| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US07673345B2 |
Providing extended memory protection
In one embodiment, the present invention provides for extended memory protection for memory of a system. The embodiment includes a method for associating a protection indicator of a protection record maintained outside of an application's data space with a memory location, and preventing access to the memory location based on the status of the protection indicator. In such manner, more secure operation is provided, as malicious code or other malware is prevented from accessing protected memory locations. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US07673343B1 |
Anti-virus scanning co-processor
A system, method and computer program product are provided for scanning data. Initially, scanning control logic is executed utilizing a central processing unit. A request related to data is then identified at the central processing unit. In response to the request, the data is indicated to a scanning co-processor coupled to the central processing unit so that the data is scanned by the scanning co-processor under the control of the scanning control logic. The central processing unit then waits for results from the scanning co-processor. Additional logic is executed utilizing the central processing unit while waiting for the results from the scanning co-processor. An event is then initiated based on the results from the scanning co-processor. By this design, the scanning co-processor offloads intensive scanning operations from the central processing unit. |
| US07673339B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, information processing system and recording medium
A member-store functional unit transfers the name of a member store and the title of a campaign to an ID-assigning functional unit which assigns IDs to the title of the campaign and the name of the member store. The ID-assigning functional unit then transmits the IDs to an encoding functional unit. A broadcasting functional unit broadcasts the IDs, encoded by the encoding functional unit, by multiplexing the IDs in an audio signal. A reception functional unit receives the IDs whereas a decoding functional unit extracts and decodes the IDs. The decoding functional unit then outputs the IDs to a customer-number-assigning functional unit with a receiver ID. The customer-number-assigning functional unit forms a judgment on validity of the member-store ID, the campaign ID and the receiver ID, and assigns a customer number to the receiver ID if the member-store ID, the campaign ID and the receiver ID are found valid. An anonymous-customer management functional unit sends the customer number to a member-store functional unit so as to make a request for a transmission of a service identified by the campaign ID to the reception functional unit by way of an anonymous-service management functional unit. |
| US07673336B2 |
Method and system for controlling access to data communication applications
A method and apparatus for controlling access to data communication applications is disclosed. According to the method, the DNS names of the servers of the data communication applications are identified. The identified DNS names are used to determine the IP addresses of the servers. Furthermore, the identified IP addresses are used to control access to the data communication applications for the requests going to the servers of the data communication applications. |
| US07673335B1 |
Computer-implemented method and system for security event correlation
A system and method for analyzing events from devices relating to network security, includes a device interface(s), for receiving events from devices. One or more processors, responsive to the event received pursuant to the device interfaces, evaluate the event in accordance with rules, wherein the rules define, inter alia, an operation the system is to take to evaluate the event and an action to be taken under specified conditions. Also, the processor can determine, responsive to the received event, whether the event is of interest, and if not, discarding the event. The processor can provide a correlation corresponding to the at least one event, for the rules. |
| US07673334B2 |
Communication system and security assurance device
A communication system and a security assurance device are proposed, which are capable of assuring that a target party for communication is implementing security countermeasures. A server 3 transmits information 104 necessary for AC issuance to a security assurance authority 2. The security assurance authority 2 verifies the security of the server 3 during communication based upon this information necessary for AC issuance 104. And, when the security of the server 3 during communication is confirmed, the security assurance authority 2 issues an AC 105 which proves the security of the server 3 during communication, and transmits it to the server 3. Upon receipt of this AC 105, the server 3 transmits the AC 105 to a client 4, according to a connection request from the client 4. And, upon receipt of this AC 105, the client 4 verifies the security during communication of the server 3, based upon the AC 105. |
| US07673330B2 |
Ad-hoc creation of group based on contextual information
Provided is ad-hoc creation of groups based on contextual information comprising. Two mechanisms are used to restrict valid members of a group. First, to make sure that devices are somehow related, devices provide contextual information that is compared to the contextual information provided by other devices willing to join the group. Only devices providing “similar” contextual information are accepted as possible candidates in the group. Second, to scope the group, a time window is used to limit the duration of the group creation. In other words, access to the group is reserved to the devices that can provide similar context information to existing member of the group in a defined time window. Security properties are ensured by enabling a visual check of the list of group participants. For instance, a member can verify that the displayed pictures indeed represent the attendees of an ongoing meeting. |
| US07673323B1 |
System and method for maintaining security in a distributed computer network
A system and method for maintaining security in a distributed computing environment comprises a policy manager located on a server for managing and distributing a security policy, and an application guard located on a client for managing access to securable components as specified by the security policy. In the preferred embodiment, a global policy specifies access privileges of the user to securable components. The policy manager may then preferably distribute a local client policy based on the global policy to the client. An application guard located on the client then manages access to the securable components as specified by the local policy. |
| US07673318B2 |
Channel merging method for VOD system
A channel merging method for a VOD system, said method comprises the steps of: in response to requests from a plurality of clients for a video program, establishing a root channel (S1) and at least one sub-channel (S11), said root channel (S1) being established according to a request from a client that makes the earliest request, each of said sub-channels (S11) being established in response to a request from a client that makes a later request; and monitoring variation of the number of the clients that are using each of said established channels, and maintaining the channel if the number of the clients using the monitored channel is not zero, and closing the channel if the number of the clients using the monitored channel becomes zero. |
| US07673309B2 |
Scalable integrated high density optical data/media storage delivery system
An apparatus and system for recording, playing, handling, and storing a plurality of media disks in a plurality of configurations and a device for moving any disk into and out of a media disk storage mechanism and into or out of a selected media player/recorder on demand, and a controller for directing operation of the device for moving the disks and controlling selection of operation of the media disk storage mechanism. |
| US07673302B1 |
System and method for managing messages in a queuing system
A system for processing multiple potentially related requests is provided. The system includes a pending request queue, a related request queue, an in-process queue, and an adapter. The pending request queue receives requests from at least one application. The in-process queue receives a first request from the pending request queue when no other requests are present in the in-process queue related to the first request. The related request queue receives the first request from the pending request queue when other requests are present in the in-process queue related to the first request. The adapter monitors the pending request queue, related request queue, and in-process queue. The adapter also communicates information related to the requests from the pending request queue to the related request and in-process queues as appropriate. The adapter also communicates information related to the requests from the in-process queue to a processor for processing the requests. |
| US07673298B2 |
Software object verification method for real time system
Before applying a software object such as virus detecting software to a customer's real time control apparatus, in order to verify an effect on real time control of the software object, the software object is downloaded from a first web site to a verifying real time control apparatus, and the software object is applied to the verifying real time control apparatus to evaluate whether the customer's real time control apparatus stably maintains the real time control or not. The software object which has been evaluated as one capable of maintaining a stability is uploaded to a second web site, and made to be applicable to the customer's real time control apparatus. Moreover, an observation computer observes whether the verification is performed normally or not. |
| US07673297B1 |
Automatic software update detection and flexible installer for set-top boxes
A method and apparatus for updating set top box software from a resident software version stored in a memory of the set-top box to a current software version is disclosed. The method comprises the step of automatically checking to determine if the resident software version is the current software version, and downloading data comprising at least a portion of the current software version if the resident software version is not the current software version. |
| US07673295B1 |
System and method for compile-time non-concurrency analysis
Compile-time non-concurrency analysis of parallel programs improves execution efficiency by detecting possible data race conditions within program barriers. Subroutines are modeled with control flow graphs and region trees having plural nodes related by edges that represent the hierarchical loop structure and construct relationship of statements. Phase partitioning of the control flow graph allows analysis of statement relationships with programming semantics, such as those of the OpenMP language, that define permitted operations and execution orders. |
| US07673292B2 |
Auto conversion of tests between different functional testing tools
A method and system are described for migrating test scripts written for a current test tool (CTT) to a new test tool (NTT). A conversion tool sets the CTT in a playback mode and the NTT in a record mode. The CTT provides actions to an application under test (AUT) causing objects to be created and modified. The NTT monitors the actions of the CTT and creates a script to mimic the actions of the CTT. The current test script is modified to add comments, and translated using standard translation tools. Application-specific statements do not translate and are replaced with those previously created by the NTT in the record mode. This results in a script that performs the same functions as the original test script. |
| US07673290B1 |
Computer implemented configuration of a management module
A system and computer-implemented method for configuring a baseboard management controller (BMC) for use in monitoring operation of various computer system components is disclosed. The BMC is communicatively connected to a plurality of components by way of a plurality of slave addresses. Each of the plurality of components sense information related to operating and performance-related parameters associated with various operating conditions inherent in the operation of the computer system. The components provide this sensed information to the BMC, which analyzes the information to determine whether any events are occurring in the computer system. Such an event would be the temperature within the computer system chassis being too hot. Those components communicatively connected to the management module are detected and then identified. Based on these identifications, a configuration file is created and incorporated into the BMC firmware to effectuate the aforementioned configuration process. |
| US07673285B1 |
System and methods for generating a software component interface
A system provides a generation tool that emits a method declaration in a coFactory, and further emits the method's definition in a coBridge. Locating a naming service is delegated to a server infrastructure, and names of the sought after interface and the required component are further emitted. The generative approach disclosed assures a proper type of a downcast. Errors are handled by throwing an exception if either the component or its interface is absent. The coClass implements the coFactories, and a developer of a component can access other component by simply invoking a method within the coClass, which is implemented in a coBridge. |
| US07673284B2 |
Method and system for versioning codes based on relative alignment for single instruction multiple data units
A method and system for generating efficient versioned codes for single instruction multiple data units whose memory systems have alignment constraints. The system creates multiple versions of codes based on relative alignments of the data streams involved in the computation. The system also analyzes characteristics of relative alignments (e.g. compile-time or runtime) to determine whether code versioning is beneficial based on a cost model. |
| US07673279B2 |
Iterative method for refining integrated circuit layout using compass optical proximity correction (OPC)
The present invention is an iterative method or procedure involving a series of optical proximity correction (OPC) process steps for refining an integrated circuit design layout on a wafer during a photolithographic process. The iterative method may be applied as a system and computer program to perform classifying and grouping edge fragments according to directional orientations, selecting an edge fragment or a combination of non-opposing edge fragments, calculating an edge placement error of the selected edge fragment and proximally shifting the edge fragment until a quality limitation is met. |
| US07673278B2 |
Enhanced process yield using a hot-spot library
The invention provides apparatus and methods for processing substrates using a hot-spot library. |
| US07673271B1 |
Enhancing relocatability of partial configuration bitstreams
Enhancing relocatability of partial configuration bitstreams from a first area to a second area of programmable logic of an integrated circuit is described. A first set and a second set of logic resources of the programmable logic are identified. The first set and the second set of logic resources are respectively associated with the first area and the second area, the second area being wholly or partially offset from the first area. Differences between the first set of logic resources and the second set of logic resources are identified. The differences are associated with one or more of different types of circuit resources in each of the first area and the second area. Prohibit constraints associated with the differences are set. |
| US07673268B2 |
Method and system for incorporating via redundancy in timing analysis
A method of conducting timing analysis on an integrated circuit design includes performing a first routing operation on the design to generate a first routed design that includes redundant vias, and storing the first routed design in a first design database, and performing a second routing operation on the synthesized design to generate a second routed design that does not include redundant vias, and storing the second routed design in a second design database. Then, extractions are performed on the first and second designs and delay calculations are performing on the first and second extractions files. The first and second delay calculations are compared to determine a delay difference between the first and second designs and timing analysis is performed using the delay difference. |
| US07673263B2 |
Method for verifying and representing hardware by decomposition and partitioning
A system and method for representing digital circuits and systems in multiple partitions of Boolean space, and for performing digital circuit or system validation using the multiple partitions. Decision diagrams are built for the digital circuit or system and pseudo-variables are introduced at decomposition points to reduce diagram size. Pseudo-variables remaining after decomposition are composed and partitioned to represent the digital circuit or system as multiple partitions of Boolean space. Each partition is built in a scheduled order, and is manipulable separately from other partitions. |
| US07673259B2 |
System and method for synthesis reuse
A method of synthesis of multiple implementations of a design is provided comprising: translating a model of the design to a first output model compliant with first constraints; and translating the model of the design to a second output model compliant with second constraints. |
| US07673258B2 |
Design data creating method, design data creating program product, and manufacturing method of semiconductor device
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a design data creating method of creating design data of a semiconductor device including extracting an AND region of an upper layer wiring pattern and a lower layer wiring pattern that sandwich a contact hole layer pattern included in a pattern layer, extracting the contact hole layer pattern included in the AND region, and moving the contact hole layer pattern in such a manner that the center of the AND region coincides with the center of the contact hole layer pattern. |
| US07673257B1 |
System, method and computer program product for word-level operator-to-cell mapping
A mapping system, method and computer program product are provided. In use, at least one arithmetic operator is received. Further, the at least one arithmetic operator is mapped to at least one cell, at a word-level. |
| US07673256B2 |
Method and apparatus for indicating mobile electronic device status or state
Apparatus for indicating mobile electronic device status comprising a database for storing mobile electronic device status information and associated color information; a set of light emitting diodes (LEDs); a processor for retrieving the color information based on the mobile electronic device status and transmitting a signal based on the color information to the set of LEDs; wherein the set of LEDs provide a light corresponding to the color information to illuminate an area of the mobile communication device to indicate the mobile electronic device status. |
| US07673255B2 |
Interface and system for manipulating thumbnails of live windows in a window manager
The present invention provides an interface, system, or method for displaying a window on a display in which a thumbnail corresponding to an application window is capable of being modified based on modifications in the application window. The modifications of the thumbnail may be accomplished in real-time. Also, the present invention provides an interface, system, and method for displaying a window or a thumbnail on a display in which a Desktop Window Manager (DWM) registers a source window and a destination window and/or may update or modify a thumbnail associated with the source window. Special effects may be applied to the thumbnail. The present invention further provides a method for registering and/or modifying a thumbnail and its properties or maintaining a list of thumbnail registrations. |
| US07673253B1 |
Systems and methods for inferring concepts for association with content
A system indirectly infers concepts associated with a document. The concepts may be indirectly inferred based on information that does not include characteristics of the document, such as the characteristics that include a textual content of the document not associated with links included in the document, a domain of the document, and the document's Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The system may label the inferred concepts as useful to an audience of the document. |
| US07673251B1 |
Panel presentation
Panel presentation is described, including presenting a foreground panel over a background panel, detecting an input associated with the background panel, the input being configured to invoke the background panel, and rendering the foreground panel and the background panel in a substantially similar region of an interface, the foreground panel and the background panel being rendered without modifying the foreground panel. |
| US07673250B2 |
Systems and methods for a dimmable user interface
Systems and methods for a dimmable user interface. A user interface is simultaneously displayed with video content or other data in the same window of a display device. The user interface has a level of transparency that is user adjustable. The user can thus make the user interface either more or less visible with respect to the video content. At the same time, the video content is correspondingly made less or more visible. Each item included in the user interface may also have a level of transparency that can be adjusted independently of the level of transparency of the user interface. |
| US07673247B1 |
Identifying noncomplying datapoints in control charts
Control limit values may be related to noncomplying points by receiving a user selection indicating one or more datapoints to be used in a control limit operation, calculating control limit values based on the datapoints, wherein the control limit values indicate one or more noncomplying points that are not within an expected range, generating a display relating the control limit values to the noncomplying points, and identifying the noncomplying points in the generated display. |
| US07673240B2 |
Ubiquitous navbar user interface across multiple heterogeneous digital media devices
A method of providing a ubiquitous navigation and program guide user interface that is common across a heterogeneous multitude of digital media devices. A navbar user interface persistently displays across a topmost portion of a display for each of the heterogeneous multitude of digital media devices when the digital media device is operating in a mode other than a full screen display of digital media content. The navbar user interface presents a limited set of icons associated with a navigation and media guide user interface for different kinds of digital media content and device operations that are common across the heterogeneous multitude of digital media devices. The navbar user interface is operated in a scrolling manner to display and select a navigation and media guide interface for a desired one of the different kinds of digital media content and device operations by selecting an associated one of the limited set of icons. Upon selection of the desired kind of digital media content, the navigation and media guide interface for the desired one of the different kinds of digital media content is displayed in a grid format that is consistent across the heterogeneous multitude of digital media devices. |
| US07673233B2 |
Browser tab management
The management of tabs in browser applications may be at least partially automated. In a described implementation, a link present in browser content information may include a link property indicating that the new browser content information targeted by the link is to be opened in a new tab. A browser application can therefore automatically launch a new tab without a user request. In another described implementation, a new travelogue created for a new tab may be initially populated with an historical entry that points to spawning browser content information and identifies the originating tab. When a user attempts to move backward from an initial page of the new tab, a browser application can therefore automatically redisplay the spawning browser content information at the originating tab. |
| US07673229B1 |
Apparatus and method for generating sub-codes to a turbo-encoder
A gallery widget is invoked when a tag in a markup language document, such as a web page, is processed. The gallery widget selects a number of images specified in the tag and places the images in the markup language document as defined by the tag. The images are selected from a gallery containing all images available for display or from a pool of images chosen from the gallery using a gallery administration tool. |
| US07673227B2 |
User interface for integrated spreadsheets and word processing tables
An architecture integrates spreadsheet functionality into tables commonly used in word processing programs and HTML documents. The architecture presents a table user interface (UI) that resembles a table when not being edited and adds spreadsheet elements to the table when being edited. Underlying the table UI, the architecture separates data handling functions from presentation functions. The architecture includes a table appearance manager to manage how the table appears in a document including such characteristics as table resizing, selection, cut, copy, paste, split, merge, table formatting and so on. The architecture also has a spreadsheet functionality manager to manage the spreadsheet functions for the table, such as recalculation, formula handling, sorting, referencing, and the like. The bifurcated architecture supports cross-table referencing, reference editing, automatic universal recalculation throughout all tables in the document, and nested table structures in which one table is nested within a cell of another table. |
| US07673226B2 |
Method and system for providing short block length low density parity check (LDPC) codes
An approach is provided for generating Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes. An LDPC encoder generates a short LDPC code by shortening longer mother codes. The short LDPC code has an outer Bose Chaudhuri Hocquenghem (BCH) code. According to another aspect, for an LDPC code with code rate of ⅗ utilizing 8-PSK (Phase Shift Keying) modulation, an interleaver provides for interleaving bits of the output LDPC code by serially writing data associated with the LDPC code column-wise into a table and reading the data row-wise from right to left. The above approach has particular application in digital video broadcast services over satellite. |
| US07673223B2 |
Node processors for use in parity check decoders
Techniques for implementing message passing decoders, e.g., LDPC decoders, are described. To facilitate hardware implementation messages are quantized to integer multiples of ½ ln2. Messages are transformed between more compact variable and less compact constraint node message representation formats. The variable node message format allows variable node message operations to be performed through simple additions and subtractions while the constraint node representation allows constraint node message processing to be performed through simple additions and subtractions. Variable and constraint nodes are implemented using an accumulator module, subtractor module and delay pipeline. The accumulator module generates an accumulated message sum. The accumulated message sum for a node is stored and then delayed input messages from the delay pipeline are subtracted there from to generate output messages. The delay pipeline includes a variable delay element making it possible to sequentially perform processing operations corresponding to nodes of different degrees. |
| US07673221B2 |
Optimal bit allocation system for Reed-Solomon coded data
Apparatus and method for generating parameters used in coding data in a data transmission system. The method determines a number of possible coding parameters to satisfy a target coding gain and selects the best set of parameters that balance the code word length and the error rate. In this manner, a minimum coding gain may be used, which minimizes cross-talk on a transmission link. |
| US07673216B2 |
Cache memory device, semiconductor integrated circuit, and cache control method
A memory cache device in which a storage area used for a memory data protection function is effectively used at the time of not using the memory data protection function. A mode selection signal makes ECC code sections for storing an ECC code function as a storage area for storing ECC codes used for performing error detection or error correction on data stored in data RAMs at the time the memory data protection function is enabled and as a way added to the data RAMs at the time the memory data protection function is disabled. |
| US07673215B2 |
Apparatus and method for using an error correcting code to achieve data compression in a data communication network
An apparatus and method for using an error correcting code to achieve data compression in a data communication network is disclosed. Data compression is achieved by performing an error correction encoding operation on input data. Data compression is further achieved by providing, for transmission across a communication channel, compressed data that is representative of the input data. The compressed data preferably includes error correction information produced by the error correction encoding operation. The compressed data requires less transmission channel capacity than does the input data. |
| US07673214B2 |
Message error verification using checking with hidden data
A method of verifying the accuracy of blocks of data. In one embodiment, a method of verifying the accuracy of data in a message that includes a checking mechanism with hidden data is provided. The method comprises observing two or more initial messages. Comparing the residual error of each of the observed initial messages. If the residual errors of at least two of the initial messages match each other, storing the matched residual error. For subsequent messages, comparing residual errors of the subsequent messages with the stored matched residual error. |
| US07673213B2 |
Method and apparatus for communications using improved turbo like codes
Methods, apparatuses, and systems are presented for performing data encoding involving encoding data bits according to an outer convolutional code to produce outer encoded bits, processing the outer encoded bits using an interleaver and a single parity check (SPC) module to produce intermediate bits, encoding the intermediate bits according to an inner convolutional code to produce inner encoded bits, processing the inner encoded bits using a puncture module to produce punctured bits, and combining the data bits and the punctured bits to produce encoded outputs. Methods, apparatuses, and systems are also presented for performing data decoding based on soft channel metrics derived from a channel using various iterative techniques. |
| US07673212B2 |
Power control device and method for satellite DMB receiver
A power control device and method capable of reducing the power consumption of a DMB receiver according to whether or not CDM channels are received is provided. The power control device includes N CDM/FEC parts for demodulating a received broadcast signal into up to N CDM channel signals and error-correcting the demodulated channel signals and thereby generating a pilot payload signal and a transport stream, a plurality of clock switches for respectively turning on/off clock signals supplied to the N CDM/FEC parts, and a clock switch controller for controlling turning on/off of the clock switches, and controls supply of clock signals to the CDM/FEC parts according to CDM channel reception states, thereby making it possible to reduce the power consumption by the CDM/FEC parts. |
| US07673209B2 |
Test pattern generating circuit and semiconductor memory device having the same
Provided are a test pattern generating circuit which generates test patterns having various types and lengths and a semiconductor memory device which performs a test operation using the test pattern generating circuit. The test pattern generating circuit includes a plurality of register blocks which receive test signals input from an external tester through an input/output pad and load the test signals into the resister blocks in synchronization with a low-frequency clock signal; a register block control unit which controls the activation of the register blocks; and an output unit which is connected to the register blocks and outputs the signals loaded into the register blocks as test patterns in synchronization with a high-frequency clock signal. |
| US07673208B2 |
Storing multicore chip test data
An integrated chip architecture is provided which allows for efficiently testing multiple cores included in the integrated chip architecture and storing corresponding diagnosis data which include an indication of the failure-causing test data and the corresponding test analysis data. Embodiments are provided which enable that the test time and the number of required Input/Output test pins is nearly independent from the number of cores included in the multicore chip. The presented embodiments provide a multicore chip architecture which allows for providing input data to the multiple cores in parallel for simultaneously testing the multiple cores, and analyzing the resulting multiple test outputs on chip. As a result of this analysis embodiments may store on chip an indication for those cores that have not successfully passed the test, together with respective diagnosis data. |
| US07673207B2 |
Method for at speed testing of devices
A semiconductor device that includes a module under test that is integrated with the semiconductor device, that receives an input signal from a test module, and that provides an output signal to at least one output terminal based on the input signal. An error detecting module is integrated with the semiconductor device, samples values of the output signal, and outputs the sampled values to the test module. |
| US07673200B2 |
Reprogrammable built-in-self-test integrated circuit and test method for the same
The present invention discloses a reprogrammable built-in-self-test integrated circuit and a test method for the same, wherein test programs are directly stored in the application program memory of the logic chip of a SoC IC, and an external test apparatus is used to load the test programs into the application program memory via a serial transmission interface, and an application CPU is used to read and execute the test programs to perform the bonding-wire connectivity between the logic chip and the memory chip. In the present invention, test vectors can still be flexibly revised after tapeout to increase test coverage. As the test programs are directly stored in the existing application program memory without using additional memory space, and as the test programs are executed by the existing application CPU without using an extra built-in-self-test circuit, the present invention can effectively reduce test cost. |
| US07673194B1 |
Apparatus and method for initializing an integrated circuit device and activating a function of the device once an input power supply has reached a threshold voltage
An apparatus for generating a function activation signal to activate a function in an integrated circuit device comprises a power-on circuit receiving a power input and initializing and generating a test activation signal, a test circuit receiving the test activation signal and generating a test result signal, and a threshold decision circuit receiving the test result signal and generating the function activation signal. The test circuit models a function of the integrated circuit device and generates the test result signal when the power input has reached a sufficient voltage to perform the function of the integrated circuit device. The threshold decision circuit generates the function activation signal if the test result signal indicates the power input has reached a sufficient voltage to perform the function of the integrated circuit device. |
| US07673190B1 |
System and method for detecting and recovering from errors in an instruction stream of an electronic data processing system
A system and method are provided for detecting and recovering from errors in an Instruction Cache RAM and/or Operand Cache RAM of an electronic data processing system. In some cases, errors in the Instruction Cache RAM and/or Operand Cache RAM are detected and recovered from without any required interaction of an operating system of the data processing system. Thus, and in many cases, errors in the Instruction Cache RAM and/or Operand Cache RAM can be handled seamlessly and efficiently, without requiring a specialized operating system routine, or in some cases, a maintenance technician, to help diagnose and/or fix the error. |
| US07673177B2 |
Circuit and method for providing PCB power-on self test capability for peripheral devices
A circuit and method for providing a power-on self test capability for peripheral devices that allows direct testing of address-line data. The preferred embodiment includes a multiplexer circuit that allows the read address line outputs of a microprocessor to be directly returned to the data inputs of the microprocessor, thus providing a direct verification of the integrity of the read-address connection. |
| US07673172B2 |
Method, system, and program for error handling in a dual adaptor system where one adaptor is a master
Provided is a method, system, and program for processing Input/Output (I/O) requests to a storage network including at least one storage device and at least two adaptors, wherein each adaptor is capable of communicating I/O requests to the at least one storage device. An error is detected in a system including a first adaptor, wherein the first adaptor is capable of communicating on the network after the error is detected. In response to detecting the error, a master switch timer is started that is less than a system timeout period if the first adaptor is the master. An error recovery procedure in the system including the first adaptor would be initiated after the system timeout period has expired. An operation is initiated to designate another adaptor in the storage network as the master if the first adaptor is the master in response to detecting an expiration of the master switch timer. |
| US07673165B2 |
Image processing device, method for saving power consumption of the image processing device, and a computer product
The image processing device comprises a first function block section formed of functional blocks which require a supply of power so as to maintain the image processing device in an operating state when the power supply is on, and a second function block section formed of functional blocks which need not be supplied with the power so as to maintain the image processing device in an operating state even when the power supply is on. The supply of power to the second function block section can be stopped when desired, while continuing the supply of power to the first function block section, thereby saving the power. |
| US07673164B1 |
Managing power in a parallel processing environment
An integrated circuit includes a plurality of tiles. Each tile includes a processor; a switch including switching circuitry to forward data over data paths from other tiles to the processor and to switches of other tiles; and a timer. At least some tiles include a low power mode of operation in which either the processor or the switch is able to be powered down, and the tile is able to leave the low power mode based at least in part on a value of the timer. |
| US07673163B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit device with power source areas
The power supply is effectively controlled in a semiconductor integrated circuit device having a multi domain structure so as to reduce the power consumption. When an interrupt signal is inputted, the system controller makes an instruction of wakeup to the corresponding switch control unit. At this moment, the system controller controls power supply so as to be supplied sequentially from the core power source area belonging to the lower hierarchical level dependent on the core power source area to which power is supplied. The system controller outputs the power supply switch-on request signal to the switch control unit. The switch control unit turns ON the power supply switch and sends the power-on completion signal back to the system controller. Similarly, the system controller supplies power sequentially to core power source areas in the dependency relation one after another from the lower hierarchy to the upper hierarchy. |
| US07673161B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for selecting a waking process
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for selecting a waking process. An input module receives a specified input during the off state of a data processing device. In addition, the input module stores the input in the storage module. The storage module may be integrated within the input module. The input module activates the data processing device in response to the input. A wake module retrieves the input from the storage module. In addition, the wake module determines a process that corresponds to the input. The wake module wakes the data processing device using the process. |
| US07673160B2 |
System and method of power management for computer processor systems
A system and method of power management for computer processor systems, the method including measuring power usage; monitoring execution of instructions for a finishing instruction; determining a finishing instruction address for the finishing instruction; determining measured power usage for the finishing instruction; and storing the finishing instruction address in association with the measured power usage in a Power History Table (PHT). The information stored in the PHT can be employed to manage the power used by the computer processor system. |
| US07673157B2 |
Method and system for controlling a mixed array of point-of-load regulators through a bus translator
A power control system comprises at least one point-of-load (POL) regulator adapted to provide an output voltage to a corresponding load and a system controller operatively connected to the at least one POL regulator via a data bus and adapted to send a first data message in a first format to the at least one POL regulator via the data bus. A bus translator is interposed along the data bus between the at least one POL regulator and the system controller. The bus translator converts the first data message from the first format to a second format that is compatible with the at least one POL regulator. The bus translator is adapted for bi-directional operation to convert a second data message communicated from the at least one POL regulator in the second format to the first format compatible with the system controller. The first and second data formats may comprise either a digital data format or an analog data format. The bus translator may further include a phase-locked loop circuit adapted to synchronize operation of the bus translator to a detected data rate of the data bus. |
| US07673155B2 |
Microprocessor with improved task management and table management mechanism
A tamper resistant microprocessor has a task state table for assigning a task identifier to a task that can take a plurality of states, and storing a state of the task in correspondence to the task identifier; a task register for storing the task identifier of a currently executed task; an interface for reading a program stored in a form encrypted by using a program key at an external memory, in units of cache lines, when a request for the task is made; an encryption processing unit for generating decryption keys that are different for different cache lines, according to the program key, and decrypt a content read by the interface; a cache memory formed by a plurality of cache lines each having a tag, for storing the task identifier corresponding to a decryption key used in decrypting each cache line in the tag of each cache line; and an access check unit for comparing the task identifier stored in the tag of each cache line with a value of the task register, and discarding a content of each cache line when the task identifier in the tag and the value of the task register do not coincide. |
| US07673152B2 |
Microprocessor with program and data protection function under multi-task environment
In a microprocessor, a program key for decrypting a program and a data key for encrypting/decrypting data processed by the program are handled as cryptographically inseparable pair inside the microprocessor, so that it becomes possible for the microprocessor to protect processes that actually execute the program, without an intervention of the operating system, and it becomes possible to conceal secret information of the program not only from the other user program but also from the operating system. |
| US07673151B2 |
Processor for encrypting and/or decrypting data and method of encrypting and/or decrypting data using such a processor
A control device is connected to at least one encryption/decryption device via at least one communication device. The control device is connected to a round key generator via at least one further communication device. The control device has at least one external key input, the at least one encryption/decryption device has at least one external data input and at least one external data output, and the at least one encryption/decryption device and the round key generator are decoupled from one another. |
| US07673149B2 |
Identification and/or authentication method
A method and apparatus for identifying and/or authenticating a user of a mobile device in a server on the basis of fingerprints of the user that have been read through haptic input means of the mobile device with a fingerprint reader in the mobile device. |
| US07673148B2 |
Versioning component for applications
An application for updating, distributing, and rendering an application feature set and application versions is disclosed. The application component allows multiple versions of similar applications to be installed and upgraded on the same computer. Meanwhile, allowing new product levels downloads to transform an existing product into a different product. |
| US07673144B2 |
Cryptographic system for group signature
The invention concerns a system enabling a member (M) of a group (G) to produce, by means of customized data (z; K), a message (m) accompanied by a signature (8) proving to a verifier that the message originates from a member of the group (G). The invention is characterized in that the customized data is in the form of an electronic physical medium (26). Advantageously, the latter also incorporates: encrypting means (B3) for producing a customized cipher (C) from the customized data prior to the signature S of the message (m), means (B5) for producing a combination of a message m to be signed and the cipher (C) associated with said message, for example in the form of a concatenation of the message (m) with the cipher (C), and means (B6) for signing (Sig) the message (m) with the customized data (z; K) in the form of a cipher (C) associated with said message. Advantageously, the physical medium is a smart card (26) or the like. |
| US07673141B2 |
Client authentication using a challenge provider
A system for providing secured access to an application service includes a challenge provider that uses a first cryptographic technique to provide a challenge to a client seeking access to an application service. The client uses a second cryptographic technique to generate a response, and provides the response to an authentication service. The authentication service grants the client access to the application service only if the challenge and response are authenticated using a first authentication technique complementary to the first cryptographic technique and a second authentication technique complementary to the second cryptographic technique, respectively. |
| US07673138B2 |
Method, program, and computer system for switching folder to be accessed based on confidential mode
There is disclosed a method for switching access folders in accordance with a confidential mode. In this method, a confidential root directory is located below a normal root directory. A directory structure constituted by the at least one confidential folder other than a confidential root directory is the same as that constituted by at least one normal folder other than a normal root directory. A file access request from an application program to a disk device is received. If the application program is operating as a process in a confidential mode, file access to the confidential file in the confidential folder is executed through a kernel, by rewriting a specified file path name with a file path name corresponding to the confidential folder below the confidential root directory. If the application program is operating as a process in the normal mode, file access to the confidential file in the confidential folder is not permitted. |
| US07673136B2 |
Method for secure multicast repeating on the public Internet
A system and method for sending a secure multicast transmission. The system includes a computer system coupled to a public network and configured to generate a multicast broadcast, and encrypt the generated multicast broadcast. The system also includes a router coupled to the public network, and a user system configured to request to join a multicast broadcast, wherein the user system is associated with the router. The router is configured to retrieve the encrypted multicast broadcast from the computer system over the public network, decrypt the sent multicast broadcast, and send the decrypted multicast broadcast to the user system requesting to join. |
| US07673130B2 |
Use of off-motherboard resources in a computer system
A system uses a protocol stack on a card external to a motherboard in a target computer system. A processor on the motherboard is able to make use of the external protocol stack during boot-up of the computer, or at any other time, so that it is not necessary to load the protocol stack into the motherboard's memory. This saves time, memory, and disk space and permits an external, managing, computer system to communicate with a computer just after power-up without loading and configuring a protocol stack so that the managing computer system can control the boot-up of the target computer system. The extra memory saved, especially, is important in running many MS-DOS applications, such as firmware flash utilities. A preferred embodiment of the invention uses a UDP/Internet Protocol (UDP/IP) stack resident in a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) on, e.g, a network card. The approach described herein can be applied to other utilities, protocol stacks or resources (hardware and software) on other cards. |
| US07673124B2 |
Filtered branch-prediction predicate generation
A method, of manipulating a raw branch history (RBH), can include: providing a RBH relevant to a conditional branching instruction in a program; and filtering the RBH to obtain a filtered branch-prediction predicate. A related method, of making a branch prediction, can include: manipulating, as in the above-mentioned method, a RBH relevant to a given conditional branching instruction (CBI) to obtain a corresponding filtered branch-prediction predicate; and predicting a branching direction of the given CBI based upon the corresponding filtered branch-prediction predicate. Such methods operate upon data provided by a memory representing a Branch Register-Dependency Table (Br_RDT) that includes: entries corresponding to registers in a CPU, respectively; each entry in the Br_RDT being indicative of how content of a corresponding register in the CPU is dependent or not upon other ones among the plurality of registers in the CPU. |
| US07673123B2 |
System and method for classifying branch instructions into multiple classes for branch prediction
The invention relates to a microprocessor device and to a branch prediction method that determines which of a plurality of predetermined branch classes a respective branch instruction to be executed is assigned to, and determines whether the branch is likely to be taken or not, depending on the branch class determined. Advantageously, a respective adaptive branch prediction device assigned to the determined branch class is used for determining whether the branch is likely to be taken or not. |
| US07673119B2 |
VLIW optional fetch packet header extends instruction set space
This invention is useful in a very long instruction word data processor that fetches a predetermined plural number of instructions each operation cycle. A predetermined one of these instructions is used as a special header. This special header has a unique encoding different from any normal instruction. When decoded this special header instructs decode hardware to decode this fetch packet in a special way. In one embodiment a bit field in the header signals the decode hardware whether to decode each instruction word normally or in an alternative way. The header may include extension opcode bits corresponding to each of the other instruction slots. In another embodiment another bit field signals whether to decode an instruction field as one normal length instruction or as two half-length instructions. |
| US07673117B2 |
Operation apparatus
An operation apparatus able to continuously perform processing involving computations differing according to the input conditions, able to keep down useless processing when for example the processing may be interrupted in the middle if certain conditions are satisfied, and able to achieve an improvement of transfer efficiency of course and also able to keep down any increase of the system cost and able to reduce the processing time and power consumption, including an address generator for generating first source data and outputting it together with a control signal, an address generator for generating second source data and outputting it together with control signals, and an operation element for performing predetermined operation with respect to the first source data from the first generator and the second source data by the second generator while switching the type of operation in accordance with a control signal and having registers for temporarily holding operation results, wherein reading and writing of held data of registers are controlled according to control signals. |
| US07673111B2 |
Memory system with both single and consolidated commands
In some embodiments, a chip includes a request queue to include write requests, and scheduling circuitry to schedule commands including commands in response to the write requests. The chip also includes mode selection circuitry to monitor the request queue and in response thereto to select a first or a second mode for the scheduling circuitry, wherein in the first mode the scheduling circuitry schedules certain commands as separate single commands and in the second mode the scheduling circuitry schedules consolidated commands to represent more than one separate single command. Other embodiments are described. |
| US07673109B2 |
Restricting type access to high-trust components
Sensitive data structures, such as type data structures, can be used by untrusted application programs without necessarily exposing the sensitive data structures directly. For example, untrusted components, such as application programs that may or may not be type safe, can be allowed to operate in a lower-privilege mode. In addition, the application programs can be associated with an address space with limited permissions (e.g., read-only) to a shared memory heap. Requests by the untrusted components for sensitive data structures can then be handled by trusted components operating in a higher-privilege mode, which may have broader permissions to the shared memory heap. If the requests by the untrusted components are deemed to be valid, the results of the requests can be shared with the lower-privilege mode components through the shared memory heap. |
| US07673106B2 |
Computer system, management method and storage network system
A storage network system that can be kept running despite a failure in a host computer is provided. A computer system includes: first, second and third storage systems which store data and are connected to one another; a primary host computer connected to the first storage system; a secondary host computer connected to the second storage system; and a management portion which manages data transfer between the storage systems, in which the management portion sets the storage systems such that, while the primary host computer is in operation, data stored in the first storage system is transferred to the second storage system and data stored in the second storage system is transferred to the third storage system, and wherein the management portion sets the storage systems such that, while the secondary host computer is in operation, data stored in the second storage system is transferred to the first storage system and data stored in the first storage system is transferred to the third storage system. |
| US07673098B2 |
System and method for synchronizing mirrored and striped disk writes
A system and method for synchronizing mirrored and striped disk writes. A data storage system may include a client computer system coupled to a first data storage device and a second data storage device and configured to transmit a first data write request. The first storage device may be configured to transmit a sequence number to the client computer system in response to receiving the first data write request. The client computer system may be further configured to transmit a second data write request including the sequence number to the second storage device. The second data storage device may include a counter and is configured to compare a current counter value to the sequence number. If the counter value is equal to the sequence number, the second storage device stores the data bytes corresponding to the second data write request and increments its counter. |
| US07673096B2 |
Control apparatus for controlling virtual storage
A virtual storage control apparatus of the present invention writes data of a write request in an empty block of a virtual disk for data integrity to which any malicious access or false operation is not made, and records the time and the way of rewriting the data into the virtual disk by the write request on a rewrite information storage unit. When there is a data restore request for the virtual disk by designating a virtual disk and write time, the virtual storage control apparatus reads the data of the virtual disk at the write time from a virtual disk for data integrity, based on the information in the rewrite information storage unit, and restores the data of the virtual disk at the write time. With this configuration, the integrity of the data updated successively with the passage of time can be implemented. |
| US07673095B2 |
FIFO memory architecture and method for the management of the same
A FIFO memory with a frequency f and a size of M n-bit words, to successively store n-bit words received serially at an input and give said words serially at an output in the order in which they are stored, comprises a basic memory with a frequency f/2, capable of simultaneously storing two n-bit words successively received at the input of the FIFO memory. The memory also comprises a storage circuit to store either one n-bit word received at the input of the FIFO memory or simultaneously two n-bit words produced by the basic memory and to produce, at the output OUT of the FIFO memory, one of the words that said storage circuit stores. |
| US07673093B2 |
Computer system having daisy chained memory chips
A computer system having a memory system having a memory controller and a memory. The memory controller is coupled to a processor and to the memory. The memory comprises one or more daisy chains of memory chips. An address/command word is chained through a daisy chain of memory chips and is handled by one of the memory chips in the daisy chain of memory chips. Data to be written to a memory chip is sent as part of the address/command word, or is transferred on an outgoing data bus chain. Data read from a memory chip is transferred on an incoming data bus chain. A daisy chain of memory chips can include memory chips on multiple carriers, or the daisy chain of memory chips can all be attached to a single carrier. |
| US07673092B2 |
PCI Express interface
The present invention discloses a PCI Express interface compatible with USB interface comprising a power supply terminal and a ground terminal, in which four data terminals include two data transmitting terminals and two data receiving terminals, characterized in that the power supply terminal and the ground terminal of said interface coincide with the corresponding terminals of USB interface specification, two of said four data terminals are guaranteed to have their positions and widths overlaid with the position of terminal D+ in USB interface specification and not with the position of terminal D− in USB interface specification, and the other two data terminals are guaranteed to have their positions and widths overlaid with the position of terminal D− in USB interface specification and not with the position of terminal D+ in USB interface specification. The PCI Express interface compatible with USB interface can provide a data transmission rate up to 3 Gb/S according to PCI Express interface specification and support to the conventional USB peripheral devices without any modification on them. It further has the advantages of small-sized outline and convenience in use. |
| US07673088B2 |
Multi-tasking interference model
The subject disclosure pertains to a multi-tasking interference system. A gatekeeper receives primary and secondary inputs, and a quantifier ascertains attention values associated with primary inputs and interruption values associated with secondary inputs. Attention values are ascertained based on attributes associated with primary inputs such as type or genre of media presentation, temporal location within media presentation, or a likelihood of impending commercials. Based on a comparison between attention values and interruption values the gatekeeper determines whether, when, and how to interrupt the primary input with the secondary input and accordingly thereafter interrupts the primary input with the secondary input based on the foregoing assessment. |
| US07673087B1 |
Arbitration for an embedded processor block core in an integrated circuit
Arbitration for a processor block core is described. Master devices are associated with a processor block core embedded in a host integrated circuit (“IC”). The master devices are coupled to core logic of the host IC via a crossbar switch and a bridge, which are part of the processor block core. The crossbar switch includes an arbiter. An arbitration protocol is selected from among a plurality of arbitration protocols for use by the arbiter. Pending transactions having are polled for access to the bridge for arbitration using the arbitration protocol selected. |
| US07673081B2 |
Method for data and signal transfer between different sub-units of a medically-related system
In a method and system for data and signal transfer between different sub-units of a medically-related system, in particular a CT system, digitized signals and digital data are transmitted together on a transmission line by means of serial multiplexing. The digitized signals and the digital data are transferred combined into individual packets having a length that is so small that the adherence to a predetermined updating rate of the signals is achieved. The expenditure for the wiring as well as for future expansions in medically-related systems can be significantly reduced. |
| US07673078B2 |
Communicating configuration information over standard interconnect link
A mechanism is provided for storage enclosures to communicate with one another using pre-existing cables allowing the user to dynamically attach different types and speeds of Fiber Channel enclosures together. The mechanism uses a transmit disable line and receive loss of signal line of a small form-factor pluggable optical cable to provide a communication link between enclosures before the Fiber Channel loop is setup and stable. The mechanism on the transmit side pulses the transmit disable line to communicate configuration information. The mechanism on the receive side receives the configuration information on the receive loss of signal line. The transmit disable line and the receive loss of signal line operate as a one-wire communication scheme, providing a communication link to communicate configuration information before the Fiber Channel loop is established. |
| US07673074B1 |
Avoiding port collisions in hardware-accelerated network protocol
The avoidance of port collisions in a hardware-accelerated network protocol, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/Internet Protocol (IP), is disclosed. In one example, a hardware-accelerated host bus adaptor (HBA) offloads protocol processing from a host computer's operating system. However, a port collision occurs if a non-accelerated host TCP/IP stack and a hardware accelerated host bus adapter TCP/IP stack choose the same port for establishing a network connection. In a double-ended TCP/IP acceleration connection, a unique TCP port is bound to the accelerated TCP/IP stack. In a single-ended TCP/IP acceleration connection, either the host TCP/IP stack is prevented from using that port or a non-accelerated connection is associated with an accelerated connection without binding a port. |
| US07673073B2 |
Multiphase encoded protocol and synchronization of buses
A multiphase encoded protocol has sufficient density of commands to allow a rich language to be realized on a bus. When ten field bits are dedicated to commands, it is possible to have more than six million words to choose from per clock. Architecture to implement the multiphase encoded protocol and synchronize the bus includes an extracted clock, a command element, and a data element. One-bit multipliers are used as correlation elements to provide feedback into slaved delay-locked loop (DLL) devices, which provides precise phase alignment for successful data extraction of several channels. |
| US07673071B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for generating a name for a system of devices
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for generating a name for a system of devices. An identifier identifies each component in the system. Once each component is identified, information such as the World Wide Name (WWN) of each component is stored in a database. Additional information such as the IP address of each component may also be stored within the database. A comparator then compares a name such as the WWN of each component and selects the name of a selected component based on specified parameters provided by a user. The selected name is modified and then assigned as an identifier of the entire system of devices. The system of devices is thus assigned a unique identifier that remains the same each time those components form a system of devices. |
| US07673067B2 |
Pipeline for data exchange between medical image applications
The invention relates to a method, an apparatus and a system for the transfer of medical image data from at least one source application to at least one sink application, and for managing the data transfer via a controller and a message system. The method is based on a pipeline mechanism that comprises various processing stages, a requester and a serializer controller that controls the data steam to be transferred. The pipeline mechanism comprises a serializer that decomposes the data stream in individual chunks or reassembles the decomposed chunks to form a data stream, and a carrier that is responsible for the physical data transmission. Moreover, the pipeline can also comprise a converter and a manipulator that respectively execute conversions and manipulations on the data. |
| US07673064B2 |
Methods, apparatus, and program products for presenting commentary audio with recorded content
Apparatus, methods, and program products that present commentary audio in conjunction with an experiential data stream by detecting proximity of a playback position to an audio trigger position associated with a commentary audio clip and presenting the commentary audio clip accordingly. |
| US07673063B2 |
Methods for streaming media data
In the present technique of streaming a main media stream that has been requested, an anti-shadow stream (36) that represents a backup copy of the main media stream (24) is sent along with an output media stream (34) that represents an output copy of the main media stream. The content of the anti-shadow stream (36) is preferably forward-shifted in time from the output media stream (34) so as to provide replacement of loss data of the output stream. Put differently, sequenced data frames of the output stream (34) are delayed by order compared to that of the anti-shadow stream (36). |
| US07673061B2 |
Method and apparatus for neighborhood discovery across disparate point-to-point networks
A method or apparatus in an exemplary embodiment supports first and second layer network nodes that may be configured to communicate with each other via a communications path. In embodiments a first network node communicates via a second network node across a layer 2 network to send data. The first network node is typically on a different link layer protocol than the second network node receiving the data. Thus, the first and second layer network nodes, having different link layer protocols, may communicate with each other. Accordingly, through use of embodiments of this invention, Neighbor Discovery (ND) is possible in a network, such as an IPv6 network, that has protocols incompatible with each other. |
| US07673057B1 |
Hybrid connection admission control using combined model-based and measurement-based estimators
A method and apparatus are described for controlling connection admission for a connection request in a network. A first estimator estimates an equivalent cell rate (ECR) based on description of the connection request. The description includes a booking factor. A second estimator estimates a measured utilization factor for admitted connections in the network using measurements of data streams arriving at queues. A controller is coupled to the first and second estimators to generate an admission decision for the connection request based on the estimated ECR and the estimated measured utilization factor. |
| US07673050B2 |
System and method for optimizing server resources while providing interaction with documents accessible through the server
A system and method for optimizing server resources while providing interaction with documents accessible through the server. The system allows a user to open and interact with a document without opening a session. Aspects of the present invention relate to a computer-implemented method having steps for determining whether a document is static in response to a request to open the document, and opening the document in a sessionless mode when the document is static. Other aspects of the present invention relate to a computer-implemented method having steps for determining whether a trigger has occurred and transitioning to a session mode for the document when a trigger has occurred. |
| US07673048B1 |
Methods and apparatus for establishing a computerized device tunnel connection
A client device establishes a first tunnel connection or tunnel, through a public network, with a first gateway of a private network and establishes, through the tunnel connection, a data connection with a destination device within the private network. The first gateway monitors or analyzes the geographic locations of the gateways associated with the private network relative to geographic location of the destination device associated with the data connection. Based upon such the monitoring, the first gateway transmits information to the client device relating to establishment of a second tunnel connection or tunnel with a second gateway of the private network. The client device establishes the second tunnel connection with the second gateway and establishes a data connection with the destination device through the second gateway. By establishing the second tunnel connection with the second gateway, the client device utilizes the bandwidth of the public network to exchange data with the destination device, thereby decreasing data transmission costs to the private network and decreasing private network latency. |
| US07673047B2 |
Determining a user's groups
The present invention is directed to technology for determining the set of groups of which a user is a member. A user can be a static member, dynamic member or nested member of a group. A user is a nested member of a first group if that user is a member of a second group and the second group is a member of the first group. There can be multiple levels of nesting. For example, an entity can be a nested member of a first group if that entity is a member of a second group, which is a member of a third group, which is a member of a fourth group, which is a member of the first group. The present invention can determine the groups of which the user is a static member, dynamic member or nested member. |
| US07673046B2 |
Trusted network transfer of content using off network input code
Systems and methods for use in connection with the trusted transmission and reception of content, such as encryption key information, from one computing device in a network to a second computing device are provided. In one embodiment, the invention provides a way to trust or validate the transfer of a public key using a very short code entered out of band of the network that is easy for end-users to remember, or write down. |
| US07673045B1 |
Multiple site automated logout
A logout feature of a service that facilitates login to multiple domain websites maintains a list of the sites that a user logs on to during a session and completely logs the user out of all the sites they visited during the session. A data structure in the form of a cookie named “Visited Sites” is used by a login server to maintain a list of all sites that a user logs on to during a session. When the user selects a logout link anywhere on the network, they are directed to a logout page on the login server. The login server retires all login domain cookies first, and displays a page that explains to the user that they are about to be logged out of each domain. The logout page generates image tags for each of the sites listed in the visited-sites cookie. The image tag provides a URL hosted at each site that expires any Passport cookies that are present at the site. |
| US07673043B2 |
System and method for network vulnerability detection and reporting
A system and method provide comprehensive and highly automated testing of vulnerabilities to intrusion on a target network, including identification of operating system, identification of target network topology and target computers, identification of open target ports, assessment of vulnerabilities on target ports, active assessment of vulnerabilities based on information acquired from target computers, quantitative assessment of target network security and vulnerability, and hierarchical graphical representation of the target network, target computers, and vulnerabilities in a test report. The system and method employ minimally obtrusive techniques to avoid interference with or damage to the target network during or after testing. |
| US07673040B2 |
Monitoring of service provider performance
Monitoring of service provider performance is improved by providing detailed instructions for evaluating metrics relating to categories in which the service provider's performance is to be measured. Such instructions describe the metrics in sufficient detail such that they can be evaluated by a monitoring component without having to obtain monitoring data from the service provider, thereby decreasing the level of trust that must be placed in the service provider to monitor itself. The ability to evaluate metrics independent of service provider monitoring data further reduces the size of code which must be generated for the service provider and the number of tasks which must be performed by the service provider, thereby decreasing operating expenses and freeing up resources for other aspects of the service provider's operations. |
| US07673039B2 |
Server apparatus and information providing method
To overcome problems there is to be provided useful information to a user, by counting the number of detected RF tags. As a means for solving the problems an information-providing server 20 according to the present invention acquires IDs of RF tag readers disposed near by the Ferris wheel, when there has been presented to the information providing server 20, as a notifying condition, the condition that a user desires to receive an e-mail on the occasion of the number of persons waiting in line for a Ferris wheel having become seven or less. Then after having acquired the number of plural IDs of the RF tags detected by the RF tag readers having the acquired IDs, the information-providing server 20 acquires attribute information of the RF tags. The information providing server 20 counts the number of IDs of RF tags whose attribute is a person, referring to the attribute information. When the counted result has become seven or less, the information providing server 20 transmits an e-mail notifying to the effect that the congestion has been relieved to the mobile terminal 10. |
| US07673034B1 |
Self service data interface
A self service data interface includes communications logic providing communications with a personal data device and a data infrastructure, such as the computer resources in a department or building. A processor executes a data interface management process that communicates with the data infrastructure to obtain information about available data services, where the information includes information about how the available data services are accessed. The data interface management process also communicates with the personal data device to provide the information about the available data services to the user. The information is used by the personal data device to invoke the services directly via the self service data interface. The self service interface can have multiple communications links to the personal data device, such as a wire link and a wireless link. The information from the self service data interface can be provided as a hypertext page that is accessed and handled by a browser within the personal data device. |
| US07673031B1 |
Resource mapping in a network environment
If retrieved information from a storage area network resource does not enable simple and direct mapping of the respective unknown type of storage area network resource to a known type of storage area network resource with sufficient certainty (because the collection of data does not match any known unique groupings of data associated with known types of resources), then a mapping function attempts to automatically map the storage area network resource to a respective known type of storage area network resource. For example, the mapping function attempts to identify the specific identity of the storage area network resource in question. After repeating a process of mapping and determining identities of one or more different resources in a storage area network environment, an advisory process applies a set of configuration rules to identify whether an arrangement of resources will work properly. |
| US07673030B2 |
Internet control system communication protocol, method and computer program
A control system, method and computer program are provided for communicating control information in a control system. The control system includes a master controller and a plurality of devices. Each of the plurality of devices have a number of channels. Each channel has an identifying number and a plurality of channel states. The method includes at least initially directing one or more messages sent to and from each device to the master controller, sending a first type of control message from the master controller to respective devices, and sending a second type of control message and a third type of control message from the master controller to respective devices. A control message of the first type directs the respective device to place one of its channels in a specified channel state. A control message of the second type directs the respective device to set the level of a specified parameter to a certain value, and a control message of the third type comprises a character string of variable length. |
| US07673028B2 |
Method and system for container-managed configuration and administration
A method and system for container-based configuration and administration. In one embodiment, a configuration file is created at a first location. The configuration file is duplicated into a duplicate configuration file, which is placed at a second location. |
| US07673025B2 |
Controlling access message flow
Techniques are provided for controlling access message flow. The techniques include receiving one or more access messages; determining one or more sets of features, one for each access message; receiving a particular access message; determining a particular set of one or more features for the particular access message; determining whether the particular access message satisfies a particular condition based on the particular set of one or more features and the one or more sets of features; and if the particular access message satisfies the particular condition, performing a responsive action based on the particular condition. |
| US07673022B2 |
Information processing apparatus having SMP license information
In an information processing apparatus having a function for exploiting higher performance than a single server module by constituting an SMP by combining a plurality of server modules, a user is inhibited from illegally constituting an SMP construction that exceeds license information. When a partition is constituted by a construction against the SMP license information, a slot number representing the number of server modules belonging to a partition and mounted to a chassis and the number of server modules in the same partition are checked and the SMP construction is inhibited when they do not fall within the range of the slot number and the number of server modules in the license information. |
| US07673018B2 |
Message send queue reordering based on priority
A method and system for communicating serialized data provides a mechanism for ordering the data in response to a priority. In an embodiment, a server sending the data uses the priority to order the data in a message send queue for sending the data to a requesting device. The server may comprise a gateway and the second device a wireless device communicating with the gateway. The wireless device may send a priority indication in association with a request for the data to facilitate the ordering. |
| US07673017B2 |
Systems and methods for integrating XML syndication feeds into online advertisement
A system for providing XML syndication content to an Internet advertisement panel rendered in a web browser is disclosed. The system includes a web content server, an Internet advertisement server, and a XML syndication content feed site server. Both the web content server and the Internet advertisement servers are in communication with the web browser. The web content server is configured to respond to requests from the web browser for a web page and to deliver the web page to the web browser. The Internet advertisement server is configured to choose and deliver an Internet advertisement panel, having embedded XML syndication content, to the web browser. The XML syndication content feed site server is in communication with the Internet advertisement server and is configured to send XML syndication content updates to the Internet advertisement server upon receipt of an update request from the Internet advertisement server. |
| US07673016B2 |
System, computer program product and method for selecting an application service provider
A method, system and computer program product for managing applications service provider (ASP) transactions between an ASP and an ASP user. The method on which the system and computer program product are based includes receiving an ASP transaction request from the user via a communications network such as the Internet, selecting an ASP for processing the transaction request, and transmitting instructions for performing the transaction request, via the communications network, to the selected ASP. The ASP transaction request may be received by receiving a user identifier from the user or by receiving a document consultation request from the user. Selecting an ASP may include selecting a special service ASP. |
| US07673014B2 |
Product information for supporting operations of an electronic product via the web
A product information providing apparatus for providing, via a network, product information for supporting operations of a product, comprises an electronic product information storage that stores electronic product information which contains a group of hierarchized files having a file format browsable through a Web browser; a table holder that holds an event table in which an event indicating a change in the state of the product is associated with address information of the product information corresponding to the event; an event detector that detects occurrence of the event; an address information acquisition unit that acquires address information corresponding to the event detected by the event detector by referring to the table holder; an accessing unit that accesses the corresponding electronic product information based on the address information acquired by the address information acquisition unit; and a display that displays the electronic product information accessed by the accessing unit. |
| US07673013B2 |
Methods and systems for processing multi-media editing projects
Methods and systems of processing multi-media editing projects are described. In one embodiment, a software-implemented matrix switch is programmable to route multiple switch inputs to multiple switch outputs and to produce a single output that provides a data stream defined by a multi-media editing project. A request for one or more multi-media files for use in the multi-media editing project is generated by a user computer comprising part of a network where multi-media files are maintained in a network-accessible location. The request is intercepted and a determination is made as to whether a requested multi-media file is located on the user computer. The multi-media file is retrieved if the file is located on the user computer. If the file is not on the user computer, the requested file is sought from the network-accessible location. A multi-media editing project is then produced using the software-implemented matrix switch. |
| US07673011B2 |
Configuring compute nodes of a parallel computer in an operational group into a plurality of independent non-overlapping collective networks
Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for configuring compute nodes of a parallel computer in an operational group into a plurality of independent non-overlapping collective networks, the compute nodes in the operational group connected together for data communications through a global combining network, that include: partitioning the compute nodes in the operational group into a plurality of non-overlapping subgroups; designating one compute node from each of the non-overlapping subgroups as a master node; and assigning, to the compute nodes in each of the non-overlapping subgroups, class routing instructions that organize the compute nodes in that non-overlapping subgroup as a collective network such that the master node is a physical root. |
| US07673004B1 |
Method and apparatus for secure IM communications using an IM module
Techniques for enabling secure communications between IM modules are provided. An IM is received from a first IM client for a second IM client at a first IM module. It is determined if the second IM client can receive IMs through a second IM module that is capable of receiving secure communications from the first IM module. If the second IM module is capable of receiving secure communications from the first IM module, an encrypted IM is sent from the first IM module to the second IM client. The encrypted IM is received at the second IM module, which decrypts the IM and sends the decrypted IM to the second IM client. |
| US07672999B2 |
Transmitting common and unique information selectively to different recipients
A system for enabling the transmission of a prepared message to multiple intended recipients, wherein the information contained in the message is substantially the same as received for all the recipients but differs in parts or portions for certain recipients comprising: a module containing the entire message which includes both the common and unique information to be transmitted and the instructions for selectively providing the information to different recipients; and scheme for sending together from the module all the parts or portions of the information to all recipients, but including means responsive to the instructions, for having selectively different parts or portions of the information received by the different recipients. |
| US07672995B2 |
System and method for publishing collaboration items to a web site
A computer-implemented process takes content created collaboratively from a workgroup environment and converts it into a scheduled web page that is publishable on the Internet. The computer-implemented process loosely relates the generated collaboration content and the published web page such that each may be independently modified and have independent life cycles, but still reflect changes to the collaboration content on the published web page. |
| US07672991B2 |
Method and device for configuring an electronic document processing peripheral in a communication network
The invention concerns a method and device for configuring an electronic document processing peripheral. The invention concerns more particularly a method of determining a configuration profile for an electronic document processing peripheral with the configuration profile representing a set of parameters defining a particular configuration of the peripheral. To do so, the electronic document processing peripheral determines user characteristics as a function of a user identification of a data item and then determines, as a function of the user characteristics, a configuration profile applicable for configuring the peripheral. |
| US07672990B2 |
Digital computation method involving euclidean division
A computational method for implementation in an electronic digital processing system performs integer division upon very large (multi-word) operands. An approximated reciprocal of the divisor is obtained by extracting the two most significant words of the divisor, adding one to the extracted value and dividing from a power of two out to two significant words. Multiplying this reciprocal value by a remainder (initialized as the dividend) obtains a quotient value, which is then decremented by a random value. The randomized quotient is multiplied by the actual divisor, and decremented from the remainder. The quotient value is accumulated to obtain updated quotient values. This process is repeated over a fixed number of rounds related to the relative sizes in words of the dividend and divisor. Each round corrects approximation and randomization errors from a preceding round. |
| US07672988B2 |
Arithmetic processing device with invalid input keystroke recognition and menu return function
An arithmetic processing device includes a menu displaying unit which displays a menu screen for a plurality of arithmetic processings when the predetermined key is operated, each of the arithmetic processings being assigned to one of a plurality of numeric keys; an arithmetic processing unit which, when a numeric key allocated to any one of the arithmetic processings is operated, executes an arithmetic processing corresponding to the operated key; and a display controller which, when a key other than the numeric keys assigned to the arithmetic processings is operated, displays a specific mark. |
| US07672987B2 |
System and method for integration of medical information
A computer system for integrating medical information using the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) as a taxonomy of medical terms includes a learner module for learning from training data concept classifiers for a source ontology and a target ontology, a mapper module for generating associations between source and target ontology classifiers using the UMLS, an annotator module for extracting knowledge from test data using source and target ontology classifiers and UMLS, and a feedback module for ranking associations according to a level or certainty, and presenting those associations that fall below a predefined level of certainty to a user for correction. |
| US07672986B2 |
Managing graphic databases
A public graphic library coupled to a WAN offers access to a database of graphics, while another graphic library inside the firewall of an enterprise network provides graphics to users in an enterprise. Transferring graphics from the public graphic library to the enterprise graphic library enables enterprise users to access content residing on the public graphic library while the enterprise network is disconnected or otherwise isolated from the WAN. A remote library director in a drawing software program directs communication between a user computer and either the public graphic library or the enterprise graphic library. The configuration of this director specifies the library from which a user accesses graphics. |
| US07672982B2 |
Systems, methods, and computer-usable medium for defragmenting a windows NT file system volume
A method of defragmenting a Windows NT file system volume includes the step of selecting a file record which is stored in a master file table associated with the Windows NT file system volume, in which one or more non-resident attributes are associated with the file record, and data associated with one or more non-resident attributes is stored outside the file record in one or more data extents. The method also includes the step of querying the one or more data extents without opening the one or more non-resident attributes. For example, the one or more data extents may be queried using a FSCTL_GET_NTFS_FILE_RECORD command. Moreover, the method includes the step of determining whether to defragment the one or more non-resident attributes based on information obtained from querying the one or more data extents. For example, the information may include a location of the one or more non-resident attributes. |
| US07672981B1 |
Object classification and indexing of very large name spaces using grid technology
For migration or de-duplication of a file system having a large number of files, a utility program traverses the file system to create a log of file-specific information about the file system. For identification of duplicates, the utility program produces a signature for each file. Respective instances of the utility program are started on multiple nodes upon which the file system is mounted. A fully qualified pathname is compiled during transfer of the log to a database. Multiple databases can be produced for the file system such that each database contains the file-specific information for a specified range of inode numbers. The database also maintains classification state for each file. For example, for a migration or replication process, the classification state identifies whether or not the file has been untouched, copied, linked, secondary-ized, source deleted, or modified. |
| US07672974B2 |
System and method to facilitate sharing of information
A method and system to facilitate sharing of information amongst users comprises assessing a degree of commonality between each of the users. Once a degree of commonality between the users is assessed, information is shared amongst the users having an assessed degree of commonality greater than a predetermined degree of commonality. In this way, the information being shared is most likely to be useful because it is being shared by users having common traits and characteristics. The degree of commonality can be assessed by comparing areas of interest of the users. The information on the areas of interest may comprise search criteria independently developed by each user to search for information or utilize resources in a network. The degree of commonality may also be assessed by recording each occurrence when a user accepted or did not accept information obtained from each other user. |
| US07672969B1 |
Context based configuration management system
A computer-based system for configuring and displaying information on changes in, and present status of, a collection of events associated with a project. Classes of icons for decision events, configurations and feedback mechanisms, and time lines (sequential and/or simultaneous) for related events are displayed. Metadata for each icon in each class is displayed by choosing and activating the corresponding icon. Access control (viewing, reading, writing, editing, deleting, etc.) is optionally imposed for metadata and other displayed information. |
| US07672966B2 |
Adding extrinsic data columns to an existing database schema using a temporary column pool
A facility for storing extrinsic data is described. The facility receives data associated with a distinguished extrinsic data item of a specified type. The facility determines whether a flexible column directory table contains an entry mapping the distinguished extrinsic data item to a flexible column pool column. If the flexible column directory table does not contain an entry mapping the distinguished extrinsic data item to a flexible column pool column, the facility creates an entry in the flexible column directory table that maps the distinguished extrinsic data item to an available flexible column pool column of the specified type. The facility then copies the received data to the flexible column pool column mapped from the distinguished extrinsic data item. |
| US07672962B2 |
Methods and systems for managing data
Systems and methods for managing data, such as metadata or indexes of content of files. In one exemplary method, notifications to update a metadata database or an index database are combined into a combined notification. According to other aspects, an order among logical locations on a storage device is determined in order to specify a sequence for scanning for files to be indexed. According to another aspect, a method includes determining whether to index a file based on a path name of the file relative to a plurality of predetermined path names. |
| US07672957B2 |
User interface configured to display mechanical fabric and semantic model of a legacy computer application generated, graphical view navigating links between mechanical nodes and semantic nodes based on relevant business rules
According to one aspect of the invention, a software transformation system is provided that may include a business asset extraction sub-system. The business asset extraction sub-system is typically configured to analyze a legacy computer application and create a mechanical fabric representing computer-implemented operations of the legacy computer application, and to create a semantic model representing operator-perceived meanings attached to interactions with the legacy application. The business asset extraction sub-system is further typically configured to create links between related portions of the mechanical fabric and the semantic model. The mechanical fabric comprises a network of nodes and associations between nodes, the nodes and associations representing one or more system interface objects, computer programs, and data access points, and a physical data model configured to store data records utilized by the legacy computer application. |
| US07672956B2 |
Method and system for providing a search index for an electronic messaging system based on message threads
When a message having at least one attachment is obtained for indexing, it is indexed as N+1 separate documents, where N is the number of attached documents. If the message is part of a message thread, then information regarding the last message in the thread is retrieved, and search index attachment meta data for the last message is extracted. A unique identifier is computed for the newly obtained attachments, and used to search for matches in the attachments for the last message in the thread. If there is a match, then the newly obtained attachment is not indexed, but the unique identifier of the previously indexed matching attachment is added to a body index document for the new message. A unique identifier associated with the new message is also added to a list of parent identifiers associated with the attachment. |
| US07672948B2 |
Centralized data transformation
A method of facilitating transformation of survey data from being in at least one foreign format used by a survey-tool to being in a desired format may include: receiving instances of foreign data from survey-tools, the foreign data being in foreign format used by the survey-tools, respectively; and appending, to the instances of foreign data, service-keys to identify the service tools which gathered the foreign data, respectively, to produce a data block that includes key-and-foreign-data pairs. Another such method may include: receiving such a data block; culling from the block key-and-foreign-data pairs; and operating upon the pairs to transform respective chunks of foreign data from being in respective foreign formats into being in corresponding desired formats according to corresponding service-keys, respectively. |
| US07672947B2 |
Asset attachment device
The present invention performs asset management by giving the user asset information on a regular basis. The customer communicates with a central server via means such has telephone and the world wide web. The central server houses the application specific software to enable the user to manage assets. The central server communicates with the asset attachment device via means such as telephone and the world wide web. When a user accesses the system, the system sends back asset information such as the asset ID, location and status. |
| US07672940B2 |
Processing an electronic document for information extraction
The present invention relates generally to automatically processing electronic documents. In one aspect, features and/or properties of words are identified from a set of training documents to aid in extracting information from documents to be processed. The features and/or properties relate to text of the words, position of the words and the relationship to other words. A classifier is developed to express these features and/or properties. During information extraction, documents are processed and analyzed based on the classifier and information is extracted based on correspondence of the documents and the features/properties expressed by the classifier. |
| US07672936B2 |
Security model using security domains in a security model applied to abstract database
The present invention generally is directed to a method, system and article of manufacture for controlling the access to data granted to a requesting entity based upon data accessed by the entity in the past. Additionally, embodiments of the present invention allow for access control independent from the particular manner in which the data is physically represented. Generally, abstraction layers are provided to represent various data sources available for use by an application and to compose queries used by the application to access and/or update information contained in these data sources. A runtime component is responsible for resolving an abstract query into concrete data access requests to one or more data repositories using information contained in a data repository abstraction component (one of the abstraction layers). Typically, data is organized into a series of domains. Within each domain, data is associated with an account. User activity is monitored, and when data associated with one account is accessed, a user may subsequently be prohibited from accessing data from a related account within the same domain. |
| US07672934B1 |
Method for restoring documents from a database file
Various embodiments of a method and system for accessing an instance of a database file previously created by a secured RDBMS are disclosed. The secured RDBMS is not used to reconstruct tables and records from an unmounted backed up copy of a database file. During backup, a schema file including table and index information is stored along with the database file. During a subsequent restore operation, the schema file may be read for efficiently reconstructing objects from the database file, without having to reload or reinstall the secured RDBMS. For restoring or comparing objects from the backed up database file, a stored procedure in the secured RDBMS may be called. |
| US07672932B2 |
Speculative search result based on a not-yet-submitted search query
Providing a speculative search result for a search query prior to completion of the search query. In response to receiving a search query from a client node, a speculative search result is provided to the client node for the search query prior to receiving an indication from the client node that said search query is completely formed. The speculative search result may be displayed on the same web page on the client node as the search query, while the search query is being entered by the user. As the user further enters the search query, a new speculative search result may be provided to the user. |
| US07672930B2 |
System and methods for facilitating a linear grid database with data organization by dimension
A system and methods for organizing and querying data within a linear grid management system. Data having multiple dimensions is associated with physical locations, where a first dimension is associated with a node and a second dimension is associated with a data storage identifier of a memory storage device. The data may have a third dimension which provides a field for ordering data within the memory storage device. Metadata may be used to map a logical table to data stored in the memory storage device. The data query may be divided into multiple subqueries, wherein each subquery is related directly to one node associated with a data storage identifier related to a memory storage device. A preSQL and postSQL process may be generated to access an external database. A dispatcher may manage data subrequests and a node may generate a unique and efficient parsing process from the received data subrequest. |
| US07672926B2 |
Method and system for updating value correlation optimizations
A method, computer program, and database system are disclosed for executing database queries. The database includes a first table (T1) having a primary key (PK) column and a first correlated value column (CV1) and a second table (T2) having a foreign key (FK) column related to the primary key column of the first table and a second correlated value column (CV2). One implementation of the method includes preparing a database query for execution based at least in part on application of a derived constraint rule (DCR) having the form, (PK=FK)→CV2+C1≦CV1≦CV2+C2, where C1 and C2 are constants and “→” means “implies,” to produce an execution plan. A frequency of errors due to changes in DCRs is taken into account when preparing the execution plan. The plan is then executed. |
| US07672924B1 |
Systems and methods for generating information from a data collection to support decision-making
A collection of data is processed and information arising from the processing can be distributed in a variety of ways to support a decision-making process. A query-analyze-distribute approach can be used, and queries, analysis directives, and distribution directives can be associated into a sequence and shared. Access to interim processing is provided, allowing recipients of information to more easily understand and refine the processing. Unbound queries, unbound analysis directives, and unbound distribution directives can be used and shared so that the queries, analysis directives, and distribution directives can be tailored to a particular situation via binding. The query, analysis, and distribution processing can be loosely-coupled to allow easy interchange and combination of sequence elements. A sequence can be scheduled for periodic execution, and distribution of data can be limited to instances when data falls outside of certain expected values. A decision-making process can be automated by creating an executable workflow. The environment in which the workflow is executed can support a rich set of features, including gating, branching, drill down, and execution tracking. A decision-making process based on a sequence can be refined by employing executable metasequences. |
| US07672922B2 |
Pointer-oriented object acquisition method for abstract treatment of information of AI of AI of a cyborg or an android based on a natural language
The pointer-oriented object acquisition method for abstract treatment of information of the computer system of AI of a cyborg or an android based on a natural language.The pointer-oriented object acquisition method for abstract treatment of information of the computer system of AI of a cyborg or an android based on a natural language, in which three pointers are created in the computer main memory (in RAM) of the computer system of AI of a cyborg or an android in the natural language, in which the computer system is working at this timeframe, at runtime. In this way, the subjective object, the associative object and the abstract object of the computer system of AI of a cyborg or an android are instantiated and are initialized. With these objects, which are implemented in a natural language, one can access to, i.e. manipulate with the element variables, i.e. with the data elements, of a class of the classification tree of the computer system of AI of the cyborg or the android. |
| US07672921B1 |
Systems and methods for automatically determining and/or inferring component end of life (EOL)
The invention relates to a system and methodology for facilitating managing product life cycle. A component that determines relevance of components to a product; an analyzing component that determines, infers or predicts obsolescence, level of risk to EOL of a subset of the components. A substitution component that identifies replacement components and suppliers for the subset of components. A cost analysis component that determines material/components cost savings, and redesign cost implementation and/or redesign cost avoidance. A viability component that measures reliability of a component. A transition component that identifies components that require updating or replacement. A profitability component that determines the expected revenue derived from a component over its projected remaining life. |
| US07672916B2 |
Methods, systems, and media for music classification
Methods, systems, and media are provided for classifying digital music. In some embodiments, methods of classifying a song are provided that include: receiving a selection of at least one seed song; receiving a label selection for at least one unlabeled song; training a support vector machine based on the at least one seed song and the label selection; and classifying a song using the support vector machine. In some embodiments, systems for classifying a song are provided that include: memory for storing at least one seed song, at least one unlabeled song, and a song; and a processor that: receives a selection of the at least one seed song; receives a label selection for the at least one unlabeled song; trains a support vector machine based on the at least one seed song and the label selection; and classifies the song using the support vector machine. |
| US07672910B1 |
System and method for performing non-linear constrained optimization with a genetic algorithm
An augmented Lagrangian genetic algorithm that may be used to generate solutions for optimization problems subject to linear, bound, and non-linear constraints is discussed. The augmented Lagrangian genetic algorithm uses an adaptive mutation operator to separately handle the linear, and bound constraints, and uses an augmented Lagrangian framework to handle non-linear constraints. The non-linear constraints are handled by creating a sub-problem without the linear and bound constraints and solving the sub-problem using Lagrange parameter estimates and a penalty factor. The exclusion of the linear constraints and boundary constraints from the sub-problem allows the sub-problem to be resolved in a more effective manner than is possible using conventional techniques. |
| US07672906B2 |
Randomly generated color grid used to ensure multi-factor authentication
A method and system for ensuring the secure authentication of transactions over a communication network using a validation code 40, wherein the user submits information over a communication terminal and submitting validation code 40 for authentication allows the transaction to be completed, the system comprised of: a substantially transparent alphanumeric cipher card 10 associated with the user information, wherein cipher card 10 contains rows and columns of random alphanumeric characters; and an authentication module for providing validation code 40 to the user whereby a color grid 20 is generated to be displayed on a user terminal, wherein the cells of color grid 20 are randomly filled with one of a plurality of colors and the design of color grid 20 is adapted to cipher card 10 such that upon positioning alphanumeric cipher card 10 over color grid 20, the user can deduce a validation code 40. |
| US07672895B2 |
System and method for simulating an electronic trading environment
Market data is recorded from a real live exchange. The recording data can be played back in real time or delayed, in any manner, to simulate the recorded market. Moreover, one or more users can participate in the simulated market just as if they were participating in a real-live market. The system provides a realistic trading environment without the associated risks of trading in a live-market such as losing money and the cost of making trades. The system may be used for training purposes and for purposes of testing and analyzing various trading strategies. Software developers and testers may also utilize the realistic environment to develop trading products or applications. Additionally, the system provides a means for demonstrating trading application products. |
| US07672892B2 |
Real time network exchange with seller specified exchange parameters and interactive seller participation
A system and method for networked exchange are disclosed. A system for networked exchange comprises an internal proxy; an exchange processor in communication with the internal proxy; a database in communication with the internal proxy; an external proxy in communication with the internal proxy; and, a communications network connected to the external proxy. A method for networked exchange comprises 8 steps. Those steps are (1) specifying a mode of operations for an exchange; (2) identifying a commodity for the exchange; (3) listing information about the commodity; (4) accessing of the listing by a potential purchaser; (5) accessing the network-based exchange by the potential purchaser; (6) processing information generated by the potential purchaser, the information comprising a negotiation; (7) concluding the negotiation; and, (8) clearing the concluded negotiation. |
| US07672891B2 |
Software application portfolio management for a client
An information technology services providing company manages a portfolio of software applications for a client company. A plurality of the applications are preselected along with a recommendation for each. The recommendations have value drivers with parameters. Values for the parameters are received from the client as responses to questions or through collaboration with the client. A business value is then determined for the value drivers using the parameter values. Total cash flow, return on investment, net present value, internal rate of return, or other financial measures may be calculated. The client decides to proceed with the recommendations and the services providing company delivers services and software according to the recommendations. |
| US07672887B2 |
System and method for managing healthcare costs
Disclosed is a system and method for creating a financial index related to healthcare costs. A financial derivative instrument can be created from the index. Using the financial derivative instrument, an entity can hedge against unexpected fluctuations of healthcare costs. |
| US07672882B2 |
Apparatus, methods and computer programs for metering and accounting for services accessed over a network
Apparatus, methods and computer programs provided for metering and accounting in a commercial e-services infrastructure address the requirement for handling composite services in which higher-level services are built using simpler underlying services, each of which may be autonomously owned and operated. Metering records for each service underlying a composite service are correlated by a process associated with the composite service, and then sent to an accounting service where they can be aggregated. The correlation is performed in a distributed manner with correlated usage data provided on a per-request basis. Accounting services can take account of the usage and charges associated with the underlying services to provide accounting and billing on a per-request basis or per customer-provider pair for a billing period. |
| US07672881B2 |
Fee allocator system and method
A system is provided for automatically billing a designated account for fees associated with the costs of tickets and other similar services. Passenger Record Number data and similar data is provided through a Computerized Reservation System and an accounting system to a Fee Allocator program which automatically interprets the data, determines appropriate fees based on the data and a user profile, and bills the fees to an appropriate account based on the user profile. Billing data provided to the account also facilitates the process of reconciling the fees to the travel ticket costs. Enhanced descriptive billing statements can be created simplifying the process of reconciling fees to the travel ticket costs. |
| US07672878B2 |
Consumables supply system
In a consumables supply management system in which clinical test analysis devices (1) in medical institutions (A, B, . . . ) and a computer (2) of a consumables supplier (C) are connected via a communications line (10), operation status data including information on the status of consumption of the consumables in the clinical test analysis device (1) are transmitted to the computer (2) via the communications line (10). The computer (2) has previously stored data on the inventory of consumables in each medical institution, and determines the quantity of consumables consumed in each medical institution based on the operation status data that are received, updates the consumables inventory data, and if necessary, carries out the procedures for supplying an appropriate quantity of consumables. |
| US07672877B1 |
Product data classification
A method and apparatus for associating data with product abstractions is provided. Steps are provided for associating a particular product with a product category, based on a first data set, wherein the first data set includes data that corresponds to an offer to sell the particular product by a particular party and matching the first data set with a product abstraction associated with the product category to which the particular product corresponds. |
| US07672872B2 |
Point-of-purchase display with RFID inventory control
A point-of-purchase (“POP”) display employing RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) technology for inventory control is provided. The POP is preferably fabricated from paper, paperboard and/or corrugated paperboard material, and incorporates one or more shelves and/or cover layers. An RF antenna structure is applied to the surfaces of, or built into, the one or more shelves and/or cover layers. Suitable RF transmitter/receiver circuitry may also be built into the POP, or the POP may simply have suitable connections built in, to permit such transceiver apparatus to be plugged into the POP. The transceiver circuitry is connected in any suitable manner to an inventory control computer, such as the retail store's computer. Each article that is to be displayed in the POP is provided with an RFID tag. Removal of an article from the POP, results in a signal being transmitted to the inventory control computer, corresponding to the removal of the article from the POP, and corresponding adjustment of the inventory records in the inventory control computer. |
| US07672871B2 |
Self-checkout system with anti-theft deactivation device
A self-checkout system for processing an article with an security tag attached thereto includes a self-checkout station, a product code input device, a deactivation device and a prompting system to provide instructions to a user. The system can automatically prompt a user to pass an article within a deactivation region generated by the deactivation device to deactivate an anti-theft tag. |
| US07672869B2 |
Advertisement selection technique
A method for delivering advertising information (AI) from a server site (S) to a client (C). The including steps of 1) maintaining an advertising data base (ADB) comprising advertising records, each advertising record being associated with at least one item and/or category; 2) generating an item list (PL) containing at least one item to be acquired by the client (C); 3) retrieving, from the advertising data base (ADB), at least one advertising record which is associated with at least one item contained in the item list (PL) or a category of the item; and 4) using the retrieved advertising record for delivering advertising information (AI) from the server site (S) to the client (C). |
| US07672868B1 |
Creating an incentive to author useful item reviews
A facility for rewarding the provision of useful item reviews is described. The facility receives a plurality of item reviews, each from a source. The facility publishes each of the plurality of received item reviews, and assesses the usefulness of the published item reviews. Based upon this assessment of usefulness, the facility selects one or more of the published item reviews, and provides rewards to the sources of these selected item reviews. |
| US07672865B2 |
Method and apparatus for retail data mining using pair-wise co-occurrence consistency
The invention, referred to herein as PeaCoCk, uses a unique blend of technologies from statistics, information theory, and graph theory to quantify and discover patterns in relationships between entities, such as products and customers, as evidenced by purchase behavior. In contrast to traditional purchase-frequency based market basket analysis techniques, such as association rules which mostly generate obvious and spurious associations, PeaCoCk employs information-theoretic notions of consistency and similarity, which allows robust statistical analysis of the true, statistically significant, and logical associations between products. Therefore, PeaCoCk lends itself to reliable, robust predictive analytics based on purchase-behavior. |
| US07672861B2 |
Systems, program products, and methods of human resource planning and development
Systems, program products, and methods of human resources planning and development are provided. An embodiment of a system includes a server in communication with a communication network and having a human resource database associated therewith, a plurality of client computers, and a computer medium associated with the server and having program code responsive to preselected manning assumptions to process human resource information from the human resource database for predicting a future number of employees desired within the organization for a preselected period of time, program code responsive to preselected employment development assumptions to process the human resource information for assigning a plurality of employment development activities to participating employees in the organization, and program code responsive to information generated by the employment development plan to revise the human resources manning plan and responsive to revisions in the human resources manning plan to revise the employment development plan. |
| US07672859B1 |
Prescription order position tracking system and method
An economical prescription order tracking system automatically monitors and tracks prescription orders through a conventional pharmacy. The system includes a tracking tag having a unique identifier associated with it secured near the prescription order such that it travels with the order through various locations within the pharmacy. Tag reading devices are positioned at key locations throughout the pharmacy to detect the location of each tag, and its associated attached prescription order. The detected locations are compiled via a computer system and associated with the customer, such that at any given time the location of the prescription order within the pharmacy can be determined, thereby facilitating the efficient operation of the pharmacy. Preferably, filled prescription orders are placed in a large bin having multiple cubbies within it. Each cubby has a displayed number and a tag reading device received therein such that the location of the prescription order within the cubby is easily determined simply by placing the prescription order with tag into an available cubby. The time each prescription order remains at each location and worker identity information at each location can be recorded and compiled to facilitate workflow and worker efficiency monitoring of the pharmacy. |
| US07672858B2 |
Best possible payment expected for healthcare services
A system is disclosed that is useful by hospitals and other healthcare providers for automatically determining the best possible or maximum amount of payments a healthcare provider can lawfully expect to receive for healthcare resources which takes into account various discounts agreed upon by the healthcare provider with various private insurance companies as well as public (i.e., government) insurance providers, which administer managed healthcare plans including Medicare and Medicaid, all payments received against expected payments and a yield measurement approach for determining the providers performance at a given point in time and across various segments of its operations. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, contracts between a healthcare provider and all private insurance companies and public insurance providers may be modeled. Various data including healthcare resources provided to patients up to a given point in time, applicable insurance company, and healthcare resource code are entered into the system. The system is able to calculate the best possible revenue that the healthcare provider can lawfully expect to receive taking into account the various discounts negotiated with the various insurance companies. Indeed, once the data is loaded, the system can provide an accurate snapshot of a healthcare provider's best possible expected revenues at any given time based upon services rendered instead of waiting until the healthcare resources have been billed out to insurance companies, patients, and third party payers. It can also provide an accurate snapshot of all payments received against those expected payments to determine yield across various segments of its operations. |
| US07672851B2 |
Enhanced application of spoken input
Enhanced application of spoken input, in which a single, natural language voice command is accessed. Using a repository that associates multiple operations with natural language voice commands, multiple selected operations that correspond to the received single, natural language voice command are determined and applied to a user interface. |
| US07672850B2 |
Method for arranging voice feedback to a digital wireless terminal device and corresponding terminal device, server and software to implement the method
In one exemplary embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for arranging voice feedback to a digital wireless terminal device, which includes a voice-assisted user interface (Voice UI), wherein the terminal device gives a voice feedback corresponding to its state. The terminal device includes memory devices (PPM) for storing the voice feedbacks. In the method, the following stages take place to arrange the voice feedback in connection with the terminal device: one or more voice feedbacks are generated, the generated voice feedbacks are converted into a digital form, the digitalized voice feedbacks are edited with chosen algorithms (ACELP) in order to reduce their file size, and the edited voice feedbacks are stored in a memory (PPM) arranged in connection with the terminal device. |
| US07672849B2 |
Systems and methods for voice control of a medical imaging device
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing voice control of a device, an ultrasound device for example. One embodiment of the present invention comprises an apparatus for providing voice control of the ultrasound device having a plurality of features. The apparatus comprises a memory device adapted to store a plurality of voice commands for controlling the ultrasound device, where the plurality of voice commands has at least two different voice commands that active a single feature of the ultrasound device; a selection module adapted to selecting at least one of the at least two different voice commands; and a translator module adapted to derive a signal from the selected voice command and transmit it to the ultrasound device. |
| US07672848B2 |
Electronic mail processing apparatus and electronic mail processing method, and program and storage medium
An information processing technique for voice outputting an electronic mail, received by an information processing apparatus capable of voice output, at a sender's intended timing. For this purpose, the information processing apparatus has an electronic mail reception unit (101) to receive an electronic mail, an electronic mail selection unit (102) to select an electronic mail including a code describing voice output timing, from electronic mails received by the electronic mail reception unit (101), and a voice synthesis unit (104) to voice-synthesize the electronic mail selected by the electronic mail selection unit (102) and voice-outputs the result of voice synthesis based on the code. |
| US07672845B2 |
Method and system for keyword detection using voice-recognition
A method and system is provided to monitor speech and detect keywords or phrases in the speech, such as for example, monitored calls in a call center or speakers/presenters using teleprompters, or the like. Upon detection of the keywords of phrases, information associated with the keywords or phrases may be presented to a display device so that a user may dynamically receive new information as context of the speech progresses. This provides dynamic information as the context of the conversation develops. The information may be presented as links, cues, text, or similar formats. The detected keywords or phrases may also be associated with rules that govern the conditions and criteria for processing the detected keyword and presentation of the information. |
| US07672844B2 |
Voice processing apparatus
A voice processing apparatus for performing voiceprint recognition processing with high accuracy even in the case where a plurality of conference participants speak at a time in a conference; wherein a bi-directional telephonic communication portion receives as an input respective voice signals from a plurality of microphones, selects one microphone based on the input voice signals, and outputs a voice signal from the microphone; a voiceprint recognition portion 322 performs voiceprint recognition based on the input voice signal in voiceprint recognizable period, and stores voiceprint data successively in a buffer; and a CPU takes out voiceprint data successively from the buffer, checking against voiceprint data stored in a voiceprint register, specifies a speaker, and processes the voice signal output from the bi-directional telephonic communication portion by associating the same with the speaker. |
| US07672841B2 |
Method for processing speech data for a distributed recognition system
Speech signal information is formatted, processed and transported in accordance with a format adapted for TCP/IP protocols used on the Internet and other communications networks. NULL characters are used for indicating the end of a voice segment. The method is useful for distributed speech recognition systems such as a client-server system, typically implemented on an intranet or over the Internet based on user queries at his/her computer, a PDA, or a workstation using a speech input interface. |
| US07672839B2 |
Detecting audio signal activity in a communications system
A method for detecting the presence or absence of an audio signal in a communications system in which an audio signal is encoded by a delta modulation encoding algorithm, and in which a step size parameter is adapted according to characteristics of the encoded signal, the method comprising determining based on the magnitude of the step size parameter whether the encoded signal represents audio activity, and adapting the operation of the communication system based on that determination. |
| US07672835B2 |
Voice analysis/synthesis apparatus and program
An FFT unit performs an FFT process on high-frequency-eliminated, pitch-shifted voice data for one frame. A time scaling unit calculates a frequency amplitude, a phase, a phase difference between the present and immediately preceding frames, and an unwrapped version of the phase difference for each channel from which the frequency component was obtained by the FFT, detects a reference channel based on a peak one of the frequency amplitudes, and calculates the phase of each channel in a synthesized voice based on the reference channel, using results of the calculation. An IFFT unit processes each frequency component in accordance with the calculated phase, performs an IFFT process on the resulting frequency component, and produces synthesized voice data for one frame. |
| US07672833B2 |
Method and apparatus for automatic entity disambiguation
Entity disambiguation resolves which names, words, or phrases in text correspond to distinct persons, organizations, locations, or other entities in the context of an entire corpus. The invention is based largely on language-independent algorithms. Thus, it is applicable not only to unstructured text from arbitrary human languages, but also to semi-structured data, such as citation databases and the disambiguation of named entities mentioned in wire transfer transaction records for the purpose of detecting money-laundering activity. The system uses multiple types of context as evidence for determining whether two mentions correspond to the same entity and it automatically learns the weight of evidence of each context item via corpus statistics. The invention uses multiple search keys to efficiently find pairs of mentions that correspond to the same entity, while skipping billions of unnecessary comparisons, yielding a system with very high throughput that can be applied to truly massive data. |
| US07672831B2 |
System and method for cross-language knowledge searching
A system and method for cross-language knowledge searching. The system has a Semantic Analyzer, a natural language user request/document search pattern/semantic index Generator, a user request search pattern Translator and a Knowledge Base Searcher. The system also provides automatic semantic analysis and semantic indexing of natural language user requests/documents on knowledge recognition and cross-language relevant to user request knowledge extraction/searching. System functionality is ensured by Linguistic Knowledge Base as well as by a number of unique bilingual dictionaries of concepts/objects and actions. |
| US07672825B2 |
Closed loop control system for controlling production of hydrocarbon fluid from an underground formation
A method is disclosed for controlling production of oil and/or gas from an underground reservoir by means of a closed loop production control system, in which: an assembly of monitoring sensors (4) monitor the physical properties of hydrocarbon and other fluids within the reservoir; a plurality of high order and/or low order mathematical reservoir models (5,7) calculate each an estimate of the physical properties of hydrocarbon and other fluids in the hydrocarbon containing formation and in the wells; the mathematical reservoir models (5,7) are iteratively updated in response to data provided by the assembly of sensors such that any difference between the properties monitored by the assembly of sensors and those calculated by each of the reservoir models is minimized; an optimal mathematical reservoir model (5,7) or an optimal combination thereof is selected during at least one updating step for which an averaged difference between the calculated properties and the properties monitored by the assembly of sensors (4) is minimal; and an optimization algorithm (8) controls, on the basis of data provided by the selected optimal mathematical reservoir model or optimal combination thereof, production control assemblies of a plurality of wells which traverse the formation. |
| US07672824B2 |
Method for shallow water flow detection
The present invention presents a method for determining shallow water flow risk using seismic data. The seismic data can be processed to enhance its stratigraphic resolution by sub-sampling the seismic data to less than a two-millisecond interval. Performing a stratigraphic analysis on the seismic data and evaluating the seismic attributes of the seismic data can be used to select a control location. A pre-stack waveform inversion is applied to seismic data at a selected control location to provide an elastic model, which includes pressure-wave velocity and shear-wave velocity. The shallow water flow risk is then determined using the elastic model by comparing the pressure-wave velocity to the shear-wave velocity. A post-stack inversion can be applied on the seismic data using the elastic model to model a 3D volume to determine the shallow water flow risk across the 3D volume. |
| US07672823B2 |
Computerized method for adherence to physical restriction in the construction of an ITE hearing aid
In a computerized method for adherence to physical restrictions in the construction of an ITE hearing aid, each component to be placed in the shell of the hearing aid has a collision plot associated therewith. The collision plot is generated as a scatter plot by measurement and simulation, and represents the physical extent of the influence of a particular property of the component on other components. When virtual representations of the respective components are moved relative to another in the e-detailing software for determining the physical positions of the components in the ITE hearing aid, the collision plot for a given component is visually displayed, so that it can easily be seen when another component invades that collision plot, thereby representing an unacceptably close relative position of the two components. |
| US07672819B2 |
Spot weld fracture analysis method, program therefor, and analysis apparatus thereof
A spot weld fracture analysis method for a spot weld portion of three or more mutually superimposed plates that are spot-welded at a common welding point comprises an analysis step of executing an analysis by using a finite element model in which each plate is modeled by shell elements, and the shell elements corresponding to a spot weld point position of each plate are individually interconnected via beam elements, and a prediction step of finding an element force of a beam element that acts on a shell element relevant to a middle plate from a difference between the element forces of two beam elements connected to the shell element on a basis of the analysis result, and predicting a possibility of fracture of a spot weld between the middle plate and an adjacent plate by using the difference element force found from the difference. |
| US07672808B2 |
Determining a center of rotation for a component in a computer system
Some embodiments of the present invention provide a system that determines a center of rotation for a component in a computer system. During operation, the system measures a first acceleration of a first location on the component and a second acceleration of a second location on the component, wherein the first location and the second location are separated by a predetermined distance. Then, the system determines the center of rotation using the first acceleration, the second acceleration, and the predetermined distance. |
| US07672804B2 |
Analog signal test using a-priori information
A method and a corresponding system for testing an analog signal under test includes using knowledge of at least one parameter of the signal under test. The method includes generating a reference signal using the knowledge of at least one parameter of the signal under test, combining the generated reference signal with the signal under test, resulting in a combination signal, and evaluating the combination signal for testing the signal under test. |
| US07672800B2 |
Method and system for controlling a delay circuit for generation of signals up to extremely high frequencies
Aspects of a method and system for generation of signals up to extremely high frequencies using a delay circuit are provided. In this regard, a variable delay circuit may be adjusted such that an output signal generated by the delay circuit may be twice the frequency of a signal input to the delay circuit. The adjustment may be via an variable capacitance and/or a variable number of delay elements utilized to generate the output signal. Moreover, the adjustment may be based on a signal strength of the output signal. In this regard, the delay may be adjusted to maximize the signal strength of the output signal. The input signal may be delayed to generate a second signal that is 90° phase shifted relative to the input signal. The second signal and the input signal may be mixed to generate the output signal. The output signal may be filtered by a bandpass filter centered at twice the frequency of the input signal. Accordingly, the center frequency of the bandpass filter may be tunable. |
| US07672798B2 |
Apparatus and method for determining the temperature of a charging power source
A method and apparatus for automatically sensing the temperature of a battery during the testing and charging. The method and apparatus can monitor the temperature of the battery, the charger or both. Additionally, a user can be notified when the temperature is at or exceeds a predetermined level. The temperature data is also used to aid in efficiently charging the battery. |
| US07672796B2 |
Method to evaluate a performance of a control valve and a system thereof
A method for providing a system for establishing a control valve performance in a process operation. The system includes establishing an expected flow rate for a control valve by measuring a differential pressure between an upstream and downstream position of a control valve of interest and using the formula Q = Cv × φ ( x ) × Δ P G , measuring an actual flow rate across the control valve, comparing the actual flow rate with the expected flow rate to determine the difference in value between the actual and expected flow rate, determining if the difference is within an acceptable range of values from the expected flow rate and establishing the performance of the control valve. |
| US07672793B2 |
Method for calculating probabilistic damage sizes in structural health monitoring systems
A method for calculating the probable damage size in a structure includes defining a configuration of an array of transducers mounted on the structure. Any pair of the transducers includes an actuator and a sensor, and each pair defines a propagation path in the structure. All propagation paths that are affected by being touched by a damage of the structure, and all adjacent paths that are untouched and thereby unaffected by the damage, are identified. A range of sizes of the damage is determined, and a probability density of the damage versus damage size is calculated on the basis of the transducer array configuration and the affected and unaffected propagation paths identified. On the basis of the probability density, a most probable damage size is determined, and the probability of the damage being greater or less than the most probable damage size is also determined. |
| US07672787B2 |
Electronic hybridization assay and sequence analysis
An electronic hybridization assay implements a hybridization reaction, or a sequence analysis, on sequences representative of the sequences of the molecules under examination to provide an output representative of a chemical hybridization reaction. An electronic hybridization machine implements a correlation algorithm where the correlation output provides information regarding the relationship between the molecules under examination. In one aspect, the degree of similarity between the molecules is indicated by the correlation output value. In another aspect, a locus of similarity between the molecules is indicated by a maximum value in the correlation output sequence. In a particular aspect, the sequences are encoded in an optimized format to optimize the operation of the operation of the electronic hybridization machine. |
| US07672782B2 |
Traffic alert police radar
An enhanced police Doppler direction sensing radar detects possibly dangerous traffic conditions during certain vehicle maneuvers such as U-turns and returns to travel after roadside stops. By monitoring a host or primary vehicle speed, speed transitions, transmission state (e.g. gear selection), and the closing vehicle position, range and speed, a number of selectable conditions are detected, resulting in an alert indication to a primary vehicle operator. User preferences and thresholds allow the traffic alert function to be customized according to a primary vehicle operator's desire to suppress alerts in situations which the user does not deem dangerous. The traffic alert function may be automatically triggered under certain detected conditions, or manually initiated when the primary vehicle operator intends to make a driving maneuver. |
| US07672780B2 |
Navigation system using radio frequency identification system and method for displaying construction area road
Provided is a navigation system using a RFID system and a method for displaying a construction area road. The navigation system includes a RFID tag for storing construction information, and upon receipt of a predetermined command, transmitting the construction information; and a RFID reader for transmitting an information read command to the RFID tag, and receiving the construction information in response to the information read command. A bypass path is re-searched depending on the received construction information, and path guidance is performed. |
| US07672779B2 |
System and method for using universal location referencing objects to provide geographic item information
A method and system for creating and/or using a universal location referencing object (ULRO) with electronic files including electronic maps. ULROs establish traversable links between a file-of-reference and third-party-files. In accordance with an embodiment, the ULRO comprises a universal location referencing code uniquely corresponding to the location, together with several optional components, including: a set of name information; a super-set of coordinates; a file-of-reference pointer field comprising a file-of-reference pointer; a third-party-file pointer field comprising one or more third-party-file pointers; a file-of-reference back-pointer field comprising a file-of-reference back-pointer; a third-party-file back-pointer field comprising one or more third-party-file back-pointers; and a metadata field. ULROs allow recognition of equivalence of features in different maps, and facilitate dynamic combination or linking of multiple maps into one virtual map, with traversable connectivity for a wide variety of map formats. |
| US07672778B1 |
Navigation system with downloaded map data
A system and method are disclosed for providing geographic data to mobile units from a remotely located navigation-services provider. When a mobile unit requests route information, the navigation-services provider transmits an initial set of geographic data representing an area around a current position of the mobile unit. The navigation-services provider calculates a route to the destination and then identifies an intermediate exit point along the route that is located within the initial set of data. The mobile unit calculates an initial portion of the route to the intermediate exit point. The navigation-services provider determines a list of geographic-data groups needed to represent the remainder of the route and transmits this list to the mobile unit. Each geographic-data group is transmitted to the mobile unit along with an intermediate exit point. Using the received data, the mobile unit provides route guidance to a local end user. |
| US07672777B2 |
Moving history conversion apparatus and moving history conversion method
Moving history conversion apparatus making moving history accumulated in an apparatus available in other different-type apparatuses. The moving history conversion apparatus includes: a first map information accumulation unit which accumulates first map information representing a map using a series of first-type IDs for identifying geographical positions; a first moving history accumulation unit accumulating moving history represented as the series of first-type IDs accumulated in the first map information accumulation unit; the first moving history conversion unit converting, into latitude and longitude information, the series of IDs included in the moving history accumulated in the first moving history accumulation unit; a second map information accumulation unit accumulating the second map information which represents a map using a second-type IDs for identifying geographical positions; a second moving history conversion unit converting latitude and longitude information into the series of IDs included in the second map information accumulated in the second map information accumulation unit. |
| US07672773B2 |
Transient engine performance adaptation method and system
The present invention makes it possible to cope with a plurality of standardized transient operation modes in a method for adapting the engine transient characteristic to a required performance targets and a system therefore. When there are a plurality of prescribed standardized transient operation modes, transient testing is conducted in a single transient operation mode that covers changing patterns of control values of control factors of the plurality of transient operation modes. Only data in a data distribution range to be focused on is captured to create a transient engine model. |
| US07672771B2 |
Retarder controlling device and method
There is provided a retarder control device which is simple in constitution and can reliably apply braking. An engine rotational speed detector detects an engine rotational speed, gear step detection means detects a gear step of a transmission, an accelerator operation detector detects the operated state of an accelerator, and a retarder controller previously stores automatic braking amount determination data representing the relation between the engine rotational speed and the automatic braking amount of a retarder corresponding to each gear step of the transmission and controls the retarder according to the automatic braking amount of the retarder calculated from the automatic braking amount determination data based on the detected engine rotational speed and gear step of the transmission when the accelerator is judged to be off from the detected operated state of the accelerator. |
| US07672770B2 |
Deceleration control apparatus for a vehicle
A deceleration control apparatus to achieve the intended level of deceleration performance regardless of whether braking performance is changed by towing an object such as a trailer, and to reduce the possibility that a driver feels uncomfortable due to a change in the level of deceleration performance while the vehicle is running. Vehicle weight is calculated based on the actual running state of a vehicle, and it is determined whether the vehicle is towing an object based on the vehicle weight. When the vehicle is stationary, a deceleration pattern (the rate of change in a target deceleration) is changed based on whether the vehicle is towing an object. Therefore, it is possible to achieve the intended level of deceleration performance that matches the level of driver's request for deceleration, regardless of whether the vehicle weight is changed by towing an object. |
| US07672768B2 |
Operation assist apparatus
An operation assist apparatus includes a display device installed in an operator's cab of a construction machine, at which at least operating procedures for the construction machine are displayed with text and illustrations; an image processing device that generates images; and a control device that engages the image processing device to generate an image of an operating procedure corresponding to an operation of the construction machine and engages the display device to display the image generated by the image processing device. |
| US07672764B2 |
System and method for recording physical response
A physical response record system includes a main unit and various sensors for recording driver's conditions and vehicle operations by a driver. The driver's conditions in combination with the vehicle operations are used to determine a risky situation of the vehicle based on an averaged driver's condition and the like. The risky situation is further analyzed for detecting a risky object and stored as a record for later use. |
| US07672760B2 |
Searchlight
A searchlight (3) on board a vessel (1) arranged for illuminating a point (2p) and maintain said point (2p) illuminated regardless of the movements of said vessel (1). |
| US07672757B2 |
Interface system between human and car
An interface system between a user and a vehicle includes a vehicle information terminal in communication with the vehicle; a VXML server that converts information into voice signals, and receives and transmits the voice signals between the vehicle information terminal and a telephone; an SMS server that converts information into a message, and transmits the message to the telephone; and a WIPI server that receives and transmits vehicle remote control information between the telephone and the vehicle information terminal. |
| US07672755B2 |
Library device
There is provided a library device which can be restored to working order quickly and reliably even when a control board containing information necessary for the operation of the library device is replaced. The library device includes a cell array which consists of an array of multiple cells each of which contains one cartridge containing a magnetic tape, magnetic tape drives in which the cartridges are removably mounted and which access the storage medium contained in the cartridges, a robot which transfers the cartridges between the cell array and the magnetic tape drives, a main control board which controls the operation of the entire library device, a barcode label which represents ID information for identification of the library device, and cell flags which are marks used to recognize the locations of the cells composing the cell array. |
| US07672754B1 |
Balancing of data tape cartridges in tape libraries with pass-through mechanism
A computer-implemented method for balancing data tape cartridge utilization in an automated tape library system identifies a current number of data tape cartridge mounts per library string and identifies a target number mounts per the library string to identify a difference between the target number and the current number as a delta number of data tape cartridges to move. The number of data tape cartridge mounts per data tape cartridge per library string is identified and a data tape cartridge to move is selected by identifying a unique identifier of the data tape cartridge with the highest number of mounts, and having a lowest number of moves, to form a selected data tape cartridge, and creates a move request for the selected data tape cartridge. The move request is sent to the automated tape library for execution, and a move counter for each data tape cartridge moved is incremented. |
| US07672749B1 |
Method and apparatus for hierarchical process control
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for hierarchical process control. The method includes accessing at least one first metric indicative of processing performed on a wafer by a plurality of tool groups. The method also includes providing at least one tool group parameter to each of the plurality of tool groups based on the at least one first metric and accessing a plurality of second metrics. Each second metric is associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of tool groups and is indicative of processing performed on the wafer by the plurality of tools in the corresponding tool group. The method further includes providing at least one tool parameter to at least one tool in each of the plurality of tool groups based on the second metric associated with the tool group and the at least one tool group parameter provided to the tool group. |
| US07672744B2 |
Method and an apparatus for decoding an audio signal
A method of decoding for an audio signal comprises the step of receiving a downmix of an audio signal, an object information, and a mix information, the object information including an object level information, an object correlation information, and an object gain information, generating a downmix processing information using the object information and the mix information, and processing the downmix of the audio signal using the downmix processing information. Various embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for decoding multi-object audio signals fast and efficiently by reducing process time, computer resource, thereby relieving the resource requirement like the wide bandwidth. The object parameters according to the embodiments of the present invention can provide backward compatibility in the view of the channel-oriented decoding process. |
| US07672743B2 |
Digital audio processing
A compressed digital audio signal is transmitted from an audio source along a connection wire to an audio receiver. The digital audio signal can encode digital audio data having different sampling frequencies, frames sizes, and other information. The audio receiver that receives the digital audio signal can decode and convert the compressed digital audio signal into multiple synchronized analog signals, which are used to drive multiple speakers. The audio receiver may also synchronize the audio data with associated video data so that the audio playback and video playback are “in sync”, despite delay introduced by the audio signal decoding at the audio receiver. |
| US07672740B1 |
Conditional download of data from embedded historians
Systems and methods that provide for event driven downloading, via defining storage thresholds in an embedded historian (e.g. micro historian). Upon reaching predetermined thresholds (e.g., low/high water marks), stored data in the embedded historians can automatically down load to a central plant historian. An automatic download engine is provided that down loads historian data based on satisfaction of such conditions defined for the download. The download engine can further include a detector component, which detects whether a predetermined condition (e.g., associated with the storage capacity of the micro-historians have been met. Moreover, a notification component can notify the embedded historians that the data have been permanently persisted in the central historian. |
| US07672738B2 |
Programmable controller for use with monitoring device
A programmable controller includes at least one user input interface, and an input register, at least one user output interface, programmable logic hardware and program loading means.The user input interface and input register is for connection to process plant and/or machinery to provide sampled and stored input data in digital form. The user output interface is for connection to process plant and/or machinery and receives output data in digital form. The programmable logic hardware includes a plurality of basic logic elements and electrically configurable interconnections. The interconnections are configurable to interconnect the logic elements as a user control program circuit and to connect the user control program circuit to the input and output interfaces. The program loading means enables the user to configure the programmable logic hardware as a circuit implementing a user control program prior to initiating control of the associated process plant and/or machinery. |
| US07672737B2 |
Hierarchically structured data model for utilization in industrial automation environments
An industrial automation device comprises a data storage component that retains at least a portion of a schema, the schema facilitates usage of a hierarchically structured data model by the industrial automation device. A processor is communicatively coupled to the data storage component and facilitates at least one of receipt, execution, and creation of an object that conforms to the hierarchically structured data model. In another example, the industrial automation device can be employed to execute a workflow. |
| US07672736B2 |
Reinforced sensing and stimulation leads and use in detection systems
A reinforced medical electrical lead for neurological applications has a reinforced construction for resisting the detachment of electrodes and lead connection terminals, thereby improving the robustness of the lead and extending the life of the lead by reducing the likelihood that a further surgical procedure will be required to remove the lead for repair or replacement thereof. The present reinforced lead construction maintains the integrity of the electrical connection between the conductor and the respective electrode and lead connection terminal by incorporating several reinforcing features in the lead construction in contrast to conventional lead constructions where it is possible to pull the electrodes and lead connection terminals away from their contact points with relatively little force. |
| US07672732B2 |
Portable apparatus that delivers power and information to implantable devices
An apparatus for powering an implant includes first energy interface elements, a removeably attachable holding device and a first energy source, such as a battery. An energy conversion circuit converts first energy into second energy which is transmitted within the body of the patient to the implant. Also, an apparatus for providing information to an implant that includes first energy interface elements and a housing that includes a processor operatively coupled to the first energy interface elements and an energy source operatively coupled to the processor. The processor is structured to generate an information signal and cause the signal to be transmitted within the body of the patient for delivery to the implant. Associated methods are also provided. |
| US07672719B2 |
Batteries and methods of manufacture and use
An apparatus includes multiple first reservoirs and multiple second reservoirs joined with a substrate. Selected ones of the multiple first reservoirs include a reducing agent, and first reservoir surfaces of selected ones of the multiple first reservoirs are proximate to a first substrate surface. Selected ones of the multiple second reservoirs include an oxidizing agent, and second reservoir surfaces of selected ones of the multiple second reservoirs are proximate to the first substrate surface. |
| US07672718B2 |
Thoracic impedance detection with blood resistivity compensation
This document discusses, among other things, a cardiac rhythm management device or other implantable medical device that uses thoracic impedance to determine how much fluid is present in the thorax, such as for detecting or predicting congestive heart failure, pulmonary edema, pleural effusion, hypotension, or the like. The thoracic fluid amount determined from the thoracic impedance is compensated for changes in blood resistivity, which may result from changes in hematocrit level or other factors. The blood-resistivity-compensated thoracic fluid amount can be stored in the device or transmitted to an external device for storage or display. The blood-resistivity-compensated thoracic fluid amount can also be used to adjust a cardiac pacing, cardiac resynchronization, or other cardiac rhythm management or other therapy to the patient. This document also discusses applications of the devices and methods for predicting or indicating anemia. |
| US07672711B2 |
Method and system for providing tomographic pictures of a patient by using contrast medium injections
A method is disclosed for providing tomographic pictures of a patient with the aid of a tomographic system by using contrast medium injections. The patient is firstly injected with a defined test bolus, while the temporal concentration profile of the contrast medium in at least one body region is determined in at least one scanning plane. The functional parameters of a prediction model that maps or at least approximates the relationship between the profile of a contrast medium injection and the temporal profile of the contrast medium concentration in the body region are determined from the measured profile of the contrast medium concentration in relation to the profile of the test bolus injection. After the specification of a desired contrast in the body region, the profile of a contrast medium injection that is required therefore is automatically calculated in temporal relationship with the scan, and the start of the tomographic scan and the start of the contrast medium injection and the profile thereof are started automatically in a fashion temporally tuned to one another. |
| US07672707B2 |
Sensor for magnetoencephalography meter and supermultichannel magnetoencephalography meter system using the same
This invention relates to a super-multichannel MEG system comprising sensors produced by printing sensor coils on thin films in positions shifted from each other and by laminating multiple thin-film sensor coils together. Intended for use in a multichannel MEG system comprising a dewar, the sensors are arrayed in the dewar to detect biomagnetism and the Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) to detect signals coming from the sensors. These sensors are characterized by the sensor coils being printed on thin films in positions shifted from each other laterally and longitudinally and by their being laminated in the required number. |
| US07672705B2 |
Weighted surface-to-surface mapping
A displacement of a lesion within a patient is determined for the purpose of administering radiation treatment by generating sets of surface elements from three-dimensional images of the lesion taken at different times. Weights are assigned to the surface elements, and based on weights and the proximity of corresponding elements in one set to elements in another set, a displacement is determined. |
| US07672701B2 |
Telephone hands-free system for a mobile telephone
A telephone hands-free system for a mobile telephone, having a holder (1) which has electronics, for holding a mobile telephone which is designed for wire-free communication, and having a control arrangement for controlling at least one hands-free function for the mobile telephone can be designed with a universal holder (1) for different mobile telephones in that the control arrangement is accommodated in the holder, in that the holder is designed for wire-free communication with the mobile telephone, and in that the holder can be adjusted for mechanically holding mobile telephones of different size. |
| US07672700B2 |
Portable information terminal
A portable information terminal includes a first unit, a second unit, an engaging mechanism configured to engage the second unit to be slidable with respect to the first unit, a locking mechanism configured to lock the second unit slid by the engaging mechanism at a intermediate position of a slidable range, a detect unit configured to detect a lock position where the second unit is locked, and a first control unit configured to launch a predetermined function unit in accordance with the lock position. |
| US07672698B2 |
Specific absorption rate reducer, mobile terminal using the same and method therefor
A mobile terminal and a specific absorption rate reducer method are provided, in which a printed circuit board (PCB) is installed in a main-body, a liquid crystal display (LCD) module is installed in a sub-body, a hinge connects the main-body and the sub-body rotatively and generates a current in the opposite direction to a current generated during the operation of the mobile terminal in a calling mode, and a filter controls a frequency pass characteristic of the mobile terminal by controlling the current flowing in the hinge. Accordingly, frequency pass characteristics may be set differently according to frequency bands by controlling the current flowing in the hinge with a filter having a lumped constant circuit. |
| US07672697B2 |
Mobile terminal having a double rotation structure
An apparatus is disclosed for a double rotation structure mobile terminal. The mobile terminal comprising a main body having a plurality of keys for inputting information and operating functions of the mobile terminal, and a folder having a display portion. A connection member is provided having a first connection portion rotatably coupled to the main body and a second connection portion integrally formed within the first connection portion and rotatably coupled to the folder. A locking connection member installed along a side of the main body for selectively controlling rotation of the connection member. |
| US07672695B1 |
Wearable access point
A portable access point comprises a wireless LAN transceiver that selectively establishes a plurality of Ethernet wireless links with a plurality of wireless client devices, respectively. A wireless WAN transceiver establishes an Ethernet data connection with an Internet Service Provider (ISP), receives and forwards Ethernet data packets from at least one of said wireless client devices to said ISP and receives and forwards Ethernet data packets from said ISP to said one of said wireless client devices. A routing device routes Ethernet data packets between said wireless LAN transceiver and said wireless WAN transceiver. A control module controls operation of said wireless LAN transceiver and said wireless WAN transceiver. A first storage device stores operating system and application instructions for said control module. |
| US07672692B2 |
Pointing device having improved operability, its control method and mobile telephone
A pointing device that can be operated to move an operational object on a display screen in any direction comprises a control unit for changing an operation mode of the pointing device according to contents displayed on the display screen and, further, a mobile telephone comprises such a pointing device. |
| US07672689B2 |
Multipath communications receiver
A multipath wideband communications receiver (100) having a plurality of RF signal paths (116, 136) covering different but overlapping frequency bands and a plurality of baseband signal paths (140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190), the paths being re-configurable for sharing of the first and second paths in different ways in order to facilitate processing of received signals in different modes.Also, a rake receiver (800) employs a sigma-delta modulator arrangement (810) and programmable delays to provide fine delay adjustment. The sigma-delta modulator (810) may use sigma-delta circuitry from a sigma-delta A/D converters in a baseband paths of the receiver (100), that this may be achieved with no loss of functionality if in a particular reception configuration that sigma-delta A/D converter is not being utilized. |
| US07672687B2 |
Wireless signal transceiver unit with turning mechanism for adjusting antenna direction thereof
A wireless signal transceiver unit with turning mechanism for adjusting antenna direction includes a base, a rotatable antenna assembly, and a pivot mechanism provided between the antenna assembly and the base for rotatably supporting and connecting the antenna assembly to the base. The antenna assembly includes a plate-shaped body upright located on a circular disk, and is manually turned about the pivot mechanism relative to the base toward a selected direction for best receiving a wireless signal. |
| US07672681B1 |
Method of renaming soft switch controls in all participant's cell phones by an administrator
A method, a combined cellular phone, PDA, GPS communication device and system having specialized software applications for allowing a plurality of combined cellular phone/PDA device users to monitor each other's locations and status, to initiate cellular phone calls by touching a symbol on the touch screen display with a stylus which can also include point to call conferencing calling. Each participant's cellular phone/PDA device includes a GPS navigation receiver with application software for point to call cellular phone initiation to participants and geographical entities including vehicles, persons or events, conference calls and video transfers. An administrator can: (a) create and remotely install new symbology and modify the symbols and nomenclature used in each participant's cell phone screen display for a specific environment such as police and military; (b) create and remotely install screen drawn soft switches used in each participant's cell phone, the activation of which accesses application software; and (c) create and remotely install screen drawn soft switches used in each participant's cell phone, the activation of which accesses a URL address. |
| US07672680B1 |
Web services architecture system and method
The present disclosure is directed to a web services architecture comprising a component operable for rapid development of a web services application, a mobile application. The web services architecture also includes a telecommunications provider system and a service provider. The mobile application is related to the web services application deployable on a mobile device. The telecommunications provider system is operable to host the web services application and to identify the mobile device and federate information related to the mobile device. The service provider is operable to provide a mobile device service associated with the web services application. The service provider is in communication with the web services application and operable to use the federated information related to the mobile device to provide application services to the mobile device. |
| US07672675B2 |
System of utilizing cell information to locate a wireless device
A system is described that utilizes the measured characteristics of a cell site or a plurality of cell sites (100, 102, 104) and the cellular identification to selectively provide a wireless device (118) with location aiding from a cellular network server (120). The system may include a basestation (106, 108, 110) located within the cell site, a cellular measurement unit located in the wireless device (118), and a database (214) containing positional assistance information corresponding to the characteristic information. The system may also include a processing unit in signal communication with the basestation and the database (214) and a positional determination unit in the wireless device (118). |
| US07672674B2 |
Remote radio data communication system with data rate switching
Systems and methods that provide wireless communications are provided. One or more of the systems and methods may include, for example, selecting a lower data rate or a higher data rate based upon at least an evaluation of the operating conditions of a radio network. The evaluation may include, for example, computing a weighted signal strength measurement in which the weighting gives emphasis to the lower signal strength measurements of fading radio frequency signals. |
| US07672661B2 |
Management server and mobile terminal
A management server includes a determination unit and a notification unit. The determination unit determines a communication network to which a mobile terminal connectable to a plurality of the communication networks by one telephone number is connecting. The notification unit issues a notice on the communication network connecting to the mobile terminal based on a result of the determination by the determination unit. |
| US07672660B2 |
Method of performing actions related to handover by a mobile station that is in power saving mode in a wireless mobile communication system
A method of performing actions related to handover by a mobile station (MS) in a wireless mobile communication system is disclosed. More specifically, the MS receives information from a base station (BS), wherein the information includes at least one action for performing handover and at least one condition corresponding to the at least one action. Furthermore, the MS transmits a request message to perform the at least one action based on the received information from the BS and receives a response message in response to the request message. Lastly, the MS performs the at least one action according to the received response message. |
| US07672658B2 |
Frequency-converting circuit and down converter with the same
A frequency-converting circuit and a down converter with the frequency-converting circuit are disclosed. The above-mentioned frequency-converting circuit is used for converting an RF signal into a first baseband signal according to a poly-phase LO signal. The frequency-converting circuit includes a coupler, a first transduction unit and a first switching unit. The coupler is for receiving and splitting the RF signal and delivering a first RF signal via the first output terminal thereof. The first transduction unit is for amplifying the first RF signal. The first switching unit is for performing switching operations on the output signal of the first transduction unit and producing the first baseband signal. |
| US07672653B2 |
Removing interfering signals in a broadband radio frequency receiver
Various embodiments are directed to removing interfering signals in a broadband radio frequency (RF) receiver by implementing a silicon tuner arranged to replicate high quality factor (Q) performance without the advantages of using high Q components available for module tuners. In one or more embodiments, tuned filter elements within a broadband silicon tuner are reused to maximize the attenuation of unwanted signals while minimizing induced undesirable channel ripple. In various implementations, a number of tuned passive inductor/capacitor filter elements are combined as required such that filter elements for an unused frequency band are reconfigured to provide attenuation of and enhanced immunity to unwanted signals. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US07672652B2 |
Coordinator's data transmission method, device's data reception method, coordinator using the coordinator's data transmission method, and device using the device's data reception method in Zigbee system
A coordinator's data transmission method, a device's data reception method, a coordinator using the coordinator's data transmission method and a device using the device's data reception method are provided. In a Zigbee system including at least one device and a coordinator for coordinating the device, in a case where a frame pending bit in a beacon frame is determined to be a value representing a direct transmission method, a beacon frame containing an address of a device to receive data and a data transmission time is generated and data is transmitted from the coordinator at the data transmission time. Data transmission time and power consumption can be reduced. |
| US07672649B2 |
Controller for a radio-frequency amplifier
A controller for an RF amplifier, in particular for a RF amplifier of an MR tomography apparatus, has an IQ control element for adjusting the magnitude and phase an RF signal that is be fed to the RF amplifier. The IQ control element has a signal splitter that splits the RF signal into two partial signals having a 90° phase offset in an I path and a Q path, each having a multiplier for multiplying the partial signal by an I factor in the I path and a Q factor in the Q path. A summing unit recombines the partial signals. A detector determines the actual phase difference and actual amplification between the RF signal fed to the IQ control element and the RF signal amplified by the RF amplifier. An IQ controller determines the I factor and the Q factor from the actual difference and a desired phase difference and the actual amplifier and a desired amplification. The IQ controller has an operating point at which the I factor and the Q factor are the same magnitude if the actual and desired phase differences and the actual and desired amplifications are the same. |
| US07672648B1 |
System for linear amplitude modulation
System for linear amplitude modulation. Apparatus is provided for linear amplitude modulation of an amplifier. The apparatus includes a processing circuit that receives an amplitude modulation signal and produces one or more amplifier control signals that are coupled to the amplifier. The apparatus also includes a feedback circuit that generates a feedback signal from an output of the amplifier that is input to the processing circuit; and a network that controls a bias of the amplifier in response to the feedback signal to linearize the amplifier's amplitude control. |
| US07672646B2 |
Base station and mobile communication system utilizing the same
A hardware is used to perform an SSDT processing, thereby avoiding performance degradation than otherwise would occur due to load increase caused by a software processing, and thereby realizing a base station that can instantaneously perform a transmission control and provide a high speed site selection. In order to perform a site selection diversity power control (SSDT) for the purpose of reducing the amount of interference that would be caused by transmitting the same data to a plurality of cells or antennas during soft-handover, an encode processing part (1) is used to add a transmission control bit to the transmitted data. In response to this transmission control bit, a transmission control signal selecting circuit (206) selects a transmission control signal of destination. An output control circuit (207) receives, as its inputs, a transmission spread signal and the transmission control signal to perform an output control and instantaneously perform a transmission control, thereby realizing a high-speed site selection. |
| US07672645B2 |
Programmable transmitter architecture for non-constant and constant envelope modulation
Transmitter architectures designed to accommodate both constant and non-constant of envelope modulation schemes and capable of providing local oscillator carrier frequencies within any one of numerous desired frequency bands, thus allowing compliance with many different communication standards. One example of a programmable frequency synthesizer includes a plurality of transmitter components and a microcontroller coupled to the frequency synthesizer and to the plurality of transmitter components. The microcontroller is adapted to provide a frequency control signal to the frequency synthesizer to control a frequency of the local oscillator carrier frequency. In addition, the microcontroller is also adapted to provide digital control signals to at least some of the plurality of transmitter components to turn on and off different ones of the plurality of transmitter components based on an operating mode of the transmitter, such that the transmitter can accommodate both constant envelope modulation and non-constant envelope modulation schemes. |
| US07672644B2 |
Method and apparatus for overhead reduction of signaling messages
A method and apparatus to reduce the overhead of frequently sent signaling messages is provided. Various methods are presented which facilitate conveying information that is unchanged from information in the earlier part of the message, or in a previous signaling message, without sending the previous information in its entirety. |
| US07672640B2 |
Multichannel absorberless near field measurement system
A near field microwave scanning system includes a switched array of antenna elements forming an array surface, a scan surface substantially parallel to the array surface and separated by a distance less than about 1 wavelength of the measured frequency, and a processing engine for obtaining and processing near field data, without the use of an absorber. |
| US07672638B1 |
Geosynchronous satellite constellation
A satellite communications system is described for increasing capacity through spectrum reuse by multiple satellites. The system includes a constellation of satellites traveling in a geosynchronous orbit, where the geosynchronous orbit defines a ground track. The satellites operate in a first mode when traveling in a first latitudinal direction on the satellite track and in a second mode when traveling in a second latitudinal direction on the satellite track. By using different operation modes, satellites traveling in opposite latitudinal directions do not interfere with each other. Each of the satellites maintains a minimum spacing apart from other satellites moving in the same latitudinal direction to prevent interference from satellites using the same operation mode. |
| US07672637B2 |
Method and system for delivering from a loudspeaker into a venue
Spread-spectrum technology, either direct sequence or frequency hopping, or a combination of the two, is used for transmitting audio signals one way and control signals two ways over an RF channel(s) to reduce interference with/from other RF transmissions and enabling use of multiple such systems in close proximity without requiring pre-selection of transmission frequencies. Alternatively, multiple channels with appended access codes may be used, wherein interference or loss of clear signal results in automatic switching to another channel. The control signals accompany the transmitted audio signal at some time in the transmission interval, or previous to the beginning of the transmission interval, and constitute a coded control message allowing a unique connection. In some cases the encoding keys may only occur at the beginning of the desired message, while in other cases the two-way control signals may continue throughout the interval of the message link. |
| US07672633B2 |
Fixing roller with conductive inner layers, and fixing device and image forming apparatus being provided therewith
A fixing roller is configured in a manner that a conductive primer layer, a conductive intermediate layer, and a non-conductive outermost layer (a release layer) are coated sequentially onto a surface of an outer circumference of a hollow cylindrical cored bar. The intermediate layer is composed of a non-conductive fluorine resin layer having conductive materials dispersed therein, and a surface thereof is a rough surface having a large number of convex portions and concave portions formed thereon. The outermost layer is composed of a non-conductive fluorine resin only, and a surface thereof is a flat and smooth surface so as to ensure a favorable release property of a recording medium. |
| US07672631B2 |
Fuser assembly having heater element with spaced-apart features
A heater element is provided adapted to heat a belt in a fuser assembly. The heater element comprises laterally spaced-apart first and second features. The first feature may have a first inner surface and the second feature may have a second inner surface facing the first inner surface. Preferably, at least a majority portion of at least one of the first and second inner surfaces is positioned at an oblique angle relative to a reference line extending substantially perpendicular to a path a substrate moves along as it passes through the fuser assembly. |
| US07672630B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method with improved cleaning mechanism
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming mechanism to form a toner image on a recording medium according to image data and a fixing mechanism to fix the toner image on the recording medium. The fixing mechanism includes a fixing member configured to apply heat to the toner image on the recording medium and a cleaning mechanism to clean a surface of the fixing member. The cleaning mechanism includes a cleaning member and a controller. The cleaning member removes contaminants from the surface of the fixing member. The controller controls the cleaning member to cause friction with the fixing member for a time period when a job starts to remove the contaminants from the surface of the fixing member and controls the cleaning member so as not to cause friction with the fixing member after the time period elapses. |
| US07672627B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes: an intermediate transfer body; a plurality of image forming portions; a secondary transfer unit; a recording medium accommodating container; a waste toner accommodating container; a first electrical part; and a second electrical part. |
| US07672626B2 |
Developing roller and image forming method employing the same
An objective is to provide a developing roller in which increase of residual potential is inhibited during repetitive operation without deteriorating interlayer adhesion, and prepared is a layer immediately below the surface capable of preventing fog caused by toner scattering, accompanied with a surface layer capable of preventing stains formed from foreign matters adhered to the surface, as well as preventing image unevenness since toner electrification is even under the presence of appropriate elasticity, and also to provide a image forming method employing the developing roller. Disclosed is a developing roller possessing an elastic layer made of silicone rubber provided around a conductive shaft, and a plurality of resin layers further provided on the elastic layer, wherein an outermost surface layer among the resin layers comprises silicone copolymerization polyurethane; and a layer immediately below the surface layer comprises a polyurethane resin-silica hybrid. |
| US07672619B2 |
Wire bar, method of manufacturing wire bar, and image forming apparatus
A wire bar is formed by winding a wire, which comprises a first flat portion formed along an overall longitudinal length, around a peripheral surface of a metal core such that the peripheral surface of the metal core and the first flat portion tightly contact with each other. Since this increases the area size of a contact portion where the wire and the metal core contact each other, it is possible to increase the force of static friction which fixes the wire to the metal core. Fixing of the wound wire to the metal core by the strong force of static friction effectively prevents the wound wire from getting deviated. |
| US07672614B2 |
Driving apparatus, process cartridge and image forming device having the same
A driving apparatus includes a driving gear connected to a driving motor, a driven gear engaged with the driving gear, and a driving force coupling part coupling the driving gear and the driven gear to not move with respect to each other. The driving force coupling part includes an axle distance maintaining member to maintain a substantially constant distance between axes of the driving gear and the driven gear. The driving apparatus couples the driving gear and the driven gear to not move with respect to each other when a driving force is transmitted from the driving gear to the driven gear, thereby maintaining a substantially uniform distance between axes of the driving gear and the driven gear. Accordingly, a driven gear shaft is substantially prevented from changing position and deformation of a process cartridge is substantially prevented due to a driving torque of the driving gear and a load torque of the driven gear. Thus, a change in a gap between a developing roller and a photoconductive medium is minimized. |
| US07672613B2 |
Photosensitive material drum and image-forming machine equipped with the photosensitive material drum
A photosensitive material drum capable of easily preventing the leakage of the adhesive through the notches which are for confirming the earthing of the flange member. The flange member inserted in an end portion of the drum body includes an annular protuberance covering an end surface of the drum body, and an insertion drum portion forming protruded portions so as to come in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the drum body and recessed portions maintaining a gap relative to the inner peripheral surface of the drum body alternately along the inner peripheral surface of the drum body. An adhesive is applied onto the inner peripheral surface of the drum body facing the recessed portions to prevent the turn of the flange member. Notches are formed in the annular protuberance for exposing the end surface of the drum body, the notches being formed at positions neighboring the protruded portions. |
| US07672611B2 |
Developer cartridge and image forming apparatus
A developer cartridge includes a casing, a development roller, a support member, and at least one transmission gear. The development roller is rotatably disposed in the casing. The support member is provided as a separate member from the casing and is mounted on the casing. The at least one transmission gear is rotatably supported by the support member. The at least one transmission gear transmits a driving force to the development roller. The support member is configured to be dismounted from the casing together with the at least one transmission gear. |
| US07672608B2 |
Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus, including an image forming section which conducts image formation on a sheet based on an image data, a tray which accommodates the sheets to be supplied to the image forming section, a humidity detecting unit which detects humidity inside the tray, a dehumidifying device which conducts dehumidification inside the tray; and a control section which controls the image forming section to prohibit image formation when the humidity inside the tray is higher than a predetermined value, the control section further controls the dehumidifying device to conduct the dehumidification inside the tray when the humidity inside the tray is equal to or lower than the predetermined value, and the control section still further controls the image forming section to conduct the image formation on the when the humidity inside the tray has been equal to or lower than the predetermined value. |
| US07672607B2 |
Fixing device to reduce warm-up time and apparatus using same
A fixing device, including a fixing rotary body including a first heat source, a pressing rotary body including a second heat source, and a control device configured to cause, at a time of warm-up of the fixing device, the fixing rotary body to rotate while causing at least one of the first heat source and the second heat source to generate heat, and to allow, after a surface temperature of the fixing rotary body has risen to a preselected warm-up temperature, a sheet pass or a printing to be executed and cause, if a sheet pass is not executed, the fixing rotary body to rotate for a preselected period of time. |
| US07672603B2 |
Image formation control based on printing rate
An image forming apparatus that can realize an image having adequate image quality, density and color, without provoking excessive consumption of a developer and reduction in productivity. Image formation is performed by forming a latent image on an image carrier based on image information, then developing and transferring the latent image. An image for adjustment on a portion is formed other than a portion on which the latent image is formed on the image carrier. The density of the image for adjustment is detected. Image density is adjusted based on the density of the detected image for adjustment. Image formation control is executed whereby density is adjusted when an image is formed. A printing rate that indicates the percentage of the image formation to a sheet used for image formation is calculated. When the printing rate is determined to be within a set range, the image formation control is executed at a set frequency. On the other hand, when the printing rate is determined to be outside the set range, the set frequency is changed and the image formation control is executed. |
| US07672598B1 |
Carrier signal suppression and extraction system
A carrier signal extraction system for suppressing and extracting a carrier signal component and transmitting a double sideband component includes a polarized light source for transmitting a polarized light signal output; a polarization modulator with a first input coupled to the polarized light signal output and a second input for adding a modulation signal to the polarized light signal, thereby generating a polarization modulated light output; and a polarizing element having an input coupled to the polarization modulated light output for suppressing and extracting the carrier signal component and preferentially transmitting a double sideband component of the polarization modulated light output. |
| US07672596B2 |
Optical receiver circuit applicable to multiple transmission rates
An optical receiver circuit is provided which is able to receive optical signals having a variable transmission rate, without loss of data. The optical receiver circuit according to the present invention has a light-receiving section for converting an optical signal with a variable transmission rate into an electric signal. A recovery section recovers a plurality of different clock signals and data corresponding to possible transmission rates. These data are stored into a plurality of memories and at the same time a decision section decides the transmission rate. A switch section reads data from one of the memories selected according to the result of the decision. |
| US07672595B1 |
Optical transmission system architecture supporting migration to electronic compensation of link impairments
An optical communications system for conveying traffic through an optical link between transmitting and receiving nodes. The system comprises, for each node, respective legacy and bypass paths coupled in parallel between the optical link and the node. The legacy path of each node includes an optical dispersion compensation block for compensating a respective portion of dispersion of the link. Thus the present invention provides a system architecture by which an optical communications system can be constructed using conventional modulation and optical dispersion compensation technologies. Once installed, system growth can be accommodated using next generation transmitters (with electronic compensation) without stranding the legacy equipment. Legacy channels can also be upgraded to electronic compensation, as desired. |
| US07672594B2 |
Optical communication system with light guide having variable slidable point of entry or exit
An optical communication system is provided for conveying signals between multiple housing elements of a device, where respective optical detectors and optical light sources interact via a light guide associated with each communication path, where an optical signal produced by the optical light source and received by the optical detector travels a path where at least a first light redirection unit redirects the optical signal between an angle in which the optical signal travels along at least a portion of the length of the light guide, and an angle which allows the optical signal to exit the light guide. In at least some instances, the multiple housing elements correspond to at least a pair of housing elements that are incorporated as part of a communication device having a slider configuration. In some of the same or still further instances, one or more of the light redirection units are diffractive optical elements. In some instances, one or more of the light redirection units are reflectors. |
| US07672590B2 |
Data center with mobile data cabinets and method of mobilizing and connecting data processing devices in a data center using consolidated data communications and power connections
Data processing devices in a data center are more easily relocated by consolidating the data and power connections to the data processing devices within a mobile data cabinet. The mobile data cabinet includes an access switch to consolidate communications and connections among computing devices in the mobile cabinet and to consolidate communications to a central communication service through a main communication cable. A single data communication connection through the main communication cable and a single electrical power connection through a power delivery cable to the mobile cabinet reduces and simplifies number and difficulty of the disconnections and connections that must be made to move the mobile cabinet. |
| US07672586B2 |
Allocating connections in a communication system
Dynamic allocation of connections is performed in a communication network. When a new connection request is received by the network management system this request can be accepted or rejected. In case it is accepted, the connection can be set up by allocating new or reconfiguring existing connection resources. The reconfiguration options are constrained to a set of allowed reconfigurations which is a subset of the set of all possible reconfigurations of the existing connections on the network. |
| US07672584B2 |
Digital device
A digital device which can accommodate a large display yet still have a small overall size is provided. The digital device includes a first body with a lens and a display, and a second body with at least one operation button. The first and second body slide with respect to each other between a first position and a second position. The lens of the first body and the at least one operation button of the second body are exposed as the first body and the second body are slid into the first position. |
| US07672581B2 |
Camera composition guide
A camera and camera insert having an improved crop area either on a crop guide or otherwise provided on a display. The composition guide can be molded into the insert, such as a camera screen, or alternatively printed or painted thereon. The crop area can be horizontal and/or vertically oriented and/or provide an ability to identify both 8×10 as well as wallet sized images depending upon the embodiment utilized. |
| US07672579B2 |
Retractable lens barrel
A lens barrel includes a standard optical element used in a standard photographing operation and an insertable optical element which is selectively inserted into and removed from a photographing optical path. The lens barrel includes an accommodating driving device which moves the standard optical element and the insertable optical element rearward in an optical axis direction from a ready-to-photograph state to a retracted state; an insertable-optical-element drive mechanism which moves the insertable optical element between an inserted position on the optical axis on which the standard optical element is positioned, and a removed position off the optical axis, in the ready-to-photograph state of the lens barrel; and a forced removing device which forces the insertable optical element to move from the inserted position to the removed position independently of the insertable-optical-element drive mechanism when the lens barrel moves from the ready-to-photograph state to the retracted state. |
| US07672576B2 |
Water dispenser with sabbath function
Water dispensers are disclosed which include a Sabbath function. When activating the Sabbath function, water refill of the hot water reservoir tank is prevented and the heating of the water in the hot reservoir tank is modified to provide a constant heating at a less than boiling temperature. |
| US07672575B2 |
Evaporator featuring annular ridge member provided on side wall surface of evaporating chamber
In an evaporator for evaporating mists of liquid raw material to thereby generate start gas for layer-formation, an evaporator body has an evaporator chamber defined therein, and a mist supply throat for introducing the mists into the evaporating chamber. The evaporator chamber is defined by a principal evaporating face which opposes to the mist supply throat. The evaporator body also has a start-gas supply passage which is formed therein between the mist supply throat and the principal evaporating face such that the start gas flows out of the evaporating chamber through the start-gas supply passage. A ridge member is provided on an inner side wall surface of the evaporating chamber between the start-gas is supply passage and the principal evaporating face so that a tip edge of the ridge member is directed to the principal evaporating face. |
| US07672573B2 |
Shared memory architecture and method in an optical storage and recording system
A system includes an integrated encoder comprising an optical storage controller for coupling to an optical storage medium, and a data encoder for coding input data coupled to the optical storage controller, a first external memory coupled to a first memory controller in the integrated encoder, and a second external memory coupled to a second memory controller in the integrated encoder. In one aspect, the integrated encoder further comprises a first memory arbiter for selectively directing access to the first external memory by the optical storage controller and the data encoder, and a second memory arbiter for selectively directing access to the second external memory by the optical storage controller and the data encoder. |
| US07672566B2 |
Recording medium having data structure for managing reproduction of still pictures recorded thereon and recording and reproducing methods and apparatuses
The recording medium includes a data structure with presentation data stored in a data area of the recording medium. The presentation data is divided into still picture units with each still picture unit including at least one still picture and associated related data. |
| US07672561B1 |
Telecommunications patching system with patching modules
A telecommunications patching system includes: a rear panel, the rear panel including a plurality of cutout areas; a series of central compartments mounted to the rear panel, the central compartments being disposed in adjacent, vertically stacked relationship in at least one column, the rear ends of the central compartments being aligned with at least one of the cutout areas; and at least one series of lateral compartments mounted to the rear panel, the lateral compartments being disposed in spaced apart, vertically stacked relationship and laterally positioned from the central compartments, the rear ends of the lateral compartments being aligned with at least one of the cutout areas. The system also includes at least one central patching module with a plurality of connectors, the central patching module residing in one of the central compartments, the plurality of connectors being oriented to receive a communications cable from a lateral direction, a rear end of the central patching module extending rearwardly through a respective one of the cutout areas; and at least one lateral patching module with a plurality of connectors, the lateral patching module residing in one of the lateral compartments, the plurality of connectors being oriented to receive a communication cable from a lateral direction, a rear end of the lateral patching module extending rearwardly through a respective one of the cutout areas. |
| US07672558B2 |
Silicon optical device
An optical device can be fabricated by forming a silicon rib, such as a poly-silicon rib, on a SOI substrate so that a portion of the SOI substrate is exposed, and by forming silicon spacers, such as amorphous or poly-silicon spacers, that round off corners of the silicon rib. |
| US07672549B2 |
Solar energy concentrator
A solar concentrator having a concentrator element for collecting input light, a reflective component with a plurality of incremental steps for receiving the light and also for redirecting the light, and a waveguide including a plurality of incremental portions enabling collection and concentration of the light. |
| US07672548B2 |
Light emitting diode structures
Light emitting diode (LED) structures are described that include a first layer and a light-generating layer, wherein light generated in the light-generating layer generally emerges from the LED structure through the upper surface of the first layer. The coupling out of light generated by spontaneous emission is enhanced by the presence of patterning in the first layer, which may take the form of an embedded photonic quasicrystal, a photonic structure comprising an amorphous array of subregions, or a zone plate structure. The invention provides the benefit of improved light extraction from the LED without undesirable far field illumination patterns. |
| US07672541B2 |
Registration of separations
Separations or images relating to film or other fields may be registered using a variety of features, such as, for example: (1) correcting one or more film distortions; (2) automatically determining a transformation to reduce a film distortion; (3) applying multiple criteria of merit to a set of features to determine a set of features to use in determining a transformation; (4) determining transformations for areas in an image or a separation in, a radial order; (5) comparing areas in images or separations by weighting feature pixels differently than non-feature pixels; (6) determining, distortion values for transformations by applying a partial distortion measure and/or using a spiral search configuration; (7) determining transformations by using different sets of features to determine corresponding transformation parameters in an iterative manner; and (8) applying a feathering technique to neighboring areas within an image or separation. |
| US07672533B2 |
Judging image type with an image scanning device
In the process of control of an image scanning device that creates image data by scanning an image from a recording medium on which the image is recorded, the image scanning device is controlled to acquire first image data by scanning the image at a first scanning resolution; image type is judged on the basis of this first image data; and in the process of controlling the image scanning device to scan the image at a second scanning resolution, second image data is acquired under image acquisition conditions dependent on the image type indicated by the judgment result in the image judgment step. |
| US07672531B2 |
System and method for determining edges of objects in an image
The invention relates to a system and method of identifying an edge of an object in an image. The method comprises: identifying a segment of the image and a central pixel in the segment; identifying a set of mini-vectors as possible edges for the central pixel, utilizing a calculated gradient figure for the center pixel; and producing a reduced set of mini-vectors from the set of mini-vectors by removing mini-vectors that do not generate a continuous edge with an adjacent edge in an adjacent segment in the image. |
| US07672529B2 |
Techniques to detect Gaussian noise
A system, apparatus, method and article to filter media signals are described. The apparatus may include a media processor. The media processor may include an image signal processor having multiple processing elements to determine a level of noise for an image using an internal spatial region of said image, select filter parameters based on the level of noise, and filter the image using the filter parameters. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US07672528B2 |
Method of processing an image to form an image pyramid
A method of processing an image to form an image pyramid having multiple image levels includes receiving a base level image comprising pixel values at pixel locations arranged in rows and columns; determining sample locations for a next level image in the pyramid such that the sample locations are arranged in a regular pattern and the sample locations exceed the range of the pixel locations of the base level image; determining the pixel values of the next level image by interpolating the pixel values of the base level image using an interpolation filter at the sample locations; and treating the next level image as the base level image and repeating steps of determining sample locations and pixel values until a predetermined number of pyramid image levels are generated, or until a predetermined condition is met. |
| US07672527B2 |
Method and apparatus for chromatic correction of Fresnel lenses
Chromatic correction of a Fresnel lens is effected by collecting data at multiple detectors arrayed along the optical axis of the lens and then digitally processing data from each detector to obtain multiple sets of image data corresponding to selected tuned wavelengths associated with the multiple detectors, or to obtain composite multi-color image data. Digital processing includes deconvolving data from each detector with a point spread function (PSF) associated with the tuned wavelength of the detector, and thereby enhancing the image derived from the detector. Two possible techniques are also disclosed for deriving sub-band signal data having a wavelength that falls between the tuned wavelengths of adjacent detectors. |
| US07672525B2 |
Image processing method, program, storage medium, and apparatus for executing a quantization process of image data by error diffusion
An image processing method for executing a quantization process of image data by error diffusion, executes a step of generating first image data by adding a quantization error to input image data, a step of generating second image data by quantizing the first image data by comparing the first image data with a predetermined threshold value, a step of generating third image data by dequantizing the second image data, a calculation step of calculating a quantization error for each pixel on the basis of the difference between the first and third image data, a storage step of storing information indicating a positive/negative sign of the calculated quantization error for a predetermined number of pixels in a storage unit, and a correction value generation step of generating a correction value used to correct at least one of the first image data and the threshold value on the basis of the information which is stored in the storage unit and indicates the positive/negative sign. |
| US07672524B2 |
Quality control for image transcoding
A method and apparatus transcode an image. An encoded input bitstream of the image is analyzed to obtain a structure of the encoded input bitstream, in which the image includes a region-of-interest and a background region, and in which the encoded input bitstream is a stream of packets. A first quality value for the region-of-interest and a second quality value for the background region are determined. An encoded output bitstream is composed from a subset of the packets selected from the encoded input bitstream according to the structure, in which the subset of packets includes a first set of packets corresponding to the region-of-interest having the first quality value, a second set of packets corresponding to the background region and having second quality value, and empty packets. |
| US07672519B2 |
Use of frequency transforms in the analysis of image sensors
A method for detecting and removing noise from an image, the method includes the steps of applying a frequency transform to the image for obtaining a magnitude image; applying a threshold value to values of the magnitude image for obtaining threshold values; setting one or more threshold values to a predetermined value; and reconstructing the image from the magnitude image having the predetermined values for removing noise from the image. |
| US07672517B2 |
Method for encoding image pixels a method for processing images and a method for processing images aimed at qualitative recognition of the object reproduced by one or more image pixels
A method for encoding pixels of digital or digitized images, i.e., images consisting of a set of image dots, named pixels in two-dimensional images and voxels in three-dimensional images, each of said pixels or voxels being represented by a set of values which correspond to a visual aspect of the pixel on a display screen or in a printed image. According to the invention, the pixels or voxels of at least one portion of interest of the digital or digitized image or each pixel or voxel of the set of pixels or voxels which form the image is uniquely identified with a vector whose components are given by the date of the pixels or voxels to be encoded and by the data of at least one or at least some or of all of the pixels around the pixels to be encoded and arranged within a predetermined subset of pixels or voxels included in the whole set of pixels or voxels which form the image. |
| US07672514B2 |
Method and apparatus for differentiating pedestrians, vehicles, and other objects
A method and apparatus for classifying an object in an image is disclosed. Edges of an object are detected within a region of interest. Edge analysis is performed on a plurality of sub-regions within the region of interest to generate an edge score. The object is classified based on the edge score. |
| US07672511B2 |
System and method for lattice-preserving multigrid method for image segmentation and filtering
A method for segmenting a digitized image includes providing a digitized image comprising a plurality of intensities corresponding to a domain of points on an N-dimensional grid, defining a weight between each pair of adjacent points in the image based on the intensity difference of each said point pair, marking a subset of points in said image wherein each marked point is marked with one of a plurality of labels, determining the probability that an unmarked point should be marked with one of said plurality of labels using a multigrid method that uses a restriction operator to map said provided image to a coarse-level gird, and a prolongation operator to map said coarse-level image back to a fine-level grid, wherein said restriction operator is an adjoint of said prolongation operator, and wherein a fine-level segmentation is a prolongation of a coarse level segmentation. |
| US07672510B2 |
Vehicle environment monitoring device
A vehicle environment monitoring device identifies objects from an image taken by an infrared camera. Object extraction from images is performed in accordance with the state of the environment as determined by measurements extracted from the images as follows: N1 binarized objects are extracted from a single frame. Height of a grayscale objects corresponding to one of the binarized objects are calculated. If a ratio of the number of binarized objects C, where the absolute value of the height difference is less than the predetermined value ΔH, to the total number N1 of binarized objects, is greater than a predetermined value X1, the image frame is determined to be rainfall-affected. If the ratio is less than the predetermined value X1, the image frame is determined to be a normal frame. A warning is provided if it is determined that the object is a pedestrian and if a collision is likely. |
| US07672507B2 |
Image processing methods and systems
Systems and methods according to the present invention provide techniques to reliably detect edges, lines and quadrilaterals, especially those with low local contrast, in color images. Edges can be detected using a color gradient operator is based on color distance with a non-linear weight determined by the consistency of local gradient orientations, thereby significantly improving the signal/noise ratio. In detecting lines, a variant of the Gradient Weighted Hough Transform can be used employing both the edge strength and orientation. Multiple non-overlapping quadrilaterals can be detected using a process which includes quality metrics (for both individual quadrilaterals and for a set of non-overlapping quadrilaterals) and a graph-searching method. |
| US07672505B2 |
Apparatus, method and program for three-dimensional-shape detection
The present invention relates to three-dimensional shape detection. In the present invention, a plurality of types of pattern lights formed of a series of alternate light and dark patterns are projected onto an object in a time series, an image of the object onto which each pattern light is projected is taken, a plurality of luminance images are generated, a code image having certain codes assigned to the pixels is generated in accordance with a result of threshold processing of the plurality of luminance images with respect to a certain threshold; and the three-dimensional shape of the object is calculated. Further, in the invention, a first pixel that is adjacent to a pixel having a code of interest and that has a code different from the code of interest is detected, in a detection position in a direction crossing the pattern light in the code image, a luminance image having a light-dark boundary in a position corresponding to the first pixel is extracted, from the plurality of luminance images, a pixel area that includes a pixel in a certain area adjacent to the first pixel is determined, an approximate expression that expresses a change in luminance in the extracted luminance image in the pixel area is calculated, a position having a certain luminance threshold in the approximate expression and detecting the boundary coordinates of the code of interest in accordance with the result of calculation is calculated, and the three-dimensional shape of the object is calculated in accordance with the boundary coordinates detected by the boundary coordinate detection unit by using the code image. |
| US07672500B2 |
System and method for monitoring and visualizing the output of a production process
A system for monitoring and visualizing the output of a production process, whose output materials or items are inspected by one or more inspection units, may include a communication module to receive data from the one or more inspection units. The received data may be associated with a measured or extrapolated value of at least one parameter of the inspected materials or items. A comparator module may compare at least one of the measured or extrapolated values against a corresponding stored value to determine a difference value, and a visualization module may generate an image representing the inspected items or materials. An area or section of the image corresponding to an area or section of the item or material associated with the at least one of the measured or extrapolated values which was compared to the stored value may be visually coded to indicate a corresponding difference value. |
| US07672497B2 |
Computer aided disease detection system for multiple organ systems
A computer aided disease detection system and method for multiple organ systems. The method performs computer aided examination of digital medical images. A patient exam type of a digital medical image is determined. Based on the patient exam type, one or more of a plurality of knowledge based anatomical segmentation blocks are invoked, each block performing image segmentation for a single organ or organ system present in the image. Based on the patient exam type, for each successfully segmented organ or organ system, one or more of a plurality of knowledge based computer aided detection blocks are invoked, each block of which is designed to search for and locate potential disease foci in a particular organ or organ system. |
| US07672496B2 |
Forming three dimensional objects using a decision rule in medical image data
A decision rule is used that examines the computer-aided detected (CAD) regions of interest in a computed tomography (CT) slice pair taken from volumetric medical CT scan to determine whether the detected regions of interest are part of the same object is disclosed. Segmentation is performed after initially detecting a region of interest but before calculating features in order to refine the boundaries of the detected regions of interest. Segmentation occurs in the two-dimensional slices by segmenting the region of interest on each slice. Adjacent slices are examined to determine if adjacent objects are actually part of the same structure. If they are not, the objects are split apart. In this way, three-dimensional objects are formed from two-dimensional segmentations. |
| US07672490B2 |
Motion artifacts compensation
Motion is one of the most critical sources of artifacts in helical conebeam CT. By comparing opposite rays corresponding to projection data, the amount of motion may be estimated and, in the following suppression of corresponding motion artifacts may be performed according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The method of motion artifact compensation may be implemented in both approximate reconstruction algorithms and exact reconstruction algorithms. Advantageously, motion during the data acquisition is detected automatically and related motion artifacts may be suppressed adaptively. |
| US07672485B2 |
Method and device for measuring at least a geometric quantity of an optically reflecting surface
A quick, reliable and accurate method and device for measuring an optically reflecting surface, enabling quantifying of the curvatures and/or slopes and raised parts of the optically reflecting surface without risk of deteriorating the measured surface and adapted to measurement of large-dimension surfaces. The system and method for measuring the geometry of an optically reflecting surface to be measured S includes observing with a camera (2) the image of the surface to be measured S set in a measuring space (1), then interpreting the image in quantitative values characterizing at least one geometric quantity of the optically reflecting surface to be measured S. |
| US07672483B2 |
Controlling and customizing access to spatial information
A spatial data handling and map generation system comprises a receiver component that receives a request for information associated with a geographic region and data associated with an initiator of the request. A mapping component renders a representation of the geographic region, the representation is customized according to a role assigned to the initiator of the request, the role is assigned based at least in part upon the received data. |
| US07672482B2 |
Shape detection using coherent appearance modeling
A method of finding an object in an image that consists of describing an object shape by one or more sets of feature points (220); estimating positions of the feature points (310); finding new locations for each feature point based on an appearance model of an aggregate appearance of the object in local neighborhoods of all features points (320); and constraining the positions of the feature points based on a shape model (330). |
| US07672481B2 |
Image information processing system, image information processing method, image information processing program, and automobile
An image information processing system permits stable display of image information regarding an object on an image display device even if an image area of the object recognized through an infrared camera is unstable. In the image information processing system, a first image area recognition unit recognizes a first image area associated with an object on the basis of a second variable based on the position of the object measured through the infrared camera. Further, a second image area recognition unit estimates the first image area on the basis of a first variable and a second variable based on the running mode of an automobile, and recognizes the estimated image area as a second image area. Then, an image information control unit causes a head-up display to display one or both of the first image information associated with the first image area and the second image information associated with the second image area. |
| US07672480B2 |
Method for photographing on board of a flying rotating body and system for carrying out said method
The invention relates to a method for photographing on board of a flying rotating body and system for carrying out said method. According to said invention, pictures (V0, V90, V180, V270) are taken at predetermined angular positions of said flying body by a device which is rigidly fixed to the front thereof and are exposed to an image geometrical transformation required for the display thereof. |
| US07672478B2 |
Spray data acquisition system
A spray data acquisition system includes a spray pump actuator that is capable of providing a pumping force to a pumping device to generate an aerosol spray plume along a spray axis. The system also includes an illumination device that illuminates the aerosol spray plume along at least one first geometric plane that intersects the aerosol spray plume. The system further includes an imaging device that acquires data representative of an interaction between the illumination and the aerosol spray plume along at least one geometric plane. |
| US07672475B2 |
Method and apparatus for verifying a hologram and a credit card
A method for verifying a hologram, comprising the steps of reading at least two images of the hologram, the images being representative of images derived at respective different viewing angles, comparing a characteristic derived from the respective images with a reference characteristic to establish if the hologram is authentic, and outputting a signal indicative of the authenticity or otherwise of the hologram. |
| US07672474B2 |
Electronic watermark embedding device, electronic watermark detection device, method thereof, and program
A digital watermark embedding apparatus of the present invention includes: a block dividing unit for dividing an input image into plural pixel blocks; a digital watermark information spreading unit for obtaining an embedding series having a length corresponding to a number of divided pixel blocks; a block-by-block embedding unit for selecting at least a frequency from predetermined plural frequencies according to a term value of the embedding series corresponding to a position of a pixel block in the image, amplifying amplitude of a waveform pattern corresponding to the selected frequency with an embedding strength value, and superimposing the waveform pattern in which the amplitude is amplified on the pixel block; and an image outputting unit for outputting an image on which a corresponding waveform pattern is superimposed on each pixel block by the block-by-block embedding unit. |
| US07672470B2 |
Audio/video device having a volume control function for an external audio reproduction unit by using volume control buttons of a remote controller and volume control method therefor
An audio/video (A/V) device having a volume control function for external audio reproduction units by using volume control buttons of a remote controller is provided. The A/V device includes speakers, an audio output port for externally outputting an audio signal, an audio signal processing unit for reproducing and amplifying the audio signal and applying the amplified audio signal to the speakers or the audio output port, a memory unit for storing volume control values, and a control unit for applying to the audio signal processing unit any of the volume control values stored in the memory based on whether the external audio reproduction unit is plugged in the audio output port. The control unit controls the audio signal processing unit to adjust the volume control values for the audio output port by the volume control buttons when the external audio reproduction unit is plugged in the audio output port. |
| US07672465B2 |
System and method for synchronization using GPS in home network
The audio speakers in a PLC-based home entertainment network receive GPS timing information. Audio packets from an audio source are timestamped with satellite timing information, so that the speakers can substantially simultaneously play audio using the timestamps and the timing information available at each speaker, thereby avoiding the echo effect caused by inadequate synchronization between speakers. |
| US07672461B2 |
Method and apparatus for creating a virtual third channel in a two-channel amplifier
A method and apparatus for creating a third signal channel from an input signal received in each of a first and second channel involves inverting a predetermined frequency range of signals in the first channel out of phase with a corresponding frequency range of signals in the second channel. Thereafter, the inverted signal in the first channel and the corresponding frequency signal in the second channel may be communicated to a speaker, which is bridged across the first and second channels, as the third signal channel. This speaker produces sound corresponding to the difference (i.e., the frequency range determined by the predetermined bandwidth of the inverted signal) between the inverted signal in the first channel and the corresponding frequency signal in the second channel. |
| US07672458B2 |
Method and system for key insertion for stored encrypted content
An encrypted content transport stream is received by a viewer's device and recorded for subsequent playback. During recording, keys in headers of packets of the stream are stripped and placed in sequence in a table. Also, the table indicates changes in key indicating bits. When it is desired to play the content, start-of-frame indicator bits such as PUSI and/or RAI bits are used to access the table of keys to retrieve the keys necessary to decrypt the transport stream packets sought to be played. |
| US07672456B2 |
Anti-pirate method for the distribution of digital content by pro-active diversified transmission, associated transmitting device and portable receiving object
The invention concerns an anti-pirate method for the distribution of digital content by pro-active diversified transmission, associated transmitter device and portable receiving object. The method, designed to make the same information (Kc) available to several receivers (1) belonging to a group (G) of receivers, each receiver storing information (SAi) specific to it, is characterized in that it includes the following steps: define a relation Kc=f(K, bi, SAi) where (f) is a given function, (K) is information common to all the receivers, and (bi) is information different for each receiver and for each value of the information (K); —enable each receiver to access information (bi) before making (Kc) available; and transmit the information (K) to all receivers, just before making (Kc) available; so that each receiver can calculate information (Kc) using said relation. |
| US07672454B2 |
Method for copy protection of digital content
A method for copy protection of digital content, wherein at least a part of the digital content is an active part enabling the execution of the digital content, includes steps of storing digital content in a storage, choosing reference storage blocks from the storage, creating dependencies between the digital content and the chosen reference storage blocks and executing by way of the active part the digital content only after verification of the dependencies in order to verify the presence of the chosen reference storage blocks. A storing medium also includes a digital content being copy protected according to the method and to a reproducing apparatus executes the steps of the above-described method. |
| US07672450B2 |
Network interface device enclosure
The disclosure describes an active network interface device (NID) enclosure having a modular construction that provides flexibility to a vendor and permits independent access to technician-accessible connections and subscriber-accessible connections while promoting resistance to environmental and security threats. The active NID enclosure includes an electronics enclosure and an access enclosure. The electronics enclosure contains active electronic components for conversion of data carried on a network signal carrier into services for delivery to subscriber devices. The access enclosure includes two separate access compartments, having separate covers, for independent access to either network terminals or subscriber terminals. |
| US07672449B2 |
Multimode xDSL line card adaptive activation method and its system
This invention presents a multimode xDSL line card adaptive activation method, comprising the following steps: A) A master controller is installed and configured with multiple templates based on the modes of operation supported by a line card, and forwards templates to said line card; B) The line card receives templates forwarded by the master controller and activates the line card communications chip; C) The communications chip communicates with the remote CPE and decides on a mode of operation according to a handshake protocol; D) The line card employs a corresponding template according to the mode of operation chosen in Step C, and practices circuit activation with the CPE. This invention solves the existing problems in current multimode xDSL technology of poor compatibility and inability to adapt effectively. |
| US07672448B2 |
Network interface device with a remote power source
Various methods, apparatuses, and systems in which a residential gateway is located at the network interface device and is powered with a remote power source inside the residence. In another embodiment, bi-directional data communication between the residential gateway and the remote power source is also enabled. |
| US07672445B1 |
Method and system for nonlinear echo suppression
Techniques for suppressing large echo due to nonlinearity, instable adaptive filter, and so on. An echo cancellation system includes an echo canceller unit, a nonlinear echo detection unit, and a nonlinear echo suppression unit. The echo canceller unit (e.g., an adaptive filter) receives a reference signal and a near-end signal, derives an echo estimate signal based on the reference and near-end signals, cancels a portion of echo in the near-end signal based on the echo estimate signal, and provides an intermediate signal having residual echo. The nonlinear echo detection unit detects for large nonlinear echo in the echo estimate signal. The nonlinear echo suppression unit suppresses large nonlinear echo in the first intermediate signal based on a variable gain, which may be adjusted lower if large nonlinear echo is detected and higher otherwise. |
| US07672443B2 |
Virtual private network dialed number nature of address conversion
A method and system for handling identical VPN numbers assigned to multiple companies using a nature of address/number identifier initiated as public. The method includes receiving a query from a switch module to determine routing information for a call initiated by a calling party, the query including dialed digits with a nature of address identifier, and a calling party identifier updating the nature of address identifier associated with dialed digits to a private type code if a VPN coding identifier is determined present, looking up routing information associated with the dialed digits in a look-up table corresponding to the calling party identifier if the nature of address identifier includes the private type code, and transmitting the routing information to the switch module. |
| US07672436B1 |
Voice rendering of E-mail with tags for improved user experience
Tags, such as XML tags, are inserted into email to separate email content from signature blocks, privacy notices and confidentiality notices, and to separate original email messages from replies and replies from further replies. The tags are detected by a system that renders email as speech, such as voice command platform or network-based virtual assistant or message center. For example, the system can detect the signature block or privacy notice tags and not render the signature block or privacy notice as speech. The system can render an original email message in one voice mode and the reply in a different voice mode. The tags can be inserted to identify a voice memo in which a user responds to a particular portion of an email message. Preferably, an email server that receives and stored the email message inserts the tags into the email. Alternatively, the tags could be inserted by an email client application. The tags are detected by an email parser, which can be incorporated into the system rendering email as speech, or, alternatively implemented in a separate logical entity. |
| US07672427B2 |
Imaging system
It is disclosed an imaging system comprising: radiation generating means including at least one radiation source for generating radiations; data acquiring means including an detector matrix faced the radiation source for obtaining projection data by receiving radiations penetrated through an object to be inspected; transporting means for making the object to be inspected between the radiation source and the detector matrix linearly moving relative to the radiation source and the detector matrix; and controlling and image processing means for controlling the radiation generating means, the data acquiring means and the transporting means, and for reconstructing an image of the object to be inspected from the projection data. The imaging system according to the present invention achieves a real stereoscopic radiography by using straight-line trajectory scan and reconstructing a tomographic or stereoscopic image through a straight-line filtered back-projection algorithm. The present imaging system has advantages of fast examination speed, no rotation, and out of large cone-angle problem in a circular-orbit cone-beam CT. |
| US07672422B2 |
Radiation scanning of objects for contraband
Systems and methods for the radiation scanning of objects, including large objects such as cargo containers, to identify contraband. |
| US07672417B2 |
Clock and data recovery
A data and clock recovery circuit having a retimer mode and a resync mode. In one embodiment, a receiver circuit includes; a retimer; a clock recovery circuit to provide a clock signal to the retimer; and an adjustable delay to provide a delayed version of an input signal to the retimer. When in a resync mode, the adjustable delay causes a pre-selected delay in the input signal and the clock recovery circuit dynamically selects a clock phase to generate the clock signal. When in a second mode, the adjustable delay dynamically adjusts the delayed version of the input signal and the clock recovery circuit outputs the clock signal having a pre-selected clock phase. |
| US07672411B2 |
Radio receiver
A radio receiver comprising: an antenna for receiving a radio frequency signal amplitude modulated with an audio frequency signal; a digitizer for periodically sampling the radio frequency signal and generating a digital reception signal representative of the amplitude of the radio frequency signal; and a demodulator for demodulating the digital reception signal to generate a representation of the audio frequency signal. |
| US07672410B2 |
Diversity receiver
This invention provides a diversity receiver, which has N branches for receiving M versions of an input signal. The diversity receiver comprises N channel state information estimators, a demodulator and a combining and demapping device. After receiving the M versions of the input signal, the demodulator performs demodulation and then generates M demodulated signals. N channel state information estimators, one channel state information estimator equipped for each branch, respectively fetches the signals from the demodulator to generate M channel parameters related to the M versions of the input signal. The combining and demapping device receives the M demodulated signals, performs signal combining operations and symbol demapping, and finally generate a pre-correcting signal. |
| US07672407B2 |
Mitigation of interference from periodic noise
A method and apparatus for mitigation of interference from periodic noise. An embodiment of a method includes receiving wireless signal data, where the data includes a periodic noise that varies in frequency over time. The method further includes performing a time-spectrum characterization of the data, and correlating the time-spectrum characterization of the data to determine a period of the periodic noise. The noise is dynamically weighted based at least in part on frequency variation of the noise. |
| US07672402B2 |
Data processing apparatus and method and encoding device
A data processing apparatus able to start decoding at a timing earlier than the conventional timing and able to reduce the storage capacity required for a storing means for storing the encoded data until a decoding side decodes the input encoded data in comparison with the conventional storage capacity, which apparatus selects frame data from frame data f(5) having the last decoding order to frame data f(0) having the first decoding order for processing for calculating a delay time min_delay and calculates the delay time min_delay. It calculates the delay time min_delay indicating the delay time from when the decoding side starts to receive input of the frame data to when the data is decoded based on the specified size and the bit rate of the input of the frame data to the decoding side for each of the frame data for processing. |
| US07672394B2 |
Transmission apparatus and transmission method
A transmission apparatus capable of preventing both degrading of the error rate characteristic and deterioration of throughput caused by repeated retransmissions. In the apparatus, arrangement determination section 103 determines in an initial transmission to perform general constellation mapping, and determines in a retransmission to vary a constellation mapping position or vary a bit arrangement of each symbol according to the number of retransmissions. Data interchanging section 105 interchanges transmission data for each bit on a symbol basis to be in a bit arrangement determined by arrangement determining section 103. Mapper section 106 configures (maps) the transmission data input from data interchanging section 105 in each symbol to be mapped in the constellation mapping position determined in arrangement determining section 103. |
| US07672389B2 |
Method for transmitting symbols through at least a communication channel
The present invention concerns a method for transmitting symbols through at least a channel in a telecommunication system including at least one transmitter (10) provided with at least two transmitting antennas (Antt 1, Antt 2) and at least one receiver provided with at least one receiving antenna (Antr 1), the method includes an encoding step wherein a vector comprising symbols is multiplied by a coding matrix for producing coded symbols to be transmitted over the at least one communication channel established between the transmitter (10) and the receiver (20), wherein the coding matrix is calculated from an eigenvalue decomposition of a matrix obtained by calculating at least the Kronecker product of the identity matrix of size N, N being the time and/or the frequency dimension of the code and a matrix obtained from an estimated correlation matrix of the response of the channel. The invention concerns also the associated device and a method and device for decoding symbols. |
| US07672387B2 |
Multiple input, multiple output wireless communication system, associated methods and data structures
Embodiments of multiple input multiple output wireless communication systems, associated methods and data structures are generally described herein. |
| US07672385B2 |
Radio apparatus
A modem unit inputs a combination, of control signal and data signal, which is to use a plurality of subcarriers. Among a plurality of combinations inputted, the modem unit performs interleaving with a size defined by the first number of subcarriers on a control signal and performs interleaving with the size defined by the second number of subcarriers on a data signal. The modem unit appends additional signals to control signals contained in the second and the subsequent combinations in a plurality of combinations interleaved. The modem unit appends additional signals whose number of subcarriers is equal to the difference between the first number of subcarriers and the second number of subcarriers. |
| US07672382B2 |
OFDM receiving method and apparatus
In order to improve upon a degradation in performances due to inter-carrier interference without loss of transmission efficiency, antennas provided on a mobile body are made directional antennas. An antenna selection unit selects a directional antenna in such a manner that Doppler shift that is caused by movement of the mobile body will keep a constant sign that is positive or negative, a fading-variation calculation unit calculates the average value of fading variation on each path of a multipath environment, and a fading-variation compensation unit compensates the multipath fading variation based upon the average value. |
| US07672381B1 |
Method of multiple-carrier communication within a noncontiguous wideband spectrum and apparatus therefor
A method (20) of orthogonal frequency-division multiplex (OFDM) communication via a plurality of subchannels (30) within a noncontiguous wideband channel (24) is provided. The method (20) determines an SNR for each of the subchannels (30). The method (20) then designates a subchannel (30) as clear (93) when its SNR is greater than a least-SNR threshold (70), as impeded (95) when its SNR is less than the least-SNR threshold and greater than an SNR-evaluation threshold, and as obstructed (111) when its SNR is less than both the least-SNR and the SNR-evaluation thresholds. The method (20) then transmits OFDM data (34) so that each of the clear subchannels receives the OFDM data (34) at a maximum subchannel signal level (40), each of the impeded subchannels receives the OFDM data (34) at an intermediate subchannel signal level (42), and each of the obstructed subchannels receives the OFDM data (34) at zero subchannel signal level (44). |
| US07672378B2 |
Spatio-temporal graph-segmentation encoding for multiple video streams
A multiple video stream capture and encoding apparatus produces compressed data that represents multiple video streams capturing a common scene. Images from multiple video streams are analyzed to identify image color segments that are encoded into a composite graph data structure. Corresponding image segments across the multiple video streams are also identified and represented by one node in the composite graph data structure. The composite graph data structure also includes links between pairs of nodes that describe the relationship between the image segments associated with those nodes. The composite graph data structure is updated to represent changes to the image segments in the multiple video streams over time. The composite graph data structure is used to create compressed encoded data for storage and/or transmission. |
| US07672374B2 |
Image processing apparatus
An image processing apparatus includes an inputting unit for inputting moving image data that is composed of frames each including first and second fields and that is encoded by intra-frame and inter-frame encoding; an instructing unit for submitting a request for outputting a still image; a still image generating unit for generating still image data including first encoded data and second encoded data, each of these encoded data having a prediction error of zero with respect to a reference image; a multiplexing unit for selecting to output either the still image data generated by the still image generating unit or the moving image data input by the inputting unit; a controlling unit for controlling the multiplexing unit so as to select the still image data generated by the still image generating unit; and a transmitting unit for transmitting the image data output from the multiplexing unit in an encoded state. |
| US07672373B2 |
Digital watermarking of a media stream using coded macroblock types
A method and a carrier medium instructing a processor to execute a method. The method includes accepting a compressed video stream compressed by a compression method that uses macroblocks of possibly different macroblock types for each frame predictive encoding frames. The method further includes identifying a sequence of frames that are substantially visually indistinguishable and that include a predictively encoded frame and the at least one reference frame of the predictively encoded frame. The method further includes creating an ordered set of macroblocks, with the macroblock types of different macroblocks in the ordered set used to encode digital watermark information. The method further includes replacing the predictively encoded frame of the identified sequence with a newly-encoded predictively encoded replacement frame that contains the created ordered set of macroblocks, including the encoded watermarking information. |
| US07672367B1 |
System and method for selecting data rates of initialization signals
A system includes a transceiver for communicating over a telecommunication line that is coupled to the transceiver. The transceiver comprises logic configured to measure attenuation of at least one signal transmitted across the telecommunication line. The logic is further configured to automatically select, based on the measured attenuation, a plurality of different data rates for a plurality of initialization signals communicated via the transceiver during an initialization phase that precedes a data phase. |
| US07672366B2 |
Line quality report accuracy measurement device and accuracy measurement method
A channel quality report accuracy measurement apparatus and accuracy measurement method are provided that correctly measure the accuracy of channel quality reported from a communication apparatus. A scheme control section (140) stores coding rates and modulation schemes corresponding to CQIs, and specifies the transmission scheme corresponding to a fixed CQI reported from a CQI statistical processing section (230). A CQI decoding section (220) decodes a reported CQI contained in a received signal. The CQI statistical processing section (230) performs statistical processing of reported CQIs corresponding to test data transmitted prior to an accuracy measurement test, and reports the most frequently reported CQI to the scheme control section (140) as a fixed CQI. A PER calculation section (260) calculates the PER in the communication apparatus from the reported CQI and Ack/Nack corresponding to test data transmitted in accordance with the fixed CQI. A determination section (270) performs threshold value determination for the PER for each reported CQI value, and outputs the reported CQI scheme determination result. |
| US07672364B2 |
Self-calibration method for use in a mobile transceiver
A method is provided for self-calibrating the mismatch and the direct current (DC) offset occurring in a mobile transceiver. The transmitter of the mobile terminal is used as a signal generator and the receiver thereof is used as a response characteristic measurer. The baseband processor calibrates the mismatch and the DC offset for the receiving and transmitting sides using a test signal received from the transmitter. When multiple input subcarriers are used in a mixer present on a reception stage, self-calibration is performed using multiple received test signals obtained from one transmission test signal. |
| US07672356B2 |
Method and apparatus for detection of a frequency coded sequence in the presence of sinusoidal interference
A communication device according to the present invention detects a frequency-hopped signal in an environment including sinusoidal interference. The frequency-hopped signal includes a frequency shift keying (FSK) sequence, where the sequence alternates between frequencies shifted from the carrier signal or hop frequency by positive and negative frequency offsets. The communication device of the present invention uses independent detection paths for each of the shifted frequencies. In the detection path for the upper frequency (e.g., positive frequency shift), a series of filters suppresses signals in the lower frequency band (e.g., negative frequency shift), while the detection path for the lower frequency employs a separate series of filters to suppress signals in the upper frequency band. The filter outputs from each detection path are separately examined to detect the presence of an expected signal. |
| US07672352B2 |
Surface-emitting semiconductor array device, module, light source device, data processing apparatus, light transmitting device, light spatial transmitting apparatus, and light spatial transmitting system
A surface-emitting semiconductor array device includes a substrate, a plurality of light-emitting portions, an electrode pad portion formed on the substrate and disposed through the plurality of light-emitting portions and a dividing groove, and having a plurality of electrode pads formed on an insulating film, and a plurality of metal wirings for connecting each of the plurality of light-emitting portions to a corresponding electrode pad through the dividing groove, the dividing groove has a wave-shaped side wall formed on the substrate. |
| US07672350B2 |
Method and device for using optical feedback to overcome bandwidth limitations caused by relaxation oscillation in vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs)
A semiconductor device is provided that includes an optical feedback structure that is monolithically integrated with a VCSEL device and which extends the speed of the VCSEL device beyond the speed to which it would otherwise be limited due to relaxation oscillation. The optical feedback structure does not rely on light emissions from the VCSEL substrate material to produce optical feedback. Consequently, extension of the bandwidth of the semiconductor device through the use of optical feedback is not limited by the absorption threshold wavelength of the substrate material. Furthermore, because the optical feedback structure does not include the substrate, the ability to use optical feedback to extend the bandwidth of the device is independent of the precision with which the substrate thickness can be controlled. |
| US07672347B2 |
Semiconductor light emitting device
A semiconductor light emitting device includes: a substrate; a laminate structure including a first semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second semiconductor layer; and a current confinement part for limiting a current injection region of the active layer in the second semiconductor layer, or between the active layer and the second semiconductor layer, on the substrate, wherein the current confinement part includes a current confinement layer having a conductive region corresponding to the current injection region of the active layer and a nonconductive region corresponding to a region other than the current injection region of the active layer, and an intermediate layer provided between the current confinement layer and the second semiconductor layer or the active layer in order to prevent a mixed crystal from being formed between the current confinement layer and the second semiconductor layer or the active layer. |
| US07672332B1 |
Map routing technique implemented in access networks
An improved addressing scheme is disclosed for use in access networks. According to a specific embodiment, upstream and/or downstream channels may be grouped together based upon logical associations rather than physical associations. Further, according to at least one embodiment of the present invention, various techniques are described for routing selected channel MAP messages to appropriate channels and/or nodes within the access network. |
| US07672331B1 |
Method and apparatus for initiating routing messages in a communication network
Switches within a telecommunications network exchange so-called available bandwidth messages, each of which advertises how much bandwidth remains unassigned on a respective link. The network is of a type in which circuits are provisioned with various predefined numbers of time slots (equivalent to bandwidth). The sending of an available bandwidth message for a given link is triggered by a change in the number of time slots available on that link if that change results in a change in the number of circuit bandwidths that can be accommodated by that link for a newly provisioned circuit. |
| US07672330B2 |
Methods for sending and receiving network management messages and/or control messages
The present invention provides a method for sending and receiving the network management messages and/or the control messages, that is, using GFP protocol in stead of conventional LAPD protocol, predetermining the mapping relationship between the values of UPI field in GFP protocol and the types of the data including the network management messages and/or the control messages, furthermore, filling the UPI field of GFP protocol based on the corresponding mapping relationship, encapsulating the network management messages and/or the control messages via GFP protocol into SDH/SONET, PDH or OTN, and transmitting the encapsulated data. GFP protocol is a universal protocol, allowing for inter-operation of the network management messages and the control messages between the equipments of different manufacturers. |
| US07672329B2 |
Method and apparatus for multiplexing and demultiplexing data, and computer product
A generating unit generates an apparatus reference frame phase that becomes a reference in a data multiplexing/demultiplexing apparatus, based on a reception frame phase of the data input to a predetermined reception buffer and a predetermined delay amount. A multiplexing/demultiplexing unit reads data from the reception buffer based on the apparatus reference frame phase generated by the generating unit, and multiplexes or demultiplexes the data. |
| US07672328B2 |
WLAN transmit scheduler comprising an accelerated back-off function
This invention can generally be described as an overall transmit (TX) scheduler state-machine that is broken down into two different state-machines: One first TX-scheduler state-machine (FTSM), executed in software, and one second TX-scheduler state-machine (STSM) executed in hardware, which is operating in four different basic states. The functional partitioning between the two state-machines is such that the most constrained real-time requirements are allocated to the STSM, while all complex decisions and non time-critical controls are allocated to the FTSM. The invention also relates to a terminal comprising the invented transmit scheduler. |
| US07672325B2 |
Method and apparatus for improved IGMP group membership messaging
A method and apparatus for controlling a Report message processing load at an IGMPv3 proxy/router. A |
| US07672321B2 |
Data communication in networks comprising a plurality of network nodes and at least one star node
The invention relates to a network comprising a plurality of network nodes. At least part of the network nodes are directly coupled to each other via at least one star node. The star node comprises a plurality of star interfaces which are assigned to at least one network node. In dependence on a respective pilot signal, a star interface conveys a message from the assigned network node to the other star interfaces, or from another star interface to at least one of the assigned network nodes. Also, in the event of simultaneous arrival of at least two pilot signals at the respective star interfaces, a decision circuit releases one star interface for the transmission of data. |
| US07672312B1 |
Connection release in a two-layer communication network
The present invention is a method for releasing at least a part of a connection in a two-layer communication network that includes a first communication network layer adapted to establish or which establishes a communication channel to a terminal, and a second communication network layer adapted to establish or which establishes an application layer connection. The method includes deciding in one of the first and second communication network layers that at least the part of the connection associated with the terminal is to be released, and forwarding the decision from the one of the communication network layers in which the decision has been taken, to the other of the communication network layers via an interface between the first and second communication network layers. |
| US07672303B1 |
Arbitration method and system
A method is provided for performing arbitration in an information packet controller. The method includes transmitting different types of information packets from an initiator to a receiver. One type of information packet has a quality of service requiring a faster transmission time from the initiator to the receiver than another type of information packet having a quality of service having a slower transmission time from the initiator to the receiver. The transmitting of the information packets from the initiator to the receiver is in accordance with priority assigned to the information packet, the quality of service assigned to the information packet, and the age of such information packets having been stored in a queue of the initiator, such quality of service being a function of the speed at which the packets are required to pass from the initiator to a receiver. |
| US07672302B2 |
Router using switching-before-routing packet processing and method of operation
A router comprising: i) a switch fabric; and ii) N Layer 2 modules coupled by the switch fabric, each of the N Layer 2 modules capable of receiving data packets in Layer 2 frames and forwarding the received data packets using Layer 2 addresses associated with the Layer 2 frames, wherein a first one of the Layer 2 modules comprises a Layer 3 routing engine capable of forwarding a first received data packet through the switch fabric directly to a second one of the Layer 2 modules using a Layer 3 address associated with the first received data packet if the first Layer 2 module does not recognize a Layer 2 address associated with the first received data packet. |
| US07672300B1 |
Network device with multiple MAC/PHY ports
A network device comprises a multi-port MAC device that includes N MAC devices and that outputs a port multiplexed and encoded parallel data stream. A first serializer/deserializer (SERDES) serializes the port multiplexed and encoded parallel data stream from the multi-port MAC device. |
| US07672299B2 |
Network interface card virtualization based on hardware resources and software rings
A method for virtualizing a network interface card includes creating a first plurality of virtual NICs, assigning each of a plurality of receive rings on the network interface card (NIC) to one of the first plurality of virtual NICs, and if the number of virtual NICs is greater than the number of receive rings on the NIC, creating a first software ring corresponding to one of the plurality of receive rings on the NIC, creating a first plurality of software receive rings associated with the first software ring, creating a second plurality of virtual NICs, and assigning each of the first plurality of software receive rings to one of the second plurality of virtual NICs, wherein the plurality of receive rings is less than a sum of the first plurality of virtual NICs and the second plurality of virtual NICs. |
| US07672293B2 |
Hardware throttling of network traffic sent to a processor based on new address rates
In an embodiment of the invention, a method and apparatus for hardware throttling of network traffic, includes: receiving a packet; and preventing the packet from being copied, based on a rate field value associated with a new address in the packet information in the packet. The packet is not copied even if a copy rule is triggered. |
| US07672292B2 |
Mobile packet communication system
A radio base station allocates, when performing a real-time Internet-protocol data communication, up-link radio resources, based on basic information of transmission data, so that the transmission data is transmitted in synchronization with a codec cycle of a mobile communication terminal in a concentrated manner, and notifies a result of allocating the up-link radio resources to the mobile communication terminal as an up-transmission schedule. A mobile communication terminal controls transmission of a radio frame based on the up-transmission schedule. |
| US07672291B2 |
Methods for establishing wireless network communication and device utilizing same
Method for establishing wireless networks between devices is disclosed. When a first device is activated to establish a wireless network with other devices, a first activation reference time is recorded. At least one second device that has at least one compatible networking capability is searched for and identified. When the second device is activated to establish wireless network with other devices, a second activation reference time also is recorded. The first and second activation reference times are compared to determine whether they fall into the same time window. The offset between the system time of the first device and that of the second may be factored into the calculation to further enhance the accuracy. If the first and second activation reference times are in the same time window, the authentication of wireless network is established between the devices. |
| US07672290B2 |
Dual-mode mobile terminal and method for displaying time information
A dual-mode mobile terminal that connects to synchronous and asynchronous mobile communication systems and a method for displaying accurate time information in the terminal. The terminal includes a timer and a controller. The timer generates an interrupt signal at a predetermined time. When entering an asynchronous communication mode, the controller starts the timer to generate the interrupt signal at the predetermined time. When receiving the interrupt signal from the timer, the controller connects to the synchronous mobile communication system to obtain accurate time information therefrom and then connects to the asynchronous mobile communication system to switch to the asynchronous communication mode. |
| US07672288B1 |
Arrangement for secure communication and key distribution in a telecommunication system
The invention relates to mobility management of an Internet-type protocol traffic in a mobile communications system. At least one mobile exchange (DXT1, DXT2) in the mobile communications system is arranged to operate as a gateway which interfaces (router 1) the mobile communications system with external data networks. All the mobile exchanges (DXT1, DXT2) are arranged to use a user identity and a data equipment identity for identifying each mobile host and to use an identity of the mobile exchange currently serving the mobile host for defining the location of the mobile host. Each mobile host is dynamically or permanently allocated an IP address which is bound to the user identity, the data equipment identity and the location information of the respective mobile host. The use of the user identity and the data terminal identity provide a unique identification for the mobile host without any relation to the IP network. Also the location information is independent of the IP network. As a consequence, the mobile exchanges are able to route IP datagrams having the allocated IP address from a gateway exchange (DXT1) to the serving exchange (DXT2) according to the location information and further to the respective mobile host according to the user identity and the data equipment identity bound to the IP address by using a mobile network specific routing method instead of mobile IP tunnelling. |
| US07672284B2 |
Throughput in multi-rate wireless networks using variable-length packets and other techniques
In a wireless communication network having a plurality of devices operating at different data rates that contend for access to the network, a method is provided that assigns network access parameters to one or more of the devices so as to control throughput on the network. Examples of network access control parameters are the maximum data packet size and the contention window size. Generally, the network access control parameter for slower data rate users is configured so that they do not occupy the network a disproportionate amount of time compared to faster data rate users. |
| US07672283B1 |
Detecting unauthorized wireless devices in a network
Computer implemented techniques for detecting the presence and identity of unauthorized wireless devices (“UWD”) on a network. The technique is capable of detecting the presence and existence UWDs irrespective whether the UWDs implements encryption in their communication. Furthermore, it is unnecessary for the computer-implemented method to access the management console of a wireless access point for the purpose of determining the identity of the wireless client devices that currently employ the access point to accomplish the wireless communication. The computer-implemented method also does not require any software agent to be installed on the wireless client devices for the purpose of detecting unauthorized wireless communication. |
| US07672279B2 |
Methods for dynamic radio resource management and link control
The present invention relates to transmission and retransmission of packet data in a communications system, where the communications system uses rate switching or channel switching. It provides an interface for information exchange between radio resource management and one or more transport protocol entities in a cellular mobile radio system, particularly a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, UMTS, or WCDMA system. |
| US07672277B2 |
Method and device for estimating carrier frequency offset of subscriber terminal
The invention discloses a method of estimating carrier frequency offset for subscriber terminal, including: determining number of effective base stations from which more than one signals are received by a subscriber terminal; combining the signals of each station corresponding to said number of effective base stations; calculating a rough estimation value of the carrier frequency offset based on combined signal. The invention also discloses a device of estimating carrier frequency offset for subscriber terminal, including: decision module, used to determine the number of effective base stations from which more than one signals received by subscriber terminal, combining module, used to combine the signals of the effective base station and output the combined signal to the carrier frequency offset acquiring module; carrier frequency offset acquiring module, used to estimate the carrier frequency offset of the merged signal. According to the invention, the carrier frequency offset for the subscriber terminal will meet system requirement, and improve cell searching success probability. |
| US07672276B2 |
Base station apparatus and mobile communication system
Disclosed is a handover method in radio communication. A base station apparatus monitors the receiving state of a terminal, detects, based upon the receiving state, whether the terminal is one in which there is a possibility that loss of a call or a decline in quality will occur or one in which loss of a call or a decline in quality has occurred, and hands over the terminal to another base station apparatus having a carrier frequency different from that of the present base station apparatus. |
| US07672274B2 |
Mobility support via routing
A communication system is described. In one embodiment, the communication system comprises a mobile station having a transmitter to transmit packets wirelessly according to a protocol and multiple repeaters communicably coupled with the mobile station. Each of the plurality of repeaters receives one or more packets of the wirelessly transmitted packets from the mobile station. Each of the repeaters receives an indication of which of the wirelessly transmitted packets were received without errors by other repeaters and a received signal strength for those packets. The communication system also includes a switch coupled to the repeaters. Each of the repeaters forwards to the switch each packet of the wirelessly transmitted packets that each repeater had received without errors at a received signal strength higher than any other repeater. |
| US07672271B2 |
Method of constructing wireless high speed backbone connection that unifies various wired/wireless network clusters by means of employing the smart/adaptive antenna technique and dynamically creating concurrent data pipelines
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a high-speed wireless backbone connection, Backbone Connection Facilitator (BCF), to create a wireless home network, which may consist of many short-range wired/wireless networks. BCF dynamically creates concurrent data pipelines to meet the data bandwidth demand to transfer packets from one short-range wired/wireless network to another. BCF employs the newly developed antenna technologies (ex. MIMO, SDMA) to minimize the transmit power, to reduce the interferences, and to support the real time communication.BCF contains the BCF-PHY layer, the BCF-Data-Link-Layer, and the BCF-Network-Layer. The BCF-PHY layer consists of antenna array, a PHY Base Band controller, and a digital beam former. The BCF-Data-Link-Layer provides the MAC functionality. The BCF-Network-Layer assembles the packet, provides the source and destination address, and provides the BCF-PHY beam forming information. The BCF-Network-Layer is also responsible for parsing and assembling the packet payloads for the high-speed backbone connection. |
| US07672267B2 |
Intermediary network system and method for facilitating message exchange between wireless networks
Network system and method for facilitating message exchange between mobile subscribers belonging to the same or different public land mobile networks, possibly incorporating different standards. Message exchange between two subscribers of the same or different networks may involve one or more lookups on subscription data, zero or more message transformations, one or more routing decisions including application of costing functions, and, storage and propagation of the message in one or more Core or Intermediary networks. The messages may be of type, among others, SMS (Short Message Service), MMS (Multimedia Message Service), or EMAIL. An aspect of the present invention provides a message routing subsystem that facilitates destination determination and delivery channel selection. |
| US07672264B2 |
Method of pausing keep-alive messages and roaming for virtual private networks on handheld devices to save battery power
Provided is a method for maintaining a connection between a mobile device and a server over a wireless network in a manner that conserves the power supply of the mobile device. The claimed subject matter addresses the transmission of regular “keep-alive” packets to refresh a network address translation (NAT) server and the scanning for and connecting to faster, higher priority network connections. A configurable parameter, or power timeout, specifies an idle time. When a period of time equal to the parameter has passed with no traffic between the mobile device and the server, in either direction, periodic roaming scans and keep-alive messages are halted. As soon as traffic is resumed through the tunnel, the mobile device roams to the highest priority connection and roaming scans and keep-alive messages are resumed. |
| US07672260B2 |
Method of addressing messages and communications system
A target radio frequency identification (RFID) device may include a receiver to receive valid bits common to a first set of random numbers and to receive a signal indicating a change in a number of time slots from a first number of a plurality of time slots to a second number of a plurality of time slots in which the target device may respond. The target device may include processing circuitry to generate a random number, to determine if the random number is in the first set, to generate a random value, and to randomly select a time slot. The target device may further include a transmitter to communicate a response if the random number is determined to be in the first set, and to communicate the random value during the randomly selected time slot. |
| US07672253B2 |
Border router with selective filtering of link state advertisements
An example embodiment of the present invention provides a process relating to the selective filtering of an LSA at a not-so-stubby-sub-area (NSSSA) border router. In one embodiment, the border router receives an LSA from another router inside the NSSSA, which might be in the access layer of the hierarchical network design model and which might use OSPF as its IGP. If the LSA is Type 1 and includes a subnet route or forwarder address, the border router floods it to its neighboring routers, regardless of whether they are inside the NSSSA. If the LSA is Type 7 and includes a host address, the border router floods it to a neighboring router if the neighboring router is inside the NSSSA, but filters the LSA if the neighboring router is outside the NSSSA, for example, in an OSPF area in the distribution layer of the hierarchical network design model. |
| US07672250B2 |
Multi-carrier wireless communication access terminal and data transmission method
A method, apparatus, and system permits an access terminal (“AT”) for a multi-carrier CDMA wireless communication system to concurrently receive data on N different-frequency carriers while restricting one or more parameters that affect data reception rate, so that limited resources of the AT will be sufficient to properly process data packets on the N carriers. The data rate controlling parameter may be “I,” the number of supported H-ARQ channels for one or more of the N carriers. A relationship may be defined between the number of supported forward and/or reverse link carriers, versus the number of supported H-ARQ channels and/or other data rate controlling parameters. Messages may enable identification of AT characteristics, and configuration and/or dynamic re-configuration of AT data communication capabilities that are related to different values of N and corresponding different data rate controlling parameters. |
| US07672249B2 |
Configurable network appliance
An Internet appliance accesses an HTML page on a Web site containing configuration information for the appliance, such as an Internet compatible telephone. Data from the HTML page are downloaded to the appliance to modify its options or settings automatically upon accessing the HTML page, or as directed by the user. The data may be downloaded to a programmable memory in the Internet appliance and the stored data may be used to upgrade the appliance. The upgrade HTML page may include information to alert the user when the new information is available regarding changes to options and settings of the appliance. Alternatively, data from the Internet appliance are placed in an HTML page and the data are then uploaded to the Web site. Additional embodiments provide other functions that may be placed in an HTML page to effect some internal action in the Internet appliance, such as checking e-mail. |
| US07672242B2 |
Traffic management device and method thereof
A traffic management device and the method thereof are disclosed. The traffic management device includes a control logic unit, a first counting unit, and a second counting unit. The traffic management method follows the dual leaky bucket mechanism. A first count value and a second count value are generated by the first counting unit and the second counting unit, respectively, such that the control logic unit controls the average rate by checking whether the first count value falls within the range of a first threshold and controls the peak rate by checking whether the second count value falls within the range of a second threshold. When both the conditions are satisfied, packets in the queue are transmitted. Thus, the network flow is controlled effectively. |
| US07672239B1 |
System and method for conducting fast offloading of a connection onto a network interface card
Techniques, systems, and apparatus for offloading data connections from a kernel onto an associated TNIC are disclosed. Generally, embodiments of the invention are configured to send message packets of a connection to an endpoint at substantially the same time as an associated offload set-up process is performed. A method provides a data connection enabling data exchange between two TCP endpoints. After a determination is made that the connection is suitable for offloading, the kernel sends connection state information and a request that the connection be offloaded to a TNIC. Prior to completion of offload set up, an initial transmission of connection data is sent to an associated TCP endpoint. These principles can be implemented as software operating on a computer system, as a computer system module, as a computer program product and as a series of related devices and products. |
| US07672237B2 |
Node capable of saving a third-layer operation
In a node having first, second, and third layers, a packet (or a cell) is mapped in the first layer. The first layer judges whether the packet (or the cell) is to be dropped at the node or to be hopped to a next node. The first layer transmits the packet to the third layer through the second layer when the first layer judges that the packet is to be dropped at the node. The first layer transmits, when the first layer judges that the packet is to be hopped to the next node, the packet to the next node by making the packet cut through the first layer. |
| US07672230B2 |
Downstream channel change technique implemented in an access network
A dynamic channel change technique is disclosed which may be implemented between nodes and a Head End of an access network. Initially a network device may communicate with the Head End via a first downstream channel and a first upstream channel. When the network device receives a dynamic channel change request which includes instructions for the network device to switch to a second downstream channel, the network device may respond by switching from the first downstream channel to the second downstream channel. Thereafter, the network device may communicate with the Head End via the second downstream channel and first upstream channel. Further, according to a specific embodiment, the dynamic channel change request may also include an upstream channel change request for causing the network device to switch from a first upstream channel to a second upstream channel. |
| US07672229B2 |
Method for distributing dynamic link bandwidth for resilient packet ring
The invention discloses a method for dynamically allocating link bandwidth on resilient packet ring. This algorithm comprises the steps of measuring a group of variables in one advertisement interval, calculating the local fair rate using the measured variables, determining an advertising rate based on the local fair rate, and transmitting the data packets with the advertising rate. Compared with existing fairness algorithms, the new algorithm introduces integration for the idle rate to achieve 100% of bandwidth utilization. It also avoids using the concept of “congestion state” which is essential in the existing fairness algorithm. |
| US07672228B1 |
System and method for network loop detection and recovery
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to a system and method of network loop detection and recovery. In one embodiment of the invention, a networked node contains a loop detection and recovery agent. The loop detection and recovery agent may include a loop detection module and a loop recovery module. The loop detection module may be independent of a redundancy protocol implemented by the networked node. In contrast, the loop recovery module may be embedded in the redundancy protocol implemented by the networked node. |
| US07672223B2 |
Method and apparatus for replicating a transport layer protocol stream
Network connection switchover is accomplished through a method comprising receiving information defining a first connection between a first network device and a computer; establishing a replication channel between the first network device and a backup device; storing backup control information at the backup device; communicating a message flow between the first network device and the computer on the first transport connection; in response to unavailability of the first network device, communicating messages on the replication channel that cause (a) establishing a second connection between the backup device and the computer; (b) continuing communication of the message flow between the backup device and the computer based on the backup control information. TCP connections, for example, can be switched from an active device to a backup device without reset or re-transmission. |
| US07672222B2 |
Link failures
A data communications architecture employing serializers and deserializers that reduces data communications latency. In an illustrative implementation, the data communications architecture communicates data across communications links. The architecture maintains various mechanisms to promote data communications speed and to avoid communication link down time. These mechanisms perform the functions including but not limited to handling uncertain data arrival times, detecting single bit and multi-bit errors, handling communications link failures, addressing failed link training, identifying and marking data as corrupt, and identifying and processing successful data transactions across the communications link. |
| US07672220B2 |
Apparatus and method of multiple antenna receiver combining of high data rate wideband packetized wireless communication signals
The present invention provides an apparatus and method of multiple antenna receiver combining of high data rate wideband packetized wireless communication signals, where the apparatus includes M receive antennas, receiving M high data rate wideband packetized wireless communication signals, where each of the signals includes N frequency bins. The apparatus, in an exemplary embodiment, includes (1) a joint timing recovery units that perform joint coarse signal timing estimation, joint frequency offset estimation, and joint fine timing estimation on each of the signals, (2) M Fast Fourier Transform units (FFTs) that each convert the digital data for each of the M signals into frequency domain information for each of the N received frequencies and that output Q pilots for each of the signals, where Q is a positive integer, and (3) a combiner that weights and combines the outputs of the M FFTs for each of the N received frequencies. |
| US07672216B2 |
Optical information recording medium, and substrate and manufacturing method for the optical information recording medium
In an optical disk including at least a rewritable phase change material and comprising a recording layer having a reflectivity of more than 15%, an address output value as an address pit signal component occupying in a reproduced signal in a non recording state is prescribed to be 0.18 though 0.27 or a numerical aperture of an address pit signal occupying in a reproduced signal in a non recording state is prescribed to be more than 0.3. |
| US07672214B2 |
Probe, recording apparatus, reproducing apparatus, and recording/reproducing apparatus
A probe (100) is provided with: a substrate (110) having a surface facing a medium (20); and a point electrode (120), formed in the substrate, for performing at least one of detection operation of a state of a domain of the medium and change operation of the state of the domain of the medium, a tip portion, which is an edge portion on a side facing the medium, out of the point electrode being disposed in one point in a plane which is formed in a vicinity of an area portion in which the point electrode is formed by the surface. |
| US07672209B2 |
Hologram recording/reproducing apparatus, hologram reproducing apparatus and method, and computer program
An example hologram recording/reproduction device reproduces recorded information from a holographic recording medium where interference fringes formed by a reference light and an object light corresponding to the recording information are recorded. The example hologram recording/reproduction device irradiates the reference light to a holographic recording medium; generates detection information data (Ddet) according to the detection light generated by irradiation of the reference light; sets a target irradiation position of the reference light on the surface of the holographic recording medium according to the detection information data; and moves the irradiation means with respect to the holographic recording medium along its surface so that the reference light is irradiated to the target irradiation position. |
| US07672208B2 |
Write-once optical disc, and method and apparatus for recording/playback management information on/from optical disc
A write-once optical disc, and an apparatus and method for recording management information on the optical disc are provided. The disc includes at least one recording layer, a plurality of temporary defect management areas (TDMAs) on the at least one recording layer, and a plurality of defect management areas (DMAs) on the at least one recording layer. At least one of the TDMAs includes first and second indicators. The first indicator indicates which TDMA is an in-use TDMA, and the second indicator indicates whether or not the recording medium is closed. |
| US07672202B2 |
Optical pickup apparatus
An optical pickup apparatus comprising: a diffraction grating including a first grating for diffracting a first laser light beam, and a second grating for diffracting a second laser light beam which is shorter in wavelength than the first laser light beam, the diffraction grating being disposed in a common optical path for guiding the first laser light beam and the second laser light beam to an optical disc; and a photo detector including in a first light receiving area, a main light receiving unit, a front sub-light receiving unit, and a rear sub-light receiving unit that receive reflected light beams, which are reflected by the optical disc, of a main beam, of a front sub-beam, and of a rear sub-beam, respectively, the first laser light beam being diffracted by the diffraction grating into the main beam, the front sub-beam formed in front of the main beam, and the rear sub-beam formed at the back of the main beam, wherein the first grating is set such that the front sub-light receiving unit and the rear sub-light receiving unit in the first light receiving area are disposed at positions which substantially avoid unnecessary diffracted light beam spots which are generated by projecting to the first light receiving area unnecessary diffracted light beams, the unnecessary diffracted light beams generated by the second grating from the first laser light beam. |
| US07672196B1 |
Sound source localizing apparatus and method
A sound source localizer is provided which includes a receiver (41) composed of a plurality of highly versatile microphones (10) each having a predetermined directivity D, a data base (12) which is to calculate a difference in directional sensitivity between one of the microphones (10) of the receiver (41) pointed in one direction and the other directed at an angle of 180 deg. to the one direction and has pre-stored therein information used for determination of an arrival direction and angle of a sound source, and a calculator (11) for calculating differences in level between signals received by the receiver (41) in different directions to determine the arrival direction, angle and sound level of the sound source with reference to the information stored in the data base (12). |
| US07672193B2 |
Methods and systems for processing acoustic waveform data
Methods and systems for taking acoustic measurements related to subterranean formations. The methods and systems provide extracting a portion of the acoustic measurements based on predetermined parameters for selecting reflected arrival waves in the acoustic measurements; generating time projection of the extracted acoustic measurements versus borehole depth; and generating an indication or imaging of acoustic reflectors in the formation based on the time projected acoustic measurements. |
| US07672190B1 |
Input latch circuit and method
A circuit and method are provided that eliminate race conditions in data storage devices. Generally, the circuit includes: (i) an input latch to which an address signal (ADD) is applied; (ii) a multiplexer (MUX) to which the ADD is coupled from the input latch and through which an output is supplied to an output latch; (iii) an address valid signal (ADV) input coupled to the output latch and to which an ADV is applied to close the output latch supplying the output to a circuit output; and (iv) a middle latch coupled between the input latch and the MUX to hold the ADD applied to the MUX until the output latch closes, independent of a change in the ADD applied to the input latch. Preferably, the circuit includes control logic configured to close the middle latch on a rising edge of ADV and reopen it when the output latch closes. |
| US07672188B2 |
System for blocking multiple memory read port activation
A system for blocking multiple memory read port activation including a first memory read port word line driver that includes a first polarity hold latch with an output connected to an input of a first buffer, and a second memory read port word line driver that includes a second polarity hold latch with an output connected to an input of a blocking switch and a second buffer with an input connected to an output of the blocking switch, wherein a second input of the blocking switch is also connected to the output of the first polarity hold latch and the blocking switch is configured to allow or block a signal transmission between the input and the output of the blocking switch dependent on a signal assertion of the second input to the blocking switch. |
| US07672185B2 |
Method and apparatus to monitor circuit variation effects on electrically programmable fuses
A monitor bank consists of test one time programmable memory that is programmed distinctively from functional one time programmable memory in order to determine whether the functional one time programmable memory has or will program successfully. In a specific embodiment, each monitor bank consists of a first eFuse configured to expectedly never blow, a second eFuse configured to expectedly always blow, and at least a third eFuse configured to be more difficult to blow than the first eFuse, but easier to blow than the second eFuse. The method of determining whether functional eFuses have or will be programmed successfully is described: programming a monitor bank; sensing whether the test eFuses have blown; creating a monitor bank bit line blow pattern; determining an anticipated bit line blow pattern; comparing the two patterns; and determining that the functional eFuses will not blow successfully if the patterns do not match. |
| US07672183B2 |
Semiconductor memory device with two-stage input buffer
A semiconductor memory device includes: a pre-amplifying unit configured to amplify a difference between an input signal and a reference signal to output a pre-output signal; a delaying unit configured to delay the input signal to output a delayed input signal; and a main amplifying unit configured to receive the pre-output signal and the delayed input signal as differential inputs to output an output signal. |
| US07672167B2 |
Non-volatile memory device
A non-volatile memory device may include at least one string, at least one bit line corresponding to the at least one string, and/or a sensing transistor. The at least one string may include a plurality of memory cell transistors connected in series. The sensing transistor may include a gate configured to sense a voltage of the corresponding bit line. A threshold voltage of the sensing transistor may be higher than a voltage obtained by subtracting a given voltage from a voltage applied to read the corresponding bit line connected to a memory cell transistor to be read of the plurality of memory cell transistors. |
| US07672165B2 |
Methods for active boosting to minimize capacitive coupling effect between adjacent gates of flash memory devices
A NAND flash memory device incorporates a unique booster plate design. The booster plate is biased during read and program operations and the coupling to the floating gates in many cases reduces the voltage levels necessary to program and read the charge stored in the gates. The booster plate also shields against unwanted coupling between floating gates. Self boosting, local self boosting, and erase area self boosting modes used with the unique booster plate further improve read/write reliability and accuracy. A more compact and reliable memory device can hence be realized according to the present invention. |
| US07672159B2 |
Method of operating multi-level cell
A method of operating a multi-level cell is described, wherein the cell includes a substrate of a first conductivity type, a control gate, a charge-storing layer and two S/D regions of a second conductivity type. The method includes an erasing step that injects charges of a first type into the charge-storing layer and a programming step that includes applying a first voltage to the substrate, a second voltage to both S/D regions and a third voltage to the control gate. The difference between the first and second voltages is sufficient to cause band-to-band tunneling hot holes, and the third voltage causes charges of a second type to enter the charge-storing layer. The third voltage can have 2n−1 different values, for programming the cell to a predetermined state among 2n−1 storage states. |
| US07672156B2 |
Phase change random access memory device
In a phase-change random access memory (PRAM) device, a write operation is performed by applying a set pulse to failed PRAM cells. The set pulse comprises a plurality of stages sequentially decreasing from a first current magnitude to a second current magnitude. The first current magnitude or the second current magnitude varies from one write loop to another. |
| US07672153B2 |
Deglitching circuits for a radiation-hardened static random access memory based programmable architecture
A method for providing a deglitching circuit for a radiation tolerant static random access memory (SRAM) comprising: providing a configuration memory having a plurality of configuration bits; coupling read and write circuitry to the configuration memory for configuring the plurality of configuration bits; coupling a radiation hard latch to a programmable element, the radiation hard latch controlling the programmable element; and providing an interface that couples at least one of the plurality of configuration bits to the radiation hard latch when the write circuitry writes to the at least one of the plurality of configuration bits. |
| US07672152B1 |
Memory cell with built-in process variation tolerance
A Schmitt Trigger (ST) based, fully differential, 10-transistor (10T) SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) bitcell suitable for sub-threshold operation. The Schmitt trigger based bitcell achieves 1.56× higher read static noise margin (SNM) (VDD=400 mV) compared to a conventional 6T cell. The robust Schmitt trigger based memory cell exhibits built-in process variation tolerance that gives tight SNM distribution across the process corners. It utilizes fully differential operation and hence does not require any architectural changes from the present 6T architecture. The 10T bitcell has two cross-coupled Schmitt trigger inverters which each consist of four transistors, including a PMOS transistor and two NMOS transistors in series, and an NMOS feedback transistor which is connected between the inverter output and the junction between the series-connected NMOS transistors. Each inverter has one associated NMOS access transistor. |
| US07672151B1 |
Method for reading non-volatile ferroelectric capacitor memory cell
A non-volatile memory cell and related system utilize ferroelectric capacitors as data storage elements. Circuitry is provided for writing to a single ferroelectric capacitor storage element, as well as to dual storage elements operating inversely. The storage elements are read by use of a sense amplifier in a configuration which automatically restores the original data states, thereby eliminating the need for a subsequent restore operation. Memory systems are described which include circuitry for driving bit lines, word lines and drive lines to accomplish both the write and read operations. |
| US07672150B2 |
Apparatus, embedded memory, address decoder, method of reading out data and method of configuring a memory
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to an apparatus, to an embedded memory, to an address decoder, to a method of reading out data and to a method of configuring a memory. In an embodiment of the invention an apparatus is provided. The apparatus may include a plurality of read-only memory (ROM) cells and an address decoder to access a ROM cell of the plurality of ROM cells, the address decoder further being fuse-programmable to divert an access to the ROM cell to a different memory cell. |
| US07672148B2 |
Controller and method for frequency-varying control of power converter
A controller and method changing a frequency of a control (or carrier) signal in accordance with a waveform that periodically changes within a first frequency range from a frequency fc1 to a frequency fc2, where the frequency fc1 is smaller than the frequency fc2, and a second frequency range from a frequency fc3 to a frequency fc4, where the frequency fc3 is smaller than the frequency fc4. The frequencies fc1 and fc4 satisfy the inequalities (n−1)·fc4≦n·fc2 and n·fc3≦(n+1)·fc1 and/or satisfy an approximate expression n·fc4≈(n+1)·fc1 where n is an integer. The frequencies fc2 and fc3 satisfy the inequalities n·fc2≦fs−Δfs and fs+Δfs≦n·fc3 where fs±Δfs represents a predetermined frequency band. |
| US07672147B1 |
High attenuation filtering circuit for power converters
A power converter includes an output filter circuit including first and second inductive elements; a voltage source coupled to the output filter circuit, the voltage source for generating a voltage across the output filter circuit, the voltage including an alternating voltage component, the alternating voltage component causing the application of an alternating current to the first inductive element of the output filter circuit; and an attenuation filtering circuit. The attenuation filtering circuit includes a first magnetically coupled inductive arrangement for generating a first opposing alternating current in response to the alternating voltage applied to the first inductive element of the output filter circuit; a first combining element for combining the first opposing alternating current with the alternating current to partially cancel the alternating current, thereby producing an attenuated alternating current applied to the second inductive element of the output filter circuit; a second magnetically coupled inductive arrangement for generating a second opposing alternating current in response to the attenuated alternating current applied to the second inductive element of the output filter circuit; and a second combining element for combining the second opposing alternating current with the attenuated alternating current to substantially cancel the attenuated alternating current. |
| US07672146B2 |
Switching mode power supply and driving method
A switching mode power supply includes a switching transistor, coupled to a primary coil at a primary side of a transformer for converting an input DC voltage, supplying power to a secondary and a tertiary coil at a secondary side of the transformer according to an operation of the switching transistor; a switching controller receiving a feedback voltage corresponding to a first voltage generated in the secondary coil and receiving a detection signal corresponding to a current of the switching transistor to generate a switching control signal for controlling the turn on/off of the switching transistor; and a feedback signal generator receiving the first voltage and the switching control signal to set a sampling period, and storing the first voltage, sampled with a last pulse of the first pulse string within the sampling period as a feedback voltage. The output voltage is thereby accurately detected without opto-couplers or shunt regulators. |
| US07672139B2 |
Shelf for electronic plug-in devices
A shelf for electronic plug-in units is provided. The shelf includes at least one support plate that has at least one shaped opening. At least one guide rail is arranged for being mounted on the support plate, which includes a guide groove for receiving the electronic plug-in unit. There is also provided at least one positioning unit arranged on the guide rail, which includes a trunnion insertable form-fittingly into the shaped opening in the support plate to fix a position of the positioning unit relative to the support plate, and a locking element to lock in place an electronic plug-in unit fully inserted into the guide rail. |
| US07672138B2 |
Electronic apparatus
An electronic apparatus include a housing, a circuit board held in the housing, and large electronic components held in the housing and electrically coupled to the circuit board. The housing has a mounting surface, and the electronic apparatus is mounted to an object at the mounting surface. The large electronic components are arranged in a three-dimensional manner with respect to the mounting surface in such a manner that at least one of the large electronic components overlaps at least one of the large electronic components in a direction toward the mounting surface. |
| US07672135B2 |
Heat sink
A heat sink includes a plurality of fins parallel to each other. The fins include a top portion having a flange. The opposite ends of each flange are rounded. Two rounded corners are located below the plane defined by the flange. |
| US07672134B2 |
Apparatus for directing heat to a heat spreader
An apparatus for dissipating heat from a device is provided. The apparatus includes a heat sink having an elongated shape and defining a groove. A heat spreader composed of a non-isotropic thermal conductor is positioned at least partially within the groove of the heat sink and thermally coupled to the heat sink. The heat spreader is oriented such that the thermal conductor propagates heat along a length of the heat sink. A heat channel composed of a non-isotropic thermal conductor is positioned at least partially within the groove of the heat sink and thermally coupled to the heat spreader. The heat channel is oriented to propagate heat towards the heat spreader. |
| US07672131B2 |
Heat sink assembly and method manufacturing the same
A heat sink assembly includes a base plate, a fin group and a heat pipe thermally connecting the base plate with the fin group. The fin group includes a plurality of fins. The heat pipe includes a straight evaporating section contacting with the base plate, a first condensing section extending upwardly from an end of the evaporating section and through the fins, a second condensing section bent downwardly from a free end of the first condensing section and through the fins, and a third condensing section extending upwardly from an opposite end of the evaporating section and through the fins. Periphery walls of at least two of the first, second and third condensing sections substantially totally contact with the fins to increase a contact area between the heat pipe and the fins. |
| US07672130B2 |
Heat dissipating device
A heat dissipating device includes a sealed container having hollow floors and floor-spacing assemblies. Each floor-spacing assembly includes hollow spacing walls. Each hollow spacing wall extends from a respective hollow floor and is spaced apart from an adjacent one of the hollow spacing walls of an adjacent one of the floor-spacing assemblies by an air gap. Each two adjacent ones of the hollow floors are interconnected through the hollow spacing walls disposed therebetween. The sealed container defines a liquid reservoir, a condensate reservoir, and a plurality of fluid passages extending through the hollow spacing walls and the hollow floors that are disposed between the liquid reservoir and the condensate reservoir. |
| US07672129B1 |
Intelligent microchannel cooling
A cooling system for a heat producing component includes a base having two or more cells. The cells may include microchannel passages. A pump system may be coupled to the base. The pump system may circulate fluid independently in each of two or more of the cells. The pump system may include an array of two more magnetohydrodynamic pumps. Each magnetohydrodynamic pump may provide fluid to a different cell. A controller may control a flow rate in each one of cell of the cooling system independently one or more of other cells of the cooling system. |
| US07672127B2 |
Information processing device and manufacturing method of the information processing device
An information processing device includes a housing part; a heating part arranged in the housing part; a cooling unit configured to cool the heating part; an airflow supplying member configured to supply an airflow to the cooling unit; and an airflow limitation member configured to limit the airflow supplied by the airflow supplying member. A part of the cooling unit, the airflow limitation member, and the airflow supplying member are arranged in series. An air intake part is provided in one surface of the housing part so as to intake air into the airflow limitation member. An air discharge part is provided in another surface of the housing part so as to discharge air cooling the part of the cooling unit. An air discharge unit is provided at an air discharge opening provided at one side surface of the airflow limitation member. |
| US07672125B2 |
Electronic apparatus
An electronic component generates heat in an electronic apparatus. The heat of the electronic component is transferred to a thermal conductive plate of a heat receiver in a liquid cooling unit. The heat is transferred to coolant from the thermal conductive plate. The temperature of the coolant rises. The heat exchanger absorbs heat of the coolant. The coolant gets cooled. The heat of the electronic component is also transferred to the printed wiring board. The heat spreads over the printed wiring board through a wiring pattern in the printed wiring board. Since the tank or/and pump is placed at a position outside the printed wiring board, the heat cannot be transferred to the tank or/and the pump. This results in prevention of rise in the temperature of the coolant in the tank or/and the pump. The efficiency of heat radiation can thus be enhanced. |
| US07672119B2 |
Folding user interface
An electronic device interface provides three different physical user interfaces. Users may fold or unfold the device to reveal one interface and hide the other two. A first module includes a first portion of a first interface. A second module includes a first portion of a second interface. A third module includes a second portions of the first and second interfaces. The second and third modules are folded together to hide the second interface and expose the first interface. The first and third modules are folded together to hide the first interface and expose the second interface. The third interface is exposed when the first and third modules and the second and third modules are folded together, hiding the first and second interfaces. The first modules can include a concave portion matching a convex portion of the third module to maintain a flush profile for the first and second interfaces. |
| US07672118B2 |
Electronic apparatus
According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes: a main body that has a bearing hole having a first retaining portion and a second retaining portion; a sub module that has a shaft rotatably coupling with the bearing hole so that the sub module moves between a first position and a second position; and a detent spring that is coupled with the shaft to keep the sub module at the first position and at the second position, the detent spring having a third retaining portion, wherein the third retaining portion couples with the first retaining portion when the sub module is kept at the first position, and wherein the third retaining portion couples with the second retaining portion when the sub module is kept at the second position. |
| US07672116B2 |
Fast terminal box
A fast terminal box includes a casing, a cover, plural wiring sockets, plural metal connection components and a plurality of wiring terminals. The wiring sockets are placed and distributed on a bottom plate of the casing one by one. The metal connection component is provided on the wiring socket for connection purpose. The casing and the cover are combined to each other. The wiring terminals are distributed at sidewall of the casing for receiving corresponding wiring plugs therein. The fast terminal box is characterized in heat sink metal fins are contained in a space around the wiring socket, and heat sink metal fins contact pins of a diode and the metal connection component respectively through corresponding connection portions thereof. Wiring apertures are defined in an outer surface of the heat sink metal fins, thereby improving heat dissipating effect and especially by utilization of heat sink metal fins of covering construction, heat dissipation effect being more effectively improved, and also the heat sink metal fins capable of being mounted conveniently and quickly. |
| US07672114B1 |
Carbon nanoarchitectures with ultrathin, conformal polymer coatings for electrochemical capacitors
A composite having an electroactive polymer coating on a porous carbon structure is disclosed. The composite may be used in capacitor electrodes. The composite may be made by self-limiting electropolymerization of a monomer on the carbon structure. |
| US07672110B2 |
Electrostatic chuck having textured contact surface
An electrostatic chuck has an electrode embedded in a dielectric which is mounted on a pedestal. The dielectric has a contact surface with an average surface roughness of less than about 0.5 μm, a surface peak waviness of less than about 0.12 μm, and a surface peak waviness material ratio of greater than about 20%. The surface texture can be formed by lapping the dielectric surface with a slurry of abrasive particles. |
| US07672109B2 |
Safety switching apparatus for safe disconnection of an electrical load
A safety switching apparatus for safe disconnection of an electrical load in an automated installation has at least one input for connecting a signaling device. The safety switching apparatus has an evaluation and control unit and at least one switching element controlled by the evaluation and control unit in order to interrupt an electrical power supply path to the load. The switching element is a changeover switch having at least two mutually alternative switching paths, with a first switching path being located in the electrical power supply path to the load and with a second switching path leading to a monitoring unit. |
| US07672107B2 |
Current limit control with current limit detector
Devices, such as mobile devices, may be exposed to short circuit and output overload events. To protect against such events, mobile devices typically include circuitry to limit currents so as not to exceed a pre-programmed current limit. Various embodiments of the present invention include devices and methods for detecting pre-programmed current limits and for limiting currents in response to such detection. In some embodiments, both the current limit detector and the current limit controller circuitry include scaled current switches. The scaling may be substantially similar between the programmed-current limit detector and the current limit controller circuitry. |
| US07672101B2 |
ESD protection circuit and method
A system includes a driving device operating at first supply voltage Vdd1 and having a CMOS output. A driven devise operates at a second supply voltage Vdd2 lower than the first supply voltage Vdd1, and has a CMOS input with an NMOS pull-down transistor. A protection circuit includes a first resistor coupled to the CMOS output of the driving device and a gate of the NMOS pull-down transistor. A parasitic NPN bipolar junction transistor has a drain connected to the gate of the NMOS pull-down transistor sad a source coupled to a lower-voltage supply rail VSS. A second resistor connects a gate of the parasitic NPN bipolar junction transistor to Vss. The second resistor has a resistance sized for controlling a trigger voltage of the parasitic NPN bipolar junction transistor for protecting a gate oxide layer of the NMOS pull-down transistor from an electrostatic discharge. |
| US07672098B2 |
Power plug with leakage current detection and protection circuit
A power plug includes a base, an upper cover attached to the base, a base-side cover adjacent the base and removeably attached to the upper cover, an output cord, a leakage current detection and protection circuit for detecting a leakage current in the output cord, and an electrical connection mechanism for electrically connecting and disconnecting an input side and an output of the power plug. The leakage current detection and protection circuit and the electrical connection mechanism are attached to the base and disposed substantially within a space enclosed by the base and the upper cover. A plurality of connecting ends of the circuit extend from the space enclosed by the base and the upper cover into a space enclosed by the base-side cover and the upper cover. Wires of the output cord are connected to the connecting ends, respectively. |
| US07672096B2 |
Switching apparatus and method
An improved switching apparatus and method are disclosed. In at least some embodiments, the apparatus includes first and second ports, a first switching device such as a contactor coupled between the ports, and a second switching device coupled in parallel with the contactor between the ports, where the second switching device can be or include a solid-state semiconductor device. The second switching device is operated to become conductive at a first time prior to a second time when the contactor switches between a conductive state and a non-conductive state, and remains conductive up to a third time subsequent to the second time. In at least some further embodiments, the apparatus also includes one or both of a voltage sensing capability and a current sensing capability and switches the second switching device to become conductive based upon voltage and/or current information. |
| US07672095B2 |
Relay controller
A relay controller for connecting a power source includes at least one relay having at least two contacts. The relay controller includes a processing device operable to selectively switch the relay contacts, and a feedback circuit adapted to identify an actual state of the relay contacts. The processing device is configured to recognize a fault contact condition of a disparity between an expected state of the relay contacts and the actual state of the relay contacts. The processing device is also configured to responsively communicate information relating to the relay fault condition. |
| US07672094B2 |
TMR sensor having an under-layer treated with nitrogen for increased magnetoresistance
A tunnel junction TMR magnetoresistive sensor formed on layers having nitrogen interspersed therein. The nitrogenation of the layers on which the sensor is deposited allows the sensor layers to have very smooth, uniform surfaces. This greatly improves sensor performance by, for example, providing a very uniform barrier layer thickness. |
| US07672092B2 |
Method for manufacturing magnetic field detecting element, utilizing diffusion of metal
A method for manufacturing a magnetic field detecting element has the steps of: forming stacked layers by sequentially depositing a pinned layer, a spacer layer, a spacer adjoining layer which is adjacent to the spacer layer, a metal layer, and a Heusler alloy layer in this order, such that the layers adjoin each other; and heat treating the stacked layers in order to form the free layer out of the spacer adjoining layer, the metal layer, and the Heusler alloy layer. The spacer adjoining layer is mainly formed of cobalt and iron, and has a body centered cubic structure, and the metal layer is formed of an element selected from the group consisting of silver, gold, copper, palladium, or platinum, or is formed of an alloy thereof. |
| US07672091B2 |
Reset device for biasing element in a magnetic sensor
A device resets a biasing magnetization of a biasing element in a magnetic sensor. The device includes a magnetic structure that is magnetically coupled to the biasing element. A conductive element is disposed around at least a portion of the magnetic structure. When a current is passed through the conductive element, a magnetic field is produced that resets the biasing magnetization of the biasing element. |
| US07672088B2 |
Heusler alloy with insertion layer to reduce the ordering temperature for CPP, TMR, MRAM, and other spintronics applications
A spin valve structure is disclosed in which an AP1 layer and/or free layer are made of a laminated Heusler alloy having Al or FeCo insertion layers. The ordering temperature of a Heusler alloy such as Co2MnSi is thereby lowered from about 350° C. to 280° C. which becomes practical for spintronics device applications. The insertion layer is 0.5 to 5 Angstroms thick and may also be Sn, Ge, Ga, Sb, or Cr. The AP1 layer or free layer can contain one or two additional FeCo layers to give a configuration represented by FeCo/[HA/IL]nHA, [HA/IL]nHA/FeCo, or FeCo/[HA/IL]nHA/FeCo where n is an integer ≧1, HA is a Heusler alloy layer, and IL is an insertion layer. Optionally, a Heusler alloy insertion scheme is possible by doping Al or FeCo in the HA layer. For example, Co2MnSi may be co-sputtered with an Al or FeCo target or with a Co2MnAl or Co2FeSi target. |
| US07672081B2 |
Perpendicular magnetic recording head
A perpendicular magnetic recording head which moves in a track direction of a recording layer of a perpendicular magnetic recording medium to write information on the recording layer or read information from the recording layer. The perpendicular magnetic recording head includes: the perpendicular magnetic recording medium including a soft magnetic underlayer and the recording layer; a write head including a main pole that applies a magnetic field to, and writes information to, the recording layer and a return pole having a first end which is connected to the main pole and having a second end which is spaced apart from the main pole over an air bearing surface (ABS) of the perpendicular magnetic recording head which is adjacent to the recording layer; and a permanent magnet formed on at least one side of the write head. |
| US07672078B2 |
Magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus
It is an object of the invention to provide a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus in which a special motor for driving the head cleaning mechanism is eliminated, and space can be saved with low cost. An end of a tape accommodated in a tape cassette 2 has a coupling element 8, the coupling element 8 is pulled out by a tape-pulling-out element 40 and taken up around a drive reel 20, the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus comprises a head cleaning mechanism 90 for cleaning a magnetic head 7, the head cleaning mechanism 90 includes a head brush portion for holding a brush portion, and a cam mechanism for changing a position of the head brush portion, the cam mechanism is operated by a tape-pulling-out element moving member 50 and a loading lever 30. |
| US07672075B2 |
Magnetic recording medium, recording/reproducing apparatus, and stamper
In a magnetic recording medium including a servo pattern region having a servo pattern formed of a concave/convex pattern having convex portions and concave portions and a data recording region, the region having a data track pattern, the convex portions are formed in an address pattern region of the servo pattern region such that the maximum opening lengths, which are located in the respective same radius regions of the respective opening lengths along the rotating direction of a substrate of the concave portions constituting the concave/convex pattern are set to first lengths that are double the minimum opening lengths along the rotating direction of the concave portions in the respective same radius regions. With this arrangement, the magnetic recording medium can securely read a magnetic signal and has a servo pattern having excellent surface smoothness. |
| US07672071B2 |
Servo field preamble detector and methods for use therewith
A servo field preamble detector includes an upsampling module that generates a plurality of upsampled read samples by upsampling a read signal by an upsampling factor. An interpolation filter module generates a plurality of interpolated read samples from the plurality of upsampled read samples. A peak detection module identifies a plurality of peak samples from the plurality of interpolated read samples. A magnitude estimation module generates a magnitude estimation signal from the plurality of peak samples. A comparison module compares the magnitude estimation signal to a magnitude threshold and asserts a servo preamble detection signal when the magnitude estimation signal compares favorably to the magnitude threshold. |
| US07672069B2 |
Linear motor and camera module having the same
A linear motor and a camera module having the linear motor are provided. The linear motor includes: a piezoelectric substrate generating a vibration mode in a longitudinal direction on the basis of an applied voltage; first and second shafts coupled to both sides of the piezoelectric substrate with the piezoelectric substrate interposed therebetween; and a moving member coupled to at least one of the first and second shafts to be movable in the longitudinal direction of the first and second shafts and connected to a camera lens on one side. Accordingly, it is possible to remove a dead zone with a simple structure, to prevent an unnecessary increase in thickness, not to cause a stoppage at the time of moving a camera lens, to cause a small amount of tilt to enable a linear control, and to contribute to a decrease in thickness and a compactness of a mobile terminal. |
| US07672067B2 |
Optical device, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method
This invention effectively limits light incidence on an adhesive material fixing an optical element. An optical device includes an optical element, a supporting member connected to the optical element through an adhesive material to support the optical element, and a light shielding film formed in an unirradiated region on the surface of the optical element to limit light incidence on the adhesive material. |
| US07672066B2 |
Zoom lens camera and personal digital assistant device
A zoom lens includes, in order from an object to an image, a first lens group having positive refractive power, a second lens group having negative refractive power, a third lens group having positive refractive power, and a fourth lens group having positive refractive power, when varying a field angle from a wide-angle end to a telephoto end, the first lens group and the third lens group being moved to be located on the object side at the telephoto end rather than at the wide-angle end such that a distance between the first lens group and the second lens group increases, a distance between the second lens group and the third lens group decreases, and a distance between the third lens group and the fourth lens group increases. |
| US07672064B2 |
Optical element and optical unit
An optical unit includes one or more optical elements 15 and 25. At least one of the one or more optical elements has an optical functional surface that refracts incident light and rough surfaces 19 and 29 formed on an outer side with respect to the optical functional surface. The rough surfaces scatter the incident light which has been internally reflected. With this configuration, the rough surface formed on the surface located on the outer side with respect to the optical functional surface scatters the light which is incident on the optical element and which may generate ghost due to its internally reflection by the surface located on the outer side with respect to the optical functional surface. Therefore, generation of the ghost is suppressed. Also, since the optical unit includes the optical element having the rough surface, the generation of the ghost is suppressed. |
| US07672061B2 |
Zoom lens and imaging device
A zoom lens comprises: a stationary group that is stationary at the time of variable power; and a variable power group, disposed on an image side of the stationary group, that makes a variable power operation by moving in an optical axis direction at the time of variable power, wherein the stationary group comprises: a first lens group including a negative meniscus lens and a positive lens and having a positive refractive power as a whole; and a second lens group, disposed on the image side of the first lens group, including: a negative lens group including a negative meniscus lens and a positive lens; and a positive lens group including at least one positive lens, in order from an object side, the second lens group having a positive refractive power as a whole. |
| US07672060B2 |
Lens unit
A lens unit includes a lens having a focal length variable responsive to an applied electrical field, and an electrical connector. The electrical connector is a flexible circuit element that connects the lens to an electrical power supply. |
| US07672057B2 |
Microscope objective
A microscope objective having at least four lenses or groups of lenses and which can be used to improve image contrast. According to the invention, a phase plate, aligned concentrically to the optical axis, can be integrated into and taken out of the air space between the first lens and the second lens, as viewed from the object side. The defined arrangement of the phase plate and the associated shift of the real pupil into the air space between the first two lenses or groups of lenses, respectively, of the microscope objective allows a microscope objective, initially designed as a bright-field variant, to be redesigned as a phase contrast variant with relative ease. |
| US07672051B2 |
Optical film and surface light source using it
An optical film 10 has a transparent base film 11 made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a prism made of photo-curing resin such as acryl modified epoxy on an incident surface 12 that is one face of the base film 11, and a hologram similarly made of photo-curing resin on an exit surface 13 opposing the incident surface 12. The prism has grooves or ridges each having a substantially triangular cross section to totally reflect incident light so as to bend the light into a direction perpendicular to the exit surface 13. The hologram anisotropically diffuses light exiting from the exit surface 13, to improve brightness. |
| US07672049B2 |
Telescope and panfocal telescope comprising planoconvex of planoconcave lens and deflecting means connected thereto
The invention relates to a telescope which is used to inject and/or to extract, by reflection, emitting and/or capturing bundles of beams. According to the invention, at least one deflecting means is joined to the planar surface by means of at least one lens of the telescope objective unit, which is embodied as a plan convex or plan concave lens. The lens is used as a lens of the objective unit and as a holder for the deflection means. The number of optical components in the telescope about one of the holders is reduced due to the dual function thereof. |
| US07672048B2 |
Positioning mechanism and microscope using the same
A positioning mechanism capable of decreasing width and size and a microscope using the positioning mechanism are provided.The positioning mechanism is provided with a supporting shaft possessing a spherical surface part at a prescribed position and guides disposed substantially parallel to the supporting shaft and is characterized, on the assumption that of the three-dimensional directions, the axial direction of the supporting shaft constitutes the z direction, by the fact that the supporting shaft is nipped by the guides at the position of the spherical surface part and enabled to oscillate on the spherical surface part as a fulcrum in the xy directions and as well slide in the z direction. |
| US07672047B2 |
Catadioptric projection objective
A catadioptric projection objective for imaging a pattern provided in an object plane of the projection objective onto an image plane of the projection objective comprises: a first objective part for imaging the pattern provided in the object plane into a first intermediate image; a second objective part for imaging the first intermediate imaging into a second intermediate image; a third objective part for imaging the second intermediate imaging directly onto the image plane;wherein a first concave mirror having a first continuous mirror surface and at least one second concave mirror having a second continuous mirror surface are arranged upstream of the second intermediate image;pupil surfaces are formed between the object plane and the first intermediate image, between the first and the second intermediate image and between the second intermediate image and the image plane; andall concave mirrors are arranged optically remote from a pupil surface. The system has potential for very high numerical apertures at moderate lens material mass consumption. |
| US07672035B2 |
Separable modulator
A separable modulator architecture is disclosed. The modulator has a mirror suspended from a flexible layer over a cavity. The flexible layer also forms supports and support posts for the mirror. An alternative separable modulator architecture has a mirror suspended over a cavity. The modulator is supported by supports and support posts. The support posts comprise a flexible layer over support post plugs. A bus structure may be formed upon the flexible layer arranged over the support posts. |
| US07672031B2 |
Hologram recording medium, hologram reproducing apparatus, hologram reproducing method, and hologram sheet
A hologram recording medium includes a first element hologram and a second element hologram. On the first element hologram, main data is recorded such that the main data is converted into a two-dimensional image, object light of the two-dimensional image is interfered with recording reference light, and an interference fringe produced as a result of the interference is recorded on the first element hologram. On the second element hologram, simplified-form data representing the content of the main data using a smaller data size than the data size of the main data is recorded such that the simplified-form data is converted into a two-dimensional image, object light of the two-dimensional image is interfered with recording reference light, and an interference fringe produced as a result of the interference is recorded on the second element hologram. |
| US07672028B2 |
Color target layout
A printer is configured to print a color target that associates colors to which humans are most sensitive to color variance with areas of the color target within which color measurement is less prone to meassurement error. The printer then prints the color target according to the association. In an optional impemementation, measurements of like color elements within the target are average. In a further optional impementation, the averaging is performed using weighted values, wherein the weighting is based on color measurement accuracy within an area within the color target wherein each measured element is located. In a still further implementation, a color look-up table is generated according to measurements made of the color target. |
| US07672027B2 |
Image reading apparatus
An image reading apparatus includes a reading unit, a control unit and a reference color region. The control unit includes a preliminary read processing unit, a first image acquisition unit, a second image acquisition unit and a reprocessing instruction unit. The reprocessing instruction unit specifies a schematic position of a reference region in the sub-scanning direction and instructs the preliminary read processing unit to perform preliminary reading again at the schematic position of the reference region. |
| US07672019B2 |
Enhancing resolution of a color signal using a monochrome signal
An image scanning apparatus includes three color line sensors for outputting red, green, and blue color signals, a monochrome line sensor for outputting a monochrome signal having a higher resolution than the color signals, and a resolution-enhancement processor. The resolution-enhancement processor enhances a resolution of a pixel signal of the color signals, based on a monochrome smoothed value obtained by smoothing a signal of an arbitrary pixel of the monochrome signal and signals of pixels around the arbitrary pixel and a color smoothed value obtained by smoothing a signal of a pixel of each color signal and signals of pixels around the pixel of the color signal, the pixel of the color signal corresponding to the position of the arbitrary pixel of the monochrome signal. The image scanning apparatus can perform high-luminance and high-resolution scanning with a 4-line configuration and can reduce color-misalignment phenomenon due to motor drive. |
| US07672010B2 |
Method and system to generate document templates with resource administration
In a method and system for generating document templates for print jobs, in which a document template is generated in a generation unit using static resource data that are combined into addressable data sets. The document template is registered in a resource administration unit. The resource administration unit generates a resource list in which the resource data sets used by the document template are listed. Using the resource list, the resource administration unit controls a transfer of the used resource data sets to a data processing device in which the document template is supplemented with variable data, whereby the resource administration unit in turn can be controlled via a superordinate program. |
| US07672008B2 |
Image processing device, method and program product for separating character, halftone graphic, and halftone photographic regions
An image processing device including a detector for detecting a characteristic feature formed from image data and a separator for separating halftone dot graphic regions and halftone dot photographic regions from the image data based on the characteristic feature. |
| US07672007B2 |
Information processing methodology
An information processing methodology gives rise to an application program interface which includes an automated digitizing unit, such as a scanner, which inputs information from a diversity of hard copy documents and stores information from the hard copy documents into a memory as stored document information. Portions of the stored document information are selected in accordance with content instructions which designate portions of the stored document information required by a particular application program. The selected stored document information is then placed into the transmission format required by a particular application program in accordance with transmission format instructions. After the information has been transmission formatted, the information is transmitted to the application program. In one operational mode, the interface interactively prompts the user to identify, on a display, portions of the hard copy documents containing information used in application programs or for storage. |
| US07672004B2 |
Format convertible image processing system, and program
An image processing system connects a plurality of clients to an image processing apparatus via a network. The image processing apparatus includes a reading device that reads an image of an original document and generates a prescribed image signal, an image data generating device that applies prescribed image processing to the image signal to generate image data, and a memory that stores the image data. A format converting device is provided to convert an image format of the image data selected from the memory by one of plurality of client apparatuses into a prescribed format in accordance with a format condition designated by the client apparatus. A delivering device is provided to deliver the image data to the client apparatus in the prescribed format. |
| US07672003B2 |
Network scanner for global document creation, transmission and management
A network scanner, communication protocols, and client and server programs and are provided which provide an improved way to transmit legally binding documents, obviating the need for outmoded, legacy fax transmissions. Using the network scanner, a document may be scanned and transferred directly into any shared folder inbox residing on any computer attached to the Internet. Enhanced server systems and network communications and messaging protocols are provided that are more practical to use than email for sending documents such as executed legal documents or other documents requiring robust integrity and authenticatability. Similarly, the inventive network scanner, server systems and communication protocols provide improved ways to perform large file transfers and to manage bandwidth to minimize problems associated with uploading/downloading large files as attachments to/from email servers and for enabling user control over VoIP quality during file transmission sessions. |
| US07671999B2 |
Device for measuring parts by triangulation sensors and an evaluation unit for determining
A device for measuring components by a laser triangulation measuring device includes at least two triangulation sensors for determining the height profiles of components. The component is arranged on a movable support plane in a horizontal moving direction relative to the laser triangulation measuring device, whereby at least two triangulation sensors are arranged in a mutual measuring plane forming a positional offset, for determining the height profile and a cross-sectional profile of the component in the measuring plane. |
| US07671998B2 |
Surface configuration measuring method and surface configuration measuring system
A measuring method, comprising a step of drawing a line on a surface such as ground surface, a step of performing measurement along the line on a predetermined measurement range including the line, a step of acquiring an image of a range including the predetermined measurement range as an image data, a step of superimposing the image data on a measurement data, and a step of calculating a measurement data of the line from line position in the image data and from the measurement data near the line. |
| US07671995B2 |
Method for improving surface plasmon resonance by using conducting metal oxide as adhesive layer
Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing technique which provides high specificity and accuracy has been an important method for molecular sensing technology. In the past, in order to affix 45 nm gold film onto glass or silicon substrate, several nanometers of chromium (Cr) or titanium (Ti) has been used as adhesive layer for the attachment of Au film. However, the existence of Cr or Ti thin film deteriorates the performance of SPR sensor due to their characteristic optical absorption. Our experimental results have confirmed the uses of conducting metal oxide, specifically, ITO and Zinc Oxide (ZnO) can be used to replace Cr or Ti for better performance in terms of SPR resonant properties (resonant angle and HMBW) and sensitivity enhancement for 3 to 15 times than traditional ones. It would contribute significantly to the SPR applications in both biosensors and gas sensors. |
| US07671993B2 |
Methods and apparatus for estimating the intensity of one spectrum of light in a mixed light, in response to the sensed intensities of one or more other spectrums of light in the mixed light
In one embodiment, light having a first spectrum is filtered from a mixed light. Light having a second spectrum, different from the first spectrum, is also filtered from the mixed light. An intensity of the light having the first spectrum, and an intensity of the light having the second spectrum, are then sensed. From the sensed intensities of the lights having the first and second spectrums, an intensity of light having a third spectrum is estimated. |
| US07671991B2 |
Handheld colour measurement device
A handheld color measurement device includes a housing in which an optoelectronic measurement unit is located which receives measurement light originating from a measurement object, converts it into corresponding electrical measurement signals and processes these measurement signals into preferably digital measurement data characterizing the color of the measurement object. It further includes passive components required for the realization of different application functions, such as measurement windows and reference standards, which can be selectively positioned into the measurement beam path of the measurement unit. The passive components are positioned in a first housing block (100) and the opto-electronic measurement unit as a whole in a second housing block (200). The second housing block is adjustable into several defined application positions relative to the first housing block, in which application positions respectively one of the passive components is located in the measurement beam path of the opto-electronic measurement unit.This special division into two mutually relatively adjustable housing blocks allows an easy realization of a compact color measurement device suitable for many application functions, which is distinguished by a particular user friendliness. |
| US07671988B2 |
Detection of particles
A device (10) is provided for measuring at least one characteristic (12) related to presence of particles. The device (10) includes a light source unit (16) for emitting light into a region (18) containing particles (20), with the light source being configured to emit light from a plurality of locations in a manner so that the emitted light follows a desired intensity distribution (22), the desired intensity distribution (22) being desired for the measurement of the at least one characteristic (12). In preferred embodiments the intensity distribution is Lambertian. |
| US07671987B2 |
Optical detection system for flow cytometry
An optical detection system for flow cytometry that uses light sources positioned laterally at different distances from the central axis of the flow stream for providing light through different parts of the flow stream. By using two or more light sources, the particle position can be detected, and the alignment and width of the core stream can be monitored and controlled. |
| US07671986B2 |
Spectroscopy apparatus based on hetero-junction phototransistors
This invention discloses a variety of spectroscopy apparatus based on high sensitivity photo detector arrays and image sensors employing sidewall-passivated mesa-structure hetero-junction phototransistors (HPTs). |
| US07671985B1 |
Device for small spot analysis using fiber optic interfaced spectrometers
The present invention is an optical device for small spot analysis by diffuse reflectance using fiber optic interfaced spectrometers. The device comprises a source of electromagnetic radiation and a set of mirrors designed to project most of the radiation from the said source onto a less than 1 mm diameter spot on the sample, collect a portion of the radiation reflected by the sample and refocus this reflected radiation into an optical fiber. The said optical fiber then brings the said reflected radiation into a fiber optic interfaced spectrometer for spectral analysis. A means for the magnified viewing of the sample and the precise selection of the sampling spot for analysis is integrated into the invented device. Adding a digital camera and a laser module to the said device enables nearly simultaneous multimodal analysis of the same sampling spot by diffuse reflectance, Raman, and fluorescence spectroscopy and by image analysis. |
| US07671982B2 |
Systems, circuits and methods for reducing thermal damage and extending the detection range of an inspection system
Inspection systems, circuits, and methods are provided to enhance defect detection by reducing thermal damage to large particles by dynamically altering the incident laser beam power level supplied to the specimen during a surface inspection scan. In one embodiment, an inspection system includes an illumination subsystem for directing light to a specimen at a first power level, a detection subsystem for detecting light scattered from the specimen, and a power attenuator subsystem for dynamically altering the power level directed to the specimen based on the scattered light detected from the specimen. The power attenuator subsystem may reduce the directed light to a second power level, which is lower than the first, if the detected scattered light exceeds a predetermined threshold level. The systems and methods described herein may also be used to extend the measurement detection range of an inspection system by providing a variable-power inspection system. |
| US07671980B2 |
Surface inspection method and surface inspection apparatus
A surface inspection apparatus capable of acquiring scattered light intensity distribution information for each scattering azimuth angle, and detecting foreign matters and defects with high sensitivity. A concave mirror for condensation and another concave mirror for image formation are used to cope with a broad cubic angle. Since mirrors for condensation and image formation are used, a support for clamping the periphery of a lens is unnecessary, and an effective aperture area does not decrease. A plurality of azimuth-wise detection optical systems is disposed and reflected light at all azimuths can be detected by burying the entire periphery without calling for specific lens polishing. A light signal unification unit sums digital data from a particular system corresponding to a scattering azimuth designated in advance in the systems for improving an S/N ratio. |
| US07671976B2 |
Systems and methods of using a flexible imaging surface to capture a rolled fingerprint
Fingers and palms can be optically scanned to produce optical finger or optical palm prints by using one or more flexible imaging members in contact therewith. The palm or finger being scanned is positioned on one side of the flexible imaging member and in contact therewith. One or more optical scanners is positioned on the other side of the imaging member. The sensor(s) then sense incident radiant energy or light indicative of friction ridge patterns and minutiae on the respective finger and/or palm. Alternately, RF or electro-static sensing could be used. |
| US07671973B2 |
Optical analysis system using multivariate optical elements
The present invention provides an optical analysis system for determining an amplitude of a principal component of an optical signal. The principal component is indicative of the concentration of a particular compound or various compounds of a substance that is subject to spectroscopic analysis. The optical signal is subject to wavelength selective weighting and wavelength selective spatial separation specified by a weighting function. The optical signal is preferably separated into two parts that corresponding to a positive and negative spectral band of the weighting function, respectively. The separation provides separate detection of the separated parts of the optical signal without significant loss of intensity, thereby providing an improved signal to noise ratio of the determined principal component. Separation and weighting of the optical signal is realized by two multivariate optical elements. |
| US07671972B2 |
Optical sensing methods and apparatus
A method of sensing movement or proximity of objects by optical reflection is provided. The method includes the steps of transmitting a train of optical pulses towards a destination, sensing optical pulses reflected from the destination, and sensing and evaluating movement or proximity characteristics of objects at the destination with reference to variation in pulse width between transmitted and reflected optical pulses. |
| US07671971B2 |
Electro-optical method for measuring distance and detecting a non-ideal chirp profile
The invention relates to an electro-optical distance measuring method wherein frequency-modulated optical radiation is emitted onto at least one target to be measured. Once the radiation back-scattered to the target is received, the chirp of radiation is modeled by means of a phase function Φ(t) having parameters cj, thereby making description of the deviation of the chirp from the linear profile possible. The parameters used for description are at least partially determined from measurements or are coestimated during numerical signal processing. |
| US07671967B2 |
Exposure apparatus and exposure method
An exposure method includes the steps of (a) calculating a pupil transmittance distribution in a projection optical system based on a first effective light source distribution of the projection optical system acquired by a measuring apparatus of an exposure apparatus, and a second effective light source distribution derived from a pupil plane light intensity distribution measured on a plate plane using light that has passed the projection optical system without a reticle, (b) calculating an imaging performance by using a result of the pupil transmittance distribution calculating step and the first or second effective light source distributions, (c) adjusting at least one of the effective light source distribution or the projection optical system by using the imaging performance, and (d) exposing the plate based on at least one of the effective light source distribution and the projection optical system that have been adjusted. |
| US07671965B2 |
Lithographic projection apparatus, device manufacturing method and device manufactured thereby
A lithographic projection apparatus comprising a radiation system for supplying a projection beam of electromagnetic radiation in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) range, a support structure for supporting patterning structure, the patterning structure serving to pattern the projection beam according to a desired pattern, a substrate table for holding a substrate and a projection system for projecting the patterned beam onto a target portion of the substrate. A space within the apparatus, which space contains a mirror, is supplied with a hydrocarbon gas which forms a protective cap layer on the mirror surface. The partial pressure of the hydrocarbon gas in the space is controlled in response to variations in the background pressure in the space and/or in the reflectivity of the mirror, such that the thickness of the cap layer on the mirror remains within an acceptable range. The partial pressure of hydrocarbon may be increased in order to sputter away the cap layer and/or, if extra multilayers are provided on the mirror, the top layer(s) of the mirror, thus providing a clean mirror surface. The hydrocarbon used may be an alcohol, in which case the cap layer formed is self-terminating. |
| US07671962B2 |
Spacer forming method and spacer forming apparatus
Providing a spacer forming method by which spacers can be securely formed in a predetermined region on a substrate. Ink containing granular spacers is jetted onto a crossing portion of a black matrix 5 in the shape of a lattice. Red pixel R, green pixel G and blue pixel B are formed in the openings of the lattice. The spacer containing ink is jetted onto the spacer forming positions from the nozzle by the ink jetting method. Plural drops of ink 7 are jetted onto each of the spacer forming positions on one of the opposite substrates E. The gap between the opposite substrates E can be securely maintained at a constant for filling with liquid crystal. |
| US07671954B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and method for fabricating the same
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device includes an array substrate; a gate line formed on the array substrate; a data line formed on the array substrate crossing the gate lines; a thin film transistor formed on the array substrate, the thin film transistor being formed at an intersection between the gate line and the data line; a pixel electrode formed on the array substrate and connected to the thin film transistor; an insulating interlayer formed on an entire surface of the array substrate; a common electrode formed on the insulating interlayer and having a plurality of slits; a metal line formed on the insulating interlayer overlapping the data line and the common electrode; a color filter substrate attached to the array substrate; and a liquid crystal layer formed between the array substrate and the color filter substrate. |
| US07671952B2 |
Multi-domain vertical alignment liquid crystal display panel
A liquid crystal display panel is disclosed. The liquid crystal display panel includes a bottom substrate, a plurality of wires disposed on the bottom substrate, a plurality of pixel units electrically connected to the wires, a top substrate disposed opposite to the bottom substrate, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the top and bottom substrates, and at least one protrusion disposed on the top substrate corresponding to the wires formed between two adjacent pixel units. Each pixel unit includes a thin film transistor and a pixel electrode disposed on the bottom substrate. The pixel electrode is electrically connected to the thin film transistor, in which the pixel electrode has a plurality of main slits. |
| US07671949B2 |
Polarizing plate with optical compensation function, and liquid crystal display device using the same
A polarizing plate with optical compensation function, including a polarizing layer and an optically compensating layer, wherein the optically compensating layer includes an optically compensating A-layer including a stretched polymer film and an optically compensating B-layer including a cholesteric liquid crystal layer. |
| US07671947B2 |
Optical film, optical compensation film, polarizing plate, liquid crystal display unit and self luminous display unit
An optical film which has Re(λ) and Rth(λ) fulfilling the following two formulae: 0≦Re(590)≦10 |Rth(590)|≦25 wherein Re(λ) is a retardation value in plane (nm) at a wavelength of λ nm; and Rth(λ) is a retardation value in film thickness direction (nm) at a wavelength of λ nm. |
| US07671938B2 |
Transflective liquid crystal display
The invention relates to a transflective liquid crystal display (LCD) comprising a patterned quarter wave foil (QWF) and having improved chromaticity. |
| US07671934B2 |
Display device and display device stand
According to one embodiment, a display device includes a display module and a stand having a tilt mechanism which adjusts an upright angle of the display module. The tilt mechanism includes a fixed portion provided on the stand, a movable portion provided on the display module, a hinge shaft which pivotably couples the fixed portion and the movable portion together, and a lock member which limits pivoting of the movable portion with respect to the fixed portion. The lock member is movable between a lock position where the lock member engages with the movable portion so as to prevent the display module from falling down through at least a predetermined angle and a release position where the lock member leaves the movable portion so as to allow the display module to pivot freely. |
| US07671933B2 |
Liquid crystal display module
A liquid crystal display module for preventing noise caused by friction between a support main and a light guide plate is provided. In the module, a hole is defined at a support main having at least one of a polygonal shape or a circular shape. A light guide plate is disposed on the support main. A protrusion which protrudes from a side surface of the light guide plate is inserted into the hole. The protrusion has at least one of said polygonal shapes and said circular shape. |
| US07671932B2 |
Active matrix substrate and pixel defect correcting method therefor
An active matrix substrate facilitates correction of a pixel defect and a pixel defect correcting method. A laser target portion of a drain electrode extension portion is irradiated with laser light so as electrically disconnect a TFT from a subpixel electrode. Laser target portions are irradiated with laser light so as to melt an insulating layer, thereby establishing electrical connection between a drain electrode extension portion and a corrective connecting electrode and between a data signal line (13(m+1)) and the corrective connecting electrode. Laser target portions are irradiated with laser light, thereby establishing electrical connection between a drain electrode extension portion of a pixel P(n+1, m) and a corrective connecting electrode and between the data signal line (13(m+1)) and the corrective connecting electrode. Laser target portions are irradiated with laser light so as to separate part of the data signal line (13(m+1)) and use the separated part of the data signal line (13(m+1)) as a detour conductor. |
| US07671931B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and method of fabricating the same
A liquid crystal display device includes a plurality of data lines arranged along a first direction on a substrate, a plurality of gate lines arranged a second direction perpendicular to the first direction on the substrate to define a plurality of pixel regions, each of the gate lines having at least one first set of protrusions and depressions, a driving device within each of the pixel regions, a pixel electrode within each of the pixel regions, and a metal layer overlapping each of the gate lines to create a storage capacitor. |
| US07671930B2 |
Liquid crystal display pixel structure having sub-pixels with particular capacitance
A pixel structure suitable for disposing between a first scan line and a second scan line of a multi-domain vertical alignment liquid crystal display (MVA LCD) panel is provided. The pixel structure includes a first active device, a second active device, a first pixel electrode, a second pixel electrode and alignment members. The first active device is electrically connected with the first scan line and a data line of the LCD panel, and the second active device is also electrically connected therewith. The first and the second pixel electrode are electrically connected to the first and the second active device, respectively, and the first pixel electrode covers a part of the second scan line to form a compensation capacitance. Therefore, there is a voltage difference between the second pixel electrode and the first pixel electrode. The alignment members are disposed on the first and the second pixel electrode. |
| US07671927B2 |
Method for reducing channel switching delay in digital broadcast receiver and digital broadcast receiver using the same
A method and an apparatus for reducing channel switching delay in a digital broadcast receiver are provided. The digital broadcast receiver includes a signal reception unit, which receives a broadcast signal and converts the received broadcast signal into an intermediate frequency (IF) signal, a digital demodulation unit, which retrieves a transport stream from the IF signal, a demultiplexing unit, which extracts a video signal from the transport stream by parsing the transport stream, a video decoder, which retrieves a video image from the video signal by decoding the video signal, and an output selection unit, which prevents a background image from being output and outputs the video image when sensing a first intra frame of the video signal input to the video decoder after the digital broadcast receiver is switched to a new channel. |
| US07671924B2 |
Method and device for scaling a two-dimensional image
A scaling device for video displays includes a limited number of line buffers and produces stable output frames by using a stable clock source to produce the output image clock. The scaling device further includes an error counter for determining an error between an ideal output line length and an actual line length and an error accumulator for keeping a running total of all output line length errors. The error accumulator can signal when the total line error for a given frame is greater than one, indicating that an additional output point should be added to the blanking area of that output line. |
| US07671923B2 |
Digital processing system and method for tracking subcarrier included in video signal
A digital processing system and method for tracking a subcarrier included in a video signal are provided, where a phase comparator tracks the phase of a color burst signal based on predetermined supposed phases, Y/C separation and demodulation are carried out based on a compensation phase that is updated by a phase compensator in response to the tracked phase, and the Y/C separation and demodulation are performed based on a compensation frequency determined by a frequency compensator by checking short-term and long-term variations in the updated compensation phase. |
| US07671922B2 |
Chroma upsampling method and apparatus therefor
A unique method for chroma vertical upsampling used, for example, for conversion of the “4:2:0” format chroma information used in many applications of digital video, to the “4:2:2” or “4:4:4” format, is presented. This conversion is required so that video encoders can effect the display of this chroma information with a minimum of visible artifacts. The present invention carries out chroma vertical upsampling on a pixel by pixel basis. This chroma vertical upsampling is performed as a function of the amount of motion associated with each pixel as detected between 2 or more fields, and the field, frame and progressive sequence characteristics of the incoming video signal data. |
| US07671920B2 |
Camera body of a video system with a handgrip and video system
A camera body of a video system has a housing which is comprised of cover elements. Two of the cover elements which, in an area of the handgrip, are fitted together and which shape a part of the housing, also shape the handgrip of the housing. |
| US07671916B2 |
Motion sensor using dual camera inputs
Motion sensing of a portable device using two cameras. A first camera is directed along a first viewing axis and a second camera is directed along a second viewing axis, different from the first viewing axis. The second viewing axis can be substantially opposite the first viewing axis. A motion processing module determines changes in images from the first camera and changes in images from the second camera. The motion processing module compares the direction of change determined from the first camera images relative to the direction of change determined from the second camera images. The motion processing module determines the motion of the portable device based in part on the comparison. |
| US07671915B2 |
Solid-state imaging apparatus
A solid-state imaging apparatus including: a pixel section having two-dimensionally arrayed unit pixels each having a first pixel and a second pixel respectively containing photoelectric conversion devices that are located at positions regarded as the same position at which image is formed by an imaging optical system; a reset control means for simultaneously resetting respectively independently all first pixels and all second pixels of each unit pixel arrayed in the pixel section; a difference signal output means for obtaining a difference signal between signals of the first pixel and of the second pixel; a control section for rendering control such that a reset is effected of signals of all first pixels of the pixel section and, after a desired exposure time, a reset is effected of signals of all second pixels of the pixel section by the reset control means, and then signals of the first pixel and of the second pixel are read out respectively in a simultaneous or substantially simultaneous manner immediately after the reset of signal of all second pixels by the reset control means so as to output a difference signal between these as imaging signal by the difference signal output means; and a characteristic difference correction means for correcting a characteristic difference between the first pixel and the second pixel. |
| US07671912B2 |
Solid-state imaging apparatus
A solid-state imaging device capable of simplifying a pixel structure to reduce a pixel size and capable of suppressing a variation in characteristics between pixels when a plurality of output systems are provided. A unit cell includes two pixels having upper and lower photoelectric converters, transfer transistors connected to the upper and lower photoelectric converters, a reset transistor, and an amplifying transistor. A full-face signal line is connected to the respective drains of the reset transistor and the amplifying transistor. Controlling the full-face signal line along with transfer signal lines and a reset signal line to read out signals simplifies wiring in the pixel and permits reduction of the pixel size. |
| US07671909B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing Bayer-pattern digital color video signal
Provided are a method and apparatus for processing a Bayer pattern digital color video signal, where the video signal processing apparatus includes a BP detector that generates the pixel information signal PIS representing whether the current pixel is good or bad from the input video data based on the difference between the current pixel data and neighbor pixel data, and an interpolator that interpolates the bad pixel using neighbor pixel data in response to the pixel information signal. |
| US07671908B2 |
Offset correction during correlated double sampling in CMOS image sensor
For correlated double sampling in an image sensor, a comparator receives and compares a reset signal and a sensing signal from a pixel of the image sensor. Also, a controller adjusts a voltage at a controlled input of the comparator to compensate for offset of the comparator from feed-back of an output of the comparator. The controller includes at least one charging current source and at least one discharging current source that are controlled to adjust such a voltage. |
| US07671907B2 |
Image-capturing apparatus
A digital camera enables high-speed zooming operation without use of a zoom lens. Light originating from a fixed-focal-length lens is split into two beams by a beam splitter, to thus form respective images on a first image sensor and a second image sensor. The first image sensor and the second image sensor are equal to each other in terms of the number of pixels, but differ from each other in terms of a pixel size. The first image sensor acquires a wide image, and the second image sensor acquires a telephotography image. An output is produced by means of switching between the first image sensor and the second image sensor, in response to zooming operation. When the image from the first image sensor is recorded, focus detection is performed by use of an image signal from the second image sensor, to thus effect automatic focusing. |
| US07671905B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method for image processing relevant images
An image processing apparatus is provided which includes a memory for storing plural photographic images, an input key for instructing a desired photographic image among the photographic images stored in the memory to be subjected to image processing, a determining section to determine whether a photographic image related to the photographic image which is instructed to be subjected to the image processing by the input key is stored in the memory, and an informing section to inform a user when the determining section determines that the related photographic image is stored. |
| US07671899B2 |
Electronic camera having a focusing circuit for performing a plurality of focusing operations on the basis of an in-focus level and/or an image area
In an electronic camera, during a photographing operation for photographing a white sheet of paper or the like to obtain white balance data, a plurality of distance measuring points provided in an automatic focusing mechanism are restricted to only the one that is located at a central portion of the image plane. Further, a determination level used for determining an in-focus state in the automatic focusing mechanism is set lower than where an ordinary object is photographed. Accordingly, the photographing operation for obtaining white balance data can be completed for a short time. Furthermore, if the automatic focusing operation itself is inhibited during the photographing operation for photographing a white sheet of paper or the like to obtain white balance data, that photographing operation can be completed for a very short time. |
| US07671892B2 |
Image sensing apparatus, and control method, program, and storage medium of image sensing apparatus
An image sensing apparatus according to the present invention includes: an image sensing unit configured to sense an object image and output image signals; a shift amount detecting unit configured to detect a shift amount between two image signals, from the image signals that are sequentially output by the image sensing unit; an image signal synthesizing unit configured to sequentially synthesize the image signals based on detection results of the shift amount detecting unit, and generate a synthesized image signal that has been corrected by the shift amount; and a memory unit configured to accumulate the synthesized image signal, wherein the image signal synthesizing unit performs level adjustment of a signal level, the level adjustment varying for each area of the two image signals that are to be synthesized, and generates the synthesized image signal. |
| US07671890B2 |
Roving camera security system
A covert all-weather roving camera security system includes a monorail track, at least one self-propelled trolley able to move itself back and forth continuously along the monorail track, and a plurality of surveillance cameras attached to the trolley. A housing completely encloses the monorail track and the trolley and has a sunshield on its top to protect the cameras from overheating and a filtered window on its sides and bottom to prevent human eyes from seeing in the housing while permitting the cameras to see out. |
| US07671884B2 |
Rotary drive apparatus, optical scan apparatus, and image formation apparatus
A rotary drive apparatus includes a rotary body with a support portion, a rotor magnet supported by the support portion of the rotary body, a fixation section facing the rotor magnet and rotatably supporting the rotary body, and a winding coil provided in the fixation section, in which an expression E1/E2≦0.75 is satisfied where Young's modulus of the rotor magnet is E1 [GPa], and Young's modulus of the support portion is E2 [GPa]. |
| US07671883B2 |
Image recording apparatus
A laser beam emitted from each semiconductor laser 27 is guided by a step index type multi-mode optical fiber, a graded index type multi-mode optical fiber deformable and movable with movement of a recording head, and a step index type multi-mode optical fiber, to be emitted from a light emitter toward an imaging optical system. |
| US07671878B2 |
Thermal printer and paper recognition method
A thermal printer has a first thermal head, a second thermal head, and a feeding mechanism. The feeding mechanism feeds one of thermal papers which include a double-sided thermal paper having thermosensitive layers formed on both sides thereof and a single-sided thermal paper having a thermosensitive layer formed on one side thereof. The first thermal head is so provided as to be brought into contact with a first side of the thermal paper fed by the feeding mechanism. The second thermal head is so provided as to be brought into contact with a second side of the thermal paper fed by the feeding mechanism. The thermal printer determines whether a mark has been printed at least one of the first and second sides of the thermal paper and controls print operation based on a determination result. |
| US07671876B2 |
Resolution scaler using a decimal part of an accumulator output as a weight for generating scaled pixel data
A resolution scaler of the present invention uses a shift adder instead of a multiplier for scaling an input resolution. The resolution scaler is provided with a counter controller and a pixel scaler. The counter controller outputs a weight to the pixel scaler. The pixel scaler includes a first shift adder for outputting the first shift value by adding a plurality of first shift arguments generated by shifting the current pixel data, a second shift adder for outputting the second shift value by adding a plurality of second shift arguments generated by shifting the previous pixel data, and an adder for outputting the scaled pixel data by adding the first shift value and the second shift value. |
| US07671874B2 |
System for regional data association and presentation and method for the same
A database methodology that concerns the mapping of any arbitrary object into a plurality of regions, enabling the assignment of multiple region-specific attributes thereto and facilitating the concurrent, graphical presentation of any assigned attributes. Attribute storage, manipulation, and presentation are driven by the individual regions and characteristics of the object. |
| US07671873B1 |
Systems for and methods of processing signals in a graphics format
According to one aspect, the invention provides an apparatus for converting data encoded in a graphics signal to at least one output signal. The apparatus includes an input, a plurality of outputs, signal processing circuitry and a controller. The input is adapted to receive the graphics signal where the graphics signal includes a plurality of frames generated at least in part from original data. The signal processing circuitry is adapted to locate, in the graphics signal, data corresponding to the original data, convert the data corresponding to the original data to output data and communicate the output data to the plurality of outputs. The controller is adapted to monitor a capacity of the signal processing circuitry and generate a signal that results in at least one disposable frame being added to the plurality of frames. The signal processing circuitry is adapted to discard the at least one disposable frame. |
| US07671871B2 |
Graphical user interface for color correction using curves
To make an intuitive interface for curves for color correction, a particular color is selected, such as gray, and the effect of each curve on pixels of that color may be displayed as a background image for the curve. A background image also may indicate a color to which tones corresponding to a selected and manipulated point of a curve will be modified or corrected. An image representing a gradient from the color component, through gray, to a complement of the color component may be displayed in association with the displayed function curve to suggest a result of color correction to be applied to the input image by manipulation of the function curve. A background image may suggest to the user what will happen if a point on the curve is moved. For example, if a user takes a point on the green curve that is in the center of the display and moves it to the lower right, the resulting image will have a magenta tint. The background image for the curve for the green channel shows more magenta in the lower right. A user can determine from an image to be corrected and the background image of the curves both which curve to use and approximately which direction to manipulate the curve. |
| US07671870B2 |
Tiling data sets for computer graphics
Data tiles can be combined to form attribute data sets for use in generating computer graphics images. Tiles may be arranged in a regular grid pattern or in arbitrary, irregular positions. Tiles can be overlapped slightly and blended to hide tile boundaries. The value of the combined data set in an overlap region may be a weighted sum of values from the tiles. To compensate for reduced variance and contrast caused by blending, the values in overlap regions can be scaled by a variance correction factor. The variance correction factor is the inverse of the reduction in variance from the source tiles. Tile values can be scaled by their weights and variance correction values at the time they are combined or in advance, if the pattern of tile overlaps are consistent. Data tiles can be comprised of bandlimited noise data or other data types. |
| US07671865B2 |
Refresh of display
A method, apparatus, and signal-bearing medium for sending to a display device only those regions of the display screen that change. A frame buffer is divided into tiles, which may be composed of one or more regions, and data in the frame buffer represents pixels on the display screen. When data representing a pixel is modified in the frame buffer, the region or tile associated with the pixel is marked as dirty, and those tiles or regions that are dirty in the frame buffer are written to the display. |
| US07671864B2 |
Faster image processing
Methods and machines which increase image processing performance by efficiently copying image data from input memory to main memory before performing CPU intensive operations, such as image enhancement, compression, or encryption, and by efficiently copying image data from main memory to output memory after performing CPU intensive operations, such as decryption, decompression, image enhancement, or reformatting. |
| US07671859B2 |
Thin instrument cluster with anti-reflective coating
An instrument display includes a light source that selectively emits light and a light guide that receives the light. One or more optical coating layers are disposed on the light guide. The light guide has a first index of refraction, and the optical coating layer or layers have a second index of refraction that is greater than the first index of refraction of the light guide. The optical coating layer or layers reduce glare from ambient light and increase the light transmitting performance of the light guide. |
| US07671855B2 |
LCD, and driving device and method thereof
Disclosed are an LCD capable of realizing a pre-charging method even in the random data-enable mode, and an apparatus and method for driving the same. In the LCD driving apparatus, a timing controller outputs a vertical sync start signal based on a data-enable signal having an irregular output interval to control the output of the image data. A gate driver sequentially applies both first and second gate-on voltages to a same gate line based on the vertical sync start signal. The first gate-on voltage is to drive a previous line being most adjacent to and having the same polarity as the current line, and the second gate-on voltage is to drive the current line. An LCD panel is first charged with the first gate-on voltage supplied from the gate driver, and then charged with the second gate-on voltage, so that it can display analog image data received from the data driver during the second charging. |
| US07671854B2 |
High-potential output stage
A high-potential output stage includes an output circuit to power a load with a variable high potential when it receives a low-level active input logic signal. It also includes a driving circuit which produces a high-level control logic signal as a function of the input logic signal to drive the output circuit which is powered by a DC high potential. The output stage also synchronizes the input logic signal with variations of the variable high potential. |
| US07671851B1 |
Reconfigurable tactile controls and displays
New methods and apparatus are provided for efficiently and safely providing controls and displays therefore, particularly, but necessarily to be used within the center stack region of a vehicle instrument panel. The apparatus utilizes, in most embodiments, a rear projection display and machine vision sensing of control position and, optionally, finger touch. A very stylistic and easy to use instrument panel results which can be programmed or otherwise provided in many different forms to suit different users or option package designs. |
| US07671846B1 |
Computer system having a pressure-sensitive controller, setup method for a pressure-sensitive controller and recording medium that records this method
In order to minimize differences in a pushing speed of a user pushing control elements of a controller in, for example, an entertaining system, arising from differences in the body weights of users, the gives instructions to a computer running software depending on the pushing pressure of the user on the control element connected to a pressure-sensitive device of the controller. The controller is set up to instruct the user to push the control element with at least a maximum strength. The value obtained when the control element is pushed, is stored as the maximum value. Based on the maximum value and a pressure-sensing value table defined in software or various pressure-sensing values, a new pressure-sensing value table or various new pressure-sensing values are generated. |
| US07671842B2 |
Dual mode input device
A dual mode input device, e.g. an optical mouse, is capable of performing data input function by moving the input device. Alternatively, the dual mode input device can also be an optical trackball. By turning the dual mode input device upside down, a trackball can be mounted to or exposed from the bottom surface to perform data input function by manipulating the trackball so that no movement of the input device is required. |
| US07671841B2 |
Portable terminal with position-variable display and method
A portable terminal with a position-variable display comprising a main body for inputting information and controlling communication, a folder coupled to the main body, a display unit rotationally disposed on the folder for displaying image information, a rotating means for providing angular rotation of the display unit along a plane of the folder, and a sliding means for moving the display unit in a direction along a length of the portable terminal. |
| US07671836B2 |
Cell phone with shiftable keypad
The invention is related to electronic devices (1), preferably cell phones or handhelds, containing a layer (2) and a moving mechanism for this layer (2), so that the layer (2) is extractable out of a rest position from the main casing (10). The described layer (2) usually contains a keypad (3). According to the invention, the moving mechanism allows the layer (2) to be extractable out of his rest position in different directions, preferably in two, three, or four directions. The inventive arrangement allows a more comfortable and flexible use of the device. |
| US07671835B2 |
Image display apparatus and image display method
In an image display apparatus and image display method suppress the degradation of display function and the shortening of service life due to long-term use, measurement of a current value is carried out and the measured current value each time a certain time elapses is stored. The integrated value of the current is calculated, and a comparator compares the integrated value with a reference value stored in a storage section for determining whether or not the result is greater than a prescribed value. If the result is affirmed to differ by prescribed value, a recovery voltage is applied, and it is determined whether or not a recovery time has exceeded a stored recovery time. If the excedance of the recovery time is affirmed, the application of the recovery voltage is terminated. If a negation is given at the determination of the greater difference value, the flow is ended. If a negation is given at the determination of the recovery time, the recovery voltage is applied. |
| US07671826B2 |
Semiconductor device, display device, and electronic device
A display device includes a load, a transistor for controlling a current value supplied to the load, a capacitor, a first wiring, a second wiring, and first to fourth switches. Variations in the current value caused by variations in the threshold voltage of the transistor can be suppressed through the steps of: (1) holding the threshold voltage of the transistor in the storage capacitor, (2) inputting a potential in accordance with a video signal, and (3) holding a voltage that is the sum of the threshold voltage and the potential in accordance with the video signal, in the storage capacitor. Accordingly, a desired current can be supplied to the load such as a light emitting element. |
| US07671824B2 |
Plasma display and driving method thereof
A plasma display panel for adaptively reducing load effect and improving luminescence efficiency and discharge efficiency, and a driving method thereof. A plasma display panel includes a capacitive load; a source capacitor; a sustain voltage source to generate a sustain voltage; a first inductor formed on a first current path where a current flows from the capacitive load to the source capacitor; a second inductor formed on a second current path where a current flows from the source capacitor to the capacitive load; a switch configuration and switch control circuit that controls the switching operations of the switch configuration such that at least two discharges may occur during one sustain pulse cycle. |
| US07671823B2 |
Multi-angle mirror
Multi-angle mirror methods and related systems. |
| US07671821B2 |
Image signal generating apparatus, image signal transmission apparatus, image signal generating method, image signal transmission method, image display unit, control method for an image display unit, and image display system
An image signal generating unit supplies a single image signal to multiple image display units having different unit numbers. Embedded in the image signal is an index signal designating the image display units on which the image signal is to be displayed. Each image display unit compares its unit number with the index signal to select displayable frames of the image signal, preferably storing and displaying the most recent selected frame. Each image display unit can thereby display a different image. The image signal may have a standard format. |
| US07671819B2 |
Antenna assembly
An antenna assembly includes an antenna. The antenna assembly includes at least one interrupted loop or rod of electrically conducting material and a printed circuit board (PCB). At least a part of the PCB together with the at least one interrupted loop or rod of electrically conducting material forms the antenna. |