted to direct substantially all the expelled air through one of the first or second exhaust ports. |
| US07640752B2 |
Device for guiding an element in an orifice in a wall of a turbomachine combustion chamber
Device for guiding an element in an orifice in a wall of a turbomachine combustion chamber, including a ring and a bush, the ring being traversed axially by the element and including an external annular rim guided transversely in an internal annular channel of the bush, the ring and the bush delimiting around the element a cylindrical annular passage opening into the chamber, air circulation being provided in the ring and/or in the bush and distributed about their axis so as to establish an air circulation in the cylindrical passage from the outside of the combustion chamber toward the inside. |
| US07640751B2 |
Fuel heating system for turbine engines
A fuel heating system for fuel usable in a turbine engine. The fuel heating system may include at least one fuel heating chamber in communication with an exhaust stack of a turbine engine. The fuel heating chamber may be configured to allow exhaust gases to flow through the at least one fuel heating chamber. The fuel heating system may also include at least one conduit positioned in the fuel heating chamber. The conduit may be configured to receive fuel from a fuel source at a first temperature, allow the fuel to flow through the conduit, and exhaust the fuel at a second temperature that is higher than the first temperature. |
| US07640742B2 |
Device for monitoring the level of a container
A device for monitoring the level of a supply reservoir, in particular of a hydraulic motor vehicle brake system, comprising a float that has a magnet for actuating a switch or a sensor. The float has a multipart design comprising a first part and a second float part and the magnet is encased and arranged between the two float parts. |
| US07640740B2 |
Stirling engine
A high efficient stirling engine with excellent thermal efficiency, which can increase the heating temperature of a high temperature section, is obtained by preventing the heat from being lost in a member connecting the high temperature section and a low temperature section.The high temperature section 5 and the member (a regenerator housing 16) connecting the high temperature section and the low temperature section are formed to have a split configuration by using different materials for the each, in which the high temperature section 5 is formed of a heat resistant/high heat conductive material having high heat resistance property and high heat conductivity, the regenerator housing 16 connecting the high temperature section 5 and the low temperature section 7 is formed of a heat resistant/low heat conductive material having low heat conductivity, and the both are bonded integrally to each other to obtain an integral sealed structure. |
| US07640736B2 |
Self-contained hydraulic actuator system
The hydraulic linear actuator system of the present invention includes a pump that is configured to rotate in a single direction at a substantially constant velocity. Both the direction and flow rate of fluid through the system is controlled by adjusting the positional relationship between the stator and the rotor of the pump. This positional relationship is adjustable between a forward flow state, a non-flow state and a reverse flow state. The hydraulic linear actuator is responsive to the flow of fluid through the system so as to be displaced in a first direction by the forward flow state of the pump and in a second direction by the reverse flow state of the pump. |
| US07640735B2 |
Auxiliary pump for hydrostatic transmission
An auxiliary pump assembly for a hydrostatic transmission that operates at a reduced pressure when the auxiliary circuit is not in use, and operates at an increased pressure when the auxiliary circuit is in use, thereby reducing the heat generated by the auxiliary pump. The auxiliary pump assembly can be used to supply low pressure makeup flow to a closed loop of a hydrostatic transmission. A combination valve including a bypass valve and a relief valve is also provided. |
| US07640733B2 |
Structural component, especially a shielding component
A structural part, especially a shielding component, has structural parts (10, 12, 14, 16) at least in part differently configured with respect to their surface extent and/or the directional pattern. At least one structural part (10) of a first type is provided with a curvature at least partially increasing in the direction of at least one edge area (20). Structural parts (12) of a second type at least in part follow the curvature (18) of the first structural part. In each curved edge area (20), at least one structural part (14) of a third type is provided, according to the position in which the structural parts (12) of the second type are oriented and extend continuously at least in the area of the change in the curvature toward the edge area (20) along the first structural part (10). The edge area is strengthened by an additional structural part which, in addition to low-vibration behavior, leads to a clear reduction of acoustic propagation of noisy engine components. |
| US07640729B2 |
Method for operating a particulate filter situated in the exhaust gas area of an internal combustion engine and device for carrying out the method
A method for operating a particulate filter situated in an exhaust gas area of an internal combustion engine and a device for carrying out the method are described. A measure of the particulate matter burn-off rate is detected for influencing and/or monitoring the particulate matter burn-off rate or for influencing and/or monitoring the particulate filter temperature. A secondary air flow supplied by a secondary air pump is blown into the exhaust gas area upstream from the particulate filter. The secondary air flow is determined as a function of the detected measure of the particulate matter burn-off rate. If necessary, the secondary air flow may be enriched by an oxygen flow or nitrogen flow supplied by an air separation unit. The method prevents the particulate filter from being damaged by an unacceptably high particulate matter burn-off rate or an unacceptably high particulate filter temperature. |
| US07640727B2 |
Combustion control for engine
A combustion control apparatus for an internal combustion engine, includes an exhaust purifier in an exhaust passage, and a combustion controlling actuator such as a fuel injector to cause main combustion, and to cause preliminary combustion prior to the main combustion. A controller controls fuel injection to produce the preliminary combustion at or near top dead center, and controls fuel injection to start the main combustion after an end of the preliminary combustion. |
| US07640724B2 |
System and method for improving the heat rate of a turbine
A steam cycle power plant (10) is provided that may include a steam source generating steam (40), a steam turbine (24) receiving the generated steam and discharging an exhaust steam, a condenser (44) receiving the exhaust steam and an atomizer (60) for injecting water into the exhaust steam downstream of the steam turbine (24) and upstream of a cooling surface of the condenser (44) effective to reduce a backpressure on the steam turbine (24) and improve a heat rate of the steam turbine (24). The atomizer (60) may include a plurality of symmetrical spaced fluid connections (70) and a plurality of atomizing nozzles (62) affixed proximate at least one exhaust end of the steam turbine (24). The power plant (10) may be a combined cycle power plant including a heat recovery steam generator (40) and a gas turbine engine (12). |
| US07640723B2 |
Engine with fuel/lubricant supply system for bearing lubrication
A fuel delivery system for a gas turbine engine that delivers fuel to a combustor of the engine and lubricates bearings of the engine with fuel, comprising: a tank for storing the fuel; a pump for delivering a continuous flow of fuel from the tank to the combustor by way of a combustor inlet stream and the engine bearings by way of a bearing lubrication stream; a pressurized container for storing fuel lubrication additive under pressure; and a flow valve for controlling flow of fuel lubrication additive that flows from the pressurized container into the bearing lubrication inlet stream to mix with the fuel delivered to the engine bearings. |
| US07640719B2 |
Rotary mower over-center self-locking wing lift
A wing-type rotary mower apparatus with a hydraulically powered over-center self-locking wing lift that extends between the central mower deck and the wing mower deck(s) to effect wing movement from a working position to a locked transport position. The lift mechanism comprises a double acting cylinder, a bell crank, and a pair of lift links that are pivotally connected. When the cylinder is retracted the bell crank rotates inward towards the center of the apparatus transferring the movement through the lift links to the mower wing(s). The rotational force on the bell crank about a fixed central pivot point on the central mower deck goes from an outward force reacted to by the cylinder to an inward force supported by the stop seat on the central mower deck; effectively locking the wing(s). The procedure is reversed when the cylinder is extended to return the wing(s) to the working position. |
| US07640718B2 |
Attachment for harvesting stalk-like goods where each cutting and conveying element is controlled individually
An attachment for agricultural harvesting machines for cutting, picking up and further conveying of stalk-like goods that flow into an intake gap of an intake housing of the harvesting machine for further processing, having in each case at least two cutting and conveying elements, which are spaced apart on both sides of a vertical longitudinal center plane and are driven rotationally about vertical axes, wherein the rotational direction of at least one cutting and conveying element can be changed independently of the other cutting and conveying elements of the attachment. |
| US07640716B2 |
Device for manufacturing foam cushions
A device for manufacturing foam cushions in particular for packaging purposes, said device comprising a foil supply station and a foam dispensing station, said foil supply station being provided for supplying to said foam dispensing station a foil material, having a first and a second side wall joining each other at a common first border and positioned so as to delimit an inner space accessible by an opening applied in a second border, said foam dispensing station comprising first retaining means, provided for retaining said second border, said foam dispensing station further comprising a dispensing member, provided for penetrating through said opening and supplying a foaming substance into said inner space, said device further comprising transport means, provided for transporting said foil material through said dispensing station towards a welding station, said foam dispensing station further comprises slot shaping means mounted offset and downwards from said first retaining means in such a manner as to form a slot to be crossed by an upper stroke of said foil material, said dispensing member being oriented with respect to said slot shaping means when applied into said opening, in such a manner, as to output said foaming substance towards an upper surface of said slot shaping means. |
| US07640715B2 |
Multi-material vertical form, fill and seal bag forming method
A multi-substrate sheet for forming an at least partially open mesh fabric bag using a form, fill and seal machine and a bag formed of this sheet are provided. The sheet includes at least one strip formed of an open mesh polymeric fabric and at least one strip formed of a polymeric film. The fabric and film strips are secured to one another to form a web that can be formed into a roll and utilized with a form, fill and seal machine. The bag resulting from the processing of the web by the machine includes a substantial open mesh fabric portion to provide adequate ventilation to the product positioned within the bag and a printable film portion. |
| US07640714B2 |
Medical device packaging assembly and method for medical device orientation
Methods of packaging a medical device to orient at least a portion of the medical device and a medical device packaging assembly are provided. A method includes providing an elongate holder having a lumen extending through at least a portion of the holder and providing the medical device including an elongate shaft where the shaft includes a first cross-sectional area having a rotational orientation and a second cross-sectional area having a second rotational orientation. The method further includes aligning the first and second areas so that the first and second rotational orientations are aligned along a longitudinal region of the shaft and inserting at least a portion of the medical device into the lumen of the holder Radial rotation of the first area with respect to the second area is substantially prevented. |
| US07640712B1 |
Window glazing assembly having a carbon fiber insert member
The invention is a window glazing assembly having a series of segmented and non-segmented intersecting muntins for supporting glass panes. The non-segmented muntins incorporate a continuous carbon fiber insert that is disposed interior of the non-segmented muntin which rests directly against a perimeter edge of the glass panes. The glazing assembly safely disperses wind load or other forces acting against the glass panes. |
| US07640711B2 |
Interlocking continuous roof assembly and method for wind resistant roofing
An Interlocking Continuous Roof Assembly and Method for Wind Resistant Roofing is presented, whereby continuous double lock seams are used exclusively to join panels together. This roof manufacturing methodology results in a roof that possesses improved resistance to wind and water during storm conditions and thereby decreases the chances of the roof being damaged or destroyed by severe weather. |
| US07640709B2 |
Insulated frame member
An insulated frame member 10 comprising first and second frame components 12, 14 interconnected by first and second thermally insulating connectors 24, 26 each connector 24, 26 defining, with the first and second frame components 12, 14 a channel 28, 30 containing a resin material 32, the connectors 24, 26 being off-set from one another. |
| US07640706B2 |
Transition molding
The invention is a joint cover assembly for covering a gap adjacent an edge of a panel that covers a sub-surface, and a method of covering such a gap. The assembly includes a molding having a foot, a first arm, and a second arm. The foot is positioned along a longitudinal axis, and the first arm extends generally perpendicularly from the foot. The second arm extends generally perpendicularly from the foot. A tab depends generally perpendicularly from the first panel engaging surface. At least one of the tab and the foot engage the edge in order to tightly fit within the gap. The method includes the steps of placing the foot in the gap, pressing the respective panel engaging surfaces into contact with respective panels, and configuring at least one of the tab and the foot to cooperate to retain the molding in the gap when the assembly is in an installed condition. |
| US07640705B2 |
Floor strip
A thin decorative thermosetting laminate of postforming quality is glued to a longitudinal carrier to form a floor strip. The laminate has a thermosetting resin as well as hard particles impregnated therein to increase the abrasion resistance of the laminate. The carrier generally has a cross section of a dilatation, transition or a finishing profile, depending on the intended use of the floor strip. The floor strip has a tab portion on a surface that engages a channel on a floor tile or a reducer. The tab portion locks the floor strip into place and prevents movement of the floor tile or the reducer with respect to the floor strip. |
| US07640704B2 |
Strengthened door with stiffeners
A door comprises a frame, first and second outer skins, and first and second stiffeners. The first and second outer skins are respectively connected to first and second sides of the frame, and the first and second stiffeners are positioned between the first and second outer skins and are attached to the frame. The first stiffener is connected to the first side of the frame, and the second stiffener is connected to the second side of the frame. The first and second outer skins are respectively connected to the first and second stiffeners at positions adjacent the frame. The first and second stiffeners are joined together within an area defined by the frame, and the first and second stiffeners are joined together along a plane approximately equidistant from the first and second outer skins. The door also includes a window. |
| US07640702B2 |
Floor support systems and methods
According to the invention, a system for supporting a floor structure from a central structure is disclosed. The system may include a plurality of receptacles and a plurality of support members. Each of the receptacles may be located within a corner of an exterior perimeter of the central structure. Each of the receptacles may also at least partially define a cavity which may open to two different sides of the central structure. Each of the support members may be configured to pass through the cavity of at least one of the receptacles. Furthermore, each of the support members may be configured to be supported by at least one of the receptacles, and extend outward from two different sides of the central structure. The support members may further be configured to support the floor structure on two different sides of the central structure. |
| US07640700B2 |
Continuous structural wall system
A composite wall panel having continuous upper and lower hollow horizontal chases and spaced hollow studs forming vertical chases throughout the panel to permit passage of electrical wiring and the like. The chases have protective barriers to protect the wiring from penetration and damage due to mechanical fasteners used to manufacture the panel and to construct load bearing walls using a plurality of manufactured panels. Further, the panel has a continuous header to provide structural rigidity and to permit rapid manufacturing of the panel without the need to frame openings, such as doors and windows, at the time of manufacture. Openings are cut in the panels and finished after the walls are constructed. Even further, the panel has horizontally extending brackets which laterally support the studs. |
| US07640698B2 |
Emergency vehicle shelter
An emergency vehicle shelter designed for women, senior citizens, and/or individuals with limited disabilities in mind; including an inflatable unit configured for nested engagement with a vehicle for covering the vehicle's upper and outer surfaces. The unit may be inflated by a remotely activated inflation unit. Provision is made in the unit member to allow a vehicle operator to reenter the vehicle for shelter from inclement weather. |
| US07640697B2 |
Device for connecting the fixing region of a guide rail to the door body of a vehicle door
A guide piece, for connecting the fixing region of a guide rail to the door frame of a vehicle door, whereby the guide piece may be fixed in the external skin thereof, houses a fixing means and the fixing region of the guide rail which may be adjusted in the direction of the vehicle transverse axis (Y-axis) within the guide piece. The guide piece with fixing clips in slots in the external skin can be adjusted in the direction of the vehicle longitudinal axis (X-axis) as required, relative to the external skin of the door frame and may be pre-positioned on the fixing region of the guide rail with a positive fit. The guide piece is embodied in two pieces and comprises a cover which may be connected to a baseplate, between which a part of the fixing means is positively fitted and a part of the fixing region of the guide rail is adjustably arranged perpendicular to the plane of the vehicle door (Y-axis). |
| US07640693B2 |
Snake fence
The Snake Fence (1), especially for catching snakes. The netting is attached to upright staking material (2) which is hammered into the ground. The netting follows the staking material and is attached to the staking material (3) and then secured to the ground by fasteners (4). It is the single, double, or multiple layering of netting that catches the snakes and holds the snakes. The snakes cannot extricate themselves from the netting. The netting is proportional in size to the snake being caught; the staking material is proportional in size to the netting; the fasteners are proportional in size to the staking material. |
| US07640688B2 |
Adjustable cheek rest and accessory rail for firearms
The present invention provides an adjustable cheek rest for installation on the butt stock of a firearm, the cheek rest having an elongate comb adapted to conform to the top portion of the butt stock, the comb being supported on a rail that is fixed to, or removably mounted to, one side of the butt stock. The cheek rest comb is adjustable both longitudinally and vertically with respect to the butt stock to suit the needs of a particular shooter, the comb being attached to the butt stock by a fixture slidably engaging the rail to permit longitudinal adjustment and slidably engaging the comb to permit vertical adjustment. Once adjusted, the comb may be secured in a desired longitudinal and vertical location. A removable rail is also provided for mounting the cheek rest and/or other accessories to a firearm butt stock not having a fixed accessory mounting rail. |
| US07640684B2 |
Torque locking system for fastening a wear member to a support structure
The present invention is directed to a releasable locking assembly for attaching a wear member to a support structure. It may be used with excavating equipment for attaching ground-engaging teeth to adaptors, lip shrouds to bucket lips, or other analogous uses. The wear member includes at least one pin-retainer-receiving opening in one side. The opening is tapered, being narrower at its outer surface and wider at its inner surface. The support structure includes at least one pin-receiving recess which generally aligns with the opening in the wear member when the wear member and the support structure are operatively coupled. The pin retainer is a frustoconically shaped cylinder which is threaded internally. It is inserted into the opening in the wear member. The wear member is slidably mounted onto the support structure. The pin is an elongate body which is externally threaded. It is screwed into the pin retainer by the application of torque force from a standard ratchet tool. The pin extends through the wear member and into the recess in the support structure to lock the wear member to the support structure. The pin may be released using a ratchet tool and removed from the pin retainer. The wear member may then be removed from the support structure. |
| US07640681B2 |
Electric massage shoe assembly
An electric massage shoe assembly includes a shoe with a conductive unit received therein which has a receptacle, a first wire and at least one conductive rod which extends through an insole unit and is in contact with wearer's foot. A frequency current generating unit is electrically connected to the receptacle of the conductive unit so as to transfer frequency current to the wearer's foot and stimulate the wearer's foot. |
| US07640679B2 |
Midsole element for an article of footwear
An article of footwear is disclosed that includes an upper and a sole structure secured to the upper. The sole structure has a midsole element that defines a void, and the void may extend substantially vertically through a central area of the midsole element. The void may also extend between an upper surface and a lower surface of the midsole element to define an interior surface. A plurality of bores are also defined in the midsole element. The bores may extend substantially horizontally through the midsole element, and the bores may extend between an exterior surface of the midsole element and the void. |
| US07640676B1 |
Power tool measuring device
In one embodiment of the present invention, a distance measuring device for use with a power tool having an alignment area for receiving a work piece, comprises a measuring sensor proximate to said alignment area that produces a first signal corresponding to longitudinal motion of the work piece within the alignment area; a processor that receives the first signal, determines a longitudinal distance traveled by the work piece within the alignment area from the first signal, and outputs a second signal corresponding to the longitudinal distance traveled by said work piece within said alignment area; and a display receiving the second signal from the processor and providing an alpha-numeric representation of the distance traveled by the work piece within the alignment area. |
| US07640675B2 |
Method for measuring tools with a measuring device, and measuring apparatus with a measuring device for measuring tools
A method is proposed for measuring tools on a machine tool with a measuring device, wherein by means of a movement of a spindle of the machine tool the measuring device is temporarily positioned at a measuring point on the machine tool in order to carry out one or more measurements, the measuring point differing from a spindle mount. Furthermore, a measuring apparatus is proposed which is embodied in such a way that the measuring device can be positioned at a measuring point on the machine tool for a measuring operation by means of a spindle movement of a machine tool, said measuring point differing from a spindle mount. |
| US07640673B2 |
Calibration and operation of wheel alignment systems
A method is provided for calibrating a sensor pod of a wheel alignment system, the sensor pod including a housing rotatably mounted on a spindle, and an image sensor in the housing having a viewing axis oriented in a direction substantially normal to an axis of rotation of the spindle for imaging a target affixed to an object such as a vehicle wheel. An example of the method includes mounting the pod on a fixture via the pod spindle such that the pod spindle is stationary, and positioning a target to allow imaging of the target with the pod image sensor. The pod is rotated such that its image sensor obtains images of the target in at least two rotational positions, and the images of the target at the at least two rotational positions are processed to determine the location of the axis of rotation of the spindle relative to the image sensor. |
| US07640670B2 |
Inspecting tool
An inspecting tool for inspecting whether inside dimensions of a server chassis is qualified or not is presented. The inspecting tool includes a rectangular frame and a handle attached to the fame. A width of the frame is equal to a minimum desirable value of an inside width of the server chassis, and a height of the frame is equal to a minimum desirable value of an inside height of the server chassis. |
| US07640667B2 |
Hand tools
A pruner has a movable handle/blade assembly pivotally coupled to a static handle/blade assembly by a pivot assembly carried by the static handle. The pivot assembly further has a bush within the static handle and on which the movable handle/blade assembly is pivotally mounted, a spring for pivotally biasing the movable handle/blade assembly to an open position being retained by the pivot assembly within the static handle. Both the movable blade and static blade are mounted on the bush and are clamped laterally between two separate parts of the bush which are assembled together in screw threaded engagement, and the two blades are supported from the bush by a bearing ring of low friction material. |
| US07640666B1 |
Gardening shears without producing a gap between two cutting blades of the gardening shears
A pair of gardening shears include two cutting blades pivotally connected with each other, two movable members each having a first side mounted on a respective cutting blade, two fixing members each mounted on a second side of a respective movable member, two locking bolts each extended through the fixing members, the movable members and the cutting blades, and two locking nuts each screwed onto a respective locking bolt. Thus, the cutting blades are limited by the fixing members and the locking bolts so that the cutting blades are juxtaposed to each other closely without producing a gap between the cutting blades, thereby facilitating a user operating the gardening shears. |
| US07640661B2 |
Process for manufacturing a reinforcing leading or trailing edge for a fan blade
A process for manufacturing reinforcing parts (14) for leading edges (10) and/or trailing edges (12) of fan blades (1) is described. In particular, this invention relates to the use of the SPF/DB (< |
| US07640654B2 |
Electronic component transporting method
A pickup device comprising a pickup surface to which an electronic component retaining liquid is to be applied and capable of adjusting a wet area of the electronic component retaining liquid on the pickup surface is prepared, and the electronic component retaining liquid is applied to the pickup surface in a first step. The electronic component is retained on the pickup surface via the electronic component retaining liquid in a state where the wet area is extended in a second step. |
| US07640653B2 |
Attaching device
A producing method of producing a solid state pickup device is provided. Imaging elements are formed on a wafer in a matrix form. Each of the imaging elements has a light receiving surface and plural contact points. Receiving surface border portions are formed on a glass plate to protrude therefrom in a matrix form by etching. The receiving surface border portions are attached to the wafer to surround the light receiving surface in each of the receiving surface border portions. The light receiving surface is spaced from the glass plate. The glass plate is diced outside respectively the receiving surface border portions, to form shield glass for covering the light receiving surface. The wafer is diced for each of the imaging elements, to obtain the solid state pickup device having the shield glass and one of the imaging elements. |
| US07640651B2 |
Fabrication process for co-fabricating multilayer probe array and a space transformer
Embodiments of the invention provide fabrication processes for the co-fabrication of microprobe arrays along with one or more space transformers wherein the fabrication processes include the forming and adhering of a plurality of layers to previously formed layers and wherein at least a portion of the plurality of layers are formed from at least one structural material and at least one sacrificial material that is at least in part released from the plurality of layers after formation and wherein the space transformer includes a plurality of interconnect elements that connect one side to the array of probes that has a first spacing to another side that has a second spacing where the second spacing is greater than the first spacing. In some embodiments, the fabrication process includes a plurality of electrodeposition operations. |
| US07640646B2 |
Method for producing composite of aluminum alloy and thermoplastic resin
The present invention is useful for achieving a reduction in weight and for attaining increased strength in not only electronic devices and domestic electric devices but also various parts and structures. As a pretreatment, a rib (3) is dipped in an aqueous solution of ammonia, hydrazine, a hydrazine derivative, or a water-soluble amine compound. A metal frame (2) is inserted into an injection mold for forming ribs (3) by injection molding. A thermoplastic resin composition is injected to the surface of the metal frame (2) by injection molding to form ribs (3). In the housing of a casing cover (1) thus formed, the metal frame (2) and the ribs (3) made of the thermoplastic resin composition are integrally bonded together. Thus, the housing improves strength and external appearance. Moreover, a complicated configuration and structure can be formed in the housing. |
| US07640642B2 |
Machine tool apparatus
To provide a machine tool of which the operation rate can be increased by reducing time for suspending an operation for machining an object to be machined during the object-machining operation using the machine tool. A jig includes at least a first jig (5) disposed in a casing (2) and a second jig (14) by which an object (8) is detachably held. The jigger has attaching/detaching structure (17) for detachably mounting the second jig (14) onto the first jig (5). The second jig (14) is provided with grip parts (32) for gripping the second jig (14) during its movement. The casing (2) is provided with an opening (S) for taking in and out the second jig (14) relatively to the position where the object is to be machined from the outside of the casing (2), and guide passages (18), (22) for guiding generally horizontal movement of the second jigs (14) are provided at least between the above-said position and the opening (S) so that the second jig (14) gripped by the grip parts (32) can be moved along the guide passages (18), (22). |
| US07640641B2 |
Method for producing parts for passive electronic components and parts produced
Method for producing parts for passive electronic components according to which: a laminated strip (1) is produced which is constituted by at least one stack of a thin metal strip and a layer of adhesive material, and at least one part (6) is cut from the laminated strip (1), the cutting operation being carried out using a method which comprises at least one step for etching by means of sandblasting. Parts produced. |
| US07640638B2 |
Fastening system for wearing article
A fastening system for a wearing article comprising a pair of hook carrying side edge portions with a hook component and a pair of loop carrying side edge portions with a loop component adapted to be detachably engaged with each other. Each of the hook carrying side edge portions comprises a first sheet section extending outward from each of the transversely opposite side edges of the wearing article, a second sheet section being contiguous to an outer side edge of the first sheet section so as to extend toward the transverse side edge, a joining area extending in parallel to and spaced from the outer side edge so as to join the first and second sheet section to each other, and a non-joining area surrounded by the joining area, the first and second sheet sections and the outer side edge, and the hook component has first and second edges extending in parallel to the outer side edge and is secured to the hook carrying side edge portion in such a manner that the first side edge lies in the joining area while the second side edge lies in the non-joining area. |
| US07640636B2 |
Apparatus for securing ornamentation to personal items
An ornamental device includes a first member adapted to be coupled to a personal item. The first member has a first end having a sidewall. A second member is releasably engagable with the first member, and is provided with a recess that receives the first end of the first member when the first and second members are engaged. The second member has a flange that contacts the sidewall of the first member substantially along a width of the sidewall when the first and second members are engaged. The first and second members are magnetically coupled, such that the magnetic interaction, and the interaction of the flange with the sidewall, secures a decorative second member to a personal item in a selected location. |
| US07640635B2 |
Fixing clip for interior part of vehicle
A fixing clip for fixing an interior part of a vehicle is provided. The fixing clip is assembled in a body with the interior part via a headlining by a screw and is fixed to a mounting bracket provided in a vehicle body. The fixing clip includes a bottom part provided with a screw hole through which the screw is fastened and being in close contact with an upper surface of the interior part, a pair of body parts extending and being bent upwardly from both ends of the bottom part to face each other, and a pair of coupling parts extending and being bent outwardly and downwardly from upper ends of the body parts and being inserted into clip insertion holes provided on the mounting bracket. Accordingly, the clip can firmly and easily mount/separate an interior part on/from the vehicle body with its deformation, damage, or unexpected seceding due to an external force prevented. |
| US07640633B2 |
Buckle set of swimming goggles
A buckle set, which fits onto a strap for adjusting the strap to a desired length, generally fits onto the strap attached to goggles of almost any application, such as swimming goggles, scuba mask, or dust and wind goggles. Specifically, a buckle set allows a strap to easily and quickly be adjusted to a desired length from its two ends. |
| US07640630B2 |
Refrigerator
A refrigerator capable of saving time and labor for mounting a handle to a door is disclosed. The refrigerator has a main body including a storage compartment opened toward the front, a door mounted to the main body to open and close the storage compartment, a handle provided on the front of the door in the form of a long shaft extended lengthwise in a vertical direction of the door in order to open and close the door, and fastening units arranged between the handle and the door lengthwise in the vertical direction of the door to enable mounting of the handle to the door through a simple operation of pushing the handle toward the door and engaging the fastening units. |
| US07640628B2 |
Hinge assembly for flat display monitor
A hinge assembly (300) for use in a flat display monitor includes a base seat (10), a fixing seat (20), a pivotal shaft (30), a resilient element (80) and a plurality of washers. The base seat includes a pivot flange (14) having a retaining hole (12) formed therein. The pivot flange defines a protrusion (18) therein, and the protrusion extending into the retaining hole. The fixing seat includes an extending portion (26) defining an engaging hole. The resilient element resists between the base seat and the fixing seat. The pivotal shaft has at least one flat surface, and the pivotal shaft is positioned within the retaining hole of the pivot flange. One of the at least one flat surface pivotably engages with the protrusion. The pivotal shaft extends beyond the retaining hole of the pivot flange, and the plurality of washers is fastened together to the pivotal shaft. |
| US07640623B2 |
Vacuum cleaner
A vacuum cleaner is provided. The vacuum cleaner includes suction means that provides suction force, a suction nozzle that uses the suction force provided by the suction means to draw in particle laden air, a dust collecting box that receives the particle laden air drawn in through the suction nozzle, an upper cover having an opening at a central portion thereof that provides for selective opening/closing of an upper portion of the dust collecting box, and a filter assembly that is selectively fastened to an edge of the opening, for filtering dust from the particle laden air and discharging the air upward. This structure simplifies cleaning and replacement of the dust collector assembly. |
| US07640619B2 |
Bearing for wiper drives
The invention relates to a wiper system with a wiper drive (1), which is comprised of a wiper motor (2) and a gear (3). A wiper arm shaft (14) for a wiper arm (19) can be driven via the output shaft (5) of the gear (3). Linking points (31, 32, 33) for accommodating the wiper drive (1) on a surface (24, 40) are arranged in the housing area (7) of the wiper drive (1). The linking points (31, 32, 33) of the wiper drive (1) each feature a decoupling element (41, 42, 43), in which fastening elements (55) to mount the wiper drive (1) either on a vehicle body (24) or on a screw-down surface (40) are accommodated. |
| US07640618B2 |
Cleaning article
There is disclosed a cleaning article including a brush portion. The brush portion has a plurality of strips and at least one layer of a fiber bundle. |
| US07640614B2 |
Multi motion toothbrush
An electric toothbrush is disclosed. The electric toothbrush includes a body having an interior hollow region for retaining one or more motors, batteries, and drive mechanisms. The toothbrush includes multiple bristle carriers. Each of the bristle carriers undergoes some type of movement and is driven by the one or more motors and drive mechanisms. Various combinations of movement of the bristle carriers are described. And, numerous drive train mechanisms are disclosed for achieving the noted motions. |
| US07640612B2 |
Device incorporating a chamber through which fluid is adapted to flow and the use of a drawer guide in such a device
A drawer guide is provided for a dishwasher or other device through which there is a flow of liquid or gas. The drawer guide has guide rails and at least one rolling member assembly to guide the guide rails in a displaceable manner on another guide rail. A cage is provided for the rolling members. At least one of the guide rails has a rear rail portion with fluid passage openings that allow liquid or gas to flow through the guide rail when the device is in operation. At least one cage for the rolling members of the drawer guide can include a rear cage portion that is provided with fluid passage openings that allow liquid or gas to flow therethrough when the device is in operation. |
| US07640608B2 |
Medical examination table
A medical examination table which is movable between a lowered patient entry/exit position and a raised patient examination position. A scissor-lift assembly is provided to raise and lower the examination table. The examination table includes a drawer having a pivotal front panel which is adapted to support instruments or other items thereon when the drawer is folded to a downward position. The examination table further includes a storage pocket located beneath the backrest. The storage pocket and its contents are concealed when the backrest is lowered and are accessible when the backrest is inclined. |
| US07640607B2 |
Patient support systems
A patient support system includes a patient support, and a positioning system for positioning the patient support, wherein the positioning system is capable of placing the patient support such that a point on the patient support is at a location, and rotating the patient support about a vertical axis that intersects the point, wherein the positioning system includes a first arm and a second arm rotatably coupled to the first arm, and the patient support is rotatably coupled to the second arm. A patient support system includes a first base portion rotatable about a first vertical axis, a second base portion rotatably coupled to the first base portion such that the second base portion is rotatable relative to the first base portion about a second vertical axis, a first arm coupled to the second base portion, a second arm rotatably coupled to the first arm, and a patient support rotatably coupled to the second arm. |
| US07640605B2 |
Shower support
That end of a wall-mounting support for a shower head that is coordinated to the wall may be pivoted about a horizontal axis. A holder, into which a shower head may be inserted, is provided on the far end of the wall-mounting arm. That holder may also be pivoted about a horizontal axis. |
| US07640604B2 |
Waste removal system
A waste removal system that includes a toilet pan (28) for a ultra-low flushing volume toilet (20). The pan (28) includes a rearward end (28a) adapted for positioning substantially adjacent a cistern (22) and a frontward end (28b) adapted for positioning substantially remote the cistern (22). The pan (28) also includes a flushing water outlet having a primary outlet nozzle arrangement (42) disposed substantially adjacent the pan frontward end (28b) and adapted to direct flushing water (62) downwards and towards the pan rearward end (28a). The system also includes a related flushing method and drainline (90). |
| US07640600B2 |
Nursing cover
What is described is a sash-style apparatus that can be comprised of two strips of material. The two strips of material can be configured such that in one configuration the first strip of material lies substantially behind the second strip of material and in a second configuration, the two strips of material can be minimally parted to reveal the mother's nipple and allow an infant to breastfeed. The mother can feed and bond with her infant, without exposing her breast. |
| US07640598B1 |
Infant caregiver padded pillow garment
An infant caregiver's padded pillow garment has a single shoulder strap on one side. An outer breathable water resistant cover shields an inner memory foam pad. Teething items and toys on tethers are removably clipped to an edge of the garment. The garment covers the upper front torso and shoulders for holding the infant to cushion the infant's head banging the caregiver's bones. The garment folds in half vertically along a stitched vertical fold line and flips over to the back of the caregiver with the strap over the front for normal activity without holding the infant. The padding conforms to the shape of the caregiver's body from thick over the boney body portions tapering to thin over the upper breast. |
| US07644446B2 |
Encryption and data-protection for content on portable medium
A source generates a medium key (KM) and a media secret table including a plurality of entries, each entry including (KM) encrypted by a public key (PU-PD) of a plurality of devices, obtains the medium ID of a medium therefrom, generates a content key (KD) for a piece of content, encrypts the content with (KD) to result in (KD(content)), encrypts (KD) with (KM) to result in (KM(KD)), generates a package for the content including (KD(content)), (KM(KD)), the medium ID, and a signature based on at least the medium ID and verifiable with (KM), and copies the generated package and the media secret table to the medium. Thus, a device with the medium and a private key (PR-PD) corresponding to an entry of the media secret table can access and render the content. |
| US07644442B2 |
Systems and methods for using machine attributes to deter software piracy in an enterprise environment
A method, system and computer-readable medium for deterring software piracy in a volume license environment. A volume license key embedded within a volume license file is received. The volume license key has first data derived from at least one machine attribute of the environment. The volume license file is authenticated using second data derived from at least one machine attribute of the environment. A software package associated with the volume license key is then activated on at least one computing device in the environment. |
| US07644438B1 |
Security event aggregation at software agent
A network security system can have a plurality of distributed software agents configured to collect security events from network devices. In one embodiment, the agents are configured to aggregate the security events. In one embodiment of the present invention, an agent includes a device interface to receive a security event from a network device, a plurality of aggregation profiles, and an agent aggregate module to select one of the plurality of aggregation profiles, and increment an event count of an aggregate event representing the received security event using the selected aggregation profile. |
| US07644437B2 |
Method and apparatus for local area networks
A mechanism for segregating traffic amongst STAs that are associated with a bridge, referred to herein as the personal virtual bridged local area network (personal VLAN), is based upon the use of a VLAN to segregate traffic. The IEEE 802.1Q-1998 (virtual bridged LANs) protocol provides a mechanism that is extended by the invention to partition a LAN segment logically into multiple VLANs. In the preferred embodiment, a VLAN bridge forwards unicast and group frames only to those ports that serve the VLAN to which the frames belong. One embodiment of the invention extends the standard VLAN bridge model to provide a mechanism that is suitable for use within an AP. In a preferred embodiment, the Personal VLAN bridge extends the standard VLAN bridge in at least any of the following ways: VLAN discovery in which a personal VLAN bridge provides a protocol for VLAN discovery; VLAN extension in which a Personal VLAN allows a station to create a new port that serves a new VLAN, or to join an existing VLAN via an authentication protocol; Logical ports in which a Personal VLAN bridge can maintain more than one logical port per physical port, and bridges between ports of any kind; and cryptographic VLAN separation. |
| US07644434B2 |
Computer security system
A method of providing access to an authenticated user, and restricting access to an unauthorized user, of a computer system, is provided. The method includes determining whether a user is authenticated to access at least one resource included in the computer system. The method also includes establishing a session and a session identifier such that the user has access to the at least one resource if the user is authenticated to access the at least one resource. The method also includes changing the session identifier each time the user completes an interaction with the computer system during the session. |
| US07644427B1 |
Time-centric training, interference and user interface for personalized media program guides
The present invention is related to a system and method of considering time segments or intervals in a collaborative filtering model. The present invention extends collaborative filtering approaches by integrating considerations of temporality into the training and/or vote input associated with the usage of collaborative filtering models. The present invention also applies filtering to the output with temporal models, so as to view a most appropriate subset of recommended content, centering on content that may be available at a target time. The present invention applies time to a collaborative filtering model by allowing weight to be associated with selections within a current time segment, selections historically watched within the current time segment by the user and selections historically watched within the current time segment by a large group of users. |
| US07644426B2 |
Method for implementing help function in digital TV receiver
A method for implementing a help function in a digital television receiver is disclosed, wherein main help items including titles of external elements such as a rear panel and a front panel are displayed on a screen if a user pushes a help button of a remote controller or main body. When one of the main help items is selected, a configuration (or figure) of the selected main help item is displayed, and the user can indicate a desired part of the configuration by manipulating buttons of the remote controller and the main body. A help description of the indicated part is displayed on the screen together with it's configuration. |
| US07644420B2 |
Electronic unit loading mechanism and disk array device
In an electronic unit loading mechanism, an electronic unit is attachable to or detachable from an electronic unit loading base which is retractable to a housing. The electronic unit loading mechanism comprises a main part fixed to the loading base and a holding part holding the electronic unit. The holding part is vertically movable to the main part between a taken-out position and a loaded position, wherein the holding part at the taken-out position is taken out from the main part so that the electronic unit is attached to or detached from the loading base, and the holding part at the loaded position is contained in the main part so that the electronic unit is loaded to the loading base. |
| US07644415B2 |
Application programming interface to the simple object access protocol
Systems and computer-readable media implementing methods for providing an application programming interface (API) to the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) are described. The API provides mechanisms for creating all parts of SOAP request messages, for sending the created messages over HTTP to a remote server, and, if the request is successful, for retrieving the response from the remote server, or, in the case of failure, for accessing whatever error information is available. The information passed through the API can be in the form of parameters which allows both the SOAP protocol and the applications that use it to change without requiring changes to the API itself. |
| US07644412B2 |
Separate encapsulation of communication operations in computer algorithms
A computer algorithm is encapsulated in at least two modules: at least one communication operation of the computer algorithm is encapsulated in a communication module, separately from the rest of the operations of the algorithm which may be encapsulated in an algorithm module. The separately encapsulated communication operation is made available to the algorithm module during its execution. Modules for data objects encapsulating data communicated may also be provided. A framework may be provided to ensure compatibility between different modules, wherein a plurality of protocols are provided and each module implements a corresponding protocol. All environment-dependent communication operations may be separately encapsulated so that one of the communication module and the algorithm module may be modified without modifying the other. |
| US07644410B1 |
Resource management for shared computing environment
According to an embodiment, a method of managing resources in a shared computing environment begins with a first step of receiving a resource request object from a client. The resource request object requests resources from a resource pool of the shared computing environment for a time period. The method continues with a second step of assigning the resources to the client, thereby forming assigned resources. In a third step, the method sends a resource access handle to the client. The resource access handle provides the client access to the resources by a start time. The method employs a step of tracking the assigned resources and other state information by amendments to the resource request object. According to another embodiment, a system for managing resources in a shared computing environment employs the method. |
| US07644403B2 |
Method and system for automated root-cause analysis for class loading failures in java
A method and system for automated root-cause analysis for failures in class loading in a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) environment. Specifically, a class loader comprises a class loader for loading classes which comprises an identifier, a search policy object, a configuration policy object, and metadata. The identifier is unique to the JVM environment. The search policy object defines search procedures for discovering and loading a class by the class loader. The configuration policy object manages configuration of the class loader. Metadata describes the interrelationships between the class loader to other class loaders in a class loader tree supporting the JVM environment. |
| US07644399B2 |
Forming an executable program from a list of program instructions
A list of program instructions are mapped into memory addresses to form an executable program by simulating their execution in turn so as to determine a memory address of a next program instruction to be executed. That memory address is then examined to determine if a program instruction has already been mapped thereto. If the memory address is empty, then the next program instruction from the list is mapped to that empty memory address and the execution of that next program instruction is simulated and the process repeated. If the memory address is not empty, then the program instruction read from that memory address is simulated again and the process repeated. |
| US07644398B2 |
System and method for automatic test-case generation for software
A method for generating test cases for software and a test case generator comprising a simulator that drives software under test from one input state to the next. The simulator is constrained by predetermined criteria to visit states that meet the criteria thus preserving computer resources. The states reached by the simulator are tested. |
| US07644397B2 |
Software performance analysis using data mining
A system, method, and computer program for analyzing code execution and software performance characteristics are disclosed. Samples of code during run-time or from crash logs can be displayed as both a top-down tree of calls from a particular function and a bottom-up tree of calls to the particular function. Data mining techniques, including filtering and focusing, remove code that is not of interest and display code that is more relevant to performance analysis. In particular, functions contained in libraries such as system libraries can be stripped from view. The cost associated with an excluded function can be propagated to a calling function, in either the top-down or bottom-up tree. |
| US07644396B2 |
Optimal program execution replay and breakpoints
A method of replaying a recorded sequence of execution steps of a computer program or system to a selected target step while taking a minimal number of execution breaks includes calculating, for each of the steps, a predecessor step that can be reached in a minimal number of execution breaks. The total calculation time for the entire execution is linear in the number of steps, and allows subsequent calculation of an optimal path to any selected step to be obtained in time linear in the length of the optimal path. |
| US07644391B2 |
Sidebar engine, object model and schema
An engine is provided for displaying an application for hosting a second application. The hosting application can be a sidebar on a display. The engine can contain a part or program which can include a manifest file, a definition file and/or a script file. The manifest file may contain a pointer to at least one of the definition file and the script file. The engine may also contain a loader that can locate the definition file and/or script file (e.g., via pointers in the manifest file) and load the definition file and/or script files of the part for processing. The engine may also execute script associated with the part and convert an object model into a user interface which can be displayed at a predetermined location on a display or docked onto a sidebar. The user interface can further be manipulated or relocated within the sidebar or removed (i.e., undocked) from the sidebar. The sidebar may be exploded or imploded with the corresponding parts on the sidebar displayed on the desktop or another application (exploded) or returned to the sidebar (imploded). |
| US07644390B2 |
Design tool and methodology for enterprise software applications
A system for creating and viewing simulation models that are used for managing requirements and design specifications for complex systems. Users simultaneously collaborate on the description of a complex system such as an enterprise software project throughout its life cycle. User interfaces, designed to assist in the visualization of a particular form of knowledge, allow users to describe the complex system with simple interactive elements. Information in all perspectives is presented so that it is legible and discernable to a non-technical audience. Multi-dimensional data structures record all the resulting information, creating a simulation model of the complex system, and the tasks required for construction and maintenance. Tasks are driven from the specifications not as a separate activity, but as part of the same activity to facilitate project management by allowing decisions to be tracked virtually throughout the simulation model. |
| US07644389B2 |
Method for producing a mask for the lithographic projection of a pattern onto a substrate
A layout is decomposed into partial patterns. An intermediate mask is drawn for each of the partial patterns. The intermediate masks are used in a mask stepper or scanner progressively for projection again into a common pattern on a test mask. A line width distribution LB(x,y) is determined from the test mask or from a test wafer exposed using the mask, and is converted into a distribution of dose corrections. The transmission T(x,y) of the respective intermediate masks is adapted based upon the calculated dose correction. This can be achieved using additional optical elements which are assigned to the intermediate masks and have shading structure elements, or by laser-induced rear-side introduction of shading elements in the quartz substrate of the intermediate masks themselves. |
| US07644384B2 |
Method and system for distributing clock signals on non-Manhattan semiconductor integrated circuits
The present invention introduces methods, systems, and architectures for routing clock signals in an integrated circuit layout. The introduced clock signal clock signal structures are rendered with non Manhattan routing. In a first embodiment, the traditional recursive H clock signal structure is rendered after transforming the coordinates system such that a rotated recursive H clock signal structure is rendered. In another embodiment, a recursive Y structure is used to create a clock signal structure. The recursive Y structure may also be implemented in a rotated alignment. For clock signal redundancy, non Manhattan wiring may be used to create a clock signal mesh network. |
| US07644383B2 |
Method and system for correcting signal integrity crosstalk violations
A system and method for repairing crosstalk delays are disclosed herein. By modeling the change in effective capacitance, one may determine the delay attributable to crosstalk, and upsize cells in the failing net according to a mathematical formula in order to counter the delay. |
| US07644382B2 |
Command-language-based functional engineering change order (ECO) implementation
In one implementation, the invention can be a computer-implemented method for generating an engineering change order (ECO) netlist for an integrated circuit (IC). The method includes performing a formal equivalence check between an implementation netlist and a reference netlist to identify one or more corresponding failed compare points in the implementation and reference netlists. The method further includes, for at least one failed comparison: (i) performing equivalence verifications based on fan-in cones for the failed compare points, to generate pin pass/fail information, (ii) tracing the fan-in cone for the reference netlist to generate ECO pin and cell information, and (iii) modifying the implementation netlist, based on (1) the pin pass/fail information, (2) cell connectivity information, (3) cell description information, and (4) the ECO pin and cell information, to generate the ECO netlist by adding one or more new ECO cells to the implementation netlist and appropriately connecting them. |
| US07644381B2 |
Electromagnetic coupled basis functions for an electronic circuit
A method and system to efficiently create electromagnetic coupled basis functions for an electronic circuit that is defined by geometry data and topology data. The geometry data for the circuit are read, and a three-dimensional mesh of polygons for the circuit is created. External port geometry and internal port geometry (internal ports occur where vias are attached to conductive layers) are determined from the geometry data. Circuit electromagnetic basis functions are then created as are loop-tree formations that are coupled to the basis functions. The loops include local loops, via loops, and hole loops. The three-dimensional mesh is efficiently created by extruding a two-dimensional mesh for each layer and via in the circuit. |
| US07644378B2 |
Preconditioning for EDA cell library
A characterized cell library for EDA tools includes one or more mathematical models for each cell, and one or more preconditioning functions (and/or inverse preconditioning functions) for each mathematical model. Each mathematical model represents a performance parameter (e.g., delay, power consumption, noise) or a preconditioned performance parameter of the cell. The preconditioning functions convert an operating parameter (e.g., input slew, output capacitance) associated with the performance parameter into a preconditioned input variable for the mathematical models. In doing so, the preconditioning functions allow for more accurate modeling of complex data relationships without increasing the complexity (e.g., order and number of coefficients) of the mathematical models. Also, because the cell library can be substantially similar to conventional polynomial-based cell libraries except for the inclusion of preconditioning functions, preconditioning does not significantly increase storage requirements and conventional EDA tools can be readily adapted to use the preconditioned cell library. |
| US07644375B1 |
Dynamic path flow reports
A report shows website visitation statistics including page visits before and after a path that can include one or more pages. The report responds to user selection of a page by adding the selected page to the path and regenerating the report. The user can click on pages to add them to the path, or to replace existing pages in the path. The user can also request and receive additional information about any page represented in the report. |
| US07644370B2 |
Method of componentisation of a graphically defined formula
A computer implemented method of graphically defining a formula comprises the steps of: providing a graphically defined formula including one or more objects that graphically define the formula; selecting one or more of the objects to be grouped into a new component object; determining the number of connections that provide an input to the selected objects; determining the number of connections that provide an output to the selected objects; determining a graphical definition of the formula, where the selected objects are replaced with a representation of the new component object having the determined number of inputs and the determined number of outputs, connection(s) inputting to the selected objects from other objects are replaced with connection(s) connecting to the input(s) of the new component object and connection(s) outputting from the selected objects to the other objects are replaced with connection(s) connecting from the output(s) of the new component object; and determining a logical definition of the formula, where the selected objects are retained in the logical definition. |
| US07644363B2 |
“For-each” label components in CAD drawings
Embodiments of the invention provide a method for generating labels for drawing elements of a computer aided design (CAD) drawing that may include some unknown number of associated or related drawing elements. The method includes receiving a selection of a set of drawing elements in the CAD drawing that are associated with the first drawing element, receiving a selection of fields specifying attributes of the drawing elements in the set of drawing elements to use in generating label content for a label of the first drawing element, and defining a label style based on the selection of the set of drawing elements and the selection of attributes of the of the drawing elements in the set of drawing elements. |
| US07644357B2 |
Data conversion system
A worker defines a first conversion rule to convert data in a data format of a cooperative operation objective system as an input into data in a data format of first common data, a second conversion rule to convert data in the format of the first common data into data in a data format of a second common data, and a third conversion rule to convert data in the data format of the second common data into data in a data format of a cooperative operation objective system as an output. According to the rules, conversion processing is executed to convert data in the data format of the input system into data in the data format of the output system. |
| US07644350B2 |
Techniques for validating multimedia forms
Techniques for creating and processing electronic forms that include at least one field that is configured to accept multimedia information as input. Techniques are provided for creating an electronic form comprising at least one field that is configured to accept multimedia information. Techniques are provided for specifying and associating a set of constraints (or predicates) with fields of a multimedia form, including specifying and associating one or more constraints with fields configured to accept multimedia information. Techniques for validating the electronic form based upon the constraints, if any, associated with the fields of the form. Various actions may be performed depending upon the results of the validation. |
| US07644348B2 |
Method and apparatus for error detection and correction
A Random Access Error Detection and Correction unit (RAEDAC) that incorporates a bit-wise error detection and correction unit (BEDAC) in a memory system. In one embodiment, a word-wise error detection and correction unit (WEDAC) operates in coordination with a BEDAC that performs a bit-wise parity calculation. In another embodiment, a WEDAC operates in coordination with a full bit-wise BEDAC that calculates bit-wise check bits. The RAEDAC may be applied to create a multi-dimensional EDAC where, for example, the memory is partitioned into a stack of planes, and a stack-wise error detection and correction unit (SEDAC) is implemented. |
| US07644346B2 |
Format detection
A method of assessing an encoded signal to determine whether a candidate format was used to arrange the signal into blocks before the encoding was done, the method comprising: using the Viterbi algorithm to determine trellis metrics for a point in said signal that would be an end point of a candidate block according to the candidate format; determining from said metrics the likelihood of occupation at said point of an end state of an encoding scheme used to create the encoded signal; decoding a part of said signal ending at said point; and performing a check using said decoded part to determine whether the candidate block satisfies an error protection scheme of the candidate format. |
| US07644344B2 |
Latency by offsetting cyclic redundancy code lanes from data lanes
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to systems, methods, and apparatuses for improving latency by offsetting cyclic redundancy check lanes from data. In some embodiments, a memory device includes a memory array to provide read data bits and a cyclic redundancy code (CRC) generator to generate CRC bits corresponding to the read data bits. In addition, the memory device may include a transmit framing unit to transmit the read data bits and the CRC bits to a host, wherein the transmit framing unit includes logic to offset the transmission of the CRC bits from the transmission of the read data bits based, at least in part, on an offset value. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US07644341B2 |
Method and system for correcting soft errors in memory circuit
A method and a system for correcting a soft error in a memory circuit operates during a stand-by mode. After reading data from at least one memory cell without outputting the read data through an input/output module of the memory circuit in the stand-by mode, it is determined whether the read data is a soft error. If so, a correct value is written to the memory cell if the read data is the soft error. |
| US07644339B2 |
Overlapping sub-matrix based LDPC (low density parity check) decoder
Novel decoding approach is presented, by which, updated bit edge messages corresponding to a sub-matrix of an LDPC matrix are immediately employed for updating of the check edge messages corresponding to that sub-matrix without requiring storing the bit edge messages; also updated check edge messages corresponding to a sub-matrix of the LDPC matrix are immediately employed for updating of the bit edge messages corresponding to that sub-matrix without requiring storing the check edge messages. Using this approach, twice as many decoding iterations can be performed in a given time period when compared to a system that performs updating of all check edge messages for the entire LDPC matrix, then updating of all bit edge messages for the entire LDPC matrix, and so on. When performing this overlapping approach in conjunction with min-sum processing, significant memory savings can also be achieved. |
| US07644336B2 |
Techniques for providing greater error protection to error-prone bits in codewords generated from irregular codes
Greater error protection is provided to error-prone bits that are generated from irregular soft-decoded error correction codes. Error protection is increased to error-prone bits that of interest in a particular system (e.g., parity check bits). One or more extra bits are added to each codeword in the encoding process. The one or more extra bits correspond to lower weights. The one or more extra bits are discarded after each codeword is decoded. |
| US07644335B2 |
In-place transformations with applications to encoding and decoding various classes of codes
In an encoder for encoding symbols of data using a computing device having memory constraints, a method of performing a transformation comprising loading a source block into memory of the computing device, performing an intermediate transformation of less than all of the source block, then replacing a part of the source block with intermediate results in the memory and then completing the transformation such that output symbols stored in the memory form a set of encoded symbols. A decoder can perform decoding steps in an order that allows for use of substantially the same memory for storing the received data and the decoded source block, performing as in-place transformations. Using an in-place transformation, a large portion of memory set aside for received data can be overwritten as that received data is transformed into decoded source data without requiring a similar sized large portion of memory for the decoded source data. |
| US07644333B2 |
Restartable logic BIST controller
A method and apparatus for testing an integrated circuit using built-in self-test (BIST) techniques is described. In one aspect, a BIST circuit comprises a scan monitor with hold logic and a signature generation element. The hold logic is operable to suspend signature generation in the signature generation element at any desired point in the test sequence. In some embodiments, the hold logic comprises a scan-loadable signature hold flip-flop which allows the logic BIST controller to be restarted from any selected pattern within a pattern range and to run to any subsequent pattern. The BIST session can be run incrementally, testing and reporting intermediate MISR signatures. External automatic testing equipment can suspend signature generation at selected times during a BIST session to prevent tainting of the signature generation element. The hold logic also may comprise a rotating hold ring to suspend signature generation during predetermined shift cycles. |
| US07644330B2 |
Adapting scan architectures for low power operation
Scan architectures are commonly used to test digital circuitry in integrated circuits. The present invention describes a method of adapting conventional scan architectures into a low power scan architecture. The low power scan architecture maintains the test time of conventional scan architectures, while requiring significantly less operational power than conventional scan architectures. The low power scan architecture is advantageous to IC/die manufacturers since it allows a larger number of circuits (such as DSP or CPU core circuits) embedded in an IC/die to be tested in parallel without consuming too much power within the IC/die. Since the low power scan architecture reduces test power consumption, it is possible to simultaneously test more die on a wafer than previously possible using conventional scan architectures. This allows wafer test times to be reduced which reduces the manufacturing cost of each die on the wafer. |
| US07644321B2 |
Autonomically adjusting configuration parameters for a server when a different server fails
A load balancer detects a server failure, and sends a failure notification message to the remaining servers. In response, one or more of the remaining servers may autonomically adjust their configuration parameters, thereby allowing the remaining servers to better handle the increased load caused by the server failure. One or more of the servers may also include a performance measurement mechanism that measures performance before and after an autonomic adjustment of the configuration parameters to determine whether and how much the autonomic adjustments improved the system performance. In this manner server computer systems may autonomically compensate for the failure of another server computer system that was sharing the workload. |
| US07644318B2 |
Method and system for a failover procedure with a storage system
A method includes receiving a first command for accessing a tape storage system, the first command containing an indicator that the first command was issued as a result of a failover from a first path to the storage system to a second path to the tape storage system. The method further includes determining whether the first command is a repeat of a second command already received by the tape storage system. The first command is processed based on determining whether the first command is a repeat of the second command. |
| US07644316B2 |
System, method and program for managing browser scripts sent from server to client
System, method and program for managing a script program sent from a first computer to a second computer. The first computer embeds in the script program an identity of a program module within the first computer that generated the script program. The first computer sends to the second computer the script program with the embedded identity. The second computer attempts to execute the script program and encounters a problem with execution of the script program. In response, the second computer reads the identity of the program module from the script program and notifies the first computer of the problem and the identify of the script program based on the reading of the identity of the program module from the script program. By way of example, the identity of the program module which generated the script program comprises a name of the program module which generated the script program and a name of another program module which called the program module which generated the script program. |
| US07644313B2 |
Method, apparatus and program product for a point-in-time recovery of a computing system
A method for detecting a failure in a computing system and for restoring the system is provided. The method comprises providing a system connected to a network communications channel, creating, using a configured backup automation tool, a full system backup image and incremental archive logs of the system before attempting to remotely install software on the system and executing a point-in-time detection and restoration tool configured to detect a system failure when attempting to remotely install software on the system and, if the system failure is detected, to restore the system to a desired restoration point before the system failure occurred, using the full system backup image and incremental archive logs created of the system. |
| US07644310B2 |
Semiconductor IC incorporating a co-debugging function and test system
A semiconductor IC capable of debugging two or more processors at the same time by means of a single debugger and a semiconductor IC test system. The semiconductor IC includes processors operating at different frequencies, a trigger circuit which causes all of the processors to be in a debugging state when one of the processors is in the debugging state, and a JTAG circuit applying a boundary scan operation to the processors connected to a JTAG pin in series. |
| US07644303B2 |
Back-annotation in storage-device array
In one embodiment, a method for reading data from a storage-device array including three or more storage devices. The array has a plurality of sector levels, each sector level containing one sector on each storage device in the array at corresponding addresses across the storage devices. Each sector level includes (i) parity data stored on a first storage device and (ii) information stored on the two or more remaining storage devices. The parity data for a current sector level is generated from the information stored at the current sector level on the remaining storage devices. The method includes: (a) generating an instruction for reading (i) the parity data from the first storage device at the current sector level and (ii) the information from the remaining storage devices at the current sector level; (b) receiving an indicator indicating whether one of the remaining storage devices is a degraded storage device; (c) if the indicator does not indicate a degraded storage device, then providing as output the information read from the remaining storage devices at the current sector level; and (d) if the indicator does indicate a degraded storage device, then: (d1) reconstructing information previously stored on the degraded storage device at the current sector level based on (i) the parity data read from the first storage device at the current sector level, and (ii) the information read from each remaining non-degraded storage device at the current sector level; and (d2) providing as output (i) the information read from the one or more non-degraded storage devices at the current sector level and (ii) the reconstructed information. |
| US07644302B2 |
Restarting method using a snapshot
The active server A101 notifies its own operating status to the administration server 106, and the administration server 106 acquires a snapshot and copies a disk according to the policy established by a user. When the active server A101 or the active disk 113 fails, the administration server 106 chooses a backup server A104 and a status storage disk A114 to be booted and restarts them by using the snapshot according to the policy. |
| US07644297B2 |
Processor, control device for a processor, clock frequency determining method and source voltage controlling method of a processor
A processor comprises a clock signal generator generating clock signals; an operational processing part performing data processing which is divided into a plurality of execution units, in accordance with the clock signals; a storage storing data used when each execution unit is executed by the operational processing part; a data amount detector detecting amounts of the data stored in the storage per each execution unit; a clock frequency determining part determining a new clock frequency of the clock signals by using the amounts of the data, said clock signals being supplied newly to the operational processing part. |
| US07644292B2 |
Information processing apparatus, quick activation method, and storage medium
In response to an instruction to shut down a first operating system, the first operating system is shut down, and then a second operating system whose function is limited as compared with the first operating system is activated, and by the activation, the data stored in the memory is saved and a power-saving state is immediately entered, thereby automatically allowing the second operating system to be transferred to a state in which quick activation can be performed. |
| US07644291B2 |
Device throttling system from neighboring device
An array of electronic devices includes at least one throttlable device in the array of devices and a management module connected to the at least one throttlable device for reducing heat effects to an overheating device from neighboring devices in the array of electronic devices device. The management module is configured to detect the overheating of the overheating device, detect at least one throttlable device neighboring the overheating device and in the array of devices, and throttle the at least one throttlable device. The array of devices are an array of blade servers within a blade center, and the management module is separate from the at least one throttlable device. |
| US07644289B2 |
Modular cryptographic device providing enhanced communication control features and related methods
A cryptographic device may include a cryptographic module and a communications module coupled thereto. The cryptographic module may include a user network interface, a host network processor coupled to the user network interface, and a cryptographic processor coupled to the host network processor. Additionally, the communications module may include a network communications interface coupled to the cryptographic processor. The host processor may generate cryptographic processor command packets for the cryptographic processor each having an address portion and a data portion, and it may also encapsulate command packets for the communications module in the data portions of the cryptographic processor command packets. The cryptographic processor may pass the communications module command packets to the without performing cryptographic processing thereon. |
| US07644285B1 |
Recovery access to secure data
A security mechanism affords data recovery engineers the ability to access and recover secure data from user files without knowledge of the user's password. The mechanism uses a launcher application to access the database by establishing a temporary, restricted user session. The launcher application also passes a handle to an industry standard database tool, allowing the data recovery engineer to recover the user file data. The recovered data then can be accessed by the software application. |
| US07644283B2 |
Media analysis method and system for locating and reporting the presence of steganographic activity
A method and system for surreptitiously detecting and analyzing sites suspected of transferring steganographic communications, is accomplished by analyzing a targeted site for steganographic communications via a server that directs a plurality of clients to analyze the targeted site. The clients are dispatched according to the objectives of the server and the data retrieved by previous clients, which have been directed to scan the site. The client's data is aggregated and analyzed to determine if a steganographic communication is present. |
| US07644282B2 |
Pre-processed information embedding system
Methods are provided for embedding auxiliary information in a host content signal which reduce the memory, bandwidth and computational complexity of the embedding and transmission systems. In one embodiment, a first reduced-scale signal is produced which corresponds to the host content embedded with a first logical value and producing a second reduced-scale signal corresponding to the host content embedded with a second logical value. A first set of segments from the first reduced-scale signal may be combined with a second set of segments from the second reduced-scale signal in a pre-defined manner to produce a composite embedded host content. Thus the storage and transmission requirements of the watermarking system are reduced to having to deal with only the original content plus two reduced-scale signals. |
| US07644281B2 |
Character and vector graphics watermark for structured electronic documents security
The present invention is a method and apparatus for watermarking text or vector graphics documents. It is based on character-wise or vector graphics element-wise grayscale or color modulation. At high resolution, halftone or dither modulation can also be used in addition or in place of grayscale/color modulation, for printed representation of electronic document. For the detection, the document is acquired through an acquisition device, document segmentation is performed, characters/elements are segmented, the watermark signal is estimated and the information is decoded. Although the proposed scheme mostly addresses the watermarking of hard-copy documents, it can easily be integrated into electronic document editing and acquisition tools, and the watermark is attached to the document electronic version.The invention is applicable either using expensive high-resolution printing and acquisition devices, either using common cheap low-resolution devices, depending on the application needs. The proposed scheme is suitable for example to the protection of security documents, contracts, technical and commercial documentation; it can use any physical support like paper, cellulose, or plastic; it can be used for copy protection, authentication, or tamper proofing; finally it can also be applied to other non security-related applications, such as document tracking, as well as document embedded annotation and watermarked-assisted automatic processing. |
| US07644279B2 |
Consumer product distribution in the embedded system market
Aspects for consumer product distribution in the embedded system market are described. The aspects include forming a secure network for distributing product digitation files capable of configuring operations of an adaptive computing engine (ACE), and providing an agent server within the secure network for controlling licenses of the product digitation files, wherein a separation of responsibility and control of the distributing and licensing exists. |
| US07644277B2 |
Electronic key information system
In an authentication apparatus 300, so as to confirm whether a user is legitimate in supplying key information to a resource 500, discernment information for identifying the user is caused to be input, and only in a case where this discernment information coincided with the stored discernment information of the user, the key information is supplied to the resource. Also, in causing the authentication apparatus 300 to register the discernment information of the user, the discernment information is caused to be input, this discernment information is collated with the discernment information registered in a key information management center 200, and in a case where it coincided, the authentication apparatus 300 is caused to register the discernment information. Further, in having caused the authentication apparatus 300 to register the discernment information, this legitimate discernment information is transmitted to the key information management center 200, the key information caused to correspond to the legitimate discernment information is transmitted to the authentication apparatus 300 from the key information management center 200, and the authentication apparatus 300 is caused to store the key information. |
| US07644275B2 |
Pass-thru for client authentication
This disclosure pertains generally to client authentication. One aspect of the disclosure relates to a first server for presenting evidence to a Domain Controller (DC) of a first authentication context being submitted from a client to the first server to obtain a delegable credential, wherein the credential can be used to request a second authentication context from that client to a second server. Another aspect relates to the first server providing a pass-thru with evidence to a DC. The evidence relates to a first authentication context being submitted from a client to the first server that it obtained a delegable credential. The pass-thru is used in combination with the credential to request a second authentication context from the client to a second server. |
| US07644273B1 |
Modulation method for minimizing pirating and/or unauthorized copying and/or unauthorized access of/to data on/from data media including compact discs and digital versatile discs
The present invention relates to a technique for authenticating data stored on media in order to prevent piracy. According to the present invention, a lookup table contains broken or modified modulation rules comprising one or more authentication keys or components thereof, that are derived by the table's intentional breaking of standard 8-14 and 8-16 modulation rules. The authentication keys are formed and remain hidden without being transferred in the audio/video. Additionally, the lookup table is employed using conventional hardware and/or software in CD or DVD players. Each output value according to the present invention is a function of the physical characteristics of a disc that does not travel with the audio or video or graphics data. Authentication systems of the present invention optionally encompass singular, multiple or multi-level authentication systems, each of which successively must be deciphered before the audio/video is finally available. |
| US07644271B1 |
Enforcement of security policies for kernel module loading
A method and computer program product for providing enforcement of security policies for kernel module loading is presented. File paths for shared library executable files opened by user processes are cached. When a request to load a kernel loadable module (KLM) is received, a previously cached file path for said KLM is retrieved, said file path mapping a location of an executable file from which said KLM was produced. A security policy is applied to said file path, wherein when said file path triggers a security policy rule then an action associated with a triggered rule is taken, and wherein when said file path does not trigger a security policy rule then said KLM request is allowed to proceed. |
| US07644266B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for message level security
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for selective, end-to-end message level security. The apparatus includes a message class definition module, a security module, and a messaging module. The message class definition module identifies a predetermined message class of an internode message. The security module applies security to the message at an application layer. The security that is applied to the message corresponds to a security level, which depends on the message class of the message. The security may include encryption, authentication, and/or other security features. The messaging module communicates the message between a first node and a second node. A third node, such as a broker, may be interposed between the first and second nodes, in which case the security of the message is preserved at the third node. |
| US07644265B2 |
Content transmitting device, content receiving device and content transmitting method
Before content transmission, the content transmitting device and the content receiving device mutually authenticate each other to verify that the other device respects copyright and rightfully handles content, and then content is encrypted by shared key data and transmitted. It is arranged that in an authentication process, a time from transmission of an authentication request or a time from transmission of an authentication response until arrival of receipt acknowledgement data is measured and only when a measured time is less than a fixed upper-limit value, content is transmitted. |
| US07644263B2 |
Storage control system and boot control system
A PLD is interposed on the communication route between a microprocessor (hereinbelow called MP) and boot memories. The boot memories store MP start-up data needed to start up the MP and start-up protection code constituting protection code for the MP start-up data. The PLD reads the MP start-up data and the start-up protection code thereof from the boot memories, performs, in hardware fashion, a check of the validity of the MP start-up data using this start-up protection code and, if a negative check result is obtained, resets the MP and if a positive check result is obtained, inputs the start-up data that is thus read to the MP. |
| US07644259B2 |
Customization of option ROM images
A customizable option ROM image that allows a user to modify certain features of a ROM image is described. In one embodiment, a plurality of configuration ROM image modules is provided to a user. These modules may be bundled in a single file along with a software interface application that allows the user to customize one or more of the modules. In particular, the software application provides a simple interface so that a user may identify and change particular ROM image features. Thereafter, a ROM image is built using the modules, some of which may have been modified, so that it may be installed within the customer's system. |
| US07644255B2 |
Method and apparatus for enable/disable control of SIMD processor slices
Methods and apparatus provide for disabling at least some data path processing circuits of a SIMD processing pipeline, in which the processing circuits are organized into a matrix of slices and stages, in response to one or more enable flags during a given cycle. |
| US07644254B2 |
Routing data packets with hint bit for each six orthogonal directions in three dimensional torus computer system set to avoid nodes in problem list
A method and apparatus for dynamically rerouting node processes on the compute nodes of a massively parallel computer system using hint bits to route around failed nodes or congested networks without restarting applications executing on the system. When a node has a failure or there are indications that it may fail, the application software on the system is suspended while the data on the failed node is moved to a backup node. The torus network traffic is routed around the failed node and traffic for the failed node is rerouted to the backup node. The application can then resume operation without restarting from the beginning. |
| US07644253B2 |
Memory hub with internal cache and/or memory access prediction
A computer system includes a memory hub for coupling a processor to a plurality of synchronous dynamic random access memory (“SDRAM”) devices. The memory hub includes a processor interface coupled to the processor and a plurality of memory interfaces coupled to respective SDRAM devices. The processor interface is coupled to the memory interfaces by a switch. Each of the memory interfaces includes a memory controller, a cache memory, and a prediction unit. The cache memory stores data recently read from or written to the respective SDRAM device so that it can be subsequently read by processor with relatively little latency. The prediction unit prefetches data from an address from which a read access is likely based on a previously accessed address. |
| US07644244B2 |
Storage system and snapshot management method
A highly advantageous storage system and a snapshot management method. In the storage system, write target data sent from a host computer to a first storage controller is duplicated and stored in the first storage controller and also in a second storage controller; when the first storage controller receives a request from the host computer to create a snapshot in the second storage controller, it suspends transferring differential data to the second storage controller, creates a new first snapshot, and transfers differential data for the created first snapshot together with the untransferred differential data for a previous first snapshot for which transferring had been suspended, to the second storage controller. |
| US07644241B2 |
Data processing apparatus, and the control method, program, and storage medium thereof
History information of storage destinations designated for storing data input to an image processing device is managed. The priorities of a plurality of storage areas which are storage destination candidates are determined based on the managed history information. To assist a user designate a storage destination, a display unit displays information indicating the plurality of storage areas arranged based on the determined priorities. Based on the displayed information, the user designates one of the storage areas as the storage destination. A control unit effects control so as to store the data in the storage area designated by the user. |
| US07644240B2 |
Memory device controller
A controller for a memory device and methods are provided. The controller has an updateable register bank adapted to send a first signal to an analog/memory core of the memory device for controlling operation of the analog/memory core. The analog/memory core has an array of flash memory cells and supporting analog access circuitry. A bus controller is coupled to the register bank. The bus controller is adapted to receive a second signal from the register bank and to send a third signal to the register bank for updating the register bank. A select register is coupled to the register bank. A processor is coupled to the bus controller and the select register. |
| US07644237B1 |
Method and apparatus for global ordering to insure latency independent coherence
A method and apparatus is described for insuring coherency between memories in a multi-agent system where the agents are interconnected by one or more fabrics. A global arbiter is used to segment coherency into three phases: request; snoop; and response, and to apply global ordering to the requests. A bus interface having request, snoop, and response logic is provided for each agent. A bus interface having request, snoop and response logic is provided for the global arbiter, and a bus interface is provided to couple the global arbiter to each type of fabric it is responsible for. Global ordering and arbitration logic tags incoming requests from the multiple agents and insures that snoops are responded to according to the global order, without regard to latency differences in the fabrics. |
| US07644235B2 |
Device and method for configuring a cache tag in accordance with burst length
In a cache tag integrated on an SRAM with a memory cache, laser fuses are programmed to indicate which, if any, tag subarrays in the cache tag are not functioning properly. In addition, the burst length of the SRAM is increased to reduce the number of tag subarrays necessary for operation of the cache tag so any nonfunctional tag subarrays are no longer necessary. In accordance with the indications from the programmed laser fuses and the increased burst length, logic circuitry disables any nonfunctional tag subarrays, leaving only functional tag subarrays to provide tag functionality for the memory cache. As a result, an SRAM that is typically scrapped as a result of nonfunctional tag subarrays can, instead, be recovered for sale and subsequent use. |
| US07644233B2 |
Apparatus and method for supporting simultaneous storage of trace and standard cache lines
A single unified level one instruction cache in which some lines may contain traces and other lines in the same congruence class may contain blocks of instructions consistent with conventional cache lines. A mechanism is described for indexing into the cache, and selecting the desired line. Control is exercised over which lines are contained within the cache. Provision is made for selection between a trace line and a conventional line when both match during a tag compare step. |
| US07644232B2 |
Cache method and cache system for storing file's data in memory blocks divided from cache memory
A cache method and a cache system for storing file's data in memory blocks divided from a cache memory are disclosed. The cache method for storing data of a file in memory blocks divided from a cache memory includes: receiving a request command for first data of a first file from an application; retrieving a memory block that stores the first data; setting reference information which indicates that the memory block storing the first data is referred to by the application; transmitting the first data stored in the memory block to the application; and resetting the reference information for the memory block that stores the first data. |
| US07644230B1 |
Dynamic load management of network memory
A system for managing network memory comprises a communication interface and a processor. The communication interface receives a status message from another appliance. The status message indicates an activity level of a faster memory and a slower memory associated with the other appliance. The communication interface also receives a data packet. The processor processes the status message to determine the activity level of the faster memory and the slower memory. The processor also processes the data packet to identify any matching data in the other appliance and estimate whether the matching data is stored in the faster memory based on the activity level. Based on the estimate, the processor determines whether to generate an instruction to retrieve the matching data. |
| US07644229B2 |
Rapid search system and method in high capacity hard disk drive cluster
A rapid search system and method in high capacity hard disk drive clusters includes: designating a specific hard disk drive as a destination hard disk drive with a predetermined purpose using hard disk drive location codes provided in a hard disk device code database, and then finding the destination hard disk drive according to the hard disk drive cabinet code, the hard disk drive drawer code and the hard disk drive code of the specific hard disk drive, whereby communicating with the destination hard disk drive. It does not use broadcast packets to find the destination hard disk drive, and therefore can avoid broadcast storm and system breakdown. |
| US07644227B1 |
Circulating first-in-first-out buffer
A circulating first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer with a downstream input and output, an upstream input and output, a circulating staging and staging marker and output marker storage with the same storage capacity; a circulating primary, begin marker, and end marker storage with the same storage capacity; and a control means where the primary, begin marker, and end marker storage are used to implement a circulating FIFO where the control means manages the transfer of data from the downstream input to the staging storage, manages the FIFO, enqueues the data from the staging storage to the FIFO, and dequeues data from the FIFO to upstream output; where the input is decoupled from the circulating FIFO; where the input is decoupled from the output; and where the circulating staging storage, circulating primary storage, and control means are all either analog electronic, digital electronic, or optical. |
| US07644225B2 |
Performance or power-optimized code/data storage for nonvolatile memories
A wireless device incorporates a nonvolatile memory that dynamically controls a swapping or mapping of bit pairs for a selected memory region to optimize programming times. |
| US07644222B2 |
Low latency event communication system and method
A low latency event communication system comprises a computer system having an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) namespace table with a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) branch and a non-PCI device described in the PCI branch to enable the non-PCI device to be assigned a PCI resource. |
| US07644219B2 |
System and method for managing the sharing of PCI devices across multiple host operating systems
A system and method is disclosed for initializing PCI devices in a computer system or information handling system. Upon initialization of the system, each operating system instance of the system attempts to access a PCI bridge device. The first operating system to access the bridge device is granted ownership of the bridge device and the authority to initialize each PCI device coupled to the bridge device. The bridge device assigns each operating system to at least one context included in at least one of the PCI devices. After each of the PCI devices has been initialized, a configuration event is issued with respect to each operating system instance and each assigned PCI device, thereby causing each operating system to recognize each PCI device assigned to each respective operating system instance. |
| US07644218B2 |
Multifunction semiconductor storage device and a method for booting-up computer host
A semiconductor storage device connected to the host system through the general purpose interface, including a semiconductor storage media module (1) and a controller module (2), in which the controller module (2) consists of a general purpose interface control module (21), a microprocessor and control module (22). Various device class protocols can be realized at the interface application level of the semiconductor storage device, which makes it possible to simulate and realize the storage functions of various storage disks. One or a plurality of storage spaces are opened up in the semiconductor storage media and one or a plurality of storage disks are supported by the same device; furthermore, the device supports hot plug and play and it is removable. |
| US07644215B2 |
Methods and systems for providing management in a telecommunications equipment shelf assembly using a shared serial bus
A method for connecting an externally accessible shared serial port to one of a plurality of target serial ports is provided. The target serial ports are associated with a plurality of different application cards within a shelf assembly. The method includes receiving, from an external device connected to an externally accessible shared serial port, a request for a connection between the externally accessible shared serial port and one of a plurality of target serial ports within a shelf assembly associated with a plurality of different application cards, and determining whether shelf resources are available to connect the externally accessible shared serial port to the requested target serial port. In response to determining that shelf resources are available, the externally accessible shared serial port is connected to the requested target serial port. |
| US07644214B2 |
Information processing apparatus and task execution method
An even-driven interrupt processing is efficiently carried out in a multiprocessor system. A main control unit 112 executes a main process as a processing for controlling an apparatus in a unified manner. A sub-control unit 116 executes a task assigned by the main control unit 112 during the execution of the main process, as a sub-process. An event detector 162 detects an event occurrence upon which an interrupt task is to be preferentially executed during the execution of the main process. An interrupt notification unit 164 notifies the sub-control unit 116 of interrupt information indicative of an interrupt task in response to the detected event. The sub-control unit 116 notified of the interrupt information executes the interrupt task specified by the interrupt information, as a sub-process. |
| US07644209B2 |
Handheld electronic device with text disambiguation allowing dynamic expansion of input key associations
A handheld electronic device includes a reduced QWERTY keyboard and is enabled with disambiguation software. The device provides output in the form of a default output and a number of variants. The output is based largely upon frequency of use, but some variants are provided by various logic structures resident on the device. The device enables editing during text entry and also provides a learning function that allows the disambiguation function to adapt. The disambiguation function can be selectively disabled and an alternate keystroke interpretation system provided. Additionally, the device can facilitate the selection of variants by displaying a graphic of a special |
| US07644206B2 |
Command queue ordering by positionally pushing access commands
A data storage system is provided with command queue controller circuitry for positionally pushing pending access commands from a command queue to a selected target zone of a storage space. A method is provided for dividing a storage space into a plurality of LBA zones, selecting a target zone in relation to a number of pending access commands for each of the plurality of LBA zones, and pushing access commands to the target zone. |
| US07644199B2 |
Storage device system and signal transmission method for storage device system
The storage device system comprises: a plurality of signal transmission paths connected respectively to a plurality of installed storage devices; a plurality of system side communications sections for transmitting and receiving signals respectively to and from the plurality of storage devices, via the plurality of signal transmission paths; and one or a plurality of signal correcting sections for inputting a signal exchanged between the plurality of storage devices and the plurality of system side communications sections, correcting the input signal on the basis of a previously established correction parameter, and outputting the corrected signal. The correction parameter is a value set on the basis of at least one of the length of the signal transmission path between the storage device and the system side communications section, the wavelength attribute of the signal input to the signal correcting section, and the storage device attribute relating to the storage device. |
| US07644196B2 |
USB function apparatus which supports a plurality of USB descriptors
The present invention provides a USB function apparatus which supports a plurality of USB descriptors and which is connected to a host apparatus via a USB to operate as a USB function, the USB function apparatus comprising a descriptor switching device which switches one of the plurality of USB descriptors to be transmitted to the host apparatus, a bus reset generating device which generates a bus reset to initialize communications with the host apparatus, and a control device which, when a descriptor request from the host apparatus is responded with a current USB description but if the host apparatus does not start communications in accordance with the USB descriptor, causes the descriptor switching device to switch the USB descriptor and causes the bus reset generating device to generate a bus reset. |
| US07644193B2 |
Recording device control apparatus
A recording device control apparatus includes a reception unit operable to receive transfer requests and a transfer request specification unit operable to perform transfer criterion judgment processing and same-area judgment processing. When a targeted transfer request fulfills a condition of a negative judgment result in both processes, the apparatus specifies the related data of a targeted transfer request as a transfer target. The same-area judgment process is for judging whether or not a transfer request that has area information identical to area information included in the targeted transfer request was received before the targeted transfer request was received. Furthermore, the apparatus includes a transfer unit operable to transfer the data specified by the transfer request specification unit. By transferring data to the same area in the order specified by the transfer specification unit, inconsistencies are avoided in the data in the recording device control apparatus. |
| US07644190B2 |
Method and apparatus for pipelined processing of data packets
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for pipelined processing of data packets. A pipeline in a processor comprises an access point providing simultaneous access to one or more devices, said devices mainly for data processing operations not provided by the pipeline. The access point comprises at least one FIFO store for storing data entering the access point, a response FIFO store for storing responses received from the device(s), and a synchronization mechanism adapted to synchronize the fetching of the first entry in the FIFO store(s) and the first entry in the response FIFO store. The synchronization mechanism could advantageously be a fixed time delay mechanism. When the fixed time initiated by the fixed time delay mechanism has elapsed, the first response in the response FIFO store is merged into the data stored in the first entry in the FIFO store(s) for storing data entering the access point. |
| US07644189B2 |
Method for upgrading network server programming conditions, associated system and software product
A network server having a current lower packet-interfacing layer and a current upper packet-processing layer is updated by providing an updated process having an updated packet-interfacing lower layer, an updated packet-processing upper layer packets, and a communication channel for diverting network packets from the updated lower layer to the current upper layer. First the current lower layer is replaced with the updated lower layer. Then the packets in the updated lower layer are checked to determine if they relate to transactions already under way on the current upper layer or new transactions. The current upper layer processes the packets relating to transactions already under way, and the packets relating to new transactions are processed the updated upper layer. When all the under-way transactions on the current upper layer have been completed the communication channel is closed. |
| US07644185B2 |
Communications system providing shared client-server communications interface and related methods
A communications system may include a plurality of communications devices connected together in a network and having a plurality of user accounts associated therewith. At least one of the communications devices may process requests using an HTTP client application associated therewith. The system may also include an application server for accessing the user accounts via the HTTP client application, and an HTTP server for interfacing the HTTP client application with the application server. The HTTP server and the HTTP client application may format requests to be communicated therebetween in an HTTP format, and each may provide additional state information with the HTTP formatted requests recognizable by the other for authentication purposes. Furthermore, the HTTP client application may request a first universal resource locator (URL) from the HTTP server for accepting work requests from the application server, and a second URL different from the first for responding to work requests. |
| US07644184B2 |
Universal adapter
Techniques are provided for application integration. Data is received at a universal adapter, wherein the universal adapter executes as a single process. One or more data transformers to be used to convert the data are identified. The data is converted using the identified one or more data transformers. Then, the data is routed to one of an application or integration engine. |
| US07644183B2 |
Accelerated reception of spatial-to-temporal translated data
In some embodiments, methods for reception of spatial-to-temporal translated data include obtaining one or more first-network temporal addresses and one or more second-network temporal addresses corresponding to at least one specific content in response to a request for data, applying the one or more first-network temporal addresses to receive a first part of the at least one specific content being transmitted from a first network while approximately at the same time applying the one or more second-network temporal addresses to receive a second part of the at least one specific content being transmitted from a second network, and constructing the at least one content from the first part of the at least one specific content being transmitted from the first network and the second part of the at least one specific content being transmitted from the second network. |
| US07644182B2 |
Reconfiguring a multicast tree
A multicast tree is provided in an application multicast network. A child node in the multicast tree detects a degradation of quality of service associated with a service being received at the child node. The child node determines whether the degradation of quality of service is resulting from a child-parent link or an upstream link in the multicast tree. |
| US07644180B1 |
Method for altering link weights in a communication network to provide traffic information for improved forecasting
The present invention comprises methods for increasing the rank of the routing matrix of an IP network by systematically altering link weights in the IP network. A full rank routing matrix may be used with further methods in accordance with the present invention to estimate the mean traffic of the IP network based upon the full rank routing matrix and measured link utilization values. The mean traffic and the covariance of the traffic may be iteratively estimated until the estimates coverage. Example methods in accordance with the present invention for estimating mean traffic and covariance of traffic are described for both stationary and non-stationary link utilization data. |
| US07644179B1 |
Inter-VSAN routing with NAT
Disclosed are apparatus and methods for facilitating communication between two devices from two different VSANs by propagating each device's presence from a first VSAN to the other device's different VSAN using a network address translation (NAT) mechanism. For instance, a first device, such as a host H1, from VSAN_A is allowed to access data from a second device, such as disk D1, of VSAN_B by propagating D1's presence into VSAN_A and H1's presence into VSAN_B. This awareness is accomplished by propagating an identifier for each device into the edge VSAN of the other device, as well as into any transit VSAN. So as to not duplicate identifiers in any one of the VSANs, a device's presence is propagated into a particular VSAN by assigning an unused domain for use by such device in the particular VSAN. |
| US07644177B2 |
Multicast-routing-protocol-independent realization of IP multicast forwarding
Improved systems and methods for implementing data-driven protocols are provided. In one embodiment, improved implementations of multicast routing protocols are provided. Separation between multicast forwarding and control elements are provided by use of a powerful yet simple application program interface (API) for inter-module communication. The API is multicast-routing-protocol-independent and can be used to express the forwarding state of any existing multicast protocol. Efficient platform-specific implementations are facilitated. |
| US07644173B1 |
System and method for facilitating expedited delivery of media content
One embodiment provides a system and method for facilitating expedited delivery of media content to a node over a network. During operation, the system communicates a request to a media server to present media content. The system then presents the media content based on the data received from the media server. In addition, the system communicates requests to a plurality of peer nodes within the network for the media content at a same proximate time. Next, the system discontinues receipt of data from the media server and presents the media content based on data received from at least one peer node without significant interruption in presentation. |
| US07644170B2 |
Communications system providing extensible protocol translation features and related methods
A communications system may include a plurality of data storage devices each using at least one of a plurality of different operating protocols, and a plurality of mobile wireless communications devices for accessing the plurality of data storage devices. Each mobile wireless communications device may also use at least one of the plurality of different operating protocols. The system may further include a protocol interface device. In particular, the protocol interface device may include a protocol engine module for communicating with the plurality of data storage devices using respective operating protocols, and a front-end proxy module coupled to the protocol engine. The front-end proxy module may include a respective proxy module for communicating with the plurality of mobile wireless communications devices using each different operating protocol, and at least one common core service module connected to the proxy modules. |
| US07644165B2 |
Method and apparatus for SIP messaging
A method and apparatus for encoding a SIP message into an internal binary format so that it can be treated much more efficiently by both the SIP stack layers and the application. Only one memory buffer is used to handle any sort of SIP message. For this reason, this new SIP message may be called a “mono-block” structure. It allows each SIP header's raw text from the original SIP message to be directly referred within the SIP mono-block with no additional copy. Only SIP headers that are “used” by the application, or by some SIP stack layer are parsed to form a “decoded” header object. The header parsing is made “on demand” at the moment header is accessed. Headers not used are not decoded and are left in text format with no additional processing needed. |
| US07644162B1 |
Resource entitlement control system
A resource entitlement control system includes a controller, a model estimator, and a controller designer. The controller is operable to control an allocation of resources to a resource container. The model estimator is operable to calculate model parameters based on performance metrics and past resource allocations to the resource container, and the controller designer is operable to calculate one or more controller parameters based on the model parameters. The controller is also operable to calculate a control variable for controlling the allocation of resources to the resource container based on the controller parameters and the performance metrics. |
| US07644159B2 |
Load balancing for a server farm
The present invention concerns a method of network layer load balancing for a server farm (group of servers located on the same link) that provide identical, transaction and UDP based services, e.g. DNS service. Load balancing functionality is based on the use of the IPv6 anycast addressing for the service queries and specific Neighbour Advertisement messaging. |
| US07644151B2 |
Network service zone locking
A zone locking system detects unauthorized network usage internal to a firewall. The system determines unauthorized network usage by classifying internal hosts inside a firewall into zones. Certain specified zones are unauthorized to initiate client communications with other selected zones. However, zone override services can be designated for each associated internal zone, and thus, authorizing selected network services. An alarm or other appropriate action is taken upon the detection of unauthorized network usage. |
| US07644149B2 |
Method of reflecting on another device an addition to a browser cache on a handheld electronic device, and associated device
An improved handheld electronic device includes an Application Programming Interface (API) that generates various notifications in certain circumstances. The handheld electronic device provides an improved method of employing the notifications to enable another device to reflect an addition to a browser cache on the handheld electronic device. |
| US07644147B1 |
Remote network device management
An apparatus having a corresponding method comprises a memory; a plurality of ports comprising one or more network ports to send and receive data packets and to receive management packets, wherein each of the management packets comprises one or more commands, and wherein the commands comprise one or more of the group consisting of a command to read data from the memory, and a command to write data to the memory, and a central processing unit (CPU) port to transmit packets addressed to a CPU; a forwarding engine to transfer the data packets between the ports according to a forwarding table stored in the memory; a protocol unit to identify the management packets; and a management unit to execute the commands; wherein the management packets bypass the CPU port. |
| US07644140B2 |
Systems and methods for proliferating a computing device configuration
In one embodiment, a system and method for proliferating a computing device configuration relates to generating a categorized registry file including at least one registry entry that is categorized relative to a feature of the source computing device to which the at least one registry entry pertains, providing the categorized registry file to a target computing device, determining whether to import the at least one registry entry relative to a category to which the at least one registry entry is related, and importing the at least one registry entry into a registry of the target computing device if it is determined to so import it. |
| US07644139B2 |
Method and system for optimizing metadata passing in a push content processing protocol
A method and system of optimizing content delivery at a processing element in a dynamic content delivery architecture, the method having the steps of: receiving a content and metadata envelope at the processing element; checking the content and metadata envelope to determine whether the content and metadata envelope includes metadata for the processing element; if the content envelope contains metadata for the processing element, extracting and caching the metadata; if the content envelope does not contain metadata for the processing element, retrieving metadata for a content provider associated with the content from a cache on the processing element; and applying the extracted or retrieved metadata to the content and metadata envelope. |
| US07644138B2 |
Forensics tool for examination and recovery and computer data
The present invention is directed to an electronic forensic method for electronic discovery and computer forensics. The invention allows a user to conduct limited preliminary examination of computers using a client program on a physical memory device, whereby limited information about the examination result is displayed. To further access and examine the actual underlying data, the user must obtain additional functionality by obtaining a command block from a control server. The additional functionality will allow the client program to extract, copy, export, or further access the data of interest. |
| US07644137B2 |
Workload balancing in environments with multiple clusters of application servers
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for workload balancing in environments with multiple clusters of servers. A process for sharing resources from a pool of servers among a first cluster of servers and a second cluster of servers includes determining a current workload of the first cluster and determining a current workload of the second cluster. The process calculates a combined workload of the first and second clusters, and allocates a first number of servers from the pool to the first cluster, the first number equal to a product of a total number of servers in the pool and the first server's workload divided by the combined workload. |
| US07644133B2 |
System in an office application for providing content dependent help information
System and program product are provided for facilitating on-line help information in an office application which includes one or more objects. The on-line help information is dependent on content of a selected object of the office application. A user of the office application is provided with help information setting forth an example directly derived from content of the currently selected object or cell. Content of a user entry field within the object is parsed to determine whether a predefined keyword is present, and if so, at least one parameter associated with the keyword and at least one format or rule related to the at least one parameter are identified. The at least one format and rule specified in the help information are employed in correcting content of the user entry field, for example, for display to the user. |
| US07644132B2 |
Home telematics system providing synchronization service between telematics terminal and computer and method thereof
A home telematics system providing a synchronization service between a telematics terminal and a computer, and a method thereof are provided. The system includes a telematics system having a telematics center; a home network system having a home network center and a home server; the telematics terminal for, upon generation of a synchronization service request, connecting with the home network center through the telematics center, transmitting a synchronization data request message to the home network center, and displaying synchronization data received in response to the synchronization data request message; and the computer for receiving the synchronization data request message through the home network center and the home server, and transmitting the synchronization data stored in a previously allocated storing region to the telematics terminal. |
| US07644131B2 |
Optimized image delivery over limited bandwidth communication channels
Large-scale images are retrieved over network communications channels for display on a client device by selecting an update image parcel relative to an operator controlled image viewpoint to display via the client device. A request is prepared for the update image parcel and associated with a request queue for subsequent issuance over a communications channel. The update image parcel is received from the communications channel and displayed as a discrete portion of the predetermined image. The update image parcel optimally has a fixed pixel array size, is received in a single network data packet, and is constrained to a resolution less than or equal to the resolution of the client device display. |
| US07644130B2 |
Method and apparatus for transparent selection of alternate network interfaces in a message passing interface (“MPI”) implementation
A message passing interface (“MPI”) cluster may be initialized and configured by reading a list of node identifiers from a file, starting a process on each node whose identifier was listed, and providing a second list of node identifiers to the process. |
| US07644125B2 |
Method, system, and computer program product for synchronization of similar data objects with event information
The invention is directed to a method, system, and computer program product for the synchronization of similar data objects by exchanging event information to provide new and/or updated data objects to a mobile device or application for use on a device. The invention includes a method, system, computer program product, and combinations and sub-combinations thereof, for enabling similar data objects to be made available to users of mobile devices, and for the users of mobile devices to operate with such objects on their mobile devices in an interactive manner while in an off-line mode, i.e., while not actively connected to a network or external data source. |
| US07644124B1 |
Privacy enhanced methods and apparatuses for conducting electronic communications
A computer (or device of the like), on behalf of a user, registers the user with a first web site. The computer provides a first email address for use to register the user with said first web site. The computer, on behalf of the user, registers the user with a second web site. The computer provides a second email address, separate and distinct from the first email address, for use to register said user with said second web site. In alternate embodiments, the computer, in like manner, facilitates designations of first and second email addresses for use to electronically communicate with first and second intended communication partners. Co-related, an email service provider receives emails for the first and second email addresses of the user, and organize the received emails by at least the email addresses, and by intended versus non-intended CP/GCP of the email addresses. The email service provider provides these received emails to the computer used the user, with the emails so characterized accordingly. The computer presents these emails for viewing by the user, including in one embodiment, facilitation of deletion of all emails addressed to an email address received from senders other than the intended CP/GCP, via a single press of a key/control button. |
| US07644122B2 |
Method apparatus and business system for online communications with online and offline recipients
The present invention comprises a method, apparatus and business system for allowing on-line communications with members of a group of recipients for whom the invention has been implemented. A group may, for example, comprise members of a particular business or profession. For example, a group may consist of doctors admitted to practice medicine in the United States. Individual members of the group may or may not have existing internet presences. The invention allows online users to communicate with each member of a given group regardless of whether or not the member has an existing internet presence. In one or more embodiments, the invention does so by setting up a database of contact information for members of the group, creating an internet presence for each member of such group, creating an on-line user interface allowing a user to access the member's created internet presence, and providing means of communications between the created internet presence and the member recipient. |
| US07644113B2 |
Systems and methods for backing up data files
The invention provides systems and methods for continuous back up of data stored on a computer network. To this end the systems of the invention include a synchronization process that replicates selected source data files data stored on the network and to create a corresponding set of replicated data files, called the target data files, that are stored on a back up server. This synchronization process builds a baseline data structure of target data files. In parallel to this synchronization process, the system includes a dynamic replication process that includes a plurality of agents, each of which monitors a portion of the source data files to detect and capture, at the byte-level, changes to the source data files. Each agent may record the changes to a respective journal file, and as the dynamic replication process detects that the journal files contain data, the journal files are transferred or copied to the back up server so that the captured changes can be written to the appropriate ones of the target data files. |
| US07644112B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for initializing a synchronized remote database
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for initializing a synchronized remote database. A creation module creates a first backup table of a backup database from a schema for a primary table of a primary database. A read module reads each row from the primary table with an application server configured to manage access to the primary database by a database application. A construction module constructs a SQL command for each row of the primary table. Each SQL command inserts data of a primary table row in the first backup table. An application module applies each SQL command to the first backup table to mirror the primary table at the first backup table. |
| US07644108B1 |
Network acceleration device cache supporting multiple historical versions of content
A network acceleration device simultaneously caches and intelligently serves different historical versions of stored network content. For example, the network acceleration device may receive one or more requests for original content; however, subsequent updates to the content may create varying versions of the content, e.g., a pre-update version and one or more post-update versions. Client devices that requested the content prior to the update receive the pre-update version from the network acceleration device. Client devices that requested content after the update receive the post-update version from the network device. Moreover, the network acceleration device facilitates the simultaneous delivery of the pre-update version and the post-update version without waiting for delivery of the pre-update version to be complete. Thus, the network acceleration device may facilitate decreased download times by seamlessly and transparently providing both versions of the content simultaneously. |
| US07644105B2 |
Systems and methods for structured variable resolution information dissemination and discovery
Techniques are provided for efficient information dissemination and discovery in large scale networks such as ad-hoc networks, sensor networks, vehicle networks, virtual networks and the like. The spatial information for a plurality of network elements within a network is determined and an interesting node identified. A variable resolution communication structure of inter-connected nodes is determined based on spatial information for the interesting node and a map. The map may be based on an equation, a formula, coordinates or other methods of extensibly specifying spaces. Information about the interesting node is propagated via the inter-connected nodes of the variable resolution communication structure. |
| US07644102B2 |
Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for soft hierarchical clustering of co-occurring objects
Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with certain principles related to the present invention enable a computing system to perform hierarchical topical clustering of text data based on statistical modeling of co-occurrences of (document, word) pairs. The computing system may be configured to receive a collection of documents, each document including a plurality of words, and perform a modified deterministic annealing Expectation-Maximization (EM) process on the collection to produce a softly assigned hierarchy of nodes. The process may involve assigning documents and document fragments to multiple nodes in the hierarchy based on words included in the documents, such that a document may be assigned to any ancestor node included in the hierarchy, thus eliminating the hard assignment of documents in the hierarchy. |
| US07644096B2 |
Method for storing and accessing data
A method for storing data in an electronic device, using tags to mark events carried out in the electronic device during a certain time period. The method involves defining a tag which is assignable to data related to events which are carried out and stored using the electronic device; defining a time period for using the tag; and configuring the electronic device to assign the tag to data related to all events stored using the electronic device during said time period. The tag may be used for all events of only one type, such as pictures captured using a digital camera. Alternatively, the tags may be used for a plurality of types of events, such as for captured pictures or videos, received virtual business cards, calls dialed or received, messages sent or received, and so on. Data associated with an event related to a certain occasion may then be searched and accessed using a tag register. |
| US07644091B1 |
Computer-implemented medical information indexing system and method
Systems and methods to receive HL7 electronic medical data and to create an electronic indexing medical record based upon the received HL7 electronic medical data. The indexing medical record is provided to a document management system, wherein the document management system is configured to use the provided indexing medical record to index a medically-related document. |
| US07644085B2 |
Directed graph approach for constructing a tree representation of an access control list
Techniques are disclosed for generating a representation of an access control list, the representation being utilizable in a network processor or other type of processor to perform packet filtering or other type of access control list based function. A plurality of rules of the access control list are determined, each of at least a subset of the rules having a plurality of fields and a corresponding action. The rules are processed to generate a multi-level tree representation of the access control list, in which each of one or more of the levels of the tree representation is associated with a corresponding one of the fields. At least one level of the tree representation comprises a plurality of nodes, with two or more of the nodes of that level having a common subtree, and the tree representation including only a single copy of that subtree. The tree representation is characterizable as a directed graph in which each of the two nodes having the common subtree points to the single copy of the common subtree. |
| US07644083B1 |
Efficiently performing inequality joins
A database system is able to receive a query that specifies an inequality join involving at least a first relation and a second relation. A plurality of segments of the first relation are sorted in the cache. Each sorted segment of the first relation in the cache is compared with the second relation. |
| US07644080B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing multiple data flows in a content search system
A content search system for determining whether a plurality of input strings each belonging to any one of a number of different process flows matches one or more of a plurality of regular expressions, including a search circuit for searching the input strings for the regular expressions and a data management unit including a control circuit having an input to receive the plurality of input strings, wherein each input string has an associated flow identification (ID) value, a packet queue having a number of storage locations for storing the input strings, and a flow engine that forwards a selected input string from the packet queue to the search circuit. |
| US07644079B2 |
System and method for temporal data mining
A system for temporal data mining includes a computer readable medium having an application configured to receive at an input module a temporal data series and a threshold frequency. The system is further configured to identify, using a candidate identification and tracking module, one or more occurrences in the temporal data series of a candidate episode and increment a count for each identified occurrence. The system is also configured to produce at an output module an output for those episodes whose count of occurrences results in a frequency exceeding the threshold frequency. |
| US07644073B2 |
System and method for collaborative lesson planning
The system enables novice teachers to leverage the expertise of other more experienced teachers who are distributed across geographical areas covered by similar teaching standards (usually states). By leveraging the vast body of knowledge contained within their peer group, the system is designed to help teachers produce better lesson plans. This is accomplished by providing teachers with suggestions based other teachers' plans for similar lessons. |
| US07644072B2 |
Generating a ranked list of search results via result modeling
Methods and apparatus assessing, ranking, organizing, and presenting search results associated with a user's current work context are disclosed. The system disclosed assesses, ranks, organizes and presents search results against a user's current work context by comparing statistical and heuristic models of the search results to a statistical and heuristic model of the user's current work context. In this manner, search results are assessed, ranked, organized, and/or presented with the benefit of attributes of the user's current work context that are predictive of relevance, such as words in a user's document (e.g., web page or word processing document) that may not have been included in the search query. In addition, search results from multiple search engines are combined into an organization scheme that best reflects the user's current task. As a result, lists of search results from different search engines can be more usefully presented to the user. |
| US07644071B1 |
Selective display of target areas in a document
A computer implemented method searches for keywords within a document and displays a surrounding context. A keyword search term and a view area size for the document are received. A plurality of occurrences of the search term is identified within the document. A view area size surrounding each occurrences of the search term is identified to form a plurality of view area sizes. An edited view of the document is displayed. The edited view includes a sequence of the plurality of view area sizes, wherein each of the plurality of view area sizes are separated by one of a plurality of interactive virtual boundary lines, and each of the a plurality of interactive virtual boundary lines have an indicator to form a plurality of indicators. |
| US07644064B2 |
Systems and methods for filter table optimization
At least one implementation described herein relates to using multiple filter engines to optimize query processing. A filter engine comprises a general matcher and at least one optimized matcher, a matcher being a filter engine in its own right. When the filter engine receives an input, the input is analyzed to determine if it can be handled by the optimized matcher. While the general matcher is fully compliant with a query language, the optimized matcher only handles a subset of the query language. Therefore, inputs that can be processed in the optimized matcher are compared against fewer filters, making the filtering process more efficient. The filter engine may also process only a portion of an input in the optimized matcher and another portion of the input in the general matcher, which reduces processing overhead. |
| US07644057B2 |
System and method for electronic communication management
A system and method for classifying text includes a pre-processor, a knowledge base, and a statistical engine. The pre-processor identifies concepts in the text and creates a structured text object that contains the concepts. The structured text object is then passed to a statistical engine, which applies statistical information provided in nodes of a knowledge base to the structured text object in order to calculate a set of match scores, each match score representing the relevance of the text to an associated one of a plurality of predefined categories. The pre-processor may be implemented in the form of an interpreter which selects and executes a script that includes language- and scenario-specific instructions for performing linguistic and semantic analysis of the text. |
| US07644055B2 |
Rule-based database object matching with comparison certainty
Rule based data object matching to determine if two or more objects are similar to allow the objects to be merged into one master data object. The rules explicitly state what conditions are required to consider two or more objects equal. The certainty of the rule may be specified. Examples for the certainty are automatic, manual high, medium and low probability. For example, the certainty “automatic” specifies that the objects can be considered matches and no additional manual verification is needed. The certainty “manual low probability” specifies that there is a low probability that the objects are matches and that a manual verification is needed. Matching rules may be grouped by priority. If matches are not found, the next highest priority group of rules is processed. Hierarchical matching rules may be specified that are able to express similarity of objects considering structured objects containing sub-objects in a hierarchical manner. |
| US07644050B2 |
Method and apparatus for annotation-based behavior extensions
A method and apparatus is provided for annotation-based behavior extensions. A primary contributor is identified based on a first attribute. Behaviors from a secondary contributor are linked to the primary contributor once a second attribute is examined. Finally, one or more files are generated using the linked behaviors from the primary and secondary contributors. |
| US07644049B2 |
Decision forest based classifier for determining predictive importance in real-time data analysis
For a first feature of a dataset having a plurality of features, training a classifier to predict the first feature in terms of other features in the data set to obtain a trained classifier; scrambling the values of a second feature in the data set to obtain a scrambled data set, executing the trained classifier on the scrambled data set, determining predictive importance of the seconds feature in predicting the first feature based at least in part on the accuracy of the trained classifier in predicting the first feature when executed with the scrambled data set and creating a graph of the data set in which each of the first and the second features is a node of the graph and a label on an edge between the first node and the second node is based at least in part on the predictive importance of the first feature in terms of the second feature. |
| US07644047B2 |
Semantic similarity based document retrieval
A method and apparatus are provided for generating, from an input set of documents, a word replaceability matrix defining semantic similarity between words occurring in the input document set. For each word, distinct word sequences of predetermined length are identified from the documents of the set, each word sequence being indicative of the context in which the word was used and, according to the relative frequency of occurrence of the identified word sequences for the word, fuzzy sets are generated for each word comprising membership values for corresponding groups of word sequences. For each pair of words occurring in the document set, their respective fuzzy sets are used to calculate the probability that the first word of a pair is semantically suitable as a replacement for the second word of the pair, these probabilities being collated to form a word similarity matrix for use in an improved method of determining document similarity and in information retrieval. |
| US07644043B2 |
Check processing apparatus, program, electronic payment system, and check processing method
A check processing apparatus and method acquire and save data verifying the identity of a person using a check, and output this information in an effective manner to prevent improper use of the check. A check scanner 140 images all or part of the presented check C. A photo ID scanner 110 scans personal identification 71 presented as proof of identity by the person using the check, and a controller 160 converts the scanner output to generate personal identification image data. A merge file generating means 170 merges the image data from the check scanner with the personal identification image data to produce a merged file. The merged file is stored in merged file storage means 180 and output to a display 33. |
| US07644041B1 |
Automated banking machine providing a cash payment option
An automated teller machine (ATM) (10) includes a display device (14), an input device (16), a cash acceptor (22), and a cash dispenser (24). The ATM also has access to a network, such as the Internet. The ATM enables a user thereof to make online purchases of goods and to receive from the user a cash payment for the purchase through a cash acceptor. The ATM administrator pays the merchant who supplies the goods. An ATM may be operative to also dispense purchased digital content and/or gift certificates. Purchased goods may also be hand delivered to an indicated address. The ATM may be further operative to charge a user fee for transactions. |
| US07644040B2 |
Automated banking machine and system
An automated banking machine (12) is operative to conduct transactions in response to HTML documents and TCP/IP messages exchanged with a local computer system (14) through an intranet (16), as well as in response to messages exchanged with foreign servers (20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 96) in a wide area network (18). The banking machine includes a computer (34) having an HTML document handling portion (76, 80, 82). The HTML document handling portion is operative to communicate through a proxy server (88), with a home HTTP server (90) in the intranet or the foreign servers in the wide area network. The computer further includes a device application portion (84) which interfaces with the HTML document handling portion and dispatches messages to operate devices (36) in the automated banking machine. The devices include a sheet dispenser mechanism (42) which dispenses currency as well as other transaction devices. The device application portion communicates with a device interfacing software portion (64) in the banking machine through a device server (92) in the intranet. The device server maintains local control over the devices in the banking machine including the sheet dispenser. The banking machine operates to read indicia on the user's card corresponding to a system address. The computer is operative to connect the banking machine to the home or foreign server corresponding to the system address, which connected server operates the banking machine until the completion of transactions by the user. |
| US07644038B2 |
Integrated wireless and wireline billing and services management
Methods and systems are provided for integrating billing and services management systems across disparate telecommunications systems including wireless systems and local and long distance wireline systems. Wireless and wireline services may be charged to and billed under one periodic billing. A rollover management system is employed for managing units of call usage that may be “rolled over” from a present usage period to a subsequent usage period. An integrated services settlement system is provided which is operable for apportioning revenue associated with utilization of the wireless carrier's services to the wireless carrier and for apportioning revenue associated with the wireline carrier's services to the wireline carrier. An integrated telecommunications services ordering system is provided that is operable to synchronize subscriber orders between the subscriber's wireless and wireline carriers. |
| US07644037B1 |
Method and system for transferring electronic funds
A method and system for transferring electronic funds over the Internet wherein a sender provides payment information to a transfer processing system. The sender may choose from a plurality of different types of funds transfer, such as wire transfer, Western Union money transfer, various types of checks, and transfers to ATM debit/credit cards. The transfer processing system sends an electronic payment message to a recipient indicating the transfer of funds and a transfer message to a financial institution providing instructions to debit the sender's account and make those funds available to the recipient. If the recipient has an account with a financial institution that is affiliated with the transfer processing system of the present invention, the funds are credited to the recipient's account wherein the payment message serves as a confirmation message. If the recipient does not have such an account, the recipient may access the transfer processing system to access the funds made available by the system wherein the payment message serves as a payment availability message. |
| US07644035B1 |
Method and apparatus for reducing fraudulent credit transactions by requiring merchant return of multi-digit authorization codes
Processes for reducing fraudulent credit transactions, including financial (e.g., credit, charge, debit, etc.) card transactions, are introduced, in which merchants receive multi-digit authorization codes from a credit provider (e.g., a customer transaction account card user) with all approved transactions. To guarantee payment, all merchants are required to later resubmit the multi-digit authorization code with every record of charge, regardless of dollar amount, as verification that an authorization was obtained. Merchants that fail to provide any authorization code, or an incorrect authorization code, will be subject to a chargeback for non-compliance. |
| US07644033B2 |
Method and system for trading financial instruments
Tranches of a position in a financial instrument held by an entity are traded. A suitable tranche size to be traded in a financial market is determined. A trade size of a tranche to trade in the financial market is also determined. The trade size comprises a smaller of a size of the position and the suitable tranche size. An effect of executing a tranche of a size comprising the trade size on an absolute dollar value of risk associated with a portfolio of the entity is determined. The tranche is placed in the market for execution if the absolute dollar value of risk remains the same or is reduced by executing the tranche. |
| US07644024B2 |
Financial information display system
A display system for providing financial information regarding publicly traded securities includes a display having seven valuation metrics related to a publicly traded security displayed on a scatter chart. Each metric may be selected to permit a user to view detailed information concerning the metric. A user may successively drill down in the displayed information to obtain finer and finer detailed information related to the security. The display system also provides a comparison of the valuation metrics of several selected securities. |
| US07644023B2 |
Portfolio synchronizing between different interfaces
A system for updating parameters of financial transactions associated with financial services initiated and completed on behalf of or directly by a user through access to a data-packet-network into more than one electronic interface accessible to the user is provided. The system comprises, a main electronic interface supported by back-end software, the main interface for registering all user accounts into at least one portfolio group, the accounts accessible in detail through the main interface, at least one cobranded electronic interface supported by back-end software, the cobranded interface mirroring the accounts registered in the main electronic interface and a plurality of institution-specific electronic interfaces for providing direct account registration, reporting, and maintenance specific to accounts provided by the associated institutions. Through direct linking between the main, cobranded, and institution-specific interfaces, any parameters associated with any action initiated to a specific account through any of the interfaces is immediately propagated to the other interfaces. |
| US07644022B2 |
System for funding, analyzing and managing life insurance policies funded with annuities
The invention relates to a program that administers a method of funding life insurance policies using annuities that are purchased at least in part using borrowed money, using business and trust structures to reduce and/or eliminate tax. This investing can be done either directly by the policy or through the trust and/or other business entity. As an internal investment of the insurance policy the income generated by the annuity and the inside build-up are non-income taxable to the owner of the policy. The resulting death benefits will also be non-income taxable to the beneficiary. |
| US07644019B2 |
Safe transaction guaranty
A method and system is provided for safe online commercial transaction. When a safe transaction service provider receives a request from a first party for obtaining a transaction performance guaranty service, the safe transaction service provider processes the request by underwriting the first party. If the underwriting is successful, the transaction performance guaranty service is provided to the first party which binds a transaction performance guaranty to an online commercial transaction involving the first party and guarantees the first party's performance when the first party and a second party enter the online transaction. |
| US07644013B2 |
System and method for resource optimization
The present invention includes a method and system to facilitate managing of local and remote resources. The invention facilitates access to a resource engine, for the automatic grading, tracking, scoring, and assigning of resources based on the resource's skills and skill sets. The invention also facilitates the automatic grading, tracking, scoring, and assigning of tasks and/or applications based on the skills and skill sets needed to perform the tasks and/or applications. The invention uses one or more engines to combine relationships for resources, tasks, skills and time entry to determine expected completion times and efficiencies. The engine may include grading and scoring a resource's skills sets, dividing applications into various tasks, determining the desired resource skills sets to complete the tasks, and matching a resource's skills sets with the desired skills sets for the tasks. |
| US07644003B2 |
Cue-based audio coding/decoding
Generic and specific C-to-E binaural cue coding (BCC) schemes are described, including those in which one or more of the input channels are transmitted as unmodified channels that are not downmixed at the BCC encoder and not upmixed at the BCC decoder. The specific BCC schemes described include 5-to-2, 6-to-5, 7-to-5, 6.1-to-5.1, 7.1-to-5.1, and 6.2-to-5.1, where “0.1” indicates a single low-frequency effects (LFE) channel and “0.2” indicates two LFE channels. |
| US07644001B2 |
Differentially coding an audio signal
Coding an audio signal wherein values of first parameters, which represent aspects of the audio signal at a first instant are calculated to obtain first calculated values and values of second parameters, which represent the aspects of the audio signal at a second, later, instant, are calculated to obtain second calculated values, wherein the number of the first parameters and the number of the second parameters differ. The values of the subset of the second parameters are coded based on a difference of this subset and a subset of the first calculated value associated with substantially a same particular portion of the frequency range. Thus the differentially coded values of the second parameters are obtained by coding the difference of the values of second parameters and first parameters which are associated with substantially the same frequency sub-range. |
| US07643999B2 |
Microphone feedback and control
A system and method for positioning a software User Interface (UI) window on a display screen is provided, wherein the method includes displaying the software UI window on the display screen and identifying at least one suitable location on the display screen responsive to an active target window area of a target application UI window. The method further includes determining whether the software UI window is disposed at the at least one suitable location on the display screen and if the software UI window is disposed in a location other than the at least one suitable location on the display screen, positioning the software UI window at the at least one suitable location on the display screen. |
| US07643998B2 |
Method and apparatus for improving voice recognition performance in a voice application distribution system
A vocabulary management system for constraining speech recognition processing associated with text-to-speech and speech-to-text rendering associated with use of a voice application in progress between a user accessing a data source through a voice portal has a vocabulary management server connected to a voice application server and to a telephony server, and an instance of vocabulary management software running on the management server for enabling vocabulary establishment and management for speech recognition software. The system is characterized in that an administrator accessing the vocabulary management server uses the software to create unique vocabulary sets that are specific to selected portions of vocabulary associated with target data sources the vocabulary sets differing in content according to administrator direction. |
| US07643997B2 |
Handheld analysis instrument having acoustic output of measurement results
The present invention relates to a handheld analysis instrument for assaying a medically significant sample. The instrument comprises a measuring device for measuring the concentration of an analyte in the sample, an output device for outputting measurement results. The output device has both an acoustic signal output device for outputting the measurement results through nonverbal acoustic signals and also a wireless interface for communicating with an external speech output unit. |
| US07643995B2 |
Method of automatically ranking speech dialog states and transitions to aid in performance analysis in speech applications
A method of identifying problems in a speech recognition application is provided and includes the step of obtaining a speech application call log containing log data on question-answer (QA) states and transitions. Then, in accordance with the method, for each of a multiple transitions between states, a parameter is generated which is indicative of a gain in a success rate of the speech recognition application if all calls passing through the transition passed instead through other transitions. In exemplary embodiments, the parameter is an Arc Cut Gain in Success Rate (ACGSR) parameter. Methods of generating the ACGSR, as well as systems and tools for aiding developers are also disclosed. |
| US07643993B2 |
Method and system for decoding WCDMA AMR speech data using redundancy
A method and system for decoding WCDMA AMR speech data using redundancy may include generating at least one bit-sequence for at least one of a plurality of channels that comprises received WCDMA speech data. The bit-sequence may be generated by using a decoding algorithm and may be decrypted to recover the data that may have been encrypted before being transmitted. At least one bit-sequence may be selected for each of the channels by using redundancy, such as, for example, CRC, in the received WCDMA speech data. The redundancy in the received WCDMA speech data may be, for example, CRC. The bit-sequence for each of the channels may be combined to form at least one speech stream. A speech stream may be selected based on speech constraints, which may comprise gain continuity and/or pitch continuity. The selected speech stream may be communicated to a voice decoder. |
| US07643992B2 |
Method, system and device for automatic recognition of limited speech
This invention relates to a method of automatic recognition for limited speech and its correlative system and device. The main technical content is: Establish the relationship between the voice file and the identification information for a limited range of speech, and then insert the identification information into the voice file, or replace the content of the voice file with the identification information. After the transmitter sends the modified voice file, the receiver receives the modified voice and distinguishes the identification information in the voice. It then extracts the corresponding speech in the predetermined relationship using this identification information. The benefits of the embodiment of this invention include: a lower-cost method for automatically recognizing limited speech; high efficiency speech recognition, no need to wait for the voice file to finish to complete speech recognition; and lastly, a high recognition hit-rate or accuracy rate. |
| US07643988B2 |
Method for analyzing fundamental frequency information and voice conversion method and system implementing said analysis method
A method for analyzing fundamental frequency information contained in voice samples includes at least one analysis step (2) for the voice samples which are grouped together in frames in order to obtain information relating to the spectrum and information relating to the fundamental frequency for each sample frame; a step (20) for the determination of a model representing the common characteristics of the spectrum and fundamental frequency of all samples; and a step (30) for determination of a fundamental frequency prediction function exclusively according to spectrum-related in formation on the basis of the model and voice samples. |
| US07643987B2 |
Voice channel chaining in sound processors
An improved method and apparatus for controlling the voice channels in sound processors includes: programming a first voice channel to instruct a second voice channel to execute an event when a trigger condition occurs; determining by the first voice channel that the trigger condition has occurred; and instructing the second voice channel to execute the event by the first voice channel. Thus, the need for the CPU to properly time the programmer's desired voice processing events is reduced by having the voice channels themselves be pre-instructed to control another voice channel(s) upon meeting a certain trigger condition. Chains of voice channels are possible and can be as simple or complex as desired. Accurate channel-to-channel event timing is thus possible. Since no interrupts or the polling of status registers is needed, the demands on CPU resources are reduced. System bus bandwidth is also freed for the use of other system components. |
| US07643985B2 |
Context-sensitive communication and translation methods for enhanced interactions and understanding among speakers of different languages
Architecture that interacts with a user, or users of different tongues to enhance speech translation. A recognized concept or situation is sensed and/or converged upon, and disambiguated with mixed-initiative user interaction with a device to provide simplified inferences about user communication goals in working with others who speak another language. Reasoning is applied about communication goals based on the concept or situation at the current focus of attention or the probability distribution over the likely focus of attention, and the user or user's conversational partner is provided with appropriately triaged choices and, images, text and/or speech translations for review or perception. The inferences can also process an utterance or other input from a user as part of the evidence in reasoning about a concept, situation, goals, and/or disambiguating the latter. The system's best understanding of the question, need, or intention at the crux of the communication can be echoed back to the user for confirmation. Context-sensitive focusing of recognition and information gathering components can be provided based on the listening, and can employ words recognized from prior or current user utterances to further focus the inference. |
| US07643983B2 |
Data storage system emulation
A technique for emulation of a data storage system. The invention allows the level of services to be provided by a data storage system to be specified in terms of the level of services provided by another storage system. In one aspect, a performance characterization of a data storage device to be emulated is obtained (e.g., by experimental techniques). A specification of a workload is also obtained that includes a specification of a plurality of data stores for the workload. The data stores are assigned to an emulation data storage device according to the performance characterization and according to the specification of the workload such that sufficient resources of the emulation data storage device are allocated to the workload to meet the performance characterization of the data storage device to be emulated. The emulation data storage device is then operated under the workload. Quality-of-service (QoS) control may be performed so as to provide a degree of performance isolation among the workloads. |
| US07643980B2 |
Electromagnetic field analysis apparatus, method and computer program
An electromagnetic field analysis apparatus includes an information input device configured to input information as to wirings and components of an analysis object and a modeling device configured to generate a simulation model of the analysis object based on the inputted information as to wirings and components of the analysis object. A model simplification device simplifies the simulation model into a simplified simulation model by dividing the analysis object according to the simulation model into a plurality of cells and thinning out, when a plurality of elements are included in a cell, the plurality of elements. |
| US07643973B2 |
Analyzing linearization of models in modeling environments
Method and systems for analyzing the linearization of a model in a modeling environment are disclosed. The modeling environment may provide tools for linearizing the model to generate a linear model. The modeling environment may also provide tools for analyzing the linearization of the model. The tools for analyzing the linearization of the model may inspect the linear model to determine whether the model is properly linearized. The results of the linearization may be provided to users so that the users are able modify the linearization result and have the model linearized again using the modified information. |
| US07643971B2 |
Disease simulation system and method
A system and method for predicting the effect of patient self-care actions on a disease control parameter. A future disease control parameter value X(tj) at time tj is determined from a prior disease control parameter value X(ti) at time ti based on an optimal control parameter value R(tj) at time tj, the difference between the prior disease control parameter value X(ti) and an optimal control parameter value R(ti) at time ti, and a set of differentials between patient self-care parameters having patient self-care values SM(ti) at time ti and optimal self-care parameters having optimal self-care values OM(ti) at time ti. The differentials are multiplied by corresponding scaling factors KM. The system includes an input device for entering the patient self-care values SM(ti). A memory stores the optimal control parameter values R(ti) and R(tj), the prior disease control parameter value X(ti), the optimal self-care values OM(ti), and the scaling factors KM. A processor in communication with the input device and memory calculates the future disease control parameter value X(tj). A display is connected to the processor to display the future disease control parameter value X(tj) to a patient. |
| US07643969B2 |
Methods and apparatus for providing decision support
A method for providing decision support includes using a programmed computer to input a regression model specification, and to repeat the input a plurality of times to obtain and store a plurality of regression model specifications. The method further includes using the programmed computer to analyze selected regression model specifications to determine at least one of common variables and functions of common variables, to thereby determine a reduced-redundancy request for input of variables, when a plurality of the stored regression model specifications are selected for use. |
| US07643963B2 |
Apparatus, method and program for measuring surface texture
An apparatus for measuring surface texture causes a probe to trace a surface of a workpiece to detect contact between a tip provided on the tip of the probe and the surface of the workpiece and measures surface texture of the workpiece. The apparatus for measuring surface texture includes: a path division unit dividing a path along which the tip is moved into a plurality of sections between the starting point and the ending point of the path; a moving velocity calculation unit calculating a moving velocity of the tip in sequence from the starting point to the ending point for each of the plurality of sections, based on the path information for each of the plurality of sections; and a stylus movement control unit moving the tip in a section for which a moving velocity has been calculated at the moving velocity calculation unit. |
| US07643961B2 |
Position detecting device and position detecting method
A position detection method of detecting a position of a mark. The method includes steps of detecting light from the mark under a first detecting condition to obtain a position of the mark as a first position, detecting light from the mark under a second detecting condition different from the first detecting condition to obtain a position of the mark as a second position, obtaining previously prepared data for relating a difference between the first and second positions to offset data for offsetting one of the first and second positions, and detecting the position of the mark based on the first and second positions and the previously prepared data. |
| US07643960B2 |
Correction of factors in vehicle accelerometer signals
A method for measuring and storing values of sensor bias in acceleration values for a vehicle, obtained over a plurality of time periods from a sensor having a specified range of expected variability of sensor bias values, includes measuring a first value of sensor bias obtained during operation of the vehicle in a first time period, storing the measured first value of sensor bias for use in one or more subsequent time periods, measuring a second value of sensor bias obtained during operation of the vehicle in a second time period, subtracting the measured second value of sensor bias from the stored first value of sensor bias, thereby generating a sensor bias difference, and storing the measured second value of sensor bias, for reference in one or more subsequent time periods, if the sensor bias difference is within the specified range of expected variability of sensor bias values. |
| US07643959B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer readable media that provide programming for a sensor monitoring system using a softprocessor
Methods, systems, and computer readable media provide a softprocessor that is executed by a hardware processing device of a sensor monitoring system and provide an application that is executed by the softprocessor being executed by the hardware processing device. The softprocessor may be compiled for different hardware processing devices such that the customized programming remains independent of the particular hardware processing device present in the computer monitoring system. Tools for creating the custom programming for the softprocessor may be provided to entities purchasing the softprocessor so that the entities are not dependent upon the entity creating the softprocessor. |
| US07643955B2 |
Multi-targeting method for measuring distance according to the phase measuring principle
Distances to targets (2a, 2b) are simultaneously determined in a method for measuring distance according to the phase measuring principle with a time discrete emission of periodic signals (7) and a sampling of received signals for generating and optionally storing sampled values, whereby the signals have signal portions that are reflected by the targets (2a, 2b) and superimposed. A statistical parameter estimation problem based on a mathematical signal model is solved in such a manner that the number of the targets (2a, 2b) for more than one target (2a, 2b) is preset or fundamentally, the number of targets is determined by the method, and the inequalities D−≦Dk |
| US07643954B2 |
Bidirectional communication system and calibrator
A master station includes a group of circuits for performing an optimization method. In such a system, the optimization is achieved by adjusting the pull-up resistance and by setting the best possible clock frequency to ensure that data/clock high and low voltage levels are within predetermined specifications. An optimization procedure is performed in a calibration phase invoked by a user or a system whenever a change is introduced to the system, such as addition or deletion of slave stations, a change of data/clock lines, or a change that may affect on the electrical and timing characteristics of the two-wire communication system. |
| US07643952B2 |
Optical image processing using minimum phase functions
A method processes an optical image. The method includes providing a measured magnitude of the Fourier transform of a two-dimensional complex transmission function. The method further includes providing an estimated phase term of the Fourier transform of the two-dimensional complex transmission function. The method further includes multiplying the measured magnitude and the estimated phase term to generate an estimated Fourier transform of the two-dimensional complex transmission function. The method further includes calculating an inverse Fourier transform of the estimated Fourier transform, wherein the inverse Fourier transform is a spatial function. The method further includes calculating an estimated two-dimensional complex transmission function by applying at least one constraint to the inverse Fourier transform. |
| US07643948B2 |
Secure resource tracker
A system for tracking resource parameters includes a resource having an associated memory tag; a parameter sensing element sensing a parameter of the resource; and a memory tag reader/writer. The system is configured to store information gathered from the parameter sensing element on the memory tag. |
| US07643946B2 |
Method and system for appraising the wear of axles of a robot arm
A method determines the wear of axles of a robot arm of an industrial robot. A torque profile of at least one axle taken during at least one working cycle of the industrial robot is used as a basis for an analysis. The torque profile is analyzed for portions of the torque profile that exceed a previously fixed torque band, and current axial wear is determined by assessing the frequency and/or the curve profile of the portions of the torque profile. A system is provided for determining the wear. |
| US07643944B2 |
Measuring device for a motor vehicle
A measuring device is provided for a motor vehicle, with a bracket (1), with a joint (8), which is connected to the bracket (1) and which has a joint housing (20) and a pivot pin (19) mounted movably in same. A component (2) is provided which is connected to the joint (8) and which is mounted pivotably on the bracket (1) via the joint (8). An angle measuring device (17, 18) is provided, by which the angle (φ) of the component (2) in relation to the bracket (1) can be determined. An analyzer (23) is connected to the angle measuring device (17, 18) and has a double differentiator (24), which is connected to the angle measuring device (17, 18) and which is followed downstream by a summer or integrator (26) via the intermediary of a calculating unit (25). |
| US07643940B2 |
Obstacle detecting apparatus
An obstacle detecting apparatus includes sensors and a control device. The sensors detect an obstacle and are connected to the control device through a bus. The control device includes communication error determination and detection means. The communication error determination means determines an occurrence of a communication error if communication with the sensors is impossible for a preset error determination time period. The communication error detection means detects the communication error. The communication error determination means sets in advance, as the error determination time period, a preset first error determination time period in the case of the first communication with the sensors and a preset second error determination time period in the case of communication with the sensors after the first communication with the sensors is normally performed. The first error determination time period and the second error determination time period are set so as to be different. |
| US07643935B2 |
Parking assist systems, methods, and programs
Parking assist systems, methods and programs identify a position of a vehicle and obtain image data of an area around the vehicle from a camera on the vehicle. The systems, methods, and programs associate the obtained image data with a position of the vehicle where the image data was obtained and store the obtained image data and the associated position of the vehicle as past image data in a memory. The systems, methods, and programs determine whether the vehicle has at least entered a target parking area and display, based on the determination, an image on a display unit, the displayed image based on the past image data and image data taken at a current position of the vehicle. |
| US07643932B2 |
Knocking state determination device
An engine ECU executes a program including a step of calculating intensity values LOG(V) based on signals transmitted from a knock sensor; a step of deciding a maximum value V(MAX) in frequency distribution of intensity values LOG(V) for N cycles (N is a natural number); a step of calculating a knock determination level V(KD) based on the frequency distribution; a step of, when the knock determination level V(KD) is smaller than the maximum value V(MAX), removing V(MAX) from the frequency distribution; and a step of counting the total frequency of removed maximum values V(MAX) as knock occupancy KC. Maximum values V(MAX) are removed until the knock determination level V(KD) and the maximum value V(MAX) coincide, and the knock determination level V(KD) is recalculated. |
| US07643926B2 |
Rolling motion stability control apparatus for a vehicle
A rolling motion stability control apparatus restrains a roll increasing tendency of a vehicle, with each wheel of the vehicle being braked by a wheel brake device. A first braking force control device is provided for applying a first braking force to the wheel, when the vehicle is turned to one direction. A second braking force control device is provided for applying a second braking force to the wheel, when the vehicle is turned to the other direction. References for starting controls of the first and second braking force control devices are set to be of predetermined values, respectively. The reference for starting the control of the second braking force control device is modified to be smaller than a predetermined value, when the vehicle is turned to the one direction. |
| US07643923B2 |
Method and device for monitoring a road processing machine
The aim of the invention is to monitor the travel way of a road processing machine that drives on a basic surface as well as the working height of a working part which is disposed thereon in a vertically adjustable manner. Said aim is achieved by detecting the three-dimensional position of a positional element, determining a direction of travel from at least two three-dimensional positions, and determining the working height of the working part. The determined direction of travel is compared to a setpoint direction while the working height is compared to a setpoint height. The positional element is placed in a position that is at a horizontal distance from the working part. |
| US07643921B2 |
Clipped sensor data estimator
A method of estimating values beyond sensor limits accurately and simply includes the initial step of determining an actual slope utilizing measured data. An estimated slope is then determined as a percentage of the actual slope to provide an estimation of data values outside of the sensor limits until measured values return to within sensor limits. The estimation method according to this invention increases sensor range without sacrificing resolution with a desired accuracy. |
| US07643920B2 |
Seat-belt pretensioner arrangement
A seat-belt pretensioner arrangement comprises a pretensioner (7) and a control system (3-6) to control the tension applied to a seat-belt by the pretensioner (7). The control system (3-6) controls the pretensioner (7) in response to at least the rate of change of steering angle (δ′). A first processor (4) provides an output indicating a desired level of force to be applied to the seat-belt determined from the steering angle and the velocity of the vehicle. A second processor (5) provides a corresponding output indicative of a desired force level, determined from the rate of change of steering angle (δ′) and the velocity of the vehicle (vx). A selector (6) selects the highest of the two force levels, and provides an appropriate signal to the pretensioner (7). |
| US07643917B2 |
Vehicle multimedia system
A vehicle multimedia system includes a display that displays a hierarchically structured menu. The hierarchically structured menu may have a main menu, a plurality of submenus, and menu items. The multimedia system provides a memory for storing information identifying a menu or menu item, and a memory control unit for writing information related to a menu item upon a user's selection of the menu by an operating element or by automatic return to a main menu, and displaying the information as selectable menu items identified by the information. |
| US07643916B2 |
Vehicle state tracking method and apparatus for diagnostic testing
A vehicle state tracker tracks the state of a vehicle during a diagnostic test sequence to eliminate redundant steps between diagnostic procedures. The vehicle state tracker maintains a list of preconditions required for each diagnostic procedure, reads a current vehicle state from a memory register and verifies the current setting of the vehicle state corresponding to a specific precondition. If the precondition is required and the current setting is not valid, the state tracker further formats a test preparation step corresponding to the precondition for display to instruct a vehicle technician to satisfy the precondition. Otherwise, if the precondition is not required and the corresponding setting is valid, the state tracker formats an instruction to reverse the corresponding vehicle condition. The state tracker additionally receives feedback indicating when a precondition has been satisfied or the corresponding vehicle condition has been reversed, and updates the vehicle state in memory. |
| US07643914B2 |
Method for controlling the operation and continuous current mode of a drive assembly for a motor vehicle provided with an internal combustion engine
A method for controlling a drive assembly of a vehicle including applying a conduction angle set value greater than 180° to a variable reluctance machine such that the machine operates in a continuous current mode adjustable according to the controlled measurement of operation stability of the machine in the continuous current mode. |
| US07643910B1 |
Spray chamber valve control system
A spray chamber valve control system for ensuring that coolant is sufficiently available at the intakes of pumps in a spray cooled environment regardless of the attitude, acceleration or deceleration of a spray chassis. The spray chamber valve control system includes a spray chassis with an interior portion for spray cooling electronic devices, a plurality of valves positioned within the inner corners of the spray chassis, and a control unit in communication with the valves for controlling the operation thereof. The control unit ensures that at least one valve is open at all times. The control unit also provides a recovery routine for when only one valve is open during a valve state change. |
| US07643908B2 |
Occupant controlled energy management system and method for managing energy consumption in a multi-unit building
A system is provided for use in a multi-unit building by which an occupant of a unit of the multi-unit building controls an appliance associated with the unit and includes an actuator which is accessible to the occupant, a processing unit to control the appliance, operative in the first mode, based on occupant instructions, to change the mode of the appliance based on an actuation of the actuator and to control the appliance, operative in the second mode, according to a preselected schedule, and a networking unit to inform, via communications, a monitor of the multi-unit building as to when the appliance operates in the second mode. |
| US07643905B2 |
Robot program correcting apparatus
A robot program correcting apparatus, which displays three-dimensional models of a robot and a workpiece simultaneously on the screen of a display apparatus, and corrects an operation program for the robot, includes: a unit retrieving a robot operation program and a working position based on at least either a line or a surface computed from touchup points and on a touchup position or points representing a working position specified on the screen; a difference computing unit computing a difference between at least either the line or surface computed from the touchup points and at least either a line or a surface computed from the plurality of points as position information representing the retrieved working position; and a correcting unit correcting the robot operation program by computing the amount of correction based on the difference, thereby reducing the number of steps required when correcting the robot operation program. |
| US07643900B2 |
Method of controlling a screw in a two-stage injection unit and a system for implementing the method
Embodiments of the present invention teach a method of controlling a screw in a two-stage injection unit and a system for implementing the method. For example, a method of controlling a screw in a two-stage injection unit, the method executable at a computing apparatus associated with the two-stage injection unit is disclosed. The method comprises receiving an indication of an operational parameter associated with the screw of the two-stage injection unit; based on the indication of the operational parameter, determining a target speed (STARGET) for the screw, the target speed (STARGET) being sufficient to enable the screw to produce a required amount of material in a molten state; causing the screw to rotate at the target speed (STARGET), thereby causing the screw to operate in a substantially continuous manner. |
| US07643898B2 |
Weft knitting machine with density adjusting function, knitting method, and knitting program
A decision is made as to whether a fabric to be knitted is tubular or flat, and density is corrected such that knitting-start density is smaller and knitting-end density is larger for a tubular fabric. Knitting-start density is larger and knitting-end density is smaller for a flat fabric. A variable density section is provided between the end part and the central part of the fabric thus correcting the density gradually. Stitches at the end part of the fabric are prevented from becoming uneven as compared with the stitches in the central part without requiring additional hardware. |
| US07643896B2 |
Operation-related information display method and operation-related information display system
An operation-related information display method includes storing information for identifying a printed-wiring board and information related to the printed-wiring board, identifying the printed-wiring board, obtaining information related to the printed-wiring board corresponding to the identified printed-wiring board, and when voluntary information is designated in the obtained information related to the printed-wiring board, displaying the designated information. |
| US07643890B1 |
Remote management of portable construction devices
The present invention leverages a co-located communication component to provide remote management of a portable construction device. This enables monitoring and/or controlling the portable construction device from a central management site. The communication component allows the central site, or another communication component, to interact with the portable construction device to retrieve information such as, for example, usage information and/or status information. The communication component also allows remote control of the devices such as, for example, remote power control and/or control of auxiliary devices that facilitate the functionality of the portable construction devices. The present invention can also incorporate global positioning systems and/or location indicating systems to facilitate in determining where the portable construction devices are located and/or when the devices are properly positioned. The systems themselves can be distributed to form a communication network with bi-directional communication capabilities. |
| US07643885B2 |
Intravenous pacemaker electrode
An intravenous pacemaker electrode has an electrode tip designed to release a drug, where the drug contains at least one of the active substances sirolimus, paclitaxel, everolimus, fibrin, rapamycin, and tacrolimus. |
| US07643882B2 |
Tremor reduction systems suitable for self-application and use in disabled patients
A system and apparatus for enabling independent, highly reliable and accurate self-application of an anti-tremor means by a disabled patient, without requirement for application fixtures, wherein anti-tremor means comprises a single unit, self adhesive stimulation and recording electrode with an integrated supply of energy and a control unit, further comprising an alignment, and application means for applying said anti-tremor means configured to enable independently self application by a severely handicapped patient, wherein system and method for tremor reduction is by means of closed-loop functional electrical stimulation, including a sensor for sensing muscle movements, and Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) apparatus for providing FES to a muscle, the FES apparatus being in communication with the sensor via a band pass filter for filtering around a tremor frequency to ignore slow movements and high frequency noise. |
| US07643880B2 |
Methods and systems for selectively inhibiting neural transmission of somatic fibers
A method and system for selective inhibition of somatic nerve fibers in a mixed nerve containing both somatic and autonomic nerve fibers where the method finds use in treatment of chronic pain, spastic muscles and for sensory and motor control of a bladder. The methods and systems utilize alternate phase rectangular electrical pulses. An electrical pulse generator is coupled to a nerve. An alternate phase high frequency, low amplitude pulse is first applied to selectively inhibit somatic nerves when present in a mixed nerve. An alternate phase low frequency, high amplitude phase pulse subsequently supplied to stimulate the autonomic nerve fibers and in the case of the sacral root will permit a controlled voiding of the bladder and bowel. |
| US07643875B2 |
Baroreflex stimulation system to reduce hypertension
Various aspects of the present subject matter provide an implantable medical device. In various embodiments, the device comprises a pulse generator, a lead, a sensor, and a controller. The pulse generator generates a baroreflex stimulation signal as part of a baroreflex therapy. The lead is adapted to be electrically connected to the pulse generator and to be intravascularly fed into a heart. The lead includes an electrode to be positioned in or proximate to the heart to deliver the baroreflex signal to a baroreceptor region in or proximate to the heart. The sensor senses a physiological parameter regarding an efficacy of the baroreflex therapy and provides a signal indicative of the efficacy. The controller is connected to the pulse generator to control the baroreflex stimulation signal and to the sensor to receive the signal indicative of the efficacy of the baroreflex therapy. Other aspects are provided herein. |
| US07643872B2 |
System and method for detecting cardiac ischemia based on T-Waves using an implantable medical device
A technique is provided for detecting episodes of cardiac ischemia based on an examination of the total energy of T-waves. Since cardiac ischemia is often a precursor to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or ventricular fibrillation (VF), the technique thereby provides a method for predicting the possible onset of AMI or VF. Briefly, the technique integrates internal electrical cardiac signals occurring during T-waves and then compares the result against a running average. If the result exceeds the average by some predetermined amount, ischemia is thereby detected and a warning signal is provided to the patient. The maximum slope of the T-wave is also exploited. Techniques are also set forth herein for reliably detecting T-waves, which help prevent P-waves from being misinterpreted as T-waves on unipolar sensing channels. The T-wave detection technique may be used in conjunction with ischemia detection or for other purposes. |
| US07643870B2 |
Method and system or managing ECGs in a clinical trial
The present disclosure includes a method and system for managing ECGs in a clinical trial including a processor, storage media, ECG acquisition system, user interface device, and the appropriate databases configured to collect and store a set of trial specific drug ECG recordings. The system and method allows a trial administrator to select a set of placebo ECG recordings and a set of known QT prolonged ECG recordings from databases and adjust these sets according to the parameters of the study. Interpretations are made on this superset of ECG recordings and the interpretation is outputted to a user. |
| US07643865B2 |
Autonomous in-vivo device
The present invention may provide a system, method and device containing a motor. The motor may propel an in-vivo device by rotating a propeller situated for example outside of an outer shell of such device with an electromagnetic field generated by for example a plurality of electrical coils situated for example within such device. |
| US07643861B2 |
Technique for design, and placement, of a subdermal Ag—Ag/Cl biopotential electrode
A chronic subdermal silver-silver/chloride (Ag—Ag/Cl) electrode for the recording of biopotentials is disclosed. The electrode is comprised of an Ag—Ag/Cl distal end that is placed subdermally by various methods. The recording electrode is made of solid, multi-stranded or a ball of pure silver and the whole length of the electrode is insulated except for the distal end which is used for voltage recordation. The electrode can be placed subdermally by an introducer apparatus such as hypodermic or sewing needle, a split-cannula, a staple, or a suture. Once placed, the introducer apparatus can be removed leaving the recording wire/element in place. The recording electrode can be placed at any location on the body to record the local biopotential (EEG, EOG, EMG, EKG, etc). It can be left in place for hours, days, or weeks, as it will record without any further adjustment. |
| US07643859B2 |
Non-invasive glucose meter
An apparatus and method for measuring a concentration of a substance in an eye using a retro-reflected measurement light beam having a first wavelength at which the substance has a non-zero first absorption coefficient and a retro-reflected reference light beam having a second wavelength at which the substance has a second absorption coefficient which is substantially equal to zero. The apparatus further includes a detector positionable to receive the retro-reflected measurement light beam and the retro-reflected reference light beam. The detector is responsive to light having the first wavelength by generating a measurement signal and responsive to light having the second wavelength by generating a reference signal. The apparatus further includes an electrical circuit coupled to the detector. The electrical circuit is responsive to the measurement signal and the reference signal to measure the concentration of the substance in the eye. |
| US07643855B2 |
Portable terminal device
A portable phone including a connecting member such as a hinge part for coupling a display housing and a grip housing in a manner that a first state in which the display housing and the grip housing are folded together, and a second state in which the display housing and the grip housing are coupled at one end, are exchangeable. The display housing includes a display unit, a fuel cell, and a fuel cartridge, and the grip housing includes an operation part and a rechargeable part for storing electricity generated by the fuel cell, the fuel cartridge is detachably mounted on the side face of the display housing. |
| US07643852B2 |
Method to calibrate RF paths of an FHOP adaptive base station
A method for calibration of RF paths of a frequency hopping adaptive base transceiver station is provided. The method of calibration calibrates a wireless cellular telecommunication system with a frequency hopping adaptive base transceiver station including an adaptive antenna array with two or more RF traffic transceiver apparatus chains. The wireless cellular telecommunication system communicates with mobile units on a frequencies defined by a hop list. The method of calibration includes the step of periodically interrupting a frequency hopping process of the frequency hopping adaptive base transceiver station while calls are in progress. The method of calibration further includes the step of calibrating an antenna transmit path for a RF traffic transceiver apparatus chain at a frequency selected to include one or more frequencies in the hop list to determine a set of weighting parameters for the antenna transmit path at the one or more frequencies. A self-calibrating frequency hopping adaptive base transceiver station is also provided. |
| US07643850B2 |
Cellular communication terminals and methods that sense terminal movement for cursor control
A cellular communication terminal is configured to function as a mouse for a proximately located computer. The cellular communication terminal includes a cellular transceiver, a communication interface, an accelerometer, and a controller. The cellular transceiver is configured to communicate over a wireless cellular interface with a cellular network. The communication interface is configured to be communicatively coupled to the proximately located computer. The accelerometer is configured to generate acceleration information that is indicative of movement of the terminal. The controller is configured to communicate through the cellular transceiver with the cellular network according to a cellular communication protocol, and to selectively operate in a mouse mode during which the controller generates terminal movement information based on the acceleration information from the accelerometer and communicates the terminal movement information through the communication interface to the proximately located computer. The communication interface may be a short-range wireless communication transceiver and/or a wired interface, such as a USB interface. Related terminals and methods are disclosed for using the terminal to provide mouse type functions for a user application in the terminal and/or an application on a remotely located communication device. |
| US07643845B2 |
Transmission power control device and method, mobile station, and communication device in mobile communication system
A transmission power control device is provided that includes: a transmission loss calculator that calculates a transmission loss in the electric wave transmission path between a mobile station and each base station; and a transmission power control information determiner that determines which transmission power control information is to be used in a transmission power control operation at the mobile station, based on transmission power control information transmitted from each base station to the mobile station and the transmission loss in the transmission path between the mobile station and each base station calculated by the transmission loss calculator. This transmission power control device may further include an autonomous controller that increases transmission power from a current value in accordance with predetermined characteristics, regardless of transmission power control information from another communication device, when reception signal quality has become lower than a predetermined quality level. With this structure, after synchronization with a signal from the base station is established at the mobile station, the transmission power is controlled to increase from the initial value in accordance with the predetermined characteristics, regardless of the transmission power control information transmitted from the base station. |
| US07643844B2 |
Method of managing radio resources and Node B apparatus implementing the same
A method of managing radio resources and a Node B implementing the same are provided. If the total radio resources used in a cell exceed target radio resources signaled by an RNC, uplink rates are equally allocated to primary UEs and non-primary UEs by controlling the signal strengths of the primary and non-primary UEs. |
| US07643837B2 |
Controlling reconfiguration in a cellular communication system
In a cellular communication system, for example UMTS using WCDMA, a configuration of radio links is controlled. In a mobile unit, and in a base station, a synchronization counter indicates time codes (CFN) for synchronization of configuration changes across the system. Messages are exchanged between a network controller, the base stations and the mobile units, which messages include a change command (62) for changing a configuration, and a reconfiguration command (61) for changing a current configuration state to a next configuration state at a selected future time code (63). Traditionally a prepared reconfiguration period (67) for such a reconfiguration change was treated as a blocking period for further changes. According to the invention the prepared reconfiguration period is determined, and a prepared reconfiguration period indicator (66) is added to the change command. Hence other configuration changes can be effected during the prepared reconfiguration period. |
| US07643832B2 |
Method and apparatus for reference signal selection in a cellular system
In a wireless communication system, a method and apparatus for reference signal selection is disclosed. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a first reference signal in a first cell is pseudo-randomly selected from a predetermined limited set of reference signals for transmission on a first channel resource. A second reference signal in the cell is pseudo-randomly selected from the predetermined limited set of reference signals for transmission on a second channel resource, where the predetermined limited set of reference signals is common among the first cell and at least a second cell. |
| US07643829B2 |
Local location manager, home location manager and mobile communication system
Time required for location registration is reduced and concentration of location update signals caused when a group moves is prevented. Each mobile node and a mobile router sends a location update request to a local location manager near to the area in which it exists, so that time required for location registration can be reduced, and it is possible to prevent pressure on wireless resources and temporary increase in communication traffic within a mobile network, which may be caused by concentration of location update signals when a group moves as in the case of a train with a lot of passengers having mobile nodes. Thereby, even if location registration is not correctly performed by a mobile router, which sends a location update request on behalf of mobile nodes existing in the space of a moving body, due to the communication condition or a failure, it can be dealt with. |
| US07643828B2 |
Method and apparatus for fast link setup in a wireless communication system
A method and apparatus for a communication system provide for fast link setup for a mobile station by transmitting a request message, transmitting an assignment message from the base station to the mobile station, and transmitting a notification message from the base station to a base station controller. The mobile station transmits an indication message to the base station controller indicating a successful completion of acquiring the data packet channel. The base station controller processes the indication message for message integrity and security feature. A portion of the available communication resources at the base station is allocated for an immediate response to the request message for acquiring a data packet channel. |
| US07643827B1 |
Satellite broadcast communication method and system
The invention provides for the design of a single beam communication satellite system covering a single service area, either uplink, downlink or both, by which rain fade effects are totally compensated. The rain fades, characterized by fixed margins, are not exceeded for a certain percentages of time. The service area must be large enough so that the statistical rain fades (in decibels) vary significantly over the service area. The single beam antenna must be electrically large enough and must have a beam forming network capable of multiple component beams so that a gain profile can be established for the antenna which compensates for the fixed margins established over the service area. Since no subscriber has excess fixed margin this results in a minimum power system. Other significant effects such as differences in slant range and other systemic variations over the service area also can be compensated. |
| US07643826B2 |
Mobile care engine system
A mobile care engine system is provided for delivering customer care to mobile devices, comprising. The mobile care engine system compares profile data from a mobile device with reference data and highlights any inconsistencies between the data, so that the device can be optimized. The inconsistencies are preferably determined using rule-based processing, and are automatically highlighted on the device display itself, or on a display of a customer service representative interface. Optionally, the system allows for corrective patches or settings to be sent to the device. |
| US07643825B2 |
System and method for managing data to be pushed to a wireless device when the device may be outside of a coverage range
A push proxy server for pushing data to a wireless device having a coverage state of online or offline. The push proxy server comprises a coverage state detector, memory, a data store, and a transceiver. The coverage state detector determines the coverage state of the wireless device. The memory stores a coverage state indicator for indicating the coverage state of the wireless device. The data store stores the data to be pushed to the wireless device when the coverage state indicator indicates the wireless device is offline. The transceiver transmits the data to the wireless device when the coverage state indicator indicates the wireless device is online. A method for implementing the push proxy server is also described. |
| US07643821B2 |
Text brochure and media system and method
A method and device for providing brochures to interested parties using cellular communication devices such as cellular telephones, cellular enabled digital devices and the like. An access number which may be contacted by a cellular communication device is provided in an advertisement of an item, the access number being a short code, telephone number or the like. An active seeker device continuously receives messages sent to the access number, then a database of information is consulted and an informational message sent to the caller. The informational message may be an SMS text message, a photograph of the item, an opt-in message to receive further information, and combinations thereof. Items may include any object or estate commonly advertised for sale or lease, such as real estate, vehicles, consumer products and the like. |
| US07643820B2 |
Method and device for restricted access contact information datum
Disclosed are an electronic device (202) and method of an electronic device and a method of a network for transmitting, receiving and processing a user-accessible contact information data entry in a contact information storage medium (214). User-accessible contact information data, such as a telephone book entry, is transmitted by a sender's device to the mobile communication device (202) with particular restrictions on the entry that trigger a processor (212) to carry out instructions (226, 224, 222) to restrict annunciation, transmission, and/or modification of the telephone book entry and also to trigger instructions (218) to delete all or part of the telephone book entry upon fulfillment of an expiration criterion specified by the sender's device. |
| US07643811B2 |
Method and system for interference detection
A wireless communications device includes a first receiver and a second receiver. The first receiver is configured to receive a first wireless signal (such as a Bluetooth or WLAN signal), while the second receiver is configured to receive a second wireless signal (such as a UWB signal). In addition, the second receiver is configured to determine spectral characteristics of the first wireless signal. Based on these determined spectral characteristics, an interference detection module may identify interference in the first wireless signal. |
| US07643808B2 |
Device and method for mixing circuits
A first and a second signal (base band and local oscillator), respectively modulated to a first and a second frequency, are mixed to deliver an output signal at a frequency obtained by combining the first and second frequencies. The mixing is accomplished through a variable resistance stage controlled by the second signal and connected between a first and a second potential to deliver the mixed output signal. A control stage is configured to drive the resistance variation of the variable resistance stage according to the first signal. |
| US07643807B2 |
Methods for using broadcast media content information and related broadcast media receivers/playback devices
Methods of displaying broadcast media content information to a user include receiving at a first receiver first content from a first channel of a multi-channel broadcast media system while receiving at a second receiver information regarding the content on a second off-channel of the multi-channel broadcast media system. Then, at least some of the received information regarding the content on the second channel is displayed to the user. A database of information may also be provided that includes, for example, information regarding listening/viewing preferences of the user. This database of information may be used, for example, to select the off-channels that are scanned for content information and/or to select what information is displayed to the user. |
| US07643800B2 |
Transmit power management for a communication device and method for use therewith
A voice data and RF integrated circuit (IC) includes a memory module that stores a least one application as a plurality of operational instructions, the at least one application having a plurality of power modes that each correspond to one of a plurality of use characteristics. A processing module executes the plurality of operational instructions, determines a selected one of the plurality of power modes based on current use characteristics of the at least one application, and generates a power mode signal based on the selected one of the plurality of power modes. An on-chip power management circuit receives the power mode signal and generates a plurality of power supply signals based on the power mode signal. |
| US07643798B2 |
Passive NFC activation of short distance wireless communication
A mobile terminal includes a passive wireless receiver and a wireless transceiver. The passive wireless receiver receives a first activation signal from another mobile terminal, and transmits a second activation signal using power from the first activation signal. The wireless transceiver receives the second activation signal, and establishes a wireless connection with the other mobile terminal in response to receiving the second activation signal. |
| US07643792B2 |
Satellite ground control system using communication satellite
Provided is a satellite ground control system and method based on a communication satellite. The system includes: a communication satellite link means for monitoring and controlling a system device and transmitting remote measurement data and a process result to the central control station; an interface for analyzing the command, transmitting the command to a processing means and transmitting remote measurement data and a process result to the communication satellite link means; a satellite operating means for receiving a command from the interface, transforming the command into a remote command and transmitting remote measurement data to the interface; and a control satellite link means for transmitting the received remote command, receiving the remote measurement data, transmitting the remote measurement data to the satellite operating means, and transmitting a process result of monitor and control of a corresponding system device to the interface. |
| US07643790B2 |
Local communication system and method in wireless communication system
Local communication system in wireless communication system includes a main wireless terminal negotiating with each of the peripheral wireless terminals during a time period for which a frame will be transmitted, generating a schedule map including negotiated time information and a transmission sequence of each of the peripheral wireless terminals, and transmitting the generated schedule map to all peripheral wireless terminals; and the peripheral wireless terminals storing the schedule map received from the main wireless terminal, and performing communication with the main wireless terminal according to the sequence determined in the schedule map for the negotiated time period. |
| US07643788B2 |
Method and system for broadcasting data messages to a vehicle
The invention provides systems and methods for targeting broadcast messages to particular vehicles or classes of vehicles. In one embodiment, the system comprises an information center for creating and sending a broadcast data message, and a relay section that receives the broadcast data message and relays the message to a plurality of vehicles. The information center typically comprises a one-to-many communication system for sending the message from one source to a plurality of receivers, such as a satellite radio network or the like. The message can be deleted or modified in response to commands received by the receiver. |
| US07643787B2 |
Receiver system and method for receiving broadcasting
A receiver system equipped with a first and second reception units for receiving a satellite radio broadcasting prevents a reception unit switching operations by using signal selection data that provides satellite availability for respective operation areas. The satellite radio broadcasting reception quality in each of the respective operation areas is improved because of the reduced chance of dropout or the like in the broadcasted contents of the satellite radio broadcasting received by the receiver system. |
| US07643783B2 |
Image forming apparatus employing an electrophotographic method
A CMOS sensor scans an image that is either on a transfer material carrier or on a transfer material that is placed on the transfer material carrier. A sampling timing controller samples an image signal at a predetermined sampling rate and computes a position of a predetermined pattern contained within the sampled image signal. A speed computation processor computes a moving speed of either the transfer material carrier or the transfer material, based on the position of the predetermined pattern thus sampled at the predetermined sampling rate and computed, as well as the predetermined sampling rate. The image region that the CMOS sensor scans is determined in accordance with the rotational speed of the drive motor and the sampling rate. |
| US07643782B2 |
Belt driving apparatus
A belt driving apparatus for driving a belt has the belt hung around and between rollers, and has a meandering prevention member provided in each end part of each roller to restrict the meandering of the belt in the roller axial direction. A cut is formed to be open toward the roller end face and to extend in the roller axial direction, and a boss that fits into the cut is formed on the inner circumference of the meandering prevention member. |
| US07643778B2 |
Powder transport with a tapered feed roller of an electrostatographic printer
An apparatus and method for dispensing toner in an electrostatographic printer includes an apparatus for feeding powder toward the feed apparatus wherein the feed roller includes a tapered feed roller including a shaft and one or more variable height flutes such that there is more developer volume in the direction of flow as well as a conveyance controller for controlling the powder conveying device, including the one or more tapered feed rollers such that the tapered feed roller preferentially uniformly conveys the powder toward the feed apparatus. |
| US07643777B2 |
Toner cartridge
A toner cartridge can be attached to and detached from an apparatus main body. The toner cartridge includes an outer housing having a substantially rectangular upper cross section and a substantially semi-circular lower cross section, and an inner housing that is disposed inside of a lower portion of the outer housing and that has a cylindrical shape with an opening formed at its side surface, the inner housing being rotatably supported in the lower portion of the outer housing, and at the opening a bridging portion being formed along a longitudinal direction of the inner housing. |
| US07643776B2 |
Ink building
An ink builder to build an ink for a hard copy device. The ink has at least one property that deteriorates in storage. The ink builder comprises an ink tank and apparatus for building ink in the ink tank from a plurality of components and/or an ink maintaining apparatus arranged to inhibit deterioration of the at least one property of the ink in the ink tank. The ink builder may be used in cooperation with a separate hard copy device to which the ink tank can be transferred. Methods of producing hard copies using such a hard copy device are also disclosed. |
| US07643774B2 |
Roller spacing apparatus and image forming device having the same
A roller spacing apparatus and an image forming device including the same. The roller spacing apparatus includes a frame, a first rotatable roller member having a first shaft, a second rotatable roller member having a second shaft and being rotatable in a close contact with the first roller member under a predetermined pressure, and at least one spacing part to space apart the first and the second roller members from each other by a predetermined gap such that the first and the second roller members are not in contact with each other when the first and the second roller members are not in use. The at least one spacing part includes a bushing member that has a bushing to rotatably support one of the first and second shafts on the frame, and a lever positioned at the bushing to rotate the bushing, the bushing having an outer diameter part and an inner diameter part to support the one of the first and second shafts, the inner and outer diameter parts being non-concentric circles such that a center point of the inner diameter part is at a different location from a center point of the outer diameter part, a stopping member disposed on the frame to restrict an operation range of the bushing, and a power transmitting member to selectively transmit an external rotation force to the bushing such that the bushing rotates in a direction. |
| US07643770B2 |
Image forming apparatus and developing cartridge
In a developing cartridge, the contact plate of the electrode member is disposed to contact the developing bias terminal within a plane of projection when a driven coupling part is projected in a first direction. A first axis line, which is an axis of the developing roller shaft, and a second axis line, which is an axis of the input gear, are disposed in parallel and equidistant in the front-rear direction. A part of the contact plate is disposed on the second axis line. A first line connecting an axis about which the input gear rotates and the developing roller shaft and a second line connecting the contact plate and the developing roller shaft are disposed parallel to each other. The distance between the first axis line and the second axis line equals the distance between the first axis line and the contact plate. |
| US07643766B2 |
Device for measuring concentration of toner in liquid developer, image forming apparatus provided therewith, and method for measuring toner concentration
Provided are a light-emitting portion having a light-emitting member and a light emergence surface through which light from the light-emitting member emerges, and a light-receiving portion having a light incidence surface through which the light from the light-emitting member enters and a light-receiving member that detects the light entering through the light incidence surface. The light-emitting portion and the light-receiving portion can make relative movement between a measurement position in which the light emergence surface and the light incidence surface make contact with each other and a waiting position in which the light emergence surface is away from the light incidence surface. When the light-emitting portion and the light-receiving portion are in the measurement position, the light emergence surface and the light incidence surface make contact with each other at a point. |
| US07643765B2 |
Image forming apparatus that charges the surface of a photosensitive member to a predetermined potential
An image forming apparatus charges the surface of a photosensitive member to a predetermined potential. A current detector detects a charging current when the charging bias is applied. A storage stores a target charging current value when the photosensitive member is charged to a required potential. A usage acquiring portion acquires information relating to usage of the charging roller. A bias corrector performs first and second corrections. The first correction compares a charging current value with a stored target charging current value and determines a new charging bias based on the comparison. The second correction determines whether usage of the charging roller is a predetermined first amount or a greater amount based on acquired usage information, and when the usage is the greater amount, changes the target charging current value in accordance with the usage amount and obtains a new charging bias based on the changed target charging current value. |
| US07643764B2 |
Reflective sensor sampling for tone reproduction control regulation
A method of monitoring one or more patches in an image-processing device comprised of photoreceptor, a controller, and a sensor, includes obtaining specular readings and diffuse readings from the one or more patches and computing values received from the readings. In addition, the one or more patches are from about 0.1 mm to equal or less than the field of view of the sensor where each patch size, location, and approximate value is known; and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) is automatically conducted from the known size, location, and approximate value of each patch. |
| US07643759B2 |
Signal-quality evaluation device, signal adjustment method, optical-signal evaluation system, and optical transmission system
Provided are a signal-quality evaluation device and a signal adjustment method which require shorter evaluation time and which have high flexibility of application. A signal quality evaluation device 100 includes an optical component 110 and an optical output detector 120. In the optical component 110, an output optical power Pout is a function of an input optical power Pin, and this function Pout(Pin) has at least one maximum point. The optical output detector 120 detects the time-average power of light output from the optical component 110. |
| US07643756B2 |
Optical network for transferring data between devices in a vehicle
Transceivers, networks, and methods for providing data communication to electrical devices in a vehicle, and a vehicle comprising the transceiver and network. A transceiver of the network can include a receive optical subassembly including an opto-electronic transducer configured to receive a first incoming optical signal from an optical fiber having a silica based core. Signal extraction circuitry is configured to extract data intended for an electrical device from of the incoming optical signal and provide the extracted data to the electrical device, and a transmit optical subassembly comprising a laser, such as a VCSEL, configured to transmit an outgoing optical signal to a second optical fiber having a silica based core. |
| US07643755B2 |
Optical receiver comprising a receiver photodetector integrated with an imaging array
A high-speed optical communications cell is integrated at the interior of a two-dimensional imaging array. The combined receiver and imager carries out both photodetection (converting photons to electrons) and circuit functions (e.g. amplifying and integrating the signals from the photodetectors). The high-speed receiver cell comprises a photodetector and a high-speed amplification circuit, providing an electrical output which can follow a rapidly varying optical signal falling on the photodetector. The imaging array comprises an array of photodetectors and readout circuits, providing an electrical representation of the variation of light with position across the receiver surface. The presence of an imaging array surrounding the communications receiver, and in the same plane as it, allows a single optical path to be used for source acquisition and tracking as well as for data reception. |
| US07643748B2 |
Platform for stereoscopic image acquisition
There is disclosed a platform suited for use in dual camera, stereoscopic digital cinema. The fixture may have a base, a first convergence plate and a second convergence plate. The base may be mounted to a tripod, steadicam, crane, boom or other device for supporting a platform used in stereoscopic cinematography. The base may have two platforms attached to each other via a linear slide. The convergence plates may be attached to the respective platforms via an XY slide. |
| US07643746B2 |
Light intensity adjusting system
A light intensity adjustment system is provided which greatly decreases or makes unnecessary image compensation by the image processing device side, improves scan precision, and can reduce the scan time; and which comprises: a light irradiation device 1 that has multiple independently light intensity adjustable light irradiation units 11, and that irradiates light facing a predetermined target area A; a photographic device 2 that photographs said target area A through a lens, and outputs a target area image that is the photographed image; and a light intensity control unit 3 that controls the respective light intensities of said light irradiation units 11 so that the brightness of the various parts of the target area images that said photographic device 2 has output approaches a predetermined standard value. |
| US07643745B2 |
Electronic device with auxiliary camera function
An electronic device includes circuitry for carrying out an operation unrelated to camera operation, and camera circuitry for carrying out a camera related operation, the camera circuitry including circuitry for providing autofocus control. The electronic device further includes a camera lens operatively coupled to the camera circuitry, a focus state of the camera lens being controlled by the camera circuitry. In addition, the electronic device includes an operator input operatively coupled to at least the camera circuitry for enabling an operator to provide an input unrelated to focus control of the camera lens in a first operating condition, and to provide a manual focus control input to the camera lens in a second operating condition. |
| US07643744B2 |
Lens driving device and image pickup device using the same
A lens driving device has first and second driving units for moving first and second lens holders supporting first and second sets of lens elements in an optical axis direction, respectively. The first and second driving units each have a motor, a gear fitted around an output shaft of the motor, a lead screw rotated by the gear, and a nut fitted around the lead screw. The output shafts of the first and second motors overlap each other in their axial direction. The first and second driving units move the first and second lens holders in the optical axis direction via the respective nuts moving in the optical axis direction. An image pickup plane side end face of the motor of the first driving unit is positioned more to the image pickup plane side than a position most to the subject side of the second lens holder is. |
| US07643739B2 |
Image pick-up apparatus having function of detecting shake direction
An object is shot continuously at such a high shutter speed that blur is not caused due to camera shake, and plural shot images are combined such that object images in the plural shot images coincide with each other, whereby one sharp image of the object is obtained. A correction direction mark is displayed together with a through image during a shooting operation. The correction direction mark indicates a direction and amount to be corrected by its size, when a location of the object image in each shot image shifts from an initial location in an initial shot image out of a predetermined allowable range. Watching the correction direction mark, a user can correct the shooting range so as to meet with the initial shooting range, whereby the shooting range can be prevented from shifting greatly from the initial shooting range during the shooting operation. |
| US07643738B2 |
Imaging device
An imaging device, such as a digital camera, has a mechanism for compensating an image blur caused by hand jiggling and is capable of consecutively shooting, through one operation of a shutter operation section (36), frames of an image in a state where the mechanism (20) is operational and in a state where the mechanism is not operational. |
| US07643737B2 |
Line of sight detection apparatus
A line of sight detection apparatus includes: a line of sight detection device which detects the line of sight of an occupant; an operation detection device which detects the operation of on-board equipment by the occupant; and a calibration device which calibrates a detection value of the line of sight detection device based on the operation of the on-board equipment by the occupant which is detected by the operation detection device and position data of the on-board equipment. |
| US07643732B2 |
Recording medium and method and apparatus for decoding text subtitle streams
At least one text subtitle stream is recorded on a recording medium. Each text subtitle stream includes a dialog style segment defining a set of region styles and at least one dialog presentation segment. Each dialog presentation segment contains at least one region of dialog text and being linked to at least one of the set of region styles. The dialog style segment further defines a set of user control styles for each region style. Each user control style is selectable by a user and is configured to change at least one of region presentation properties specified by a corresponding region style. |
| US07643728B2 |
Magnetic recording/reproduction apparatus
A video signal recording apparatus with a video and audio memorizing section for temporarily memorizing an inputted video audio signal, a time code generating section for generating a time-code of said video audio signal an auxiliary information memorizing section for temporarily memorizing auxiliary information appended to said video audio signal including said time code generating a regeneration value obtained from a time code to which one frame time is added to said recorded time code when a recording starts and correcting said regeneration value for an amount of delay corresponding to a storage volume temporarily memorized in said auxiliary information (time code, metadata, CUE audio signal, and the like) memorizing section and thus obtaining a corrected time code, and thereafter sequential time codes are generated from said corrected time code though said time code generating section. |
| US07643727B2 |
Method and apparatus of recording a multi-channel stream, and a recording medium containing a multi-channel stream recorded by said method
The present invention relates to method and apparatus of recording a multi-channel data stream on a recording medium in such a manner that substreams of digital channels constituting the multi-channel data stream can be distinguished each other in reproduction. The present recording method separates a multi-channel stream composed of substreams belonging to a plurality of channels into individual substreams, records the individual substreams separately by channel in a single or plural stream objects allocated in a recording medium, and creates as many files as the number of channels for the single or plural stream objects. The present method makes it possible to selectively search and reproduce each substream among a recorded multi-channel stream through file selection, thereby improving use convenience of a recording machine such as a digital video recorder. |
| US07643722B2 |
Video storage system
Control data, such as a store-request, and video data are sent via different paths to video storage. More specifically, a load balancer sends the control data from a camera to the storage device, and the camera sends the video data to video storage. By separating the transmission paths of the control data and the video data, it is possible to vary the method for protecting the video storage, depending on the type of data, and to intensively check the control data which are smaller in data quantity, thereby realizing both a high security level and a cost reduction for protecting video storage. |
| US07643720B2 |
Optoelectronic module retention mechanism
A retention mechanism for an electronic or optoelectronic module. In one example embodiment, an optoelectronic module retention clip includes a base, a pair of arms extending from the base, and a protrusion extending from each arm. Each protrusion is configured to engage a complementary structure defined in a de-latch slide and a complementary structure defined in an optoelectronic module shell so as to prevent motion of the de-latch slide relative to the shell when the optoelectronic module retention clip is attached to the optoelectronic module. |
| US07643712B2 |
Optical module and optical switching device
The invention relates to an optical device which can increase the spread of a beam diameter in the depthwise direction by a simple configuration in comparison with that by prior art devices. The optical device includes a substrate, an optical path formed on the substrate, and a diffraction propagation region, provided between the optical path and an end face of the substrate, for propagating light emitted from the optical path with diffraction. The diffraction propagation region includes a first groove, formed therein, adapted to block part of components of the propagated light in a depthwise direction of the substrate. |
| US07643710B1 |
Method and apparatus for efficient coupling between silicon photonic chip and optical fiber
A method and apparatus for efficient coupling between a silicon photonic chip and an optical fiber is described. In one embodiment, an apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention includes: a first optical waveguide having a first end to optically couple to a first external device and a second end, the second end having a taper with a tip at the second end, a second optical waveguide optically coupled to the taper of the first optical waveguide, having a taper with a tip at a second end, and a third optical waveguide optically coupled to the taper of the second optical waveguide, the third optical waveguide to optically couple to a second external device having a larger cross-sectional area than the first external device. |
| US07643707B2 |
Lighting apparatus
Provided is a lighting apparatus capable of uniformly and efficiently lighting a spatial light modulator. The lighting apparatus includes: a light source for outputting laser light; a multimode optical fiber in which the laser light outputted from the light source propagates through an internal core whose lateral cross section is a substantially polygonal outer diameter shape; and spatial light modulator for producing an image with illumination light from the multimode optical fiber. In the lighting apparatus, the laser light is outputted from the light source and is propagated to the multimode optical fiber in which an outer diameter shape of the lateral cross section of the core is a substantially polygonal shape, whereby the spatial light modulator can be uniformly and efficiently lighted. |
| US07643698B2 |
Image sharpening using diffusion
An improved sharpening technique sharpens an image using diffusion rather than a Gaussian blur in the smearing phase. After an appropriate radius or number of passes is determined for the pixels of an image, a diffusive process is applied to the image in the smearing phase to generate a blurred image. The values of each pixel in the original image are differenced with the values of each corresponding pixel in the blurred image. The difference may be weighted by input from a user. The resulting value is added to the original image and a sharpened version of the original image is created. |
| US07643697B2 |
Accelerative noise filtering method for image data
An accelerative noise filtering method for image data is provided. The present invention includes selecting four neighboring pixels around a target pixel in a pattern of a cross shape or X shape, and calculating the absolute value of a difference between the target pixel and each of the four neighboring pixels. When the absolute value of the difference of the neighboring pixel is not larger than a standard deviation, a binary value of a bit corresponding to the neighboring pixel is set “1”. When the absolute value of the difference of the neighboring pixel is larger than a standard deviation, a binary value of a bit corresponding to the neighboring pixel is set “0”. Consequently, a 4-bit mapping table including the binary values of the four neighboring pixels is obtained. Then, a new pixel value for replacing the target pixel value is calculated based on a calculation derived from the 4-bit mapping table. |
| US07643692B2 |
Method and system of generating geometric characteristics of a digitally encoded image
The system of generating geometric characteristics of a digitally encoded image comprises a display device (2) capable of displaying a digitized image, communicating with a control unit (4), and comprising a man-machine interface (6) and means of supplying data (3) to the system via said man-machine interface (6). The system also comprises: a display means (7) for displaying a digitally encoded image on the display device (2), a first delimiting means (8) for delimiting a portion of the image representing a substantially flat surface, a processing means (9) for applying a predetermined deformable geometric pattern to the image in the position of said delimited image portion and deforming the pattern so as to make it correspond to said image portion, and a determination means (10) for determining geometric characteristics of said surface from the deformation of the pattern. |
| US07643691B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An image processing apparatus holds a compressed image without being subjected to edging, or holds an edged image of the image after the image is subjected to edging, depending on predetermined conditions. The image processing apparatus creates an image on the basis of an edged image created from the compressed image held by a holding unit or on the basis of the held edged image held by the holding unit. Therefore, an optimal performance suitable for the capability of the image processing apparatus is realized. |
| US07643686B2 |
Multi-tiered image clustering by event
In a method for classifying a sequence of records into events based upon feature values, such as time and/or location, associated with each of the records, feature differences between consecutive records are determined. The feature differences are ranked. A sequence of three or more clusters of feature differences is computed. The clusters are arranged in decreasing order of relative likelihood of respective feature differences representing separations between events. The records can be inclusive of images. |
| US07643685B2 |
Viewpoint-invariant image matching and generation of three-dimensional models from two-dimensional imagery
A method and system for characterizing features in a source multifeatured three-dimensional object, and for locating a best-matching three-dimensional object from a reference database of such objects by performing a viewpoint invariant search among the reference objects. The invention further includes the creation of a three-dimensional representation of the source object by deforming a reference object. |
| US07643680B2 |
Method of calibrating image luminance values
A method of calibrating image luminance values is provided. At first, a calibration chart is scanned, and a dark actual luminance value and a white actual luminance value are obtained accordingly. Next, a document is scanned, and a scan luminance value is obtained accordingly. Then, a white ideal luminance value, a dark ideal luminance value, an ideal luminance value and a predetermined calibrated luminance value are provided. Next, a calibrated luminance value is determined according to the dark actual luminance value, the white actual luminance value, the white ideal luminance value, the dark ideal luminance value, the ideal luminance value, the predetermined calibrated luminance value and the scan luminance value. |
| US07643677B2 |
Image display apparatus
In the image display device according to the present invention, control is performed such that a condition of not using a subsidiary pixel which corresponds to a specific color among the subsidiary pixels constituting a first pixel is selected as a condition for signal processing to output a signal for designating intensity of each subsidiary pixels constituting the first pixel, and a condition of using a subsidiary pixel which corresponds to a specific color among the subsidiary pixel constituting a second pixel is selected as a condition for signal processing to output a signal for designating intensity of each subsidiary pixels constituting the second pixel adjacent to the first pixel in the first direction. |
| US07643676B2 |
System and method for adaptive interpolation of images from patterned sensors
A adaptive filter interpolation method and system for the demosaicing of color images. In general, input pixels are input in a Bayer-mosaiced pattern (only one color per pixel), and output pixels are in full RGB mode (three color values per pixel). For each pixel location, in raster scan order, the processing steps can be summarized as follows. Following a regular raster scanning order (from left to right and top to bottom), for each pixel location horizontal and vertical gradients are first computed (whose computation depends on the available color for that pixel), and from those the appropriate interpolation filters are chosen from a small set of predetermined filters. Then, the chosen filters are applied to interpolate the missing data. |
| US07643674B2 |
Classification methods, classifier determination methods, classifiers, classifier determination devices, and articles of manufacture
Classification methods, classifier determination methods, classifiers, classifier determination devices, and articles of manufacture are described. According to one embodiment, a classification method includes accessing an image to be analyzed for the presence of a predefined object, processing the image using a plurality of evaluation stages, generating a plurality of scores for respective ones of the evaluation stages responsive to the processing, wherein the scores are indicative of a likelihood of a candidate region of the image comprising the object, accumulating the scores from the evaluation stages to provide a cumulative score, and using the cumulative score, determining whether the candidate region comprises the object. |
| US07643671B2 |
Facial recognition system and method
A facial identification system corrects lighting and pose in images prior to comparison with stored images. A three dimensional image is created from an original two dimensional image by combining the image with shape information. An iterative process is used to adjust the shape in order to match the original two dimensional image. A final image is rendered, with adjustments for lighting and pose, from the shape information. |
| US07643668B2 |
Workpiece inspection apparatus, workpiece inspection method and computer-readable recording medium storing program
A workpiece inspection apparatus includes a search unit for finding from an input reference image a first pixel group which contains a certain pixel and a second pixel group having grayscale values within a threshold, and a probability acquisition unit responsive to receipt of an optical image of a workpiece being tested and the reference image, for obtaining a probability value based on a grayscale value of the certain pixel, a grayscale value of its corresponding pixel in the second pixel group, a grayscale value of an optical image pixel corresponding to the certain pixel, and a grayscale value of an optical image pixel corresponding to a pixel in the second pixel group corresponding to the certain pixel. The probability value is used to determine whether a defect exists at the optical image pixel corresponding to the certain pixel. |
| US07643667B2 |
Image recording apparatus, and abnormal recording element determination method
The image recording apparatus comprises: a recording device having a plurality of recording elements which record an image onto a recording medium; an extraction device which extracts a region satisfying a prescribed extraction condition according to information of the image recorded on the recording medium by the recording device; a reading device which reads in the image recorded on the recording medium and accordingly outputs read information; and a recording element abnormality determination device which determines abnormalities of the recording elements corresponding to the image in the extracted region extracted by the extraction device according to the read information of the region extracted by the extraction device. |
| US07643666B2 |
Method and apparatus for angular-resolved spectroscopic lithography characterization
Reconstruction of an object by which radiation is diffracted is disclosed. Specifically, the reconstruction includes: estimating the object shape; deriving a model diffraction pattern from the estimated shape; illuminating the object with radiation; detecting a diffraction pattern of radiation diffracted by the object; comparing the model diffraction pattern and the detected diffraction pattern; and determining the actual object shape from the difference between the model diffraction pattern and the detected diffraction pattern, wherein the model diffraction pattern is determined using Bloch Mode Expansion. |
| US07643665B2 |
Method of design analysis of existing integrated circuits
The present invention involves a computationally efficient method of determining the locations of standard cells in an image of an IC layout. The initial step extracts and characterizes points of interest of the image. A coarse localization of possible standard cell locations is performed and is based on a comparison of the points of interest of an instance of an extracted standard cell and the remaining points of interest in the image. A more rigid comparison is made on the list of possible locations comprising a coarse match and a fine match. The coarse match results in a shortlist of possible locations. The fine match performs comparisons between the template and the shortlist. Further filtering is done to remove the effects of noise and texture variations and statistics on the results are generated to achieve the locations of the standard cells on the IC layout. |
| US07643663B2 |
Volume measurement in 3D datasets
Volume measurement of for example a tumor in a 3D image dataset is an important and often performed task. The problem is to segment the tumor out of this volume in order to measure its dimensions. This problem is complicated by the fact that the tumors are often connected to vessels and other organs. According to the present invention, an automated method and corresponding device and computer software are provided, which analyze a volume of interest around a singled out tumor, and which, by virtue of a 3D distance transform and a region drawing scheme advantageously allow to automatically segment a tumor out of a given volume. |
| US07643661B2 |
Method and system for evaluating delivered dose
A system and method of evaluating a radiation dose delivered to a patient receiving radiation therapy. The method includes the acts of generating a time-based series of patient images, collecting a time-based series of data indicating patient motion, and evaluating a radiation dose delivered to the patient based upon the time-based series of patient images and the time-based series of data. |
| US07643656B2 |
Method of evaluating optical characteristic values of an image, device for supporting evaluation of image, and image processing apparatus
A method of evaluating an image, including: (a) obtaining evaluation-image data of an evaluation image to be evaluated, the evaluation-image data including coordinate-position data indicative of coordinate positions in the evaluation image and optical-characteristic-value data indicative of optical characteristic values at respective coordinate positions; (b) identifying, based on the evaluation-image data, a characteristic-value fluctuation which is a fluctuation of the optical characteristic values of the evaluation image in relation to the coordinate positions; (c) estimating, based on the evaluation-image data, an unperceivable low-frequency-fluctuation component which is one component of the characteristic-value fluctuation and which is a component that cannot be perceived due to a considerably low frequency of the fluctuation; and (d) evaluating the evaluation image based on the characteristic-value fluctuation and the unperceivable low-frequency-fluctuation component. |
| US07643648B2 |
Speaker device
A speaker device includes a vibration system, having a voice coil bobbin, a diaphragm, a supporting cap and a cap, and a magnetic circuit system. The inner peripheral edge portion of the diaphragm is mounted on an area in the vicinity of the upper end portion of the outer peripheral wall of the voice coil bobbin. The projecting portion of the cap is inserted into the opening of the supporting cap, and the supporting cap is placed under the cap. Each of the projecting portions of the cap is fixed to each of the correspondent recessed portions of the diaphragm, and the claw portion of the cap is fixed to the projecting portion of the diaphragm and the third flat portion. |
| US07643646B2 |
Lanyard assembly for audio device
A lanyard assembly can include a primary lanyard adapted to be worn around the neck of a user and a secondary lanyard positioned proximate the primary lanyard. The secondary lanyard can include a wire for providing audio transmission, a plug carried by the secondary lanyard proximate a first end of the secondary lanyard and connected to the wire, and an audio output device carried by the secondary lanyard proximate a second end of the secondary lanyard and connected to the wire. The lanyard assembly may further include a fastening arrangement. The fastening arrangement can include first and second cooperating fastening components. The first fastening component may be carried on the primary lanyard, and the second fastening component may be carried on the secondary lanyard proximate one of the plug and the audio output device. The user can selectively engage and disengage the first fastening component with the second fastening component. |
| US07643640B2 |
System and method for designing sound systems
The invention is directed to a display and method for conducting sound system design. The display is configured to simultaneously show a sound system model comprising both audio components and sound environment components, a plurality of parameters and a graphic representation of a calculated sound system performance attribute. In response to receiving input from the user and without any additional user intervention, the display re-displays a newly-calculated sound system performance attribute such as, for example, a graphic representation in the sound system model of a sound path associated with a user-selected reflected sound identifier. A processor also simulates, based on the sound system configuration, the sound performance that a user would expect to hear positioned in an identified listening position of the sound system model. |
| US07643638B2 |
System for generating pseudorandom sequences
A system for generating pseudorandom codes using a register which contains an identification of the code tree leg of the desired code and a counter which outputs a successive binary sequence. The output from the counter is bit-by-bit ANDed with the output of the register, and those outputs are XORed together to output a single bit. As the counter is sequenced, each count results in a different bit that is output from the XOR gate, resulting in the desired code. |
| US07643635B2 |
Digital content decrypting apparatus and operating method thereof
A device and method for decrypting re-encrypted digital contents are discussed. According to an embodiment, the method includes receiving the re-encrypted digital content without a source encryption key from a source device connected to the target device, wherein the re-encrypted digital content is generated at the source device by: 1) decrypting an encrypted digital content which is previously encrypted in an external device, and 2) re-encrypting the decrypted digital content with the source encryption key; performing an addition operation by using a first target internal key and an identifier (ID); generating a target encryption key based on an output of the addition operation and a second target internal key by using a predetermined encryption algorithm, the second target internal key being associated with the target device; and decrypting the re-encrypted digital content using the target encryption key. |
| US07643634B2 |
Electronic component allowing the decoding of satellite digital television signals
An integrated circuit is embodied on a monolithic substrate and incorporates a tuning module of the direct sampling type that is able to receive satellite digital television analog signals composed of several channels, as well as several channel decoding digital modules connected at the output of the tuning module so as to deliver respectively simultaneously several streams of data packets corresponding to several different selected channels. |
| US07643633B2 |
Adding randomness internally to a wireless mobile communication device
A mobile wireless communication device is provided with an integral transducer used to refresh a random data pool without connection to an external source of new random data. |
| US07643629B2 |
Low voltage sensing and control of battery referenced transistors in subscriber loop applications
A subscriber line interface circuit apparatus includes tip/ring sense circuitry generating a tip sense signal and a ring sense signal from three sensed currents, wherein the tip sense signal and the ring sense signal correspond to subscriber loop tip and ring currents, respectively. In one embodiment, the tip/ring sense circuitry includes a current mirror generating first and second mirrored sense currents from a first sense current proportional to a battery feed node voltage of a subscriber loop. Current differencing circuitry provides the tip sense signal from a difference between the first mirrored sense current and a second sense current associated with a tip line of the subscriber loop. The current differencing circuitry provides the ring sense signal from a difference between the second mirrored sense current and a third sense current associated with a ring line of the subscriber loop. |
| US07643625B2 |
Method of and system for altering incoming call controls after a call has been placed to an emergency number
According to the various embodiments of the present invention, an outbound call to a number on an emergency call list may change the incoming call controls to a telephone. In particular, methods of altering incoming call controls after a call has been placed to an emergency number comprises steps of performing a first modification of a first call control related to a first incoming calling number, and performing a second modification of the first call control related to the first incoming calling number after a predetermined period of time. Systems for altering incoming call controls after a call has been placed to an emergency number are also disclosed. |
| US07643622B2 |
Communication device with communication circuit control system
A communication device enables a voice communication with another communication device connected to a communication circuit network. The communication device has a calling signal detection system that detects whether a calling signal is received from the other communication device via the communication circuit network, a circuit closing system that is configured to close a circuit connecting the communication device and the other communication device when a communication starting operation is performed by a user after the calling signal detection system detects the calling signal from the other communication device, a state detection system that detects whether the calling signal currently received is in ON or OFF state, and a standby control system that controls the circuit closing system to await closing the circuit until the state detection system detects the OFF state of the calling signal if the state detection system detects the ON state of the currently received calling signal. |
| US07643621B2 |
Apparatus and method for converting control information
Picture and speech communication between plural terminals connected to different networks, such as a circuit-switched network and IP network. A converting apparatus 400 for control information or media information for picture/speech communications is provided across first and second terminals 301, 302 connected to respective different types of networks. Converting apparatus 400 includes control information converter 420, transcoder 450 and ability information converter 460. In case the ability information extracted from the decoding information, received from the first terminal 301, is not coincident to the ability information extracted from the call control information received from the second terminal 302, it is further checked whether or not there is picture format size coincidence. If the picture format size coincidence persists in one direction, processing is carried out for converting part of the decoding information or the control information, without causing the operations of the transcoder. In case there is no picture format size coincidence, the transcoder 450 is booted to convert the bitstream. |
| US07643620B1 |
System and method for notification of an event
A system and method for notifying a notification recipient of an event status change and allowing the notification recipient to request action is disclosed. An event occurs. A message relating to the event applicable to an end-user is created. A communication link between an outbound module and a device associated with the end-user is established. The message is delivered to the end-user device. The communication link is transferred from the outbound module to an inbound module. A response is received from the end-user device at the inbound module. |
| US07643619B2 |
Method for offering TTY/TDD service in a wireless terminal and wireless terminal implementing the same
A method and a terminal are provided for performing a Teletype/Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TTY/TDD) service where the wireless terminal changes to a vibration mode when the TTY/TDD service is performed. If a called party number and a call key are input, a call connection request signal is transmitted and a first vibration is generated. A second vibration is generated if a call ready signal is received after the call connection request signal is transmitted. A third vibration is generated if an absence signal is received. Accordingly, the TTY/TDD service can be supported in the wireless terminal without the aid of other external devices, and a hearing-impaired user can immediately recognize a TTY/TDD text reception or transmission state by generating a different vibration when the call connection request signal, the call ready signal, or the absence signal is detected and generating a vibration, text messages, and/or an image when TTY/TDD text messages are received or transmitted during the TTY/TDD service. |
| US07643618B2 |
Telephone system and method for reliable emergency services calling
A method of routing a telephone call includes receiving an indication, at a handset device 112, to initiate a telephone call. It is then determined, preferably by the handset device 112, whether the telephone call is an emergency services telephone call. If the telephone call is not an emergency services telephone call, it is routed to a proxy server 134. On the other hand, if the telephone call is an emergency services telephone call, it is routed to a local gateway 116 without first accessing the proxy server 134. |
| US07643617B2 |
Multi-use telephone test sets and related systems and methods
Telephone test sets include a telephone test set housing and at least one lead that extends away from the telephone test set housing. The lead is configured to be coupled to a telephone line. A light source, a data port and/or a display are integrated with the telephone test set housing. The light source is configured to project light away from the telephone test set to illuminate an area adjacent the telephone test set. The data port is configured to receive a data jack operatively associated with a communications device. The display is configured to display identification information associated with the telephone line. Related methods and systems are also provided. |
| US07643613B2 |
Radiation imaging apparatus and method of controlling the same
In a radiation imaging apparatus having a radiation generator, an imaging unit including a detecting unit for detecting radiation to generate a radiation imagedata, a carriage for carrying the radiation generator, and an operating unit for providing an interface to a user, it is decided whether the radiation imaging apparatus is in a moving state or not. When it is decided that the radiation imaging apparatus is in a moving state, the operation function of the operating unit for the radiation detector and the imaging unit is limited. |
| US07643608B2 |
Method for checking for leakage from tubular batteries
In a method for checking for leakage from tubular batteries, when tubular batteries are fed with their respective axial centers aligned in parallel to each other to pass through a leakage check mechanism, a sealed end face of the tubular batteries is irradiated with an X-ray. In accordance with the result of analysis on whether the incident fluorescent X-ray entering a detector contains a fluorescent X-ray associated with an electrolyte component, it is determined whether the tubular batteries have leaked. A length of a detection window of the detector in a direction of feed of the tubular batteries is set to be less than a spacing between the tubular batteries. A length of the detection window oriented orthogonal to the direction of feed is set to be greater than an outer size of the cross-sectional shape of the tubular batteries oriented orthogonal to their axial center. |
| US07643605B2 |
Method and apparatus for cone beam CT dynamic imaging
A cone-beam scanning system scans along a half circle. The reconstruction uses a weighting function which decreases for rows farther from the scan plane to take the redundancy of the projection data into account. Another embodiment uses a circle plus sparse helical scan geometry. Image data can be taken in real time. |
| US07643604B2 |
Stationary inspection system for three-dimensional imaging employing electronic modulation of spectral data from Compton-scattered gammas
An inspection system according to various embodiments can include a stationary mono-energetic gamma source and a detector-spectrometer. The detector-spectrometer is configured to employ a modulation of energy bin boundaries within a multi-channel pulse height analyzer to encode voxels within the inspected object, and apply an analysis to determine the three-dimensional density image of the inspected object. |
| US07643602B2 |
Method and system for estimating frequency offsets
A method is provided for estimating a frequency offset value. This method includes: receiving a signal from the transmitting device at the receiving device, the received signal having a transmitter frequency (510); generating a local signal at the receiving device, the local signal having a starting frequency (520); comparing a received signal phase and a local signal phase to determine an adjusted error signal representing a phase difference between the received signal and the local signal (530); adjusting a current frequency of the local signal from the starting frequency to the transmitting frequency over a time period (540); integrating the adjusted error signal over the time period to generate an integrated error signal (550); and filtering the integrated error signal to generate a frequency difference estimate indicative of the frequency difference between the transmitter frequency and the starting frequency (560). |
| US07643598B2 |
Frequency lock detector
Provided is a frequency lock detector which includes one counter and a clock number difference detector for detecting a clock number difference while not increasing complexity according to the counting number N to compare the frequencies of two clock signals whose phases are not synchronous to each other and determine whether the difference between the frequencies of the two signals is within a desired frequency accuracy. The frequency lock detector includes: a counter for counting the number of clocks of a reference clock signal inputted from outside; a clock number difference detector for detecting a difference between the clock number of the reference clock signal and the clock number of a recovered clock signal whose phase is not synchronous to the phase of the reference clock signal; and a lock determiner for determining a frequency lock based on result values of the counter and the clock number difference detector. |
| US07643596B2 |
Method and device for synchronizing a mobile radio receiver with a base station involving parallel verification
In a method for synchronization of a mobile radio receiver to a base station, in which a verification step or a plurality of verification steps is or are also carried out in addition to the synchronization steps and one or more identification step or steps which may be present, at least one of the verification steps is carried out in parallel with a synchronization step and/or with an identification step. |
| US07643592B2 |
Electronic device for generating secure synchronization signals
An electronic device for generating secure synchronization signals operating with an external clock emitting a first frequency signal is such that for very high resolution synchronization signals, the temporal accuracy of the signals is less than a nanosecond, thereby enabling different elements of a laser pulse chain to be synchronized. The device is provided with securing means having an internal clock emitting an internal clock signal oscillating at a second frequency roughly identical to the first frequency, wherein electronic security management means is arranged so that the internal clock signal replaces the external clock signal and security measures are triggered when the external clock signal is lost, thereby causing the partial or complete stop of the device to be synchronized. |
| US07643590B2 |
Joint demodulation filter for co-channel interference reduction and related methods
A joint demodulation filter for reducing co-channel interference between a desired signal and a co-channel interfering signal may include an input receiving samples of the desired signal and the co-channel interfering signal, a Viterbi decoder, and a first signal path between the input and the Viterbi decoder comprising a first filter. The joint demodulation filter may further include a second signal path between the input and the Viterbi decoder and comprising a linear finite impulse response (FIR) modeler for generating a channel impulse response estimate for the co-channel interfering signal. Additionally, a third signal path may be between the input and the Viterbi decoder and include a whitened matched filter for generating a channel impulse response estimate for the desired signal. |
| US07643589B2 |
Combined channel coding and space-block coding in a multi-antenna arrangement
Enhanced performance is achieved by combining channel coding with the space-time coding principles. With K synchronized terminal units transmitting on N antennas to a base station having M≧K receive antennas, increased system capacity and improved performance are attained by using a concatenated coding scheme where the inner code is a space-time block code and the outer code is a conventional channel error correcting code. Information symbols are first encoded using a conventional channel code, and the resulting signals are encoded using a space-time block code. At the receiver, the inner space-time block code is used to suppress interference from the other co-channel terminals and soft decisions are made about the transmitted symbols. The channel decoding that follows makes the hard decisions about the transmitted symbols. Increased data rate is achieved by, effectively, splitting the incoming data rate into multiple channels, and each channel is transmitted over its own terminal. |
| US07643583B1 |
High-precision signal detection for high-speed receiver
In a high-precision signal detection apparatus and method for a high-speed receiver, signal detection occurs asynchronously of the incoming data. A comparison clock is generated by an oscillator whose effective capacitance is varied by a second, lower speed oscillator connected to the capacitance. This prevents the asynchronous sampling that occurs in a zero-crossing position in the incoming data from remaining in that position in subsequent sampling cycles, so that a valid signal is not missed by the detector. |
| US07643577B2 |
Carrier and symbol timing recovery apparatus usable with a vestigial side band receiver and recovery method thereof
A carrier and symbol timing recovery apparatus usable in a VSB (Vestigial Side Band) receiver, and a method thereof. For a carrier and symbol timing recovery, error information is detected using a pilot signal, an upper sideband and a lower sideband of a received signal. Each of the detected error information is multiplied by a predetermined weight, respectively, and the results of the respective multiplications are added/combined. Therefore, even though the pilot signal may be corrupted, the carrier recovery can nevertheless be accurately performed. Additionally, even though the upper sideband of a received VSB-modulated signal may be corrupted, the lower sideband can be utilized to perform the symbol timing recovery. As a result, performance of a receiving system can be improved even under unfavorable channel characteristics. Moreover, since the carrier recovery and the symbol timing recovery are executed through a single apparatus, it becomes possible to simplify a hardware implementation thereof. |
| US07643574B2 |
Transmitting apparatus and method in transmit diversity system
A transmitting apparatus and method in a transmit diversity system, which transmits a plurality of block-coded symbols over a plurality of antennas are provided. The transmitting apparatus includes N+M antennas where N is an integer equal to or greater than two and M is an integer equal to or greater than one; a switch which forwards N-ary block-coded symbols to N-ary antennas of the N+M antennas; and a switch controller which controls switching of the switch, and when a receiving end which receives the N-ary block-coded symbols informs the switch controller of a poor reception state, the switch controller forwards the N-ary block-coded symbols to other N-ary antennas which include at least one antenna different from the N-ary antennas. The block-coded symbols can be transmitted by selectively using more antennas than block-coded symbols. |
| US07643573B2 |
Power management in a data acquisition system
A data acquisition system includes a programmable gain amplifier, an analog-to-digital converter, a filter, and control circuitry. The programmable gain amplifier is operatively connected to receive an analog input signal on its input and generates an amplified signal on its output in accordance with gain control signals. The analog-to-digital converter is operatively connected to receive the amplified signal from the amplifier and generates a digitized signal on its output. The filter is operatively connected to receive the digitized signal from the converter and generates a filtered digital signal on its output. The control circuitry is operatively connected to the amplifier and to the converter and is also responsive to the gain control signals for dynamically adjusting power between the amplifier and converter when the gain control signals are changed. |
| US07643571B2 |
Wireless communication system and method
A communication system including a first device transmitting a modulated signal and a second device receiving the modulated signal. The second device can include a first demodulator and a second demodulator. The first demodulator can receive the modulated signal, produce a first demodulated output, and implement a first demodulation technique. The second demodulator can receive the modulated signal, produce a second demodulated output, and implement a second demodulation technique. The second demodulation technique can differ from the first demodulation technique. The second device can also include an error detection module that can perform bit error detection based on the first demodulated output and the second demodulated output. |
| US07643570B2 |
Wireless communication system and wireless communication method
On the transmitting side, a decision is made as to whether to add pilot symbols which are separate from basic pilot symbols, to frames, based on the propagation path state, and when symbols are added, control symbols comprising information relating to the additional pilot symbols are generated, and frames comprising basic pilot symbols, control symbols, additional pilot symbols, and data symbols are assembled and transmitted. On the receiving side, control symbols included in the received frames are demodulated, and a judgment is made as to whether additional pilot symbols are included in the received frames based on the control symbol information, and if additional pilot symbols are included, the additional pilot symbols are used to estimate the propagation path, and the propagation path estimation value is used to demodulate data symbols. |
| US07643568B2 |
Low complexity maximum likelihood detection of concatenated space codes for wireless applications
Good transmission characteristics are achieved in the presence of fading with a transmitter that employs a trellis coder followed by a block coder. Correspondingly, the receiver comprises a Viterbi decoder followed by a block decoder. Advantageously, the block coder and decoder employ time-space diversity coding which, illustratively, employs two transmitter antennas and one receiver antenna. |
| US07643567B2 |
OFDM signal transmitting method and transmitter and receiver thereof
A transmitting method of OFDM signal includes allocating first and second channel estimation preamble signals for channel response estimation respectively to +kth and −kth subcarriers from center frequency of first OFDM signal, allocating first and second pilot signals for residual phase offset estimation respectively to +kth and −kth subcarriers from center frequency of second OFDM signal, transmitting first and second OFDM signals respectively in different time zones using at least one antenna, where, first product of complex conjugate of first channel estimation preamble signal and second pilot signal is equal to second product of second channel estimation preamble signal and complex conjugate of first pilot signal. |
| US07643566B2 |
Apparatus and method for estimating frequency offset in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing system
An apparatus and method for estimating a frequency offset in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system are provided. Two time domain signals are generated from one received OFDM symbol through two observation windows with different delay times. The two time domain signals are compensated for a candidate frequency offset. A discrete Fourier transform process and a phase compensation process in a frequency domain are performed. A difference between two frequency domain signals compensated for a phase difference is computed with respect to each candidate frequency offset. For all candidate frequency offsets, difference values are compared with each other. A candidate frequency offset mapped to a minimum difference value is detected as an optimal frequency offset. The frequency offset can be more exactly estimated without consuming a bandwidth and increasing hardware complexity of a receiver. |
| US07643559B2 |
Coding method, decoding method, coding apparatus, decoding apparatus, image processing system, coding program, and decoding program
For the purpose of coding or decoding motion information in a picture with a small overhead, a coding method of performing compression coding of a moving picture by motion compensated prediction is configured to have a motion compensated prediction step (processing by motion detector 2, motion compensator 5, spatial predictor 9, etc.) of performing the motion compensated prediction while assigning one or more motion vectors (e.g., up to two motion vectors) in units of sub-blocks obtained by sub-dividing each of macroblocks resulting from division of each frame of the moving picture; and an assignment information coding step (processing by variable length encoder 23 and others) of outputting information about an assignment situation of the one or more motion vectors to the sub-blocks in a multiplexed form on a bitstream. |
| US07643557B2 |
Method of deriving a motion vector of a bi-predictive image block based on a list 0 motion vector of a co-located block using a bit operation
In one embodiment, the method includes selecting the list0 motion vector of the co-located image block for the bi-predictive image block as a motion vector for deriving motion vectors of the bi-predictive image block if the co-located image block has a list1 and a list0 motion vector. At least one motion vector of the bi-predictive block is derived by applying a bit operation to the selected motion vector. |
| US07643550B2 |
Method for presenting streaming media for an event
A method for presenting streaming media for an event. Event-specific information is received, wherein the event-specific information comprises data stream information identifying at least one data stream associated with the event, compression quality information identifying a measure of compression quality for the data stream associated with the event, and sensor information identifying at least one sensor associated with the event. The measure of compression quality for the data stream is determined based on the compression quality information and the sensor. |
| US07643549B2 |
Wireless device having a hardware accelerator to support equalization processing
The present invention provides an equalizer processing module within a wireless terminal having an equalizer interface that receives an incoming baseband signal from a baseband processor operably coupled to the equalizer processing module and outputs soft decisions. A processor or advanced reduced instruction set computer (RISC) machine (ARM) couples to the equalizer interface while an equalizer accelerator module operably couples to the processor or ARM. Processing of the incoming baseband signal to produce soft decisions is performed by the combination of the processor and equalizer accelerator module. A sample capture buffer and an equalizer output buffer which may or may not be within the equalizer processing module allow data to be sampled and serves as the input and output for the equalizer processing module. This equalizer accelerator may specifically perform compute intensive operations such as Trellis computations for MAP equalization or MLSE equalization. |
| US07643546B2 |
Method and apparatus for monitoring transmission quality
In wireless communications, it is necessary to monitor the transmission quality of communications channels to maintain system performance and operation. The invention provides a way of measuring bit error rates in channels at the receiver, without diminishing channel throughput by inserting quality monitoring data into the signal at the transmitter. |
| US07643543B2 |
Multiple high-speed bit stream interface circuit
A high-speed bit stream interface module interfaces a high-speed communication media to a communication Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) via a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) or the communication ASIC to another communication ASIC. The high-speed bit stream interface includes a plurality of signal conditioning circuits. The signal conditioning circuits service each of an RX path and a TX path and include a limiting amplifier and a clock and data recovery circuit. The signal conditioning circuit may also include an equalizer and/or an output pre-emphasis circuit. The clock and data recovery circuit has an adjustable Phase Locked Loop (PLL) bandwidth that is set to correspond to a jitter bandwidth of a serviced high-speed bit stream. |
| US07643541B2 |
Device and method for determining a correlation value
A device for determining a correlation value from a correlation between a first sequence of values with complex values and a second sequence of values with complex values has a correlation means for determining a first partial correlation value from a correlation between a first subset of the first sequence of values and a first subset of the second sequence of values, and for determining a second partial correlation value from a correlation between a second subset of the first sequence of values and a second subset of the second sequence of values. The device further has a processing means for determining a processed partial correlation value with an adjusted phase term from the first partial correlation value or the second partial correlation value, and a calculating means for determining the correlation value using the processed partial correlation value. |
| US07643537B1 |
Spread spectrum signal detection with inhibiting for known sidelobe locations
A method and apparatus for detecting a spread spectrum signal is described. Signals can be detected using correlation techniques. When a signal is detected, declaring of signal presence is inhibited for offsets of signal parameters from the parameters of the detected signal, where the offset corresponds to a known sidelobe of the spreading code. This helps to reduce false detections caused by sidelobes of the spreading code. |
| US07643533B2 |
Agile clock mechanism and method for ultrawide bandwidth communications system
An ultra wide bandwidth communications system, method and computer program product including an ultra wide bandwidth timing generator. The timing generator includes a high frequency clock generation circuit having low phase noise; a low frequency control generation circuit; and a modulation circuit coupled between the high frequency clock generation circuit and the low frequency control generation circuit. The high frequency clock generation circuit generates a plurality of high frequency clock signals. The low frequency control generation circuit generates a plurality of low frequency control signals. The modulation circuit modulates the high frequency clock signals with the low frequency control signals to produce an agile timing signal at a predetermined frequency and phase. The agile timing signal is generated at the predetermined frequency and phase by adjustments to at least one of frequency of the low frequency control signals, phase of the low frequency control signals, frequency of the high frequency clock signals, and phase of the high frequency clock signals. |
| US07643526B1 |
Spontaneous/stimulated light emitting μ-cavity device
A light emitting device with a μ-cavity including a first spacer of single crystal dielectric material and an active area including single crystal erbium dielectric material positioned on the first spacer. The erbium dielectric material and the single crystal dielectric material of the first spacer are substantially crystal lattice matched at their juncture. A second spacer of single crystal dielectric material is positioned on the active area. The erbium dielectric material and the single crystal dielectric material of the second spacer are substantially crystal lattice matched at the second surface. The high-κ erbium dielectric provides a high gain κ-cavity that emits increased amounts of light in either spontaneous or stimulated modes of operation. |
| US07643519B2 |
Pre-processing and packetizing data in accordance with telecommunication protocol
Embodiments of apparatuses, articles, methods, and systems for pre-processing and packetizing data for transmission in accordance with a transmission protocol are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed. |
| US07643513B2 |
Method and system for audio and video transport
Aspects of a method and system for processing audio and video transport may comprise synchronizing streams with associated program content based on 24-bit presentation time stamps (PTSs) and 32-bit system clock samples (SCSs) field without using decoding time stamps (DTSs). A PTS field may be provided as part of a packetized elementary stream (PES) packet syntax. An SCS field may be provided as part of a transport stream (TS) syntax. A system clock (STC) may be determined from received SCS values. Video and/or audio data may be decoded as soon as they arrive and when there is at least one display and/or presentation frame buffer available. The video and/or audio data may be presented for display and/or play based on a comparison of the PTS and STC values. When a frame does not have an associated PTS, a PTS extrapolation operation may generate an extrapolated PTS value from previously received PTSs. |
| US07643512B2 |
Cascaded links with adaptive coding and modulation
A communication system includes a first communication unit, which is arranged to communicate with a remote communication system over a first communication link having a first, variable data rate. A second communication unit is arranged to exchange data with the remote communication system by communicating with the first communication unit over a second communication link having a second data rate. The first and second communication units are arranged to modify the second data rate responsively to variations in the first data rate, so as to match the second data rate to the first data rate. |
| US07643510B2 |
Method, data interface and device for transporting data from high-speed ethernet to optical transport network
The present invention provides a method, a data interface and a device for transporting data from a high-speed Ethernet to an OTN (Optical Transport Network), where seamless transport of Ethernet traffic to the OTN can be enabled through flow control, rate-matching, and mapping and encapsulation respectively performed at an Media Access Control Sub-layer, a Physical Coding Sub-layer, and an Optical Transport Network Interface Sub-layer. Thus, only one mapping and encapsulation of data is required to directly enable through a physical layer the transparent transport of the Ethernet traffic to the OTN, and due to the rate-matching implemented upon the mapping, the traffic transport can be enabled in a standard-compliant way with guaranteed efficiency and quality. |
| US07643509B2 |
Hybrid implicit token carrier sensing multiple access/collision avoidance protocol
Provided is a distributed and asynchronous implicit token carrier sense multiple access/collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) protocol guaranteeing quality of service for both real time and non-real time traffic. The implicit token CSMA/CA protocol allocates a band in an entire bandwidth to voice traffic and allows the remaining bands to be used for data traffic. The implicit token CSMA/CA protocol includes applying a token passing protocol to transmit voice traffic in real time by having a band in an entire bandwidth allocated using a predetermined data frame and applying a CSMA/CA mechanism to transmit data traffic in non-real time by employing remaining bands not allocated to the voice traffic using another predetermined data frame. |
| US07643508B2 |
Client side PID translation
In a system that provides decoding of A/V streams, this invention reduces switching delays between different streams by modifying the Program Identification (PID) values of the Audio and Video data to respective PID values that are already known by the decoder. This technique allows the decoder to stay in a run state when switching between A/V streams, thereby reducing channel change times. |
| US07643506B2 |
Method for broadcasting extensive multicast information, system and corresponding software product
A method for broadcasting extensive multicast from a multicast exchange having a first address of a site of origin. A query of extensive multicast broadcasting containing the first address and an identification code of a mobile terminal is transmitted from the mobile terminal toward the site. A message offering access containing a second global multicast broadcasting address, whose source is situated in the site of origin, is transmitted from the site toward the mobile terminal. A message accepting access is transmitted from the mobile terminal toward the site upon the broadcasting to the second address. Information to be diffused is transferred from the first to the second address, and global multicast is transmitted by broadcasting to the second address. The mobile terminal receives, at the distinct site, the information diffused under the first address diffused under the second address. |
| US07643497B2 |
Method and apparatus for intermediation between service providers and services users
An intermediation apparatus is designed to interconnect at least one service provider and at least one user by using a non-Internet channel. The apparatus includes an intelligent connection management unit for recognizing an incoming protocol and for selecting an outgoing protocol and an outgoing communications channel by referring to databases. A protocol conversion unit controlled by the management unit interconnects a service provider using a channel that implements a first communications protocol and a user using the non-Internet channel that implements a second communications protocol. The non-Internet channel is advantageously a wireless communications channel. |
| US07643496B1 |
Application specified steering policy implementation
A data plane architecture enables IP applications, hosted on any processor within a network element, to define steering policies that may be implemented in the data plane. The steering policies enable the applications to define steering policies containing both attributes and actions. The attributes are used to identify the packets and the actions are used to define how the data plane of the network element should handle the packets. The steering policies are implemented in the data plane of the network element by a data path policy steering process. The data path policy steering process operates to implement steering policies defined by applications to cause IP termination to occur at any processor on the network element or optionally at a processor off the network element. |
| US07643494B2 |
Interworking apparatus and method for accepting IP in WCDMA system
An interworking apparatus includes an IP sending/receiving unit coupled to an IP network, an AAL2 sending/receiving circuit coupled to a WCDMA network, and a data processing circuit between the IP sending/receiving unit and AAL2 sending/receiving unit. The data processing circuit processes data in a format suitable for interworking between the WCDMA network and IP network. |
| US07643493B1 |
Method and apparatus for priority-provisioned arbitration scheduling for a switch fabric
An apparatus and method for scheduling within a switch is described. A set of input signals is received from input ports. The set of input signals is associated with a set of packets at the input ports. A request for each packet from the set of packets is generated based on the set of input signals. Each request has an input-port indicator, an output-port indicator and a service-level indicator. The packets are scheduled based on the service-level indicator. |
| US07643481B2 |
Network switch having a programmable counter
A network switch for switching packets from a source to a destination includes a source port for receiving an incoming packet from a source, a destination port that contains a path to a destination for the packet, and a programmable counter unit for counting a number of packets of selected packet types which are received by the switch. |
| US07643479B2 |
Communication transfer apparatus and communication transfer method
A communication transfer apparatus and a communication transfer method can transfer communications at low cost without the need of requesting a global IP network to switch any port number. The local internet protocol address of the origin terminal of transfer described in a record relating to a transfer out of the records of the masquerade table that is utilized for an internet protocol masquerade is rewritten as the local internal protocol address of the destination terminal of transfer, while maintaining the global port number of the record. |
| US07643477B2 |
Buffering data packets according to multiple flow control schemes
In one embodiment, the present invention includes an apparatus that has multiple buffers, including a first buffer dedicated to a first virtual channel of a first virtual network and a second buffer shared among virtual channels of a second virtual network. The shared buffer may be implemented as a shared adaptive buffer, and the buffers can be controlled using different flow control schemes, such as on a packet and flit basis. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US07643476B2 |
Communication protocols, systems and methods
Methods of transferring data to a target device are presented. A protocol supports sending packets to individual disaggregated elements of the target device. Each packet can be individually addressed to an element using a distinct network address. Data is sent to the target device by sending one or more packets encapsulating protocol commands that provide instructions to the elements. |
| US07643475B1 |
Call release in a communication network
A communication network comprising a first node and a second node. The first node is configured to transfer a first control message for a call having an inbound call path and an outbound call path wherein the first control message indicates a release request. The second node is configured to receive the first control message from the first node and process the first control message to determine if the second node has two legs of the inbound call path. If the second node has two legs of the inbound call path, a second control message is transferred to a third node in the outbound call path wherein the second control message indicates the release request. |
| US07643474B2 |
Method and system for a traditional terminal user to access an IMS domain
Provided are an implementing method and a communication system for a traditional terminal user accessing an IMS domain. The method allocates an IMS domain user identification including a public identification and a private identification to a traditional terminal user on an AGF entity controlled by an AGCF entity, and establishes a mapping relation between the IMS domain user identification and the line identification of the user. When receiving a command or message for a certain user terminal sent from the AGF entity, the AGCF entity determines the IMS domain user identification of the user according to the mapping relation and sends a corresponding SIP message to the IMS domain. |
| US07643469B2 |
Method for channel assignment and routing for multi-radio wireless mesh networks
A methodology for making joint channel and routing assignments in multi-radio wireless mesh networks that takes into account interference constraints, the number of channels in a network and the number of radio available at each mesh router, and maximizes bandwidth allocation subject to fairness constraints. In particular, the methodology provides for routing, channel assignment and link scheduling in multi-radio mesh wireless networks utilizing a constant factor approximation technique that models the interference and fairness constraints and is able to account for the number of radios at each of the wireless nodes of a wireless mesh network. |
| US07643467B2 |
Source-implemented constraint based routing with source routed protocol data units
Source-implemented constraint-based routing with source routing enables traffic engineering to be performed and reservations to be made within a domain without requiring constraint information and reservation information to be disseminated to all nodes in the domain. In one embodiment, a focal node maintains a table containing metrics of links and connection reservations through the domain. When a connection is to be added, the focal node determines a path, given the constraints reflected in the table, and allocates resources on the links forming the path. The table is updated, and the path is used to generate headers for traffic associated with the connection. Traffic from the nodes toward the focal point follow the reverse path. If a node or link fails, connections carried through the failure are identified, reservations on links associated with the connections are released, and new reservations are made taking into account the new network topology. |
| US07643466B2 |
Method and system for using either public or private networks in 1xEV-DO system
A high-speed wireless data system for providing services for either a public wireless network terminal or a private wireless network terminal, the system comprising: a base station for assigning an Unicast Access Terminal Identifier to each of terminals of the public wireless network and the private wireless network through a wireless channel to provide services of the high-speed wireless data system for each of the terminals; a base station controller for controlling implementation of different authentications for the terminals, assignment of an Unicast Access Terminal Identifier to each terminal, management of a session for each terminal, and data transmitted or received by each terminal; a private authentication system including an authentication database for authenticating the private wireless network terminal; a data location register including service information of the public wireless network terminal and information for receiving services from the private wireless network of the private wireless network terminal; and a hub for intermediating data between the base station, the base station controller, and the private authentication system, the hub discriminating between private wireless network services and public wireless network services by means of Unicast Access Terminal Identifiers received from the terminals. |
| US07643465B2 |
Method for insertion of time stamp into real time data within a wireless communications network
A system for adding a time stamp to transmission traffic on a wireless network comprises a front end processor that receives a packet from the network and generates a Start Of Frame pulse and a LENGTH field corresponding to a length of the packet. A time stamp generator generates a time stamp by sampling the system master time counter. A synchronizer receives the SOF pulse and the LENGTH field from the front end processor, and generates a control signal. A multiplexer inputs the packet from the front end processor, the control signal and the time stamp, and outputs a modified packet with a field in the packet replaced by the time stamp. |
| US07643464B2 |
WLAN scheduler
A system comprises a plurality of wireless stations for exchanging data over a wireless network and a coordinator station such an access point. The coordinator station receives a request for a traffic specification from one of the wireless stations. The traffic request comprises a traffic parameter (202) representative of the traffic specification. The coordinator station runs an acceptance algorithm (226) to determine if the request can be met based on the parameter and a current traffic schedule based on other previously granted traffic requests (228). If the new request can be accommodated, a traffic scheduler thereafter generates a new traffic schedule (232, 234) using the Cyclic Executive Model (230). |
| US07643460B2 |
Distributed MAC architecture for a wireless repeater
A method and apparatus for communicating between devices is described. In one embodiment, the method comprises running two or more instances of a switch MAC sublayer on a switch and managing the two or more instances of the switch MAC sublayer as multiple logical access points inside the switch. |
| US07643459B2 |
Methods, devices and architectures for establishing peer-to-peer sessions
Signaling paths and communication sessions, such as voice-over-IP sessions, can be established in substantially shorter and predictable time periods than previously thought possible over carrier-based, peer-to-peer networks (P2P). Instead of requiring a signaling pathway to traverse a large number of hops/nodes, novel architectures permit a signaling pathway to traverse a few designated host and anchor nodes that are part of a core of a P2P network. The novel architectures and related methods also make it possible to easily manage and maintain P2P networks. |
| US07643458B1 |
Communicating between wireless communities
A message is received from a first wireless node in a first wireless community. The message is for a second wireless node in a second wireless community. Location information for the second wireless node is determined using a distributed hash table (DHT) overlay network. The message is routed to a second wireless community using the location information. |
| US07643453B2 |
Legacy compatible spatial multiplexing systems and methods
Embodiments of legacy compatible spatial multiplexing systems and methods are disclosed. One method embodiment, among others, comprises receiving long training symbols and cyclic shifted long training symbols corresponding to legacy preamble portions of packets corresponding to first and second transmit signals, receiving long training symbols and inverted cyclic shifted long training symbols corresponding to spatial multiplexing portions of packets corresponding to first and second transmit signals, and combining the symbols corresponding to the first and second transmit antennas to estimate the respective channels. |
| US07643452B2 |
Method and system for communicating content on a broadcast services communication system
An outer decoder and an inner decoder encode a block of information to be transmitted, to improve protection by adding redundancy. The redundancy permits decoding of the information from less than a complete encoded block of information. Time re-alignment of two transmissions of the same content from two base stations can mitigate the problem of clipped frames. The user of the subscriber station can experience seamless service without loss of content, even when handing over to a new cell while receiving a buffer of broadcast content. |
| US07643450B2 |
Utilizing a same target cell during circuit-switched and packet switched handover
In case of both circuit-switched and a packet-switched connection handover from a source (200) to a target (510) radio access network or base station subsystem a new target ID indication message (415.1; 415.2) is sent to a core network node (422) either from a core network element (215) or from the target radio access network or base station subsystem, depending on whether there is an interface (Gs) between the core network element and the core network node. In one embodiment, in contrast to the prior art, the new target ID indication message is mandated to only identify one target base station or target radio access network. |
| US07643447B2 |
Mobile node, mobile agent and network system
A mobile node moves from a first IP (Internet Protocol) network to a second IP network in a network system in which the first IP network capable of executing communication in accordance with both first and second kinds of IPs and the second IP network capable of executing communication in accordance with only the first kind of IP are connected with each other. When the mobile node communicates a message with other nodes on the first network after its movement accordance with the second kind of IP, a header for the movement containing both home and foreign addresses of the first kind in IP is added to a header containing home and foreign addresses in the second kind of IP, and put to the message, is added. The message to which the movement header is thus added is used for the communication between a first mobile agent on the first network and a second mobile agent on the second network, or between the mobile node and the first mobile agent. |
| US07643444B2 |
Method and system for parsing bits in an interleaver for adaptive modulations in a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) wireless local area network (WLAN) system
Aspects of a method and system for parsing bits in an interleaver for adaptive modulations in a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) wireless local area network (WLAN) system are provided. The interleaver may assign at least one binary bit of information, among a plurality of binary bits of information to be transmitted, to one of a plurality of spatial streams based on a current modulation type. A subsequent binary bit of information, among a plurality of binary bits of information to be transmitted, may be assigned to a subsequent one of the plurality of spatial streams based on the current modulation type and/or a subsequent modulation type. The interleaver may assign at least one additional bit of information, among the plurality of binary bits of information to be transmitted, to one of a plurality of spatial streams based on the current modulation type and/or the subsequent modulation type. |
| US07643443B2 |
Systems and methods for autonomously and dynamically optimizing transmission power in a wireless network
A method for autonomously and dynamically optimizing transmission power of an endpoint in a wireless network includes the step of monitoring the signal quality associated with data transfers between an access point in the wireless network and the endpoint at a first transmission power and a first transmission speed. The method also includes the steps of determining whether the signal quality is acceptable and adjusting one of the first transmission power or the first transmission speed based on whether the signal quality is acceptable. |
| US07643439B2 |
Reducing power consumption in a receiver
Method and system for reducing the power consumption in a receiver. A power consumption control module reconfigures the receiver for every packet received by the receiver, by setting the receiver's modules to an optimal mode of operation from a power consumption perspective, based on parameters extracted from each packet header. |
| US07643434B2 |
Method and system for managing network nodes which communicate via connectivity services of a service provider
A method is disclosed for managing network nodes, such as the nodes of a network, which communicate via connectivity services of a service provider. An exemplary method includes discovering status and configuration information for each set of nodes grouped by the service provider; and assigning a name to each set of nodes. |
| US07643430B2 |
Methods and apparatus for determining reverse path delay
According to the present invention, methods and apparatus are provided for determining components of a round trip time (RTT). A source node sends data to a destination node. The destination node inserts a timestamp into an acknowledgment and sends the acknowledgment back to the source node. The source node determines the RTT from its own measurements and estimates reverse path delay by comparing timestamps to expected timestamps. Considerations for destination node timestamp speed differences are provided. |
| US07643428B1 |
Early detection of faulty communications links
A method, and graphical user interface are provided for monitoring the status and forecasting the exhaust date of communications links. Initially, data ports are monitored corresponding to one or more communications links over a period of time. Next, utilization statistics are polled and stored in a database. Thereafter, an average and a rate of change are calculated using the utilization statistics. Based on these calculations, a date of exhaustion can be forecasted. The user interface further provides a user the ability to monitor the status and select multiple communications links to ensure data is flowing properly. |
| US07643426B1 |
Path selection in a network
A path in a network is selected by selecting candidate overlay paths between two nodes in the network based on a static network metric determined for each of a plurality of overlay paths. A time sensitive network metric is determined for each of the candidate overlay paths, and a path is selected from the candidate overlay paths based on the time sensitive network metrics. |
| US07643425B2 |
LSP path selection
A telecommunications system in a DiffServ aware Traffic Engineering (DS-TE) environment includes a plurality of source nodes from which LSPs arise. The system includes an MPLS network having DS-TE compliant routers and links with available bandwidth between the routers. The links having equal cost paths. Each router adding an LSP to a link as a function of available bandwidth. The plurality of source nodes in communication with the network. The MPLS network using a DS-TE bandwidth constraint model. The system includes a plurality of destination nodes in communication with the network which receives LSPs. A method for LSP path selection in a DiffServ aware Traffic Engineering environment. |
| US07643423B2 |
Dynamic channel allocation in multiple-access communication systems
Dynamic allocation of communication channels among communication units (CU) in a communications system. Dynamic channel allocation employs a reservation set for reserving channels and an allocation set corresponding to the reservation set for receiving allocated channels. The reservation set and the allocation set are changed dynamically as a function of network parameters to control the dynamic channel operation. Reservation set information is broadcast downlink to multiple users to reserve an allocation set of uplink radio resources for specific ones of the users. The system uses a modification of the packet data channel (PDCH) of a GPRS/EGPRS or EDGE system which employs an Uplink Status Flag (USF) on each PDCH downlink radio block. The downlink reservation set information is commonly received by all users in the group of users. Allocation delay, bandwidth efficiency and other system parameters are optimized. |
| US07643422B1 |
Dynamic trans-framing and trans-rating for interactive playback control
Embodiments of the present invention recited a method and system for modifying a media stream. In one embodiment, a request is received to modify a media stream from a current display rate to a desired display rate. In response to the request, the media stream dynamically processed to create a modified media stream which is compliant with a pre-determined frame-rate limitation and with a pre-determined bit-rate limitation. |
| US07643411B2 |
Network-triggered quality of service (QoS) reservation
A method includes a network originating a QoS reservation message and communicating the network-originated QoS message through a radio access network (RAN) from an access gateway (AGW) to an access terminal (AT). The network-originated reservation message does not cause any network resource reservation by itself, but causes the AT to initiate a network resource reservation according to one or more parameters in the network-originated QoS reservation message. Accordingly, an existing network infrastructure supporting AT-originated QoS reservation may support network-originated QoS reservation (or proxied QoS) without any updates to an access-network infrastructure, such as the RAN. The method includes, in response to the network-initiated QoS reservation message, communicating a reservation confirmation through the RAN from the AT to the AGW. The reservation confirmation whether that the QoS reservation was successful. |
| US07643409B2 |
Computer network with point-to-point pseudowire redundancy
A computer network includes a core network connected with first and second Ethernet access domain networks, each of Ethernet access domain networks including a user-facing provider edge (u-PE) device, a primary network-facing provider edge (n-PE) device, a redundant n-PE device, and a plurality of aggregation provider edge (Agg-PE) devices providing connectivity between to the u-PE device and the primary and redundant n-PE devices, the Agg-PE devices running a spanning-tree protocol (STP) algorithm. A primary data path is provided along with first and second redundant data paths that include first and second redundant pseudowires (PWs), respectively, connected across the core network, the first and second redundant data paths being blocked by the STP algorithm when the primary data path is available, the STP algorithm unblocking either the first or second redundant data path in response to a failure of the primary data path. 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. 37 CFR 1.72(b). |
| US07643405B1 |
Compensation for residual frequency offset, phase noise and I/Q imbalance in OFDM modulated communications
A signal processor includes an in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) detection module that generates I/Q components based on baseband signals. An analog to digital converter converts the I/Q components to digital I/Q components. An I/Q imbalance compensation module generates compensated I/Q components based on the digital I/Q components and maximum likelihood estimates of gain imbalance and phase imbalance. A frequency converting module converts the compensated I/Q components to first subcarrier signals. A channel estimating module generates initial channel estimates based on second subcarrier signals. The second subcarrier signals are based on the first subcarrier signals. A phase error and I/Q imbalance module generates the maximum likelihood estimates of the gain imbalance and the phase imbalance based on the initial channel estimates and the second subcarrier signals. |
| US07643399B2 |
Recording medium having data structure for managing reproduction of data streams recorded thereon and recording and reproducing methods and apparatuses
The data structure includes a navigation area of a computer readable medium storing navigation data associated with a data stream representing a portion of at least one reproduction path. The navigation data includes indication information, and the indication information indicates whether the data stream represents multiple reproduction paths or the data stream represents a single reproduction path. If the indication information indicates the data stream represents multiple reproduction paths, the navigation data includes path number information and an indicator associated with each reproduction path. The path number information identifies a number of the multiple reproduction paths, and each indicator indicates a file associated with the associated one of the multiple reproduction paths. |
| US07643396B2 |
Output voltage adjusting method for laser power monitoring
To make the output voltage of a laser power monitor circuit (12) equal to a predetermined value at a predetermined laser power, adjustment is performed by changing an external variable resistance for output voltage adjustment. To achieve this, adjustment is performed by changing the variable resistance so that the difference between a high level output pulse of the laser power monitor circuit (12) obtained when an LD (11) is turned off and a low level output pulse obtained when the LD (11) is turned on is made equal to a target adjusted voltage. This prevents the offset of the laser power monitor circuit (12) from affecting a monitor output voltage, allowing an optical pickup to perform, for example, recording and reproducing with higher accuracy. |
| US07643386B2 |
Optical pickup actuator and optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus
An optical pickup actuator comprises a lens holder having an object lens which focuses a laser beam onto an optical information storage medium mounted thereon. In the optical pickup actuator the lens holder is movably supported by a support member with respect to a base. The optical pickup actuator also comprises a magnetic circuit to drive the lens holder in a focusing direction and a tilt direction independently. |
| US07643385B2 |
Optical pickup
To improve the reliability to an environmental temperature change of an optical pickup, an optical pickup 7 has a semiconductor laser 711 for generating a laser beam. An objective lens drive leads the laser beam to a predetermined position of a disk. The semiconductor laser and objective lens drive are mounted on a pickup hosing 70. The objective lens drive has a movable portion 74 and the movable portion has an objective lens 716 for condensing the laser beam on the recording face of the disk. A fixed portion 72 holds the movable portion through a support member. The fixed portion has a magnetic yoke 75. An extended portion formed by extending a part of the yoke to the fixed portion side and the upside 72b of a cutout formed at the intermediate portion of the fixed portion in the tracking direction are adhered and fixed. |
| US07643382B2 |
Preheat bulk erasing device for phase-change type optical disk
When carrying out magnetization, annealing, and initialization of a recording film by applying a laser beam to the recording film while rotating an optical recording medium 10 by a motor 11, light of a strong visible-light lamp 15 is projected as parallel light to a reflecting mirror 14 via a lens 16 so as to apply light reflected by the reflecting mirror 14 to an area wider than a spot of the laser beam on the medium 10 for heating. At that time, a control unit 18 controls an intensity of the strong visible-light lamp 15 to raise a temperature of the medium 10 to a temperature of 80° C. or higher and a softening point of a substrate or lower, for example. |
| US07643379B2 |
Instantaneous display mechanism for a timepiece
The mechanism includes a display member (10) fitted with a toothing (14) mounted so as to move in rotation, a drive wheel set (39) mounted so as to move in rotation, including a cam (40) and a finger (24), wherein the finger is secured in rotation to the cam to make a finger-cam assembly and the finger cooperate with the toothing to drive the display member by steps, and a spring (38) cooperating at least indirectly with the cam, wherein the cam is arranged for pivoting, the finger-cam assembly, via the slackening action of the spring, so as to drive the display member through one step. The cam is further arranged for pivoting the finger assembly, via the slackening action of the spring, so as to release the finger from the toothing after the finger cam assembly has driven the display member through one step. |
| US07643375B2 |
Apparatus and method for seismic data acquisition
A seismic data acquisition system includes a connector housing and a mating electrical circuitry module. A single interface couples electrical circuitry housed in the electrical circuitry module to one or more signal data carriers that are consolidated at a single location in the connector housing. Preferably, the connector housing and electrical circuitry module each have a substantially contaminant-free interior regardless of whether these two parts are mated. An alternate connector housing has two plug casings, each of which are provided with a plug. A complementary alternate electrical circuitry module includes two receptacles complementary to the plugs and an interior space for holding the electrical circuitry. A locking pin disposed within the plug casing selectively engages the electrical circuitry module. A method for establishing communication between electrical circuitry and the carriers and external devices includes providing a single communication interface between the carrier and the electrical circuitry. |
| US07643372B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit
A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a plurality of memory cells arranged in a matrix, a plurality of word lines corresponding to respective rows of the plurality of memory cells, a plurality of word line drivers for driving the plurality of word lines, respectively, and a plurality of pull-down circuits connected to the plurality of word lines, respectively, for causing voltages of the respective connected word lines to be lower than or equal to a power supply voltage when the respective word lines are in an active state. The word line drivers each have a transistor for causing the corresponding word line to go into the active state. The pull-down circuits each have a pull-down transistor for pulling down the corresponding word line, the pull-down transistor being a transistor having the same conductivity type as that of the transistor included the word line driver for driving the corresponding word line. |
| US07643370B2 |
Memory device having conditioning output data
Some embodiments of the invention include a memory device having a memory array for storing memory data, a conditioning data storage unit for storing conditioning data, and data lines for transferring data. During a memory operation, the memory device transfers both the condition data and the memory data to the data lines at different time intervals. The condition data is transferred at one time interval. The memory data is transferred at another time interval. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US07643359B2 |
Clock generating circuit with multiple modes of operation
A clock generating circuit includes a phase comparison circuit that generates a delay control signal corresponding to the relative phases of an output clock signal and a reference clock signal. A voltage controlled delay circuit generates the delayed clock signal by inverting a signal applied to its input and delaying the signal by a delay that is determined by a delay control signal. A selection circuit couples either the reference clock signal or the delayed clock signal to the input of the voltage controlled delay circuit. When the reference clock signal is coupled to the input of the voltage controlled delay circuit, the clock generating circuit functions as a delay-lock loop. When the delayed clock signal is coupled to the input of the voltage controlled delay circuit, the voltage controlled delay circuit operates as a ring oscillator so that the clock generating circuit functions as a phase-lock loop. |
| US07643357B2 |
System and method for integrating dynamic leakage reduction with write-assisted SRAM architecture
A system for integrating dynamic leakage reduction with a write-assisted SRAM architecture includes power line selection circuitry associated with each column of one or more SRAM sub arrays, controlled by a selection signal that selects the associated sub array for a read or write operation, and by a column write signal that selects one of the columns of the sub arrays. The power line selection circuitry locally converts a first voltage, corresponding to a cell supply voltage for a read operation, to a second lower voltage to be supplied to each cell selected for a write operation, as to facilitate a write function. The power line selection circuitry also locally converts the first voltage to a third voltage to be supplied to power lines in unselected sub arrays, the third voltage also being lower than the first voltage so as to facilitate dynamic leakage reduction. |
| US07643351B2 |
Erase voltage generator circuit for providing uniform erase execution time and nonvolatile memory device having the same
An erase voltage generation circuit providing a uniform erase execution time and a non-volatile semiconductor memory device having the same, in which the erase voltage generation circuit includes a high voltage generation unit, a voltage level detection unit, an execution time checking unit and a discharging unit. The high voltage generation unit generates an erase voltage. The voltage level detection unit detects the erase voltage and generates a level detection signal. The level detection signal is activated when the erase voltage reaches a target voltage. The execution time checking unit generates an execution end signal that is activated in response to the lapse of an erase execution time from the activation of the level detection signal. The discharging unit discharges the erase voltage as a discharge voltage. The high voltage generation unit is disabled in response to the activation of the execution end signal, and the discharging unit is enabled in response to the activation of the execution end signal. |
| US07643346B2 |
NAND type nonvolatile semiconductor memory device having sideface electrode shared by memory cells
An electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) device of the NAND type having sideface electrodes as auxiliary electrodes on the opposite lateral surfaces of a transistor channel region to thereby improve operation margins is discusssed. The NAND EEPROM, also known as NAND flash memory, has on a semiconductive substrate an array of memory cells including a serial combination of memory cell transistors. Each of memory cell transistors has a pair of source and drain regions, a channel region, a tunnel insulator film, a charge storage layer, a control dielectric film, a control electrode, a sideface dielectric film on the sidefaces of the channel region, and sideface electrodes which are formed on the side surfaces of channel region with the channel region being laterally interposed therebetween. The sideface electrodes are commonized or “shared” by adjacent ones of the serially coupled memory cell transistors. |
| US07643342B2 |
Multi-bit-per-cell flash memory device with non-bijective mapping
To store a plurality of input bits, the bits are mapped to a corresponding programmed state of one or more memory cells and the cell(s) is/are programmed to that corresponding programmed state. The mapping may be many-to-one or may be an “into” generalized Gray mapping. The cell(s) is/are read to provide a read state value that is transformed into a plurality of output bits, for example by maximum likelihood decoding or by mapping the read state value into a plurality of soft bits and then decoding the soft bits. |
| US07643338B2 |
Method for programming a flash memory device
A method for programming a flash memory device includes applying a program bias to a memory cell of a plurality of memory cells within a memory cell string. Each memory cell string comprises a source select line, a plurality of memory cells and a drain select line. A first pass bias is applied to at least one of the memory cells in a source select line direction relative to the memory cell to which the program bias has been applied. A second pass bias is applied to the memory cells in a drain select line direction relative the memory cell(s) to which the first pass bias has been applied. |
| US07643335B2 |
Apparatus and systems using phase change memories
Apparatus and systems that use phase-change memory devices are provided. The phase-change memory devices may include multiple phase-change memory cells and a reset pulse generation circuit configured to output multiple sequential reset pulses. Each sequential reset pulse is output to a corresponding one of multiple reset lines. Multiple write driver circuits are coupled to corresponding phase change memory cells and to a corresponding one of the reset lines of the reset pulse generation circuit. |
| US07643331B2 |
Semiconductor device
In one aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor device A semiconductor device may include a SRAM cell having a first inverter, a second inverter, a first transfer transistor and a second transistor, the first inverter having a first load transistor and a first driver transistor connected to the first load transistor, the second inverter having a second load transistor and a second driver transistor connected to the second load transistor, a voltage supplying circuit configured to supply a voltage to one of the terminals of the first driver transistor and one of the terminals of the second driver transistor, the voltage which is one of more than a GND voltage and less than a GND voltage. |
| US07643326B2 |
Semiconductor memory device with ferroelectric device
A semiconductor memory device comprises a one-transistor (1-T) field effect transistor (FET) type ferroelectric device connected between a pair of bit lines and controlled by a word line, where a different channel resistance is induced to a channel region depending on a polarity state of a ferroelectric layer; a plurality of access transistors connected between the ferroelectric device and the pair of bit lines; and a plurality of port word lines configured to select the plurality of access transistors. |
| US07643318B2 |
Dual voltage wye-connected H-bridge converter topology for powering a high-speed electric motor
A topology for a three-phase, wye-connected H-bridge converter allowing continued operation when one H-bridge phase has failed by bypassing the failed H-bridge, increasing dc-bus voltage to provide the required output load voltage, and decreasing switching frequency to reduce power losses in semiconductor switches. In normal operation, the dc-bus voltage is operated at a lower voltage, improving the reliability of power semiconductor devices. When an H-bridge is bypassed, the dc-bus is operated at a higher voltage but lower effective switching frequency, reducing semiconductor losses, allowing the converter to put out more current with the same temperature rise in the power switches. |
| US07643317B2 |
Power converting device and method for controlling the same
In a system to which a fluctuating load is connected, compensating for fluctuation in voltage harmonics at the load connecting point and fluctuation in system current harmonics has been difficult for a power converting device connected in parallel with the load. To resolve the problem, a power converting device connected in parallel with a fluctuating load includes: a Fourier series expansion unit which executes Fourier series expansion to load current by use of a reference sine wave in sync with a system and thereby outputs Fourier coefficients; and a fundamental component calculating unit which calculates a positive phase active fundamental component of the load current from the Fourier coefficients. A current instruction of the power converting device is generated by subtracting the fundamental current from the load current. With the current instruction, the fluctuations in system current harmonics and in voltage harmonics at the connecting point can be compensated for. |
| US07643315B2 |
Programmable feedback voltage pulse sampling for switched power supplies
Disclosed is a method and apparatus that includes a power supply having a primary coil and a secondary coil. The secondary coil generates an output voltage and a feedback voltage related to the output voltage. The feedback voltage is sampled at a time instant that is digitally controllable. The output voltage is determined from the feedback voltage. |
| US07643313B2 |
Power converter for compensating maximum output power and PWM controller for the same
A PWM controller compensates a maximum output power of a power converter, and includes a PWM unit and a compensation circuit. The PWM unit generates a PWM signal for controlling a power switch to switch a power transformer, which has a primary winding connected to the power switch and is supplied with an input voltage of the power converter. A pulse width of the PWM signal is correlated to an amplitude of the input voltage. The compensation circuit generates a current boost signal in response to the PWM signal by pushing up a peak value of a current-sense signal generated by a current-sense device in response to a primary-side switching current of the power transformer. A peak value of the current boost signal is adjusted by the pulse width of the PWM signal for compensating a difference of the maximum output power caused by the amplitude of the input voltage. |
| US07643308B2 |
Device and method for damping cavity resonance in a multi-layer carrier module
A device for damping cavity resonance effects in a multilayer carrier device, having a first conductive device for making available a reference potential layer of the carrier device; a second conductive device that is electrically insulated from the first conductive device for making available a voltage supply layer of the carrier device; and at least one discrete, lossy circuit component, which is connected between the first and the second conductive device and is dimensioned as a function of at least one cavity resonance of the carrier device. Also provides a method for damping cavity resonance effects in a multilayer carrier device. |
| US07643303B1 |
Rotating and translating control panel
A rotating control panel system includes a base. A control panel is coupled to the base by a coupling. The coupling includes a pivot axis having an elongated pivot aperture and a pivot member located in the elongated pivot aperture. The pivot member is operable to rotate relative to the elongated pivot aperture and translate relative to the elongated pivot aperture. The coupling also includes a translation cam having an arcuate translation channel and a translation member located in the arcuate translation channel. In response to the control panel being rotated relative to the base, the pivot member rotates relative to the elongated pivot aperture, and the translation member moves relative to a first portion of the arcuate translation channel to cause the pivot member to translate relative to the elongated pivot aperture in a first direction in order to translate the control panel relative to the base in the first direction, and then moves relative to a second portion of the arcuate translation channel to cause the pivot member to translate relative to the elongated pivot aperture in a second direction in order to translate the control panel relative to the base in the second direction, wherein the second direction is opposite the first direction. |
| US07643302B2 |
Electronic device, package having the same, and electronic apparatus
There is provided an electronic device that includes a circuit element that transmits a signal to an external board and receives the signal from the external board, a signal wire that connects the external board to the circuit element, and a heat radiation wire that thermally contacts the circuit element, and radiates heat from the circuit element. |
| US07643301B1 |
Heat exchanger system and method for circulating external air about a chipset
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for circulating external air about a chipset. Included is a circuit board with a chipset mounted thereon that communicates with a central processing unit and controls interaction with memory. Further provided is an airflow subsystem coupled to the circuit board for circulating external air about the chipset. |
| US07643298B2 |
Thermally conductive grease
The invention relates to thermally conductive greases that may contain carrier oil(s), dispersant(s), and thermally conductive particles, wherein the thermally conductive particles are a mixture of at least three distributions of thermally conductive particles, each of the at least three distributions of thermally conductive particles having an average (D50) particle size which differs from the other average particle sizes by at least a factor of 5. |
| US07643296B2 |
Motor drive circuit and outdoor unit for air conditioner
One of the purpose is to obtain a motor drive circuit and an outdoor unit for an air conditioner using the same, which can flexibly support change of a model at a low price and in a small lot without using unnecessary materials, wherein a stress in a soldering part due to self-heating is low, a solder reliability is high, and design constraints are small, while maintaining a low-noise and low-loss power wiring due to lowering inductance. The motor drive circuit according to the present invention, for driving the motor using the converter circuit and the inverter circuit, whereon electronic components making up a converter circuit and an inverter circuit are mounted, which includes a lead frame molded board 100 wherein metal plate leads 37 are molded with a mold resin 36, and a single-sided printed circuit board 31 for a control circuit, and wherein power terminals 30 of the electronic components are connected to the lead frame molded board 100, and control wiring terminals 39 of the electronic components are connected to the single-sided printed circuit board 31. |
| US07643295B2 |
Heat-dissipating module having a dust removing mechanism, and assembly of an electronic device and the heat-dissipating module
In an assembly of an electronic device and a heat-dissipating module, the electronic device includes an electronic component disposed within a housing provided with an air outlet port, and the heat-dissipating module includes a heat-dissipating fin base disposed within the housing adjacent to the air outlet port, and a dust removing mechanism disposed on the heat-dissipating fin base. The heat-dissipating fin base includes two spaced-apart upright sidewalls, and a plurality of heat-dissipating fins arranged between the upright sidewalls. The dust removing mechanism includes a scraping plate disposed between the upright sidewalls and accessible outwardly of the air outlet port. The scraping plate has scraping teeth extending respectively into clearances among the heat-dissipating fins. By manipulating the scraping plate to displace upwardly and downwardly relative to the heat-dissipating fin base, dust that accumulates among the heat-dissipating fins can be scraped off. |
| US07643294B2 |
Heat dissipating apparatus with heat pipe
A heat dissipating apparatus includes a heat spreader (20) for thermally connecting with a heat generating electronic component, a heat sink (10) thermally connected with the heat spreader, and a heat pipe (30) thermally connecting the heat sink with the heat spreader for transferring heat from the heat spreader to the heat sink. The heat pipe includes an evaporation section (31) attached to the heat spreader, two semicircular condensation sections (33, 34) thermally engaging with the heat sink, and two connecting sections (35, 36) each interconnecting a corresponding condensation section and the evaporation section. |
| US07643293B2 |
Heat dissipation device and a method for manufacturing the same
A heat dissipation device and a method for fabrication thereof are disclosed. The heat dissipation device includes a heat sink having a base, and a heat pipe embedded in the base. A groove is defined in the base. The groove is enclosed by a top surface and two sidewalls slantwise extending downwardly and inwards from opposite edges of the top surface. A width of a bottom portion of the groove is shorter than that of a top portion of the groove. The heat pipe includes an evaporation portion directly pressed in the groove by punching and fully contacts with the groove. The evaporating portion is flattened when it is fully engaged in the groove to directly contact with an electronic component. The method involves directly pressing the evaporation portion of the heat pipe into the groove of the base. |
| US07643291B2 |
Cabinet for electronic equipment
An electronic equipment cabinet is provided, which includes an upper portion, a lower portion and a support configured to receive electronic equipment. The bottom portion defines a base plenum configured to receive a low temperature gas and communicates with a gas flow distribution pathway, which includes a first plenum communicating with the base plenum and configured to direct the low temperature gas to the support. The gas flow distribution pathway further includes a second plenum configured to receive a high temperature gas flow from the support and direct the high temperature gas flow to the top portion. The top portion includes at least one fan configured to direct the high temperature gas flow from the gas flow distribution pathway. A temperature sensor senses the temperature of the high temperature gas flow and communicates with a control module to control the first plenum and the at least one fan for regulating temperature. |
| US07643287B2 |
Detachable assembly
A detachable assembly including a body and a panel is provided. The body is suitable for being disposed on a carrying surface, and the body includes a bottom plate and at least one first supporting element. The bottom plate has at least one opening having a first side and a second side. The first supporting element is connected to the first side of the opening. The first supporting element is at an angle with the bottom plate. The panel is detachably disposed at the body. The panel has a bottom portion and at least one second supporting element disposed on the bottom portion. When the panel is partially detached from the body, the second supporting element passes through the opening and leans against the first supporting element and the second side of the opening so that the panel will not drop and cause some damage. |
| US07643284B2 |
Housing temperature suppressing structure in electronic device and portable computer
The present invention provides a portable computer in which an increase in temperature of a housing is suppressed. In the present invention, a guide plate is provided to suppress an increase in temperature of a bottom surface. When a cooling fan device operates, outside air taken in from inlet openings flows as an air current through a narrow flow path formed between the guide plate and the bottom surface. A flow velocity of the air current can be increased by narrowing the flow path, and heat exchange with the guide plate can be effectively performed, thereby sufficiently cooling a cooling surface. The cooled guide plate cools an air layer between the guide plate and the heat sink and thermally insulates between the air layer and the bottom surface. |
| US07643277B2 |
Electronic device with support legs
An exemplary electronic device (30) includes a main body (40) and two support legs (43). The main body has two sloping slide portions (415) formed at two adjacent corners thereof. A depth of each sloping slide portion increases from one end to the other end. Each support leg are movably connected to one corresponding sloping slide portion, such that a height of the support leg relative to main body is capable of being changed when the support leg moves relative to the main body. |
| US07643272B2 |
Fastener and display of portable computer using the same
Embodiments of a fastener and a display of a portable computer using the same and methods thereof can reduce a thickness, cost or weight of a display panel. The fastener can include at least a pair of columns spaced apart from each other, a connection for connecting the pair of columns, and first and second catching jaws that can be formed on different portions of the fastener (e.g., lateral sides) such that a part to be coupled can be caught thereto. The first and second catching jaws can be separated by a prescribed height. A front and rear case of a display of a portable computer include a catching hook and the fastener, respectively, so an inverter or the like can be secured in the display. |
| US07643266B2 |
Trigger circuit for an electromagnetic actuator
A trigger circuit comprises a first series circuit (16) defined by an electronic switch (17) and an electromagnetic actuator (10). A second series circuit (18) defined by a resistor (19) and a sensor (20) responding to danger situations is arranged in parallel to said first series circuit (16). A tap (24) of said second series circuit (18) is connected with a control electrode (25) of said electronic switch (17). The circuit is of simple configuration and ensures a reliable switching behavior. Even when said sensor (20) is closed again, the trigger state is maintained. |
| US07643258B2 |
Methods and apparatus for electrostatic discharge protection in a semiconductor circuit
An ESD protection circuit is adapted for an integrated circuit with a first power source and a second power source. The ESD protection circuit comprises a first silicon controlled rectifier (SCR), and in some embodiments a second silicon controlled rectifier, and a parasitic diode. The silicon rectifiers as well as the parasitic diode can all be formed using a single well formed in a substrate. Further, the ESD protection circuit can be used in systems that have multiple power sources regardless of the difference in voltage between the power sources. |
| US07643251B1 |
Slider having fast take-off fluid bearing surface
A disk drive for storing data includes a rotating storage disk and a slider positioned near the storage disk. The slider has a flying side and a read/write head. The flying side includes a leading bearing surface and a leading recessed surface positioned near a leading edge of the slider. The leading bearing surface can include a leading transverse section that is positioned within approximately 20 and 200 microns of the leading edge. The leading recessed surface is positioned between the leading transverse section and the leading edge. The leading bearing surface and the leading recessed surface cooperate to form a relatively high pressure area near the leading edge that facilitates a relatively rapid take-off of the slider away from the storage disk during start up of the disk drive. |
| US07643250B2 |
Pad slider design for on-slider ELGs
One embodiment of the present invention provides a slider including a slider body, a magnetic reader disposed on the slider body, a magnetic writer disposed on the slider body, and an electronic lapping guide disposed on the slider body. The slider also includes a first row of contact pads disposed on the slider body and coupled to the magnetic reader and the magnetic writer and a second row of contact pads disposed on the slider body and coupled to the electronic lapping guide. The electronic lapping guide may be electrically isolated from the magnetic reader and magnetic writer. |
| US07643249B2 |
Supporting mechanism for magnetic head slider and testing method for the magnetic head slider
A holding portion, on which a slider having a magnetic element for recording and/or replaying is held is provided on a second supporting portion of a supporting member, in which conductive patterns are formed. A plurality of fixing portions are formed in the holding portion and when the slider is sandwiched between the plurality of fixing portions, the slider is electrically connected with the conductive patterns. |
| US07643247B2 |
β-phase tantalum thin-film resistor and thin-film magnetic head with the resistor
A thin-film resistor that has a stable electric resistance, the phase transformation to the α-phase being suppressed even in the high temperature environment, is provided. The thin-film resistor has a layered structure of: a base layer formed of a double-layered film in which an alloy film containing nickel and copper, an alloy film containing nickel and chromium or an alloy film containing copper and manganese is stacked on a tantalum film, or formed of a single alloy film containing nickel and chromium; and an electric resistance layer formed of a β-phase tantalum film or an alloy film mainly containing β-phase tantalum, and deposited on the base layer, the electric resistance layer having a crystal structure in which (002) plane of the β-phase crystal is most strongly oriented to the layer surface. |
| US07643244B1 |
Integrated battery powered hard disk drive
Disclosed is a mobile Integrated Battery Powered Hard Disk Drive (IBP-HDD) equipped with USB OTG capabilities for direct connection to other USB devices, such as cell phones, PDAs, MP3 players, GPS, digital camcorders, digital cameras and other devices. These drives come in all form factors and combine high storage capacity and performance with low power consumption and portable operation. One component of the integrated drives is the base upon which all components and assemblies of the HDD have been mounted to produce a Drive-On-A-Substrate. A cover mounts to the base and separates each component and assembly into isolated compartments that can be evacuated of air and refilled with inert gases for improved performance and reliability. A first embodiment of the invention involves a method to manufacture a base. A second embodiment of the invention involves a method to manufacture an integrated battery powered hard disk drive portion on a base. A third embodiment involves a method to assemble an integrated battery powered hard disk drive. |
| US07643241B2 |
Methods calculating RRO and RRO compensation value in HDD
Provided are a method of calculating repeatable runout (RRO) of a hard disk drive (HDD) in a frequency domain, a method of calculating a compensation value using the RRO calculating method, and recording media used therefore. The method of calculating RRO in a disk with a plurality of tracks includes: calculating first set of frequency coefficients for representing the RRO by analyzing a position error signal (PES), which is sampled in a target track, in a frequency domain while a head follows the target track; and calculating the RRO using the first set of frequency coefficients. |
| US07643229B2 |
Optical system
An optical system includes a negative refraction lens and a compensating element. The negative refraction lens is a flat plate formed by a material exhibiting negative refraction, and a surface on which light is incident and a surface from which the light is emerged are formed to be flat and parallel. The compensating element is an optical element which makes light incident at a predetermined angle, emerge at another predetermined angle. A light ray is emitted from an object point on an object plane, and reaches an image point on an image plane after being refracted twice by a negative refraction lens. The light ray is reflected by the compensating element, then refracted at an emergence-side pupil, and reaches the image point upon being reflected once again by the compensating element. |
| US07643223B2 |
Image pickup apparatus having optical path reflecting zoom lens system
An image pickup apparatus having an optical path reflecting zoom lens system includes a zoom lens system, and an image pickup element which is disposed at an image side of the zoom lens system. The zoom lens system includes in order from an object side thereof a first lens unit G1 having a positive refracting power, which includes a reflecting optical member having a reflecting surface which reflects an optical path, a second lens unit G2 having a negative refracting power, a third lens unit G3 having a positive refracting power, a fourth lens unit G4 having a positive refracting power, and an aperture stop S which is disposed between the second lens unit G2 and the fourth lens unit G4. The first lens unit G1 has a position fixed with respect to a position of the image pickup element. At least the second lens unit G2 and the fourth lens unit G4 move and the zooming is carried out from a wide angle end to a telephoto end by changing a distance between each of lens units. The second lens unit G2 includes in order from the object side thereof, a negative lens, a positive lens, and a negative lens. |
| US07643219B2 |
Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus equipped with same
A zoom lens has, in order from the object side thereof, a positive first lens unit G1, a negative second lens unit G2 and a rear group having a positive refracting power and composed of at least one lens unit. The lens unit located closest to the object side in the rear group is a third lens unit G3. An aperture stop S is provided at a position closer to the image side than the second lens unit G2 and closer to the object side than the lens surface located closest to the image side in the third lens unit. |
| US07643212B1 |
Rotationally tunable optical delay line
A rotationally tunable time delay line device for providing a continually adjustable time delay between two orthogonally polarized laser pulses is described. The device is comprised of one or more rotational delay crystals, each made of a flat uniaxially birefringent crystal with a special orientation of its internal optical axis. The time delay generated between the two orthogonally polarized laser pulses that travel through the rotationally tunable delay line can be continually adjusted by rotating the constituent rotational delay crystals around their surface normals. An application is demonstrated in detail where the rotationally tunable time delay line device is used to form an optical autocorrelator for measuring femtosecond or picosecond duration laser pulses. |
| US07643211B2 |
Intrinsic polarizer
An intrinsic polarizer, including a sheet of PVA-type matrix that includes vinylene polymer blocks, the sheet defining a pass polarization axis and a block polarization axis perpendicular to the pass polarization axis, light having an electrical vector parallel to the pass polarization axis being substantially transmitted through the sheet and light having an electrical vector parallel to the block polarization axis being substantially absorbed by the vinylene blocks, the sheet exhibiting a dichroic ratio of more than 100. |
| US07643210B2 |
Night vision binoculars
A compact night vision binoculars with a first eyepiece channel and a second eyepiece channel and including: an optical separator (8), positioned at the output of a light intensifier tube (2); a plane of reflection (8′) common to the first optical channel (BYZC) and the second optical channel (BCW); a first optical combination comprising two first convergent groups (V1, V2) positioned on either side of a first reflective angled surface (5); a second reflective angled surface (6); a second optical combination comprising two second convergent groups (V1′, V2′) positioned on either side of the common plane of reflection (8′); and a third reflective angled surface (7). |
| US07643209B2 |
Microscope optical system, microscope apparatus, and microscope observation method
The present invention enables switching between wide-field observation and high-magnification observation during in vivo examination of a small laboratory animal or the like using a narrow-diameter objective lens, without changing the objective lens. There is provided a microscope optical system including an objective lens for collecting light from an examination target; an image-forming lens for imaging the light collected by the objective lens onto a detection device; and an auxiliary optical system, having positive power, which is provided so as to be capable of being inserted in and removed from a light path between the objective lens and the image-forming lens. |
| US07643204B2 |
Electronically controlled stage lighting system
A lighting system operating using a digital mirror as its operative device. The digital mirror is used to shape the light which is a passed through advanced optical devices in order to produce an output. |
| US07643201B2 |
Electrochromic mirror
An electrochromic mirror includes a transparent electrode film, an electrochromic film formed at one thickness direction side of the transparent electrode film, a light reflective film that reflects light that has transmitted through the transparent electrode film and the electrochromic film, a lithium ion transmissive film provided between the electrochromic film and the light reflective film, an electrically conductive film provided at the one thickness direction side of the transparent electrode film and at a side of the light reflective film opposite from the lithium ion transmissive film, and an electrolytic solution that comprises lithium ions and is enclosed between the light reflective film and the electrically conductive film. The lithium ion transmissive film transmits lithium ions and imposed diffusion of silver from the side of the light reflective film to the side of the electrochromic film. |
| US07643200B2 |
Exterior reflective mirror element for a vehicle rearview mirror assembly
An exterior reflective mirror element suitable for a vehicle includes a transparent glass substrate having a reflector and a visual indicator display disposed to the rear of the substrate. The visual indicator display may be part of a blind spot detection and display system of the vehicle wherein the visual indicator display is actuated to emit light responsive to a detection by a blind spot detection detector of the equipped vehicle of an overtaking vehicle in a side lane adjacent the side of the equipped vehicle. The visual indicator display includes at least a first indicator at a first location to the rear of the exterior reflective mirror element. A first portion of the reflector may be at least partially removed at the first location in order to establish an at least partially transmissive first portion of the exterior reflective mirror element at the first location. |
| US07643196B2 |
Systems, methods and devices for actuating a moveable miniature platform
Presented herein are systems, methods and devices relating to miniature actuatable platform systems. According to one embodiment, the systems, methods, and devices relate to controllably actuated miniature platform assemblies including a miniature mirror. |
| US07643194B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes plural laser light sources, a polygonal mirror that scans plural laser beams from the plural laser light sources, and a multiplexing member that combines the plural laser beams scanned by the polygonal mirror. The polygonal mirror is disposed above or below the multiplexing member, and the extension of the rotation axis of the polygonal mirror passes through the multiplexing member. When configured in this manner, it is possible to reduce the apparatus size and speckle noises caused by the plural laser beams. |
| US07643193B2 |
Optical scanning apparatus and image forming apparatus
An optical scanning apparatus includes a light source, a light source driving unit that turns on the light source according to image information, a deflector that deflects and scans a light beam emitted from the light source according to sinusoidal vibration, and a scanning/imaging optical system that guides the light beam from the deflector to a scanned surface. The scanning/imaging optical system satisfies two conditions, i.e., (1) provided that the deflector moves in such a manner that an angular velocity is constant, linearity is made larger at a most peripheral image height than at a central image height within a range of an effective writing width, and (2) when a deflection angle of the deflector has a sinusoidal characteristic, the linearity is made smaller at the most peripheral image height than at the central image height within the range of the effective writing width. |
| US07643192B2 |
Pattern generator using a dual phase step element and method of using same
A system and method are used to pattern light using an illumination system, an array of individually controllable components, and a projection system. The illumination system supplies a beam of radiation. The array of individually controllable elements patterns the beam. The array of individually controllable elements comprises mirrors having first and second steps on opposite edges. The projection system projects the patterned beam onto a target portion of an object. In various examples, the object can be a display, a semiconductor substrate or wafer, a flat panel display glass substrate, or the like, as is discussed in more detail below. |
| US07643172B2 |
Information processing apparatus, control method thereof, and program
A position serving as the print position where an object for a backstrip is printed on a backstrip of a cover is set. A reference position in the manuscript page data for the cover is also set. A decision of the print position where the manuscript page data is printed on the print sheet for the cover is decided so as to make the set position serving as the print position and the reference position coincide with each other. |
| US07643169B2 |
Observing a state of a digital signal and capturing the digital signal
A sampling unit samples plural input signals, and detects a point (change point) at which one of the sampled input signals shows a change in the logic level. In case the logic level after the detection of the change point continues for a predetermined time, the plural sampled data are respectively latched or outputted after the lapse of the predetermined time, and, in any other timing, the sampled data are held, thereby obtaining plural noise-eliminated signals. One of the plural input signals is a clock signal, and, in case of data transmission in synchronization with such clock signal, the transmission is executed with a timing synchronized with the noise-eliminated signal. The predetermined time is selected equal to or less than ¼ of the cycle period of the communication synchronization clock signal. |
| US07643168B2 |
Apparatus for capturing, converting and transmitting a visual image signal via a digital transmission system
An image capture, conversion, compression, storage and transmission system provides a data signal representing the image in a format and protocol capable of being transmitted over any of a plurality of readily available transmission systems and received by readily available, standard equipment receiving stations. In its most comprehensive form, the system is capable of sending and receiving audio, documentary and visual image data to and from standard remote stations readily available throughout the world. |
| US07643166B2 |
Image forming apparatus, image forming method and printing apparatus
An image forming apparatus that converts page description language to page description language corresponding to a plurality of areas; generates image data based on the converted page description language; retains the converted page description language and the generated image data; compares the retained page description language and the converted page description language; and selects one of the generated image data and the retained image data, depending on the comparison result. |
| US07643163B2 |
Data processing apparatus, data processing method and image forming apparatus having a plurality of compression/decompression devices
A data processing apparatus includes one or a plurality of input portions, one or a plurality of output portions, a plurality of compressing/expanding devices which compress data-to-be-outputted included in a job inputted from any one of an input portions and expand the compressed data-to-be-outputted, and a job discrimination portion which discriminates whether the job inputted from any one of the input portions is not required to be outputted without delay. Depending on a discrimination result of the job discrimination portion, a controller controls operation assignment of a plurality of compressing/expanding devices and activates assigned compressing/expanding devices for the job. |
| US07643161B2 |
Inter-device media handler
An inter-device media handler is configured to handle a print job in a print system having two or more media processing devices, such as a printer and a laminator. A sensor is configured to sense orientation of media buffered between the first media processing device and the second media processing device. A calculator module is configured to receive input from the sensor and to use the input to determine whether the media will stay within a working range of the second media processing device while the job is processed by the second media processing device. |
| US07643153B2 |
Apparatus and method for ranging and noise reduction of low coherence interferometry LCI and optical coherence tomography OCT signals by parallel detection of spectral bands
Apparatus, method, logic arrangement and storage medium are provided for increasing the sensitivity in the detection of optical coherence tomography and low coherence interferometry (“LCI”) signals by detecting a parallel set of spectral bands, each band being a unique combination of optical frequencies. The LCI broad bandwidth source can be split into N spectral bands. The N spectral bands can be individually detected and processed to provide an increase in the signal-to-noise ratio by a factor of N. Each spectral band may be detected by a separate photo detector and amplified. For each spectral band, the signal can be band pass filtered around the signal band by analog electronics and digitized, or, alternatively, the signal may be digitized and band pass filtered in software. As a consequence, the shot noise contribution to the signal is likely reduced by a factor equal to the number of spectral bands, while the signal amplitude can remain the same. The reduction of the shot noise increases the dynamic range and sensitivity of the system. |