| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US07730547B2 |
Smart materials: strain sensing and stress determination by means of nanotube sensing systems, composites, and devices
The present invention is directed toward devices comprising carbon nanotubes that are capable of detecting displacement, impact, stress, and/or strain in materials, methods of making such devices, methods for sensing/detecting/monitoring displacement, impact, stress, and/or strain via carbon nanotubes, and various applications for such methods and devices. The devices and methods of the present invention all rely on mechanically-induced electronic perturbations within the carbon nanotubes to detect and quantify such stress/strain. Such detection and quantification can rely on techniques which include, but are not limited to, electrical conductivity/conductance and/or resistivity/resistance detection/measurements, thermal conductivity detection/measurements, electroluminescence detection/measurements, photoluminescence detection/measurements, and combinations thereof. All such techniques rely on an understanding of how such properties change in response to mechanical stress and/or strain. |
| US07730537B2 |
Method of operating an intrusion detection system
A method of operating an intrusion detection system. The system determines occurrence of a signature event indicative of a denial of service intrusion on a protected device. A value of a signature event counter is increased. The value of the signature event counter is adjusted to not include a count of signature events past a sliding window. The value of the signature event counter is determined to exceed a signature threshold quantity, followed by generation of an alert at a time subsequently recorded in a log. The log is cleared of entries past a permissible age. A present alert generation rate is determined as a ratio of the total number of timestamps in the log to the permissible age. The present alert generation rate is ascertained to exceed an alert generation rate threshold. A selected element of the signature set is altered to decrease the alert generation rate. |
| US07730535B1 |
Constraint-based and attribute-based security system for controlling software component interaction
In a computer system having a plurality of software components, a security system for controlling interactions between the software components, the security system including at least one constraint associated with the interaction; and at least one attribute associated with the software components. The attributes and interaction parameters are bound to the constraint. The security system reaches a verdict permitting or forbidding the interaction, by resolving the constraint, based on value of the attribute and values of the parameters. The security system uses constraints and attributes specified during different life stages of each software component, where constraints are incrementally added during each subsequent life stage. |
| US07730531B2 |
System and method for detection of artificially generated system load
A system and method are provided for detecting artificially generated load on a search system. The system may include a load monitoring component for monitoring a current load for comparison with an expected load. The system may additionally include an abnormality detection component for detecting an abnormality when the monitored load exceeds an expected amount by a predetermined threshold. The system may further include an analysis component for determining if the monitored load is an artificial load. |
| US07730529B2 |
Method of operating a computer system and computer system
A method of operating a computer system comprises the following steps:installing an executable main module of a program on the computer system, storing module data for the main module and/or for an additional module (A, B, C, D) of the program in the computer system, said stored module data comprising a license part required to determine the presence of the use authorization of the main module and/or of the additional module, and preferably also comprising an information part,evaluating the stored module data for acquisition of a further use authorization for the additional module (A-D) or for a further additional module (A-D), andproviding information for the acquisition of a use authorization as a function of the result of evaluation. |
| US07730525B2 |
Method, system, and computer program product for limiting authorization of an executable action to an application session
The present invention provides a method, system, and computer program product for limiting authorization of an executable action to an application session. A method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention comprises: generating an alert in response to an execution of an action in an application; and allowing a user to temporarily authorize the execution of the action for a current session of the application. The authorization for the execution of the action is removed when the current session of the application ends. |
| US07730523B1 |
Role-based access using combinatorial inheritance and randomized conjugates in an internet hosted environment
A method for remote services authentication in an internet hosted environment includes a high level process and functionality for a secure, practical and logically optimized inter-network authentication mechanism by employees, partners and customers of an enterprise into the hosted Internet site. The lightweight authentication and authorization mechanism can be most effectively implemented in Java as part of the application or web server servlet. The method for remote services authentication includes initial secure password establishment, subsequent authentication and authorization, as well as authentication and authorization upon resuming previously run sessions with the hosted server using Internet cookies. |
| US07730520B2 |
Automated adaptive method for identity verification with performance guarantees
This invention provides an automated adaptive method for identity verification of claimants that attempt to get access into a resource by responding to a sequence of identifiers. The sequence has a specified maximal length and the identifiers are partitioned into multiple groups where identifiers in the same group are correlated and identifiers in different groups are not correlated. The method guarantees that an impostor will be accepted with a probability that does not exceed a specified parameter and that a legitimate claimant will be rejected with a probability that does not exceed a different specified parameter. The method also computes the probabilities that a legitimate claimant, or an impostor, will terminate an interrogation session with an inconclusive result, which would necessitate further manual interrogation. The method is adaptive as the conditional probabilities of an impostor's responses change throughout a session of interrogation. |
| US07730516B2 |
TV-centric system
A method for abstracting a TV hardware component to a service class to facilitate providing services through a TV. |
| US07730513B2 |
Systems and methods for provisioning a host device for enhanced services in a cable system
Flexible systems and methods are disclosed that may be used for provisioning, configuring, and controlling a host embodied in a cable set top box or other digital device attached to a digital communication network, such as cable distribution network. An enhanced services system maintains various host files for various types of hosts that a cable subscriber may purchase and connect to the cable network. The Enhanced Services Server interacts with the host using the host files. The host files may be downloaded from the host manufacturer into a database that distributes the modules as required to the various enhanced services systems. The host may be purchased by the cable subscriber and provisioning may be initiated by the retailer at the time of purchase using a provisioning network interacting with the appropriate cable system serving the subscriber. This abstract is not intended to limit or construe the scope of the claims. |
| US07730512B2 |
Audio and video transmission and receiving system
A system of distributing video and/or audio information employs digital signal processing to achieve high rates of data compression. The compressed and encoded audio and/or video information is sent over standard telephone, cable or satellite broadcast channels to a receiver specified by a subscriber of the service, preferably in less than real time, for later playback and optional recording on standard audio and/or video tape. |
| US07730507B2 |
Broadcast receiving apparatus and starting method thereof
For providing a broadcast receiving apparatus and a method for staring thereof, suppressing electric power consumption therein, under waiting condition, irrespective of mounting a constituent part requiring a long time for starting up, according to the present invention, within a broadcast receiving apparatus, detection is made, always, upon an approach of a human being, by means of a human sensor 40 and a sub-CPU 60, under the condition that a power plug 75 is inserted into a commercial electric power source, so as to control supply of electric power form a main electric power source unit to each of portions of that apparatus. Thus, prior to startup of that apparatus through a main switch 22 and a remote controller 30, a constituent portion (i.e., a video processing portion 200), being made up with a CPU and/or a digital LSI, installing OS therein and talking time for startup thereof, is started up, in advance, so as to bring it into awaiting condition; thereby shortening or reducing the waiting time after the startup of the apparatus with suppressing the electric power consumption under the waiting condition thereof. |
| US07730499B2 |
Protocol agnostic request response pattern
A system and method for facilitating communications over a protocol is provided. The system includes a class factory that holds identifiers associated with determining which, if any, registered protocol object creator should be employed to create a protocol object. The protocol object implements an abstract network protocol base class. The protocol object is employed to abstract details of communicating over a protocol and to provide a byte stream interface to communications occurring over the protocol, while removing protocol specific code from an application program. The method includes creating an instance of a protocol object from a source of registered protocol handlers based on a request to communicate over a protocol and using a base class API to communicate over the protocol through the protocol object. |
| US07730498B2 |
Internationalization of objects executable in a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system
An application object for a supervisory process control and manufacturing information system application distributable to a plurality of networked computer devices and having a layered architecture, the application object comprising a set of text entries listed in a first language, a dictionary within each object drafted to enable the set of text entries to be translated into a plurality of multiple languages, and a set of one or more translation fields for storing text in each of the plurality of languages corresponding to the set of text entries listed in the first language. |
| US07730496B2 |
Hosting controls in a window via an interface for controlling the window
Hosting user interface controls in a window via an interface for controlling the window is disclosed. One aspect of the invention is a computerized system having an operating system and at least one program. The operating system provides for hosting controls of a predetermined type within windows of a predetermined type via an interface for controlling the windows. The programs utilize the interface to host one or more controls within one or more windows. Thus, with respect to versions of the MICROSOFT WINDOWS operating system, a program may utilize the WIN32 API (i.e., interface) to host ACTIVEX-type controls within windows hosted by the program, also via the WIN32 API. |
| US07730491B2 |
Fair scalable reader-writer mutual exclusion
Implementing fair scalable reader writer mutual exclusion for access to a critical section by a plurality of processing threads in a processing system is accomplished by creating a first queue node for a first thread on the first thread's stack, the queue node representing a request by the first thread to access the critical section; adding the first queue node to a queue pointed to by a single word reader writer mutex for the critical section, the queue representing a list of threads desiring access to the critical section, each queue node in the queue being on a stack of a thread of the plurality of processing threads; waiting until the first queue node has no preceding write requests as indicated by predecessor queue nodes on the queue; entering the critical section by the first thread; exiting the critical section by the first thread; and removing the first queue node from the queue. |
| US07730489B1 |
Horizontally scalable and reliable distributed transaction management in a clustered application server environment
Various embodiments of a cluster of application servers in a networked computer system in which each application server includes a separate transaction manager instance are disclosed. In one embodiment, a separate transaction manager instance may be used to coordinate transactions initiated by an application component executing in process with the application server for a node of a cluster. If each transaction manager instance manages only transactions initiated within its own application server, then the loss of a single transaction manager instance may have no detrimental effect on transactions initiated in other nodes of the cluster. Further, if each transaction manager instance maintains its transaction logs in highly available memory accessible to all nodes of the cluster, in flight transactions of a failed node may be recovered by an instance in a different node. |
| US07730486B2 |
System and method for migrating virtual machines on cluster systems
In one embodiment, a method comprises executing a plurality of virtual machines on a plurality of nodes of a cluster computing system, wherein at least one application is executed within each of the plurality of virtual machines, generating data that is related to performance of applications in the virtual machines, analyzing, by a management process, the data in view of parameters that encode desired performance levels of applications, and migrating, by the management process, a virtual machine on a first node to a second node of the plurality of nodes in response to the analyzing. |
| US07730484B2 |
Method and device for providing interfaces that are tailored to specific devices
A generic interface device may operate as an interface with different types of electronic data devices that perform data operations. The interface device may establish communications with one of these data devices, and identify the particular type of data device based on data received from the data device. Using the identified type of data device, the interface device downloads a suitable computer program from a server. By executing the downloaded program, the interface device is able to obtain, understand and output specialized data produced by the data device. |
| US07730481B2 |
Method, apparatus and system of anti-virus software implementation
In one embodiment, an anti-virus verification unit detects connection messages transmitted by a network server and a network client on a network. The anti-virus verification unit determines a network address of the network client according to the connection messages. Using the network address, the anti-virus verification unit verifies if the network client has an anti-virus software. |
| US07730478B2 |
Method and system for allowing access to developed applications via a multi-tenant on-demand database service
In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for allowing access to developed applications via a multi-tenant on-demand database service, in a controlled environment. These mechanisms and methods for providing such access can enable embodiments to provide additional control over the development process as well as the access of such developed applications. The ability of embodiments to provide such additional control may lead to an improved application development framework, etc. |
| US07730476B2 |
Field-replaceable unit revision compatibility
In a computer system including a first field-programmable unit including first field-programmable unit (FPU) code, computer-implemented techniques are disclosed for determining whether the first FPU code is compatible with the computer system and, if the first FPU code is determined not to be compatible with the computer system, notifying a user of the computer system of the incompatibility. |
| US07730475B2 |
Dynamic metabase store
Methods, systems, and computer program products for editing configuration data such that alterations in one representation of the configuration data are reflected in one or more other representations of the configuration data. The altered configuration data may take effect without having to restart a corresponding program module. Multiple alterations to the configuration data may be consolidated. A differencing operation may be used to identify an altered portion of the configuration data. For one or more altered portions, an “updategram” may be generated and used to update a multiple program modules at various interconnected computer systems. A history of alterations to configuration data also may be maintained, making it possible to revert to an earlier version of the configuration data. Erroneous data may be ignored. Access to updated representations of the configuration data may be provided at a configuration management interface. |
| US07730472B2 |
Dynamic linking of modules in a pre-operating system environment
A dynamic linking loader is provided for a pre-operating-system environment. Such a loader can provide a simple, flexible, and cost effective way for loading modules at run time in a pre-operating-system environment. |
| US07730469B1 |
Method and system for code optimization
Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with the present invention optimize a program by analyzing a statistical profile of a program execution, and automatically optimizing the program based on at least one of the analysis, information about at least one prior compilation of the program, and information about at least one prior optimization of the program. The optimization of the program can therefore take into consideration changes made during prior compilations and optimization and the results of the changes. |
| US07730466B2 |
System and method for manipulating source code in a text editor
The present invention is a method for manipulating source code in a text editor, which includes receiving an input, the input designating an identifier. The method further includes associating a plurality of source code fragments with the identifier. Additionally, the method includes adding comment characters to each source code fragment of the plurality of source code fragments associated with the identifier. |
| US07730463B2 |
Efficient generation of SIMD code in presence of multi-threading and other false sharing conditions and in machines having memory protection support
A computer implemented method, system and computer program product for automatically generating SIMD code. The method begins by analyzing data to be accessed by a targeted loop including at least one statement, where each statement has at least one memory reference, to determine if memory accesses are safe. If memory accesses are safe, the targeted loop is simdized. If not safe, it is determined if a scheme can be applied in which safety need not be guaranteed. If such a scheme can be applied, the targeted loop is simdized according to the scheme. If such a scheme cannot be applied, it is determined if padding is appropriate. If padding is appropriate, the data is padded and the targeted loop is simdized. If padding is not appropriate, non-simdized code is generated based on the targeted loop for handling boundary conditions, the targeted loop is simdized and combined with the non-simdized code. |
| US07730462B2 |
Generalized comprehension in imperative languages
The present invention relates to a system and methodology to enable programming of generalized comprehensions in an imperative language environment. In one aspect, a system is provided to facilitate employment of user-definable and generalized comprehensions in accordance with imperative languages. The system includes a language component to enable programming of comprehension notations in an imperative language and an interface component to describe a meaning of the comprehension notations. A translation component facilitates execution of the comprehension notations in accordance with the imperative language. |
| US07730461B2 |
Software tool configured to generate test cases characterized by a linear range of integral values
The present invention is a system for efficiently generating test cases characterized by a linear range of integral values. A software testing tool which has been configured to generate test cases characterized by a linear range of integral values in accordance with the present invention can include a user interface coupled to a test case generator. The test case generator can be configured for range bounding for a range of integral values in a software application under test. In particular, the test case generator can include a halving module programmed to identify changes in response states in the software application under test evoked from input tokens having selected ones of the lengths defined within sub-ranges of a specified range of integral values. |
| US07730458B2 |
Built-in diagnostics
A system and method facilitating diagnostics support is provided. The system includes application(s) instrumented in accordance with a built-in diagnostics (BID) framework, and, trace component(s). The trace component can selectively employ none, some and/or substantially all of the trace point(s) associated with the application. The system can facilitate instrumentation of a managed data access stack, for example, to enhance supportability of the application. |
| US07730454B1 |
Lotus notes to clearquest bridge
A computer implemented method migrates test management data between a Lotus Notes® test management application and a tracking application. A user interface of the Lotus Notes® test management application receives a user action. The user action is an action to be taken on a document of the tracking application. The user action is a view of the document, a modification of the document, or a creation of the document. The document is a test document or a problem document. A bridge application is then triggered to communicate the user action from the Lotus Notes® test management application to the tracking application. The bridge application retrieves mapping information for the document. The bridge application then utilizes the mapping information to perform the user action on the document of the tracking application. The bridge agent then receives the document of the tracking application. The bridge agent maps the document of the tracking application to the user interface of the Lotus Notes® test management application using the mapping information. The user interface of the Lotus Notes® test management application then presents the document of the tracking application to the user. |
| US07730453B2 |
Runtime detection for invalid use of zero-length memory allocations
Methods for handling zero-length allocations are disclosed. An example of such a method may include returning a self-describing/diagnosing dynamic address that has all the properties required for a secure implementation. Another example may include returning a series of different addresses (instead of a single address per process) to improve supportability. Yet another example may include maintaining diagnostic information about the original allocation for ease of problem resolution. |
| US07730450B2 |
Automatic versioning and data mutation of user-defined data types
System and method for automatic versioning and data mutation for user-defined data types. A program development environment may be operable to: create a first version of a data type definition in response to user input; instantiate and store an object of the first version of the data type, optionally including a version identifier indicating the version of the object; modify the first version of the data type definition in response to user input, thereby creating a second version of the data type definition; load the object from storage; and automatically (without user intervention) modify the object to conform to the second version of the data type definition. Successive modifications of the data type definition may generate successive versions of the data type. Objects instantiated and stored according to a previous version of the data type may be loaded from storage and automatically modified to conform to a specified subsequent version. |
| US07730449B2 |
Auto reference counting pointer for C++ objects with ability to re-cast and lookup from a free pointer
A self reference-counting pointer that keeps the reference count of the object within the pointer-object that does not impose any restrictions on the object itself and can be used freely on objects already created. A reference count object is created and is attached to a pointer-object of the object when the first instance of the object is created. When subsequent references or copies of the object are made, the reference count is incremented, and the pointer object associated with the subsequent reference or copy of the object are attached to the reference count object. When any instance of the object goes out of scope, the pointer-object to that instance is detached from the reference count object and the reference count is decremented. When there are no instances of the object attached to the reference counter, then the reference counter is deleted. |
| US07730443B2 |
System and method for checking a length of a wire path between a capacitor and a via of a PCB design
A method for checking a length of a wire path between a capacitor and a via of the PCB design obtains length criteria and information on capacitors from a database, selects one or more capacitors and pins of the selected capacitors from the obtained information on capacitors and selects one of the length criteria, and obtains positions of selected capacitors and positions of vias corresponding to the positions of selected capacitors from the database. The method further calculates each length of a wire path between a selected capacitor and a corresponding via according to the position of the capacitor and the position of the via, determines whether each calculated length of a wire path between a selected capacitor and a corresponding via is acceptable according to a comparison with the selected length criterion, and outputs check results of the determining step. |
| US07730442B2 |
Apparatus for designing circuit and method for designing circuit according to clearance required between wirings therein
An apparatus for designing a circuit comprises an arranging element which arranges a first wiring required a predetermined clearance between the first wiring and other wirings and a second wiring being thinner in a wiring width than the first wiring, a calculating element which calculates a particular part of the second wiring, the particular part is required to keep the clearance between the particular part and other wirings; and an area generating element which generates an area indicative of a position apart from the first wiring and the particular part by a distance corresponding to the clearance. |
| US07730440B2 |
Clock signal distribution system and method
A diagonal offset clock signal distribution system and method are presented that facilitate maximized placement of a diagonal offset clock signal distribution tree. |
| US07730439B2 |
Floor plan evaluating method, floor plan correcting method, program, floor plan evaluating device, and floor plan creating device
A floor plan evaluation method by which a floor plan can be quantitatively evaluated. The floor plan evaluation method includes first extracting a plurality of specified elements, which are specified in advance from data on a floor plan which is made automatically by, e.g., a floor planner, second obtaining an individual evaluation value on each of a plurality of individual evaluation items on the basis of the plurality of specified elements extracted in the first step, and third calculating an integrated evaluation value on the floor plan on the basis of a plurality of individual evaluation values obtained in the second step. Then, a plurality of integrated evaluation values obtained by executing the first to third operations for a plurality of floor plans are compared with one another to relatively evaluate the plurality of floor plans. |
| US07730438B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for designing multiplexers
Methods and apparatuses for designing multiplexers in one or more integrated circuits are described. One exemplary method includes receiving a representation of a first multiplexer and converting the representation to a partition neutral representation of the first multiplexer and partitioning the partition neutral representation to create a plurality of second multiplexers. Another exemplary method includes decomposing a representation of a first multiplexer into a representation of a plurality of second multiplexers, which are coupled together at a common output without any intervening multiplexers between the second multiplexers and the common output, and partitioning the second multiplexers between portions of at least one integrated circuit. |
| US07730437B1 |
Method of full semiconductor chip timing closure
A method of full semiconductor chip timing closure includes the steps of determining a system level place and route. Next, a static timing analysis for each of a number of subsystems is performed. Finally, a full chip static timing analysis is performed. |
| US07730433B2 |
Analog design retargeting
An analog retargeting system and method are disclosed for converting a circuit from a source technology to a target technology. Thus, an analog circuit in a source technology can be converted to another technology while maintaining substantially the same circuit behavior and specifications as the original design. The conversion includes analyzing and resizing the circuit at the device level. For example, the analysis may include determining a mode of operation for a transistor and resizing the transistor based on the mode of operation. In another example, the analysis may include determining node voltages coupled to a device and the resizing strategy may be adjusted based on the determined node voltages. |
| US07730427B2 |
Desktop management scheme
The present invention introduces a “contextual icon” to an icon-driven interface in which a single icon represents a shortcut to a suite of computer applications. The icon is associated with a single main application that may be invoked if an operator double-clicks on it or enters some other predetermined quick launch command. The desktop icon also may be associated with a context menu that reveals ancillary applications or tools that are related to the suite and typically are used less frequently than the main menu. The context menu may be opened with an ancillary interaction command (example: right clicking on the icon) and, thereafter, an operator may browse through and select an application from the context menu that may be desired. In this way, the contextual icon management scheme reduces desktop clutter while maintaining a highly intuitive navigation scheme among related applications. |
| US07730425B2 |
Function-oriented user interface
A function-oriented user interface presents users with selections related to what they want to do, rather than selections related to what tool they want to use. Functions may be dragged onto elements (data objects) or elements may be dragged onto functions to initiate activity. The elements themselves may present icons representing functions that are available such as adding a voice note or addressing to another person. |
| US07730421B2 |
Method for controlling a screen display system in motor vehicles
A method for controlling a screen display system in vehicles is provided, including a setting element or actuator that can be arbitrarily operated, and information that can be displayed on a screen according to the setting of the setting element. According to the invention, the amount of image information contained in the image information is set by using the setting element. The method graphical displays a hierarchical menu structure consisting of menus, submenus, functions and/or a functional value. The assignment of different menu items to the amounts of image information assigned to the settings of the setting element ensues according to the frequency with which the respective menu item has been selected during preceding operations. |
| US07730416B2 |
Communication apparatus and display method
A communication apparatus and display method are capable of displaying one frame of a plurality of frames, and displaying automatically an appropriate frame for a user in the case that there are changes in display contents. A display part displays screen data while enlarging a frame which is specified by the user and is included in Web data including a plurality of frames received by a data communicating part. While the screen data of the frame specified by the user is displayed, a frame configuration management part judges that changes took place in display contents of other frames that are not displayed. A data processing part performs data processing so as to cause all frames included in the received Web data to be displayed on the display part when it is judged that the changes took place in the display contents. |
| US07730412B2 |
System and method for model-based user interface using transformation nodes
Methods and systems to include transformation nodes in a business system are provided. A transformation node may provide controlled redundancy of data within the business object hierarchy. Transformation nodes may store data from core nodes without persistency, and permit different data presentation modes than for the core nodes. When a service call is placed to a transformation node, the transformation node may call corresponding services from associated core nodes. |
| US07730411B2 |
Re-creating meeting context
In one embodiment, a method can include: (i) connecting to a conference server via a network; (ii) viewing a list of available past meetings and associated forms of access; (iii) selecting a meeting and form of access from the list; and (iv) re-creating the meeting in a context using the form of access. Example forms of access can include a dialing of all meeting participants, re-creating a previous meeting context, summarizing a meeting, displaying action items, and replaying or viewing a portion of a meeting. |
| US07730407B2 |
Systems and methods for bookmarking live and recorded multimedia documents
Systems and methods for bookmarking multimedia documents include displaying multiple multimedia streams, creating bookmarks comprising time signatures and snapshots of each multimedia stream based upon single action cues from a user, associating snapshots with portions of multimedia streams, displaying bookmarks and displaying portions of a multimedia stream associated with selected snapshots. |
| US07730405B2 |
Method and system to present video content
A method and system to preview video content. The system comprises an access component to receive a search request and a loader to simultaneously stream a plurality of videos associated with the search request. The system may further comprise a trigger to detect a pointer positioned over a first video and a mode selector to provide the first video in a preview mode. |
| US07730399B2 |
Journal file reader
A system and process for enabling programmatic access to the contents of documents containing electronic ink are described. |
| US07730398B2 |
Image stitching for mobile electronic devices
A device and method for modifying content for use on a mobile electronic device. The content includes (i) a plurality of content image files each including graphics information for generating an associated image and (ii) computer instructions including references to the plurality of image files for causing the associated images to be displayed on a display screen. A plurality of image files are selected from the content that can be combined together to form a single image file that will have a smaller file size than the sum of the file sizes of the selected image files. The selected image files are combined into a single merged image file. The computer instructions are amended to accommodate the merged image file. |
| US07730397B2 |
System and method for rapid presentation of structured digital content items
Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for presenting structured digital content items. A file is read that defines a hierarchical structure. A display region is divided into regions and each region is mapped to a category within the hierarchical structure. An x-coordinate and a y-coordinate, corresponding to a location on the display, are received. The category that maps to the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate is displayed. |
| US07730391B2 |
Ink thickness rendering for electronic annotations
A system and method for rendering ink annotations for a displayed image is disclosed. The invention adjusts the thickness of rendered lines for ink annotations when rendered. Ink annotations are created by capturing and connecting a set of data points input by a user. The invention outlines various pixels and weights saturation of anti-aliasing pixels to improve a user's viewing experience. |
| US07730390B2 |
Displaying text of video in browsers on a frame by frame basis
A method, system, and computer program product for presenting text from multimedia data to a user is provided. In one embodiment, multimedia data containing associated text data is received by a data processing system. The associated text data is extracted from the multimedia data. The associated text data is then outputted without outputting moving images from the multimedia data. |
| US07730385B2 |
Method for decoding a received control channel message with a priori information
A wireless communication device employs a method for receiving a message stream on a control channel. According to one embodiment, the wireless communication device receives a message on the control channel. The wireless communication devices attempts to decode the message and, if the message is successfully decoded, adds bits of the successfully decoded message to a message attributes list. Some time thereafter, the wireless communication device attempts to decode a subsequent message received on the control channel and, if an error is detected during decoding of the subsequent message, replaces bits in the subsequent message with bits from the message attributes list to produce a modified message. The wireless device then attempts to decode the modified message. |
| US07730380B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting/receiving voice over internet protocol packets with a user datagram protocol checksum in a mobile communication system
A method and apparatus for transmitting/receiving a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) packet on a radio link in a mobile communication system which provides a voice service over a packet network connected to the Internet. To transmit a VoIP packet, a VoIP packet comprising a user datagram protocol (UDP) checksum field is received, the UDP checksum field is eliminated from the received VoIP packet, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is added to the UDP checksum field-free VoIP packet, for error detection in the radio link, and the VoIP packet having the CRC is transmitted on the radio link. |
| US07730378B2 |
Low-complexity high-performance low-rate communications codes
An encoder includes an outer repetition encoder, an interleaver for permuting encoding from said outer repetition encoder; and an inner encoder for encoding information from the interleaver to provide a repeat zigzag-Hadamard code. In an exemplary embodiment, a common bit of a zigzag-Hadamard segment of encoding from said inner encoder is a repetition of a last parity bit of a previous zigzag-Hadamard segment of encoding from said inner encoder and said common bit is punctured. |
| US07730375B1 |
Method and apparatus for controlling operating modes of an electronic device
A method and apparatus allows externally selecting a functional operation mode or one of a plurality of test operation modes of an electronic device, and in particular a volatile or non-volatile memory device, without the need for additional device connections. One variation of the method and apparatus allows unlimited switching between modes. Another variation of the method and apparatus limits test operation mode selection except at the time of powering up of the device. In either variation, mode selection is based on internally detected stimulus externally applied to the device that would not be present during normal functional operation of the device. Operation of the present invention is essentially transparent in applications where test operations are not utilized, making a device incorporating the present invention compatible with previous versions of the device where the present invention and test operation modes, such as IEEE P1581 and BIST, were not included. |
| US07730367B2 |
Method and system for testing devices using loop-back pseudo random data
There is provided a method of testing a first device using a tester. The method includes receiving test data having a pattern by the first device from the tester; detecting the pattern of the test data by the first device; generating first data, by the first device, according to the pattern detected by the detecting; comparing the test data with the pattern detected by the detecting; determining errors in the test data, by the first device, based on the comparing; inserting the errors into the first data to generate error-inserted first data; and transmitting the error-inserted first data by the first device to the tester. The method may further include generating a first clock at the first device; wherein the transmitting uses the first clock for transmitting the error-inserted first data. |
| US07730364B2 |
Systems and methods for predictive failure management
A system and method for using continuous failure predictions for proactive failure management in distributed cluster systems includes a sampling subsystem configured to continuously monitor and collect operation states of different system components. An analysis subsystem is configured to build classification models to perform on-line failure predictions. A failure prevention subsystem is configured to take preventive actions on failing components based on failure warnings generated by the analysis subsystem. |
| US07730357B2 |
Integrated memory system
An embodiment of the present invention relates to an integrated memory system comprising at least a non-volatile memory and an automatic storage error corrector, and wherein the memory is connected to a controller by means of an interface bus. Advantageously, the system comprises in the memory circuit means, functionally independent, each being responsible for the correction of a predetermined storage error; at least one of said means generating a signal to ask a correction being external to the memory. |
| US07730355B2 |
Systems and methods for out-of-band booting of a computer
The present invention is directed to systems and methods for remotely booting a server computer system. A boot request is received from the server computer. An access request is transmitted to a boot management system via a secondary communication channel in response to the received boot request. An access response is received from the boot management system. The access response includes boot data from a boot image accessible via the boot management system and compatible with the server computer. In response to the received access response, the boot data is extracted from the access response and forwarded to the server computer for processing and booting. Multiple responses may be required in certain instances to accumulate the entirety of the boot image. |
| US07730350B2 |
Method and system of determining the execution point of programs executed in lock step
A method and system of determining the execution point of programs executed in lock step. At least some of the illustrative embodiments are computer systems comprising a first processor that executes a program, and a second processor that executes a duplicate copy of the program in lock step with the first processor. After receipt of a duplicate copy of an interrupt request by each processor, the first processor determines the execution point in its program relative to the execution point of the duplicate copy of the program executed by the second processor. |
| US07730348B2 |
Device and method for recording information
A device records information in blocks having logical addresses at a physical address in a track on a record carrier. The logical addresses are translated into the physical addresses in dependence of defect management information, which includes defect entries indicating locations for replacing defective physical addresses. A read-only state of the record carrier is obtainable via a no-replacement state indicated by substantially none of the defect entries being free for use. The device has a read-only unit for setting the record carrier to the read-only state by reading original replacement information indicating a writable state, storing the original replacement information in a hidden area, and writing defect management information that is modified to the no-replacement state. The record carrier may be re-opened by retrieving the original replacement information from the hidden area. |
| US07730345B2 |
Contents furnishing system
Even if contents data distributed over a network are once destroyed, the contents data are restored, as the copyright protection is maintained. A PC memorizes backup of distributed music contents on a hard disc, at the same time as it transmits the using log information of the music contents stored in the hard disc to an EMD server. If the music contents in the hard disc are destroyed, the PC acquires the using log information from the EMD server to reproduce the backup data memorized in the hard disc depending on the using log information. |
| US07730343B2 |
Optimization of port link recovery
Provided are techniques for determining a link speed. When a link between two computing devices is operational, a link speed for use in communicating across the link is stored and a remembered indicator is set to TRUE. After any event occurs that causes the link to become inoperational, in response to determining that the remembered indicator is TRUE, the stored link speed is used when attempting to make the link become operational. |
| US07730330B1 |
System and method for saving and restoring a processor state without executing any instructions from a first instruction set
A CPU (1) automatically preserves the CPU context in a computer memory (5) that remains powered-up when the CPU is powered down in sleep mode. By means of the preserved CPU context, the CPU is able to instantly and transparently resume program execution at the instruction of the program that was asserted for execution when the CPU was powered down. The CPU is permitted to power down frequently, even during execution of a program, and results in reduced average overall power consumption. |
| US07730326B2 |
Method and system for updating firmware stored in non-volatile memory
Improved approaches to update computer program code residing within a computing device are disclosed. By maintaining a former version of the computer program code, the computing device remains operable even if the update to the computer program code fails. Hence, the invention permits reliable updates to computer program code, which is particularly useful for firmware (e.g., boot-up code) of computing devices. For control and security, each version of computer program code can include authentication information. Before the computer program code is used, the computer program code can be required to be authenticated using the authentication information. |
| US07730324B2 |
Method for controlling database copyrights
The present invention provides a method for controlling copyrights of digital data in a database system including real time transmission of a digital picture. Copyrights are controlled using one or more of the following, as necessary, in addition to a permit key: a copyright control program, copyright information or copyright control message. The copyright control program, the copyright information and the copyright control message are supplied together with the permit key, or they are supplied together with the data. Otherwise, a part of them is supplied together with the permit key and the other part of them is supplied together with the data. The data, the permit key, the copyright control message, the copyright information and the copyright control program are (1) transmitted while encrypted, but are decrypted when used, or (2) they are transmitted while encrypted and decrypted for display only, otherwise remaining encrypted, or (3) they may not be encrypted at all. |
| US07730314B2 |
Method and apparatus for electronic commerce using digital ticket to provide anonymity
A method and apparatus for electronic commerce using a digital ticket are provided. The method for electronic commerce using a digital ticket includes hiding a message comprising a random number and transmitting the hidden message to a ticket issuer, receiving the hidden message signed with a digital signature by the ticket issuer, verifying the digital signature on the message, and transmitting the message with the verified digital signature to the ticket issuer to consume a digital ticket. |
| US07730310B2 |
Key transformation unit for a tamper resistant module
Methods, apparati, and computer-readable media for securely transporting a software application onto a tamper resistant module (TRM) (103) by using an individualized TRM key set. A method embodiment of the present invention comprises: storing a key pair unique to the TRM (103) in a memory located on the TRM (103), where the key pair comprises a TRM public key (150) and a TRM private key (190); retrieving the TRM public key from the TRM; encrypting a portion of the software application using the TRM public key (150); transmitting the encrypted software application to the TRM (103); and recovering and decrypting the encrypted software application using the TRM private key (190). |
| US07730309B2 |
Method and system for key management in voice over internet protocol
A method and system for a secure telephone protocol are disclosed, which can be implemented using current Voice over IP (VoIP) protocols, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP, as specified in the Request for Comment (RFC) 3261 from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)), Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP, as specified in RFC 3550), and Secure RTP (SRTP, as specified in RFC 3711). The secure telephone protocol can include a shared secret value that is cached and then re-used later to authenticate a long series of session keys to be used for numerous separate secure phone calls over a long period of time, thereby providing cryptographic key continuity without the need for voice authentication. In an embodiment, the secure telephone protocol can utilize the Diffie-Hellman key exchange during call setup, and AES for encrypting the voice stream. |
| US07730306B2 |
Information processing apparatus with use-restricted functions, and system and method for canceling use restriction
Processing for extending function of an information processing apparatus having functions, the use of which is restricted, is managed by canceling the restriction of the use of function in association with an information storing device which is connected to information processing apparatus A, B. The information storing device holds information on a list of product keys and the number of possible function extensions (the number of restriction cancellations and the number of licenses) as information for canceling the restriction in advance. The number of information processing apparatus, the functions of which are extended, is managed by reducing the number of possible function extensions each time when one function of the information processing apparatus A is extended. Unnecessary function is deleted from the information processing apparatus A so as to increase the number of licenses. Correspondingly, the function of the information processing apparatus B can be extended. |
| US07730288B2 |
Method and apparatus for multiple load instruction execution
A method and apparatus for executing instructions. The method includes receiving a first load instruction and a second load instruction. The method also includes issuing the first load instruction and the second load instruction to a cascaded delayed execution pipeline unit having at least a first execution pipeline and a second execution pipeline, wherein the second execution pipeline executes an instruction in a common issue group in a delayed manner relative to another instruction in the common issue group executed in the first execution pipeline. The method also includes accessing a cache by executing the first load instruction and the second load instruction. A delay between execution of the first load instruction and the second load instruction allows the cache to complete the access with the first load instruction before beginning the access with the second load instruction. |
| US07730287B2 |
Method and software for group floating-point arithmetic operations
Methods and software are presented for processing data in a programmable processor, involving (a) decoding instructions for execution using an execution unit operable to execute instructions by partitioning data stored in registers in a register file into multiple data elements, the instructions selected from an instruction set that includes group arithmetic instructions and group data handling instructions, (b) in response to decoding different group data handling instructions, executing group data handling operations that re-arrange data elements in different ways, and (c) in response to decoding different group arithmetic instructions, executing a plurality of different group floating-point and group integer arithmetic operations that each arithmetically operates on the multiple data elements stored in registers in the register file to produce a catenated result that is returned to a register in the register file, wherein the catenated result comprises a plurality of individual results. |
| US07730285B1 |
Data processing system with partial bypass reorder buffer and combined load/store arithmetic logic unit and processing method thereof
A data processing system includes a plurality of functional units that selectively execute instructions. A register file includes a plurality of registers that store data corresponding to the instructions. A reorder buffer communicates with the register file and stores the data, includes at least one bypassable buffer location, and includes at least one non-bypassable buffer location. |
| US07730284B2 |
Pipelined instruction processor with data bypassing and disabling circuit
An instruction processing device has a of pipe-line stage with a functional unit for executing a command from an instruction. A first register unit is coupled to the functional unit for storing a result of execution of the command when the command has reached a first one of the pipeline stages, and for supplying bypass operand data to the functional unit. A register file is coupled to the functional unit for storing the result when the command has reached a second one of the pipeline stages, downstream from the first one of the pipeline stages, and for supplying operand data to the functional unit. A disable circuit is coupled to selectively disable storing of the results in the register file under control of the instructions. |
| US07730283B2 |
Simple load and store disambiguation and scheduling at predecode
Embodiments of the invention provide a processor for executing instructions. In one embodiment, the processor includes circuitry to receive a load instruction and a store instruction to be executed in the processor and detect a conflict between the load instruction and the store instruction. Detecting the conflict includes determining if load-store conflict information indicates that the load instruction previously conflicted with the store instruction. The load-store conflict information is stored for both the load instruction and the store instruction. The processor further includes circuitry to schedule execution of the load instruction and the store instruction so that execution of the load instruction and the store instruction do not result in a conflict. |
| US07730281B2 |
System and method for storing immediate data
An article comprising an instruction stored on a storage medium. The instruction includes opcode field storing an opcode signal and an operand field storing an operand signal. The operand is compressed prior to being stored in the operand field. |
| US07730280B2 |
Methods and apparatus for independent processor node operations in a SIMD array processor
A control processor is used for fetching and distributing single instruction multiple data (SIMD) instructions to a plurality of processing elements (PEs). One of the SIMD instructions is a thread start (Tstart) instruction, which causes the control processor to pause its instruction fetching. A local PE instruction memory (PE Imem) is associated with each PE and contains local PE instructions for execution on the local PE. Local PE Imem fetch, decode, and execute logic are associated with each PE. Instruction path selection logic in each PE is used to select between control processor distributed instructions and local PE instructions fetched from the local PE Imem. Each PE is also initialized to receive control processor distributed instructions. In addition, local hold generation logic is associated with each PE. A PE receiving a Tstart instruction causes the instruction path selection logic to switch to fetch local PE Imem instructions. |
| US07730276B1 |
Striping of data into memory of a network data switch to prevent read and write collisions
A shared memory switch is provided for storing and retrieving data from BlockRAM (BRAM) memory of a PLD. A set of class queues maintain a group of pointers that show the location of the incoming “cells” or “packets” stored in the memory in the switch based on the time of storage in the BRAM. A non-blocking memory architecture is implemented that allows for a scalable N×N memory structure to be created (N=number of input and output ports). A write controller stripes the data across this N×N memory to prevent data collisions on read in or read out of data. The data is scheduled for read out of this N×N shared memory buffer based on priorities or classes in the class queues, with priorities being set by a user, and then data is read out from the BRAM. |
| US07730268B2 |
Multiprocessor system having an input/output (I/O) bridge circuit for transferring data between volatile and non-volatile memory
A disclosed circuit includes circuitry for coupling to a volatile memory, circuitry for coupling to a nonvolatile NAND flash memory, and circuitry that: (i) receives a volatile memory request from a processor and satisfies the volatile memory request by accessing the volatile memory, and (ii) receives a nonvolatile NOR flash memory read request from the processor and satisfies the NOR read request by accessing both the NAND flash memory and the volatile memory. The circuit may also include circuitry that receives a volatile memory request from another processor and satisfies the volatile memory request from the other processor by accessing the volatile memory, and circuitry that receives a NAND flash memory read request from the other processor and satisfies the NAND read request by accessing the NAND flash memory. Multiprocessor systems including the circuit are described, as is a method for satisfying a NOR flash memory read request. |
| US07730262B2 |
Method and system for dynamic distributed data caching
A method and system for dynamic distributed data caching is presented. The method includes providing a cache community comprising at least one peer. Each peer has an associated first content portion indicating content to be cached by the respective peer. A client may be allowed to join the cache community. A peer list associated with the cache community is updated to include the client. The peer list indicates the peers in the cache community. A respective second content portion is associated with each peer based on the addition of the client. |
| US07730260B2 |
Delete recycling of holographic data storage
Data hologram recycling systems, methods and computer program products are configured to arrange data for storage in the intermediate data storage as data segments which are replicas of holographic storage segments for destaging to the holographic data storage, and to determine retrieval for recycling of the destaged holographic storage segments to which aggregated requests for deletion are directed. The retrieval determination may be based on a plurality of policies. |
| US07730257B2 |
Method and computer program product to increase I/O write performance in a redundant array
A method and related computer program product for achieving high performance I/O write rates in a redundant array using a fully recoverable communication queue stored in NVRAM on a RAID controller comprising, receiving an I/O write request from an application, determining if the I/O request is an inline write command, writing inline write commands into a command queue stored in NVRAM, notifying the application generating the I/O request of command completion and requesting the operating system for further I/Os. |
| US07730255B2 |
Apparatus, method, and program for recording
A recording apparatus for recording data in individual blocks each made of plural given regions on an optical disc is disclosed. The recording apparatus may have (i) a detection portion which detects a finally recorded region on the disc by detecting for each of the given regions as to whether or not data is recorded and (ii) a recording control portion which records dummy data from a region next to the finally recorded region detected by the detection portion to the final region of a block located behind the finally recorded region by at least one region and then starting to record data from the head region of the subsequent block. |
| US07730253B2 |
System and method for controlling access to a memory device of an electronic device
The invention relates to a system and method for controlling implementation of a command to a memory device. In the method, it comprises the following steps: monitoring an instruction stream destined for the memory device for an assertion of a command for the memory device; if the command is detected, evaluating whether the command is a restricted command; and if the command is a restricted command, preventing assertion of the command on the memory device. |
| US07730252B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for serial attached SCSI (SAS) zoning management of a domain using connector grouping
Embodiments of the invention include a method, apparatus and system for managing SAS zoning, using connector grouping. A connector grouping management application is configured to allow connectors on the edge of the ZPSDS to be grouped into defined zones. The defined zones are used to create a minimal number of zone groups and to configure the respective permissions of the zone groups. The connector grouping application then compares all existing zone groups for phys common to more than one zone group. The connector grouping application removes all phys common to more than one zone group from the respective zone groups and moves the common phys to a new zone group. The zone groups are processed in this manner until no zone groups have common phys. Once all zone groups have been processed accordingly, information associated with the resulting zone groups and their respective permissions are transferred to the zone manager. |
| US07730251B2 |
Support identification device
A support identification device comprising a support (BPA), e.g. a rack or backplane of a telecommunication system, and an identity receiver (PCB), e.g. a printed circuit board or card, coupled to an identity transmitter or connector of the support. The identity transmitter has several read pins (id1-id4=R1-R4) each at a logical level (0, 1) to indicate (identify) the type of support. The card (PCB) further has write terminals (W1, W2) coupled to dynamic terminals (D1, D2) of the support (BPA). These dynamic terminals are coupled to one or more of the read pins (id1-id4). The card is also provided with a program that sets the write terminals at a first logical level, reads a first logical level at each read pin (R1-R4), then sets the write terminals at a second logical level, reads a second logical level at each read pin, and determines from the difference between the first and the second read logical levels to which write terminal each read terminal is coupled, or not. This allows to obtain (2+w)n identifications with n read pins and w write pins, instead of 2n+w identifications with the same total number n+w of read or basic pins. |
| US07730250B2 |
Interrupt control circuit, circuit board, electro-optic device, and electronic apparatus
An interrupt control circuit includes: a section that generates an interrupt signal for requesting an interrupt in response to occurrence of a plurality of interrupt causes; a section that generates an interrupt vector signal for indicating a storing destination of an interrupt processing program corresponding any of the plurality of interrupt causes; a section that outputs the interrupt signal and the interrupt vector signal to an interrupt process executing circuit; and a section that controls the interrupt signal and an output value of the interrupt vector signal in sync with an interrupt acceptance signal input from the interrupt process executing circuit, the interrupt acceptance signal representing a condition in which an interrupt process is acceptable. |
| US07730249B2 |
Device control apparatus that calls an operating system to control a device
In a device control apparatus, a processor that operates according to software, an OS storage unit stores Operating Systems that operate on the processor, and a storage unit stores privileged software which operates on the processor. The privileged software calls one of the Operating Systems when the processor receives an interrupt from a device, and the Operating System controls the device. Furthermore, a detecting unit detects an interrupt to the processor, a judging unit judges whether the Operating System has called the privileged software from the storage unit in a first predetermined time from detection of the interrupt, and a resetting unit resets the processor when the judging unit judges that the Operating Systcm 9em has not called the privileged software from the storage unit. |
| US07730244B1 |
Translation of commands in an interconnection of an embedded processor block core in an integrated circuit
Command translation of burst commands is described. A slave processor local bus (“PLB”) bridge, part of a processor block core embedded in a host IC, has a data size threshold to allow access to a crossbar switch device. A master device, coupled to the slave PLB bridge, has any of a plurality of command bus widths. A burst command is issued via a command bus, having a command bus width of the plurality, from the master device for the slave PLB bridge. The burst command is converted to a native bus width of the slave processor logic block if the command bus width is not equal to the native bus width. The burst command is translated if execution of the burst command will exceed the data size threshold and passed without the translating if the execution of the burst command will not exceed the data size threshold. |
| US07730242B2 |
Communication conversion system for switching first communication lines to second communication lines based on change in voltage state of detection-use pin
A communication converter includes: a first communication interface making capable of communicating with a medical control device through a predetermined communication cable; a second communication interface making capable of making a connection to a signal distribution unit which is provided in a housing device capable of housing one or more communication converters, and distributes a signal from the medical control device to each of the communication converters; a switch unit for switching communication lines to either a communication line through the first communication interface or a communication line through the second communication interface; a detection unit for detecting whether or not the signal distribution unit is connected to the second communication interface; a switch control unit for controlling the switch unit based on a detection result; and a third communication interface making capable of performing communications with a medical device. |
| US07730240B2 |
Method for controlling the access times to a system bus and communication module
A method for defining a cycle time for a transmission cycle on a system bus of a monitoring and/or control system having at least one communication module and at least one input/output module, which is connected to the communication module via the system bus for transmitting measurement and/or control signals and is intended to input and/or output measurement and/or control signals to field applications, the at least one communication module having a time control unit for controlling a transmission cycle which is constantly repeatedly carried out and has defined communication times for the communication and input/output modules which are connected to the system bus, comprises measuring the signal propagation times on the system bus and defining the cycle time for a transmission cycle on the system bus on the basis of the longest signal propagation time measured. |
| US07730237B1 |
Flow control mechanism
Transferring data elements from a source to a destination includes providing a transmission queue at the source, where data elements in the transmission queue are transferred from the source to the destination, determining an optimal length for the transmission queue, where the optimal queue length is inversely proportional data latency time at the destination, and, if the optimal length is greater than an instantaneous length of the transmission queue, adding data elements to the transmission queue. Adding data elements may include adding a number of elements corresponding to a difference between the optimal length and the instantaneous length of the transmission queue. Determining optimal length may include dividing a constant by the data latency time at the destination. Transferring data elements may also include providing a network between the source and the destination. |
| US07730236B2 |
Cellular phone and portable storage device using the same
A cellular phone. The cellular phone comprises a connector, a first memory module, a second memory module, and a controller. The connector is used for physically connecting the cellular phone to an external device. The first memory module stores phone data. The second memory module stores application data received from the external device. The controller determines whether the connector is connected to the external device. If the connector is not connected to the external device, access right of both the first and second memory modules is granted exclusively to the cellular phone. If the connector is connected to the external device, access right of the first memory is granted exclusively to the cellular phone, and access right of the second memory module is granted exclusively to the external device. |
| US07730235B2 |
Storage apparatus for controlling power saving modes of multiple disk devices of different specifications
A storage apparatus is provided that is capable of reducing data maintenance management costs with a performance that is both highly reliable and fast. The present invention is storage apparatus where an intermediary device is arranged between a controller and a plurality of disk devices of different performances arranged in a hierarchical manner. The controller unit carries out I/O accesses to and from the disk devices via the intermediary devices based on access requests sent from host apparatus. The intermediary device includes a power saving control function for the disk device and carries out operation control such as spin off and spin up of disk devices in accordance with conditions set in advance. |
| US07730226B2 |
Multiple protocol address register method, multiple protocol address register system, multiple protocol address register server, and multiple protocol address communication terminal
A multiple protocol address register method between a communication terminal and the register server includes transmitting a first register request for requesting to register a first protocol address from the communication terminal to the register server; storing the first protocol address and the identification to the register server; transmitting a response to the first register request from the register server to the communication terminal together with a first communication rule; transmitting the second register request from the communication terminal to the register server on the basis of the first communication rule; storing, when the second register request is created based on the first communication rule, the second protocol address in the register server; and transmitting a response to the second register request from the register server to the communication terminal. |
| US07730224B2 |
Program and method for managing device driver and information processing apparatus
According to the present invention, an information processing apparatus which has a recognition function for recognizing connected peripheral devices and can make the connected peripheral devices available, comprises a holding unit adapted to hold the upper limit of device drivers to be installed, and an install controlling unit adapted to install device drivers by the upper limit held by the holding unit when device drivers corresponding to peripheral devices recognized by the recognition function are installed. |
| US07730221B2 |
LAN controller with bootable host bus adapter
A network controller with a bootable Host Bus Adapter, particularly suitable for iSCSI applications is described. In one example, this includes, a host bus interface, a register to the host bus indicating a mass storage device, a network interface, and a boot memory extension including a driver for the mass storage device that binds to a BIOS. |
| US07730219B2 |
System and method for detecting free and open wireless networks
A system, method, and program product is provided that passively detects the existence of wireless networks in proximity to a wireless signal detector. A determination is made as to whether the detected wireless networks are encrypted or unencrypted. For those wireless networks that are unencrypted, a restriction level that applies to the unencrypted network is identified. The user is then notified when an unencrypted and unrestricted wireless network is detected. |
| US07730217B2 |
High-speed data transfer in a networked server environment via laser communication
A system and method are provided for accelerating data transfer between networked databases. First provided are a plurality of databases coupled by a network. At least one laser unit is coupled to each database. In operation, such laser units are capable of communicating data between the databases via free space by way of a laser beam. This allows data communication at a rate faster than that which the network is capable. |
| US07730215B1 |
Detecting entry-portal-only network connections
A network connection manager detects entry-portal-only network connections. The network connection manager requests content from at least one remote location through a network connection. The network connection manager examines the received content, and determines whether the network connection is an entry-portal-only network connection. In response to detecting an entry-portal-only condition, the network connection manager prompts the user to logon through the entry portal and establish a general purpose network connection. |
| US07730213B2 |
Object-based storage device with improved reliability and fast crash recovery
An object-based storage may employ a transactional interface and a copy on write protocol. The inode for the file (which is identified by the I-number and indicates one or more blocks storing the file data) may be copied to a working copy of the inode, and the working copy may be updated to indicate the newly allocated blocks. In response to a file commit (e.g. a file close or a file synchronization command), the working copy of the inode may be atomically written to a non-volatile storage. In this manner, the updates performed during the transaction may be atomically committed to the file. The inode itself may be stored in a file (referred to as the inode file), and the storage may perform updates to the inode file atomically as well. The inode file may be modified using the copy on write protocol described above, and the master inode (mapping the blocks of the inode file) may be atomically written to non-volatile storage to atomically update the inode file. In one particular embodiment, the storage employs a journal technique for updates to the inode file. |
| US07730212B2 |
Message transformation selection tool
A message transformation selection tool and method for use in a distributed message processing system running applications on subsystems using incompatible message formats, selects the most appropriate output message format for a given input message format. Firstly, the tool determines compatibility of each field of the input message format with fields of all possible output message formats. Next, it statistically analyses the values of message fields in messages stored in message logs for each of the subsystems. On the basis of this analysis, the tool selects the best fit output message into which to transform a given input message. |
| US07730209B2 |
Efficient dispatch of messages based on message headers
Various embodiments utilize information contained in a message, such as addressing and other information, to derive a unique identifier. The unique identifier is then used as a means to route an associated message to an appropriate component for processing. In at least some embodiments, the unique identifier is derived using hash-based techniques which are applied to various portions of the message header. Once the hash-based techniques have been used to produce the unique identifier, the unique identifier can be used in a look up process to look for the appropriate component to which the message is to be routed. |
| US07730206B2 |
System and method for multi-layered network communications
A multi-layered network for transporting data comprises a first network layer that provides a first session topology, and a second network layer that provides a second session topology. The second network layer uses the first network layer to transport data. In one embodiment of the invention, the data sent by the second layer is real-time audio data, such as voice. Each session topology may be either peer-to-peer or client/server. The first and second layers may have different topologies and/or different session hosts. A deterministic algorithm is provided whereby a new session host is selected when the current host leaves the session. |
| US07730198B2 |
UDP broadcast for user interface in a download and configuration gaming method
A modified form of the UDP multicast protocol is disclosed to implement a one-way notification method between a server and one or more clients. The UDP multicast notification method enables UDP messages to be sent only to registered clients, not broadcasted to all clients. This architecture minimizes network traffic and enhances system security, since only registered clients receive the UDP message. The configuration of the UDP multicast notification method does not require the configuration of network devices in order to support a UDP multicast. Furthermore, any number of the clients may be on a different network domain than the DCM engine. |
| US07730194B2 |
Enabling access to an application through a network portal
Systems and techniques to enable access of an application through a network portal to integrate that network application into the portal services provided to a user. In general, in one implementation, the technique includes using a template to identify a correspondence between a first parameter associated with a portal and a second parameter associated with a network resource and to generate a network address for the network resource, where the network address includes a value for the first parameter. |
| US07730190B2 |
System for distributing load over multiple servers at an internet site
Disclosed is a system and method for distributing connections among a plurality of servers at an Internet site. All connections are made to a single IP address and a local director selects the server from among the plurality of servers which is to receive the connection. Thus, the DNS server is not relied upon to distribute connections, and the connection distribution scheme is not avoided when DNS is bypassed. In one embodiment, a session distribution scheme is implemented such that connections are distributed to the server in the group of servers which has the fewest connections of the group. In other embodiments, other session distribution schemes which route connections based on the predicted response times of the servers or according to a round robin scheme are used. |
| US07730185B2 |
Method, apparatus and computer program product for sharing resources
In a computer system including a set of resources for allocation to, and access by, a plurality of consumers, a method for allocating a resource to a requesting consumer comprising: calculating a suitability rating for each resource in the set of resources as a value in a range from least suitable to most suitable, the suitability rating being calculated from: a) a measure of recency of access to the resource; b) a measure of a number of times the resource has been accessed by a consumer other than the requesting consumer since a previous access to the resource by the requesting consumer; and c) a measure of a number of times the resource is accessed by a different consumer since the previous access to the resource by the requesting consumer; identifying a resource having a suitability rating which is closest to most suitable; and allocating the identified resource to the requesting consumer. |
| US07730184B2 |
Digital rights management based on device proximity
The present invention discloses a digital rights management (DRM) system and method based on device proximity for controlling what devices can utilize DRM protected content. DRM data and DRM protected content are copied from a first device to a second device such that the DRM protected content on the first device becomes locked out and the copied DRM protected content is not locked out on the second device. The first device periodically performs a proximity check between the first and second devices such that if the first and second devices are determined to be within a short range of one another the DRM lockout of the first device is disabled. |
| US07730181B2 |
System and method for providing security backup services to a home network
Methods and systems of providing security backup services to a home network are described. In one embodiment, the gateway for a home network is registered with a service provider. A network device is enrolled with the home network, and periodically reenrolls. The device detects whether the gateway has been replaced between enrolling and reenrolling, and if it has been replaced, determines whether the new network gateway has been endorsed by the service provider. |
| US07730178B2 |
System and method for searching peer-to-peer computer networks
A method and system for intelligently directing a search of a peer-to-peer network, in which a user performing a search is assisted in choosing a host which is likely to return fast, favorable results to the user. A host monitor monitors the peer-to-peer network and collects data on various characteristics of the hosts which make up the network. Thereafter, a host selector ranks the hosts using the data, and passes this information to the user. The user then selects one or more of the highly-ranked hosts as an entry point into the network. Additionally, a cache may collect a list of hosts based on the content on the hosts. In this way, a user may choose to connect to a host which is known to contain information relevant to the user's search. The host selector may be used to select from among the hosts listed in the cache. |
| US07730177B2 |
Networked system for interactive communication and remote monitoring of individuals
A system for remotely monitoring an individual. The system includes a server system for generating a script program from a set of queries. The script program is executable by a remote apparatus that displays information and/or a set of queries to the individual through a user interface. Responses to the queries that are entered through the user interface together with individual identification information are sent from the remote apparatus to the server system across a communication network. The server system also includes an automated answering service for providing a series of questions from a stored set of questions for an individual at the remote apparatus to respond to, storing responses to each provided question in the series of questions and providing a service based on the individual's response to the questions. |
| US07730163B2 |
Multimedia message service apparatus
A system that services international multimedia message calls includes an MMSC that determines from the destination MSISDN of the header of a multimedia message that the call is an international transmission and, at the same time, determines whether or not the forwarding destination supports number portability, by referencing the MSISDN routing table. If number portability is supported, it acquires the IMSI corresponding to the destination MSISDN by inquiring the HLR. Next, the MMSC acquires the domain name of the MMSE of the forwarding destination by referencing the IMSI routing table from the IMSI that has thus been acquired and forwards the multimedia message to this MMSE. If number portability is not supported, it forwards the multimedia message to the MMSE of the domain name acquired by referencing the MSISDN routing table. |
| US07730160B2 |
Accessing deep web information associated with hospitality services using a search engine
Methods, apparatuses, and articles for receiving a search request associated with a hospitality service from a client device, the search request including a plurality of search criteria, are described herein. Additionally, the methods, apparatuses, and articles further return to the client device an answer page having a plurality of answers potentially associated with the hospitality service, the plurality of answers identifying a plurality of information locations having information potentially associated with at least a one of the plurality of search criteria, where at least one of the answers includes at least one input field of a query answer page for entry of at least one feature of the hospitality service, the query answer page to be dynamically generated by one of the information locations in response to a query. |
| US07730159B1 |
Method and apparatus for dynamically locating resources
Methods and apparatuses for dynamically locating resources. In one aspect of the invention, a method to retrieve a resource for a digital processing system includes: receiving a request for a resource; downloading a first version of the resource from a server through a network connection to satisfy the request if the first version of the resource is retrievable through the network connection; and loading a second version of the resource from a storage device of the digital processing system if the first version of the resource is not retrievable through a network connection. In one example, downloading the first version is performed in response to a determination that the first version of the resource is different from a second version of the resource on a storage device of the digital processing system. |
| US07730155B1 |
Method and apparatus for dynamically locating resources
Methods and apparatuses for dynamically locating resources. In one aspect of the invention, a method to retrieve a resource for a digital processing system includes: receiving a request for a resource; downloading a first version of the resource from a server through a network connection to satisfy the request if the first version of the resource is retrievable through the network connection; and loading a second version of the resource from a storage device of the digital processing system if the first version of the resource is not retrievable through a network connection. In one example, downloading the first version is performed in response to a determination that the first version of the resource is different from a second version of the resource on a storage device of the digital processing system. |
| US07730154B2 |
Method and system for fragment linking and fragment caching
A method, a system, an apparatus, and a computer program product are presented for fragment caching. After a message is received at a computing device that contains a cache management unit, a fragment in the message body of the message is cached. Subsequent requests for the fragment at the cache management unit result in a cache hit. The cache management unit operates equivalently in support of fragment caching operations without regard to whether the computing device acts as a client, a server, or a hub located throughout the network; in other words, the fragment caching technique is uniform throughout a network. Cache ID rules accompany a fragment from an origin server; the cache ID rules describe a method for forming a unique cache ID for the fragment such that dynamic content can be cached away from an origin server. |
| US07730152B2 |
Wireless input control of multiple computing devices
A method for input control of multiple computing devices from a single set of input devices begins by providing, by a master input device of the single set of input devices, a connection request to the multiple computing devices via a wireless channel, wherein the connection request identifies one of the multiple computing devices. The method continues by interpreting, by each of other ones of the multiple computing devices, the connection request to determine that the connection request is not addressing the each of the other ones of the multiple computing devices. In response to the connection request, the method continues by providing, by the one of the multiple computing devices, a connection response to the master input device via the wireless channel. The method continues by providing, by the one of the multiple computing devices, a slave connection request to at least one slave input device of the single set of input devices via the wireless channel. The method continues by, in response to the slave connection request, providing, by the at least one slave input device, a second connection response to the one of the multiple computing devices via the wireless channel such that the master input device and the at least one slave input device provide input to the one of the multiple computing devices via the wireless channel. |
| US07730151B1 |
Methods and apparatus for maintaining online preferences
At a service provider, a system receives recipient information containing preferences to be used in an online transaction. The recipient information is received from a client. At the service provider, the system associates the recipient information with the client from which the recipient information was received, and stores the recipient information at the client. The recipient information contains preferences to be used in the online transaction. |
| US07730147B1 |
Prioritizing archived email requests
An email archive system and associated techniques are described. Archived emails may be stored locally on a user's client computer in a local archive store. The email archive system and associated techniques may interact with an email message system and an email client application. |
| US07730138B2 |
Policy processing model
Example embodiments provide for processing policies that include policy assertions associated with incoming or outgoing messages of an application in a distributed system, without having to have code within the application for executing the policy assertions. When a message is received by a Web service engine, a policy document associated with an application may be accessed for identifying objects corresponding to policy assertions within the policy document. The objects identified can then be used to generate assertion handlers, which are software entities that include executable code configured to determine if messages can satisfy requirements described by the policy assertions. |
| US07730135B2 |
Method and apparatus for intelligent routing of instant messaging presence protocol (IMPP) events among a group of customer service representatives
A routing system is provided for intelligent routing of instant messages between clients connected to a data network and customer service representatives connected to the network. The system comprises at least one instant message server and at least one intermediate server connected to and addressable on the network, the intermediate server capable of routing and accessible to the instant message server. Clients connecting to the instant message server through instant message software assert a connection link advertised by the instant message server to establish bi-directional communication between the client machine and the intermediate server. In preferred application, the intermediate server interacts with the client for identification of client and client software. The client request is then routed to an appropriate customer service representative running compatible software according to enterprise rules establishing an active instant message connection between the client and the selected customer service representative. |
| US07730130B2 |
Automatic creation of bidirectional online album links in a peer-to-peer photo sharing network
The present invention provides a method and system for creating a bidirectional link between first and second online albums in a peer-to-peer photo sharing network. Exemplary embodiments include receiving on a first peer, a user request to create a bidirectional link, wherein the request includes an identification of a first online album on the first peer and a URL of a second online album on a second peer; automatically sending to the second peer, a URL of the first online album and a request to create a link on the second online album to the first album; and automatically creating a link on the first online album to the second online album using the URL of the second online album. In a further embodiment, the link to the second online album is displayed with information regarding the second online album, including an online status of the peer hosting the linked online album. |
| US07730126B2 |
Systems and methods for controlling access within a system of networked and non-networked processor-based systems
In one embodiment, access log information is written to portable cards of end-users of system that includes networked and non-networked processor based systems that control user access. In conjunction with processing of access attempts by non-networked processor-based systems, time stamps of accesses by each end-user for multiple accesses on multiple processor-based systems are analyzed against one or more access rules, the one or more rules defining one or more relative timing constraints or order constraints for accesses on multiple processor-based systems. Also, in conjunction with processing of the further access attempts by the non-networked processor-based systems, access decisions are controlled in response to determining whether the time stamps of respective end-users indicate that said respective end-users have violated the one or more access rules. |
| US07730125B2 |
Method of facilitating access to IP-based emergency services
A method for reporting a user's emergency condition by sending an emergency help request message in a TCP/IP format to an emergency service center (ESC). The help request message may be sent over the Internet to advantageously harness the data transmission resources provided by the Internet. A support service provider may commercially provide such an emergency reporting service to a group of subscribers. The service provider may receive emergency requests from the subscribers and may send those requests over the Internet to the emergency service center. The service provider may also convert any non-TCP/IP message received from the subscriber into a TCP/IP message prior to sending the message to the ESC. A per-usage fee or a flat subscription fee may be charged by the service provider to allow users to report emergency conditions over the Internet. The support service provider thus coordinates the emergency help on behalf of the user. Internet-based emergency message delivery may be useful in many situations, for example, when the person in need of help is mute, disabled or in a situation that prevents the person from orally requesting emergency help from the ESC. |
| US07730123B1 |
Software application implemented using services from a services repository generated using a target services roadmap
A repository of services, a system for building a repository of services, a method of building a repository of services, a software application that interfaces with a services repository and various other embodiments associated with the repository are disclosed. The method relates to a method of building a repository of services using a target services roadmap. The method comprises receiving from a user an identification of an implemented service and zero or more target services and mapping the implemented service to the zero or more target services. The target services and/or mapped implemented services are added to the repository. |
| US07730120B2 |
Systems and methods for clickstream analysis to modify an off-line business process involvng cross promotion
Methods and systems are provided herein for the analysis of clickstream data of online users. The analysis methods and systems allow for the creation of new offline business methods based on online consumer behavior. |
| US07730119B2 |
Sub-task processor distribution scheduling
A method for processing of processor executable tasks and a processor readable medium having embodied therein processor executable instructions for implementing the method are disclosed. A system for distributing processing work amongst a plurality of distributed processors is also disclosed. |
| US07730116B2 |
Method and system for fast implementation of an approximation of a discrete cosine transform
A processor includes a multi-stage pipeline having a plurality of stages. Each stage is capable of receiving input values and providing output values. Each stage performs one of a plurality of data transformations using the input values to produce the output values. The data transformations collectively approximate at least one of: a discrete cosine transform and an inverse discrete cosine transform. The stages do not use any multipliers to perform the data transformations. |
| US07730112B2 |
Scoped applications
Scoped applications are configured as self-contained units that do not require external configuration of messaging or database access settings. The applications can be deployed to multiple and disparate environments and utilized without the need for additional server configuration by an administrator. The applications include metadata indicating information specific to a particular server that can be provided at deployment. |
| US07730111B2 |
System for development, management and operation of distributed clients and servers
A lightweight application server for use on portable or embedded devices includes an application manager and services containers. Each of these is managed by an admin server allowing for remote and rapid deployment and maintenance of applications, objects and features associated with the server-enabled portable or embedded devices. This permits portable devices like PDAs to provide server functionality to each other, in a fully portable network if desired. A system including such server-enabled portable or embedded devices may include, among other things, a decision flow server for facilitating distributed decision flow processing. |
| US07730110B2 |
Mobile wireless device for use in a system for development, management and operation of distributed clients and servers
A lightweight application server for use on portable or embedded devices includes an application manager and services containers. Each of these is managed by an admin server allowing for remote and rapid deployment and maintenance of applications, objects and features associated with the server-enabled portable or embedded devices. This permits portable devices like PDAs to provide server functionality to each other, in a fully portable network if desired. A system including such server-enabled portable or embedded devices may include, among other things, a decision flow server for facilitating distributed decision flow processing. |
| US07730107B1 |
System and method for updating and sharing private library profile data to facilitate delivery of electronic content to libraries
A service registry that supports updating and sharing of profile data with partners. The registry allows organizations such as libraries and consortia to manage and share data that define their organizations (e.g., institution type, location, main and branch institutions, URLs for electronic services, circulation statistics, and population served). Organizations share a RSS-enabled obfuscated link with their partners that enables the partners to access a page with the latest institutional profile, and to be notified when it is updated. The obfuscation of the RSS feed provides a notification while keeping the data private. Every time a user creates an institutional profile, an equivalent RSS-enabled page is generated that can be reached through a RSS feed that has an obfuscated link name. The user shares this link with the institution's partners and others that have a need to know the information and to access details about the institution and its services. |
| US07730096B2 |
Method and apparatus for utilizing a database
A method for utilizing a database for an inspection of an industrial plant includes downloading a spreadsheet from a remote database containing inspection-related data for the industrial plant, wherein the spreadsheet includes selection lists of inspection data. The method further includes entering inspection data into the spreadsheet utilizing the selection lists and uploading the spreadsheet with the entered inspection data to the remote computer to thereby update the remote database. |
| US07730089B2 |
Method and system for providing remote access to the facilities of a server computer
A method and system for providing remote access to the facilities of a server computer are provided. A site integration application programming interface at a co-branded Web site. The site integration application programming interface exposes a number of servlets that may be executed in response to requests received from a business partner Web site over a secure communications link. The servlets provide functionality for accessing the user registration and deletion facilities of the co-branded Web site. Moreover, the servlets also provide access to other administrative facilities provided at the co-branded Web site. The servlets also provide functionality for authorizing a user to access the co-branded we site. This servlet may be executed in conjunction with the login facilities of the business partner web site to permit concurrent login at both sites. |
| US07730085B2 |
Method and system for extracting and visualizing graph-structured relations from unstructured text
The present invention is directed to a system, method and computer program for automatically extracting and mining relations and related entities from unstructured text. A method in accordance with an embodiment of the invention includes: extracting relations and related entities from unstructured text data, representing the extracted information into a graph, and manipulating the resulting graph to gain more insight into the information it contains. The extraction of relations and related entities is performed first by automatically inducting pattern and second by applying these induced patterns to unstructured text data. For each relation and entity, several features are extracted in order to build a graph whose nodes are entities and edges are relations. |
| US07730082B2 |
Remote module incorporation into a container document
A system and method for serving content in a container document. The system comprises a container server that identifies one or more modules for use with a container document, receives a module specification from a remote server, and serves the container document including module data based on the module specification. The module specification comprises a content element and one or more optional preference elements that enable the container server to provide preferences to the module. |
| US07730081B2 |
Searching based on messages
While interacting with a messaging interface, keywords or other search criteria are automatically identified and used to perform a search. Search results and sponsored links (or advertisements) are displayed to the user within the messaging interface. To alleviate privacy concerns, this process will not be performed unless the user has explicitly opted-in to the search feature. In another embodiment, the user can highlight keywords in an outbound or inbound message to trigger a search without leaving the messaging interface. In another embodiment, the user can input a search keyword or phrase to trigger a search without leaving the messaging interface. |
| US07730072B2 |
Automated adaptive classification system for knowledge networks
A method and apparatus for use in an information retrieval system is provided, which derives related informational items that have a usage based relationship strength, and which results in an efficient and more accurate dynamic relationship association between informational items. This system comprises the steps for detecting a selection of at least a first informational item and a second informational item in an information retrieval session. A relationship type is assigned based on characteristic similarities between the first informational item and the second informational item. Additionally, a relationship strength is assigned based on historical frequency of the consecutive selection of the first and second informational items and providing an access to the second informational item upon detection of the first being accessed by a user of the information retrieval system. Also, in accordance with the principles of the present invention, the extraction of textual database fields; the application of multiple text classification algorithms; the merging of the algorithm results; the encoding of the merged results as a Bayesian-type link; the use of feedback methods to weight, prune and age the relationship link serves to automate and enhance the process of classification in an information retrieval system. |
| US07730070B2 |
Index aging and merging
Systems and methods for processing an index are described. An index may be merged with another index of comparable age and size into a single index. Since older indexes are less likely to need updating, they are “set aside” to age based on certain adaptive criteria such as the age and size of the index, percentage of deletions, and how long it takes to update the index. An index that has been set aside may be compacted into a format that is optimized for fast searching. |
| US07730063B2 |
Personalized medicine service
Methods, program storage devices and systems for developing a Personalized Medicine Service for an individual or group of individuals that can support the operation, customization and coordination of computer systems, software, products, services, data, entities and/or devices. |
| US07730061B2 |
Fast-approximate TFIDF
Our approach seeks to reduce the complexity of this type of calculation through approximation and pre-computation. It is designed to work efficiently with modern relational database constructs for content management. The approach is designed to enable the kinds of highly interactive data-driven visualizations that are the hallmark of third generation business intelligence. |
| US07730057B2 |
Computer data systems implemented using a virtual solution architecture
Virtual solution architecture for computer data systems. In one aspect, providing an architecture for a computer data system includes creating a virtual solution architecture that includes a plurality of building blocks, each building block characterized by balanced operation, and mapping the virtual solution architecture to a physical solution architecture for the computer data system. Another aspect includes providing at least one balanced configuration unit (BCU) in a computer data system, the BCU including at least one balanced partition unit (BPU) that includes computer resources to provide balanced operation for the BPU. |
| US07730053B2 |
Method and system for Boolean expression query optimization
Method and computer system for logically evaluating a Boolean expression used in a query statement to optimize the query. The Boolean expression refers to an attribute and includes a plurality of conditions. The Boolean expression is received (410) and decomposed (420) into the plurality of conditions. For each condition at least one condition value referring to the attribute is extracted (421) from the condition. The at least one condition value is then inserted (422) into a condition value list in sorted order. A relationship vector of the at least one condition value is initialized (423). Then the relationship vectors of the at least one condition value and of each further condition value that is in the condition list and that is in the value range of the condition are adjusted (424). After having processed all conditions the Boolean expression may be reducing (430) according to each relationship vector. |
| US07730050B2 |
Information retrieval apparatus
An information retrieval apparatus includes a display which displays document information, an input unit which adds additional information to the document information displayed the display, a first storage which stores mark symbol information specifying a particular symbol used for marking, a detector which detects an input from the input unit and decides whether or not the input additional information is identical to or similar to the mark symbol information stored in the first storage, a second storage which stores the mark symbol information and the additional information which is decided that it is similar to the mark symbol information by the detector, associating with the mark symbol information, and a retrieval unit which retrieves the mark symbol information and the additional information associated with the mark symbol information from the second storage, and a retrieval result by the retrieval unit is displayed on the display. |
| US07730045B2 |
Monitoring usage of components in a database index
Database indexes include multiple fields that are used to track how the components of the index are used. An index component monitoring mechanism tracks how the components of the index are used, and updates fields in the index accordingly. Such component-level statistics allow a query optimizer to make more intelligent decisions regarding when to build a new index and when to discard an index, and also provide information regarding which queries are using the index, the maintenance cost of the index, and the selectivity of the index when used to process a query. |
| US07730042B2 |
Method, system, and program for a policy based storage manager
Provided are data structures for use in storing data. A plurality of data structures are defined in a computer readable medium, wherein each data structure indicates a plurality of attributes and at least one function of a storage resource to store data. Policies are defined in the computer readable medium that associate data characteristics to data structures based on a correspondence of data characteristics and the attributes defined in the data structures, wherein each defined data structure is adapted to provide requirements to determine a storage resource to store associated data, and wherein the defined data structure is adapted to provide the storage resource with requirements for storing the data. |
| US07730035B2 |
Method, system and program product for managing a file system that includes an archive
An improved solution for managing a file system that includes an archive is provided. In particular, a request for a file system operation can be received and performed on an object that is stored in an archive. The file system operation can be received from a first computer and performed on the object on a second computer. Further, an archive manager can be included that manages an extensible set of archive handlers. In this case, each archive handler can implement a set of file system operations for archives of a particular archive type. |
| US07730029B2 |
System and method of fault tolerant reconciliation for control card redundancy
A system and method are provided for redundant control plane error handling allowing the inactive control plane to continue to act as a redundant failsafe when the inactive control plane database is in a compromised state which is below a certain predetermined level of maximum tolerable magnitude of error. Only if the inactive control plane database is in a state in which the errors associated therewith are intolerable, is a hard reset performed, or the reconciliation between the active and inactive control planes deemed to have failed. |
| US07730026B2 |
Method and system using reusable state information for synchronization and maintenance of data
A system for synchronization whereby metadata repository maintains information regarding the history and status of data items in a data repository. Data items are associated with states and such states changes (e.g. increment) in response to changes to the data items. History statements associated with the same states describe the changes in a generic enough fashion that multiple data items may be associated with a single state (e.g. if multiple data items share a common history such as that they were all edited by a user on the same device). The history repository is synchronized with other history repositories so as to reflect the states of data items on multiple devices. The synchronized history stores are used during synchronization to identify and resolve data conflicts through ancestry of data item history. |
| US07730020B2 |
Diagnosis of equipment failures using an integrated approach of case based reasoning and reliability analysis
Equipment failures are diagnosed using an integrated approach of case-based reasoning (CBR) and statistical reliability analysis. The method outputs a single list of suggested failed components, ranked by an overall probability of failure, and their associated past solutions from the case base. The overall probability of failure is calculated using the combined logic of case based reasoning and statistical reliability analysis. The method is typically used in a real-time decision support system to aid equipment diagnosis by a maintenance technician working in the field. |
| US07730016B2 |
Identification of false ambiguous roots in a stack conservative garbage collector
Techniques for memory management or analysis with conservative garbage collectors is provided. The native stack is analyzed during runtime to identify within frames references to objects in the heap space. An amount of memory is calculated that represents the memory implicated by the reference. A log can be generated that conveys the frame, location of the reference in the frame and amount of memory implicated by the reference. |
| US07730013B2 |
System and method for searching dates efficiently in a collection of web documents
A date querying system processes free-form text in documents to identify and locate some or all of the dates in the documents using extended regular expression matching to capture various date formats. The system packages a canonicalized format of each identified date to support various types of queries such as, for example, specific date querying, hierarchical date querying, range date querying, proximity queries comprising a date and any keywords, and any combination of types of queries. The system scans a document to identify the various format dates occurring in the document, disambiguates the resulting occurrences of dates, and canonicalizes the dates according to one or more predetermined formats. |
| US07730003B2 |
Predictive model augmentation by variable transformation
Models are generated using a variety of tools and features of a model generation platform. For example, in connection with a project in which a user generates a predictive model based on historical data about a system being modeled, the user is provided through a graphical user interface a structured sequence of model generation activities to be followed, the sequence including dimension reduction, model generation, model process validation, and model re-generation.Historical multi-dimensional data is received representing multiple source variables to be used as an input to a predictive model of a commercial system and applying transformations to the data that are selected based on the strength of measurement represented by a variable; variables are transformed into new more predictive variables, including the Bayesian renormalization of sparsely sampled variable and including the imputation of missing values for categorical or continuous variables. |
| US07730002B2 |
Method for iterative design of products
The invention involves generating and presenting, typically electronically, a number of design alternatives to persons who are participating in the design, selection, or market research exercise. The participants (referred to as “selectors”) transmit data indicative of their preferences among or between the presented design alternatives, and that data is used to derive a new generation of design alternatives or proposals. The new designs are generated through the use of a computer program exploiting a genetic or evolutionary computational technique. The process is repeated, typically for many iterations or cycles. |
| US07730001B2 |
Computer system program and method to characterize each of a plurality of objects used at runtime to determine a lowest cost property among a plurality of potential alternative properties for each of said objects minimizing total cost of interaction among components during program execution
A method is provided for characterizing objects generated during an initial run of a program, each object being characterized by a number of alternative properties which can be chosen. The method includes steps of instrumenting an initial run of program to determine characterization information about each of objects, then determining a desirable property for each object, then determining a correlation between the desirable property and the characterization information for each of the objects. This correlation is then used to select a property for an object that is subsequently created during a run of the program based only upon characterization information about the subsequently created object. |
| US07729997B2 |
Determination of an entity's assets associated with an event
Methods and systems expeditiously identify a company's or other entity's assets that are in some proximity of an incident or event, such as an emergency or other crisis situation. Buildings can be identified within a stated distance and direction from the location of an event. Additionally, an estimated number of employees and contract resources can be determined. A stand-alone computing device can be used to derive the information if AC power or network activity is lost. The stand-alone computing device provides a self-contained platform for determining assets of an entity. |
| US07729996B2 |
Reuse of an EBP account through alternate authentication
A technique for accessing an electronic commerce service is provided in which information associated with a subscriber's account with an electronic commerce service is stored along with first subscriber credentials for that subscriber to access the services. An account is created during enrollment. The enrollment is associated with a first electronic commerce participant, i.e., a biller or a payee. A request for the subscriber to access an electronic commerce service in association with a second electronic commerce participant is received. Without the subscriber, or any other entity providing the credentials, the subscriber is granted access to the requested service utilizing the account established in association with the first participant. This access is granted based upon the subscriber providing information other than credentials, the provided information being information stored by the service provider in association with the enrollment. |
| US07729992B2 |
Monitoring of computer-related resources and associated methods and systems for disbursing compensation
The present invention is directed toward methods and systems for monitoring resource usage in an architecture where neither the resource buyer nor the resource seller can be trusted, and for rewarding benefits, compensation, or rewards based upon such monitored resource usage data. The system rewards users who offer to share the memory, storage, or bandwidth of their computing resource to third parties within a distributed network. In an exemplary embodiment, users share processing, storage, bandwidth or memory resources with third parties by permitting such third parties to access files stored in the memory of the users' computing devices. Users that offer files for upload are encouraged to register with a central authority, and receive value each time a third party accesses a resource from their computing devices. The value awarded to each such user is tracked by the central authority. They can use the value in exchange for products or services. |
| US07729988B1 |
Method and apparatus for processing credit card transactions
Systems and methods are disclosed whereby credit and debit card transactions are processed at a merchant point-of-sale terminal in a manner that provides customers the opportunity to receive one or more charge enhancement offers which are presented to the customer on a printed record of charge. The charge enhancement offers may indicate either a reduction or an increase in the original purchase total. In a first embodiment, a customer may receive a discount toward a purchase total in exchange for supplying feedback to a merchant in the form of a survey or questionnaire presented on the record of charge. In a second embodiment, the customer is provided the opportunity to receive a discount toward a purchase total by enlisting a third-party service or to purchase a third-party product by completing a section provided on the record of charge. In a third embodiment, the customer may select from at least one additional charge displayed on a record of charge to be added to a transaction total. Such additional charges may represent, for example, a gratuity for a merchant service. In each embodiment, the reduction or increase of original purchase total is provided by a clearinghouse or issuing bank that processes the credit or debit card transaction and confirms the cardholder's acceptance of the charge enhancement offer following completion of the transaction at the point-of-sale terminal. |
| US07729987B1 |
Enhanced demand deposit accounts
A method for adjusting a demand deposit account. The method may comprise the step of structuring the demand deposit account with at least a first balance tier and a second balance tier. The methods may also comprise the steps of monitoring a balance of the demand deposit account, and accruing interest to at least a portion of the balance of the demand deposit account at an interest rate if the balance falls within the second balance tier. The interest rate may be tied to an interest rate of an investment account. |
| US07729986B1 |
Smart card transactions using wireless telecommunications network
A smart card transaction allows a consumer to load value onto a smart card and to make purchases using a smart card with a mobile telephone handset over the telecommunications network. For loading, the system includes: a mobile telephone handset including a card reader; a gateway computer; a funds issuer computer; and an authentication computer. The mobile telephone handset receives a request from a user to load a value onto the smart card. The handset generates a funds request message which includes the value and sends the funds request message to a funds issuer computer. The funds issuer computer debits an account associated with the user. Next, the handset generates a load request message with a cryptographic signature and sends the load request message to an authentication computer which authenticates the smart card. The handset receives a response message which includes a cryptographic signature and an approval to load. Finally, the handset validates the second cryptographic signature and loads the value onto the smart card. For payment, the system includes a merchant server and a payment server. First, the handset sends an order request message to the merchant server computer, and in return receives a purchase instruction message. The handset processes the purchase instruction message locally, and then sends a draw request message to a payment server computer. The payment server computer sends a debit message which includes a cryptographic signature and an approval to debit the smart card. Finally, the handset validates the cryptographic signature and debits the smart card. |
| US07729983B1 |
Credit risk managing loan pools
A system providing a comprehensive tool useful in credit risk managing a set of loans. The system includes a method for obtaining an estimated financial outcome, i.e., a gain or a loss, for a particular loan, and applying the estimated loss for to the set. The system also includes a method for obtaining a probability of a loss for a particular loan, and applying the probability of loss to the set. The system further includes the generation of a list of loans from the set of loans with a heightened risk of loss. |
| US07729981B2 |
On-line higher education financing system
A method of providing a user with education financing information, includes the acts of: maintaining an electronic site on a computer network to which the user may connect; sending data to the user over the network for presenting at least one electronic screen which contains financial award information concerning a potential student of an educational institution, the financial award information including a monetary award which may be used for the student to attend the educational institution; and sending data to the user over the network when requested for presenting at least one electronic screen which contains cost projection information, the cost projection information being a function of the award and including an amount of money required for the student to attend the educational institution. |
| US07729979B2 |
Systems and methods to facilitate analysis of a commercial mortgage backed security portfolio based on a contribution of an additional mortgage loan
Systems and methods are provided to facilitate an analysis of a commercial mortgage backed security portfolio. According to one embodiment, base information associated with the portfolio is determined. Information associated with an additional mortgage loan to be added to the portfolio is then determined, and a loan spread is calculated for the additional mortgage loan in accordance with a contribution of the additional mortgage loan to the portfolio. For example, a real time pricing server may calculate the loan spread based on a desired profitability associated with the additional mortgage loan. |
| US07729973B2 |
System and method for providing a trust associated with long positions in index futures
A system comprises a memory operable to store market data. The system further comprises a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and operable to buy a plurality of index futures. The plurality of index futures are held as long positions in a trust, and a particular index future is publicly traded on a commodity exchange. The processor is further operable to issue a plurality of trust receipts associated with the trust, wherein the plurality of trust receipts are publicly traded on at least one security exchange. The processor is further operable to post a margin with a futures commission merchant (FCM), wherein the margin is based at least in part on the plurality of index futures and the FCM makes at least one interest payment associated with the plurality of index futures. |
| US07729971B2 |
Computer-aided financial security analysis system and method
A computer-aided financial analysis system and method provides research analytical capabilities for modeling financial security holdings that include the capability to conduct multi-dimensional dynamic searches across fundamental research, technical research, market data and exposure to exogenous economic and market factors. The capability to isolate securities most susceptible to market movements and overlay available research analyses on top of this view and to view exposure to directional change in any exogenous economic and market factor on an individual security or portfolio of securities in a real-time, intuitive manner via charts, tables and/or heat maps is also provided. |
| US07729968B1 |
Method for obtaining and/or providing a liquidity commitment
One embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for structuring a debt service reserve fund, comprising: investing at least part of the debt service reserve fund in a tax-exempt investment; and obtaining a liquidity commitment on at least part of the tax-exempt investment. Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for providing a liquidity commitment on a debt service reserve fund, comprising: obligating a debt issuer associated with the debt service reserve fund to invest at least part of the debt service reserve fund in a tax-exempt investment; and furnishing a liquidity commitment to the debt issuer on at least part of the tax-exempt investment. |
| US07729963B1 |
Methods and systems for processing and communicating financial transaction data
Methods and systems are provided for processing the financial information of a client of a financial institution. One method embodiment includes receiving data from an overdraft data source including at least one overdraft occurrence associated with a transaction performed in association with the client; analyzing the overdraft occurrence in an overdraft application to determine a cause and disposition of the overdraft occurrence in connection with the cause of the overdraft occurrence; and, communicating an overdraft report associated with the analyzing step to a manager associated with the client. Additional system and computer-readable medium embodiments of the present methods are also provided. In another aspect of the present methods and systems, historical overdraft issues are analyzed and reported to the management of a financial institution. System and computer-readable medium embodiments of these analysis and reporting methods are also provided. |
| US07729962B2 |
Timecard processing in a procurement management system
The present invention provides timecard processing in a procurement management system. A service provider creates and submits an on-line timecard, the timecard is approved by an approver, and the billing information is forwarded to a payment processing function. An embodiment comprises the steps of: providing a user interface for entry, modification and approval of timecard data; reading a timecard projects table to add data to the timecard data; comparing the received timecard data to the timecard projects table to determine if the received timecard data is valid: reading a contractor profile table to add data to the timecard data; reading timecard business rules; applying the timecard business rules, reading an approval matrix; notifying at least one approver to the existence of the received timecard data; computing billing amounts; accepting changes to the timecard data; receiving approval for payment of the billing amounts; and transmitting payment data. |
| US07729961B1 |
Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for analyzing HMDA data
Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media are described for normalizing HMDA data. In one exemplary embodiment, a computer-implemented method of normalizing HMDA data comprises receiving HMDA data including at least one of HMDA data reports and loan-level public HMDA data, the HMDA data having information that varies as a function of time; correcting errors in the HMDA data; normalizing the HMDA data across any variation in the information; summarizing the normalized HMDA data; and outputting the summarized and normalized HMDA data to an application for analysis. |
| US07729960B2 |
Communication terminal, power supply management system of the same, and charging method at the time of purchasing fuel reservoir
A communication terminal, to which a power is supplied from the fuel cell, includes an ID detecting unit that detects at least one of unique identification information of a fuel reservoir for supplying fuel to the fuel cell and unique identification information of the fuel cell, a content detecting unit that detects a content executed in the communication terminal, a cell driving detecting unit that detects an operating state of the fuel cell, and a matching process unit that collates and associates with each other data obtained from the ID detecting unit the content detecting unit and the cell driving detecting unit. |
| US07729959B1 |
Web-based entry of financial transaction information and subsequent download of such information
The systems, methods and related software products which enable users to temporarily store and subsequently retrieve information are disclosed. The system includes a plurality of input devices, client computers (each having a user-specific personal finance application) and a web-site server with a database. The input devices, client computers and server are communicatively linked via a communication network so that a plurality of users can temporarily store and/or manipulate financial transaction information on the server from any of the input devices. Each user can also transmit financial profile information to the server. This information enables the server to replicate the unique profile characteristics for each of the finance applications. This, in turn, simplifies remote entry of information, subsequent download of that information and integration of such information into each user's personal finance application. |
| US07729953B2 |
Acquisition of online auction items through a global positioning system
In an example embodiment, a method is provided. The method may comprise receiving an auction item identifier from a global positioning system (GPS) apparatus. Auction data associated with the auction item identifier is accessed and transmitted to a voice portal server. The voice portal server may call a telephone number and receive a request to acquire the auction item. |
| US07729951B2 |
Method, system, and computer program product for a dynamic virtual shopping area based on user preferences and history
The present invention is directed to a dynamic virtual shopping area based on user preferences and history. A method for providing a dynamic virtual shopping area in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes: capturing user preferences; and dynamically customizing a virtual shopping area for an avatar based on the user preferences, such that the avatar is presented with items the avatar is more likely to purchase upon entering the virtual shopping area. |
| US07729949B2 |
Systems and methods for improving the liquidity and distribution network for luxury and other illiquid items
Systems and methods for improving the liquidity and distribution network for luxury and other illiquid items are provided. These systems and methods preferably include the trading of futures and options contracts, which will provide the liquidity and distribution network for luxury items. Possible embodiments of these systems and methods include the trading of futures and options contracts for diamonds and wine. Another embodiment of this invention preferably includes generating indexes for diamond prices, wine prices, luxury item prices, housing values, mortgage prepayments, privately-held companies or for anything with from sufficiently liquid points of value. Another embodiment of this invention preferably includes a centralized data base for retrieving closing and current auction prices for determining the value of, and best method for the auctioning of various items. The data provided by this data base would improve liquidity by creating greater price transparency. |
| US07729948B1 |
Systems and methods for enabling customer care assistance with self-service transactions
Upon a client encountering an error while operating a self-service application for changing services in a wireless device, the client can queue themselves to speak with a customer care center representative. Data collected from the client through the self-service application is transferred to a customer care system to provide the customer care representative with application state information including which step in the application the customer requires assistance with. Upon the customer care representative successfully assisting the customer the wireless device continues on to the next step in the self-service application. When all of the steps in the self-service application are complete or upon completion of each step, the data collected is transferred to the customer care system and used to update the necessary systems to implement the change in service. |
| US07729945B1 |
Systems and methods that use geographic data to intelligently select goods and services to offer in telephonic and electronic commerce
Apparatus and methods are provided for effecting remote commerce, such as in telemarketing (either inbound or outbound) and in electronic commerce, which are particularly adapted for the intelligent selection and proffer of products, services or information to a user or customer. In one aspect of the invention, goods, service or information are provided to the user via electronic communication, such as through a telephone, videophone or other computer link, as determined by the steps of first, establishing communication via the electronic communications device between the user and the system to effect a primary transaction or primary interaction, second, obtaining data with respect to the primary transaction or primary interaction, including at least in part a determination of the identity of the user or prospective customer, third, obtaining at least a second data element relating to the user, fourth, utilizing the primary transaction or primary interaction data along with the at least second data element as factors in determining at least one good, service or item of information for prospective upsell to the user or prospective customer, and offering the item to the prospective customer. In the preferred embodiment, the selection of the proffer of goods, services or information comprises an upsell with respect to the primary transaction or primary interaction data. The offer of the upsell is preferably generated and offered in real time, that is, during the course of the communication initiated with the primary transaction or primary interaction. |
| US07729939B2 |
Method and apparatus for planning and monitoring multiple tasks based on user defined criteria and predictive ability
Individual employees are permitted to be individuals and plan their work as individuals. Individuals are only asked to plan their work within a limited tasking horizon. Employees track their progress using verbs that are designed to capture the reasons behind positive and negative predictive ability. Verbs are analyzed and expected predictive error, also know as risk, is calculated. Once verbs are captured they can be analyzed for ways to improve predictive ability. In addition, the risk can be factored into the initial planning stage so as to include an expected predictive error in the initial planning. |
| US07729938B2 |
Method and system to connect consumers to information
This invention provides for a method of (or apparatus for) facilitating the delivery of advice to consumers using a server unit which can store and display the names and characteristics of experts and then rapidly assist in connecting the expert and consumer for real-time communication. The server can also have the ability to receive keywords from the consumer, match those keywords to one or more experts, and tell the consumer how to contact an expert. |
| US07729935B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing workflow
A workflow process management application (WPMA) for a specific organization is created via a web application that can be implemented using a web server front end and a database back end. An administrator user operates the application by using a built-in administrative function to create objects such as users, groups, departments, locations, acuities, activities, and skills. The administrator or another suitable user can then use a built-in defining function to finalize objects and create instances of the objects corresponding to the organization. Appropriate users can use the plan function to allocate specific users to specific departments to ensure that all activities are assigned an appropriate amount of workers having the appropriate skills. When (or after) the work is performed the actual workflow data can be electronically gathered (if possible), or manually entered. Reports can then be generated to show differences between the planned workflow and the actual workflow. |
| US07729934B1 |
System and method for strategic intent mapping
Systems and methods for mapping relative strategic intent of tactics and associated projects in an enterprise are provided. Some embodiments provide a computer-implemented tool, a method, and/or a computer-implemented system for mapping strategic intent of an organization. Projects are mapped to tactics and stored in a data store. Fulfillment percentages of tactics are claimed, where the percentages represent the portion of a tactic that is achieved by a project that is mapped to it. Ownership of a tactic may be assigned, which gives the tactic owner authority to grant approval for mapping projects to the owned tactic. Tactic sets, which include groups of tactics having some element in common, may be organized to permit projects to carry over into new time periods. A reporting tool is used to display information such as mapped relationships, ownership, approval status, fulfillment percentage, and tactic sets for use in strategic intent mapping. |
| US07729933B2 |
Decision support activation and management in product life cycles using a context pyramid structure
Techniques are provided for product life cycle management over an information network. More particularly, techniques are provided for decision support activation and management in accordance with a product life cycle management process such as a collaborative design process. In one aspect of the invention, a technique for managing at least one collaborative process performed in accordance with a first entity and at least a second entity, comprises the following steps/operations. Information associated with the at least one collaborative process is obtained. Based on at least a portion of the obtained information, an information structure (e.g., a context pyramid) representative of the collaborative process is dynamically maintained so as to assist at least one of the first entity and the second entity in managing at least a portion of the collaborative process. |
| US07729923B2 |
Voice recognition and apparatus using model number lookup
A voice response system for use in obtaining return qualification information for a product using a non-unique product identifier, including: a dial-in voice system operable to prompt a caller for the non-unique product identifier, wherein the non-unique product identifies the product as a member of a defined product group; a product registration database including a plurality of different, non-unique product identifiers; a return policy storage that defines return policies for each of the non-unique product identifiers; and an arrangement that looks up a specific return policy for the non-unique product identified entered by the caller and provides information to the caller regarding return qualification for the product identified by the non-unique product identifier. |
| US07729922B2 |
Dynamic interface between BPSS conversation management and local business management
The present invention relates to devices and methods that coordinate an external conversation process between entities with an internal workflow of one of the entities. More particularly, it relates to devices and methods that are compliant with an inter-enterprise conversation process standard for routing electronic commerce documents between enterprises. Particular aspects of the present invention are described in the claims, specification and drawings. |
| US07729921B2 |
Apparatus, method, and program for supporting speech interface design
For design of a speech interface accepting speech control options, speech samples are stored on a computer-readable medium. A similarity calculating unit calculates a certain indication of similarity of first and second sets of ones of the speech samples, the first set of speech samples being associated with a first speech control option and the second set of speech samples being associated with a second speech control option. A display unit displays the similarity indication.In another aspect, word vectors are generated for the respective speech sample sets, indicating frequencies of occurrence of respective words in the respective speech sample sets. The similarity calculating unit calculates the similarity indication responsive to the word vectors of the respective speech sample sets.In another aspect, a perplexity indication is calculated for respective speech sample sets responsive to language models for the respective speech sample sets. |
| US07729916B2 |
Conversational computing via conversational virtual machine
A conversational computing system that provides a universal coordinated multi-modal conversational user interface (CUI) 10 across a plurality of conversationally aware applications (11) (i.e., applications that “speak” conversational protocols) and conventional applications (12). The conversationally aware applications (11) communicate with a conversational kernel (14) via conversational application APIs (13). The conversational kernel 14 controls the dialog across applications and devices (local and networked) on the basis of their registered conversational capabilities and requirements and provides a unified conversational user interface and conversational services and behaviors. The conversational computing system may be built on top of a conventional operating system and APIs (15) and conventional device hardware (16). The conversational kernel (14) handles all I/O processing and controls conversational engines (18). The conversational kernel (14) converts voice requests into queries and converts outputs and results into spoken messages using conversational engines (18) and conversational arguments (17). The conversational application API (13) conveys all the information for the conversational kernel (14) to transform queries into application calls and conversely convert output into speech, appropriately sorted before being provided to the user. |
| US07729915B2 |
Method and system for using spatial metaphor to organize natural language in spoken user interfaces
A method and an apparatus for providing audio information to a user. The method and apparatus provide information in a manner consistent with a spatial metaphor, allowing a user to visualize and more easily navigate an application. The information is preferably presented to the user as a background audio prompt that indicates the environment and a foreground audio prompt that indicates the alternatives available to the user. |
| US07729913B1 |
Generation and selection of voice recognition grammars for conducting database searches
Various processes are disclosed for conducting database searches by telephone. A user is initially prompted to utter N characters of a search query, and/or to enter these characters on a telephone keypad. Based on the user's entry, a speech recognition grammar is either selected or is generated dynamically for processing the user's utterance of the complete search query. In one embodiment, the speech recognition grammar is selected based on a sequence of N telephone keys selected by the user, without requiring the user to uniquely specify the N characters to which these keys correspond. In another embodiment, the speech recognition grammar is selected based solely on utterances of the N characters by the user such that the correct grammar is selected even if an utterance of one character is misidentified as an utterance of a similar sounding character. Also disclosed are methods for generating speech recognition grammars from query logs. |
| US07729912B1 |
System and method for latency reduction for automatic speech recognition using partial multi-pass results
A system and method is provided for reducing latency for automatic speech recognition. In one embodiment, intermediate results produced by multiple search passes are used to update a display of transcribed text. |
| US07729910B2 |
Zero-search, zero-memory vector quantization
The invention comprises a method for lossy data compression, akin to vector quantization, in which there is no explicit codebook and no search, i.e. the codebook memory and associated search computation are eliminated. Some memory and computation are still required, but these are dramatically reduced, compared to systems that do not exploit this method. For this reason, both the memory and computation requirements of the method are exponentially smaller than comparable methods that do not exploit the invention. Because there is no explicit codebook to be stored or searched, no such codebook need be generated either. This makes the method well suited to adaptive coding schemes, where the compression system adapts to the statistics of the data presented for processing: both the complexity of the algorithm executed for adaptation, and the amount of data transmitted to synchronize the sender and receiver, are exponentially smaller than comparable existing methods. |
| US07729901B2 |
System for classifying words
A system is disclosed for determining probable meanings of a word. A prior probability is established of the probable meanings of the word. A context frequency probability is established of the probable meanings of the word. The probability that each meaning is a correct meaning may be provided in accordance with both the prior probability and the context frequency probability. |
| US07729896B2 |
Cycle simulation method, cycle simulator, and computer product
It is determined whether an i-th instruction is for a memory access. If the i-th instruction is the memory access, it is determined whether an address to access according to the i-th instruction coincides with an address that has been accessed by a first execution block. If the addresses coincide with each other, it is determined whether a cycle of a second execution block currently executing precedes that of the first execution block. If the cycle of the second execution block precedes that of the first executing block, a memory model is accessed. A necessary number of cycles for execution of a j-th instruction is added to the current number of cycles, and the address, a cycle, data, and a data size at the time of the current access (before re-writing) are written in a delay table. |
| US07729895B2 |
Methods and systems for designing and/or selecting drilling equipment with desired drill bit steerability
Methods and systems may be provided for simulating forming a wide variety of directional wellbores including wellbores with variable tilt rates and/or relatively constant tilt rates. The methods and systems may also be used to simulate forming a wellbore in subterranean formations having a combination of soft, medium and hard formation materials, multiple layers of formation materials and relatively hard stringers disposed throughout one or more layers of formation material. Values of bit steerability and controllability calculated from such simulations may be used to design and/or select drilling equipment for use in forming a directional wellbore. |
| US07729892B2 |
Simulation parameter determination method
Provided is a method for reducing the amount of calculation time required for parameter determination, and for reducing the amount of calculation time required for parameter determination in satisfaction with a desired accuracy. The method includes preferentially selecting analysis objects, which are capable of providing parameter determination within a high degree of certainty, and controlling a calculation order of the selected analysis objects using a calculation order list. |
| US07729888B2 |
Signal-driven recovery of a digital pulse stream
Provided is a method and system for signal-driven recovery of a digital pulse stream. The method includes receiving initial parameters including the base characteristics of a pulse signal, the characteristics including the maximum pulse interval. An incoming analog signal is converted to a digital signal and sampled a predetermined number of times at intervals greater than the maximum pulse interval to record a set of minimum signal values and a set of maximum signal values. Each set is averaged to provide an average minimum value and an average maximum value. Based on these values at least one threshold value is then determined, and the digital pulse stream is identified based on the threshold values. The method is repetitive, continually re-determining the threshold values so as to adapt to changes in the incoming signal. A system for performing the method is also provided. |
| US07729884B2 |
Compactor independent direct diagnosis of test hardware
Methods, apparatus, and systems for performing fault diagnosis are disclosed herein. In one exemplary embodiment, a failure log is received including entries indicative of compressed test responses to chain patterns and compressed test responses to scan patterns. A faulty scan chain in the circuit-under-test is identified based at least in part on one or more of the entries indicative of the compressed test responses to chain patterns. One or more faulty scan cell candidates in the faulty scan chain are identified based at least in part on one or more of the entries indicative of the compressed test responses to scan patterns. The one or more identified scan cell candidates can be reported. Computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform any of the disclosed methods are also provided. Likewise, computer-readable media storing lists of fault candidates identified by any of the disclosed methods are also provided. |
| US07729883B2 |
System to improve requirements, design manufacturing, and transportation in mass manufacturing industries through analysis of defect data
A computer-implemented method of optimizing a design of a product in a mass manufacturing process includes steps of: collecting error data relating to a product; classifying the error data into categories of errors to provide classifier error data; analyzing relationships among the classified error data; producing an analysis report; and recommending modifications to an end user for the design of the product. |
| US07729875B2 |
Long infrastructure management system and program
A long object management system for managing the history of the attribute data as well as the shape data constituting the temporal information of pipeline facilities, in which the future prediction is conducted by acquiring and managing the temporal information. The system comprises a unit for managing the time change data by the difference management of the pipeline shape and attribute data, and a unit for retrieving the time change data managed by difference, correcting the position using the result of retrieval and setting the correspondence between the time change data by correcting the data position. |
| US07729870B2 |
Methods for detecting oil deterioration and oil level
Methods for detecting oil conditions including a top level of an oil in an oil system which is reduced to a top level of a predetermined threshold amount of the oil, a normal oil deterioration which occurs in the absence of water having a confirmed actual remaining usage of the oil, and an abnormal oil deterioration which occurs in the presence of water. The methods include a first preferred embodiment which applies reference and sensing capacitors to obtain a measured temperature compensated electrical property of the oil. From which a quantitatively measured remaining usage is obtained so as to a predicted one for the oil. Therefore, the respective top oil level, or the normal or the abnormal oil deterioration can be concluded according to the measured remaining usage which is respectively larger than, or similar to, or less than the predicted one for the oil. A second preferred embodiment only includes the sensing capacitor for obtaining the measured temperature compensated electrical property of the oil. Variations to the embodiments lead to application of at least two sensing capacitors to monitor an uneven distribution of the oil deterioration or a full range of the level of the oil in the entire oil system. |
| US07729869B2 |
Electronic flow characteristic indicating flow meter
An electronic flow meter having sensors to determine the temperature and flow rate of a fluid flowing through the flow meter and into a downstream circuit, such as a cooling water circuit, of known diameter is flowing under turbulent or laminar conditions based upon a calculation of a corresponding Reynolds number and comparison of the calculated Reynolds number to Reynolds numbers indicative of the desired flow characteristic. A display is provided to indicate the flow characteristic of the fluid flowing through the flow meter as determined by the processor. |
| US07729867B2 |
Method for introducing conjugated caps onto molecular fragments and systems and methods for using the same to determine inter-molecular interaction energies
A method of introducing conjugated caps onto molecular fragments is described. A first molecule may be decomposed or cut into molecular fragments. Molecular caps may then be introduced in the form of conjugated caps onto the molecular fragments at the decomposition points to form molecular portions. The interaction energy between the molecular portion and a second molecule can then be calculated. This scheme, termed molecular fractionation with conjugated caps, makes it possible and practical to carry out full quantum mechanical (ab initio) calculation of intermolecular interaction energies involving molecules, such as proteins or other biological molecules. |
| US07729864B2 |
Computer systems and methods for identifying surrogate markers
Methods, computer program products and systems for identifying cellular constituents in a secondary tissue that serve as surrogate markers for a target gene expressed in a primary tissue of a species are provided. A classifier is constructed using cellular constituent abundances of cellular constituents in a first plurality of cellular constituents measured in the secondary tissue in a population. This population comprises a first and second subgroup. The classifier is based on a second plurality of cellular constituents that comprises all or a portion of the first plurality of cellular constituents. Abundance levels of each cellular constituent in the second plurality of cellular constituents varies between the first and second subgroup. All or portion of the population is classified into a plurality of subtypes using the classifier. Then, one or more cellular constituents that can discriminate members of the population between a first subtype and a second subtype in the plurality of subtypes are identified. |
| US07729861B2 |
Method and apparatus for formation testing
A method for conducting a formation test includes providing a volume change model for a tool component, and providing a control program that uses the volume change model to estimate a system volume change resulting from a change in the tool component during a downhole operation. An apparatus for conducting a formation test includes a carrier, a formation test tool, a measurement device that estimates a change in a tool component during operation, and a processor that uses a volume change model to estimate a system volume change resulting at least in part from the change in the tool component during a downhole operation. |
| US07729858B2 |
Travel safety apparatus for vehicle
A travel safety apparatus for a vehicle, the apparatus includes: a first detector detecting an object in a first detection area; a second detector detecting the object in a second detection area; a braking device decelerating the vehicle; an alarm device which outputs an alarm to an occupant of the vehicle; a third detector measuring the traveling state of the vehicle; a collision determination device which determines a possibility of a collision between the vehicle and the object based on the traveling state; and a controller which operates at least one of the braking device and the alarm device when there is the possibility of collision, wherein the controller changes at least one of operation timing of the alarm device, operation timing of the braking device, and deceleration degree made by the braking device in accordance with whether or not the first detector and the second detector detect the object. |
| US07729857B2 |
System for and method of detecting a collision and predicting a vehicle path
A collision detection and path prediction system (10) adapted for use with a traveling host vehicle (12) having an operator, includes a locator device (20) configured to determine the current position coordinates, and pluralities of trail and immediate dynamic path coordinates of the vehicle (12) and a communicatively coupled traveling remote vehicle (16). The system further includes a preferred controller (36) configured to predict a collision between the two vehicles (12,16) from the coordinates, and determine a plurality of projected path coordinates for the host vehicle (12) relative to the remote vehicle (16) trail coordinates. |
| US07729856B2 |
Method and device for detecting objects in the surroundings of a vehicle
A method and a device for detecting objects in the blind spot of a vehicle are provided, which make it possible, through an adaptively decreased measuring time, to achieve a shorter response time for alerting a driver in the event of an imminent collision with an object in the blind spot. Due to the fact that the frequency and/or the width of a measuring signal is/are set as a function of the previously determined distance between the vehicle and the object, it is possible to increase the sampling rate proportional to the decrease in the distance between the vehicle and the object. This makes it possible to detect the closest object more rapidly, i.e., for the most relevant object for a potential collision to be evaluated, thereby generating an adequately early collision alert. The frequency of a measuring signal is preferably set reciprocally proportional to the determined distance between the vehicle and the object. |
| US07729851B2 |
Navigation system
A navigation system comprises: a GPS for detecting a current position; a DVD drive for reading a map from a DVD on which a plurality of partially overlapping maps are recorded; a Memory card for storing information to identify a portion overlapping with another map, in a map being used for navigation; and a CPU for judging, based on coordinates of a current position and the information stored in the Memory card, whether the coordinates of the current position are contained in the overlapping portion or not, and for controlling, in response to a judgment that the coordinates of the current position are contained in the overlapping portion, the DVD drive to read from the DVD the map sharing the overlapping portion. Consequently, map data to be loaded can be smoothly changed according to the current position. |
| US07729846B2 |
Control device for engine
A control device for an engine includes an air-fuel ratio detector detecting an air-fuel ratio of an exhaust gas of the engine. A feedback controller performs a feedback control of an amount of a fuel injection of mixed fuel including alcohol so that the air-fuel ratio detected by the air-fuel ratio detector is come close to a target air-fuel ratio, the mixed fuel supplied from a fuel feeder. A concentration estimator estimates a concentration of the alcohol in the mixed fuel based on the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas and a correction amount for the amount of the fuel injection controlled by the feedback control. A malfunction determiner determines that the fuel feeder has a malfunction when the correction amount is greater than or equal to a value for a period which is longer than a first period in a second period. The second period is from a first time point when the feedback controller starts to perform the feedback control. |
| US07729839B2 |
Automated inter-axle differential lock sensor configuration and calibration method
The present invention relates to an automatic inter-axle differential sensor configuration (i.e., location) and calibration method for a vehicle having a tandem drive axle. The method involves determining the speed of the vehicle, determining pulses per minute from each inter-axle differential sensor via the vehicle electronic control unit (ECU), where each of the inter-axle differential sensors are connected to an inter-axle differential gear, determining a location of each inter-axle differential sensor from each of the inter-axle differential sensor pulses per minute, and assigning a number of teeth to each of the inter-axle differential gears in calibrating each of the inter-axle differential sensors. The revolutions per minute for each of the inter-axle differential sensors may be utilized to lock the inter-axle differential during slippage of the vehicle, without human intervention. |
| US07729838B2 |
Vehicle and control method of the same
A vehicle having a sun gear, a carrier, and a ring gear of a planetary gear mechanism respectively connected to a first motor, an engine, and a drive shaft and second motor. When the combination of measured accelerator opening and measured vehicle speed is in an ordinary acceleration area, the vehicle sets a torque demand to decrease with an increase in measured vehicle speed at a specific reduction rate that ensures substantially constant output power to the drive shaft corresponding to the accelerator opening. When the combination of the measured accelerator opening and the measured vehicle speed is in an acceleration feel improvement area, on the other hand, the vehicle sets the torque demand to an extent of or below a maximum allowable value of the torque demand to decrease with an increase in measured vehicle speed at a lower reduction rate than the specific reduction rate. |
| US07729836B2 |
Patcher system and associated methods
A patcher system for patching a paved surface includes a remotely controllable arm attachable to a vehicle and a patching material dispensing subsystem disposed on the remotely controllable arm. The patcher system may be part of a mobile patcher system which additionally includes a vehicle, a patching material distribution subsystem disposed on the vehicle, and a control subsystem. A software product may include instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform steps for controlling the patcher system. |
| US07729832B2 |
Device for actuating an articulated mast
A large manipulator with an articulated mast (22) is pivotally connected to a mast base (21) that is rotatable about a vertical axis. The mast (22) comprises at least three mast arms (23 to 27) which are pivotable to a limited extent about horizontal articulated axis (28 to 32) that are located parallel to each other, the pivoting movement being relative to the mast base (21) or an adjacent mast arm (23 to 27) and being performed by means of a respective drive unit (34 to 38). A control unit is provided with coordinate transformer (74, 76) which responds to a given guiding parameter (r) and measured angular values (εγ) that are determined by means of angle sensors (44 to 48) located on the mast arms (23 to 27). The coordinate transformer (74, 76) does a conversion into movement signals (Δαv) for the drive units (34 to 38) in accordance with predefined path/slew characteristics, the movement signals being related to the articulation axis. In order to make the inventive device lighter and easier to build, geodetic angle sensors (44 to 48) which determine earth referenced angular values (εγ) that are assigned to the individual mast arms (23 to 27) are disposed in a rigid manner on the mast arms (23 to 27). |
| US07729829B2 |
Suspension irregularity detecting system
A vehicle suspension system (19) includes a suspension (47). A lateral acceleration sensor (32) generates a lateral acceleration signal. A roll rate sensor (34) generates a roll rate signal. A controller (26) detects an irregularity in the suspension in response to the lateral acceleration signal and the roll rate signal. A method of detecting suspension irregularities in a vehicle (10) includes the generating of a lateral acceleration signal and a roll rate signal. Roll angle is determined in response to the lateral acceleration signal and roll rate signal. A roll gradient, a roll acceleration coefficient, and a roll damping parameter are determined in response to at least the roll angle. The roll gradient, the roll acceleration coefficient, and the roll damping parameter are compared to associated nominal values. A suspension irregularity is indicated in response to the comparison. |
| US07729828B2 |
Seat assemblies for vehicles
Seat assemblies for a vehicles include seat panels in communication with a controller and having a fiber optic sensing device that measures pressure exerted at various locations of the seat panels and cushioning materials comprising active materials, wherein upon receipt of pressure signals by the controller from the sensing device, the controller generates activation signals that adapt physical characteristics of the active materials. |
| US07729811B1 |
Systems and methods for utility grid power averaging, long term uninterruptible power supply, power line isolation from noise and transients and intelligent power transfer on demand
The use of electrical energy storage unit (EESU) technology can provide power averaging for utility grids. Such EESUs can also be used to construct a system capable of storing electrical energy over specified periods (e.g., 24 hours) to provide peak power to homes, commercial sites, and industrial sites. By charging these power averaging units during non-peak times and then delivering the energy during peak-demands times, more efficient utilization of the present utility-grid power-generating plants and the already existing power transmission lines will be accomplished. These systems also have the capability of isolating users from utility-grid power failures, transients, and AC noise. |
| US07729810B2 |
Electrical power distribution control systems and processes
In one aspect, the present disclosure describes a power adjustment process. The process for power distribution regulation includes filtering data from electrical sensors to provide conditioned data representative of a portion of a power distribution grid and determining, by a controller and based in part on the conditioned data, when an increase or decrease in an output parameter from one regulator of a plurality of regulators in the power distribution grid will reduce system power consumption. The process also includes increasing or decreasing the associated output electrical parameter in response to the controller determining that such will reduce system power consumption. |
| US07729807B2 |
Security sensor-transmitter for detecting wind in a home automation installation
A sensor-transmitter (20) intended to be fastened to a mobile structure (11, 13, 14) and to transmit a security signal in a home automation installation (10), comprising, in a casing (22, 23): an autonomous power source (36), a vibration sensor (33), a wireless transmitter (35) and a processing logic unit (34) analyzing the signals obtained from the vibration sensor to decide whether to transmit the security signal by the wireless transmitter, which comprises means (27, 32) of detecting the mechanical state of the casing, the sensor-transmitter being: in an operational state when the casing is closed and fastened to the mobile structure, the transmission of a security signal being enabled in this operational state, and in a disabled state otherwise, the transmission of a security signal being prohibited in this disabled state, whereas the transmission of other signals remains possible, or the transmission of a security signal being enabled in this disabled state, the security signal being disabled by a disabling signal. |
| US07729806B2 |
Elevator controller
In an elevator control apparatus, a control apparatus main body includes a program storage portion for storing a program concerning operational control of an elevator and a processing portion for performing a plurality of calculation processings based on the program. Further, the control apparatus main body writes pieces of processed information corresponding to the calculation processings, respectively, into the RAM when the calculation processings are performed, and monitors whether or not a sequence of performance of the calculation processings is normal by reference to a pattern of the pieces of the processed information written into the RAM. |
| US07729805B2 |
Travel time display device and method for industrial robot
There is provided a travel time display device for an industrial robot which can display travel time on the screen such that time taken for moving a work from any designated starting point to any other point can be seen at a glance. The travel time display device includes: a display for displaying on the screen the location of the industrial robot and an area in which the industrial robot can transport the work; a position designator for designating a travel starting point of the industrial robot at an arbitrary position on the display screen; a calculator for setting a plurality of time intervals with respect to necessary travel time from the travel starting point and calculating a travelable area, to be displayed on the display screen; and a display for depicting the travelable areas with a visual discrimination between the travelable areas. |
| US07729800B2 |
Distributed architecture for food and beverage dispensers
A method and apparatus wherein traditional design methodologies directed toward obtaining minimized component costs are largely set aside in favor of mass customization, reduced design and ownership costs, and shorter design cycles. The distributed architecture contemplates widespread distribution of monitoring and control functions for most device-specific hardware under the direction of a CPU module. In implementation of the distributed architecture, various component modules are placed in communication with the CPU module through at least one and preferably multiple communication busses. |
| US07729798B2 |
Substrate processing system, and method of control therefor, control program, and storage medium
A transfer schedule SA and a transfer schedule SB for an A lot and a B lot different from each other are generated on a transfer control table, the succeeding transfer schedule SB is moved ahead in the direction of a time axis within a range over which it does not interfere with the transfer schedule SA for the preceding A lot to make the start timing for the succeeding transfer schedule SB become earlier than the end timing for the transfer schedule for the preceding A lot, so that the transfer schedule SA and the transfer schedule SB are executed in parallel, thereby improving the throughput a wafer transfer process. |
| US07729786B2 |
Natively retaining project documentation in a controller
An industrial controller comprises a processing component and a memory that comprises logic code that is executable by the processing component. The memory further comprises documentation associated with the logic code and other control components, wherein the documentation is stored in a native form to enable individualized access to a portion of the documentation to an accessing entity. For example, the documentation can comprise one or more of descriptive text relating to a rung of ladder logic, a text box associated with a portion of the sequential function chart, a text box associated with a function block diagram, and embedded descriptive text within structured text. |
| US07729785B2 |
Method and controller for program control of a computer program having multitasking capability
A method and a controller are provided for controlling the execution of a computer program having multitasking capability on a computing element of a controller for controlling and/or regulating a system. The system may take up various possible system states. At the beginning of the execution of a function, the following steps may be executed: subdividing the computer program into a plurality of functionally linked functionalities; defining possible operating states for the functionalities; defining the possible system states of the system, in that specifiable operating states are allocated to the functionalities for each system state; ascertaining the dependencies of the functionalities upon one another, a first functionality dependent upon a second functionality if at least one input variable of the first functionality is ascertained in the second functionality; and centrally specifying the operating states required for a certain system state, taking into consideration the ascertained dependencies among the functionalities and further boundary conditions. |
| US07729784B2 |
Contact electrode
An electrode generally comprises a body, which makes up the electrode and which is formed as a thin flexible polymeric substance such as urethane foam. The electrode body includes a central inner conductive area, which is associated with a first electrode connector. Around the inner conductive area is a non-conductive area formed as a ring around the inner conductive area and there is also an outer conductive area provided as a ring, concentrically arranged around the non-conductive area. Electrode connector (6B) is connected to the outer conductive ring. The electrode body, which has a release tag and is supported on a backing sheet and body can be peeled off the backing sheet using the release tag. The condition of the electrode can be evaluated using a test device, which can for example measure electrical impedance across the electrode via electrodes (6A) and (6B). |
| US07729783B2 |
Apparatus and methods for vacuum- and mechanically-assisted fixation of medical electrical leads
A method and apparatus for providing positive fixation of medical components to a portion of pericardial tissue via both vacuum- and/or mechanically-assisted means. A source of vacuum couples via a lumen to a recessed portion of a body structure deployed into the pericardial space. The recessed portion is adapted to form a seal around its periphery with adjacent pericardial tissue so that when the recessed portion is evacuated, the tissue is drawn into the recessed portion. Then, a sharpened instrument, such as a stylet, is deployed through the lumen and pierces the tissue, thus anchoring the body structure. A source of fluid may also be included for delivery to the pericardial space (e.g., contrast media; saline solution; biological, genetic and pharmaceutical substances and the like). |
| US07729780B2 |
Various apparatus and methods for deep brain stimulating electrodes
A deploying deep brain stimulating probe with a shaft, at least one opening on said shaft, at least one extendable tendril, said tendril deploying from said shaft into surrounding tissue through said opening and an electrode disposed on said tendril. |
| US07729779B2 |
Electrodes for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator
A transcutaneous electric nerve stimulator (TENS) electrode that comprises a conductive layer containing both an inner perimeter(s) and an outer perimeter(s) is disclosed. When used with TENS treatment protocols and devices or other treatment/therapy methods, the electrode can induce a higher rate of A fiber firing by creating baffling to balance the electrical current flowing through the electrodes and induces superior analgesia. |
| US07729777B2 |
Magnetic resonance imaging interference immune device
A voltage compensation unit reduces the effects of induced voltages upon a device having a single wire line. The single wire line has balanced characteristic impedance. The voltage compensation unit includes a tunable compensation circuit connected to the wire line. The tunable compensation circuit applies supplemental impedance to the wire line. The supplemental impedance causes the characteristic impedance of the wire line to become unbalanced, thereby reducing the effects of induced voltages caused by changing magnetic fields. |
| US07729775B1 |
Spectral contrast enhancement in a cochlear implant speech processor
Psychophysical tests are administered to cochlear implant (CI) users to determine a spectral modulation transfer function (SMTF), the smallest detectable spectral contrast as a function of spectral modulation frequency, for each individual CI user. The determined SMTF for individual CI user is compared against a SMTF of a normal hearing person to determine the specific enhancements needed. A spectral contrast enhancement that best fits the needed enhancements for the individual CI user is selected, and a sound processing strategy is adjusted to provide customized spectral contrast enhancement for the individual CI user. The sound processing strategy implemented includes an outer hair cell model. |
| US07729771B2 |
Nerve stimulation and blocking for treatment of gastrointestinal disorders
At least one of a plurality of gastrointestinal disorders is treated by stimulating an enteric nervous system of a patient to enhance a functional tone of the enteric nervous system. A treatment includes electrically stimulating a vagus nerve of the patient at a stimulation site proximal to at least one site of vagal innervation of a gastrointestinal organ. The electrical stimulation includes applying a stimulation signal at the stimulation site. An optional proximal electrical blocking signal is applied to the vagus nerve at a proximal blocking site proximal to the stimulation site. The proximal blocking signal is selected to at least partially block nerve impulses at the proximal blocking site. |
| US07729768B2 |
Implantable cardiac motion powered piezoelectric energy source
Implantable cardiac motion powered piezoelectric energy sources are provided. An aspects of embodiments of the subject implantable energy sources is that they include a piezoelectric transducer that converts cardiac mechanical energy to electrical energy. The subject energy sources find use in a variety of applications, including providing power to a wide range of implantable devices. |
| US07729766B2 |
Circuit board construction for handheld programmer
In general, the disclosure is directed to a patient programmer for an implantable medical device. The patient programmer may include one or more of a variety of features that may enhance performance, support mobility and compactness, or promote patient convenience. The patient programmer includes an internal antenna mounted on a first circuit board and a display mounted on a second circuit board. The first circuit board includes a substantially contiguous around plane layer that is interrupted by two or more gaps. The patient programmer may also include one or more of a variety of features that may enhance performance, support mobility and compactness, or promote patient convenience. |
| US07729763B2 |
Post long pause overdrive pacing in response to atrial tachyarrythmia episode
This disclosure provides for methods and apparatus for preventing an early recurring atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter (AF) episode (herein “ERAF”). Some aspects of the foregoing involve commencing atrial overdrive pacing therapy delivery at an overdrive pacing rate upon detection of one of: (i) an AF episode and (ii) a relatively long pause between successive sensed P-waves during an AF episode. The AF episode typically has a cycle length interval of between about 100 ms and 300 ms, and the relatively long pause has a duration of between about 40 ms and 100 ms longer than the cycle length of the AF episode. Atrial overdrive pacing is delivered for a relatively short period of time after successful termination of the AF episode. Subsequently, the atrial pacing rate is rapidly decreased until either normal sinus rhythm or a lower programmed pacing rate is reached. |
| US07729761B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlled gene or protein delivery
An implantable system which includes a gene/protein delivery device and a pulse generator, as well as method of preparing the gene/protein delivery device and using the system, are provided. In one embodiment, the implantable system detects a predetermined condition or event and, in response, delivers gene(s) and/or protein(s) in conjunction with delivering pacing and/or defibrillation pulses. |
| US07729760B2 |
Patient management system for providing parameter data for an implantable medical device
A method, system, graphical user interface, and apparatus are provided for performing a patient management function providing parameter data for delivering a therapeutic signal. A first electrical signal comprising a first therapy parameter is applied to a portion of a patient's body for providing a therapy. At least one patient parameter relating to an effect of applying the first electrical signal is acquired. A second therapy parameter for defining a second electrical signal to provide a therapy is determined in response to the patient parameter. The second therapy parameter is displayed on an external device. An input signal for defining the second electrical signal is received. The input signal includes a signal indicative of the whether the second therapy parameter was accepted or not. |
| US07729758B2 |
Magnetically coupled microstimulators
Disclosed are implantable electronic devices and systems including a pair of microstimulators. The microstimulators include coils that are energized to generate magnetic fields aligned along a common axis. |
| US07729757B2 |
Corrective voice prompts for caregiving device
A medical device such as a defibrillator that incorporates corrective voice prompts that navigate users around operator errors. The voice prompts may, for example, address errors of readiness (e.g., failing to connect the defibrillator to an AC power source, failing to pre-connect electrodes, etc.), errors of omission (i.e., forgetting to do something, such as attempting to deliver a shock before the defibrillator is charged), and errors of commission (i.e., doing the wrong thing, such as attempting to shock VF when in the synchronization mode). The voice prompts may address errors in the delivery of therapy (e.g., attempting to shock VF when in the synchronization mode) or they may address errors other than in the delivery of therapy (e.g., failing to connect to an AC power source). |
| US07729756B2 |
Measurement system for examining a section of tissue on a patient and the use of a measurement system of this type
A measurement system for examining a section of tissue on a patient in which electric current and/or voltages are applied to a patient in at least one location and are measured on the section of tissue to be examined by at least one electrode of a contact surface of the measurement system. As a result, conclusions can be drawn about the interior of the section of tissue to be examined. The electrode is at least partially surrounded by a conductor element for contacting with a potential which deviates from that of the conductor element. |
| US07729754B2 |
System and method for arrhythmia discrimination with atrial-ventricular dissociation
Ventricular arrhythmias are monitored and classified based upon various criteria. One criterion is PR dissociation which is determined by comparing the PR interval in a current RR cycle to a median PR value. If the current PR interval varies too far from the median, then dissociation is indicated. Often, there are multiple atrial events in a given RR interval and the PR value has been based upon the last atrial event in the cycle. An algorithm determines whether to use the last atrial event in a cycle or whether an earlier atrial event occurred and would provide a more accurate PR value. |
| US07729753B2 |
Automated analysis of a cardiac signal based on dynamical characteristics of the cardiac signal
Systems and techniques relating to locating cardiac wave forms in a cardiac signal, and to detecting a physiological condition, such as ventricular fibrillation. In general, in one aspect, a machine-implemented method includes obtaining a sensed cardiac signal of an organism, the sensed cardiac signal comprising a time series x(t); applying a Hilbert (H) transform to the time series x(t) to obtain H(x(t)), wherein x(t) and H(x(t)) together forming a partial state space trajectory; determining a speed of trajectory, for the sensed cardiac signal, from the partial state space trajectory; and identifying physiological information concerning the organism based on a combination of first and second signal elements, the first signal element including a phase property or an amplitude property of the speed of trajectory, and the second signal element including an amplitude property of the partial state space trajectory. |
| US07729749B2 |
Method and apparatus for evaluating connective tissue conditions
Methods and apparatus are provided for evaluating a connective tissue condition of a patient (e.g., a disease, a risk of developing a disease, a risk of developing a fracture, etc.). For example, an indicator associated with the connective tissue condition may be generated. First, tissue at a first location of the body of the patient is irradiated using a light source. The tissue may be irradiated in vivo through the skin or via an incision, for example. Alternatively, a biopsy of the tissue may be irradiated. Then, spectral content information for light scattered, reflected, or transmitted by the irradiated tissue is determined. The spectral content information may be used, at least in part, to generate an indicator associated with a condition of connective tissue at a second location of the body of the patient, the second location remote from the first location. The indicator may, for example, assist a physician in diagnosing or ruling out the connective tissue condition. |
| US07729748B2 |
Optical in-vivo monitoring systems
Systems for highly efficient, in-vivo collection of modulated infra-red light are presented. Specifically, these devices are arranged in an important format with a view to integration with a wristwatch or other wearable device. An optical aperture of large surface area, specially distributed in an annular ring, receives radiation having been modulated in a tissue test site by blood flow. Radiation received about the annular aperture is redirected by a blazed grating or similar optical element at near perpendicular angles, into a radially distributed, condensing light pipe array and further toward a common axis. Radiation converges on the axis, thus increasing the energy density of the collected signal, before it is further directed via a conic element to a detector such as a photodiode. In some versions, these highly specialized optical paths may be formed into a single element of inexpensive plastic or other rigid substrate. |
| US07729743B2 |
Method and arrangement for tracking a medical instrument
The invention relates to a method and an arrangement for the intravascular or intracardial navigation of a catheter (5). Using an X-ray fluoroscopy device (1), firstly an image database of 2D images is generated, where at the same time as each 2D image (I) is taken the associated heartbeat phase is recorded using an ECG (8). During the catheter intervention, the position of the catheter (5) is measured by means of a position measurement unit (6), and at the same time the ECG and preferably also a signal that is dependent on the breathing movement are recorded. The current spatial position of the catheter (5) that is measured is then assigned the 2D image of the image database which corresponds in terms of the heartbeat phase and also possibly in terms of the breathing phase, on which image the position of the catheter can be represented. |
| US07729742B2 |
Wireless position sensor
Apparatus for tracking an object includes a plurality of field generators, which generate electromagnetic fields at different, respective frequencies in a vicinity of the object, and a radio frequency (RF) driver, which radiates a RF driving field toward the object. A wireless transponder is fixed to the object. The transponder includes at least one sensor coil, in which a signal current flows responsive to the electromagnetic fields, and a power coil, which receives the RF driving field and conveys electrical energy from the driving field to power the transponder. The power coil also transmits an output signal responsive to the signal current to a signal receiver, which processes the signal to determine coordinates of the object. |
| US07729741B2 |
Method of multi-region contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance arteriography
The present invention is a technique of, and system for, imaging vascular anatomy over distance considerably greater than the maximum practical field of view of a magnetic resonance imaging system while using substantially one contrast agent injection. The technique and system of the present invention acquires image data of a plurality of image volumes which are representative of different portions of the patient's body. The image data of each image volume includes image data which is representative of the center of k-space. The acquisition of image data which is representative of the center of k-space is correlated with a concentration of contrast agent in the artery(ies) residing in the image volume being substantially greater than the concentration of contrast agent in veins and background tissue adjacent to the artery(ies). This provides preferential enhancement of arteries relative to adjacent veins and background tissue for each acquisition, wherein each acquisition is representative of a different portion of the arterial system (e.g., abdominal aorta, femoral, popliteal, and tibial arteries). |
| US07729738B2 |
Stabilized tissue penetrating catheters
A tissue penetrating catheter that is usable to advance a tissue penetrator from within a blood vessel, through the wall of the blood vessel to a target location. The catheter includes at least one stabilizing device thereon for stabilizing catheter prior to advancing the tissue penetrator. The tissue penetrator may extend through a lumen in the body of the catheter and project transversely through an exit port. The stabilizing device may be located closely adjacent to the exit port, or may surround the exit port. The stabilizing device may be one or more balloons, or other mechanical structure that is expandable into contact with the inner luminal wall of the blood vessel. Desirably, the exit port is forced into contact with the blood vessel wall to shorten the distance that the tissue penetrator projects from the catheter body to the target location. The catheter is particular useful for forming blood flow tracts between blood vessels, in particular in coronary revascularization procedures. Methods of utilizing such a catheter to bypass an arterial obstruction is also disclosed. |
| US07729736B2 |
Medical sensor and technique for using the same
A medical sensor may be adapted to account for factors that cause irregularities in pulse oximetry measurements or other spectrophotemetric measurements. Sensors are provided with surface features that reduce the amount of outside light or shunted light that impinge the detecting elements of the sensor. The sensor is adapted to reduce the effect of outside light or shunted light on pulse oximetry measurements. |
| US07729733B2 |
Configurable physiological measurement system
A physiological measurement system has a sensor, a processor, a communications link and information elements. The sensor is configured to transmit light having a plurality of wavelengths into a tissue site and to generate a sensor signal responsive to the transmitted light after tissue attenuation. The processor is configured to operate on the sensor signal so as to derive at least one physiological parameter. The communications link is adapted to provide communications between the sensor and the processor. The information elements are distributed across at least one of the sensor, the processor and the communications link and provide operational information corresponding to at least one of the sensor, the processor and the communications link. |
| US07729731B2 |
Terminal structure of superconducting cable
A terminal structure of a superconducting cable is provided that is capable of preventing degradation in airtightness of a seal provided on the boundary between a room-temperature side and a cryogenic side for a long-term use. The terminal structure includes a terminal of a superconducting cable, a bushing providing electrical conduction with a superconducting conductor of the cable, and a refrigerant bath housing the terminal and the bushing. The refrigerant bath includes a liquid nitrogen layer in its cryogenic side and a nitrogen gas layer in its room-temperature side that are adjacent to each other. In the nitrogen gas layer, distance t between an inner surface of the refrigerant bath and an outer periphery of the bushing is dimensioned such that nitrogen gas is kept in a gaseous state without being pressurized by a pressurizer and respective pressures of nitrogen gas and liquid nitrogen counterbalance each other. |
| US07729727B2 |
Aligning radio base station node transmission timing on multiple transmit paths
A radio base station node (20) of a telecommunications network comprises a baseband transmitter (22) and plural radio frequency (RF) paths (24) between the baseband transmitter (22) and an antenna system (30). A measurement entity (32) is provided, preferably near the antenna system (30), for making a measurement or comparison of a time of detecting of a power modulation for each of plural RF transmission paths (24), e.g., a time of detecting of a power modulation for a first of the plural RF transmission paths and a time of detection of a power modulation for a second of the plural RF transmission paths. A transmission timing adjustment unit (34) uses the power modulation measurement or comparison for adjusting timing of transmission of signals for the plural RF transmission paths for obtaining a desired time alignment for the plural RF transmission paths. |
| US07729726B2 |
Feeder cable reduction
The present invention allows transmission of multiple signals between masthead electronics and base housing electronics in a base station environment. At least some of the received signals from the multiple antennas are translated to being centered about different center frequencies, such that the translated signals may be combined into a composite signal including each of the received signals. The composite signal is then sent over a single feeder cable to base housing electronics, wherein the received signals are separated and processed by transceiver circuitry. Prior to being provided to the transceiver circuitry, those signals that were translated from being centered about one frequency to another may be retranslated to being centered about the original center frequency. |
| US07729725B2 |
Methods, electronic devices and computer program products for transferring data stored in an electronic device when a subscriber identity module is absent therefrom
The invention can allow data to be transferred from/to an electronic device when a removable Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card that stores information used to register the electronic device with a communications network is absent from the electronic device. A subscriber may, therefore, upgrade from an existing radiotelephone to a new radiotelephone without the need for two SIM cards so that both radiotelephones operate to transfer the data. For example, according to embodiments of the invention, a subscriber can transfer data from the existing radiotelephone to the new radiotelephone even though one of the radiotelephones does not have a SIM card. |
| US07729722B2 |
Calibration of wireless communication device
A wireless communication device includes an integrated circuit (IC) and an antenna system. The IC includes a baseband processing module, a network processing module, a calibration processing module, a receiver section and a transmitter section. The network processing module establishes a wireless communication protocol and operational parameters based on the wireless communication protocol. The calibration processing module generates RF receiver calibration information based on the operational parameters and RF receive feedback and generates RF transmitter calibration information based on the operational parameters and RF transmit feedback. The receiver section provides the RF receive feedback and converts an inbound RF signal into an inbound symbol stream. The transmitter section provides the RF transmit feedback and converts an outbound symbol stream into an outbound RF signal. The antenna system provides the inbound RF signal to the receiver section and receives the outbound RF signal from the transmitter section. |
| US07729717B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling power of uplink physical channel
A method for controlling power of an uplink physical channel includes: computing a relative gain factor in a compressed mode; correcting the relative gain factor to obtain a corrected relative gain factor; generating a gain factor in the compressed mode according to the corrected relative gain factor; controlling power of the uplink physical channel according to the gain factor in the compressed mode generated. In embodiments of the present invention, after being computed, the relative gain factor in the compressed mode is corrected, then the gain factor in the compressed mode is generated according to the corrected relative gain factor. Thus, an accurate gain factor may be acquired for controlling the power of the uplink physical channel. |
| US07729716B2 |
Reducing power consumption in mobile terminals by changing modulation schemes
A mobile terminal reduces power consumption when operating at a high transmit power by altering a modulation scheme used for transmitting signals over an uplink to a base station. The mobile terminal receives uplink load indications from the base station and determines it current transmit power level. Based on this information, the mobile terminal selects an appropriate modulation scheme. |
| US07729713B1 |
Methods for providing mobile PTT communications without requiring PTT servers
A push-to-talk communications device (PCD) provides improved push-to-talk (PTT) communications. The PCD may include a PTT activator and a PTT module having a buffer and communications logic for providing full duplex PTT communications. In a Point-to-Point PTT mode of operation, PTT communications are performed between two PCDs with the PCDs exercising floor control. After the establishment of communications between the PCDs, the PCDs may enter a PTT talk mode wherein messages are transmitted between the PCDs in real time when a PTT activator is engaged. A PCD may also enter a group PTT mode wherein a PTT server exercises floor control between an initiating PCD and multiple target PCDs. |
| US07729706B2 |
Location service-providing system and deferred location request service-providing method using previously computed location in location service-providing system
A location service-providing system and a method for providing a deferred location request service by using previously computed position estimates. In the system and the method, if an H-SLP transmits an SUPL INIT message including location information to a target SUPL Enabled Terminal (SET) according to a location service request from an SUPL AGENT, the location information including at least one of a previous position estimate and previous assistant data, the target SET receives the SUPL INIT message, determines whether it is possible to provide the location service by reusing at least one of the location information in the SUPL INIT message and previously stored location information, when it is possible, determining position information by reusing at least one of the location information in the SUPL INIT message and the previously stored location information, and providing the SUPL AGENT with the position information. |
| US07729705B2 |
Method of providing location service over IMS network
A method of providing Location Services (LCS) over an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network in a wireless communication system is provided. An LCS client transmits a service connection request message including a message requesting the location information of a User Equipment (UE). The UE transmits the location information to the LCS client. |
| US07729701B2 |
Method and system of accessing a de-keyed base station
A method and system include de-keying a base station in a conventional TDMA communications system and staffing a timer in the base station when the base station de-keys. The method and system further include receiving a transmission from a mobile station and re-keying and repeating the transmission, if the transmission is received with proper synchronization before expiration of the timer. |
| US07729699B2 |
Switching center for mobile handover
In a mobile communication system having an ATM-processed transfer path, a non-instantaneous interrupt handover can be realized. In a mobile communication network including an ATM-processed transfer path, when a mobile station is moved between cells during communication, frames are received to be identified by a mobile switching center. The frames contain the same data received from both base stations covering the cell range at asynchronous timing different from each other. A selection is made of header information with the lowest error rate from the header information of these frames. The frames are connected at instructed timing. Also, the frames to be transmitted to a plurality of base stations are duplicated, and then transmission timing is specified from these header information. These duplicated frames are transmitted at the specified transmission timing, so that the non-instantaneous interrupt handover is carried out. |
| US07729694B2 |
Systems and methods for facilitating communication between transceivers using different protocols
Systems and methods are provided for communicating data content using different protocols. The systems and methods may include intercepting a transmission from a first transceiver containing a first data content, using a first protocol. The first protocol may be identified and an assessment made whether the first protocol is compatible with a second transceiver. Based on the assessment that the first protocol is not compatible with the second transceiver, data content may be converted to a second protocol. The data content may be transmitted to the second transceiver using the second protocol. The systems and methods may automatically convert the data content to the second protocol based on information associated with the first or second transceivers. |
| US07729692B2 |
Inspection apparatus, analysis display apparatus, inspection system and inspection method
There is provided an inspection system capable of easily performing inspection of a radio section under an actual environment and enabling a user to easily identify a trouble. In this system, an analysis/display device (400) analyzes the data outputted from an inspection device (200, 300) and extracts a radio parameter. By using the radio parameter extracted from the data obtained by inspection of a cabled section, an inspection device (100) inspects the state of radio communication between a communication terminal device (50) and abase station device (150). The analysis/display device (400) aligns the cabled message and the radio message obtained by analyzing the data outputted from the inspection devices (100, 200, 300) in time series or in sequence of calls and displays them. |
| US07729687B2 |
Audio delivery of callerid information to a wireless communications device
Systems and methods for announcing audio calling identification information associated with an incoming communications signal from a calling party to a wireless communications device are disclosed. The invention makes use of a translatable telephone number associated with a wireless communications device of a subscribing customer. The translatable telephone number includes a wireless telephone number of a wireless communications device and also includes an access telephone number that is associated with an access address serviced by a communications network. The wireless communications device is typically serviced by a separate wireless communications network that connects with the communications network over a communications link. The calling party dials the access telephone number and the incoming communications signal is detected, decoded, and processed to generate an audio communication by the communications network. The communications network also maps the access address with the wireless telephone number and presents the audio calling identification information to the wireless communications network. |
| US07729684B1 |
Combined global positioning system receiver and radio
A portable GPS/radio unit (10) communicates over a wireless radio network (12) with at least one other such unit. The unit (10) may transmit radio signals over the network (12) indicative of the unit's location. The unit (10) includes a single, push-to-talk button (38) that may be pressed to both transmit a voice communication and to initiate transmission of location data. The unit (10) also includes a “polling” function that requests location data from other units, an auxiliary coding system that codes or encrypts all transmitted data, and an emergency message feature that facilities the transmission and receipt of emergency messages. |
| US07729682B2 |
Receiver and methods for use therewith
A receiver includes a mixing module for mixing an input signal by at least one mixing sequence to produce a mixed signal. The mixed signal is filtered to produce a first filtered signal. A first downsampler downsamples the first filtered signal to produce a first decimated signal, wherein the decimation period is not a multiple of the mixing period. |
| US07729680B2 |
Noise suppresser
A noise suppresser is provided which does not generate steady noise generated by a drop in the receiving field strength, pulse-type unsteady noise generated in a multipass environment and the like as well as musical noise due to excessive subtraction and the like.The noise suppresser (100) includes a field strength analysis unit (3) which analyzes change in a field strength d of a digital signal x, and a frame generation unit (1) which generates a frame made up of signal values accumulated within a range which does not exceed a predetermined threshold value when the analyzed field strength has changed and exceeds the predetermined threshold value. Further, the noise suppresser (100) includes a noise estimation unit (4) which estimates a noise pattern |N|n′ mixed in the input signal x when the field strength has changed and exceeds the predetermined threshold value, and a noise suppression unit (5) which suppresses the noise included in the generated frame using the estimated noise pattern. |
| US07729676B2 |
Integrated switchless programmable attenuator and low noise amplifier
An integrated receiver with channel selection and image rejection substantially implemented on a single CMOS integrated circuit is described. A receiver front end provides programmable attenuation and a programmable gain low noise amplifier. Frequency conversion circuitry advantageously uses LC filters integrated onto the substrate in conjunction with image reject mixers to provide sufficient image frequency rejection. Filter tuning and inductor Q compensation over temperature are performed on chip. The filters utilize multi track spiral inductors. The filters are tuned using local oscillators to tune a substitute filter, and frequency scaling during filter component values to those of the filter being tuned. In conjunction with filtering, frequency planning provides additional image rejection. The advantageous choice of local oscillator signal generation methods on chip is by PLL out of band local oscillation and by direct synthesis for in band local oscillator. The VCOs in the PLLs are centered using a control circuit to center the tuning capacitance range. A differential crystal oscillator is advantageously used as a frequency reference. Differential signal transmission is advantageously used throughout the receiver. |
| US07729674B2 |
Multiband or multimode receiver with shared bias circuit
A multi-band communication device with a front end antenna switch module and shared bias circuit is disclosed. Control inputs determine signal routing and amplifier biasing in response to the communication device's mode or band of operation. A received signal is routed to an active path, which corresponds to the band of the received signal. A received signal is selectively switched to one or more switch outputs, which connect to one or more filters matched to the band of the received signal. After filtering, the signal is directly provided to an active amplifier. An amplifier is activated by a bias signal received from a shared bias circuit. The shared bias circuit generates a bias signal which is selectively switched to an amplifier associated with an active path. |
| US07729664B2 |
Technique for reducing interference to radio operations on a computing device
During a telephony session, a determination is made on a mobile computing device that one or more designated conditions exist by which radio interference generated from the mobile computing device is to be reduced. In response, a power state of a set of one or more components of the mobile computing device is lowered. This reduces radio interference from those components. The set of components are ancillary to the mobile computing device's ability to maintain the telephony session, so that the telephony session is not affected by the reduction of power to the components. |
| US07729662B2 |
Radio communication method in a wireless local network
A method for radio communication in a wireless local area network including at least one transceiver equipped with an antenna with a controlled directivity pattern, according to which, in addition to the assignment in advance of the threshold value of communication quality H0 corresponding to the minimum pre-specified communication quality, the current value of communication quality Qcur is periodically determined based on the signal being received, the threshold value of the communication quality Hmax (corresponding to the pre-specified maximum communication quality) is also additionally assigned in advance. With the current value of communication quality Qcur being grater than or equal to the upper threshold value Hmax, the information exchange is continued, while with the current communication quality value Qcur being less than the upper threshold value Hmax, but greater than or equal to the lowest threshold value H0, the information exchange is also continued and the procedure for the optimization of antenna beam direction is carried out after a pre-specified time interval T. |
| US07729660B2 |
Communication device, non-contact type IC card mounting same, and information apparatus
A communication device able to share one antenna and in addition able to sufficiently exhibit characteristics of a function as a reader, writer and a card function, a non-contact type IC card provided with that, and an information apparatus, wherein the device has a first transmission circuit 220 having first and second output terminals and outputting a carrier from the first and second output terminals in a first mode; an antenna circuit 210 including a node ND210, an inductor 211 having one end connected to the node, and having the other end connected to the second output terminal of the first transmission circuit, and a capacitor 212 connected between the node and the first output terminal of the first transmission circuit; a second transmission circuit 230 connected to the node of the antenna circuit and outputting the transmission data in a second mode; at least one reception circuit 240 connected to the node of the antenna circuit and performing reception processing with respect to data received at the antenna circuit; and a circuit switch unit 280 forming the antenna circuit as a serial resonance circuit including the inductor and the capacitor in the first mode and forming the antenna circuit as a parallel resonance circuit including the inductor and the capacitor in the second mode. |
| US07729656B2 |
Cellular network low noise amplifiers for use with multiple frequencies
An amplification circuit that enables a network amplifier to amplify multiple mobile telephone signals transmitted at different frequencies. The amplification circuit includes a first diplexer which receives a first signal having a first frequency band and a second signal having a second frequency band. The first diplexer generates a combined signal containing both the first and the second signals. The combined signal is amplified by a single low noise amplifier to generate an amplified combined signal. A second diplexer receives the amplified combined signal and separates the amplified combined signal into a first amplified signal having the first frequency band and a second amplified signal having the second frequency band. The resultant signals can then be transmitted by the network amplifier to a target destination, such as a handset or base station. |
| US07729653B2 |
Image forming apparatus capable of cleaning a photoreceptor, method for cleaning a photoreceptor, and computer program for causing an image forming apparatus to clean a photoreceptor
An image forming apparatus and a method for cleaning a photoreceptor are realized that allow cleaning a surface of the photoreceptor to eliminate foreign substances adhering thereto, without using a special abrasive sheet. A recording sheet is fed and brought into contact with photoreceptors of all photoreceptor drums. The recording sheet is stopped by causing the vicinity of a rear end of the recording sheet to be sandwiched between a pair of registration rollers. Then, the photoreceptor drums are rotated. By this way, the cleaning is carried out to the photoreceptor. |
| US07729652B2 |
Belt fixing unit
A belt fixing unit has a fixing roller and a pressing roller that are provided in a pair midway along a transport passage through which paper having a toner image formed thereon is transported from bottom to top approximately in a vertical direction and that fix the toner image on the paper, a heating roller that is provided parallel to and in a position approximately horizontal to the fixing roller and that incorporates a heater for heating the fixing roller, and a fixing belt that is formed as an endless belt and that is wound around and between the fixing roller and the heating roller. A non-contact temperature sensor for controlling the fixing temperature is provided on a non-contact basis in the paper passage region on the surface of the upper one of the parts of the fixing belt facing each other up and down between the fixing roller and the heating roller. |
| US07729647B2 |
Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and image forming system
An image forming apparatus includes a developer bearing member for transporting developer to an opposing position opposing an image bearing member. Regularly-disposed concave sections are formed on a surface of the developer bearing member. An alternating voltage that includes a first voltage for moving developer from the developer bearing member toward the image bearing member and a second voltage for moving developer from the image bearing member toward the developer bearing member is applied to the developer bearing member. A cycle period of the alternating voltage is smaller than or equal to a minimum width of the concave section in a circumferential direction of the developer bearing member divided by a moving velocity of a surface of the rotating developer bearing member. |
| US07729645B2 |
Developer cartridge and image forming device
A developer cartridge detachably mounted to a device main body includes a tubular cartridge main body that houses a developer and an extending portion that communicates with the cartridge main body, which extends from an end portion in a longitudinal direction of the cartridge main body. An outside shape of a section of the extending portion, along a direction that is orthogonal to the longitudinal direction, is smaller than that of the cartridge main body. A cartridge-side opening portion is provided at a side wall of the extending portion, and a cartridge-side shutter is provided at an outside of the side wall of the extending portion, which moves in a direction intersecting the longitudinal direction along the side wall to thereby open and close the cartridge-side opening portion. |
| US07729644B2 |
Toner cartridge
A toner cartridge including a container body having a discharge opening. A drive transmitting member is fixedly coupled with the container body near the discharge opening. The drive transmitting member is sized and shaped to transmit rotational movement to the container body. A collar is moveably coupled along the container body, and the collar closes the discharge opening in a first position, and opens the discharge opening in a second position. The cartridge further includes, in one example, a biasing element sized and shaped to bias the collar toward the first position. In another example, the drive transmitting member includes at least one deflectable support member, and the deflectable support member includes a ramped drive element. The ramped drive element includes a first ramp face, a second ramp face, and at least one driving face. Optionally, the first and second ramp faces are sloped with respect to the support member. |
| US07729641B2 |
Imaging forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a development container, a developer bearing member, first and second carrying members that carry developer, a supply device that supplies developer for replenishment, a discharge opening that discharges the developer contained in the development container, a controller that selectively performs one of a first mode and a second mode, a drive device that changes speeds for driving the first and second carrying members, and a counter that measures the number of sheets in the second mode. The controller sets the speed of the drive device in the second mode to be slower than in the first mode, and suspends the second mode and executes a mode for changing the speed of the drive device to a speed faster than in the second mode and driving the first and second carrying members for a predetermined time if a measurement result reaches a reference value. |
| US07729640B2 |
Carriage for image scanning unit including radiation plate for conducting heat
A carriage for an image scanning unit which scans an image on an object is provided with a light source, a reflecting member placed to face the light source and configured to reflect a light emitted from the light source toward the object to illuminate the image, a housing that contains the light source and the reflecting member, the housing having an opening which allows the light reflected by the reflecting member to pass through and proceed toward the object, and a radiation plate connected to the reflecting member so that heat is conducted from the reflecting member to the radiation plate, at least part of the radiation plate being exposed to outside the housing. |
| US07729636B2 |
Process cartridge and image forming device
A plurality of process cartridges are installed and removed in a lateral direction of an image forming device main body. A conveying belt unit in the device main body includes a conveying belt that upwardly conveys a sheet on which an image is to be formed and a frame that supports an entraining roller at which the conveying belt is entrained. The image forming device includes a guide that guides the plurality of process cartridges to their installed positions in the device main body. The plurality of process cartridges correspond to respective toners of a plurality of colors. Each of the process cartridges includes a housing that supports a photosensitive drum which rotates in a predetermined direction. Each of the process cartridges also includes a handle having the same color as that of the frame of the conveying belt unit and which is formed integrally with the housing. |
| US07729634B2 |
Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and process cartridge
An image forming apparatus and a process cartridge have high-durability and stably form high quality images under long-term use without reducing image density even when concentration of discharge products at the surface of an electrophotographic photoconductor becomes uneven in a discharge region of a charging unit. The apparatus employs an image forming method and has a corona discharge type charging unit discharging in a non-contact manner, the photoconductor placed to face the charging unit and the outermost surface layer thereof contains a filler and an amine compound with a specific structure, and an airflow adjusting device which carries air taken from the outside of the apparatus to the vicinity of the charging unit or the photoconductor so that ozone concentration and unevenness thereof are maintained at an average of 30 ppm or less and 15 ppm or less respectively at the surface of the photoconductor in the discharge region. |
| US07729630B2 |
System and method for generating a user customizable default user interface for a document processing device
The subject application is directed to a system and method for generating a user customizable default user interface for a document processing device. First, screen data representing each of a plurality of different user interfaces is stored. Each user interface includes visual representations of a unique subset of controls associated with operation of the associated document processing device. Identification data is then acquired from an associated user. A display is generated representing each of the different user interfaces. Selection data representing a selected user interface as a default user interface is then received. Data associating the default user interface with the identification data is stored. Thereafter, a display is generated of the default user interface upon login of the associated user on the document processing device. |
| US07729627B2 |
Image forming apparatus that detects concentration of liquid toner using light reflected through liquid toner
A first container is operable to accommodate a liquid toner, and provided with a window. A reflector is disposed in the first container. A light emitter is operable to emit light to the reflector through the window and the liquid toner. A light receiver is operable to receive the light reflected by the reflector through the liquid toner and the window. A detector is operable to detect a concentration of the liquid toner based on the light received by the light receiver. |
| US07729626B2 |
Apparatus and method for adjusting concentration of liquid developer
In order to conform a specific correction table to the characteristics of a liquid developer to be used, the specific correction table is created by calibrating a standard correction table stored in advance by using a viscosity property value of a liquid developer for calibration at a current temperature. A concentration adjustment is performed by comparing a measured viscosity property value with a target viscosity property value which is temperature-corrected based on the specific correction table. Further, the viscosity property value of a liquid developer is detected by measuring the current of a motor for stirring the liquid developer, where a no-load stirring current value is measured in the absence of a liquid developer, and one or both of a measured current value and target current value is corrected based thereon. |
| US07729625B2 |
Image forming device, image processing device, image forming method, computer readable medium, and computer data signal
An image forming device has an imaging unit including: a rotating body; an exposure unit forming an electrostatic latent image on the rotating body; a developing unit developing the latent image using developer to form an image; and a transfer unit transferring the image to a recording medium, a memory storing data on correspondence between first image data, second image data and a first correction amount, the first image data representing a first latent image formed by a first turn of the rotating body, the second image data representing a second latent image formed by a second turn of the rotating body, and the first correction amount used for correcting the second image data so that density of the image on the recording medium closer to density of the second latent image; a correction amount determining unit determining the first correction amount corresponding to the first and second image data based on the data stored in the memory; and a correcting unit correcting the second image data based on the first correction amount. |
| US07729624B2 |
Method and device for transporting toner material, preferably in an electrophotographic printer or copier
In a method and system for determination of a fill state of a transport reservoir for toner material, toner material is transported from a transport reservoir into a developer station with aid of a toner transport system of a printer or copier. At least a toner material quantity supplied to the developer station is detected. The detected toner material quantity is associated with the transport reservoir from which the toner material is extracted. |
| US07729623B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method thereof
An image forming apparatus including an image forming unit which comprises a cartridge having a toner therein to form an image and a controller to control the image forming unit to increase a density of the image to be formed, if it is determined that a standard of the cartridge does not meet a usage requirement. |
| US07729621B2 |
Controlling a bias voltage for a Mach-Zehnder modulator
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a controller coupled to an optical modulator to receive a dither signal, determine a difference between the dither signal and a previous dither signal, determine a derivative of the difference with respect to a bias voltage difference between first and second bias voltages, and control a bias voltage for the optical modulator based on the derivative. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US07729614B2 |
Data distribution system and method
A data distribution system transmitting and receiving a large capacity of data such as image data smoothly without incurring a delay over an optical fiber line located between a data sever and a client device. In the data transmission system, a plurality of client devices are bus-connected through an optical fiber to a data server transmitting and receiving data as signal light. Each of the client devices has a client optical switch and is connected with a client access device. The client optical switch is structured with a thermal-lens forming element and a signal-light path shifting member. When any of the client devices forwards an access command to its own client access device, control light is irradiated from the client access device to the own client optical switch thus effecting a switchover. Thus, transmission data of from the data server is stored in a data storage of the relevant client device. |
| US07729609B2 |
Image sensing apparatus and control method
An image sensing apparatus is provided with an aperture unit (104), an image sensor (106) that converts light beams entering through a photographing lens (103) and the aperture unit into electrical signals, and a display unit (107), including an electronic viewfinder mode to continuously display on the display unit images based on the electrical signals obtained by the image sensor. The image sensing apparatus has a control unit (135) that causes the aperture unit to stop down, when there is an instruction to display on the display unit an image other than the image based on the electrical signals obtained by the image sensor while in the electronic viewfinder mode. |
| US07729607B2 |
Camera glare reduction system and method
Various image-capturing systems are disclosed that use polarized filters to reduce or control glare effects on captured images. In one embodiment, the system includes a light source, a first polarized filter adapted to polarize light emanating from the light source; a second polarized filter adapted to perform polarized filtering on received light; and an image-capturing device adapted to receive the filtered light. In another embodiment, the system further includes an actuator to selectively move any of the polarized filter into and out of the light path. In yet another embodiment, a method of forming a resultant image comprises recording a first image with a filter set to a first polarization angle, recording a second image with the filter set to a second polarization angle, and blending the first and second images. The recording of the first and second images may be performed simultaneously or at different times. |
| US07729601B1 |
Shutter for autofocus
An autofocus method can include moving a lens and reading out first image data associated with a plurality of image pixels during a first low light interval, modifying camera parameters to provide autofocus image light received during an autofocus light interval, acquiring second image data associated with the plurality of image pixels during the autofocus light interval, modifying camera parameters to substantially reduce image light received during a second low light interval, reading out the second image data during the second low light interval, and analyzing at least the first image data and the second image data to determine a focus position of the lens. |
| US07729598B2 |
Recording medium, reproduction apparatus, recording method, program, and reproduction method
On a BD-ROM, there is recorded is a digital stream into which video and audio streams are multiplexed. The video stream is composed of a plurality of pictures that together represent video. The graphics stream includes a PES packet storing state control information (ICS) and PES packets containing graphics data (ODSs). The graphics data constructs an interactive display. The state control information defines the control so as to change the states of buttons presented on the interactive display according to the reproduction proceeding and user operations.The ICS is attached with a PTS showing the display timing of a picture to be synchronized with the interactive display. The ODS is attached with a PTS showing the timing for decoding the graphics data. The timing shown in the ODS is prior to the display timing. |
| US07729597B2 |
System and method for producing medical image data onto portable digital recording media
This application discloses a system for recording medical image data for production on a portable digital recording medium such as CDs and DVDs. This system includes a receiving module, a processing module and an output module, with viewing program for viewing medical image data stored on the portable digital recording medium. It also discloses a method of storing medical image data on a portable digital recording medium, including the steps of receiving the medical image data, processing the data and storing the data on the portable digital recording medium, with a viewing program for viewing medical image data stored on the portable digital recording medium. It further discloses a method of selecting medical image data for recording on a portable digital recording medium, including the steps of connecting a browsing terminal to a computer database that stores the medical image data, selecting a first set of the medical image data from the computer database, and recording the selected first set of medical image data on the portable digital medium, with a viewing program for viewing the medical image data stored on the portable digital recording medium. It also discloses the method and system of retrieving medical image data that are related to the received/selected original medical image data, and recording the original and related medical image data on a portable digital recording medium. |
| US07729591B2 |
Data processing apparatus, reproduction apparatus, data processing system, reproduction method, program, and storage medium
A data processing apparatus outputting picture data to a reproduction apparatus reproducing a plurality of picture data in an order in accordance with a designated reproduction direction, the unit having a processing circuit outputting to the reproduction apparatus the picture data in an order in accordance with a reproduction direction designated in the reproduction apparatus and writing it into an input memory in the reproduction apparatus and, when reversing the reproduction direction designated at the reproduction apparatus, outputting the picture data to the reproduction apparatus conditional on the picture data to be used next in reproduction by the reproduction direction after reversal not being stored in the input memory. |
| US07729588B2 |
Optical fiber, manufacturing method of the same, and optical amplifier
An optical fiber includes: a first core portion doped with rare earth ions; a second core portion having a lower refractive index than that of the first core portion, provided along an outer circumference of the first core portion, and doped with the rare earth ions; and a clad portion having a lower refractive index than that of the second core portion and provided along an outer circumference of the second core portion, and is configured such that a concentration of the rare earth ions added to the second core portion is higher than that to the first core portion. With this configuration, it is possible to suppress an amount of FWM crosstalk in an optical amplification by decreasing the length of a fiber while alleviating efficiency deterioration due to concentration quenching. |
| US07729579B1 |
Optical interconnect structures incorporating sets of diffractive elements
An optical apparatus comprises an optical interconnect structure defining one or more optical source and receiver ports and one or more interconnect optical signal pathways connecting corresponding optical signal source and receiver ports. The optical interconnect structure comprises an optical waveguide defining a portion of each interconnect optical signal pathway. Each interconnect pathway includes a wavefront diffractive transformation region and a corresponding set of diffractive elements thereof. Each diffractive element set diffractively transforms a corresponding diffracted portion of an incident signal with a corresponding design input signal wavefront into an emergent signal with a corresponding design output signal wavefront. For at least one diffractive element set, only one of the corresponding design input or output signal wavefronts is confined in at least one transverse dimension by the optical waveguide, while the other design wavefront propagates without confinement by the optical waveguide. |
| US07729574B2 |
Optical beam flattening using multi-mode fiber
The present invention includes a device and method to create a light beam having substantially uniform far-field intensity. Light from a laser source is directed to at least one multimode optical fiber configured produce an intensity profile approximated by a Bessel function. |
| US07729572B1 |
Optical tapped time delay modules and arrays
An optical time delay module has a plurality of time delay elements connected in a series and a plurality an optical output couplers wherein each of said optical output couplers is operationally connected between one or more time delay elements in said series, the optical output couplers providing a plurality of optical outputs from said module with different optical delays controlled by an analog voltage. |
| US07729565B2 |
Fiber sensor and fiber sensor device
A fiber sensor comprising: an optical waveguide unit having a measurement surface formed at an end of an optical waveguide; and a channel unit through which a specimen, serving as a measurement object to be measured by contact with the measurement surface, is caused to flow in and out via a specimen channel, wherein the optical waveguide is fixed to the optical waveguide unit such that the measurement surface forms a part of a channel wall surface of the channel unit, and the optical waveguide unit is provided so as to be detachable from the channel unit. |
| US07729560B2 |
Estimating orientation angle and translation values of a scanned image
Exemplary methods for estimating an orientation angle and a translation values for scanned images are disclosed. The methods described herein may be embodied as logic instructions on a computer-readable medium. In one exemplary implementation meaningful image information is removed from a scanned image, resulting in a transformed image that comprises alternating, parallel lines disposed at an orientation angle relative to an orthogonal axis. The orientation angle may be determined using geometric techniques or statistical correlation techniques, and statistical correlation techniques may be implemented to determine translation values. |
| US07729554B2 |
Display apparatus and control method thereof
A display apparatus comprises a user input unit; an image processor operating in one of a first image processing mode performing a first image processing operation and at least one second image processing operation on an input image signal, and a second image processing mode not performing at least one second image processing operation on the input image signal. A controller controls the image processor to operate in one of the first image processing mode and the second image processing mode, according to a manipulation of the user input unit. Accordingly, a display apparatus performs in an image processing mode in which an image processing time is reduced, according to a user's selection. |
| US07729549B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An image processing apparatus is disclosed. The image processing apparatus includes an extraction unit to extract layer levels of each packet included in partial encoded data, an estimation unit to calculate the number of layer levels of each packet based on the extracted layer levels of each packet and estimates a greatest layer level of each packet, a writing unit to write the greatest layer level of each packet in a management table, and a formation unit to form a layer data table in which each layer has the greatest layer level. The writing unit changes the layer levels of each layer written in the management table to the layer levels of each layer included in newly received partial encoded data when the layer levels included in the newly received partial encoded data are larger than the layer levels written in the management table. |
| US07729548B2 |
System for high bandwidth imaging across PC chipsets and custom ASIC's
An image processing system includes at least one processor having a plurality of PCI Express channels and at least two application specific integrated circuits. The application specific integrated circuits are communicatively coupled to the at least one processor by a first of the plurality of PCI Express channels and a second of the plurality of PCI Express channels. Multiple threads of execution are split between the at least two application specific integrated circuits. |
| US07729544B2 |
Method for adjusting operating frequency of an optical input device according to reference frame changes
A method for adjusting an operation frequency of an optical input device is introduced. The method includes capturing and setting a first image as a reference frame of the optical input device; capturing and setting a plurality of frames as a plurality of sample frames of the optical input device; analyzing the plurality of sample frames according to the reference frame; capturing a second image according to a predetermined rule and setting the second image as the reference frame of the optical input device instead of the first image; and adjusting an operation frequency of the optical input device according to a time interval between setting the first image as the reference frame of the optical input device and setting the second image as the reference frame of the optical input device. |
| US07729543B2 |
Imaging apparatus
In an imaging apparatus, a JPEG coding unit makes JPEG data by respectively compressing plural images obtained from an imaging device. A code retention unit retains each JPEG data. A thumbnail data creation unit creates a thumbnail from each of the images. A thumbnail retention unit retains the thumbnail. A feature point detection unit detects a feature point from the thumbnail. A partial image decode unit respectively decodes zones including the feature points from each JPEG data. A displacement amount calculation unit obtains positional information of feature points in the decoded individual zones and calculates a displacement amount of each JPEG data based on the positional information. |
| US07729536B2 |
Boundary extracting method, program, and device using the same
An edge detecting method detects edge segments by searching all of the search lines forming an image from an end of the image in a direction perpendicular to the edges. If a line whose edge segment cannot be detected exists, a search is made in all of the search lines from the vicinity of the center of the image toward the end of the image, whereby edge segments are detected. A linear edge is determined from edge segments. A plurality of edge candidates are obtained from the edge segments for all of the search lines, and an optimum candidate is selected from among the edge candidates. Ruled lines are extracted from the source document in the image, and an optimum candidate is selected based on a comparison with a ruled line. As a result, an edge of the source document can be detected with high accuracy even if an image on a background side is unstable, or if materials of the background and the source document are similar. |
| US07729535B2 |
Color characterization of high dynamic range image capture devices
Color characterization of a high dynamic range (HDR) image capture device is provided. Color checker image data of a color checker at multiple exposures is obtained. Color values for neutral patches and exposure values are extracted. A colorimetrically accurate response curve is determined based on the neutral patch color values and the exposure values. An optimized transformation associated with the device is derived through gamma curve compensation based on the neutral patch data and comparison of color values of the compensated image with known color values of the color checker. A calorimetrically accurate HDR image is generated from scene image data of a scene captured by the device at multiple exposures through extraction of exposure data, modification of color values based on the colorimetrically accurate response curve and the exposure data, averaging the modified color values, and transformation of the averaged color values based on the optimized transformation. |
| US07729532B2 |
System for image analysis in a network that is structured with multiple layers and differentially weighted neurons
Disclosed herein are systems and methods for facilitating the usage of an online workforce to remotely monitor security-sensitive sites and report potential security breaches.In some embodiments, cameras are configured to monitor critical civilian infrastructure, such as water supplies and nuclear reactors. The cameras are operatively connected to a central computer or series of computers, and images captured by the cameras are transmitted to the central computer. After initially registering with the central computer, Guardians “log on” to a central website hosted by the central computer and monitor the images, thereby earning compensation. In one embodiment, images of “no-man” zones—areas where no humans or vehicles should be present or monitored—are sent to Guardians for a simple determination of whether or not a human exists in the picture. Site owners compensate the operator of the computer system for this monitoring service, and the operator in turn compensates Guardians based on, for example, (i) the amount of time spent monitoring, and/or (ii) the degree of a given Guardian's responsiveness to real or fabricated security breaches.Among other things, systems and methods are disclosed herein for facilitating (a) the registration of monitored sites, (b) the registration of Guardians, and (c) the management of monitoring sessions, including the routing of real and fabricated images to Guardians, the rating of Guardians, and the compensation of Guardians. Many additional and alternative embodiments are contemplated, including the following example of one embodiment. |
| US07729531B2 |
Identifying repeated-structure elements in images
Many problems in the fields of image processing and computer vision relate to creating good representations of information in images of objects in scenes. We provide a system for learning repeated-structure elements from one or more input images. The repeated-structure elements are patches that may be single pixels or coherent groups of pixels of varying shape, size and appearance (where those shapes and sizes are not pre-specified). Input images are mapped to a single output image using offset maps to specify the mapping. A joint probability distribution on the offset maps, output image and input images is specified and an unsupervised learning process is used to learn the offset maps and output image. The learnt output image comprises repeated-structure elements. This shape and appearance information captured in the learnt repeated-structure elements may be used for object recognition and many other tasks. |
| US07729527B2 |
Method for correcting an image data set, and method for generating an image corrected thereby
In a method for correction of an image data set that was acquired with a planar image detector using at least two calibration images that were acquired in a preliminary procedure, as well as a method for generation of an image from a raw image data set that was acquired with a planar image detector with a high-sensitivity dynamic range and with a low-sensitivity dynamic range and which is composed of two image data sets, of which one was acquired in the high-sensitivity dynamic range and the other was acquired in the low-sensitivity dynamic range, at least two calibration images are generated in each dynamic range in a preliminary process. These calibration images are used in a correction procedure for the correction of the individual image data sets, as well as in a combination procedure to merge the two corrected image data sets into one image. In the combination procedure the two image data sets are conformed to one another using a comparison of the calibration images of the high-sensitivity dynamic range with the calibration images of the low-sensitivity dynamic range. The adjusted, corrected image data sets are added with weighting in a second step. |
| US07729526B2 |
Fast hierarchical tomography methods and apparatus
Pixel images f are created from projections (q1 . . . qp) by backprojecting (100) selected projections to produce intermediate images (I1, m), and performing digital image coordinate transformations (102) and/or resampling (FIG. 31, 186, 192, 196) on selected intermediate images. The digital image coordinate transformations (102) are chosen to account for view angles of the constituent projections of the intermediate images and for their Fourier characteristics, so that the intermediate images may be accurately represented by sparse samples. The resulting intermediate images are aggregated into subsets (104), and this process is repeated in a recursive manner until sufficient projections and intermediate images have been processed and aggregated to form the pixel image f. Digital image coordinate transformation can include rotation (FIG. 18, 102), shearing (FIG. 10B, 120, 122), stretching, contractions (109), etc. Resampling can include up-sampling (101, 106), down-sampling (109), and the like. Projections (FIG. 32, pθ1 . . . pθ18) can be created from a pixel image (f), by performing digital image coordinate transformation (202) and/or resampling (204) and/or decimation (FIG. 32, 204; FIG. 33, 212) re-projecting the final intermediate image (208). |
| US07729524B2 |
Assessment of radiographic systems and operators using task-based phantom
A method for image quality assessment of a digital radiography system extracts and isolates one or more individual targets from a phantom image, then obtains operator responses by displaying each isolated individual target and recording a corresponding operator response related to image appearance for each isolated individual target. The accumulated operator responses are stored to obtain the image quality assessment. |
| US07729520B2 |
Biometric acoustic writing system and method for identifying individuals and recognizing handwriting by using biometric data
Biometric writing system having a pen housing (3) for carrying out hand-guided movements on a substrate (4) at least one microphone (5), which is integrated in a housing (3), for acoustic recording of sound signals which are caused by the hand-guided movements; and a data processing unit (ii) for calculation of biometric data as a function of the recorded sound signals. |
| US07729518B2 |
Biometrics authentication method biometrics authentication device and blood vessel image reading device
A biometrics authentication device, which uses blood vessel images of a human body to perform individual authentication, performs verification processing according to a detected body temperature. A temperature sensor, which detects the temperature of a body, is provided in a blood vessel image capture device. The temperature at the time of registration of a blood vessel image is stored together with the blood vessel image, and the temperature of the body at the time of use (at the time of verification) is detected; the temperature difference at the time of registration and at the time of use is reflected in the verification processing, and when there is a verification error, the cause of the verification error is judged from the temperatures at the time of registration and at the time of use. Whether a verification error is due to temperature can be easily distinguished. |
| US07729517B2 |
Method and apparatus for testing fibres
According to the present invention there is also provided an apparatus for estimating the fiber fineness of a known mass of fibers, the apparatus including: an image capturing device for capturing either i) all of the fibers selected for testing or ii) a fraction thereof, in one or more images; a computer capable of automatically determining the total length of fiber or fibers in the or each image; and a means for estimating the fiber fineness of the fibers using the total fiber length in the image(s). |
| US07729516B2 |
Ranging device utilizing image processing
An image size changing section obtains a size changed image by changing the size of one of two original images captured by a pair of cameras. If an edge of an object has many oblique components, the edge is difficult to detect as a vertical edge but, when the image is horizontally reduced, an oblique edge becomes close to a vertical edge. For this reason, feature end points are extracted with reliability by a feature extracting section and, thereby, an object is recognized and the distance to the object is determined reliably. |
| US07729513B2 |
Contact time calculation apparatus, obstacle detection apparatus, contact time calculation method, and obstacle detection method
Two arbitrary points belonging to a single object in an image captured by an camera installed in a vehicle body are extracted as evaluation points, the absolute value representing the difference between the coordinate values of the extracted two points, which are taken in reference to an arbitrary coordinate axis set on the image, is calculated and a time differential value of the absolute value representing the difference between the coordinate values of the two points is determined. Based upon the absolute value representing the difference between the coordinate values and the time differential value, the length of time to elapse before the object containing the two extracted points contacts the vehicle body is calculated. |
| US07729509B2 |
Illuminated lens device for use in object authentication
An illuminated lens device for use in viewing authentication images is disclosed. The device includes a housing having a housing interior. The housing has a proximal end with a proximal aperture and an opposing distal end with a distal aperture. The lens device further includes a lens disposed at least partially within the housing interior. The lens is configured and positioned so that at least a portion of an authentication image is viewable through the proximal aperture when the housing is placed with the distal aperture aligned with and adjacent the at least a portion of the authentication image. The lens device also includes at least one light source disposed within the housing interior. The at least one light source is configured to illuminate the authentication image with light in a predetermined frequency range when the housing is placed with the distal aperture adjacent the authentication image. |
| US07729506B2 |
Apparatus and method for creating three dimensional relief tiles
An electronic file containing height field mapping data is output to a specialized printer and used to create one or more three dimensional molds. The molds, in turn, may be used to fabricate bas-relief tiles and similar three-dimensional objects from various materials. The process allows for rapid deployment of customized design elements in many construction applications and environments. |
| US07729505B2 |
Method and device for watermarking an image
The invention concerns a method of inserting a watermark in an image comprising at least three components, the method comprises the steps of decomposing at least one component of the image into detail sub-bands in various directions and comprising coefficients, each coefficient being characterized by its position in the detail sub-band to which it belongs and its amplitude, of determining, for each position, information representing local amplitude variations from the amplitudes of the coefficients at this position in the various detail sub-bands and the coefficients close to this position in the various detail sub-bands, of determining a watermarking strength at each position from the information representing determined local amplitude variations in the said position and inserting a watermark composed of a plurality of binary information in the image, inserting each item of binary information at a position on the image according to the watermarking strength determined for a position corresponding to the position at which the binary information is inserted. |
| US07729501B2 |
Hearing device with anti-theft protection
The present invention thus provides a hearing device with at least one programmable signal processing unit for the temporary or permanent activation or deactivation of features of the hearing device, comprising at least one counter for the logging of discrete actions and at least one stored threshold value related to at least one specific type of said actions, the counter being connected to said signal processing unit for activating or deactivating a feature of said signal processing unit when reaching or passing said threshold value. As long as the threshold value is not reached by the counter, the hearing device will have its originally predetermined functionality or programmed features without any further limitations. If the counter reaches or passes its threshold value, an action will be triggered by the counter directed to the signal processing unit causing any predefined reaction of the hearing device. |
| US07729495B2 |
System and method for detecting unauthorized copying of encrypted data
A system and method is provided for detecting unauthorized actions with respect to encrypted data on a media disk, the media disk including a first portion for prerecorded content and a second portion for written content. The method includes reading an identifier on the media disk, wherein the identifier includes one or more sections located in one of the first portion for pre-recorded content, the second portion for written content, and both the first portion for pre-recorded content and the second portion for written content, determining whether the identifier includes a section located in the second portion written content, comparing the identifier with one or more predetermined types of identifiers for which a section is located in the second portion for written content, and if the identifier is of a type that is one of the one or more predetermined types of identifiers, detecting an unauthorized action. |
| US07729488B2 |
Celler identification of recipient that answered a simultaneous or routed communication
Simultaneous Ring Called Party Identification services identify an actual communications address (or other called party identifier) of an answering communications device in a simultaneous ring service. In some of the exemplary embodiments, a calling party uses a communications device that includes a computer program product—a Simultaneous Ring Called Party Identification Module—that requests a Simultaneous Ring Called Party Identification signal that includes a communications address of an answering communications device. In exemplary embodiments, the Simultaneous Ring Called Party Identification signal is updated with an second incoming communication from a third party (e.g., call waiting caller) and is communicated to the communications address of an answering communications device and to some of the associated communications devices and/or addresses. The Simultaneous Ring Called Party Identification signal may include text, video, voice, and/or digital data. |
| US07729487B2 |
Custom ringtones for wireline telephones
Methods, systems, and apparatuses are disclosed for selecting a ringtone to accompany an incoming call to a wireline telephone. The incoming call is received at a switch, the ringtone is selected, and a data message is sent to the called station. The data message includes information representing the selected ringtone. The incoming call is connected to the called station via a wireline connection. Another embodiment allows a user to select the ringtone, and the selected ringtone is communicated to an intelligent telecommunications switch. The user's selected ringtone is then presented during the incoming call to the wireline telephone. |
| US07729468B2 |
X-ray tomograph and stereoradioscopic image construction equipment
An X-ray tomograph comprises an X-ray generator having a function of moving the focal position and radiating X-rays toward a subject, an X-ray image receiving element for receiving transmission images created by X-rays radiated from the X-ray generator, and an image processing section for creating a tomographic image by processing the transmission images of the subject received by the X-ray image receiving element. A stereoradioscopic image constructing equipment comprises the X-ray tomograph and a stereoradioscopic image constructing section for creating a stereoradioscopic image by subjecting the created tomographic images to image processing. By using the X-ray tomograph, a tomographic image can be created without providing any high-precision movable mechanism, and a tomographic image of even a soft subject can be correctly created. |
| US07729467B2 |
Methods and systems for attentuation correction in medical imaging
Methods and systems for imaging a patient are provided. The method includes scanning a patient and acquiring a plurality of frames of cine computed tomography (CT) images during one complete respiratory cycle. In one embodiment, a method is provided that includes selecting a value for each pixel that represents the maximum density measurement for the pixel throughout the cine acquisition. In one embodiment, an attenuation correction image of a volume of interest is constructed by weighting a combination of the maximum pixel intensity value and an average pixel intensity value. Undesirable motion artifacts can be removed from positron emission tomography (PET) images by utilizing the CT attenuation correction image. |
| US07729464B2 |
Aiding synchronization between master and slave transceivers
An apparatus and method of aiding synchronization between a master transceiver and a slave transceiver is disclosed. The method includes the master transceiver transmitting data signals that are received by the slave transceiver. The slave transceiver locks a slave clock to the data signals with a slave phase-locked loop. The slave transceiver transmits slave clock information to the master transceiver. |
| US07729463B2 |
Host processor assisted fast re-synchronization techniques for DVB-H systems
A system and method of performing re-synchronization for a Digital Video Broadcasting over Handheld (DVB-H) receiver, wherein the method comprises performing a time division multiplexing (TDM) data burst transmission sequence on bits of data received by the DVB-H receiver; performing a data bit re-synchronization sequence on the DVB-H receiver; removing an on-chip timer and internal state registers in the DVB-H receiver; and allowing the DVB-H receiver to power off in between receipt of data bursts. Preferably, the removing process reduces the time to perform the re-synchronization in the DVB-H receiver. Preferably, the data bit re-synchronization sequence comprises performing an automatic gain control (AGC) lock process; performing a mode and guard detecting process; performing a frequency offset estimation process; performing a transmit parameter signaling (TPS) detection process; performing a timing and carrier loop lock process; and performing an equalizer delay process. |
| US07729462B2 |
Fast re-synchronization techniques for DVB-H systems
A system and method of performing re-synchronization for a Digital Video Broadcasting over Handheld (DVB-H) receiver comprises performing a time division multiplexing (TDM) data burst transmission sequence on bits of data received by the DVB-H receiver; performing a data bit re-synchronization sequence on the DVB-H receiver; and reducing a re-acquisition time at every stage of the data bit re-synchronization sequence, wherein the reducing process results in a reduction in the time to perform the re-synchronization for the DVB-H receiver, wherein the reduction in the time to perform the re-synchronization for the DVB-H receiver is greater than one-half of the time required to perform the re-synchronization for the DVB-H receiver absent the reducing of the re-acquisition time at every stage of the data bit re-synchronization sequence. |
| US07729461B2 |
System and method of signal processing
An audio processor is disclosed and includes a sample rate converter and a digital phase-locked-loop module in communication with the sample rate converter. The sample rate converter includes a plurality of digital filters, and the digital phase locked loop module includes a phase accumulator having an initialization value determined based at least partially on a filter sequence address associated with the plurality of filters. |
| US07729454B2 |
Method and system for signal phase variation detection in communication systems
Aspects of a method and system for signal phase variation detection in communication systems are presented. Aspects of the system may enable detection of phase change between a current received symbol, and one or more previous received symbols. Based on the phase change a channel estimation filter bandwidth may be selected for despreading and/or descrambling one or more subsequent received symbols. In addition, a decision may be made as to whether the subsequent received symbols are to be received based on a closed loop system, or based on an open loop system. |
| US07729449B2 |
Digital signal processing and receiving apparatus and method
A DSP tuner, which is equipped with an A/D converter and a digital signal processing part, is provided to the receiving parts of an in-vehicle equipment and a portable equipment that constitute an in-vehicle equipment remote control system. The A/D converter quantizes analog input signals received by receiving antennas and converts them into digital values. The digital signal processing part always appears, and removes as a noise a frequency band of which spectrum hardly change within a predetermined time period. Moreover, the digital signal processing part sets a frequency band with a comparatively large spectrum change as an FSK modulation signal corresponding to code contents, and outputs binary data corresponding to the frequency band as a code signal. |
| US07729434B2 |
System and method for improved channel estimation for wireless OFDM systems
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a novel system and method for MMSE channel estimation are provided that take synchronization errors, either intentional or unintentional, into account during the channel estimation process. The proposed channel estimation in accordance with the present invention improves the noise averaging capability and takes advantage of channel correlation fully by removing the effect of synchronization errors during the estimation process. |
| US07729427B2 |
Pseudo-synchronous one wire bidirectional bus interface
A system and method for transferring data between a transmitter and a receiver over a single conductor is disclosed. During a data transfer operation of bit of information, the voltage level on the conductor is changed from a first voltage level to a second voltage level and maintained at the second voltage level for a predetermined duration of time. The predetermined duration of time is determined by the logical state of the data bit being transmitted. Upon expiration of the predetermined duration of time the voltage level on the conductor is driven back to substantially the first voltage level. |
| US07729426B2 |
Video deblocking filter
Deblocking filters are disclosed, where the nature of the filter is determined based upon the level of detail of a reconstructed video frame in the region in which the block boundary is located. One embodiment of the method of the invention includes identifying a boundary between two blocks of the reconstructed video frame, determining the level of detail of the reconstructed video frame in a region in which the block boundary is located, wherein the region includes pixels from multiple rows and multiple columns of the reconstructed video frame and includes at least one pixel that is not immediately adjacent the block boundary and selecting a filter to apply to predetermined pixels on either side of the block boundary based upon the determined level of detail. |
| US07729425B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method, program, and recording medium
An apparatus and method of detecting editing points of image data in order to select items of information that can be reused according to the status of the image data including the detected editing points is provided. Accordingly, an image processing apparatus may include a data converter for performing at least part of coding processing on the image data, a detector for detecting an editing point of the image data, and a controller for determining, based on the editing point detected by the detector. A reuse disable period is a period in which information concerning previous coding processing performed on the image data is not reusable. |
| US07729423B2 |
Fixed bit rate, intraframe compression and decompression of video
High quality intraframe-only compression of video can be achieved using rate distortion optimization and without resizing or bit depth modification. The compression process involves transforming portions of the image to generate frequency domain coefficients for each portion. A bit rate for each transformed portion using a plurality of scale factors is determined. Distortion for each portion is estimated according to the plurality of scale factors. A scale factor is selected for each portion to minimize the total distortion in the image to achieve a desired bit rate. A quantization matrix is selected according to the desired bit rate. The frequency domain coefficients for each portion are quantized using the selected plurality of quantizers as scaled by the selected scale factor for the portion. The quantized frequency domain coefficients are encoded using a variable length encoding to provide compressed data for each of the defined portions. The compressed data is output for each of the defined portions to provide a compressed bitstream at the desired bit rate. |
| US07729422B2 |
Image extraction from complex scenes in digital video
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for masking and extracting a foreground portion from a background portion of a digital video. An input defining an initial border region is received, which includes a border between a foreground portion and a background portion of an initial digital image in a digital video. A border region for another digital image in the digital video is generated. The initial and automatically generated border regions are used for masking the foreground portion from the background portion in the digital video. |
| US07729420B1 |
Reconditioning equalizer filter for OFDM and non-OFDM signals
A technique for a reconditioning equalizer filter for OFDM and non-OFDM signals is described. The input to a transmitter chain is modified by a reconditioning equalizer filter, prior to being applied to the transmitter. The reconditioning equalizer filter modifies and smoothen the amplitude of the signal. The modified and smoothen signal has its peaks reduced which results to lower Crest Factor. The input to the reconditioning equalizer filter could be a baseband, an intermediate frequency (IF) or radio frequency (RF) signal. When the signal is an IF or RF signal it needs to be down converted to baseband before applied to reconditioning equalizer filter. |
| US07729416B2 |
1000Base-T transmission over 2-pair
A method, an apparatus and a system for gigabit Ethernet (GbE) using only 2 pairs of wires for a single communications link are described. This network communication may be referred to as 2-pair 1000Base-T. GbE using only 2 wire pairs per link may offer increased port density over a conventional 1000Base-T link. As an alternative, 2-pair 1000Base-T may also provide increased link bandwidth over the existing 1000Base-T standard. When a given number of conventional links in a system are replaced by the same number of 2-pair 1000Base-T links, the system bandwidth may also be consequently increased. Transformers and power supplies may be combined with GbE utilizing only two wire pairs to provide power over Ethernet (PoE) solutions. |
| US07729415B1 |
High-speed interface for a programmable device
A high-speed interface for implementation in a programmable device such as, e.g., a programmable logic device (“PLD”) is described. Multi-gigabit transceivers of the PLD provide transmit and receive lock signals and have inputs for reference transmit and receive clock signals. One of the multi-gigabit transceivers provides a first transmit clock signal, a first receive clock signal, and a second receive clock signal. A data rate converter fractionally multiplies a second transmit clock signal to provide the reference transmit clock signal. A skew synchronization block obtains respective transmit and receive lock signals from the multi-gigabit transceivers and provides respective receive and transmit synch adjustment signals to the multi-gigabit transceivers. Synchronous operation of the multi-gigabit transceivers in receive and transmit directions is adjusted with receive and transmit synch adjustment signals to maintain lane-to-lane skew for the high-speed interface within a target range. |
| US07729413B2 |
Spread spectrum receiver with multi-bit correlator
A system and a method to track GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite signal in a GPS receiver that includes an expanded capture window to rapidly reacquire the satellite signal after the satellite signal has been obstructed or when there is other type of signal loss. The expanded capture window includes a plurality of additional early and late correlations for maintaining synchronization of the GPS signal with a generated replica signal when positional error has accumulated during the time of the signal loss. The plurality of additional early and late correlations may be delayed from each other by a multiple of a fraction of a chip and may be performed in one or multiple channels of the GPS receiver. The adjoining code samples in the replica signal may also be offset by a fraction of a chip or by a multiple of the fraction of a chip. |
| US07729410B2 |
Procedure for BPSK demodulation corresponding to BPSK modulation with reduced envelope peaking
A system for and method of converting successive bits of digital data into BPSK symbols using one or more BPSK symbol constellations such that orthogonal BPSK constellations are referenced to successive bits of the digital data. The system and method may toggle between referencing first and second orthogonal constellations as successive bits of the digital data are encountered. Alternatively, the system and method may successively rotate by 90° the constellation to be referenced as successive bits of the digital data are encountered. The reversal of the systems and methods described can be used to decode a transmission made by the methods described or specifically to reference a succession of orthogonal BPSK constellations to convert a succession of BPSK symbols to a succession of bits of digital data. Furthermore, a standard quadrature receiver can be used to perform the conversion. |
| US07729409B2 |
Codebook indexing to achieve high bit densities in a direct-sequence CDMA spread spectrum communication system
Apparatuses for achieving high bit densities in a direct-sequence CDMA spread spectrum communication system are disclosed. A table of orthogonal pseudo-noise codes is stored. This table is then partitioned into multiple codebook. Then, the codebook is assigned to a user. The pseudo-noise code contained within the codebooks are used to spread information signal. Information signal for a first user is spread by a pseudo-noise code contained within the codebook assigned to the first user. Multiple bits of information signal may be sent at a time by using the location of the pseudo-noise code within the codebook such that the value of the information signal corresponds the location of the pseudo-noise code within the codebook. The information signal is then despread by using the same pseudo-noise code. |
| US07729405B2 |
Communication device and communication method
A communication device performs a radio communication in an ultra wideband with the use of the impulse radio system. The communication device includes a receiver. The receiver is equipped with antennas, a correlation circuit, and a CPU. The antennas receive send signals from a transmitter. The correlation circuit detects a synchronization pulse having a longer cycle than a highly redundant data pulse among received signals. The CPU performs a synchronization process based on the synchronization pulse. The CPU establishes a channel based on the synchronization pulse, and selectively changes the antennas according to the received signal. In the case where the receive signal has not been received for a given period of time after the synchronization is established correlation signals is stopped outputting to start a polling signal. The correlation signals are output to obtain correlation of the receive signals. |
| US07729403B2 |
High-order harmonic generation in a capillary discharge
A pre-ionized medium created by a capillary discharge results in more efficient use of laser energy in high-order harmonic generation (HHG) from ions. It extends the cutoff photon energy, and reduces the distortion of the laser pulse as it propagates down the waveguide. The observed enhancements result from a combination of reduced ionization energy loss and reduced ionization-induced defocusing of the driving laser as well as waveguiding of the driving laser pulse. The discharge plasma also provides a means to spectrally tune the harmonics by tailoring the initial level of ionization of the medium. |
| US07729402B2 |
Semiconductor laser assembly
A semiconductor laser assembly includes a substrate 10 having a first mount surface 10a and a second mount surface 10b, and a submount 3 which is mounted on the first mount surface 10a and which is separate from a monitoring photodiode 4. A laser diode 1 is mounted on the submount 3. The monitoring photodiode 4 is mounted on the second mount surface 10b, and an electrode 4a formed on the monitoring photodiode 4 is used as a relay electrode for a metal wire 5a connected to an upper-surface electrode of the laser diode 1. |
| US07729400B2 |
External cavity type semiconductor laser
An external cavity type semiconductor laser that has a larger output and a more excellent single mode characteristic than a conventional external cavity type semiconductor laser is provided. The external cavity type semiconductor laser has a laser diode 11, a window glass 16, a grating, and a lens. The external cavity type semiconductor laser has several modifications over the conventional one. A first modification is that the window glass 16 is inclined to a beam emission surface 19 of a laser diode 11 for a predetermined angle. A second modification is that arrangements of the laser diode 11 and so forth are adjusted so that a S wave reaches the grating. A third modification is that when an output power of the laser diode 11 is 45 mW or less, a kink is suppressed. The other modifications are that a reflectance of a beam emission surface of the laser diode 11, a numerical aperture of the lens, an external cavity length, and a reflectance of a first order beam of the grating are optimized to their proper values. |
| US07729394B2 |
Conversion efficiency expansion in wavelength converting optical packages
Particular embodiments of the present invention relate generally to altering the effective conversion efficiency curve of an optical package employing a semiconductor laser and an SHG crystal or other type of wavelength conversion device. For example, according to one embodiment of the present invention, a method of controlling an optical package is provided where the optical package is tuned such that ascending portions of a transmission curve representing a spectral filter are aligned with descending portions of a conversion efficiency curve representing a wavelength conversion device. With the filter and wavelength conversion device so aligned, the optical package is further tuned such that the wavelength of the fundamental laser signal lies within a wavelength range corresponding to aligned portions of the ascending and descending portions of the transmission and conversion efficiency curves. Additional embodiments are disclosed and claimed. |
| US07729393B2 |
Surface emitting laser with an integrated absorber
A surface emitting laser (SEL) with an integrated absorber. A lower mirror and an output coupler define a laser cavity of the SEL. A monolithic gain structure positioned in the laser cavity includes a gain region and an absorber, wherein a saturation fluence of the absorber is less than a saturation fluence of the gain region. |
| US07729391B2 |
Transmitting device with discard control of specific media data
A transmitting device includes a first buffer for temporarily storing audio data, a second buffer for temporarily storing video data, a multiplexing unit for outputting audio data coming from the first buffer and video data coming from the second buffer onto a single signal channel, and a transmission buffer monitoring unit for monitoring the amount of first buffered data stored in the first buffer and, if the amount of the first buffered data exceeds a first threshold, instructing the second buffer to discard video data. |
| US07729389B1 |
8/10 and 64/66 aggregation
A network interface includes N input lanes that receive data symbols and idle symbols. A substitutor module periodically replaces an idle symbol on each input lane with a corresponding alignment symbol to form an alignment group. M interleaver modules each interleave a portion of the data symbols and alignment symbols onto a corresponding transmit lane based on an interleaving pattern that provides each transmit lane with N/M alignment symbols from the alignment group. M is an integer greater than 1 and N is greater than M. In some features the substitutor module periodically replaces successive idle symbols on each lane with alignment symbols to form corresponding alignment groups. An interleaver module interleaves the data symbols and alignment groups onto M transmit lanes according to an interleaving pattern that provides each transmit lane with one of the alignment groups. |
| US07729387B2 |
Methods and apparatus for controlling latency variation in a packet transfer network
Methods and apparatus for controlling latency variation of packets received in a packet transfer network are provided. A plurality of packets is received at a network element of a receive node of the packet transfer network. A time-stamp is provided for each of the plurality of packets. An egress delay time is computed at a scheduler of the network element for each of the plurality of packets in accordance with each corresponding time-stamp to provide a substantially constant latency for the plurality of packets upon egression from the network element. |
| US07729382B2 |
Wireless computer system with queue and scheduler
A wireless computer system (30) is formed to have a host section (31) and a wireless hardware section (40). A first portion of a transmission frame is formed in system memory (36) of a host section (31) and a second portion of the transmission frame is formed in the wireless hardware section (40). The wireless hardware section (40) begins transmitting the first transmission frame portion while downloading the second transmission frame portion from the system memory (36) into the wireless hardware section (40). |
| US07729380B2 |
Method and device for selectively transmitting voice bursts and regenerated header bursts
A computer-readable storage element has code stored thereon that programs a processing device within a communication device to implement a method. The method includes: receiving a plurality of bursts and detecting a failure to receive a preceding header burst; extracting embedded data from the plurality of bursts; determining from the embedded data whether the plurality of bursts comprises valid voice bursts; and when the plurality of bursts comprises valid voice bursts, generating at least one header burst using the embedded data, and transmitting the at least one header burst and the voice bursts. |
| US07729377B2 |
Method for scheduling distributed virtual resource blocks
A method for efficiently scheduling virtual resource blocks to physical resource blocks is disclosed. In a wireless mobile communication system that supports a resource block group (RBG) allocation scheme, for distributed mapping of consecutively allocated virtual resource blocks to physical resource blocks, there is proposed a mapping method capable of increasing the number of distributed virtual resource blocks to a maximum while satisfying gap limitations, when the length of the physical resource blocks is different from the length of the distributed virtual resource blocks. Also, the number of distributed virtual resource blocks and the structure of an interleaver are limited for efficient scheduling. |
| US07729376B2 |
Method for improving quality-of-service management in networks
A logical quality-of-service management method for peer-to-peer networks uses a special group service for QoS management within peer-groups. This group service determines and assigns a budget per time unit for each peer. Such time unit may be in the range of milliseconds or few seconds. It may also determine a group budget for the peer-group. While a peer uses bandwidth, i.e. while it sends or receives data, its budget is decreased. When a peer has exhausted its budget, it has to lower its priority for transferring or receiving data. Each peer is responsible for keeping its own budget. If a peer does not keep the conditions, other peers may have the right to deny the data transfer from that peer. The QoS service function is advertised in peer-group advertisement messages. |
| US07729374B2 |
Fibre channel interface apparatus and methods
Fibre channel interface apparatus and methods are disclosed. In one embodiment, a system includes at least one input interface adapted to receive one or more frames of data, the frames of data being at least one of transmitted and received at a node of a fibre channel network, and an output interface adapted to provide the received one or more frames of data to a device. The device may comprise a radar system, such as an electronically-scanned radar system. In a further embodiment, the system is adapted to combine multiple data streams of the fibre channel network by a method including encoding the first and second data streams of the fibre channel network, and merging the encoded first and second data streams into a plurality of frames. |
| US07729368B2 |
Network buffer caching
One embodiment relates to a method of processing packets by a network stack. A first data packet is received from a client via a network, and a network buffer is allocated for the data packet. An indication is given that the data packet is ready for reading by an application. In addition, the network buffer is cached in a network buffer cache. Subsequently, response data may be received from the application, and the network buffer may be re-used from the network buffer cache. The response data may be sent in a second data packet to the client via the network. Finally, the network buffer may be freed. Other embodiments, aspects, and features are also disclosed. |
| US07729367B1 |
Method for bring-up of voice over internet protocol telephones
A system and method for implementing telephony devices in a distributed network environment is disclosed. The present invention provides for voice transmissions to be given a dedicated virtual local area network (“VLAN”) for packet transmission and reception to prevent poor quality of service. Non-voice data packets are transmitted on a separate VLAN. |
| US07729359B1 |
Methods and systems for providing address transparency
Improved methods and systems are provided to facilitate delivery services between a sending party and a receiving party while permitting a physical location of the receiving party to remain transparent to the sending party. For example, a system as disclosed herein can permit the receiving party to take delivery of mail, packages, or other articles through the use of a virtual address defined by the receiving party without requiring the receiving party to disclose its physical address to the sending party. In another example, articles may be routed to a temporary physical address of the receiving party through the use of a temporary forwarding path also defined by the receiving party. |
| US07729357B2 |
Method and apparatus for enabling a network device to asynchronously access a set top box in a way that conserves network bandwidth
A method and an apparatus are provided for improving or optimizing the frequency at which the keep-alive messages are sent to a network device (e.g., an Internet service platform) from a set top box (STB) connected to a router or gateway. By improving or optimizing the frequency at which these messages are sent by the STB to the network device, the amount of network bandwidth that is consumed as a result of sending keep-alive messages can be reduced. This allows a network device to remotely and asynchronously access a STB in a very efficient manner in terms of bandwidth consumption. |
| US07729354B2 |
Node and control method thereof
According to an aspect of the embodiments, a node arranged on a ring network, for transmitting a frame from upstream to downstream, the ring network having a plurality of nodes capable of connecting a network apparatus, respectively, the node comprises: a detector for detecting the frame on the ring network; and a frame controller for distinguishing the detected frame whether the frame reaches a final destination, the frame controller stopping the transmitting for the frame when the ring network is lacked of ability to reach the frame to the destination. |
| US07729349B2 |
Method of transmitting data in a communication system
A method of transmitting data from a sender to a number of recipients in a system with a multilayer protocol architecture, in which the data are divided for organizational purposes into data packets having header data and payload data, a transmitting and/or receiving unit and a communication system. The transmission of data in the form of a point-to-multipoint transmission over a general channel, in particular in a mobile radio system, is carried out by adding to packet data which are being sent to multicast groups control data for the identification of a specific multicast group. |
| US07729347B2 |
Method and apparatus for fair flow control and congestion avoidance supporting multiple QoS class requirements
For communication networks comprising user devices, edge routers, core routers, access and core links, a specification is given for a novel method and apparatus computing and allocating fair transmission rates to user data flows from a plurality of quality of service levels. The fair rates satisfy the minimum transmission rates, the end-to-end delays and the data loss rates required by each flow and also avoid network congestion. The method comprises: an edge router process and a flow control shaper for each edge router and a core router process for each edge and core router. All processes are executed in a distributed and asynchronous manner, are stable and converge to the desired fair rates. Each flow shaper process shapes the transmission rates based on local measurements driving them to the desired fair rates. The processes are efficient and lend themselves into ASIC and network processor unit implementations. |
| US07729343B2 |
IP phone system and IP phone terminal registration method
An IP phone terminal registration method capable of reducing the workload as to telephone terminal setup and excluding working mistakes by achieving automated phone terminal registration is provided. Upon connection of a telephone terminal to IP network, a DHCP device issues a terminal registration request to a main apparatus. The main apparatus performs automated phone number allocation to thereby perform terminal registration processing. The DHCP device sends back to the telephone terminal an item of network information that contains therein IP address of the main apparatus and the phone number thus allocated. The phone terminal sets up the IP address of main apparatus and the phone number as self-terminal information, thereby automating the phone terminal registration. |
| US07729340B2 |
IP telephone apparatus
In conventional telephone services, methods of response to a call in cases where the destination caller cannot answer the call are limited, such as by playing back an answering machine message or transferring the call to another telephone system in a rigid manner. In such systems, there is no flexibility in choosing the manner of response depending on the situation of the destination caller. The example systems and methods described herein enable the response method to be automatically selected depending on user's current position information in an Internet telephone system in which voice data is transmitted and received via the Internet. The user registers response methods associated with network addresses in a database, and the user's current position is determined from the IP address. |
| US07729338B1 |
Telecommunications provider agent
The invention is a provider agent product and method that operates as a software interface between a telephony card and a session manager in an advanced communications network. The provider agent receives event messages from the telephony card indicating on-hook events, off-hook events, and digit events. The provider agent instructs the telephony card to provide dial tone, ring current, ringback, and busy signals to the telephones. The provider agent also exchanges messages with a session manager in the network. These messages include: invite messages, reply messages, join messages, and terminate messages. In response to the above processing, the provider agent instructs the telephony card to interwork telephony signals on a telephony channel with ATM signals on an ATM virtual channel. The provider agent is comprised of a plurality of software objects that are stored on a software storage medium and that include: a controller object, port objects, and event objects. The provider agent objects are executed by a multithreaded processing system and each object has a separate processing thread. The provider agent and the telephony card communicate through an application programming interface that is specified in an Interface Definition Language (IDL) of a Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). |
| US07729337B2 |
Protocol for the determination of network topology
A method of operating a network is described. The network includes a number of nodes connected by a number of links. A method according to the present invention provisions a virtual path between a first and a second one of the plurality of nodes by: identifying the first and the second nodes, discovering a physical path from the first node to the second node, and establishing the virtual path. The method discovers a physical path from the first node to the second node by automatically identifying nodes forming the physical path. The method establishes the virtual path by configuring a set of connections between the nodes forming the physical path. |
| US07729335B2 |
Providing traffic information relating to a prediction of congestion status and using the same
A method for identifying traffic information includes receiving traffic data including a first identifier, information corresponding to a prediction of an amount of congestion for a particular link, and information corresponding to a location associated with the particular link. The first identifier enables a determination of a type of the information that is included within the received traffic data. The method also includes determining a type of information included within the received traffic data based on the first identifier and determining congestion amount prediction information based on the information included in the received traffic data only if the first identifier enables a determination that the received traffic data includes a prediction related to congestion amount. The method further includes determining location information based on the information that is included in the received traffic data corresponding to the location associated with the particular link identifying traffic information based on the determined congestion amount prediction information and the determined location information. |
| US07729334B2 |
Apparatus and method for transmitting data blocks based on priority
A particular protocol layer of the transmitting side (transmitter) initially receives service data units (SDUs) having the same priority through a single stream from an upper layer, processes these SDUs to generate protocol data units (PDUs) having different priorities, and uses respectively different transmission methods to transmit the generated PDUs over a radio interface in order to guarantee their respectively different quality of service (QoS) requirements. |
| US07729331B2 |
Home terminal apparatus and communication system
An Internet terminal comprising: a communication unit that sends a local packet generated by a packet generation unit and receives a response local packet from a server apparatus; an encryption processing unit that encrypts the local packet to be sent out and decrypts the received response local packet; the packet generation unit that generates the local packet; a polling information storage unit that holds a terminal ID and a password used for identifying the internet terminal; a polling interval adjustment unit that identifies a polling interval at which the local packet is periodically sent to the router; and a control unit that sends control information to a terminal apparatus to be controlled and controls such terminal apparatus accordingly. |
| US07729330B2 |
Scheduler and method of scheduling data for communication between a node station and plurality of radio terminals
A method is provided for scheduling downlink and uplink data bursts in a frame for communication between a node station and a plurality of access terminals including half-duplex terminals, comprising the steps of allocating, in a current frame having a downlink and an uplink portion, a Tx burst in the uplink portion of the frame for each access terminal, the Tx burst of each access terminal starting at a time in the uplink portion which is greater than or equal to the start time in the downlink portion of corresponding Rx data incremented by the duration of said Rx data. |
| US07729321B2 |
Nearly collision-free channel access system and method
Techniques for controlling access to a communication channel for each of a plurality of nodes in a wireless ad hoc communication network. According to one embodiment, each node uses a predetermined rule, such as a hash function, to compute which of a plurality of time slots during a contention window it is to attempt transmissions. Each node in the network follows the same rule to access the channel and as a result no additional overhead transmissions are required between the nodes. In addition, contention among different nodes is reduced when a node needs to repeat an attempt to make a transmission. When a node has data to transmit on the channel, it determines a time slot in the contention window period during which to attempt the transmission using a computation that is based on a number identifier assigned to the node, the number of time slots in the contention window period and a transmission count value that represents the number of attempts the node has made to make the transmission. According to another embodiment, nodes are assigned to slot groups based on the time slot computation and the groups are assigned to particular slots during successive blocks in a round robin fashion so as to ensure fair access to the communication channel. |
| US07729320B2 |
Mobile radio system and mobile radio control method
A mobile station enables communication with a fixed station and other mobile stations. The mobile station includes a receiving unit receiving first timing information, second timing information and reliability information with regard to the second timing information. A selector selects a timing, to be used for communication timing with the fixed station or the other mobile stations, between the first timing information and the second timing information based on the reliability information. |
| US07729316B2 |
Receiving signals on a channel used for traffic and access in a communications system
Embodiments of the present invention can be used to efficiently receive access control and traffic information. In one embodiment, the invention includes receiving a signal at a radio in a timeslot on a carrier using a plurality of antenna elements, the signal including an access control burst from a first remote radio and a traffic burst from a second remote radio, the traffic burst being part of an existing logical connection between the radio and the second remote radio. The access control burst and the traffic burst can then be extracted using spatial processing. |
| US07729315B2 |
System and method of performing cell measurements in a telecommunications system
A method of performing cell measurements in a telecommunications system. The method includes the steps of receiving a signal by a user equipment (UE) operating within the telecommunications system and served by a serving cell, storing the received signal in a buffer, and determining a first portion of the signal related to the serving cell and a second portion related to neighbor (NB) cells. The first portion of the signal is decoded by the Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT) and the signal strength is estimated by a measurement unit coupled to the FFT. Next, any approximately synchronized NB cell signals in the second portion of the signal are then decoded and a signal strength is estimated. It is then determined if sufficient time remains to process unsynchronized NB cell signals of the second portion of the signal. If it is determined that sufficient time remains, the second portion of the signal is played back and decoded using the FFT and a signal strength of any unsynchronized NB cell signals of the second portion of the received signal is estimated. |
| US07729313B2 |
Handover method for OFDM wireless communication system
An OFDM mobile communication system includes a system controller for dividing an OFDM symbol into a control channel and a data channel, multiplexing the control channel to control subchannels, and allocating the multiplexed control subchannels to base stations. The base stations simultaneously transmit control signals on the control allocated subchannels and data on the data channel. Mobile nodes receive an OFDM symbols with the multiplexed control channels for them and a data channel for selecting a base station according to information in the control subchannels. The mobile node simultaneously processes control subchannels received from two base stations using one physical layer module. |
| US07729312B2 |
Router apparatus, route information distributing method, and communications system
A router apparatus used in an IPv6 multihome network and capable of exchanging a network prefix as route information with an adjacent router is disclosed. The router apparatus comprises a pair information generator (52) configured to associate a prefix assigned from the network with a default route to generate a pair information item, and a routing protocol processor (51) configured to distribute the pair information item of the prefix and the associated default route to the adjacent router using a routing protocol. |
| US07729309B2 |
Area management system
A transmission area is specified flexibly in accordance with the contents of a flow. An area identification number (SHOG) is specified for each interlaced stream of wireless base stations. The same flow is sent at the same timing (or substantially at the same timing) in the interlaced stream specified for the same SHOG. A wireless terminal determines a neighbor sector or a neighbor wireless base station sending the same flow, in accordance with information given from the wireless base stations, and receives and combines the flows. |
| US07729308B2 |
Optimal allocation of resources in a wireless communication system
Optimal allocation of a number of sub carriers to applications having diverse QoS requirements and executing on terminal devices (e.g., mobile stations). A base station (BS) considers the QoS requirements and the observed QoS for each of the applications in computing the number of sub carriers allocated to each terminal device in the forward link direction in a given time slot. For allocation in the reverse link direction, the terminal device transmits a first bit indicating whether the aggregate queue lengths (of all applications) exceeds a pre-specified threshold and a second bit indicating whether a delay bound requirement is likely to be violated in the absence of sub carrier allocation. The BS computes the number of sub carriers to be allocated in the reverse link direction based on the respective two bits received from the terminal devices. |
| US07729307B2 |
Scheduling data across a shared communication link in a cellular communication system
A system is provided for scheduling data from a network element (101), such as an RNC (101), of a cellular communication system to at least one base station (103) across a shared communication link (105) shared between a plurality of cell sectors (107-111). The apparatus comprises resource allocators (113, 115, 117) each of which schedules data for a single cell sector (107-111). A resource determination processor (119) dynamically determines a resource requirement parameter for at least one of the cell sectors (107-111). The resource determination processor (119) is coupled to a resource assignment processor (121) which dynamically assigns a resource availability of the shared communication link (105) to each of the resource allocators (113, 115, 117) in response to the resource requirement parameter. The resource allocators (113, 115, 117) then schedule data for communication over the shared communication link in response to the resource availability. The invention provides improved utilisation of a shared communication link (105) while allowing independent scheduling by resource allocators associated with a single cell. |
| US07729302B2 |
Adaptive control of multiplexed input buffer channels
The present invention is a technique to select an input port. A database stores records of input ports for a plurality of communication channels. Each of the records includes a timestamp and a ready status. The timestamp indicates a most recent service time. A selector selects one of the input ports based on the timestamp and the ready status. A listener updates the records. |
| US07729300B1 |
Class-B transmitter and replica transmitter for gigabit ethernet applications
A method and apparatus for a Gigabit Ethernet transceiver that has a Class-B amplifier in a main transmitter for higher efficiency and power handling capabilities. The output current of the main transmitter is produced by a reference voltage applied across a resistor, where the reference voltage generator, resistor and amplifier are fabricated on the same substrate, such that the output current is constant across process voltage and temperature. The transceiver also has a replica transmitter whose signal is used to cancel the main transmitter signal at the input of the receiver section of the transceiver. The replica transmitter is fabricated on the same substrate as the main transmitter, such that its output signal reflects non-linearities in the main transmitter across process voltage and temperature. |
| US07729299B2 |
Efficient error response in a video conferencing system
Elements in a video conferencing system may respond to error message(s) by aggregating any related error messages and responding based on a severity of the error indicated by the related error messages. A multipoint control unit (MCU) may identify an active stream from a first endpoint and forward the active stream to a second endpoint. The active stream may include a plurality of packets and transmit a video image by sending a frame followed by sub-frame modifications. The MCU may receive an error message from the second endpoint and determine the error's severity, which is related to an impact on an displayed image. Based on the severity, the MCU may identify and send a set of correction packets to the second endpoint. Also, a third endpoint may receive the active stream and respond to one or more error messages received from the second endpoint. |
| US07729297B2 |
Neighbor node bus guardian scheme for a ring or mesh network
In one embodiment, a node comprises an interface to communicatively couple the node to a channel. The channel communicatively couples the node to a first neighbor node in a first direction and to a second neighbor node in a second direction. When the first neighbor node is scheduled to transmit and the node receives data from the first neighbor node via the channel, the node determines if the transmission of the data complies with a policy. When the transmission of the data does not comply with the policy, the node does at least one of: blocks the data from being relayed along the channel and relays the data along the channel with information indicating that the transmission of the data does not comply with the policy. |
| US07729296B1 |
Distributed BPDU processing for spanning tree protocols
A distributed spanning tree protocol is implemented on a modular packet switch. At least some port-specific spanning tree functionality, for instance a port receive state machine and/or a port transmit state machine, operates on a processor on a line port module. At least some bridge-specific spanning tree functionality operates on a processor on a management or control module. When the spanning tree is stable, the line port module processor handles routine spanning tree “hello” messages without having to involve the control module processor. This arrangement allows the switch to handle large and/or multiple spanning trees and large numbers of bridged ports without overloading the control module processor with routine spanning tree module communications. |
| US07729295B2 |
Connection mode setting apparatus, connection mode setting method, connection mode control apparatus, connection mode control method and so on
The apparatus includes effective bandwidth information obtaining means for obtaining effective bandwidth information indicative of an effective bandwidth of each of the communication paths attached to the receiving devices so that each of the receiving devices is connected to the receiving device or the distributing device at the higher hierarchical level; effective bandwidth comparing means for comparing the effective bandwidths of the communication paths; and connection mode setting means for setting a mode of connection among the devices on the basis of a result of comparison of the effective bandwidth comparing means. |
| US07729294B2 |
Method for discovering network device
A method for discovering a network device is disclosed for executing a discovery procedure of the network device in a Data Link Layer (i.e. Layer 2 of OSI 7 Layers Model) via a Network Management Server (NMS) within a Local Area Network (LAN) system to discover other network devices within the LAN. Firstly, sending a discovery packet from a Network Management Server (NMS), wherein the discovery packet comprises a command for requesting the network device to send back a corresponding Media Access Control (MAC) address. Then, receiving the discovery packet by at least one of the network device, and generating a response packet corresponding to the discovery packet for sending the response packet, wherein the response packet comprises the Media Access Control (MAC) address of the network device. Then, receiving the response packet from the NMS for collecting the MAC address while ignoring an IP address in the response packet, and updating a device information table according to the MAC address for identifying the network device. |
| US07729293B2 |
Wireless communication system, wireless communication control apparatus and wireless communication control method, and computer program
A communication terminal under the control of a wireless base station recursively has wireless base station capabilities in a parent network, constructs a daughter network within a scope of resources of the apparatus assigned by the wireless base station, and assigns the resources to an other communication terminal under the control of the communication terminal having base station capabilities. This constitution allows to configure two or more networks guaranteed not to interfere each other, thereby allowing the coexistence of a plurality of personal area networks on the same frequency channel. At the same time, the constitution allows expanding a network area without increasing the scale of equipment. |
| US07729292B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting a router that improperly responds to ARP requests
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that detects a non-compliant router that incorrectly responds to all address-resolution-protocol (ARP) requests, including ARP requests and ARP probes for link-local IP addresses. This is accomplished by sending an ARP request asking for an Ethernet address associated with a link-local IP address, wherein the link-local IP address is a reserved link-local IP address, which should not be assigned to any device. If a response is received to the ARP request, the system determines that the response was sent by a non-compliant router that incorrectly responds to all ARP requests, including ARP requests for link-local IP addresses. |
| US07729291B2 |
System and method for reducing traffic in a wide area Ethernet network
A system and method retrieves device forwarding information from switching devices and installs it as static device forwarding information on other switches to prevent multiple copies of communications being sent from those switches. |
| US07729290B2 |
Method for routing information over a network employing centralized control
A method and apparatus for centralized control of a network is described. The network includes a number of nodes. The method includes creating a database and storing the database on a master node of the network. The database contains topology information regarding a topology of the network. Each of the nodes is coupled to at least one other of the nodes, with the master node being one of the nodes. |
| US07729289B2 |
Method, system and computer program product for routing information across firewalls
For routing information in a network across firewalls, virtual sessions between two remote nodes are implemented by means of multiple point-to-point sessions between pairs of adjacent nodes connected through a tunnel crossing the corresponding firewall. Each node stores a routing table that is used to pass the information to be provided to a desired target node to the correct adjacent node. A peer-to-peer communication scheme is supported for allowing each pair of nodes to exchange information. For this purpose, a specific algorithm is proposed for propagating the routing information dynamically among the nodes of the network, with rules that prevent the generation of any propagation cycle. |
| US07729280B2 |
Broadcast messaging in peer to peer overlay network
Broadcast messages are efficiently directed to nodes of an overlay network. Broadcast messages include an End ID parameter specifying the range of key values for nodes that should receive the broadcast message. Each node of an overlay network maintains a list of finger nodes and their respective key values. Upon receiving a broadcast message, a node assigns a finger node a new End ID value based upon the End ID value of the broadcast message or the key value of an adjacent finger node. The node compares a finger node's new End ID value with the finger node's key value to determine whether to forward the broadcast message to that finger node. A broadcast message forwarded to a finger node includes an End ID parameter equal to the new End ID value determined for the finger node. Nodes can aggregate response messages from its finger nodes. |
| US07729278B2 |
Wireless routing based on data packet classifications
A method of wirelessly routing based on data packet type is disclosed. The method includes a wireless access node wirelessly receiving a data packet. The wireless access node classifies the data packet, and selects one of multiple node interfaces based on the classification of the data packet, and/or characteristics of the node interfaces. The wireless access node forwards the data packet over the selected node interface. |
| US07729268B2 |
Method and apparatus for quality of service determination
A method of estimating bandwidth capacity, available bandwidth and utilization along a path in an IP network is disclosed. ICMP time-stamp requests are sent from a source host on the edge or inside the network to all routers on the end-to-end path to a desired destination. Differences between time-stamp values are used as indicators of QoS service at each router. The collected measurements are then processed at the sending host to infer QoS parameters in terms of path capacity in bit/sec, available bandwidth in bits/sec, individual link utilization and congestion at each router. These parameters can be combined to infer the QoS service in terms of bandwidth on the end-to-end path. |
| US07729267B2 |
Method and apparatus for analyzing a media path in a packet switched network
No-op media payload packets are used to analyze a media path in a packet switched network. In one embodiment, the no-op packets are Real Time Protocol (RTP) payload packets that contain no media content. A Real Time Control Protocol (RTCP) report is generated for the received RTP no-op packets. A marker bit is set in one of the no-op packets that triggers the no-op packet receiver to send back the RTCP report. The media steam is transmitted when the statistics in the RTCP report indicate a viable media path. |
| US07729261B2 |
Forwarding of network traffic in respect of differentiated restricted transit network nodes
There is provided a method of forwarding a traffic flow in a communications network having at least one network node for which network traffic is selectively prevented from transiting the network node. The method includes the step of selecting a specified category of network traffic that is to be prevented from transiting the network node. The method also includes the step of determining a path within the network for forwarding the traffic flow, whereby the network node is excluded for transit in establishing the path where the traffic flow is identified with the specified category of network traffic. |
| US07729260B2 |
Cost determination in a multihop network
In a multihop communications network a cost determination method includes determining a plurality of simultaneously potential or favorable next hop nodes for at least one of the nodes between a source and a destination node pair, whereby a mesh-like path comprising a plurality of simultaneously potential routes or paths is defined between the source and destination node. This mesh-like structure is typically determined in a distributed manner and results from a cost optimization process. The cost optimization should preferably consider stochastic variations that for example are caused by the wireless medium. |
| US07729259B1 |
Reducing latency jitter in a store-and-forward buffer for mixed-priority traffic
Methods and apparatus for reducing the average delay associated with sending a packet from one environment to another via a store and forward buffer are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for processing transmission units received over a first network connection includes receiving a first transmission unit on the first network connection, storing the first transmission unit in a buffer, and determining when contents of the buffer meet a plurality of criteria. The method also includes sending a backpressure over the first network connection when it is determined that the contents of the buffer meet the plurality of criteria. In one embodiment, determining when the contents of the buffer meet a plurality of criteria includes determining when the contents of the buffer are of an amount that exceeds a threshold and determining when the contents of the buffer include at least one full packet. |
| US07729258B2 |
Switching device
A multiport switch circuit which performs transfer according to flow control and a protocol with an ordering rule specified, wherein the circuit for avoiding packets from clogging is realized in a small size. A packet receiving side circuit has a packet selection output circuit to suppress a circuit size by decreasing the number of transfer data paths, and the packet selection output circuit performs output of selected packets according to a priority packet type selection instruction signal in addition to output of a receiving order packet according to a receiving order output instruction signal to make it possible to avoid clogging caused because the packets made to wait for transmission by the flow control cannot be overtaken by another packet type according to the ordering rule. |
| US07729255B2 |
Method of a signal transmission for controlling a quantity of data transmitted and a signal transmission apparatus therefor
When digital signals are to be transmitted between a camera unit and a camera control unit, the distance of their transmission depends on the frequency at which the digital signals are transmitted. The higher the frequency of the digital signals is, the greater the cable attenuation is, inviting deterioration of the signals. Therefore, with a view to matching the quantity of transmitted signals with the length of the transmission path and thereby achieving high quality of signal transmission, a method of signal transmission for a signal transmission apparatus wherein a camera unit and a camera control unit for controlling the camera unit are connected by a transmission path and a video signal, an audio signal and a control signal are digitized, time division multiplexed and transmitted between the camera unit and the camera control unit, has a step of measuring the value of delay of signals transmitted over the transmission path, and each of the camera unit and the camera control unit performs a step of controlling the data quantity of signals to be delivered to the transmission path on the basis of the measured value of delay. |
| US07729254B2 |
Parasitic time synchronization for a centralized communications guardian
A parasitic time synchronization network is provided including a plurality of nodes, one or more hubs, each hub having communication links with the plurality of nodes and one or more guardians. Each node is adapted to transmit and receive data and communicate with every other node through the one or more hubs. The communication links between any one hub and the plurality of nodes defines a communication channel. Each guardian is associated with one communication channel. Each node is assigned a time slot in which it is permitted to transmit data through an associated hub of the one or more hubs. A guardian of an associated channel blocks propagation of data transmissions between the plurality of nodes through the associated hub allows only data transmissions from one of the plurality of nodes, wherein the guardian periodically receives a cluster of beacons generated by a plurality of the plurality of nodes. |
| US07729251B2 |
Asynchronous transfer mode switch
The invention provides an ATM switch which realizes hierarchical shaping for each virtual channel and each virtual path with a simple configuration. Cells are sent from cell buffers of an ATM core switch by FIFO operation to output side connection information application sections of output side circuit interfaces. In each of the output side circuit interfaces, the output side connection information application section acquires connection information such as a service class based on an intra-switch connection identification number applied to each cell and applies the connection information to the cell. An output cell buffer queues cells for each virtual channel. A VC cell rate control section reads out cells from the output cell buffer in accordance with the connection information and performs traffic priority control and rate control of the cells to be outputted. Cells of each virtual channel are outputted at a rate equal to or higher than a minimum cell rate but equal to or lower than a peak cell rate in accordance with a VP cell rate control signal representative of the cell storage amount in a VP cell rate control section in the following stage. The VP cell rate control section queues cells into a buffer for each virtual path and performs traffic priority control and rate control of the cells. |
| US07729249B2 |
Systems and methods for improving TCP-friendliness of delay-based congestion control
Disclosed herein is a novel technique that greatly improves the TCP-friendliness of CTCP over such under-buffered network links without degrading the protocol efficiency to utilize the link capacity. Instead of using a pre-defined threshold, the disclosed approach, which may be referred to herein as “CTCP-TUBE,” dynamically adjusts the threshold based on the network setting in which the flow is operating. The backlogged packets of a regular TCP may be estimated along the same path by emulating the behavior of a regular TCP flow in runtime. Based on this, a threshold is set so as to ensure good TCP-friendliness. CTCP-TUBE can automatically adapt to different network configurations and also concurrent competing flows. |
| US07729248B2 |
Scheduler having queue for scheduling transmission of items from a station in a wireless network
A scheduler scheduling items to be transmitted by a subscriber station in a wireless network in accordance with bandwidth assigned to the items by a base station in the network. The items to be transmitted by the subscriber station are placed in a queue. The queue has a first section into which items for which a request for bandwidth assignment has been made to the base station are placed, and a second section into which items for which a request for bandwidth assignment has not yet been made to the base station are placed. The scheduler schedules the items in the queue for transmission by the subscriber station in accordance with which section of the queue the items reside. |
| US07729247B2 |
Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) downlink packet scheduling apparatus and method in a mobile communication base station (BS) system
A VoIP downlink packet scheduling apparatus and method in a mobile communication Base Station (BS) system are provided. The downlink packet scheduling apparatus includes a packet queue for storing a downlink packet when the downlink packet is received; a downlink scheduler for selecting a packet stored to the packet queue under a certain condition and scheduling a corresponding packet according to whether a packet drop module determines to drop the selected packet; and the packet drop module calculates a transmission delay time of the packet, determines whether the transmission delay time of the packet meets a threshold, and determines whether to drop or transmit the corresponding packet according to whether the threshold is satisfied. |
| US07729244B2 |
Dynamic resource allocation based on quality-of-service
A method and system for allocating a satellite payload terminal's (payload terminal) resources in response to a plurality of flow requests received by the payload terminal from one or more ground terminals is provided. The method includes, prioritizing the plurality of flow requests received at the payload terminal for a given epoch time based upon one or more attributes of said flow requests; and allocating resources of payload terminal to each said flow requests during said epoch time based on priority of flow requests. The attributes of said flow requests includes one or more of Quality of Service (QOS), rate request, and file size. The system includes one or more payload terminals having a processing unit capable of executing an optimization processes to allocate resources payload terminal resources in response to a plurality of flow request from one or more ground terminals. |
| US07729243B2 |
Reverse link rate and stability control
In a radio access network, the reverse link rate of an access terminal is controlled and stabilized by determining a number of connections in one or more sectors in which the access terminal has a connection and setting a rate limit based on at least one of the determined number of connections. The number of connections can be determined for each sector in which the access terminal has a connection or for some subset of these sectors. If the number of connections is determined for more than one sector, the radio access network may limit the reverse link rate based on the sector having the greatest number of connections. |
| US07729242B2 |
3-level queuing scheduler supporting flexible configuration and etherchannel
In one embodiment, a scheduler for a queue hierarchy only accesses sub-groups of bucket nodes in order to determine the best eligible queue bucket to transmit next. Etherchannel address hashing is performed after scheduling so that an Etherchannel queue including a single queue in the hierarchy is implemented to guarantee quality of service. |
| US07729240B1 |
Method and system for identifying duplicate packets in flow-based network monitoring system
A network monitoring device configured to collect a new packet from one or more observation points of a network and to compare the new packet with a list of a number of received packets based on a packet arrival rate and to identify a duplicate packet. In particular, the number of received packets in the list is equivalent to a number of packets received within a time period, i.e. the packet arrival rate. Stated differently, the network monitoring device is to compare the new packets with received packets stored in a queue of a buffer and wherein the queue has a size based on a packet arrival rate collected at one or more observation points. In addition, the time period is further adjusted according to a threshold value. The threshold value is a variable parameter that can be adjusted to compensate for different network deployment. In one embodiment, the threshold value is a time value that is not more than a transmission time of a TCP retransmitted packet. |
| US07729237B2 |
Method of transmitting reference signal and transmitter using the same
A method and apparatus of transmitting a reference signal in a wireless communication system is provided. A reference signal sequence is generated by using a pseudo-random sequence. A portion or entirety of the reference signal sequence is mapped to at least one resource block and is transmitted. The pseudo-random sequence is generated by a gold sequence generator which is initialized with initial values obtained by using cell identifier. The reference signal provides low PAPR and high cross correlation characteristic. |
| US07729235B2 |
Method and apparatus for OVSF code generation
Methods and apparatuses for generating an OVSF code are disclosed. A proposed method for generating a current code chip of an OVSF code includes: determining a correlation factor between the current code chip and a preceding code chip of the OVSF code; and generating the current code chip according to the preceding code chip and the correlation factor. |
| US07729232B2 |
Method of transmitting and receiving data using superposition modulation in a wireless communication system
A method of transmitting and receiving data using superposition modulation in a wireless communication system having multiple antennas is disclosed. More specifically, the method comprises encoding the at least one inputted data stream by a channel coding scheme, puncturing the at least one inputted coded data stream into at least two sub-streams, layer-modulating the at least two sub-streams using layer-modulation schemes, transmitting the layered-modulated sub-streams via the multiple antennas, wherein transmission power of each antenna is based channel condition, and receiving by at least one user the layered-modulated sub-stream, wherein the each user uses different demodulation scheme. |
| US07729227B2 |
Diffractive element, method of manufacturing the same, optical pickup device, and optical disc apparatus
There is provided a diffractive element including a first member 2, which includes a first resin 2a and has a predetermined refractive index, and a second member 3, which has the same refractive index as the first member 2 having the predetermined refractive index in one wavelength of light and has a refractive index different from the first member 2 having the predetermined refractive index in the other wavelength of light. The first member 2 and the second member 3 are alternately arranged within an incidence plane of the two wavelengths of light, thereby constituting a diffraction grating. The second member 3 includes a second resin 3a to dissolve an organic matter 5 having optical absorption in a predetermined wavelength range at a molecular level, whereby the refractive index of the second member 3 is formed. |
| US07729223B2 |
Recording method for dye-based recordable DVD medium and recording apparatus
A recording method for dye-based recordable DVD medium which includes recording shortest marks on a recording layer primarily containing an organic dye using a simple rectangular wave pulse; recording marks each having the second shortest or still longer mark length using one pulse of which the front and rear edges are highly energized for a given time; and controlling the optical energy for irradiating rear edge or backward of the pulse with a cooling pulse to be 0.1 mW or less for a given time, wherein when the recording power of the front and rear edges of the respective pulses is represented by P1 and the recording power of intermediate pulse between the pulse front edge and the pulse rear edge is represented by P2, P1/P2 is set to be greater when P1 is a low power, and P1/P2 is set to be smaller when P1 is a high power. |
| US07729222B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating wobble signal
A wobble signal generating apparatus of an optical-electronic system. A first operation unit for generating a reference signal in response to a first input signal and a second input signal that are derived from a plurality of light signals reflected from an optical storage medium is provided. The plurality of reflected light signals is used for generating the reference signal even when the optical-electronic system is recording data onto the optical storage medium. A processing unit processes the reference signal to generate the wobble signal. |
| US07729221B2 |
Optical disk discrimination method and optical disk device
The invention provides an optical disk device that has a laser unit including a first objective lens and a second objective lens. A numerical aperture of the first objective lens is different from a numerical aperture of the second objective lens. The optical disk device has a first focus driver that detects a first voltage value indicating the value of a driving voltage to drive the first objective lens when light beams are irradiated onto the surface of an optical disk via the first objective lens and a focus is achieved. The optical disk device has a second focus driver that detects a second voltage value indicating the value of a driving voltage to drive the second objective lens when light beams are irradiated onto the recording surface of said optical disk via the second objective lens and a focus is achieved. The optical disk device has a controller that discriminates the type of an optical disk, based on a difference between the first voltage value and the second voltage value. |
| US07729216B2 |
Methods and apparatus for marking media with collimated electromagnetic radiation beam
A method is provided for recording visible marks on a recording medium using an input beam generated by an electromagnetic radiation source. The method comprises (a) substantially collimating the input beam to provide a substantially collimated beam, and (b) applying the substantially collimated beam to the recording medium to provide the visible mark on the recording medium. |
| US07729210B2 |
Recording medium having a substrate containing microscopic pattern of parallel groove and land sections and recording/reproducing equipment therefor
An information recording medium 1 at least comprises a substrate 13 having a microscopic pattern 20, which is constituted by a shape of continuous substance of approximately parallel grooves formed with a groove section G and a land section L alternately, a recording layer 12 formed on the microscopic pattern 20 and a light transmission layer 11 formed on the recording layer. The microscopic pattern 20 is formed so as to satisfy a relation of P<λ |
| US07729206B2 |
Time interval indicating device
A device for indicating the passage of two or more time intervals is provided. In one embodiment, the device includes a base portion with a user interface and a light portion. The light portion includes three lights of different colors that are disposed in a vertical arrangement above the base portion. The user interface includes a display and a keypad for programming the device with one or more time durations, and for associating one or more of the lights with each time interval. A controller is in communication with the user interface and operatively coupled with the lights to illuminate and turn off each light during its associated interval. The device may include an audio section linked to the controller for further indicating the intervals or transitions therebetween by outputting one or more sounds. |
| US07729204B2 |
Acoustic ranging
Acoustic ranging may involve determining a distance between a first device and at least one other device using one or more acoustic signals. In an example embodiment, a first device emits a first acoustic signal and then receives the first acoustic signal at a first time. The first device also receives a second acoustic signal at a second time, with the second acoustic signal having been emitted by a second device. The first device ascertains a first value that reflects a difference between the first time and the second time. Responsive to at least the ascertained first value, the first device determines a distance between the first device and the second device. |
| US07729201B2 |
Method and apparatus for spread spectrum distance and velocity profile measurement
A method and apparatus for spread spectrum distance and for spread spectrum velocity profile measurement is provided where the short pulse of traditional ultrasonic and radar level gauges is replaced by low peak power direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) modulated energy. An echo sequence subtraction process is provided that increases the signal to noise ratio of each echo sequence thus increasing the dynamic range of the system. In addition to providing a higher signal to noise ratio (SNR), better precision and accuracy in ranging Doppler applications and the ability to use lower peak power transmissions, the system is more immune to interference from the environment and allows for less expensive and less bulky ultrasonic transducers. |
| US07729194B2 |
Backup for circuits having volatile states
An electrical circuit contains volatile states that are lost without continued application of power to circuit elements to preserve their volatile states. A first power source in the circuit provides power to the volatile state circuit for holding and preserving their volatile states. A power selection circuit is coupled to the circuit elements and has a plurality of selectable modes. A first mode of operation of the power selection circuit is selected when the circuit elements are to be operated at a first power level via the first power source which constitutes a first mode of operation. A second mode of operation is selected when the volatile state circuit elements are to be operated under a condition where the first power source is inactivated, such as, for example, during a circuit backup or standby operation. During the second mode of operation, the circuit elements volatile states are preserved via a power selection circuit that provides power from a second power source at a second power level, different from the first power level, to the volatile state circuit elements in place of the first power source. |
| US07729191B2 |
Memory device command decoding system and memory device and processor-based system using same
Systems, devices and methods are disclosed. In an embodiment of one such device, an embodiment of a memory device includes a command decoder that is operable to decode received write enable, row address strobe and column address strobe signals to place the memory device in at least one reduced power state despite the absence of either a clock enable signal or a chip select signal. The command decoder performs this function by decoding the write enable, row address strobe and column address strobe signals in combination with at least one address signal received by the memory device. The command decoder can also decode a no operation command, which differs from the at least one reduced power state by only the state of the write enable signal. As a result, when the at least one reduced power state is terminated by a transition of the write enable signal, the memory device automatically transitions to a no operation mode. |
| US07729190B2 |
Voltage control circuit, a voltage control method and a semiconductor memory device having the voltage control circuit
A semiconductor memory device includes a voltage control circuit providing different voltages as a precharge voltage in accordance with an active state and a standby stage. The semiconductor memory device is arranged in a peripheral region, whereby the different voltages can be provided as a precharge voltage in accordance with the active state and the standby state and thus leakage current is reduced and area efficiency is enhanced. |
| US07729184B2 |
Memory device having function of detecting bit line sense amp mismatch
Provided is a memory device that can detect a mismatch in a bit line sense amp, wherein the memory device includes a sense amp drive unit for selectively supplying a pull-up drive voltage or a pull-down drive voltage to a bit line sense amp in response to a sensing test signal provided from outside. |
| US07729182B2 |
Systems and methods for issuing address and data signals to a memory array
Embodiments of the present invention include circuitry for issuing address and data signals to a memory array using a system clock and a write clock. A locked loop may be used to compensate for additional delay experienced by the system clock relative to write clock and ensure synchronization of the clock signals. A write latch enable block may be used to develop a write latch enable signal for issuance along with a corresponding address signal. The write latch enable signal can be timed such that it arrives at an appropriate time to issue the data corresponding to the issued address. |
| US07729181B2 |
Semiconductor storage device using a bitline GND sensing scheme for a reduced real estate of pre-sense amplifier
A semiconductor storage device comprises of a memory cell connected to a plate line and a bit line, a potential shift circuit which is connected to a bit line, temporarily changes in output voltage corresponding to the voltage change of the bit line when a voltage is applied to the plate line, a charge transfer circuit for transferring charge stored on the potential shift circuit corresponding to the temporary output voltage change of the potential shift circuit, and a charge accumulation circuit for generating a read voltage from a memory cell after accumulating the transferred charge. |
| US07729173B2 |
Method for testing internal high voltage in nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and related voltage output circuit
In a voltage output circuit of a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device, a high voltage generator generates an internal high voltage, a sampling signal generator generates a sampling signal, and a sample and old circuit samples and holds the internal high voltage in accordance with the sampling signal. |
| US07729172B2 |
Method of programming a NAND flash memory device
A method of programming a NAND flash memory device includes providing a flash memory device, wherein word lines are disposed between a drain selecting line and a source selecting line, wherein a first word line is provided adjacent to the source selecting line and a last word line is provided adjacent to the drain selecting line; and selecting a word line to program memory cells coupled to the selected word line to perform an even LSB program operation and an odd LSB program operation for the selected first word line. Each of the word lines is selected until all of the word lines have been selected, so that the even LSB program operation and the odd LSB program operation can be performed for all of the word lines. The even LSB program operation is performed to store a lower rank data bit in memory cells coupled to an even bit line assigned a selected word line. The odd LSB program operation is performed to store a lower rank data bit in memory cells coupled to an odd bit line assigned to the selected word line. |
| US07729171B2 |
Multiple select gate architecture with select gates of different lengths
The invention provides methods and apparatus. A portion of a memory array has a string of two or more non-volatile memory cells, a first select gate coupled in series with one non-volatile memory cell of the string of two or more non-volatile memory cells, and a second select gate coupled in series with the first select gate. A length of the second select gate is greater than a length of the first select gate. |
| US07729170B2 |
Semiconductor device and its control method
A semiconductor device includes sectors having memory cells connected to local word lines, decoders selecting the sectors, and a circuit generating, in erasing of a selected sector, a control signal that causes a corresponding one of the decoders associated with the selected sector to be temporarily unselected. Each of the sectors includes a pull-up transistor that is driven by a corresponding one of the decoders via a corresponding one of global word lines connecting the sectors and drives one of the local word lines, and the pull-up transistor is kept OFF by the control signal. |
| US07729169B2 |
Multiple programming of spare memory region for nonvolatile memory
Structures, methods, and systems for multiple programming of spare memory region for nonvolatile memory are disclosed. In one embodiment, a nonvolatile memory system comprises a main memory cell array, a spare memory cell array, and a memory controller that divides the spare memory cell array into at least a first region and a second region. The system further comprises a selection module for selecting the main memory cell array and the first region to write data and the first reference cell to write first reference data associated with the data during an initial data writing operation and for selecting the second region to write additional data and the second reference cell to write second reference data associated with the additional data during an additional data writing operation. |
| US07729165B2 |
Self-adaptive and self-calibrated multiple-level non-volatile memories
Innovative self-adaptive and self-calibrated methods and structures for Multi-Level Cell (MLC) Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) are disclosed. In the MLC NVM, NVM cells are self-adaptively programmed into a fixed response tolerance window centered at the reference current or voltage corresponding to a selected level gate voltage applied to the controlled gates of NVM cells. The fixed response tolerance window is related to the threshold voltage tolerance window through the sense circuit gain. Properly choosing the sense circuit gain and the response window can control the threshold voltage tolerance window to a desired value. An incremental gate voltage larger than the threshold voltage tolerance window of each NVM cell will guarantee that each NVM cell will produce the correct output current (voltage) in response to applying to the control gate of the NVM cell the stepped voltage corresponding to the level of information stored in the NVM cell. As the stepped voltage applied to the gate of an NVM cell transitions from a voltage just below the threshold voltage of the NVM cell to a voltage corresponding to the threshold voltage of the NVM cell, the output current (voltage) from the NVM cell will pass the current (voltage) transition in comparison with the reference current (voltage). The current (voltage) transition can be detected and converted into the bit-word information representing the voltage level stored in the NVM cell. When the response of an NVM cell falls outside the response tolerance window into the guard-band regions, the NVM cell can be re-calibrated and the bit-word information can be saved from fading away. |
| US07729158B2 |
Resistance change memory device
A resistance change memory device including: a semiconductor substrate; cell arrays stacked above the substrate, each having memory cells, bit lines and word lines; a read/write circuit formed on the semiconductor substrate; first and second vertical wirings disposed to connect the bit lines to the read/write circuit; and third vertical wirings disposed the word lines to the read/write circuit. The memory cell includes a variable resistance element for storing as information a resistance value, which has a recording layer composed of a composite compound containing at least two types of cation elements, at least one type of the cation element being a transition element having “d” orbit, in which electrons are incompletely filled, the shortest distance between adjacent cation elements being 0.32 nm or less. |
| US07729157B2 |
Semiconductor storage device
A memory cell array has memory cells, each of which has a ferroelectric capacitor and a selection transistor. A plate line is connected to one end of the ferroelectric capacitor and applied a certain plate line voltage. A sense amplifier circuit senses and amplifies voltage of the bit line. An error correction circuit corrects any error in retained data in the memory cells sensed by the sense amplifier. A plate line control circuit controls the timing for switching a potential of the plate line to a ground potential, based on absence or presence of error correction by the error correction circuit. |
| US07729156B2 |
Cycling to mitigate imprint in ferroelectric memories
The method includes storing a memory data state in the ferroelectric memory cell. An event will trigger the evaluation of signal margin on a memory cell. If the memory cell is identified to have a weak signal, the memory cell is exercised. Exercising includes either performing one or more data read/re-write events or performing one or more simulated data read and data write events of an alternating high data state and a low data state to the memory cell associated with the weak data bit. Both the lifetime retention testing and the memory data state exercising are performed in the background of normal memory operation. |
| US07729149B2 |
Content addressable memory cell including a junction field effect transistor
A semiconductor device that includes a memory cell having a junction field effect transistor (JFET) used to form a content addressable memory (CAM) cell is disclosed. The JFET may include a data storage region disposed between a first and second insulating region. The data storage region provides a first threshold voltage to the JFET when storing a first data value and provides a second threshold voltage to the JFET when storing a second data value. The memory cell is a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cell and can be used to form a CAM cell. The CAM cell may be a ternary CAM cell formed with as few as two JFETs. |
| US07729147B1 |
Integrated circuit device using substrate-on-insulator for driving a load and method for fabricating the same
A semiconductor circuit for driving a load, comprising a transformerless Alternative Current (AC) to Direct Current (DC) converter integrated circuit that includes a high voltage circuit fabricated on a substrate for converting a high voltage AC input signal to a first high voltage DC output signal. Further included is a second circuit fabricated on the same substrate for regulating a drive signal for driving a load using power from the first high voltage output signal, with the high voltage circuit and the second circuit fabricated on the substrate to form a single integrated circuit (IC) chip. |
| US07729146B2 |
Power converter control and power conversion method
A power converter and power conversion method wherein operation of a switching element is controlled by the frequency of a carrier wave where the frequency is varied such that the same frequency of the carrier wave is not repeated during a single modulation period. |
| US07729142B2 |
Control method for direct-current by means of a plurality of converters
At least three power converters in a power distribution and power transmission system can be controlled as rectifiers or inverters and are connected together by a direct current network. A measuring direct current voltage and a measuring direct current are measured on each power converter and respectively, transmitted to the respective rectifier control and/or inverter control, and a rectifier desired direct power and/or inverter desired direct power is determined for each power converter. The total of all desired direct powers is equal to zero, and a desired direct voltage is determined from each desired direct power, the smallest inverter desired direct voltage of all connected inverters is fixed as minimal direct voltage by means of a minimal direct voltage and the desired direct voltage, a desired direct current is formed from the minimal voltage and the measuring direct voltage, a differential direct voltage is formed from the minimal voltage and the differential direct current is formed from the desired direct current and the measuring direct current. The respective rectifier control of the rectifier is controlled to minimize the total of the differential direct voltage and the differential direct current, and the inverter control of the inverter is controlled to minimize the difference between the differential direct current and the differential direct voltage. |
| US07729138B2 |
Control method for direct-current transmission
In a method for controlling a rectifier and an inverter, which are connected together by a direct current circuit, a measuring direct current voltage and respectively, a measuring direct current are measured at at least one measuring point of the direct current circuit and are transmitted to a direct current control for controlling the rectifier and/or an inverter control for controlling the inverter. The direct current control controls the rectifier in such a manner that a total of a difference direct current voltage and a differential direct current is minimal and the inverter control of the inverter is controlled in such a manner that the difference between the differential direct current of the differential direct current voltage is minimal. The method is reliable and is economical. Accordingly, the desired flow of the direct current control and the desired flow of the inverter control are identical. |
| US07729131B2 |
Multiple circuit board arrangements in electronic devices
Electronic devices can be provided with at least one first circuit component coupled to a first circuit board, at least one second circuit component coupled to a second circuit board, and a mating assembly coupled to the boards for holding them in a vertical stack. The first circuit components can face the second circuit components in the stack. One or more of the first circuit components can be horizontally offset from one or more of the second circuit components in the stack to reduce the thickness of the mated circuit boards. Portions of the circuit boards and the mating assembly can shield the circuit components of the stack from electromagnetic interference. |
| US07729130B1 |
Transceiver module with collapsible fingers that form a sealed EMI shield
An EMI shield for a transceiver module includes a plurality of collapsible fingers that allow the shield to be sealed at the corners when the transceiver is inserted into a receiving cage. The fingers of the shield are made with a designed interference with the cage, so that the fingers are compressed when the module is inserted into the cage. A pattern of peaks and valleys on the fingers bordering the corners of the shield allows the two adjacent fingers to mesh when the module is inserted into the cage. The meshing of the peaks-and-valleys pattern of the bordering fingers allows the shield to be sealed with a gap width under 0.015″. |
| US07729127B2 |
Mounting mechanism for electronic device
A mounting mechanism for mounting an electronic device to a chassis, the electronic device defining a first securing hole, and the chassis defining a second securing hole, includes a securing member having a base. A plurality of elastic hooks extends from a bottom of the base. At least one blocking portion protrudes laterally from the base. The elastic hooks extend through the first securing hole and the second securing hole and are engaged with a bottom side of one of the chassis and the electronic device. The at least one blocking portion abuts on the other one of the chassis and the electronic device, for sandwiching the electronic device and the chassis between the hooks and the at least one blocking portion. |
| US07729126B2 |
Modular DIMM carrier and riser slot
A modular DIMM carrier and riser slot device includes a slot section having a slot configured to hold a plurality of memory device planars, a first latch disposed at a first end of the slot section and pivotably connected to the slot section and capable of securing a first end of the memory device planars; a second latch disposed at a second end of the slot section and pivotably connected to the slot section and capable of securing a second end of a first memory device planar, and a third latch pivotably connected to the slot section and disposed intermediate between the first and the second latches, the third latch capable of securing a second end of a second memory device planar. The slot section has an auxiliary slot section defined as an section between the second latch and the third latch. The auxiliary slot section includes a notch for receiving the third latch when the third latch is in a disengaged position, a retention notch that restrains movement of the third latch when the third latch is in an engaged position, and a power and signaling section that includes power and signaling connections usable by one or more of the memory device planars. |
| US07729117B2 |
Housing for cooling electronic control units in motor vehicles
A housing for electronic control units, in particular in motor vehicles, having a bottom section for attaching the electronic control units and having a cooling device that enables heat to be dissipated from the housing via a flowing liquid, a cooling device formed in the bottom section being provided both for improving the cooling capacity and for rigidity. The bottom section is easily manufactured with an integrated cooling channel by injection molding, while cooling is achievable by a medium available in the motor vehicle. |
| US07729112B2 |
Mounting for disk drive unit, retaining device and method of loading a disk drive unit
A mounting for a disk drive unit includes a carrier for carrying a disk drive unit during required movement of the disk drive unit. The carrier defines a space into which the disk drive unit can be inserted, and the carrier is adapted to be inserted with the disk drive unit into a receiving frame for operational use. At lease two resilient devices are mounted on the carrier for securing the disk drive unit in the receiving frame when the carrier is inserted into the frame, at least one resilient device being mounted on each side of the carrier. Each resilient device is movably mounted on the carrier to allow movement of the device as a whole relative to the carrier, and the resilient device is arranged to secure the disk drive unit in the receiving frame by acting between disk drive unit and the receiving frame. A method of handling the disk drive unit comprises placing the disk drive unit into the carrier engaging a robotic device with a coupling structure projecting from the front of the carrier. The method then includes lifting the carrier by the robotic device and inserting the carrier into a receiving frame by a substantially horizontal movement. |
| US07729110B2 |
Fixing apparatus for hard disk drive
An exemplary fixing apparatus is for mounting a hard disk drive having a plurality of holes in sidewalls thereof. The fixing apparatus includes a first side plate, a bracket, a locking tab, and a transverse bar. The bracket includes an end plate, and a second side plate perpendicular to the end plate. The first side plate is pivotably attached to a free end of the end plate of the bracket. The transverse bar is pivotably attached to a free end of the second side plate of the bracket. The locking tab is attached to an outside of the first side plate to detachably engage with the transverse bar. |
| US07729099B2 |
Surge arrester
A surge arrester has a discharge current path. The discharge current path is surrounded by an insulating sleeve. The insulating sleeve has at least one area that is optically transparent. |
| US07729094B2 |
ESD protection circuit and method
A method and a device are disclosed herein for protecting a circuit including a first terminal and a second terminal from electrostatic discharges. The device comprises at least one current path, wherein each current path of the at least one current path includes a transistor and a first circuit element. A first load terminal of the transistor is coupled to the first terminal of the circuit. A second load terminal of the transistor is coupled to a control terminal of the transistor and to a first terminal of the first circuit element. A second terminal of the first circuit element is coupled to the second terminal of the circuit. A well terminal of the transistor is coupled to the second terminal of the circuit via a second circuit element. |
| US07729092B1 |
Shielded pole writer under reader
A read/write head for a disk drive having a magnetoresistive (MR) read element and an inductive write element suitable for perpendicular recording of data onto a disk having a media layer in which the data is stored perpendicularly to the planar surface of the disk and a soft underlayer (SUL) underneath the media layer to provide a low reluctance return path for the magnetic recording field. The write element is formed on top of a substrate, with the read element on top of the write element on the other side of the write element from the substrate. A pancake write coil coils around a magnetic via that either connects to a write shield adjacent to the read element in one embodiment or directly to one of the read shields in a second embodiment. |
| US07729090B2 |
Disk drive device, actuator lock mechanism, inertia latch mechanism and inertia lever
Disclosed is an inertia latch mechanism capable of omitting erection of a pin for swinging an inertia lever. An inertia lever for use in the inertia latch mechanism is constituted of: a lever body swinging by inertia when an impact is applied thereto; a fixture fixed to a case of a disk drive device; and a plate spring member for connecting the lever body and the fixture and permitting swing of the lever body. |
| US07729089B1 |
Head-gimbal assembly including a flexure tongue with stand-offs arranged to facilitate lateral light entry
A head-gimbal assembly (HGA) is disclosed. The HGA comprises a head including a slider having a leading end and a trailing end that define a slider length. The head further includes a read transducer disposed at the trailing end. The HGA further comprises an adhesive material and a flexure that includes a tongue to which the head is adhered. The tongue includes three stand-offs in contact with the slider, each of the three stand-offs spanning a stand-off length that is one-half the slider length or less. Two of the three stand-offs are disposed adjacent the leading end. |
| US07729088B2 |
Magnetic disk apparatus with heating device and magnetic head slider used therefor
Embodiments of the invention achieve a decrease in electric power consumption while ensuring high recording density and high reliability in a magnetic disk apparatus. In one embodiment, a magnetic disk apparatus comprises a rotatable magnetic disk and a magnetic head slider to be able to fly above a surface of the magnetic disk. The magnetic head slider comprises an air bearing surface, by which the magnetic head slider is caused to fly and come near to the rotating surface of the magnetic disk with a predetermined spacing therebetween, recording and reproducing elements to perform at least one of recording on and reproduction from the magnetic disk, and a heating device to adjust a distance between the recording and reproducing elements and the surface of the magnetic disk. The heating device is mounted such that heating thereof causes a part of the air bearing surface to expand and project to increase a distance between the recording and reproducing elements and the surface of the magnetic disk. |
| US07729087B1 |
Magnetic recording head with resistive heating element located near the write coil
A magnetic head includes a slider body having a trailing surface meeting an air-bearing surface at a trailing edge and a thin-film transducer that includes a magnetic reproducing element with a magnetoresistive (MR) element disposed near the trailing edge within a gap material bounded by upper and lower shield layers. The thin-film transducer also includes a lower pole layer of a magnetic recording element disposed in a first general plane. The magnetic recording element further includes a coil having first and second turn layers disposed in second and third general planes, respectively. The magnetic head also includes resistive heating element with at least a portion of the heating element being disposed in a fourth general plane beneath both the lower pole layer and the coil but above the upper shield layer. Current flow through the heating element causes expansion of the magnetic reproducing and recording elements at the ABS. |
| US07729082B2 |
Application of PFPES for HDD screw lubricant
The present invention relates to HDD screws, and more specifically to lubricating the HDD screws. HDD screws may be coated in a layer of a PFPE based lubricant to reduce friction while fastening the screw into a HDD. In addition to providing superior lubricity and reduced friction during fastening and longer shelf life, PFPE lubricated screws provide narrower clamping load distribution and lower particle generation compared to currently used screw lubricants. Furthermore, because PFPE lubricants are also used to lubricate magnetic disk surfaces, the HDD screws may provide a reservoir for replenishing depleting lubricants on the magnetic disk drive surface. |
| US07729081B1 |
On-line bias estimator in hard disk drives
A hard disk drive with a circuit that provides a control signal to a voice coil motor to move a head across a disk of the drive. The drive includes a flex circuit that applies a bias force onto an actuator arm coupled to the head. The circuit includes a state estimator that provides a plurality of estimation errors and a bias estimator that creates a bias estimate. The bias estimate includes an average of the estimation errors and is a function of the flex circuit bias force. The bias estimate is used to create the control signal provided to the voice coil motor. The bias estimate reduces seek time during a seek routine. |
| US07729079B1 |
Disk drive estimating fly height using a PLL tuned by a fly height capacitance
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk, a head actuated over the disk, and control circuitry operable to estimate a fly height of the head by tuning a phase locked loop (PLL) in response to a fly height capacitance. In one embodiment, the PLL comprises a resistive component having a second terminal coupled to the fly height capacitance, a variable oscillator operable to generate a first oscillating signal applied to a first terminal of the resistive component to generate a second oscillating signal at the second end of the resistive component, and a phase detector operable to generate a control signal by comparing a phase of the first oscillating signal to a phase of the second oscillating signal. The control signal is applied to the variable oscillator to adjust a frequency of the first oscillating signal. |
| US07729077B2 |
Disk drive write driver and associated control logic circuitry
An H-bridge driver for a disk drive system includes first and second high side switched legs and first and second low side switched legs. An inductor head for writing data to and reading data from a magnetic media is connected to form a center of the H-bridge. The system includes a voltage regulator circuit that generates a common mode regulated voltage. First and second high side logic circuits, which selectively control operation of the first and second high side switched legs, are coupled between a high reference voltage and the common mode regulated voltage. First and second low side logic circuits, which control the first and second low side switched legs, are coupled between the common mode regulated voltage and ground. |
| US07729072B2 |
Open write-head-cable test method and detector
A storage drive implements a method for operating the storage drive between a plurality of operational modes. For a test mode of the storage drive, a write current driver circuit and a test current sensor are electrically connected to the write head, wherein the test current sensor generates a sense signal indicative of a degree of a flow of a test current through the write head to thereby facilitate a detection of any presence of an open write condition of the storage drive (i.e., any impedance condition impeding a flow of a write current through the write head). For a write mode of the storage drive, the write current driver circuit is electrically connected to the write head and the test current sensor is electrically disconnected from the write head, wherein the write head records data on a magnetic media based on a flow of the write current through the write head. |
| US07729071B2 |
Readback apparatus and readback method
A readback apparatus (a) calculates a variance value of a signal read by a head from a disc medium, (b) estimates a degree of offtracking of the head from a target track to an adjacent track, and interference power from the adjacent track using the variance value of the signal, (c) calculates a soft decision likelihood value for the signal using the degree of offtracking and the interference power, and (d) performs error correcting decoding using the soft decision likelihood value. |
| US07729070B2 |
Method and apparatus for interpolating peak detection of servo stripe pulses
A method and device for detecting a peak which is substantially the same as the actual peak are disclosed. In one embodiment, the device includes a filter, a shift register, a controller and a digital interpolator. The filter is configured to receive a plurality of signal samples and the shift register, which is coupled with the filter, has multiple registers. The shift register is configured to receive the plurality of signal samples and to shift the plurality of signal samples through the registers. The controller is coupled with the shifter register and is configured to detect a zero-crossing event in the signal samples. The digital interpolator is coupled with the controller and configured to perform a binary search to identify a peak substantially the same as the actual peak. |
| US07729069B2 |
Lens module and camera module having same
An exemplary lens module includes a barrel, a lens received in the barrel, a movable coil unit, and a magnet. The movable coil unit includes a first coil and a plurality of resilient elements. The first coil is wound around a peripheral sidewall of the lens in a first winding direction. The first coil is mounted in the barrel. A first end of each of the resilient elements is connected to the first coil, and a second end of each of the resilient elements is mounted to an inner surface of the barrel. The first coil is movable along the optical axis, thus driving the lens to move along the optical axis. The magnet is received in the barrel and faces the first coil. |
| US07729059B2 |
Camera device
An exemplary camera device includes a holder, an image sensor, an outer barrel with an axis, an inner barrel unit. The image sensor is disposed in the holder. The inner barrel unit includes an inner barrel and at least one lens disposed in the inner barrel. The inner barrel is threadedly received in the outer barrel. The holder includes a first ring-shaped part, and the outer barrel includes a second ring-shaped part. The first ring-shaped part is coupled to the second ring-shaped part. |
| US07729055B2 |
Method and apparatus providing concave microlenses for semiconductor imaging devices
A method and apparatus providing an imaging device with a system of convex and concave microlenses at different levels over an array of photosensors. The concave microlenses redirect leaking light, which is not directed by the convex lenses onto the photosensors, onto the photosensors. |
| US07729054B2 |
Optical diffuser for producing a circular light field
The optical diffuser has a transparent base body with a base body surface, which is divided into facets. Each facet has an elevation or a depression correlated or associated with a second curved surface. Respective facets have correspondingly different geometrical shapes. In some embodiments the respective apexes (S) of the elevations or depressions are arranged along a spiral, especially an Archimedean spiral. In other embodiments the apexes (S) are defined by coordinates (xs′, ys′) derived by rotation of coordinates (xp, yp) of all points (P), which are defined by an arrangement of facets with regular hexagonal edge contours, about a center (0, 0) through a twist angle (δ). Alternatively the apexes (S) are defined by coordinates (xs″, ys″) derived from coordinates (xp, yp) of all points (P), which are defined by the arrangement of facets with regular hexagonal edge contours, by random variations with the help of a Monte Carlo method. The optical diffuser according to the invention produces a circular soft-edged light field, which is outstanding for photographic applications. |
| US07729053B2 |
Wavelength filter with a broad bandwidth of reflection spectrum
A wavelength filter, includes a grating in which a first portion extends in X direction on a substrate surface and a second portion extends in the X direction along the first portion and are alternately arranged in Y direction perpendicular to the X direction on the substrate surface at a constant cycle shorter than a wavelength of light to be used. A cross-sectional figure of respective first portions in the Y direction and perpendicular to the substrate surface is provided with at least one protruding portion so as to have the width in the Y direction wider than neighboring portions. Plural waveguide layers parallel to the substrate surface are divided by regions parallel to the substrate surface. Wavelength bands of light reflected from the plural waveguide layers shift while overlapping with each other to reflect a wavelength band broader than that reflected from a single waveguide layer. |
| US07729050B2 |
Diffusion sheet, rear projection screen provided with diffusion sheet, method of manufacturing mold for diffusion sheet, and method of manufacturing diffusion sheet
In a diffusion sheet, a plurality of approximately trapezoidal columnar unit lens portions are disposed such that the long-axis directions thereof are in parallel with each other, and all the surfaces of the unit lens portions, which correspond to the long bottom segments of the approximately trapezoidal sections of the unit lens portions are disposed on a light-incident-side flat surface. Further, light absorbing portions are disposed in the grooves between adjacent unit lens portions to absorb and/or shield external light incident from a light outgoing side. In the diffusion sheet arranged as described above, light incident on the unit lens portions from a light incident side is totally reflected on the surfaces corresponding to the side segments of the approximately trapezoidal sections vertical to the long-axis direction of the unit lens portions and outgoes from the light outgoing side. |
| US07729049B2 |
3-d optical microscope
A 3-D optical microscope, a method of turning a conventional optical microscope into a 3-D optical microscope, and a method of creating a 3-D image on an optical microscope are described. The 3-D optical microscope includes a processor, at least one objective lens, an optical sensor capable of acquiring an image of a sample, a mechanism for adjusting focus position of the sample relative to the objective lens, and a mechanism for illuminating the sample and for projecting a pattern onto and removing the pattern from the focal plane of the objective lens. The 3-D image creation method includes taking two sets of images, one with and another without the presence of the projected pattern, and using a software algorithm to analyze the two image sets to generating a 3-D image of the sample. The 3-D image creation method enables reliable and accurate 3-D imaging on almost any sample regardless of its image contrast. |
| US07729047B1 |
Method of shifting and fixing optical frequency of an optical resonator, and optical resonator made by same
A method of shifting and fixing an optical frequency of an optical resonator to a desired optical frequency, and an optical resonator made by such a method are provided. The method includes providing an optical resonator having a surface and a refractive index, and obtaining a coating composition having a predetermined concentration of a substance and having a refractive index that is substantially similar to the refractive index of the optical resonator. The coating composition inherently possesses a thickness when it is applied as a coating. The method further includes determining a coating ratio for the surface of the optical resonator and applying the coating composition onto a portion of the surface of the optical resonator based upon the determined coating ratio. |
| US07729046B2 |
Solid-state laser device with a crystal array
In a laser device, a crystal array includes a laser gain crystal and an optically non-linear frequency conversion crystal. A pump source couples at least two mutually spatially separated pump beams into the crystal array. Between two pump beams, a saw kerf of the crystal array extends parallel to the pump beams. |
| US07729040B2 |
Electrophoretic display device and electronic apparatus
An electrophoretic display device includes; a first substrate having a plurality of pixel electrodes in a display region thereof; and an electrophoretic sheet that includes a second substrate on which a common electrode, an electrophoretic layer, and an adhesive layer are laminated. The electrophoretic sheet is bonded to the display region of the first substrate via the adhesive layer. The distance between neighboring pixel electrodes among the plurality of pixel electrodes is 5 μm or more. |
| US07729039B2 |
Components and methods for use in electro-optic displays
A front plane laminate useful in the manufacture of electro-optic displays comprises, in order, a light-transmissive electrically-conductive layer, a layer of an electro-optic medium in electrical contact with the electrically-conductive layer, an adhesive layer and a release sheet. This front plane laminate can be prepared as a continuous web, cut to size, the release sheet removed and the laminate laminated to a backplane to form a display. Methods for providing conductive vias through the electro-optic medium and for testing the front plane laminate are also described. |
| US07729037B2 |
Methods and apparatus for spatial light modulation
Improved apparatus and methods for spatial light modulation are disclosed which utilize optical cavities having both front and rear reflective surfaces. Light-transmissive regions are formed in the front reflective surface for spatially modulating light. |
| US07729035B2 |
Acousto-optic modulators for modulating light signals
Devices for modulating light signals. A modulator includes a rolled optical fiber cable having a preset tensile stress along the longitudinal axis thereof, a coating layer applied to the rolled optical cable, and at least one piezo acoustic transducer secured to the coating layer. The piezo acoustic transducer is operative to generate a sound wave that modulates a frequency of a light signal passing through the rolled optical fiber cable. |
| US07729034B2 |
Ionic colored liquid and image display apparatus using the same
An ionic colored liquid according to the present invention moves with a voltage application, and contains as principal components at least a coloring material whose base material is a pigment, and an ambient temperature molten salt combining a cation and an anion. The coloring material has a mean volume particle diameter of equal to or smaller than 5 μm and a coefficient of variation in a volume particle size distribution of equal to or smaller than 50. In an image display apparatus according to the present invention, a surface energy of the ionic colored liquid (21) is varied according to whether or not a voltage is applied to the ionic colored liquid (21), thereby moving the ionic colored liquid (21) or increasing/decreasing a surface area of the liquid on a display surface side, so that an image is displayed. In this manner, the ionic colored liquid can be dispersed stably in a dispersion medium and applied to an electric-field induction type electronic paper display or the like. |
| US07729027B2 |
Image-formed object and method for producing the same
The present invention provides an image-formed object having security property improved, in which, even in the case where the image-formed object comprises a plurality of optical diffraction structures, the presence of each optical diffraction structure is hardly recognized.An image-formed object comprises a background region where an optical diffraction structure for background focusing a predetermined design as a hologram image at a predetermined image-formation distance, and at least one inset region provided so as to be inset in the background region, wherein, in the inset region, an optical diffraction structure for inset focusing a hologram image of the same design and color as the hologram image of the optical diffraction structure for background is formed at an image-formation distance different from the image-formation distance of the optical diffraction structure for background. |
| US07729023B2 |
Image reading apparatus and image reading method
An image reading apparatus which is capable of preventing images read from a double-sided original from suffering an in-surface color irregularity on each of images read from the respective opposite sides of a double-sided original and a color difference between the front and reverse. A CCD line sensor reads a front-side original image. An image processing ASIC calculates shading correction data for performing shading correction on original image data read from the original image by the CCD line sensor, based on read luminance values obtained by the CCD line sensor by reading a plurality of halftone gradation patches thereon on a correction chart. The shading correction data calculated by the image processing ASIC is corrected based on read luminance values associated, respectively, with at least two of the gradation patches. |
| US07729022B2 |
Method for processing image
A method for processing an image is provided. The method is to calculate the amount of original gray levels in a frame according to the original gray level difference between each pixel and an adjacent pixel thereof and adjusts the contrast of the frame according to the calculated amount of gray levels and the contrast difference between the current frame and the previous frame. |
| US07729020B2 |
Transmission mechanism of image scanner with adjustable resolution
A transmission mechanism of an image scanner with adjustable resolution is disclosed. The transmission device is driven by a step motor to move a carriage to perform a scanning operation at a selected speed The transmission device includes a transmission control set switched between a first and a second transmission states in response to a command for changing a moving speed of the carriage, and driven by the step motor to output a transmission power; a first transmission set of a first deceleration ratio, coupled with the transmission control set to receive the transmission power from the transmission control set in the first transmission state, and providing the transmission power for the carriage to have the carriage move at a first speed; and a second transmission set of a second deceleration ratio different from the first deceleration ratio, coupled with the transmission control set to receive the transmission power from the transmission control set in the second transmission state, and providing the transmission power for the carriage to have the carriage move at a second speed. |
| US07729019B2 |
Image reading system and image reading program
An object of this invention is to provide an image reading apparatus which can reselect a film type after prescanning, and after confirming the result on the monitor, perform actual scanning. To achieve this object, a film scanner selects from a color table storage a color table corresponding to the type of film, sets the color table in an image data converter, and performs prescanning. If the user reselects a film type after prescanning, the color table set before prescanning and a color table selected after prescanning are transferred to a confirmation image changing unit where the difference between the two tables is calculated. Pres-canned image data is transferred from a memory to the confirmation image changing unit, added to the difference, and returned to the memory. The color table selected after prescanning is set in the image data converter, and scanning for obtaining a high-resolution image is executed. |
| US07729018B2 |
Image processing system, image forming apparatus, image processing method and program recording medium
An image processing system includes a pattern detecting unit that detects a plurality of patterns included in a read image, a magnification determining unit that determines a magnification of the reading the read image on the basis of positional relation between adjacent patterns out of the plurality of patterns detected by the pattern detecting unit, and an information detecting unit that detects information from the read image on the basis of the magnification determined by the magnification determining unit. |
| US07729012B2 |
Image processing apparatus, method of controlling image processing apparatus, image recognition method, image forming apparatus, information processing apparatus, and data processing method
An image processing apparatus is disclosed that controls a user interface according to image properties. The image processing apparatus includes a document data acquiring unit to acquire document data, an image recognizing unit to determine the image properties of the document data including a color and a gray level of the document data so as to generate recognition data, and a user interface providing unit to receive the recognition data so as to provide the user interface. Operations that can be performed on the document data by the image processing apparatus through the user interface vary according to the recognition data. |
| US07729008B2 |
System for distributing and controlling color reproduction at multiple sites
The system provides for controlling color reproduction of input color image data in a network having nodes (or sites). The system distributes the input color image data from one of the nodes to other nodes, and provides data structures in the network. The system has means for providing color calibration data at each node characterizing output colors (colorants) of the rendering device of the node, and means for producing at each node, responsive to the color calibration data of the rendering device of the node, information for transforming the input color image data into output color image data at the rendering device of the node. The rendering device of each node renders a color reproduction responsive to the output color image data, wherein colors displayed in the reproduction at the rendering device of each node appear substantially the same within the output colors attainable by the rendering devices. |
| US07729006B2 |
Method and apparatus for improving the performance of a host-based color printing system
A host-based color printing system having a color printing accelerator module that assists the host processor in order to speed up the rate at which color formatting tasks are performed by the host. The color printing accelerator module has an I/O interface that connects to a first I/O port of the host computer of the host-based color printing system. A second I/O port of the host computer connects to an I/O interface of the printer. After the color formatting tasks have been performed by the host computer and the color printing accelerator module, the processed data is sent from the host computer to the printer for printing. |
| US07729005B2 |
Image forming apparatus and its control method
An engine control section detects that a sheet in a cassette is exhausted during duplex image formation. If a sheet with its first surface being printed is on standby in a duplexer, an image formation timing signal is output for a first surface of a sheet not fed because of a paper-out. Subsequently, an image formation timing signal is output for a second surface of the sheet that is in the duplexer and has its first surface printed. After completing the image formation of the second surface of the sheet, the operation is halted. |
| US07729003B2 |
Multi function device and program therefor
An image processing apparatus includes a print mode initializing unit, a print mode modifying unit, a data retaining unit that retains the modified print settings for a predetermined period, a data receiving unit that receives data, a storage unit that stores the data, a data size calculating unit that calculates a size of an available storage area of the storage unit and a size of print data in accordance with the modified print settings when the data receiving unit receives the data when the modified print settings are retained. A comparing unit outputs a signal in response to a condition where the size of print data exceeds the available storage area. A print mode adjustor modifies, in response to the signal, the print settings so that the print data can be stored in the available storage area. |
| US07729001B2 |
Integration of content-based relevant information into print jobs and applications using same
In a printing method, summarizing information is extracted from a print job. Additional content is generated based on the summarizing information. The additional content is integrated into the print job to produce an augmented print job including the additional content. The augmented print job is printed. In an illustrative advertising application, summarizing information is extracted from a print job, advertising content is selected from a database of advertising content based on the summarizing information, and the selected advertising content is integrated into the print job. |
| US07728999B2 |
Printing device driver
A driver for a printing device includes a communication protocol configured to retrieve capabilities of the printing device, invocation commands for invoking the capabilities of the printing device, and display strings for guiding display of the capabilities of the printing device for the printing device when the driver is initialized for use; a user interface configured to display the capabilities of the printing device for a user based on the display strings for the capabilities of the printing device as retrieved by the communication protocol; and a command emission protocol configured to render a print job of the user for the printing device based on the invocation commands for the capabilities of the printing device as retrieved by the communication protocol. |
| US07728997B2 |
Digital copying machine, image formation system, and digital copying machine as slave machine
A digital copying machine is connected to at least another one of digital copying machines with which data communications can be performed. The digital copying machine has a link copy function that a document is set in the machine itself or another digital copying machine and at least two units of the digital copying machines share the job of executing copy operation on the document, and a printer function of printing according to a print request from the outside. When receiving the print request from the outside during the copy operation based on the link copy function from its start to finish, the digital copying machine puts the print request on hold. |
| US07728996B2 |
Image processing apparatus
An image processing apparatus includes an input unit to input an image, a connection unit to perform connection to an external network, an output unit to output a request for processing the input image to a unit connected thereto through the external network, and a control unit to perform connection to an authentication unit connected to the external network using the connection unit and requesting the authentication unit for an authentication process, when the output unit outputs the request for the processing. |
| US07728990B2 |
Image measuring system and methods of generating and executing non-stop image measuring program
The position of an imaging means relative to a measurement stage is moved based on a stage movement instruction input. The amount of light illuminating a work is adjusted by flashing strobe illumination at a certain cycle repeatedly and adjusting the pulse width of the strobe illumination based on an illumination adjustment instruction input. A part program is generated for image measurement including fetching positional information about the imaging means relative to the measurement stage and information about the pulse width of the strobe illumination based on a certain instruction input, irradiating the measuring object with strobe illumination of the pulse width passing through the position indicated by the fetched positional information and fetched at that position, and capturing instantaneous image information about the work. |