| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US07743426B2 |
Information data and management data processing apparatus and method
There is provided an information processing method/apparatus for demultiplexing object streams from a datastream which includes a plurality of object streams each having predetermined information, and decoding, synthesizing, and outputting the object streams, wherein the object streams are authenticated, and whether or not the playback control of a predetermined object stream is done before or after decoding of the predetermined object stream is determined in accordance with the method and result of authentication. |
| US07743424B2 |
Method for protecting data in a hard disk
The present invention discloses a method for protecting data in a hard disk, such that when a computer executes a power-on self test (POST) of a basic input/output system (BIOS), completes initialization of memories and calls an interrupt routine of the BIOS to read a hard disk area after initialization program codes of interface devices of all hard disk are executed, the computer will determine whether or not the hard disk has added a protection description data with a portion that matches with a computer identification code of the computer before accessing data in the hard disk. |
| US07743406B2 |
System and method of preventing alteration of data on a wireless device
A system and method for securing data on a wireless device. A secured zone is defined by a boundary sensor. A data processing system is coupled to the boundary sensor and a wireless device. If the data processing system detects that the signal strength of the wireless device has fallen below a first predetermined value for longer than a second predetermined value, the data processing system deletes a digital certificate corresponding to the wireless device from memory. Thus, when the wireless device is reintroduced into the secured zone, in response to determining that a digital certificate corresponding to the wireless device is not stored in memory, the disabling module disables the wireless device from operation within the secured zone. |
| US07743405B2 |
Method of authentication via a secure wireless communication system
A method of authentication via a secure wireless communication system; the method comprising sensing that a mobile device has come within range of a secure network; initiating a program within the mobile device offering the user a plurality of authentication options; processing the chosen authentication option and providing requested user data to a service provider for the secure network, only if the chosen authentication option within the mobile device permits provision of the requested user data. |
| US07743400B2 |
Video data transmission/reception system in which compressed image data is transmitted from a transmission-side apparatus to a reception-side apparatus
When transmission of on-demand video data interrupts transmission of broadcast video data from a distribution server 17 to a user terminal 18, the distribution server 17 transmits substitute I frame data to the terminal 18 after on-demand video data transmission in complete and before resuming broadcast video data transmission. The user terminal 18 decodes and displays the substitute I frame data, and then uses the decoded substitute I frame data as a reference frame to decode and display the first several frames of broadcast video data received directly after resumption of transmission. |
| US07743395B2 |
Method and system for user-aware video display
The present invention relates to a method and system for displaying a video signal in dependence on a user interaction. The system comprises a display for receiving the video signal, at least one transmitter for transmitting location signals, and at least three transceivers for receiving the location signals from the transmitter and for transmitting modified location signals. The geometric locations of the at least three transceivers are known to a computing device. The computing device is then able to derive a transmit location of the location signals based on the received modified location signals, wherein the computing device is adapted to modify the content of the video signal in response to the derived transmit location in dependence on the user interaction. |
| US07743393B2 |
Heat-dissipating structure of disc drive
A heat-dissipating structure of a disc drive comprises a tray and a diversion plate. The tray has a body with a concavity loading surface for loading a disc to be in and out the disc drive, and the loading surface has a central hole. Further the diversion plate is disposed on one side of the loading surface, and connected to the loading surface, wherein the diversion plate extends downward and slopes from the connection of the diversion plate and the loading surface. |
| US07743388B2 |
Computer directory system having an application integration driver infrastructure
An application integration driver infrastructure for facilitating the use of a distributed directory running in a computer network is provided. The infrastructure can transform specific directory events into a vendor-neutral data identification system and then use vendor-neutral transformation technologies to transform the neutral data identification into a specific application's data format, and vice-versa. The infrastructure receives an event from the distributed directory into a markup language generation system, such as an extensible markup language (“XML”) generator. The XML generator converts the event into XML data and provides the XML data to a transformation processing system, such as an extensible transformation language (“XSLT”) processor. The XSLT processor transforms the XML data to a predetermined format. The format can be dictated by a stylesheet provided to the XSLT processor, the stylesheet being responsive to requirements of a computer application. The transformed data is then provided to the application for the application to use in a conventional manner. The application may use an application shim to convert the transformed data into a native application program interface (“API”) for the application. |
| US07743384B2 |
Method and system for implementing an interrupt handler
A system for interrupt handling in Java is provided that includes an execution flow class, an execution flow scheduler, a Java virtual machine (JVM), and an interrupt handler class that extends the execution flow class. The execution flow class defines an execution flow execution method and a constructor that creates an execution flow context. The interrupt handler class defines a handler method for an interrupt and an execution flow execution method that overrides the execution flow execution method of the execution flow class. An interrupt handler object is instantiated using the interrupt handler class, the constructor creates an execution flow context for the handler method, and when the interrupt is signaled, the JVM invokes a native execution flow activation method in the execution flow scheduler to switch to the handler execution flow context and the execution flow execution method to initiate execution of the handler method. |
| US07743383B2 |
Adaptive cooperative scheduling
A method in a computer system for coordinating scheduling of threads among a plurality of processors. The method includes collecting, using a cooperative scheduling component (CSC), system data pertaining to the plurality of processors. The method further includes calculating, using the CSC, unified scheduling-related parameters (USRPs) from the system data. The method additionally includes furnishing the USRPs from the CSC to at least two of a thread launcher, a thread balancer, and a thread stealer, whereby at least two of the thread launcher, the thread balancer, and the thread stealer employ the USRPs to perform their respective scheduling-related tasks. |
| US07743382B2 |
System for deadlock condition detection and correction by allowing a queue limit of a number of data tokens on the queue to increase
The execution environment provides for scalability where components will execute in parallel and exploit various patterns of parallelism. Dataflow applications are represented by reusable dataflow graphs called map components, while the executable version is called a prepared map. Using runtime properties the prepared map is executed in parallel with a thread allocated to each map process. The execution environment not only monitors threads, detects and corrects deadlocks, logs and controls program exceptions, but also data input and output ports of the map components are processed in parallel to take advantage of data partitioning schemes. Port implementation supports multi-state null value tokens to more accurately report exceptions. Data tokens are batched to minimize synchronization and transportation overhead and thread contention. |
| US07743381B1 |
Checkpoint service
A computer accessible medium may be encoded with instructions which, when executed: replicate a checkpoint segment from a first local storage of a first node to at least one other node; and load a copy of the checkpoint segment from the other node to a second local storage of a second node. The checkpoint segment is stored into the first local storage by an application, and comprises a state of the application. The copy of the checkpoint segment is loaded into a second local storage responsive to a request from the second node to load the copy. The second node is to execute the application. In some embodiments, the copy of the checkpoint segment may also be loaded into a global storage. |
| US07743380B2 |
Monitoring clustered software applications
Embodiments of the invention distribute profiling responsibilities for a clustered application to various instances of the application that generally run on different computer hosts. In an embodiment, the profiling responsibility is measured in terms of metrics wherein each profiling agent of an instance collects metrics about that instance. The metrics are prioritized and assigned to instances such that the highest priority metrics are assigned if possible. Each metric is associated with an expected performance overhead, and the assignment of metrics to an instance is done such that the performance overhead on that instance and/or host does not exceed a threshold. Other embodiments are also disclosed. |
| US07743373B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing software catalog and providing configuration for installation
A method and apparatus enhancing software catalog manageability, providing abstract software configuration, and desired state management. A first mechanism enhances software catalog manageability. The first mechanism includes a software model that separates metadata of software from actual binaries of the software. A second mechanism abstracts software configuration for automation. The second mechanism includes a hierarchical software resource template structure that specifies parameters, dependencies between parameters, features, options, and parameters that cannot be predefined. A third mechanism provides for desired state management and patch compliance assessments. The third mechanism checks against a server template or software resource in a data center model against what is installed on actual machines to determine compliance. |
| US07743369B1 |
Enhanced function point analysis
A system for automatically counting function points is provided. The system includes an electronic document, an analysis component, and a user interface. The electronic document contains a sequence diagram that specifies interactions in a software application. The analysis component can analyze the interactions in the sequence diagram to identify a start point and an end point in the sequence diagram as a function point. The analysis component can also maintain a count of the function points. The user interface can promote counting one or more function points when more than one of the sequence diagrams involve data that is part of a set of data objects identified via the user interface. |
| US07743368B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing class hierarchy information for function devirtualization
A class hierarchy graph defining the baseclass-subclass relationship between classes in an object-oriented program is built by analysis of the intermediate representation of the program produced by a compiler front end. This representation includes virtual tables for classes that include virtual functions and type structure information for the classes provided to aid run time type identification (RTTI). The class hierarchy information cannot be identified from the virtual tables alone but can be identified from the type structure information. |
| US07743366B2 |
System and method for compiling a computer program
A system and method for compiling a computer program comprising (a) performing a compilation generating an initial mapping of each code portion of the program in the memory; b) evaluating and generating a cost value associated with the initial mapping; c) if the cost value does not satisfy a threshold cost value, re-performing the compilation having regard to the record of each memory section; d) re-evaluating and generating a revised cost value associated with the modified mapping; e) iteratively repeating steps (c) and (d) until a predetermined condition is met; and f) outputting the mapping whose associated cost value most closely satisfied the threshold cost value. Such an approach enables a reduction in the power consumption resulting from memory accesses, reduces local memory requirements, and reduces the risk that size and complexity of the computer program will be constrained by the given local program memory size. |
| US07743364B2 |
Work flow management system, work flow management apparatus and method
A work flow management system, a work flow management apparatus and a management method capable of managing the work flow through a plurality of devices are provided. The work flow management system includes a work flow management apparatus, and the desired job history information included in the job history information having the performance information of the job executed by the device in accordance with the work flow information is acquired from the device based on the job ID specifying the job. Even with the work flow through a plurality of devices, therefore, the job history information can be acquired thereby to manage the work flow. |
| US07743361B2 |
Providing block state information for a model based development process
A method and system for providing a block for use in a block diagram in a graphical modeling environment which is capable of outputting information regarding the dynamic state of the block. |
| US07743360B2 |
Graph browser and implicit query for software development
Software development items can be represented in a graph data structure. Relationships between the represented items can be detected and reflected in the graph data structure. Queries can be run against the data structure to determine which software development items are related to each other. Implicit query can be implemented in a software development context. A graph browser can present panes showing related items. |
| US07743358B2 |
Apparatus and method for segmenting edges for optical proximity correction
An apparatus and method for modifying a mask data set includes calculating a derivative of a figure-of-merit, indicative of a data set defined by a plurality of polygon edges and then segmenting polygon edges in response to said step of calculating. |
| US07743357B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining a process model that models the impact of CAR/PEB on the resist profile
An embodiment provides systems and techniques for determining a process model. During operation, the system may receive a first optical model which models a first optical system of a photolithography process. Next, the system may use the first optical model to determine a second optical model that models a second latent image that is formed by the first optical system at a second distance. The system may also use the first optical model to determine a third optical model that models a third latent image that is formed by the first optical system at a third distance. Next, the system may receive process data which is obtained by subjecting a test layout to the photolithography process. The system may then determine a process model using the first optical model, the second optical model, the third optical model, the test layout, and the process data. |
| US07743355B2 |
Method of achieving timing closure in digital integrated circuits by optimizing individual macros
Disclosed is a method for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness in achieving closure of large, complex, high-performance digital integrated circuits. Circuit macros are re-optimized and re-tuned in the timing closure loop by means of a reformulated objective function that allows the optimizer to improve the slack of all signals rather than just the most critical one(s). The incentive to improve the timing of a sub-critical signal is a diminishing function of the criticality of the signal. Thus all signals are improved during the optimization, with the highest incentive to improve on the most critical signals, leading to faster and more effective overall timing closure. |
| US07743352B2 |
Computer implemented method of high-level synthesis for the efficient verification of computer software
Verification friendly models for SAT-based formal verification are generated from a given high-level design wherein during construction the following guidelines are enforced: 1) No re-use of functional units and registers; 2) Minimize the use of muxes and sharing; 3) Reduce the number of control steps; 4) Avoid pipelines; 5) Chose functional units from “verification friendly” library; 6) Re-use operations; 7) Perform property-preserving slicing; 8) Support “assume” and “assert” in the language specification; and 8) Use external memory modules instead of register arrays. |
| US07743349B2 |
Method and system for finding an equivalent circuit representation for one or more elements in an integrated circuit
The present invention provides a method and a system for designing an integrated circuit comprising a plurality of elements. The method includes obtaining a lithography-simulated layout corresponding to at least one element. The lithography-simulated layout accounts for lithography effects on the element. The method further includes determination of an equivalent circuit representation that is compatible to a circuit analysis tool, corresponding to the lithography-simulated layout with respect to one or more performance characteristics and based on user preferences. The method also provides equivalent circuit representation to the circuit analysis tool that analyzes one or more performance characteristics of the elements. |
| US07743345B2 |
Display system for displaying key groups according to their functions
Individual keys necessary for operations are grouped into key groups according to their functions. Key groups which do not fall within a display block allotted for all the keys are further divided into sub-groups. Switching keys for switching to other sub-groups are added. An operator operates the switching keys to arrive at the intended key. |
| US07743344B2 |
Method for optimizing utilization of client capacity
The present invention relates to a method for optimizing the use of client capacity when providing information contents to a user. First, two modes of navigation of the client are defined: a first, continuous navigation mode, characterized by restricted movement among the contents, and a second, discontinuous mode, characterized by unrestricted movement among the contents. Then it is determined which mode of navigation the user is currently using, and the utilization of client capacity is adapted based on the currently used mode of navigation. In the first mode of navigation, user action can be more easily anticipated, and the client capacity can be used for improving the ongoing media consumption. In the second mode of navigation, user action is more difficult to predict, and client capacity may be needed for handling unexpected actions. |
| US07743336B2 |
Widget security
A widget security system, method and computer-readable medium detects a security event associated with a widget, assesses the risk associated with the security event, and initiates a security action based on the assessed risk. |
| US07743335B2 |
System and method for accessing registers of a hardware device in a graphical program
A system and method for creating a graphical program which accesses registers of a hardware device. In one embodiment, a register access node or primitive may be included in a graphical program, such that when the graphical program is executed on the computer system, the register access node is operable to access (i.e., either read or write) registers of a hardware device in the computer system. The method may comprise first displaying a register access node in the graphical program in response to user input. For example, the user may select the register access node from a palette and drag and drop the register access node onto a window of the graphical program being created. The user may then configure the register access node to access one or more registers of a selected hardware device, e.g., by using a user interface for performing this configuration. In one embodiment, the computer may store a description of the hardware device, wherein the register access node uses the description of the hardware device to access registers of the hardware device during execution of the graphical program. In one embodiment, configuring the register access node may include displaying a list of registers or a list of fields of registers described in the description of the hardware device and receiving user input to select one or more of the registers from the list of registers. The list may also or instead comprise a list of mnemonic names of registers and/or a list of mnemonic names of fields in the registers. The user may thus configure the register access node to access selected registers described in the description of the hardware device. |
| US07743332B2 |
User interface to display and manage an entity and associated resources
A user interface to display and manage a plurality of entities as if a single entity is provided. The user interface includes a representation of the collection of entities as a whole, and a representation of members associated with the entity. If an action is performed on the representation of the entities as a whole, then the action is propagated to the collection of entities, if the action is performed on the representation of the member associated with the entity, then the action is directed to the member. |
| US07743328B2 |
Preserving a process instance for use by different user interfaces
A guided process framework includes a process engine, one or more data stores, and one or more user interfaces configured to communicate with the process engine. A user can access a given process instance through any appropriately configured user interface, which contacts the process engine, and which in turn contacts/consults definitions for one or more guided processes at a data store. If the user finishes only part of a given process instance, the process engine can save state corresponding to the progress in the data store. A user can continue work on the process instance through a different user interface (or at a different computer system) by contacting the process engine through the different user interface, and receiving rendering information configured for the different user interface. Thus, the user can stop and start work on a process however desired, and with whatever tools are available at any given time. |
| US07743326B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, recording medium, and program
An information processing apparatus includes an output unit for outputting information. A first recording unit records first information for causing the output unit to output predetermined information. An analysis unit analyzes the first information. A determination unit determines whether to obtain second information that is referenced by the first information in accordance with an analysis result. An obtaining unit obtains the second information in accordance with a determination result. A second recording unit records the second information. A generation unit generates third information that is output from the output unit in accordance with the analysis result. The first information includes fourth information indicating a condition for obtaining the second information. The determination unit determines whether the condition is satisfied based on the fourth information. The obtaining unit obtains the second information when the condition is satisfied. |
| US07743325B2 |
Method and computer-readable medium for fitting text to shapes within a graphic
A method and computer-readable medium are provided for fitting text to shapes within a graphic. According to the method, initial constraints are defined that comprise initial values describing how a shape and text within the shape should be laid out. Constraint rules are also defined for use in modifying the initial constraints when application of the initial constraints to the text in a shape results in the text overflowing the boundaries of the shape. A change may be detected to the graphic that would affect the size or position of one or more of the shapes or the text within one of the shapes. If such a change causes text to overflow when laid out using the initial constraints, the constraint rules are applied sequentially to modify the constraints. The modified constraints are then reapplied to the shapes to create a new layout for the graphic. |
| US07743322B2 |
Automatic photo album page layout
A method for locating objects, such as images having fixed aspect ratios, within a predefined space, such as a printed page, is provided. The method comprises generating a binary tree structure comprising at least one node and a plurality of leaves, each leaf corresponding to an image and being associated with one node. The method further comprises characterizing a bounding box for each node in the binary tree structure, the bounding box establishing a boundary for all leaves associated with the node. The method also comprises manipulating bounding boxes to fit within the predefined space. The method may be selectively repeated to reposition images within the binary tree structure or to reform the binary tree structure and characterize and manipulate using the reformed binary tree structure. The end result is at least one potential layout having all images located within the predefined space. |
| US07743320B1 |
Method and system for determining page numbers of page images
Page numbering of images of pages in a document includes extracting all numbers that are exactly one different than a number found on an adjacent page, and grouping the extracted numbers into a set of sequences that describe the candidate page numbers in the book. The sequences most likely to contain candidates that represent the actual page numbers are determined by merging the most reliable sequences together to bridge gaps between the sequences, and identifying those gaps where the page numbers have been intentionally omitted. Page images are labeled with numbers that are determined to be most likely to represent the actual page number. Page numbering is abandoned when insufficient numbers of pages numbers are able to be extracted or assigned relative to the total number of pages in the document. |
| US07743316B2 |
Method and system for hiding sensitive data in an electronic spreadsheet environment
A method and system for hiding sensitive data in an electronic spreadsheet. A first output equation expresses output data as a function of at least one first input data and at least one first intermediary result. The at least one first and second intermediary result are assigned as content of intermediary cells of the spreadsheet. A second output equation is generated and expresses the output data as a function of a subset of the at least one first and second input data with no functional dependence on the plurality of intermediary results. Generation of the second output equation utilizes the first output equation and the plurality of first intermediary equations. The output data of the second output equation is assigned as content of an output cell of the spreadsheet. The content of the intermediary cells is removed, resulting in the plurality of intermediary results not being identifiable in the spreadsheet. |
| US07743315B2 |
System and method for low-density parity check (LDPC) code design
Disclosed is a density evolution algorithm based on a refined definition of node and edge densities for different parts of the code. In particular, density functions ƒV(1)(i) and ƒV(2)(i) of the output edges of the variable nodes with degree i within different codeword regions w1 and we, respectively, are defined and then calculated. Further, density functions ƒC(1)(j) and ƒC(2)(j) of the output edges for check nodes with degree j within codeword regions w1 and we, respectively, are defined and then calculated. Mixture density functions of output check edges connecting variable nodes in the first codeword region and the second codeword region are then calculated to determine an LDPC code design. |
| US07743311B2 |
Combined encoder/syndrome generator with reduced delay
A combined encoder/syndrome generator is provided that has a reduced delay. The combined encoder/syndrome generator generates check symbols during an encoding process and error syndromes during a decoding process. The combined encoder/syndrome generator has two or more blocks. The output of each block is fed as an input into a subsequent block. Each block can perform computations in parallel to reduce the delay of the encoding system. |
| US07743306B2 |
Test vector generating method and test vector generating program of semiconductor logic circuit device
The X-type of each bit permutation is determined (step 301). When there are X-types except for X-type 1, i.e., X-type with no don't-care bits, total capture state transition numbers TECTA1 and TECTA2 for capture clock pulses C1 and C2 are calculated (step 303). As a result, when TECTA1>TECTA2, an X-type is selected for the capture clock pulse C1 and a first X-filling processing is performed (see step 305). On the other hand, when TECTA1≦TECTA2, an X-type is selected for the capture clock pulse C2 and a second X-filling processing is performed (step 306). |
| US07743303B2 |
Defective memory block remapping method and system, and memory device and processor-based system using same
A non-volatile memory device includes a block remapping system that offsets an input block address by the addresses of non-functional blocks to provide an output block address that is used to address the memory device. The system generates the output block addresses by, in effect, adding to the input block address the addresses of all non-functional blocks of memory that are between an initial address and the output block address. The system performs this function be comparing the input block address to the address of any defective block. If the address of the defective block is less than or equal to the input block address, the addresses of all defective blocks starting at the block address are added to the input block address. The system then iteratively performs this process using each output block address generated by the system in place of the input block address. |
| US07743302B2 |
Compressing test responses using a compactor
The present disclosure describes embodiments of a compactor for compressing test results in an integrated circuit and methods for using and designing such embodiments. The disclosed compactors can be utilized, for example, as part of any scan-based design. Moreover, any of the disclosed compactors can be designed, simulated, and/or verified in a computer-executed application, such as an electronic-design-automation (“EDA”) software tool. Embodiments of a method for diagnosing faults in the disclosed compactor embodiments are also described. |
| US07743295B2 |
System and method for testing an integrated circuit
A system and method for testing an integrated circuit is disclosed. One embodiment includes at least one central processing unit, at least one volatile memory area, and an interface, wherein the volatile memory area is connected to the interface to be written thereto by the interface. The system includes a test device connected with the integrated circuit which is configured to stop the program execution, write data in the volatile memory by using the interface, and start the program execution. |
| US07743294B2 |
Diagnostic mode switching
A system is described having a JTAG diagnostic unit and a serial wire diagnostic unit. A watcher unit is connected to a data connection shared between the diagnostic units. Special patterns detected upon the shared data connection serve to switch between diagnostic modes with respective ones of the diagnostic units becoming active. |
| US07743288B1 |
Built-in at-speed bit error ratio tester
A built-in, at-speed BERT is provided that may be part of high-speed serial interface circuitry implemented on an integrated circuit. The built-in, at-speed BERT takes advantage of an existing clock data recovery (CDR) dual-loop architecture and built-in self test (BIST) circuitry. The built-in, at-speed BERT provides a low-cost solution for production testing of high-speed serial links, facilitating jitter analysis and evaluation of pre-emphasis and equalization performance. This further allows adaptation of pre-emphasis and equalization. |
| US07743287B2 |
Using SAM in error correcting code encoder and decoder implementations
SAM is a very attractive memory option for systems due to its higher speed and reduced area when compared to RAM. However it is generally not used in implementations of FECCs due to its limitation to sequential accesses. According to the present invention, Forward Error Correcting Code encoder and decoder structures are shown to allow the use of SAM in their memory designs. Thus SAM is utilized in FECC implementations to achieve better area efficiency for the same amount of memory as well as higher throughput for the hardware implementations. |
| US07743285B1 |
Chip multiprocessor with configurable fault isolation
One embodiment relates to a high-availability computation apparatus including a chip multiprocessor. Multiple fault zones are configurable in the chip multiprocessor, each fault zone being logically independent from other fault zones. Comparison circuitry is configured to compare outputs from redundant processes run in parallel on the multiple fault zones. Another embodiment relates to a method of operating a high-availability system using a chip multiprocessor. A redundant computation is performed in parallel on multiple fault zones of the chip multiprocessor and outputs from the multiple fault zones are compared. When a miscompare is detected, an error recovery process is performed. Other embodiments, aspects and features are also disclosed. |
| US07743284B1 |
Method and apparatus for reporting storage device and storage system data
A method for providing data regarding a storage system comprising storage devices is described herein. A storage management module of an operating system of the storage system may be used for servicing (e.g., monitoring or testing) storage devices according to servicing parameters. For each serviced storage device, a reporting module of the storage management module may collect storage device and storage system data upon the occurrence of predetermined events (e.g., when a storage device exhibits an error and monitoring begins, when monitoring ends, and when testing of the storage device ends). The collected data may be saved to a report file in a predetermined format and received by a program configured to automatically extract the data according to the predetermined format for use in storage device and storage system analysis and to determine modified servicing parameters used by the storage management module to service storage devices. |
| US07743283B1 |
Dynamically modifying parameters for servicing of storage devices
A storage management module is described herein for servicing, according to servicing parameters, storage devices of a storage system that are exhibiting errors, the servicing parameters being contained and read from an external parameters file (rather than being encoded as instructions in the storage management module). By using an external parameters file, the servicing parameters can be easily modified by reading a new file having modified parameters without requiring modification of the code instructions of the storage management module. The parameters file may comprise monitoring or testing parameters, such as error thresholds and recommended actions upon reaching an error threshold, wherein the parameters vary depending on storage device type or error type. The parameters file may be stored at a predetermined location on the storage system, whereby the storage management module may be configured to periodically examine the predetermined location to locate and read new parameter files (having modified parameters). |
| US07743281B2 |
Distributed file fuzzing
Embodiments provide a distributed file fuzzing environment. In an embodiment, a number of computing devices can be used as part of a distributing fuzzing system. Fuzzing operations can be distributed to the number of computing devices and processed accordingly. A group or team can be defined to process particular fuzzing operations that may be best suited to the group. The time required to perform a fuzzing operation can be reduced by distributing the fuzzing work to the number of computing devices. A client can be associated with each computing device and used in conjunction with fuzzing operations. |
| US07743275B1 |
Fault tolerant distributed storage method and controller using (N,K) algorithms
Data sets and blocks are stored in a set of independent, functionally equivalent chunks. These chunks are placed on different elements of a distributed network to achieve pre-defined level of fault tolerance. Terms of fault tolerance are defined in terms of amount of unavailable sites in the network allowing receipt and access to the data block. Maximal and minimal number of chunks available are variable method parameters. The minimal amount of data chunks K needed to restore a data block is defined. The size of each chunk is approximately 1/K of the original block size. The maximal amounts of chunks are defined during distribution operation and depend upon a requested fault tolerance level. Redundancy in data storage is minimized and varies dynamically by changing the total amount of chunks available. Significant increase in data transfer rate is possible because all block chunks could be transferred in parallel and independently. |
| US07743271B2 |
Use of a UUID as a time epoch to determine if the system clock has been reset backwards in time
A method, system and program are provided for determining if a system clock has been reset backwards in time by using a randomly generated set of bytes (such as a randomly generated or type 4 UUID) as a time epoch. By generating a time epoch at boot time and whenever the system clock is set back in time, an application can compare the time epoch value at an earlier point in its execution, with the current time epoch. If the time epoch values are different, the application will know that the system clock has been set back in time. |
| US07743269B2 |
System and method of managing power consumption of communication interfaces and attached devices
A system and method of managing power consumption of communication interfaces and attached devices is disclosed. In one form of the disclosure, a communication module can include a communication interface operable to receive link utilization information of a plurality of communication channels of the communication interface. The communication module can also include a processor operable to determine a percent utilization of the plurality of communication channels using the link utilization information. The processor can also be operable to initiate issuing a power management request of at least one of the plurality of communication channels in response to comparing the percentage of link utilization to a threshold level. |
| US07743265B2 |
System restart circuit and system restart method thereof
Disclosed are a system restart circuit and system restart method thereof. The system restart circuit includes a capacitive element, a first end of which is coupled to a first voltage level; a restart switch for coupling a second end of the capacitive element to the first voltage level selectively; a first circuit for establishing a current path between a second voltage level and the capacitive element during a restart time, and setting a voltage level of an enabling signal of a system power supplying circuit according to the voltage level of the second end of the capacitive element; and a second circuit for controlling the first circuit to continually establish the current path during the restart time. The present invention can spontaneously restart the system when a restart signal is detected, so that the hardware restart can be accomplished with low cost. |
| US07743264B2 |
Method and system of controlling operational state of a computer system via power button of a peripheral device
Methods and systems of controlling power of a computer system. At least some of the illustrative embodiments are methods comprising actuating a power button of a peripheral device coupled to a computer system, sending a message from the peripheral device to the computer system over a message-based communication pathway indicating actuation of the power button, and performing an action by the computer system based on the message. |
| US07743262B2 |
Integrated circuit incorporating protection from power supply attacks
An integrated circuit including: non-volatile memory for containing secret information; and a detection unit for preventing at least one form of power supply attack on the secret information, the detection unit comprising: a first comparator having a first input connected to a first reference voltage and a second input connected to a power supply line, the first comparator being configured to output a first detection signal when a power supply voltage moves beyond a first predetermined limit determined by the first reference voltage; and an output to provide a signal to delete, overwrite, or otherwise render unreadable at least the secret information in the memory when the first detection signal is output by the first comparator. |
| US07743258B2 |
Method for interacting with a memory device in cryptographic operations
A method for interacting with a memory device is provided. In this method, a cryptographic communication application is registered to be associated with a protocol type in a web browser. A message encapsulated in the protocol type from the web browser is received and thereafter transmitted to the memory device. Here, the message is associated with a cryptographic operation. |
| US07743254B2 |
Visualization of trust in an address bar
Described are a system and method for presenting security information about a current site or communications session. Briefly stated, a browsing software is configured to receive a certificate during a negotiation of a secure session between a local device and a remote device. The certificate includes security information about a site maintained at the remote device. The security information is displayed to a user of the browsing software in a meaningful fashion to allow the user to make a trust determination about the site. Displaying the security information may include presenting a certificate summary that includes the most relevant information about the certificate, such as the name of the owner of the site and the name of the certificating authority of the certificate. |
| US07743253B2 |
Digital signature for network coding
Digital signatures for network coding are described. In one aspect, digital signatures for network coding are described. In one aspect, segmented blocks of content for distribution are digitally signed using homomorphic digital signatures generated from an elliptic curve. A linear combination of packets comprising the digitally signed content is distributed to a destination device according to an implemented distribution scheme. The linear combination of packets includes public information when digitally signing the segmented blocks. The homomorphic digital signatures and the public information allow a device receiving one or more packets of the linear combination of packets to verify and authenticate content associated with the one of our packets independent of secure transmission of secret keys and hash digests used to digitally sign the one or more packets. |
| US07743250B2 |
Traffic manager for distributed computing environments
Techniques suitable for facilitating communications between various computer programs operating on various nodes in a distributed computing environment are disclosed. The techniques can be used by a traffic manager operating in such environments. The traffic manager is capable of monitoring traffic exchanged between client and server programs operating in the distributed computing environment. Moreover, the traffic manager can be used to implement a variety of desirable features across different computing environments. These computing environments are typically separated by one or more distinguishing characteristics. As will be appreciated, the traffic manager provides an integral and cost effective solution which can bridge these distinguishing characteristics as well as define and enforce policies across disparate computing environments. This is achieved by centralizing the generation of interfaces which allow interaction between any of the nodes in a distributed computing system. This avoids the redundancy and inefficiency inherent in building these capabilities in each node, particularly in complex systems. |
| US07743246B2 |
Method and apparatus for securely exchanging cryptographic identities through a mutually trusted intermediary
A method of securely exchanging cryptographic identities through a mutually trusted intermediary is disclosed. Data, which specifies a petitioner's cryptographic identity and a petitioner's resource identifier, is received. Input, which specifies an authority's resource identifier, is received. The petitioner's cryptographic identity and the petitioner's resource identifier are sent to a destination that is associated with the authority's resource identifier. Data, which specifies the authority's cryptographic identity, is received. The authority's cryptographic identity is sent to a destination that is associated with the petitioner's resource identifier. |
| US07743244B2 |
Computer system model generation with tracking of actual computer system configuration
The present invention provides a system and method for generating models of a computer system. The method involves generating an original model of a computer system in an original configuration, and performing an original series of changes of the original model to yield an intermediate model. The original series of changes is recorded. The method further involves tracking the actual configuration of the computer system so as to detect a revised configuration of the computer system. Then, a resultant model is generated that corresponds to the computer system in a potential resultant system configuration that would result from a series of reconfigurations corresponding to said original series of changes or a revision thereof being applied to the system in its revised configuration rather than in its original configuration. |
| US07743243B2 |
System and method to enable teamed network environments during network based initialization sequences
A system and method to enable teamed network environments during network based initialization sequences is disclosed. In one form of the disclosure, an information handling system can include a plurality of communication modules. One of the communication modules can be used to store a first teaming application. The information handling system can also include a processor configured to execute the first teaming application to provide a teamed network environment using the plurality of communication modules to load an operating system during a pre-boot initialization. |
| US07743242B2 |
Method and system for automatic generation of operating system boot images
A method, system and computer program product for automatically generating an operating system boot image for remotely booting a target machine is provided. The operating system boot image is installed on a first machine. The first machine and the target machine are connected with each other. Further, the hardware information of the target machine is extracted. An example of the hardware information includes Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) devices present on the target machine. The operating system boot image is configured, based on the hardware information. |
| US07743240B2 |
Apparatus, method and program product for policy synchronization
Applications which function under a first operating system also function when it becomes necessary to call into action a second operating system due to provision having been made for configuration and other settings necessary to the execution of such applications (here generically called policy settings or policy source data) to be made available to the second operating system. |
| US07743239B2 |
Accelerating integrity checks of code and data stored in non-volatile memory
In some embodiments, a command may be used by a host processor to access certain information from a non-volatile memory, together with a message authentication code. That information may be utilized to generate a message authentication code on the processor. Then, in any future accesses, the message authentication code generated by the host processor may be compared to the message authentication code from the non-volatile memory to determine the integrity of data or code that is received from the non-volatile memory. |
| US07743235B2 |
Processor having a dedicated hash unit integrated within
A parallel hardware-based multithreaded processor is described. The processor includes a general purpose processor that coordinates system functions and a plurality of microengines that support multiple hardware threads or contexts. The processor also includes a memory control system that has a first memory controller that sorts memory references based on whether the memory references are directed to an even bank or an odd bank of memory and a second memory controller that optimizes memory references based upon whether the memory references are read references or write references. Instructions for switching and branching based on executing contexts are also disclosed. |
| US07743232B2 |
Multiple-core processor with hierarchical microcode store
A multiple-core processor having a hierarchical microcode store. A processor may include multiple processor cores, each configured to independently execute instructions defined according to a programmer-visible instruction set architecture (ISA). Each core may include a respective local microcode unit configured to store microcode entries. The processor may also include a remote microcode unit accessible by each of the processor cores. Any given one of the processor cores may be configured to generate a given microcode entrypoint corresponding to a particular microcode entry including one or more operations to be executed by the given processor core, and to determine whether the particular microcode entry is stored within the respective local microcode unit of the given core. In response to determining that the particular microcode entry is not stored within the respective local microcode unit, the given core may convey a request for the particular microcode entry to the remote microcode unit. |
| US07743227B1 |
Volume restoration using an accumulator map
In a process to restore a data volume in a first memory, a virtual point-in-time (PIT) copy of the data volume is created. Creating the virtual PIT copy includes creating first, second and third maps in memory. Each of the first, second, and third maps includes a plurality of multi-bit entries. Each of the entries of the first and second maps corresponds to a respective memory region of the first memory, while each of the entries of the third map corresponds to a respective memory region of a second memory for storing data of the virtual PIT copy. |
| US07743222B2 |
Methods, systems, and media for managing dynamic storage
Methods, systems, and media for managing dynamic memory are disclosed. Embodiments may disclose identifying nodes with having memory for dynamic storage, and reserving a portion of the memory from the identified nodes for a heap pool. After generating a heap pool, embodiments may allocate dynamic storage from the heap pool to tasks received that are associated with one of the identified nodes. More specifically, embodiments identify the node or home node associated with the task, the amount of dynamic storage requested by the task, and create a heap object in the node associated with the task to provide the requested dynamic storage. Some embodiments involve de-allocating the dynamic storage assigned to the task upon receipt of an indication that the task is complete and the dynamic storage is no longer needed for the task. Several of such embodiments return the de-allocated dynamic storage to the heap pool for reuse. |
| US07743221B2 |
Memory sharing method for sharing SRAM in an SOC device
A memory sharing method for at least a functional module and a target module is disclosed. The functional module includes at least a static random access memory (SRAM), the memory sharing method includes the steps of calculating a memory capacity of the functional module; if a total memory capacity of a module group satisfies a memory capacity requirement of the target module, allocating the SRAM of the module group, wherein the module group comprises at least one functional module; and accessing the SRAM of the functional module of the module group by utilizing the target module. |
| US07743219B2 |
Information processing unit, computer control method, and information storage medium
An information processing unit, a computer control method, and an information storage device are provided to acquire performance information during data processing and realize efficient data processing by changing data processing details as appropriate based on the information. An information processing unit includes: a data processing part 70 that processes data, an event detecting part 72 that detects predetermined events in the processing of the data processing part 70, a frequency information storage part 74 that stores frequency information the occurrence of the predetermined events detected by the event detecting part 72, a restriction judging part 76 that judges whether or not the processing of the data processing part 70 have been restricted based on the frequency information stored in the frequency information storage part 74, and a processing changing part 78 that changes details of the processing of the data processing part 70 when the restriction judging part 76 judges that the processing of the data processing part 70 have been restricted. |
| US07743213B2 |
Portable storage device with network function
A portable storage device with network function includes a network file management system, via which an electronic apparatus coupled to the portable storage device manages the access of files between a memory unit of the portable storage device and a remote network host. Therefore, the portable storage device with network function is more convenient for use. |
| US07743211B2 |
Cluster-type storage system and managing method of the cluster-type storage system
A storage system 1 includes: plural protocol transformation units 10 that transform, to a protocol within the system, a read/write protocol of data exchanged with servers 3 or hard disk groups 2; plural cache control units 21 that include cache memory units 111 storing data read/written with the servers 3 or the hard disk groups 2 and which include the function of controlling the cache memory units 111; and an interconnection network 31 that connects the protocol transformation units 10 and the cache control units 21. In this storage system 1, the plural cache control units 21 are divided into plural control clusters 70, control of the cache memory units 111 is independent inside the control clusters, and a system management unit 60 that manages, as a single system, the plural protocol transformation units 10 and the plural control clusters 70 is connected to the interconnection network 30. |
| US07743204B2 |
Non-volatile memory device and data access circuit and data access method
A non-volatile memory device, a data access circuit and a data access method are provided. The non-volatile memory device includes a main controller, a plurality of sub-controllers and a plurality of memory blocks. The sub-controllers are coupled to the main controller and are used to execute the tasks assigned by the main controller. The memory blocks are respectively coupled to the corresponding sub-controllers. The main controller is used to divide a received main data into a plurality of sub-data, and the sub-data are respectively saved in the memory blocks through corresponding sub-controllers. Therefore, the data access speed of the non-volatile memory device is substantially speeded-up. |
| US07743197B2 |
System and method for virtualizing PCIe devices
An intelligent network processor is disclosed that provides a PCI express (PCIe) host bus adapter with firmware selectable hardware capabilities and firmware enabled emulation of capabilities not supported by hardware. Support for Fibre Channel (FC) and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) protocols are provided through the same fabric ports, including multiple port trunking for both protocols. On chip protocol conversion is provided for switching and routing between FC and GbE ports. Switching using the same crossbar module is provided for both FC and GbE protocols. The crossbar module is coupled to directly access external DDR memory so that messages from FC, GbE, and PCIe interfaces may be switched directly to the DDR memory. |
| US07743195B2 |
Interrupt mailbox in host memory
Embodiments of an interrupt mailbox in host memory are described herein. In an implementation, a device connected to a host writes interrupt data corresponding to an interrupt generated by the device to host memory. Then, the host, when processing the interrupt, accesses the interrupt data from the host memory. |
| US07743192B2 |
Method of determining request transmission priority subject to request content and transmitting request subject to such request transmission priority in application of Fieldbus communication framework
A method of determining request transmission priority subject to request content and transmitting request subject to such request transmission priority in application of Fieldbus communication framework in which the communication device determines whether the received requests have the priority subject to the respective content, and also determines whether there is any logical operation condition established, and then the communication device transmits the received external requests to the connected slave device as an ordinary request or priority request, preventing the slave device from receiving an important external request sent by the main control end or manager at a late time. |
| US07743191B1 |
On-chip shared memory based device architecture
A method and architecture are provided for SOC (System on a Chip) devices for RAID processing, which is commonly referred as RAID-on-a-Chip (ROC). The architecture utilizes a shared memory structure as interconnect mechanism among hardware components, CPUs and software entities. The shared memory structure provides a common scratchpad buffer space for holding data that is processed by the various entities, provides interconnection for process/engine communications, and provides a queue for message passing using a common communication method that is agnostic to whether the engines are implemented in hardware or software. A plurality of hardware engines are supported as masters of the shared memory. The architectures provide superior throughput performance, flexibility in software/hardware co-design, scalability of both functionality and performance, and support a very simple abstracted parallel programming model for parallel processing. |
| US07743189B2 |
PCI function south-side data management
A hypervisor, during device discovery, has code which can examine the south-side management data structure in an adapter's configuration space and determine the type of device which is being configured. The hypervisor may copy the south-side management data structure to a hardware management console (HMC) and the HMC can populate the data structure with south-side data and then pass the structure to the hypervisor to replace the data structure on the adapter. In another embodiment the hypervisor may copy the data structure to the HMC and the HMC can instruct the hypervisor to fill-in the data structure, a virtual function at a time, with south-side management data associations. The administrator can assign south-side data, such as a MAC address for a virtual instance of an Ethernet device, to LPARs sharing the adapter. Thus, a standard way to manage the south-side data of virtual functions is provided. |
| US07743186B2 |
Serialization of data for communication with different-protocol slave in multi-chip bus implementation
Bus communication for components of a system on a chip. In one aspect of the invention, a system including bus communication to a slave includes a bridge operative to interface a first bus protocol to a bus matrix that uses a second bus protocol. A first serializer coupled to the bridge serializes information received from the bridge and sends the serialized information over a communication bus. A second serializer coupled to the communication bus receives the serialized information and deserializes the serialized information. A slave uses the first protocol and is coupled to the second serializer, where the deserialized information is provided to the slave, and the slave provides a response to the information from the bridge. |
| US07743177B2 |
High sensitivity global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver platform having DMA controller for transferring between internal and external memory
Provided herein is multi-function platform comprising a plurality of devices and a large memory that is external to the devices and shared among the devices. In an embodiment, a Direct Memory Access (DMA) controller is provided for each device to efficiently transfer data between the device and the shared memory. More than one DMA may be provided for a device. For example, separate DMAs may be provided for different components of a device that perform different subfunctions enabling efficient transfer of data between the different components of the device and the shared memory. In another embodiment, each device comprises a local embedded memory and is provided with a DMA for transferring data between the local memory and the shared memory. Examples of devices that can be included in the platform include a GNSS receiver, a audio player, a video player, a wireless communication device, a routing device, or the like. |
| US07743174B2 |
Dual utilization of a physical port of an electronic device
An electronic device has a physical port, and a control circuit coupled to the physical port. The control circuit is arranged to electrically sense the physical port, and operate the physical port as one of an Ethernet port and an RS-232 port based on electrically sensing the physical port. In some arrangements, the physical port operates as an Ethernet port at one time and an RS-232 port at another time. In some arrangements, the electronic device senses for Ethernet signals and RS-232 signals concurrently. In other arrangements, the electronic device senses for Ethernet signals and RS-232 signals at different times in an alternating manner. |
| US07743172B2 |
Die-to-die interconnect interface and protocol for stacked semiconductor dies
A system and method for a die-to-die interconnect interface and protocol for stacked semiconductor dies. One preferred embodiment comprises an integrated circuit (IC) package comprising a first semiconductor die that includes an interface to a memory-mapped device, a second semiconductor die that does not include an interface to a memory mapped device, and a data bus coupling the first semiconductor die to the second semiconductor die (the data bus used to transfer a control word and a data word). The control word comprises a data word start address that corresponds to a location in the memory-mapped device. The data word is transferred from the second semiconductor die to the first semiconductor die and is stored by the first semiconductor die at the location in the memory-mapped device. Both semiconductor dies are mounted within the IC package. |
| US07743167B2 |
Method and system for servicing requests in a dynamic cluster
A method for servicing requests in a dynamic cluster that includes receiving, by a first replica of the dynamic cluster, a first request that includes a first membership label from a client, wherein the client stores the first membership label and a first cluster list, determining whether the first membership label is obsolete, and sending a second membership label and a second cluster list to the client when the first membership label is obsolete, wherein the client updates the first cluster list with the second cluster list. |
| US07743164B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting frequency shift key data in a packetized format
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for transmitting frequency shift key (FSK) data in packetized format. More particularly, the invention is directed to a method for using a new Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload type to transport FSK data used for voiceband data transmission outside of the voice RTP stream. This technique allows for data compression and reduces the possibility of packet loss for FSK data carried in-band. |
| US07743158B2 |
Access network dynamic firewall
A network system includes a network edge point configured to provide a terminal with access to a network. The network edge point includes a security policy associated with the terminal, and controls communications between the network and the terminal according to the security policy. The security policy may include a personal filter downloaded from the terminal, a service filter downloaded from a service policy server, and/or a domain filter downloaded from a domain policy server. The terminal may access the network through a second network edge point. The second network edge point may download one or more of the filters from the first network edge point, and control communications between the network and the terminal according to the security policy. |
| US07743156B2 |
System and method for PIN-to-PIN network communications
A system and method is provided for enabling wireless access to a computer network via communication between a remote (client) wireless device and a wireless device physically linked to the computer network. A bank of one or more wireless gateway devices may be cradled and connected to a network server. The wireless gateway devices may then act as a node on the wireless network, and remote wireless devices may send and receive messages to and from the wireless gateway devices using PIN-to-PIN messaging. The wireless gateway devices, when cradled, may communicate with any attached server or other network equipment, and may therefore act as a wireless gateway to the server or other network equipment. |
| US07743154B2 |
System and method for the operator control and for the monitoring of an automation system over the internet using an asymmetric internet connection
The invention relates to a device and a method for transmitting data over the Internet, in particular data for operating and monitoring an automation system using a bidirectional user data connection, even behind fire walls and even from a client which is not visible as a server on the Internet. The method and device transmit a first connection request for setting up a first transmission channel from a first data processing device of a client, in particular from an operator control and monitoring system to an Internet server of an automation system via an Internet connection. In addition, a second connection request for setting up a second transmission channel is transmitted to the Internet server from the client, the first and second transmission channels being provided for bidirectionally transmitting and receiving, independently of one another in terms of timing, data between the client and the Internet server over the Internet. A chronologically unlimited period of use of the transmission channels is assured by virtue of the fact that in order to maintain the transmission channels, dummy data are transmitted even in the absence of user data. |
| US07743150B1 |
Apparatus and method for web service message correlation
In one embodiment, a method for correlating web service messages includes operating an autonomous software agent. This agent can detect a correlation key of a message, and then associate the message with the detected correlation key while a transaction is pending. During the transaction, the message can be accessed to retrieve information. In another embodiment, the method includes further operating said autonomous software agent to acquire a subset of rules governing execution of the transaction. The agent can be configured to intercept a noncompliant message associated with the correlation key. If it does, the agent can modify the noncompliant message to comply the said subset of rules. |
| US07743147B2 |
Automated provisioning of computing networks using a network database data model
A framework for automatically provisioning computing devices includes a central database system and a central file system. Information stored in the database comprises a model of the individual devices, as well as the interconnections of the devices. The central file system stores the software components to be installed on the devices. When provisioning is carried out, the database sends commands to agents located on each device which cause them to retrieve and install the software components from the file system, and to configure the components according to the stored model. |
| US07743145B2 |
Verifying measurable aspects associated with a module
The present invention extends to validating measurable aspects of computing system. A provider causes a challenge to be issued to the requester, the challenge requesting proof that the requester is appropriately configured to access the resource. The requester accesses information that indicates how the requester is to prove an appropriate configuration for accessing the resource. The requester formulates and sends proof that one or more measurable aspects of the requester's configuration are appropriate. The provider receives proof that one or more measurable aspects of the requester's configuration are appropriate and authorizes the requester to access the resource. Proof of one more measurable aspects of a requester can be used along with other types of authentication to authorize a requester to access a resource of a provider. Solutions to challenges can be pre-computed and stored in a location accessible to a provider. |
| US07743144B1 |
Securing an access provider
To secure an access provider, communications to/from the access provider are monitored for a partially-completed connection transaction. Detected partially-completed connection transactions are terminated when they remain in existence for a period of time that exceeds a threshold period of time. The monitoring may include detecting partially-completed connection transactions initiated by an access requestor, measuring the period of time that a partially-completed connection transaction remains in existence, comparing the period of time with the threshold period of time, and resetting a communication port located on the access provider. |
| US07743140B2 |
Binding processes in a non-uniform memory access system
A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program product for binding a process to a selected node of a multi-node system. Input/output activity statistics for a process are retrieved from a set of probes. The set of probes detects a flow of data through an input/output device utilized by the process. A topology of the multi-node system that comprises a location of the input/output device is identified. A node is selected according to a decision policy to form a selected node. The process is bound to the selected node according to the decision policy. |
| US07743129B2 |
Methods and arrangements to detect a failure in a communication network
Methods and arrangements to monitor communication components such as a network adapters for activity, and identify components that have lower than normal levels of activity are provided. An identified communication component can become suspect component and a candidate for further testing, including different forms of interrogation. Process for interrogating candidates can include generating and sending test packets having the media access control (MAC) address of the candidate to the candidate and if activity is not detected subsequent to the interrogation, the candidate can be flagged as a failed component. Correspondingly, the component can be deactivated and removed from service. In a further embodiment, a backup component can be activated and assume the role previously held by the failed component. |
| US07743126B2 |
Migrating recovery modules in a distributed computing environment
Systems and methods for implementing recovery processes on failed nodes in a distributed computing environment are described. In accordance with this scheme, one or more migratory recovery modules are launched into the network. The recovery modules migrate from node to node, determine the status of each node, and initiate recovery processes on failed nodes. In this way, scalable recovery processes may be implemented in distributed systems, even with incomplete network topology and membership information. In addition, the complexity and cost associated with manual status monitoring and recovery operations may be avoided. |
| US07743118B1 |
Programmable communication interface
A device comprises a programmable communication interface and a processor. The programmable communication interface communicates data via a set of signals. The processor configures the programmable communication interface to communicate the data in accordance with a programmed override state for at least one of the signals and actual states for the remaining signals. The programmable communication interface may be configured, for example, to programmably treat an overridden signal as asserted or de-asserted regardless of actual voltages present on one or more electrical connectors associated with the overridden signal. As a result, incorrectly wired electrical connectors of the programmable communication interface may be programmably overridden. Consequently, a technician need not manually rewire the programmable communication interface. |
| US07743117B2 |
Service provisioning method, system and computer program product
The invention relates to a method, system and computer program product for provisioning in a communications network. The provisioning method includes at least a step for sending at least one request for defining measures relating to customers and/or services and/or network elements, the method including processing (20-23) each request, executing tasks according to the results of the processing step, and reporting the results to the requesting entity. In accordance with the invention, the processing steps are performed in functional layers (20-21) and the method steps of at least one layer (22) are performed by independently mountable and dismountable functional modules (30-34). |
| US07743114B1 |
Automated data delivery systems
The Automated Data Delivery Systems (ADDS) are two delivery systems designed to either deliver specific data to customer computers over a network such as the Internet or from one application program to another application program. In both cases the user computer requesting data delivery can either have an automatic data reception capability or receive the data without screening the incoming data. In particular, ADDS are systems that allow data delivery services to be offered on the Internet or an Intranet between two Internet/Intranet sites (I2I) or a data delivery service to be offered between an Internet site and a User Computer (I2U). In addition the ADDS invention includes a modification to existing or future application programs that allow the program to deliver 1) specified data 2) in the format specified by the user 3) to the location specified by the user, and 4) at a schedule specified by the user. |
| US07743113B2 |
Proxy operations on client devices
A client device is configurable to operate as a proxy for server operations. In particular examples, a back-end server performs transactions with a target server such as a vending server by using the client device as a proxy to allow transactions through the client device. The client device obtains from a back-end server logic information for communicating with the target server. The client device need not be configured with logic information to locate and communicate with any particular target entity. |
| US07743111B2 |
Shared file system
A shared storage distributed file system is presented that provides users and applications with transparent access to shared data stored on network attached storage devices by utilizing layering techniques to inherit file management functionality from existing file systems. The present invention stores meta-data for the shared data as real-data in a standard, non-modified, client-server distributed file system, such as NFS. In effect, the standard client-server file system acts as a meta-data server. The name space consisting of inode files stored as real-data on the meta-data server acts as the name space for the shared data. Similarly, file attributes of the inode files are utilized as the file attributes of the shared data. By utilizing an existing client-server system as the meta-data server, development time and complexity are greatly reduced, while speed advances in the underlying client-server system may be incorporated without alteration of the present invention. A method for communicating with network attached storage devices over layered file systems is also presented. |
| US07743110B2 |
System, method and software product for ordering image products over a communication network from a plurality of different providers having various business relationships, using images stored on a digital storage device
The present invention is directed to a system, method, and software product for ordering of digital photo services over a communication network among a plurality of photo service providers from an order terminal using a digital image provided on a digital storage device, the digital storage device being associated with one of a plurality of business entities. The method including the steps of maintaining information with respect to business relationships between the photo service providers and the plurality of business entities and providing an offering at the order terminal based on the business relationship associated with the digital storage device. |
| US07743108B2 |
Method and apparatus for reducing pool starvation in a shared memory switch
Reducing pool starvation in a switch is disclosed. The switch includes a plurality of egress ports, and a reserved pool of buffers in a shared memory. The reserved pool of buffers is one of a number of reserved pools of buffers, and the reserved pool of buffers is reserved for one of the egress ports. A shared pool of buffers and a multicast pool of buffers are in the shared memory. The shared pool of buffers is shared by the egress ports. |
| US07743106B2 |
Message dissemination system for nominating a trigger event to a specific destination based on communication channel and message identifiers
A method of generating a message by providing on a communication channel an indication of a message identifier, the combination of communication channel and identifier uniquely indicating a message for any specific destination. |
| US07743102B1 |
System for selectively and automatically compressing and decompressing data and enabling compressed data to be rendered in a pseudo-native form
A system for selectively and automatically compressing and decompressing data in a manner such that the data file can be rendered in a pseudo-native form and such that a rendering application program can be invoked by the system includes a first computer-based device having software thereon for determining whether a data file is one of a native uncompressed form and compressed form upon one of attaching, detaching, receiving, rendering and accessing the data file. Software compresses the native uncompressed form of the data into an attachment, and software for enhancingly renders the attachment to a viewer in a pseudo-native form, wherein the attachment remains compressed and is rendered to appear as being in a native-uncompressed form. |
| US07743095B2 |
Device, method and computer program product for providing an alert indication
A method for providing an alert indication, the method includes: allowing a first user to define an alert to be generated in response to an availability of a second user to participate in an instant messaging session; and sending to the second user an alert indication indicative of the alert. |
| US07743094B2 |
Method and apparatus for redirection of domain name service (DNS) packets
Techniques are provided which can allow a host to determine whether to send a DNS request via a distributed Domain Name Service (DNS) protocol or a regular DNS protocol. |
| US07743092B2 |
Method for recognizing and distributing music
A customer for music distributed over the internet may select a composition from a menu of written identifiers (such as the song title and singer or group) and then confirm that the composition is indeed the one desired by listening to a corrupted version of the composition. If the customer has forgotten the song title or the singer or other words that provide the identifier, he or she may hum or otherwise vocalize a few bars of the desired composition, or pick the desired composition out on a simulated keyboard. A music-recognition system then locates candidates for the selected composition and displays identifiers for these candidates to the customer. |
| US07743090B1 |
Systems and methods for infrastructure validation
Systems and method are provided for testing an infrastructure. The infrastructure may include one or more computers connected by a network. Moreover, each of the computers may include an agent. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving, at a controller, a test request to perform at least one of a plurality of predetermined tests, the predetermined test including one or more parameters associated with performing the predetermined test and one or more expected results from performing the predetermined test. The method further includes determining whether the predetermined test is available at one of the computers. The method also includes sending, by the controller, the predetermined test to one of the computers based on the results of the determining step, such that the agent at the computer performs the predetermined test sent by the controller. Furthermore, the method includes receiving, at the controller, one or more results of the predetermined test performed by the agent at the computer. |
| US07743087B1 |
Partitioning distributed arrays according to criterion and functions applied to the distributed arrays
The present invention provides a method and system for the dynamic distribution of an array in a parallel computing environment. The present invention obtains a criterion for distributing an array and performs flexible portioning based on the obtained criterion. In some embodiment analysis may be performed based on the criterion. The flexible portioning is then performed based on the analysis. |
| US07743086B2 |
Distributed kernel density estimation
The described systems and methods can be used to estimate the global distributed kernel density without prior information of data using a gossip based method. In the gossip based method, a node in a distributed network periodically selects and exchanges kernels with a random node in the network. After exchanging, both the initiating and the target node use the received kernels to update their local estimates. In addition, a data reduction method can be used to optimize the size of the kernel set at each node. |
| US07743085B2 |
Configurable IC with large carry chains
Some embodiments provide a configurable IC that includes several configurable logic circuits, where the logic circuits include several sets of associated configurable logic circuits. For each several sets of associated configurable logic circuits, the reconfigurable IC also includes a carry circuit for performing up to N carry operations sequentially, wherein N is greater than two. |
| US07743083B2 |
Common transaction manager interface for local and global transactions
A system and method for implementing a common transaction manager interface. A system may implement an application server with a transaction manager module configured to provide a common application interface to a local transaction manager and a global transaction manager. The transaction manager module may be configured to determine if a transaction initiated by an application component should be managed by the local transaction manager or the global transaction manager. The local transaction manger may be configured to create a local transaction object for each transaction managed by the local transaction manager, and the global transaction manger may be configured to create a global transaction object for each transaction managed by the global transaction manager. The local transaction objects and the global transaction objects may provide a common application interface for implementing their respective transactions. |
| US07743078B2 |
Database management
A method of operating a database management system for integrating data from a plurality of data sources comprising steps of: (a) selecting initial attributes for first and second data sources; (b) selecting a candidate matching function relating to a possible mapping between data in said first and second data sources; (c) applying said candidate matching function to data in said first data source to create possible data for said second data source; (d) deriving a disparity measure relating to an amount of disparity therebetween; (e) selecting different candidate matching functions and repeating steps (c) and (d); (f) designating a candidate matching function having a disparity measure indicative of the lowest amount of disparity as a probable candidate matching function; (g) selecting further attributes and performing steps (b) to (f) in respect thereof; and (h) determining a probable correspondence between data objects of said first and second data sources. |
| US07743076B2 |
Extensible action sequences coordinating independently created components
Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for creating and executing extensible processes across multiple application components. A declarative feature is provided to allow partially ordered steps in an extensible process spanning multiple application components to be defined in a declarative format. A developer can define the minimum base steps in a first application component. Other application components can then provide additional partially ordered steps and/or actions to the extensible process. The declarative feature allows the partially ordered steps to have an associated step action. A sequencer is provided that assembles the partially ordered steps together from the multiple application components into a computational sequence having a total ordering. The sequencer executes the computational sequence in that total ordering upon receiving an execution request. |
| US07743072B2 |
Database for storing device handle data in an extensible firmware interface environment
Methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media for providing a device handle database in an EFI environment are disclosed. According to one method, a device handle database is created for storing data identifying the protocols that have been installed on one or more device handles. The database includes a sorted array of elements utilized to store protocol data for a family of protocols having the same GUID. Each element in the array comprises a family data structure including a field for storing the GUID for the family along with a field for storing a pointer to a linked list that stores the protocol instance data for each of the protocols in the family. Each node in the linked list is also a member of a linked list for storing protocol data for all of the protocols installed on a given device handle. |
| US07743070B1 |
Entertainment management interactive system using a computer network
A system, method, and apparatus is provided for computerized management of a method of corporate, business or sports management by a remote party comprising relating a current database of an entity. For instance, in sports management substantially real time management is possible. Data of a player together with a historical database related to that player and decisions can be transmitted. This is communicated between a central database processing resource and at least one remote party. A remote party is permitted to access the database and access designated data from the database, and input and output data. Voting and other management of the player, team, or business is possible in substantially real time or near real time by the remote party. A remote user can vote on financial compensation for a player, a coach or a team and/or for a bonus for a player, team or game. Similarly hiring and firing decisions can be made. Shareholders, fans or customers of an entertainment business such as sports can be more interactively involved in all aspects of management and ownership duties and thus be more thoroughly entertained. |
| US07743066B2 |
Anonymous types for statically typed queries
Anonymous types for a programming language. Non-denotable anonymous types are types that a compiler generates on behalf of a programmer and can then be used as nominal types. Insofar as anonymous types do not have a name, they can be used only inside a method in which they are created. Additionally, an anonymous type cannot be exposed in any way outside of the method. Syntax to create an anonymous type is useful when employed with a Select operator to generate a result with a particular shape, without the need of having a regular type for it. Anonymous types are expressible such that an expression of that type can be written. Translation of an anonymous type by a compiler generates a nominal class that implements Equals and GetHashCode methods. There is equivalence of anonymous types within the same method, and conversion of an unrealized structural type into structurally compatible nominal type. |
| US07743065B2 |
System and method for cross-referencing information in an enterprise system
Data objects can be cross-referenced or linked between multiple systems by normalizing the communications between the multiple systems rather than creating hard code links. The normalization includes creating and inserting data mapping information in messages exchanged by the multiple systems, according to certain embodiments. According to certain other embodiments, an alert mechanism may be included in the message to indicate that mapping information is present in the message. |
| US07743059B2 |
Cluster-based management of collections of items
Computer-implemented processes are disclosed for clustering items and improving the utility of item recommendations. One process involves applying a clustering algorithm to a user's collection of items. Information about the resulting clusters is then used to select items to use as recommendation sources. Another process involves displaying the clusters of items to the user via a collection management interface that enables the user to attach cluster-level metadata, such as by rating or tagging entire clusters of items. The resulting metadata may be used to improve the recommendations generated by a recommendation engine. Another process involves forming clusters of items in which a user has indicated a lack of interest, and using these clusters to filter the output of a recommendation engine. Yet another process involves applying a clustering algorithm to the output of a recommendation engine to arrange the recommended items into cluster-based categories for presentation to the user. |
| US07743057B2 |
System and method for managing models and model dependencies within a computerized simulation environment
A system and method for viewing models and model variables within a sophisticated modeling environment is disclosed. The system provides varying levels of insight into a modeling infrastructure to help the user understand model and model variable dependencies, usage, distribution, and/or the like. The method includes storing model and model variable data within a relational database system, receiving a request from a user interfacing with the system via a web interface, extracting search criteria and presentation preferences from the request, formulating and executing one or more queries on the database to retrieve the required data, formatting the data in accordance with the request, and retuning the data to the requesting user in the form of a web page. |
| US07743054B2 |
Information retrieval system
An information retrieval system has a search history storage for storing information of the relation between a search condition entered by the user and selected paper data. In the search history storage, information of the relation between the search condition and a detailed search condition is also stored. The selected paper information and the detailed search information is updated on the basis of a screen transition instruction. The selected paper information is used for a searching process in a search engine and a screen generating process in an HTML document generator. |
| US07743050B1 |
Model generation for ranking documents based on large data sets
A system ranks documents based, at least in part, on a ranking model. The ranking model may be generated to predict the likelihood that a document will be selected. The system may receive a search query and identify documents relating to the search query. The system may then rank the documents based, at least in part, on the ranking model and form search results for the search query from the ranked documents. |
| US07743044B1 |
Distributed information retrieval in peer-to-peer networks
A mechanism for information retrieval in fully decentralized, distributed, peer-to-peer network systems. Peer profiles are aggregated and collected in real-time by each peer. Each peer uses and integrates knowledge that it collects during query-reply cycles for each future query received, thereby learning over time and making information retrieval a more intelligent and rapid process. Each peer then autonomously decides which of its peers are most likely to have an answer to a given query. A routine is provided for monitoring the messages and profiling each peer, building a local peer profile for each node exchanging messages in the peer-to-peer network based on messages passing through the node. |
| US07743040B2 |
Method and apparatus for information transformation and exchange in a relational database environment
A method and apparatus is disclosed for transforming hierarchical information into a rowset and for transforming a rowset into hierarchical information. In transforming hierarchical information, such as an XML data file, into a rowset, a parser parses the XML data file to form an active store. A query processor, after receiving a query including a number of metaproperties, processes data from the XML active store to form a rowset. The rowset can be processed further using a query language, such as the Structured Query Language (SQL). After processing, the rowset can be converted back into an XML data file using an XML formatter. An overflow feature facilitates the addition of text data to the rowset. A fusion feature facilitates defining a relationship between different data items in the rowset such that they can be merged into a single data element as the rowset is converted into an XML data file. |
| US07743038B1 |
Inode based policy identifiers in a filing system
A filing system for a storage area network with inode based policy identifiers is disclosed. The filing system includes a processor and a storage device configured to store data. The processor receives an operation to perform on an object of the filing system and retrieves a policy identifier from an inode for the object. The processor then determines a policy from the policy identifier and determines whether execution of the operation is in compliance with the policy. The processor also determines an action to perform based on the determination of compliance with the policy. |
| US07743034B2 |
Document management method, network system, and information processing apparatus
In a network system including a server apparatus, client apparatus, and database, when a registration request of catalog data of a catalog is received from the client apparatus, the catalog data is registered in the database as one file of the catalog. When a registration request of merchandise information to be associated with the catalog data is received from the client apparatus, the merchandise information is registered as one page of the catalog data. Hence, the merchandise information of the catalog can be associated with catalog data of each page. |
| US07743033B2 |
Systems and methods for providing a distributed file system utilizing metadata to track information about data stored throughout the system
The intelligent distributed file system enables the storing of file data among a plurality of smart storage units which are accessed as a single file system. The intelligent distributed file system utilizes a metadata data structure to track and manage detailed information about each file, including, for example, the device and block locations of the file's data blocks, to permit different levels of replication and/or redundancy within a single file system, to facilitate the change of redundancy parameters, to provide high-level protection for metadata, to replicate and move data in real-time, and so forth. |
| US07743032B2 |
Scalable programmable video recorder
A programmable video recorder (PVR) includes a writer application programming interface (API) and a reader API that operate essentially independently to enable the PVR to be networked to multiple reader applications. The writer API creates a backing store and a shared memory mapped file. The backing store stores streamed data in temporary files. The shared memory mapped file stores state information of the backing store files. The reader API receives requests from reader applications to access the stored streamed data. In response to the requests, the reader API permits the reader applications to access the shared memory mapped file to determine where the stored streamed data is located. Upon locating the stored data, the reader API permits the requesting reader applications to access the stored streamed data. |
| US07743031B1 |
Time and space efficient technique for creating virtual volume copies
A snapshot tree structure includes a base volume storing a current user data at a current time, a first read-only snapshot descending from the base volume, and a second read-only snapshot descending from the first read-only snapshot. The first read-only snapshot is created at a first time earlier than the current time. The first read-only snapshot stores a first data of the base volume at the first time before the first data is modified in the base volume. The second read-only snapshot is created at a second time earlier than the first time. The second read-only snapshot stores a second data of the base volume at the second time before the second data is modified in the base volume. |
| US07743030B1 |
Methods and apparatus for declarative log collection
A log collection utility (LCU) operable in a storage area network (SAN) to identify the various types of log files generated in the SAN, compute the location of each of the log files, and collect the log files for consolidation and analysis in a common repository. A designator file enumerates log files for collection. The LCU generates a discovery script for each host, and the hosts generate an identity of each of the log files via execution of the discovery script. The LCU generates a collection script operable to gather the each of the log files. The LCU thus gathers a plurality of log files generated by dissimilar applications and nodes in the SAN via a declarative mechanism that specifies the types of log files via a log file designator, and generates executable scripts that collects the log files in a manner that is agnostic to operating systems, platforms, and directory structures. |
| US07743026B2 |
Redirection to local copies of server-based files
Mapping a server file to a corresponding locally stored copy of a server file and redirecting an application to a server file or to a corresponding local copy of the server file are provided for opening a most up-to-date and/or most reliable version of the desired file. |
| US07743024B2 |
Synchronising contacts
A method of synchronizing the contact information of a group of users of a telephony system between the group of users over a communications network is provided. Each user of the group of users has a user terminal connected to the communications network and executes a client, the client comprising a contact information list. A first user belonging to the group of users selects the contact information of other users in the group from the contact information list and chooses to synchronize the contact information. An invitation message is transmitted from the client executed on the user terminal of the first user to the client executed on the user terminal of each of the other users in the group, the invitation message including an invitee list of users belonging to the group. The invitation message is received at the client of each of the other users in the group. At least one of the other users in the group accepts the invitation message, the step of accepting comprising generating an acceptance message, the acceptance message giving authorization to the group of users to contact the at least one other user, broadcasting the acceptance message to the group of users and adding the invitee list to the contact information list of the at least one user. |
| US07743023B2 |
Scalable file replication and web-based access
Various embodiments introduce the notion of a replication entity which implements a highly scalable file replication system. In one embodiment, the replication entity resides in the form of a scalable replication service. In at least some embodiments, the replication service provides a “drive in the sky” facility that can be used by individuals, such as subscribers, to synchronize their individual machines, such that their files are automatically replicated to a safe and always-on location. Alternatively or additionally, individuals such as subscribers can also access their files via a web-based interface when they are away from their machines. |
| US07743020B2 |
Automatic instance data mapping generation
An object of the present invention is to create a migration mapping definition based upon computer program changes and use the migration mapping definition to migrate instance data from an older software version format to a newer software version format. A developer uses edit commands, such as mouse commands and keyboard commands, to update a computer program. For example, a software developer may upgrade “Application XYZ” from version 1.0 to version 2.0 in order to include a simpler approach to import images, as well as the ability to import newer image format types. As a developer updates a computer program using edit commands, the edit commands are stored in a migration mapping definition. In turn, the migration mapping definition is deployed, along with the updated computer program, to an end user. The end user then uses the migration mapping definition to migrate instance data generated by the original computer program to instance data that is usable by the updated computer program. |
| US07743019B2 |
Systems and methods for providing synchronization services for units of information manageable by a hardware/software interface system
Several embodiments of the present invention employ synchronization adapters for synchronizing information between “WinFS” and non-“WinFS” data sources. Examples of adapters include an adapter that synchronizes address book information between a “WinFS” contacts folder and a non-WinFS mailbox. In these instances, adapter developers might use the “WinFS” synchronization core services API described herein for accessing services provided by the “WinFS” synchronization platform in order to develop schema transformation code between the “WinFS” schema and the non-“WinFS” data source schema. Additionally, the adapter developer provides protocol support for communicating changes with the non-“WinFS” data source. A synchronization adapter is invoked and controlled by using the synchronization controller API and reports progress and errors using this API. |
| US07743015B2 |
Data processing systems and methods
Data processing systems and methods are provided having an on-line transaction processing (OLTP) database and an on-line analysis processing (OLAP) database. The OLAP and OLTP databases are synchronized periodically. In response to a user's query, OLAP cube data that is available in the OLAP database is complimented with data from the OLTP database for inclusion of up-to-date data into the on-line analysis processing. |
| US07743011B2 |
Using finite-state networks to store weights in a finite-state network
In a weighted finite state network process, a finite state network object is stored. The finite state network object includes arcs, and each arc has an associated weight stored as a weight-defining finite state network object. The finite state network object is applied to an input. The applying includes combining weights of one or more arcs matching the input using finite state network-combining operations. |
| US07743006B2 |
Bayesian network triads for geologic and geophysical applications
A method and apparatus are disclosed for modeling a system to estimate values and associated uncertainties for a first set of variables describing the system. A second set of system variables is selected, where the second set is directly or indirectly causally related to the first set of variables. Data is obtained or estimated for each variable in the second set and the quality of selected data is appraised. A network is formed with nodes including both sets of variables and the quality appraisals, having directional links connecting interdependent nodes, the directional links honoring known causality relationships. A Bayesian Network algorithm is used with the data and quality information to solve the network for the first set of variables and their associated uncertainties. |
| US07743002B2 |
Method and system for testing of policies to determine cost savings
Method and system for testing policies to determine cost savings, which in one embodiment comprises receiving identities of a set of one or more persons associated within an organization, the one or more person's travel related expenditures are to be governed by at least a first and second policy; from the set of one or more persons, identifying a first group governed by the first policy and identifying a second group governed by the second policy; identifying the travel costs incurred by the first group and costs incurred by the second group; and following the passage of a predetermined period of time, in view of the respective separate policies, performing a cost analysis on travel costs incurred by the first group during the predetermined period of time and the travel costs incurred by the second group during the predetermined period of time. |
| US07742998B2 |
Method and system for administering compliance with international shipping requirements
There are provided methods and systems for facilitating international shipment of goods that enable centralized control of both the establishment of and any changes to international shipping requirements. Users can conveniently query the system through remote terminals. Requirement information is provided in a user-useful and friendly manner including matrices of core requirements relating to all shipments and country specific requirements relating to specified origination and/or destination countries. Compliance testing is provided by which a user can evaluate a particular international shipment for compliance with requirements particular to that shipment. |
| US07742995B2 |
Pre-authenticated identification token
An identification token such as a proximity payment device may be integrated with a wristwatch. For security purposes, the identification token may be disabled when removed from the user's wrist. The identification token may be re-enabled by interaction with a docking station or personal computer at the user's residence. |
| US07742990B2 |
Communication control method in connection-oriented communication, related transfer device, and billing management device
A gateway server 40, in the case that discontinuation of TCP Connection A between a portable phone 10 and gateway server 40 is detected when gateway server 40 is relaying HTTP communication between portable phone 10 and a content server 70, maintains TCP Connection B1 between a billing management server 50 and gateway server 40 until gateway server 40 receives from billing management server 50 billing information for HTTP communication relayed up to the time of the discontinuation of TCP Connection A. |
| US07742989B2 |
Digital receipt generation from information electronically read from product
In connection with a sales transaction, product information is directly collected from the product provided with a label or tag that can be electronically scanned by, for example, optical scanning technology or radio-frequency scanning technology. The product information is electronically provided to the buyer in the form of an electronic receipt. |
| US07742986B2 |
Method and system for facilitating switching of financial institution accounts
Techniques for switching a financial institution account for a debit account holder are provided. A request to convert a financial institution account is received from a customer. Information is obtained from the customer and used to identify a list of possible financial institution candidates. The list of possible financial institution candidates includes financial institutions that have an on-going relationship with an existing payment association and are interested in offering a new financial institution account to the customer. A new financial institution account is then established with a financial institution selected from a list of possible financial institution candidates. Then, the new financial institution account is linked to one or more additional accounts. The one or more additional accounts may be an account with the customer's existing payment association or accounts associated with any recurring transactions. |
| US07742985B1 |
Multicurrency exchanges between participants of a network-based transaction facility
A method and apparatus for facilitating online payment transactions in multiple currencies between participants of a network-based transaction facility are described. In one embodiment, a user interface is communicated to a sender via a communications network. The user interface facilitates sender input with respect to a desired currency in which a payment to a recipient is to be made. Further, data identifying a sender-selected currency is received from the sender via the communications network. In response, information identifying a current exchange rate for conversion between the sender-selected currency and a sender primary currency is communicated to the sender via the communications network. If the sender confirms the payment in the sender-selected currency, the recipient is informed about the payment in the sender-selected currency. |
| US07742984B2 |
Secure authentication and payment system
A transaction and payment and processing system securely conducts transactions over the public telephone network. The transactions may be between and among entities of any type such as individuals, merchants, utilities, banks, etc. Nothing more than access to a telephone is required after initial registration of a user. |
| US07742982B2 |
Systems and methods for determining thin-file records and determining thin-file risk levels
In some embodiments, systems and methods are disclosed for generating filters to determine whether a consumer is likely to have a scoreable credit record based on non-credit data, and to determine a potential risk level associated with an unscoreable credit record based on non-credit data. Existing scoreable and unscoreable records are compared to determine factors correlated with having an unscoreable record, and a multi-level filter is developed. Unscoreable records having at least one entry are compared to determine whether they are “good” or “bad” risks, factors correlated with either condition are determined, and a filter is developed. The filters can be applied to records comprising demographic data to determine consumers that are likely to have unscoreable records but represent good risks. |
| US07742977B1 |
System and method for dynamic quantity orders in an electronic trading environment
A system and method for dynamic quantity orders in an electronic trading environment are described. According to one method, a dynamic quantity order includes a price, a desired order quantity and a percentage associated with an estimated order quantity that will be filled in an order queue. When the order is received at an electronic exchange, the order is sorted into a pro-rata order queue, and the exchange may estimate a potential order quantity that will be filled in the order queue at the price based on the defined percentage. Subsequently, the exchange may then increase the order quantity of the dynamic quantity order so that if the estimated number of fills occurs, the order quantity of the dynamic quantity order will be filled. |
| US07742976B1 |
System and method for smart hedging in an electronic trading environment
A system and associated methods are provided for smart hedging in an electronic trading environment. According to one example method, a first order for a first tradeable object and a second order for a second tradeable object are placed based on a spread strategy. Upon receiving an indication that a quantity of the first order is filled, the method involves determining if the second order can be used to offset the quantity filled of the first order by determining if a price of the second order would result in achieving a desired spread price defined for the spread strategy. If the price results in the desired price, the second order is used to offset the quantity filled for the first order in an attempt to achieve the desired spread price. Other tools are provided as well. |
| US07742973B2 |
System and method for an exchange of financial instruments
Provided is a method and system for an online marketplace for the buying, selling and Servicing of financial instruments, such as accounts receivable, where the online marketplace receives and analyzes Account data from a Reporting Agency Database, such as a Consumer Reporting Agency Database. The online marketplace may include a plurality of business logic Components, including an Analysis Component, an Inventory Management Component, an Offer Component, a Transaction Component, a Post-Transaction Component, a Receivables Management Knowledge Base and a Servicing Component. The Receivables Management Knowledge Base applies industry rules and regulations to the data. Users of the online marketplace may be Account Owners, Buyers, sellers, Servicers and the like. Users flag Accounts in the Consumer Reporting Agency database to be placed for sale on the online marketplace. Users may also define Selection Criteria for automatic buying, automatic selling, alerts or other such business rules. |
| US07742969B2 |
Market indicator process and method
A market indicator process, residing on a server, predicts an opening index price of a security index including at least two discrete securities. A trade monitoring process monitors at least a portion of the trading of the discrete securities that occur outside of a regular trading session. A closing price variation calculation process, responsive to the trade monitoring process, calculates the predicated opening index price of the security index for the beginning of the next regular trading session with respect to a closing index price of the security index at the end of the previous regular trading session. The index prices are indicative of the cumulative value of the discrete securities. |
| US07742967B1 |
Secure and efficient payment processing system
A method of processing commercial transactions carried out over the Internet (50) between account holders (30) and participating merchants (20) includes receiving a purchase request (352) of a buyer from a participating merchant (20) indicating that the buyer desires to carry out a transaction with the merchant (20). The transaction includes the buyer purchasing one or more selected items (340) from the merchant (20). The buyer is authenticated (310) as an account holder (30) and transaction fulfillment data (362) is established. The transaction fulfillment data (362) indicates a delivery destination for the selected items. In turn, the transaction fulfillment data (362) is communicated to the participating merchant (20), and transaction details (384) from the participating merchant (20) are received. The transaction details (384) include a cost for the selected items. Thereafter, completion of the transaction is authorized (390) and an authorization code (392) established therefor is communicated to the participating merchant (20). |
| US07742965B1 |
Method for structuring, pricing and settling a current mortgage price indicator contract
A current mortgage price indicator futures contract (“Mortgage Futures Contract”) that can be traded on a futures exchange is described. The contracts add value over existing hedging and speculating alternatives by meeting the needs of a wide range of mortgage and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market participants such as portfolio managers, dealers, hedgers, originators, speculators and arbitrageurs. The Mortgage Futures Contract is based upon conventional MBS and has a relatively current coupon composition, thereby resulting in risk properties that appeal to market participants more so than prior contracts based on non-conventional MBS that were not correlated to current MBS production. The Mortgage Futures Contract has a cash settlement feature designed to eliminate complicated and largely uneconomic physical delivery of the underlying security. A options contract corresponding to the Mortgage Futures Contract and that can be traded on a futures exchange is also described. |
| US07742960B2 |
Method and device for calculating a price for using a specific link in a network
The invention relates to a method for calculating in a network that comprises links, a price for using a specific link in the network. The method comprises the following steps: a) a comparison step for determining a price difference between the price for using the specific link and the price for using instead of the specific link an alternative path in the network, which does not comprise the specific link, b) a change-calculation step for determining a link-price change in the price for using the specific link, and a link-price change in the price for using the links in the alternative path, in response to the determined price difference, c) a combination step for combining for the specific link the determined link-price changes on the price for using the specific link from all links in the network, to determine a total price-change for the specific link, d) a merging step for merging the determined total price-change with a market-induced price change in the price for using the specific link, to calculate the price for using the specific link, wherein the market-induced price change is being driven by at least one random variable. |
| US07742957B2 |
System and method for defining billable labor by setting profit
In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the present invention comprises a system and method for ensuring a desired profit percentage in a business that provides a service for fees. Businesses will know what prices to charge for any profit level desired. Three profit areas can be used to arrive at a service fee; labor, equipment, and inventory. Input of a desired profit will automatically recalculate how billable labor is charged out in each billable labor dollar of revenue. Preferably, electronic sales information is received that represents a sum of fees received for providing the service. Further, electronic inventory cost information is received that represents a cost of goods sold during the course of providing the service. Moreover, electronic billable labor cost information is received that represents a cost of billable labor, and electronic non-billable labor cost information representing cost of non-billable labor. Furthermore and in a preferred embodiment, electronic overhead cost information is preferably received that represents a cost of overhead. An electronic profit percentage value is preferably received that represents a percentage of fees charged for the service to be allocated for profit. Also, a portion of the labor fee charged is calculated to represent billable labor, non billable labor, and overhead. |
| US07742953B2 |
Adding information or functionality to a rendered document via association with an electronic counterpart
An action plan data structure for one or more selected rendered documents is described. The data structure contains information specifying an action to perform automatically in response to a text capture from any of the selected rendered documents. |
| US07742949B2 |
System and method for processing media requests
A system and method for processing media requests includes receiving a media request associated with a subscriber account. The availability of a slot associated with the subscriber account is determined. The slot includes at least one in-store slot and at least one on-line slot. |
| US07742947B2 |
Method and apparatus to facilitate generation of invoices combining multiple transactions established utilizing a multi-seller network-based marketplace
In one embodiment, establishment of transactions between a plurality of buyers and a plurality of sellers is supported in a network-based marketplace. As part of an invoice generation process, multiple transactions to which a first user of the network-based marketplace is a party are identified. Further, one or more subsets of these transactions that satisfy combinable criteria are identified, and an invoice is generated for at least one of the identified subsets of transactions. |
| US07742945B2 |
Methods, systems and computer products to incentivize high speed internet access
Temporary increased broadband bandwidth services for high speed access and download of Internet websites are provided to end user DSL subscribers by a system and method to increase speed of accessing certain Internet websites to incentivize the end user DSL subscribers to purchase higher speed broadband services and to incentivize content providers to pay for the temporary increased broadband services. The speed category of a customer premises equipment turbo modem is controlled by either a wired or wireless serving center computer processor, based on either the wired or wireless serving center computer processor determining whether to download Internet and video content at a predetermined selected speed category. |
| US07742939B1 |
Visibility index for quality assurance in software development
A system and method for defining a visibility index for a project. The system and method consist of a plurality of categories, each of which characterizes an aspect of the project, an assessment of the aspect, a score that quantifies the assessment, a weight that quantifies the relative importance of each category, a weighted score derived by multiplying the score by the weight, and a visibility index derived by adding the weighted scores for at least two categories. The plurality of categories might include the size, complexity, priority, duration of the project, and the flexibility of the project's schedule. |
| US07742938B2 |
System and method for evaluating maintenance costs of products
A method and system to evaluate the maintenance costs of products, having learning and application phases. Each phase is divided into two steps. The first analyzes product characteristics. The second is based on maintenance agreement conditions. During the first step of the learning phase, a first maintenance cost is estimated over the domain of a first variable representing product characteristics. Correction coefficients, based on other product characteristics, may be estimated to improve the first maintenance cost estimation. During the second step new correction coefficients are estimated according to maintenance agreement conditions. During the application phase, a first maintenance cost estimation is done according to the modality of the first variable, and adjusted depending on other product characteristics and maintenance agreement conditions. |
| US07742935B2 |
Computerized method and system of determining right of way in an accident
Methods and systems are provided for estimating right of way in an accident. In one embodiment, right of way estimation in a vehicle accident may be based on a plurality of characteristics that describe the accident. The characteristics from an actual accident may be compared to those in a past or theoretical accident. |
| US07742931B2 |
Order generation system and user interface suitable for the healthcare field
An order generator for a healthcare information system and a corresponding method includes a user interface and a processor. The user interface includes an input device and a display. The input device receives input information related to format and content of an order form for a patient. The display presents the input information and output information related to the order form. The display includes an order template editor window and an order details window. The order template editor window permits a user to generate an order template responsive to receiving the input information. The order details window permits the user to generate the order form responsive to the generating the order template and responsive to receiving the input information. The processor generates the output information responsive to receiving the input information. |
| US07742929B1 |
System and method for determining revenue-based age
A computer implemented system for determining average product revenue is provided. The system includes at least one data store that is operable to maintain revenue data for a plurality of products. The system also includes a processor programmed to calculate a first revenue-based age metric based on revenue from a first product over a period, an age factor for the first product, and revenue for a group of products over the period. The processor is further programmed to calculate a second revenue-based age metric based on revenue from a second product over the period, an age factor for the second product, and revenue for the group of products over the period. The first and second revenue-based age metrics may be used to compare the first and second products. |
| US07742920B2 |
Variable voice rate apparatus and variable voice rate method
A variable voice rate apparatus to control a reproduction rate of voice, includes a voice data generation unit configured to generate voice data from the voice, a text data generation unit configured to generate text data indicating a content of the voice data, a division information generation unit configured to generate division information used for dividing the text data into a plurality of linguistic units each of which is characterized by a linguistic form, a reproduction information generation unit configured to generate reproduction information set for each of the linguistic units, and a voice reproduction controller which controls reproduction of each of the linguistic units, based on the reproduction information and the division information. |
| US07742912B2 |
Method and apparatus to encode and decode multi-channel audio signals
An encoder (100) for encoding a multi-channel audio signal comprises a prediction processor (101) for generating two residual signals for two signal components of the multi-channel signal by linear prediction which is associated with psycho-acoustic characteristics and which specifically uses psycho-acoustic prediction filters; a rotation processor (105) for rotating the combined signal of the two residual signals to generate a main signal and a side signal, in which the energy of the main signal is maximized and the energy of the side signal is minimized; an encoding processor (109) for encoding the main and preferably the side signal; and an output processor (111) for generating an output signal data, prediction parameters and rotation parameters. |
| US07742910B2 |
Mechanism for estimating and controlling di/dt-induced power supply voltage variations
A system for delivering power to a device in a specified voltage range is disclosed. The system includes a power delivery network, characterized by a response function, to deliver power to the device. A current computation unit stores values representing a sequence of current amplitudes drawn by the device on successive clock cycles, and provides them to a current to voltage computation unit. The current to voltage computation unit filters the current amplitudes according to coefficients derived from the response function to provide an estimate of the voltage seen by the device. Operation of the device is adjusted if the estimated voltage falls outside the specified range. |
| US07742905B2 |
Method and system for dynamically adjusting speed versus accuracy of computer platform simulation
Executing a simulation of a computer platform, the simulation including simulation models. A dynamic quantum is accessed whose current value specifies a maximum number of units of execution a simulation model is allowed to perform without synchronizing with another simulation model. The dynamic quantum may be received from a user. Respective simulation models are invoked for execution with the current value of the dynamic quantum provided to each of the simulation models. The method also comprises modifying the value of the dynamic quantum based on a simulation event. |
| US07742903B2 |
Variants in graphical modeling environments
This invention allows users to build, manipulate, and finally deploy various model configurations with little performance overhead, better syntactic clarity and configuration flexibility. |
| US07742902B1 |
Using interval techniques of direct comparison and differential formulation to solve a multi-objective optimization problem
During operation, the system of an embodiment of the present invention receives a representation of multiple objective functions as well as a representation of a domain of interest for the multiple objective functions. Next, the system stores the representations in a memory within the computer system. The system then performs an interval optimization process to compute guaranteed bounds on a Pareto front for the multiple objective functions. During this interval optimization process, the system maintains influence information for boxes in the domain of interest, wherein for a given box, the influence information identifies other boxes which are in the range of influence of the given box and/or in the domain of influence of the given box. The system uses this influence information to identify boxes to be tested against each other for domination. After the boxes are tested, the system eliminates boxes which are certainly dominated by other boxes. |
| US07742897B2 |
Systems and methods for monitoring and diagnosing the power generated by renewable power systems
A method of measuring, monitoring and comparing power generation of at least two renewable power systems, comprising the steps of; providing at least two renewable power systems, at least one data server, at least one generation monitoring device in communication with at least one at premise renewable power system and at least one communication node in communication with at least one of renewable power system, generation monitoring device and data server, determining at least one diagnostic variable for each renewable power system and saving in the data server; determining at least one system coefficient for each renewable power system and saving in the data server; determining the energy generated by each renewable power system; wherein the data server determines comparative information based upon at least one of: background constant, diagnostic variable, system coefficient and energy generated to determine a comparative value of the renewable power system. |
| US07742894B2 |
Multi-person pose recognition system using a zigbee wireless sensor network
In the present invention, a multi-person pose recognition system has been developed. This system includes a body pose detection module, a CC2420DBK board and a multi-person pose monitoring software module. The body pose detection module includes a triaxial accelerometer, a Zigbee chip and an 8-bit microcontroller. Several body pose detection modules and the CC2420DBK board form a Zigbee wireless sensor network (WSN). The CC2420DBK board functions as the receiver of the Zigbee WSN and communicates with a robot onboard computer or a host computer through a RS-232 port. The multi-person pose monitoring software monitors and records activities of multiple users simultaneously. The present invention provides a pose recognition algorithm by combining time-domain analysis and wavelet transform analysis. This algorithm has been implemented in the microcontroller of a body pose estimation module. Through the algorithm, the system can recognize seven body poses: falling, standing, sitting, lying, walking, going upstairs and going downstairs. |
| US07742893B2 |
Calibration circuit for calibrating an adjustable capacitance of an integrated circuit having a time constant depending on said capacitance
A calibration circuit calibrates an adjustable capacitance of a circuit having a time constant depending on the adjustable capacitance. The calibration circuit outputs a calibration signal carrying information for calibrating the capacitor and includes a calibration loop. The calibration circuit includes: a controllable capacitance unit suitable to receive a control signal and including at least one array of switched capacitors that can be activated by the control signal, the unit being such as to output a first signal characterized by a parameter depending on the amount of capacitance of the array activated by the control signal; a comparison unit suitable to receive the first signal to assess whether the parameter meets a preset condition and to output a comparison signal representative of the assessment result; a control and timing logic unit suitable to receive the comparison signal to change this control signal based on the comparison signal, characterized in that the first signal is a logic signal and the parameter is a time parameter of the first signal. |
| US07742888B2 |
Allocating processing units to generate simulated diffraction signals used in optical metrology
In allocating processing units of a computer system to generate simulated diffraction signals used in optical metrology, a request for a job to generate simulated diffraction signals using multiple processing units is obtained. A number of processing units requested for the job to generate simulated diffraction signals is then determined. A number of available processing units is determined. When the number of processing units requested is greater than the number of available processing units, a number of processing units is assigned to generate the simulated diffraction signals that is less than the number of processing units requested. |
| US07742887B2 |
Identifying process and temperature of silicon chips
Systems and techniques are disclosed relating to communications. The systems and techniques include determining the temperature and process speed of chips used in communications devices. The systems and techniques include measuring the output of ring oscillators embedded in the chips, and calculating the temperature and process speed therefrom. |
| US07742886B2 |
Systems and methods for analysis and design of radiating and scattering objects
Methods and apparatus for analysis and design of radiation and scattering objects are disclosed. In one embodiment, unknown sources are spatially grouped to produce a system interaction matrix with block factors of low rank within a given error tolerance and the unknown sources are determined from compressed forms of the factors. |
| US07742885B2 |
Vehicle power supply device and its degradation judgment method
A vehicle power supply device has a capacitor unit including capacitors storing auxiliary power; a temperature sensor; a charge circuit; a capacitor-unit current detector; a capacitor-unit voltage detector; a controller; a storage; and a determination unit. The determination unit determines the degradation level of the capacitor unit based on at least one of an internal resistance standard value and a corrected calculated value of capacitance. This structure determines degradation of the vehicle power supply device more accurately than ever, so that the device can be used until the end of the actual life. |
| US07742883B2 |
Faucet flow timing system that monitors volume of water usage
A battery powered, low voltage faucet flow timer, water usage calculator, and energy consumption awareness meter is simple to install and calibrate and may enable a user to understand the water usage associated with showering, bathing or other open faucet water use activity. The device may provide a simple method for calculating the flow characteristics for a shower, bath or other faucet and entering this flow rate into the timing device so that the timer provides an accurate calculation of water usage indicating both the time spent with the water running and approximate total water usage. |
| US07742878B2 |
Bio-expression system and the method of the same
The bio-expression system comprising: a process system used to process data and a three-dimension image generating module embedded in the computing system, wherein while input of a set of two-dimensional individual model sections is fed into the process system, the three-dimension image generating module is responsive to the input of the two-dimension individual model sections and is capable of processing an individual model construction and model-averaging procedure, thereby generating an average model for each individual dataset. A database includes a bio-expression sub-database, cellular network sub-database and fine structure sub-database, wherein the database is coupled to the process system to store at least the average model. A stereoscopic projecting system is coupled to the process system to display stereoscopic images for active or passive virtual reality applications, thereby presenting the bio-expressions, cellular networks or bio-fine structures under the input instruction of the process system. |
| US07742877B1 |
Methods, apparatus and computer program products for formulating culture media
Methods, apparatus and computer program products are provided for identifying a component of culture medium based on the parameters (e.g., physical, chemical, biological and/or topological characteristics) of compounds from within a compound library. In preferred embodiments, the compound library is a peptide library. Also provided are methods of selecting a compound library from a larger compound space based on whole molecule (i.e., global) parameters of the compounds. Preferably, this method is practiced in conjunction with a method of identifying a component of a culture medium. Further provided are methods of predicting a biological activity of a peptide based on at least one whole molecule parameter of the peptide. This method finds use in methods of drug discovery, identifying components of culture medium, and identifying and/or designing peptides with particular pharmacological or therapeutic activities. |
| US07742876B2 |
Wavefield decomposition for cross-line survey
It is described a method for spatially filtering 3D seabed seismic data acquired in a cross-line geometry including methods of how to decompose the data using a filter with two spatial components. |
| US07742871B2 |
Intelligent fuel oil monitoring system and method
An intelligent fuel oil monitoring system includes a fuel level detector coupled to a fuel tank of a motor vehicle to detect the amount of the fuel oil in the fuel tank, a microcontroller coupled to the fuel level detector to receive traveling data of the motor vehicle and to establish an average speed-fuel consumption relationship curve and fuel consumption and travel distance relationship curves at different speeds and to calculate the distance the motor vehicle can travel based on the amount of the fuel oil detected by the fuel level detector subject to the fuel consumption and travel distance relationship curve, and a display unit coupled to the microcontroller and controlled by the microcontroller to display data. |
| US07742870B2 |
Air-fuel ratio control device of internal combustion engine
A dead time in the case where an output of an air-fuel ratio sensor changes in a lean direction and a dead time in the case where the output changes in a rich direction are sensed respectively. The number of elements constituting data of past feedback correction amounts used for calculating a present feedback correction amount is changed in accordance with the larger one of the dead times. A lean direction response time and a rich direction response time are sensed respectively. A control gain is corrected in accordance with the lean direction response time when the output of the air-fuel ratio sensor changes in the lean direction. The control gain is corrected in accordance with the rich direction response time when the output changes in the rich direction. |
| US07742866B2 |
Fuel volatility compensation for engine cold start speed control
A fuel control system includes devices that generate parameter signals. The parameter signals include an engine runtime signal and at least one of an engine load signal, a temperature signal and a barometric pressure signal. A modification module generates a modification signal based on the parameter signals. A control module compensates for a current fuel volatility by adjusting a current air/fuel mixture of an engine based on the modification signal. |
| US07742860B2 |
Route planning system and method for agricultural working machines
In a route planning system and method for agricultural working machines, a defined working width is assigned to the agricultural working machines to generate driving routes in a territory, and dynamic adaptation of the planned driving route is carried out thereby ensuring that the driving route to be covered is flexibly adaptable to changing external conditions such as driving around obstacles, thereby largely relieving the operator of the agricultural working machine of the task of performing laborious steering maneuvers. |
| US07742859B2 |
Method for setting, calibrating, and verifying an occupation classification system threshold
The invention is directed to a method for setting an occupant classification system threshold for a vehicle occupant detection system, the method comprising collecting occupant classification system data for a seat, the data being indicative of occupant weight, analyzing the data to determine where a separation exists between an occupant for which a restraint should be suppressed and an occupant for which the restraint should be deployed, and analyzing the data to determine a worst case child suppression weight and shape, which is based at least on where the separation exists. The worst case child suppression weight and shape define the occupant classification system threshold. |
| US07742858B2 |
Electric power steering apparatus
An electric power steering apparatus including a steering torque detecting section configured to detect a steering torque applied to an operation member for steering a vehicle, a steering state judging section configured to determine whether forward stroke steering that steers the operating member away from a steering angle midpoint is performed, a motor controlling section configured to control the driving of an electric motor based on the steering torque detected by the steering torque detecting section, and a phase compensating section provided in the motor controlling section for performing phase compensation, such that, when the forward stroke steering is not performed according to the steering state judging section, a gain in a predetermined frequency band in frequency response characteristics of the phase compensation is lower than gains in frequency bands lower and higher than the predetermined frequency band, and is lower than a gain in the predetermined frequency band when the forward stroke steering is performed. |
| US07742857B2 |
Automotive information display system
An information display system for a vehicle includes: a display for displaying, an operation screen for operating at least one piece of in-vehicle equipment; a first operation section including a leftward moving switch, a rightward moving switch, and a selection enter switch capable of being manipulated upward and downward and being pushed; and a controller. The controller changes a position of the operation menu selected point in the operation menus horizontally arranged on the operation screen for selecting any one of the operation menus in response to a manipulation signal from the leftward moving switch or the rightward moving switch and executes an operation relating to the selected operation menu in response to an upward or downward manipulation signal from the selection enter switch. |
| US07742855B2 |
Method for operating a motor vehicle alternator-starter
A method for operating a reversible polyphase rotating electrical machine (2) in a motor vehicle, which consists in performing the high-level and low-level management of the machine with a remote-control unit (1), which exchanges physical data, via a plurality of links (3), with a power module (20) integrated in or immediately proximate the machine (2). The method and electrical machine may be an alternator-starter. |
| US07742853B2 |
Travel control device and method for vehicles
A restricted area (60) is created based on positional information of a manned vehicle (20) traveling one of outward/return lanes (51, 52), and a detour course (72) is created based on information of the restricted area (60). Information on the detour course (72) is provided to the unmanned vehicles (10, 11) and the manned vehicle (20). Based on the positional information of the unmanned vehicles (10, 11) which proceed towards each other from the opposite directions with the restricted area (60) therebetween, the unmanned vehicle (11) on the lane (52) which is the opposite side of the restricted area (60) is blocked at a block position (61B) and at the same time a travel permission command for permitting traveling the detour course (72) is issued to the unmanned vehicle (10) traveling the lane (51) on the restricted area side so that the unmanned vehicle (10) travels the detour course (72). |
| US07742845B2 |
Multi-agent autonomous system and method
A method of controlling a plurality of crafts in an operational area includes providing a command system, a first craft in the operational area coupled to the command system, and a second craft in the operational area coupled to the command system. The method further includes determining a first desired destination and a first trajectory to the first desired destination, sending a first command from the command system to the first craft to move a first distance along the first trajectory, and moving the first craft according to the first command. A second desired destination and a second trajectory to the second desired destination are determined and a second command is sent from the command system to the second craft to move a second distance along the second trajectory. |
| US07742844B2 |
Information handling system including cooling devices and methods of use thereof
An information handling system can include cooling devices that are organized into zones. A method of using an information handling system can include setting a cooling level for each cooling device. Each zone can be associated with thermal data or regions within the information handling system, and a cooling demand can be determined for the thermal data or regions. A zone cooling level for each zone corresponds to a higher cooling demand from each zone's associated thermal regions, and a cooling device cooling level corresponds to a higher zone cooling level from each cooling device's associated zones. The method can be embodied as machine executable code for an information handling system. An information handling system can include cooling devices associated with zones, and can operate to set a cooling level for each cooling device by determining cooling demands in response to information regarding thermal energy generated by an electrical sub-assembly. |
| US07742843B2 |
Method for the structured application of a laminatable film to a substrate for a semiconductor module
A method for structured application of a laminatable intermediate layer (9) to a substrate (1) for a semiconductor module, wherein a separating layer is indirectly or directly applied to the substrate (1) over a large surface, the intermediate layer (9) is applied to the substrate (1), including the separating layer(s), by lamination, over a large surface, the intermediate layer (9) is opened in places on the substrate (1), where recesses are provided for the intermediate layer (9), and the separating layer (8) is removed in these places. |
| US07742842B2 |
Networked diagnostic and control system for dispensing apparatus
A networked delivery system and method for controlling operation of a spraying system includes nozzles for emitting an agrochemical according to a predetermined spray pattern and flow rate; vibration sensors located adjacent an agricultural spray system component to sense vibrations of the agricultural spray system component, such as spray nozzles. The networked delivery system also includes a control area network with a computer processor in communication with the vibration sensors. The processor conveys information to an operator regarding the agricultural spray system component based on the sensed vibrations. The processor also actuates each of the agricultural spray system components such as the spray nozzles to selectively control each of the nozzles or a designated group of the nozzles. |
| US07742840B2 |
Autonomous mobile robot
Disclosed is a space-saving autonomous mobile robot capable of switching two types of light irradiation appropriately. The robot includes a moving mechanism, an autonomous movement controller for controlling the moving mechanism, a self-location recognition unit for sensing a self-location of the robot, a map data storage unit for storing a map data on locations of marks, a slit light device for irradiating a detection area with slit light, an infrared device for irradiating a detection area with infrared rays, and a switch determination unit for comparing a mark-formed region and the self-location, and then, for switching between the slit light and infrared devices, based on the comparison result. Moreover, the infrared device irradiates the detection area when the self-location is within the mark-formed region, while the slit light device irradiates the detection area when the self-location is outside the mark-formed region. |
| US07742839B2 |
Robot system provided with robot controller
A robot controller capable of automatically preparing a job program for a workpiece configured of a plurality of job elements is disclosed. A plurality of teaching programs for teaching the job for each job element making up the workpiece are stored in advance. Each teaching program has registered therein attribute information including the item number (identification information) and the sequence of application of the teaching program to each workpiece. The robot controller retrieves teaching programs having registered therein, as attribute information, the same item number as the input item number of the workpiece and prepares a main program such that the retrieved teaching programs are called sequentially as subprograms in accordance with the application sequence specified by the attribute information. Further, commands for moving to the job starting position and the job end position are added before and after the main program thereby to complete the main program. Based on the main program thus prepared, the robot controller controls the robot operation. |
| US07742837B2 |
Optical vend-sensing system for control of vending machine
For ensuring that a vending machine motor will continue to operate until a product has descended through a vending space or an established time interval has elapsed, an optical beam is established across the vend space through which a product must drop. A change in beam intensity is detected. By preference infra red light is emitted at one focal point of an elliptical reflector, and detected at the other focal point. The light is emitted in pulses in the preferred embodiment, and the optical sensing system has automated calibration and error detecting functions. |
| US07742836B2 |
Control unit
A control unit for a machine tool at least one vibration detection device attached to a main shaft portion of a machine tool or a movable body; a storage device for storing a vibration signal detected by the vibration detection device being related to operation information of the machine tool; a collision judgment device for judging that a collision has occurred; and an output device for outputting the vibration signal at the time of judging the occurring of the collision. By the above constitution, the control unit is capable of grasping a specific circumstance of collision and quickly determining a cause of collision. |
| US07742835B2 |
Profile control method and system therefor
A profile control method for controlling a profile in the width direction of a sheet by using a plurality of actuators, includes calculating an envelope profile connecting local peaks of the profile; and calculating a manipulated value of each actuator with the objective of optimizing 2σ of the profile and the envelope profile. |
| US07742834B2 |
Management system of semiconductor fabrication apparatus, abnormality factor extraction method of semiconductor fabrication apparatus, and management method of the same
According to the present, there is proved a semiconductor fabrication apparatus management system having:a sensor which monitors and outputs a plurality of apparatus parameters of a semiconductor fabrication apparatus which fabricates a semiconductor device;a measurement unit which measures a dimensional value of the semiconductor device, and outputs the dimensional value as dimensional data;an apparatus parameter storage unit which stores the apparatus parameters;a dimensional data storage unit which stores the dimensional data;an apparatus parameter controller which calculates predicted dimensional data by extracting the dimensional data from the dimensional data storage unit, and controls at least one of the plurality of apparatus parameters on the basis of the predicted dimensional data; andan abnormality factor extraction unit which analyzes correlations between the controlled apparatus parameter and other apparatus parameters, and extracts an abnormal apparatus parameter on the basis of a calculated correlation coefficient. |
| US07742833B1 |
Auto discovery of embedded historians in network
Systems and methods that facilitate discovery of history data via a locator component associated with a plant embedded historian(s) of an industrial programmer (e.g., a controller device.) Such locator component can further detect micro historians that are distributed on the back plane of an industrial network. The locator component can be part of applications running on a control unit, which can function as a management control center for the industrial network system. A common data model can be employed to expose functionality and data of the organization to the embedded historian component. |
| US07742832B1 |
Method and apparatus for wireless digital audio playback for player piano applications
The present invention discloses methods and systems for providing very high quality audio playback using all-digital wireless paths from a source to speaker transducers and/or headphones located anywhere within a distance allowed by the FCC. Each speaker has a separate digital amplifier dedicated to each transducer within it (e.g. woofer, tweeter). The present invention also discloses a system that provides a data link capable of sending an all-digital, full-bandwidth, signal from the original digital source material to each separate transducer in the system without using sound degrading lossy data compression. This system is designed to read, broadcast, and reproduce with accurate audio loudspeaker time-alignment (<100 uS) and low overall latency (less than 7 milliseconds) all popular audio formats in full-bandwidth and without data compression in the effort to maintain the integrity of the entire audio signal, wherein the audio signal may include an accompaniment to a player piano. |
| US07742827B2 |
Patterning of the surface of implantable devices for tissue growth management
An implantable tissue-stimulating device for an implantee. The device comprising an elongate member having at least one electrode. At least a portion of the surface of the elongate member having a configuration that at least partially controls any tissue growth on and/or round the elongate member. |
| US07742826B2 |
Intravenous pacemaker electrode
An intravenous pacemaker electrode comprises an electrode cable featuring a conductor, a duct and an insulating sleeve as well as an electrode head attached to the distal end of the conductor in order to transmit stimulation pulses, with an OCT catheter being moveable in the duct, and comprising a thread-like guide element as well as an OCT measurement element attached to its distal end. |
| US07742820B2 |
Systems and methods for selecting stimulation sites and applying treatment, including treatment of symptoms of parkinson's disease, other movement disorders, and/or drug side effects
Methods and systems for treating movement disorders are disclosed. A method in accordance with one embodiment can include determining that the movement disorder affects the patient's gait, oral functioning, and/or other functioning, and applying electrical stimulation proximate to the interhemispheric fissure, the Sylvian fissure, or between the two fissures, respectively. In another embodiment, the method can include selecting at least one neural process from among a plurality of processes sequentially carried out by a patient to cause a muscle movement in the patient (e.g., a planning process, an initiation process, and an execution process), and applying electrical stimulation to a location of the patient's brain associated with the at least one neural process. |
| US07742817B2 |
Hermetic implantable stimulator
An implantable medical device, e.g., an implantable pulse generator, having a non-metal sealed housing and method of making same. An exemplary embodiment of the device includes a replenishable power source, coupling electronic components configured to generate a pulse signal to the replenishable power source, and an inorganic coating covering the electronic components and the power source to seal, preferably hermetically, the electronic components and the power source from a body environment. |
| US07742814B2 |
Cardiac pacing system for prevention of ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia episode
A cardiac pacing system preventing short-long-short pacing sequences. The system providing pacing pulses where necessary. The system having dynamic event window generation to adapt to changes in heart rate. The event window adaptable to process a number of intervals. The system including provisions for other inputs, such as sensor and morphology detection. The system adaptable for single mode and dual mode applications. The system also applicable to long pause prevention in atrial pacing and ventricular pacing. |
| US07742813B2 |
Minimizing hemodynamic compromise during post-mi remodeling control pacing
A method and device for delivering pre-excitation pacing to prevent or reduce cardiac remodeling following a myocardial infarction is described. The pre-excitation pacing is modulated in accordance with an assessment of cardiac function in order to balance the beneficial effects of stress reduction with hemodynamic compromise. |
| US07742812B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting arrhythmias in a medical device
A method of detecting a cardiac event that includes sensing cardiac signals from a plurality of electrodes, determining rates of change of the sensed cardiac signals, and determining a range of the sensed cardiac signals. The sensed cardiac signals are detected as being associated with the cardiac event in response to the determined rates of change and the determined range. |
| US07742809B2 |
Electroporation catheter with sensing capabilities
In general, the invention is directed to techniques for delivering macromolecules to a tissue site via electroporation. Particularly, a catheter detects contact between a distal end of the catheter and a target tissue site via a sensing electrode at the distal end of the catheter. The catheter delivers a fluid containing macromolecules to the tissue site upon detecting contact between the tissue site and the catheter. Concurrently or soon after delivery of the fluid, an electrical stimulus is applied to the tissue site. The electrical stimulus can be applied by the catheter or directly from a power supply, such as an implanted pulse generator. The electrical stimulus causes membranes of cells within the tissue site to destabilize, in turn, forming pores through which the macromolecules migrate into the cells of the tissue site. |
| US07742808B2 |
Heart rate monitor, method and computer software product
The invention provides a heart rate monitor, a method and a computer software product. The method determines from the user's electrocardiogram a reference value of a heart rate variable characterizing the heart rate; determines at least one environmental parameter value obtainable from air pressure using air pressure measurement; associates the reference value of the heart rate variable with at least one environmental parameter value; and records in a register at least one environmental parameter value and the reference value of the heart rate variable associated with the at least one environmental parameter value. |
| US07742807B1 |
Musical representation of cardiac markers
Cardiac electrical activity includes intrinsic signals as well as paced or stimulated signals. Waveforms of cardiac electrical activity may be detected by a variety of systems, including surface ECG systems and various implantable cardiac devices including implantable cardiac stimulation devices. Intrinsic cardiac signals and various cardiac conditions influence these waveforms in ways that can be identified using various detection criteria, and from which cardiac markers may be generated. Musical notations are linked to these cardiac markers as appropriate, and are sounded as a function of time to generate musical sound which is indicative of the patient's cardiac function. |
| US07742799B2 |
Catheter tip tracking for interventional procedures monitored by magnetic resonance imaging
A tracking device (20, 20′) for tracking a tip (14) of an interventional instrument such as a catheter (10) during an interventional procedure performed on an associated subject (12) and monitored by magnetic resonance imaging includes a resonant circuit (22) disposed at the tip (14) of the catheter (10). The resonant circuit (22) includes a coil (32, 32′) having a coil inductance and a light-sensitive metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitor (30) optically coupled with an optical fiber (36) and having a selected capacitance determined by an intensity of light delivered by the optical fiber (36). A selected resonance frequency of the resonant circuit (22) is determined by the coil inductance and the selected capacitance. The resonance frequency is adjusted by modulating the intensity of light delivered to the light-sensitive metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitor (30). |
| US07742797B2 |
Device and method for intraluminal imaging for the reconstruction of 3D image data sets
The invention relates to a device and a method for intraluminal imaging. The device features an imaging instrument and a transport unit, with which the imaging instrument is moved in a lumen at a defined speed over a defined distance. The device further features a rigid, i.e. mechanically-stable singly or multiply curved guide pipe, which has an internal diameter matched to the external diameter of the imaging instrument to accommodate and guide the imaging instrument and is made from a material which is transparent for the radiation or to the waves used in imaging. The guide pipe features at least one marking detectable with the imaging at a known position on the guide pipe and is mechanically connectable to the transport unit. The device and the method make it possible in a simple manner to record a 3D image data set from the intraluminal recorded 2D sectional images. |
| US07742781B2 |
Power control for point-to-multipoint services provided in communication systems
To enable point-to-multipoint communication services in an existing cellular communication system infrastructure, each member subscriber station, i.e., a subscriber station participating in such a service, is receiving a forward link shared channel, and in certain embodiments additionally a forward link dedicated channel. Because transmission on the forward link channels from neighboring sectors presents interference to the transmission from the sector serving the subscriber station, it is desirable to control the forward link channel transmission power to the minimum acceptable power. Additionally, a transmission form each member subscriber station on a reverse link channel presents interference to other subscriber stations. Therefore, it is desirable to control the reverse link channel transmission to the minimum signal level. Consequently, a method and apparatus for a power control that enables point-to-multipoint services in an existing infrastructure of a wireless cellular telephone system is disclosed. |
| US07742773B2 |
Using GPS and ranging to determine relative elevation of an asset
A system and method are disclosed for determining a position of a wireless communication device. A method includes determining a respective (x,y) position of two wireless communication devices, determining a distance between the two wireless communication devices, and determining a relative elevational differential between the two wireless communication devices. The relative elevational differential is determined based on the determined (x,y) positions of the two wireless communication devices and the determined distance between the first and second wireless communication devices. The (x,y) positions may be determined using GPS receivers incorporated in the wireless communication devices. Determining the distance between the devices may be accomplished using RF ranging. The relative elevational differential may be derived using the Pythagorean theorem. |
| US07742770B2 |
Method and apparatus for improved antenna isolation for per-antenna training using variable scaling
Methods and apparatus are provided for per-antenna training in a multiple antenna communication system having a plurality of transmit antenna branches. A long training sequence is transmitted on each of the transmit antenna branches such that only one of the transmit antenna branches is active at a given time. The active transmit antenna branch transmits the long training sequence with an increased power level relative to a transmission of a payload by the active transmit antenna branch. The increased power level for the active transmit antenna branch compensates for the inactive transmit antenna branches being silent during the given time. Thus, the active transmit antenna branch provides approximately the same antenna power while transmitting the long training sequence as a total power of the plurality of transmit antenna branches during a transmission of the payload. The increased power level can be provided, for example, by a digital-to-analog converter associated with the active transmit antenna branch. |
| US07742768B2 |
Extension of a local area phone system to a wide area network
A soft switch 134 providing wireless PBX voice services to a local area network (WLAN) is used to extend PBX functionality to the cellular domain. A dual mode remote unit is capable of receiving signals both in the cellular system as well as the WLAN. The cellular system is comprised of a data-bearing path and a voice-bearing path. When the dual mode remote unit is within the WLAN, it communicates both voice over IP (VoIP) signaling as well as session initiation protocol (SIP) control signaling over the WLAN. When the remote unit is outside the WLAN, it communicates voice signaling over the voice-bearing path of the cellular network using a standard cellular voice channel. In parallel, it uses the data-bearing path of the cellular network to transmit SIP control signaling. |
| US07742765B2 |
Radio access node registration for multimedia broadcast multicast service
A radio network control node acts across an Iur interface as a drift radio network control node (262) for a user equipment unit (UE) in a communications system supporting a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS). The drift radio network control node (262) maintains a first counter for counting a number of events occurring at the drift radio network control node (262). Registration of the drift radio network control node (262) with a core network node (30) is advantageously delayed until the counter has exceeded a first threshold value. In one example mode, the number of events occurring at the drift network control node (262) which is counted by the counter is a number of user equipment units for which a Iur linking procedure is performed for the MBMS session. In another example mode, the number of events occurring at the drift network control node (262) which is counted by the counter are time periods elapsed since an Iur linking procedure for the MBMS session has been performed for a predetermined user equipment unit. |
| US07742761B2 |
Mobile communication system detectable mobile station moving out of communication range
In a mobile communication system, a base station controller has a handoff information management table for storing distance information for each mobile station notified from each of base stations and a detection unit for updating the handoff information management table each time a new handoff information was received from the base stations and detecting any of the mobile stations that is moving out of a service area into an out-of-communication range. The detection unit performs the out-of-range detection by selecting any of the mobile stations currently communicative only with one or more of the border cell base stations as a detection target and comparing the distance information in the handoff information management table with a predetermined threshold value. |
| US07742757B2 |
Location announcement for mobile devices
A network includes a switch and at least one network element to track the locations of wireless devices that interact with the network. The network further includes at least one network element to convert location information for a wireless device obtained from the at least one network element to track locations to a voice announcement, and to interact with the switch to provide the announcement to at least one of a calling wireless device and a called wireless device. |
| US07742752B2 |
Passive filter selectivity with precise resolution for integrated circuit radios
An integrated circuit radio transceiver and method therefor includes a parallel resistive circuit that provides high resolution to resistive circuitry in a hardware efficient manner for use in a plurality of applications including active filters requiring a precise bandwidth, voltage sources that require a precise voltage output, and current sources that require a precise current output source. The parallel resistive circuit includes at least one base resistive device, whose resistive value may be selectable, in parallel with a plurality of selectable circuit paths, each having a plurality of series coupled resistive values formed in an approximate location of the integrated circuit to reduce process variations. The paths are selectable by logic to provide a desired operational characteristic. |
| US07742751B2 |
Filter scheme for receiver
Provided are a method, system, and device directed to a receive path for a node in a communication system such as a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system. In one aspect, the receive path includes a filter operable in multiple modes and configurable to have different bandwidths in the various modes of operation. For example, in one mode, the filter samples a DC component while configured to have a relatively wide bandwidth. As another example, the filter may be operated in another mode to hold the sampled DC component while the filter is configured to have a zero or close to zero bandwidth. As yet another example, the filter may be operated in still another mode to filter received signals and cancel the sampled DC offset from the received signals while configured to have a relatively narrow bandwidth. Additional embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US07742749B2 |
Method and device for processing signals received by a receiver of radiophonic signals and car radio comprising such a device
A method for processing signals received (30) by a sound program signal receiver includes a step (42, 44) of adjusting at least one parameter for processing small audio signals obtained from the received signals. It further includes a prior step of dividing a space representing a quality of reception of sound program signals into a plurality of reception zones wherein the sound program signal receiver is likely to be located. The adjustment (42, 44) of the parameter for processing small audio signals is determined on the basis of one of the reception zones wherein the sound program signal receiver is located. |
| US07742748B2 |
Signal predistortion in radio transmitter
A transmission signal to be transmitted from a radio transmitter is predistorted in order to compensate for the signal distortion caused by a power amplifier. The transmission signal and a signal modeling a power supply voltage applied to the power amplifier are compared with distortion properties of the power amplifier using these signals. The distortion information is comprised in an amplitude distortion lookup table and a phase distortion lookup table. Transmission signal and power supply signal values are associated with envelope and phase predistortion information comprised in the respective lookup tables and the envelope and the phase of the transmission signal is predistorted accordingly. |
| US07742743B2 |
Reduced frame collision wireless communication system having communication device mode switching
A communication system makes throughput preferable by reducing wireless frame collision which occurs when a plurality of control stations cannot recognize one another. When a wireless communication device that is operating as a dependent station of a first control station detects a second control station, DEVice operates as a dependent control station. Accordingly, the second control station is changed to a dependent station or a dependent control station. |
| US07742742B2 |
Communication device and method for setting communication parameters
A communication device is provided having wireless capabilities configured to communicate in a first communication mode via an access point and in a second communication mode directly between other communication devices without utilizing an access point. The communication device includes a detecting unit configured to detect the existence of an available wireless network; a receiving unit configured to receive a request from another communication device for transferring communication parameters in the second communication mode; and a transmitting unit configured to transmit communication parameters relating to the available wireless network to the other communication device in response to the request. |
| US07742741B2 |
Portable wireless data storage device
A portable data storage device is provided having a non-volatile memory and a wireless data interface. The wireless data interface is coupled to the non-volatile memory to read data from the non-volatile memory for transmission through the wireless data interface and/or write data received from the wireless data interface to the non-volatile memory. The wireless data interface is a high data rate interface and/or a broadband interface. Data rates may be above 100 Mbps, and bandwidths may be 100 MHz or above. There is further provided a corresponding data storage method. |
| US07742736B2 |
Sheet size detecting apparatus
A sheet size detecting apparatus having a first arm moved by a moving sheet contacting therewith, a second arm moved by the moving sheet contacting therewith, the second arm being disposed at a location differing from that of the first arm in a direction orthogonal to the movement direction of the sheet, and a sensor, wherein the output level of the sensor when only one of the first arm and the second arm has been moved is the same as the output level thereof when neither of the first arm and the second arm is moved, and the output level of the sensor when both of the first arm and the second arm have been moved differs from the output level thereof when neither of the first arm and the second arm is not moved. Thereby, the cost can be suppressed and yet, the wrong detection of the sheet size can be prevented. |
| US07742733B2 |
Fuser assemblies, xerographic apparatuses and methods of fusing toner on media
Fuser assemblies, xerographic apparatuses, and methods of fusing toner on media in xerographic apparatuses are disclosed. An embodiment of the fuser assemblies includes a fuser belt having an inner surface and an outer surface opposite the inner surface, at least a first roll and a second roll supporting the fuser belt, and a radiant heater facing the inner surface of the fuser belt. The radiant heater is adapted to emit radiant heat onto the inner surface of the fuser belt to increase the temperature of the outer surface of the fuser belt opposite the inner surface heated by the radiant heater. |
| US07742728B2 |
Image forming apparatus with compactly arranged image forming devices
An image forming apparatus includes a belt, plural photosensitive drums that face the belt, plural developing devices that develop plural latent images formed on the plural photosensitive drums using a developing agent, where the developing devices are disposed around the respective photosensitive drums, and plural image forming devices, where each one of the plural image forming devices includes one of the plural photosensitive drums and one of the plural developing devices, and the photosensitive drum of an adjacent one of the plural image forming devices is disposed vertically within a horizontal width of the developing device of one of the plural image forming devices. |
| US07742726B2 |
Developer cartridge, developing unit and image forming apparatus including the same
A developer cartridge, developing unit, and image forming apparatus are provided. The developer cartridge includes a cartridge cabinet including a developer accommodate chamber, a supply opening, and a return opening. The developer cartridge further includes a rotational shaft that is rotatably supported in the cartridge cabinet, a first agitating blade that is attached to the rotational shaft and that is located in a position opposed to the return opening, a distance from the rotational shaft to a distal end of the first agitating blade being shorter than a distance from the rotational shaft to the return opening, and a second agitating blade that is attached to the rotational shaft and that is located in a position opposed to the supply opening, a distance from the rotational shaft to a distal end of the second agitating blade being longer than a distance from the rotational shaft to the supply opening. |
| US07742720B2 |
Photosensitive member cartridge
The invention provides a photosensitive member cartridge, that has, for example, a case including a bottom wall, an upper wall, and side walls. A photosensitive drum and a transfer roller are rotatably disposed in a space surrounded by the bottom wall, the upper wall, and the side walls. The bottom wall extends below the transfer roller. A developer cartridge, having a developing roller, is set on the extending portion of the bottom wall. |
| US07742716B2 |
Image forming system
An image forming system includes: an image forming mechanism configured to form an image on a sheet of a transfer material; a post-processor configured to perform post-processing on a plurality of sheets of transfer materials, respectively, there being on at least one of which a respective image has been formed by the image forming mechanism; a transporter to transport the sheets through the post-processor along one or more transport paths; and a controller operable to do the following including, determine a first stopping condition of whether the number of sheets exceeds a reference number, and detect a second stopping condition of whether a cumulative thickness of the sheets loaded in the post-processor exceeds a reference thickness, and stop further image formation by the image forming mechanism when at least one of the first and second stopping conditions is satisfied. |
| US07742708B2 |
Image forming device and cartridge in which an amount of developer is detectable
An image forming device includes a device body, a cartridge detachably attached to the device body so as to accommodate material which includes one of consumable material and waste material, a sensor configured to emit and receive sensing light and give a detection value corresponding to an amount of the material in the cartridge which amount is detected based upon an intensity of the sensing light received thereby, a received light changing member configured to change the intensity of the sensing light received by the sensor, and a judging unit configured to judge based upon a change of the detection value given by the sensor whether the cartridge is a new one. |
| US07742702B2 |
Chirp switching circuit and optical transmission system
A chirp switching circuit comprises a Mach-Zehnder modulator having a Y-branched part for branching an incoming optical signal into first and second optical signals and an X-branched part merging the first and second optical signals with each other, the Mach-Zehnder modulator causing phase modulation in the first and second optical signals by a modulation signal, and a directional coupling optical switch that switches first and second optical output signals output from the X-branched part of the Mach-Zehnder modulator by merging the first and second output optical signals in response to a chirp switching control signal. |
| US07742701B2 |
Coherent optical channel substitution
In an optical data transmission system, one channel is removed from a group of wavelength division multiplexed optical channels and another channel carrying different information at the same wavelength is inserted in its place. The process occurs by adding an optical signal whose electric field is the difference between the electric field of the new and old channels. The difference calculation takes into account the phase of the incoming WDM channel and phase of the laser source of the difference signal. The method has applications in optical transmission networks as add-drop nodes and optical regenerators, for generation of high bandwidth optical signals, and for secret optical communications. |
| US07742700B2 |
Topologically multiplexed optical data communication
Systems and methods for encoding information in the topology of superpositions of helical modes of light, and retrieving information from each of the superposed modes individually or in parallel. These methods can be applied to beams of light that already carry information through other channels, such as amplitude modulation or wavelength dispersive multiplexing, enabling such beams to be multiplexed and subsequently demultiplexed. The systems and methods of the present invention increase the number of data channels carried by a factor of the number of superposed helical modes. |
| US07742699B2 |
Method and arrangement for the optical transmission of data signals via differential phase modulation in a polarization multiplex method
Two data signals are subjected to a binary differential phase modulation and transmitted as POLMUX multiplex signals. The types of modulation are selected in such a way that they are orthogonal in relation to each other and do not influence each other during the demodulation of the signals. There is thus no need to regulate the polarization on the receiving side. |
| US07742696B2 |
Digital camera having printhead and magnetic recorder
A digital camera is provided having a photo width printhead for printing digital images on a printing surface of magnetically sensitive print media, and a magnetic recorder for recording information associated with the digital images on a magnetic recording surface of the print media at the same time as the printhead prints the associated digital image onto the printing surface. |
| US07742694B2 |
Optical apparatus with aperture controller
An optical apparatus, such as an image pickup apparatus, includes a detector configured to detect whether a manual aperture operation unit is operated by an amount greater than or equal to a predetermined amount during automatic aperture control. When an aperture fixing switch is operated or when the detector detects that the manual aperture operation unit is operated by an amount greater than or equal to the predetermined amount, automatic aperture control is disabled and manual aperture control is enabled. |
| US07742689B2 |
Liquid heating apparatus and method
The invention relates to an apparatus for heating an electrically conductive fluid, such as potable water, and to a method of heating the same. The heating apparatus includes a plurality of electrodes in an array, and a controller for selectively energizing the plurality of electrodes, in different combinations, to thereby adjust the electrical resistance observed across the electrode array, in order to maximize the current drawn by the apparatus. |
| US07742688B2 |
Circuit for controlling rotation speed of computer fan
A circuit for controlling rotation speed of a computer fan includes a fan connector providing for controlling the rotation speed of the computer fan, a rotation speed detector providing for detecting the rotation speed of the computer fan, a BIOS chip connected to the fan connector via the rotation speed detector and provided for receiving, and comparing rotation speed signals from the rotation speed detector, a super I/O chip connected to the BIOS chip and provided for outputting either a PWM signal or another PWM signal to be converted to a voltage signal to control rotation speed of the computer fan according to the result of the comparison, a integrated circuit connected to the super I/O chip and the fan connector and configured for converting the another PWM signal to an analog voltage signal. |
| US07742683B2 |
Information recording medium, information recording device and method, information reproduction device and method, information recording/reproduction device and method, computer program for controlling recording or reproduction, and data structure containing control signal
An information recording medium includes a file for storing object data consisting of a plurality of packets and a file for storing, as its reproduction control information, (i) correspondence definition information for defining relationship between a plurality of packets and a plurality of partial streams multiplexed on the time axis and (ii) reproduction output group definition information for defining as the reproduction output group a set of partial streams which can be switched among the plurality of partial streams. The partial streams include a plurality of channel streams wherein audio information on plural channels is recorded in one stream. The reproduction output group definition information defines the reproduction output group in such a way that a plurality of channel streams can redundantly belong to it. The reproduction output group to which plural channel streams redundantly belong is added by channel specification information. |
| US07742676B2 |
High-voltage bushing
An exemplary high-voltage bushing has a conductor and a core surrounding the conductor, wherein the core includes a sheet-like spacer, which spacer is impregnated with an electrically insulating matrix material. The spacer can have a multitude of holes that are fillable with the matrix material. The spacer can be net-shaped or meshed. It can be a net of fibers. The bushing can be a fine-graded bushing with equalizing plates within the core. As a matrix material, a particle-filled resin can be used. |
| US07742674B2 |
Multimode planar waveguide spectral filter
A spectral filter comprises a planar optical waveguide having at least one set of diffractive elements. The waveguide confines in one transverse dimension an optical signal propagating in two other dimensions therein. The waveguide supports multiple transverse modes. Each diffractive element set routes, between input and output ports, a diffracted portion of the optical signal propagating in the planar waveguide and diffracted by the diffractive elements. The diffracted portion of the optical signal reaches the output port as a superposition of multiple transverse modes. A multimode optical source may launch the optical signal into the planar waveguide, through the corresponding input optical port, as a superposition of multiple transverse modes. A multimode output waveguide may receive, through the output port, the diffracted portion of the optical signal. Multiple diffractive element sets may route corresponding diffracted portions of optical signal between one or more corresponding input and output ports. |
| US07742673B2 |
Thermal mangement article having thermal wave guide
An article includes a stack of display layers including a display layer having a high-shear modulus that is sandwiched between two display layers having a low-shear modulus. The display layers include a light-emitting device that generates heat and light during use. The heat generated by the display layers may form localized heat-sources in the stack. The display layer with the high-shear modulus is a thermal transport layer through which the localized heat-sources-induced guided elastic waves propagate along an acoustic waveguide plane and can transport the heat generated by the light-emitting device away from the light-emitting device. Alternately, a display layer having a high refractive index may be sandwiched between two display layers having a low refractive index. The display layers with low shear modulus or low refractive index may be replaced with thermal transport layers having low shear modulus or low refractive index respectively. |
| US07742669B2 |
Optical fiber pump multiplexer
One or more single mode few-moded or multimode fibers are incorporated into a bundle to carry input to a fiber amplifier or output from a fiber amplifier or a fiber laser. The input is at the signal wavelength, which is the wavelength where amplification or lasing occurs. Each of the fibers in the bundle is cleaved individually or as a group and fiber ends are aligned in the same plane. The fiber amplifier or fiber laser may include a double clad fiber and the other fibers of the bundle couple light for cladding pumping. The device may also include a mode filter for controlling the output mode. |
| US07742667B2 |
Fiber optic cables and methods for forming the same
A loose tube optical fiber cable includes at least one cable unit. Each cable unit includes a plurality of loose, non-buffered optical fibers, a strength yarn at least partially surrounding the non-buffered optical fibers, and a jacket surrounding the strength yarn and the non-buffered optical fibers. |
| US07742663B2 |
Wave energy transmission apparatus for high-temperature environments
A wave energy transmission apparatus has a conduit made from a refractory oxide. A transparent, refractory ceramic window is coupled to the conduit. Wave energy passing through the window enters the conduit. |
| US07742662B2 |
Photonic crystal sensors with intergrated fluid containment structure
Photonic crystal (PC) sensors, and sensor arrays and sensing systems incorporating PC sensors are described which have integrated fluid containment and/or fluid handling structures. Sensors and sensing systems of the present disclosure are capable of high throughput sensing of analytes in fluid samples, bulk refractive index detection, and label-free detection of a range of molecules, including biomolecules and therapeutic candidates. The present disclosure also provides a commercially attractive fabrication platform for making photonic crystal sensors and systems wherein an integrated fluid containment structure and a photonic crystal structure are fabricated in a single molding or imprinting processing step amendable to high throughput processing. |
| US07742661B2 |
Digital image data processing apparatus
The present image processing apparatus includes a pixel arrangement controller and two data unit buffers coupled with the pixel arrangement controller. This controller can rearrange the addresses of the pixels in the corresponding data unit buffer according to the size of the block. Accordingly, the pixel data of the same block can be arranged in sequential addresses of the data unit buffer. Therefore, the pixel data may be processed as a batch. |
| US07742658B2 |
System and method for boundary artifact elimination in parallel processing of large format images
The disclosed systems and methods pertain to the processing of large format images in a manner to avoid introducing imaging defects, and more particularly to dividing the large image into bands, processing these bands in parallel and then putting them back together in to create the final processed image. The methods include the use of overlapping the image bands, padding of the bands prior to processing and the redefinition of image values at common boundaries of the bands to minimize or eliminate visible defects. |
| US07742657B2 |
Method for synthesizing intermediate image using mesh based on multi-view square camera structure and device using the same and computer-readable medium having thereon program performing function embodying the same
The present invention relates to an intermediate image synthesizing method using a mesh based on a multi-view square camera structure.In accordance with the present invention, an accurate disparity vector may be obtained since a shared area is searched for a predetermined time interval using a distance matching and a synthesized image is generated for each area based thereon, an occlusion region is reduced by using three reference images, the synthesized image may be easily generated even for an image having a large disparity, and a converted outline may be accurately expressed, and a high three-dimensional effect may be represented due to the image conversion through the mesh based on a vertex of the outline. |
| US07742656B2 |
Observation system to display mask area capable of masking privacy zone and method to display mask area
An observation system for masking a privacy zone and method thereof are provided. The observation system has a camera part that photographs a certain observation area. An operation part receives a user-set command for selecting a privacy zone among the observation area, where the privacy zone requires no observation. A control part outputs a control signal for setting a mask area that masks the privacy zone according to the user-set command. An area set part generates a plurality of vertexes forming the mask area according to the control signal. An image signal process part uses a mosaic scheme to masks the privacy zone photographed by the camera part according to the mask area formed by the plurality of vertexes set by the area set part. An output part displays the mask area masked by the image signal process part. Therefore, the privacy zone photographed from the camera part is not displayed on a screen. |
| US07742655B2 |
Method and apparatus for representing image granularity by one or more parameters
To simulate film grain in a compressed video signal, a decoder (15, 28) receives a message containing information that contains a set of one or more parameters, each specifying certain attribute associated with the film grain. For example, one of the parameters will specify the model used to simulate the film grain, whereas other parameters each specify a particular factor associated with that model. Upon receipt of the message, the decoder selects the model, and simulates the film grain for addition to the video signal following decompression. |
| US07742653B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
The image processing apparatus and method process image data of an original image by compressing a dynamic range of the original image. The apparatus and method process the image data of the original image by continuous filtering with at least two edge preserving smoothing filters having different characteristics to generate blurred image data which represents a blurred image of the original image, and process the image data of the original image by compressing the dynamic range of the original image based on the blurred image data. The apparatus includes a blurred image generating unit for generating the blurred image data and having the at least two edge preserving smoothing filters, and a processing unit for compressing the dynamic range of the original image. |
| US07742651B2 |
Method and apparatus for enhancing detail in an image
The detail in an image can be enhanced by selective filtering to separate at least one part of the frequency spectrum of the image from a remaining part of the image. The amplitude of the separated part of the frequency spectrum of image is changed and the amplitude-changed portion is combined with the remaining part of the image. The filtering and/or the change in amplitude is controlled at least in part in response to the content of the image to enhance the detail level of the image where appropriate, while preventing enhancement in areas of the picture where it is likely that artifacts would be generated. |
| US07742650B2 |
Object detection in images
A segmentation operation is applied to an input image to identify foreground objects of interest, and then a shadow removal operation is applied to remove any detected shadows from the foreground segmentation. The shadow removal algorithms can leave holes and bisections in the segmentation map, however, which will then subsequently impact on an object detection step performed using connected component analysis. To get around this problem, a conditional morphological dilation operation is applied to the segmentation map to ‘grow’ the segmented blobs to fill in any holes and bisections, without re-growing shadow pixels in the segmentation. The result is an object detection method and system which is robust to illumination changes causing shadows and/or highlights. |
| US07742649B2 |
Method and system for image compression using image symmetry
An image compression system and method is described, which makes use of the symmetry found in faces and heads to perform the compression. The image is divided along the line of symmetry, and pairs of corresponding pixels on the two divided sides are determined. A weighted average and a weighted variance of the pixel values of the pairs is computed, and is used to encode the image. A transform such as the Karhunen-Loeve transform is used to compute the weighted averages and variances. |
| US07742646B1 |
Modified high dynamic range color decompression
Systems and methods for representing high dynamic range data in compressed formats with a fixed size block allow high dynamic range data to be stored in less memory. The compressed formats use 8 bits per pixel. A first compressed format includes two endpoint values and an index for each pixel in the block. A second compressed format includes four endpoint values, a partition index that specifies a mask for each pair of the four endpoint values, and an index for each pixel in the block. The two formats may be used for various blocks within a single compressed image and mode bits are included to distinguish between the two formats. Furthermore, each endpoint value may be encoded using an endpoint compression mode that is also specified by the mode bits. Compressed high dynamic range values represented in either format may be efficiently decompressed in hardware. |
| US07742644B2 |
Processing of images in imaging systems
The imaging system converts raw data for an image to formatted data concurrently with compressing the formatted data for the image. The exemplary imaging system includes an image processor for generating blocks of formatted data from raw image data. The exemplary imaging system also includes an image compressor for compressing the blocks of formatted data. The compressor compresses one or more of the blocks while the image processor generates one or more blocks of formatted data. |
| US07742643B2 |
Method, system and computer program product for optimization of data compression
A sequence of n coefficients is compressed by determining a cost-determined sequence of n coefficient indices represented by a cost-determined sequence of (run, index derivative) pairs under a given quantization table and run-index derivative coding distribution, wherein each sequence of (run, index derivative) pairs defines a corresponding sequence of coefficient indices such that (i) each index in the corresponding sequence of coefficient indices is a digital number, (ii) the corresponding sequence of coefficient indices includes a plurality of values including a special value, and (iii) each (run, index derivative) pair defines a run value representing a number of consecutive indices of the special value, and an index-based value derived from a value of the index following the number of consecutive indices of the special value. This involves (a) using the given quantization table and run-index derivative coding distribution to formulate a cost function for a plurality of possible sequences of (run, index derivative) pairs; (b) applying the cost function to each possible sequence in the plurality of possible sequences of (run, index derivative) pairs to determine an associated cost; and, (c) selecting the cost-determined sequence of (run, index derivative) pairs from the plurality of possible sequences of (run, index derivative) pairs based on the associated cost of each of the plurality of possible sequences of (run, index derivative) pairs; and encoding the corresponding selected cost-determined sequence of (run, index derivative) pairs using entropy coding based on a run-index derivative coding distribution. |
| US07742642B2 |
System and method for automated reading of handwriting
A system for automatically recognizing a handwriting image and converting such image to text data including a sequence of validated words, has an image input device, a number of handwriting recognition engines, and control unit. A first handwriting recognition engine is responsive to the image input device, for analyzing the data file and providing one or more possible text words for each successive word in the data file. The first handwriting recognition engine further provides a resemblance indication for each possible text word indicating a level of resemblance between its appearance and the appearance of the handwritten word in the data file. In the event that there is not a high level of confidence in the selection of the first handwriting recognition engine, a selection of a validated word is based on the selections of one or more of the other handwriting recognition engines. |
| US07742638B2 |
Content-transformation power management of a mobile display
The present invention provides a video server. In one embodiment, the video server includes a perceptual analyzer configured to analyze frames of a video sequence and provide a video analysis file. The video server also includes a transmitter coupled to the perceptual analyzer and configured to transmit both the video sequence and the video analysis file. The present invention also provides a mobile client. In one embodiment, the mobile client includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) having a backlight and configured to provide a video sequence for the mobile client. The mobile client also includes a display processor, coupled to the LCD, configured to employ a received video analysis file to enhance at least one of a brightness and contrast of the video sequence and correspondingly reduce a backlight intensity of the backlight. |
| US07742637B2 |
Apparatus, method, and program for taking an image, and apparatus, method, and program for processing an image
An imaging apparatus includes an imaging unit configured to take an image of a subject; a histogram producing unit configured to produce a histogram of image data of the image; a tone correction unit configured to make a tone correction on the image data; a feature histogram table including a plurality of feature histograms respectively corresponding to a plurality of reference image patterns; an input-output characteristic table including a plurality of input-output characteristics respectively corresponding to the plurality of feature histograms; an input-output characteristic adjustment unit configured to calculate the similarity of the histogram produced by the histogram producing unit with respect to each feature histogram, to select an input-output characteristic according to the calculated similarity, and to adjust the selected input-output characteristic in accordance with the similarity, wherein the tone correction unit is configured to make the tone correction based on the input-output characteristic adjusted by the input-output characteristic adjustment unit. |
| US07742636B2 |
Method and apparatus for scaling down a bayer domain image
In one embodiment of the invention, a method is provided. The method, comprises scaling down a Bayer domain image made up of a number of 2×2 basic units, each having a Red (R) pixel, a Blue (B) pixel, and two green (G) pixels arranged in a fixed configuration and replicated throughout the image, the method comprising (a) partitioning the image into 2M×2N input blocks, where M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1; (b) for each 2M×2N input block, averaging a selection of R pixels in the block to produce a R pixel in a scaled down image corresponding to the Bayer domain image; (c) averaging a selection of B pixels in the block to produce a B pixel in the scaled down image; and (d) partitioning the 2M×2N input block into first and second triangular regions, and averaging a selection of pixels in the first triangular region to produce a first G pixel in the scaled down image, and averaging a selection of pixels in the second triangular region to produce a second G pixel in the scaled down image. |
| US07742635B2 |
Artifact mitigation in three-dimensional imaging
Accuracy of a three-dimensional imaging system is improved through the use of model-based calibration and lookup tables to resolve distance according to, e.g., x-displacement, y-displacement, or image disparity data. In an embodiment, the lookup table(s) stores localized parameterization data used to calculate calibrated results. |
| US07742630B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining a backflow of a substance
A method for determining a backflow of a substance along a track of a delivery device includes: a) obtaining parameters that influence the flow of the fluid or substance; b) acquiring information about delivery data; and c) computing the backflow along the delivery device using the information in steps a) and b). |
| US07742612B2 |
Method for training and operating a hearing aid
The training of a hearing aid for individual Situations is intended to be simpler and more comprehensive for the hearing aid wearer. The invention therefore provides for the hearing aid wearer just to have to associate a current acoustic Situation with a predetermined hearing Situation identification (3′). This association is learnt by a classifier, for example a neural network (5). After the training process, the neural network (5) can then reliably associate the corresponding hearing Situation identification (3′) with an acoustic input Signal (2). A current Parameter Set (4′) is varied or supplemented appropriately on the basis of this association. |
| US07742611B2 |
Hearing aid
A hearing device is to be developed for hearing device wearers who speak different national languages. For this purpose, pro-vision is made to equip a hearing device with a storage facility for storing first data which is characteristic of a first language and a processing facility for processing an input signal. At least second data, which is characteristic of a second language, can be stored in the storage facility. The input signal can thus alternatively be processed as a function of the first or the second data. By way of example, the interference noise suppression or the microphone configuration can hereby be adjusted in a language-dependent manner. |
| US07742609B2 |
Live performance audio mixing system with simplified user interface
A digital audio mixing system for live performance venues includes a software user interface and system host PC with an internal digital signal processor to perform digital mixing functions. The system includes a console having an array of multiple touch screen displays with corresponding fader board (tactile) control surfaces operatively connected to the host PC, and an audio patch bay unit. One or more stage boxes are linked to each other and to the system host PC by wired or wireless connections. The user interface includes multiple functional views and configuration presets, displayed in setup and real time modes, to allow the user to operate the system in a user friendly and simplified environment. |
| US07742594B1 |
Pipelined packet encryption and decryption using counter mode with cipher-block chaining message authentication code protocol
An apparatus and corresponding method and computer program comprises a key mixing circuit to generate N groups of AES Blocks, each generated based upon a key, a transmitter MAC address, and a start value for a packet number. An input circuit receives N encrypted MPDUs, each comprising the transmitter address and one of N values for the packet number. Each of the N values for the packet number is greater than, or equal to, the start value for the packet number. A decryption circuit decrypts each of the N encrypted MPDUs using the respective one of the N groups of AES Output Blocks. The key mixing circuit generates each of the N groups of AES Output Blocks before the input circuit receives the respective one of the N encrypted MPDUs. The predetermined start value is initialized when the apparatus is initialized and incremented when each of the N groups of AES Output Blocks is generated. |
| US07742593B2 |
Telephone handset for a broadband telecommunication system
A telephone handset for a broadband telecommunication system, whose housing is composed of an upper shell and a lower shell forming a joining edge, shall guarantee a reliable coupling of the resonance volume to the free field with a particularly low sound leakage. For this purpose, the joining edge is provided according to the invention with a number of coupling slots. |
| US07742591B2 |
Queue-theoretic models for ideal integration of automated call routing systems with human operators
The present invention relates to queue-theoretic models for integration of automated call routing systems with human operators. Organizations are increasingly turning to spoken dialog systems for automated call routing to reduce call center costs. To maintain quality service even in cases of failure, these systems often resort to ad-hoc rules for dispatching calls to a human operator. The present invention provides queue-theoretic methods that provide a modeling and simulation capability in support of decisions about the staffing of call-handling centers based on the frequency of incoming calls and the competency of automated dialog systems. The methods include a procedure for identifying when callers should be transferred to operators. The procedure integrates models that predict when a call is likely to fail using spoken dialog features with queuing models of call center volume and service time. |
| US07742586B1 |
Enhanced service levels for call-processing services
Service levels for call-processing are enhanced based on the subscriber status of at least one of the calling party and the called party. In one example, a calling party (caller) places a call to a called party (recipient). At least one of the parties subscribes to a call-processing service and the call normally would be processed according to a predetermined service level. However, the service level is enhanced in response to a subscriber status for at least one of the parties, and the call is processed according to the enhanced service level. |
| US07742585B2 |
Mobile communication terminal
A mobile communication terminal is provided whose operability is improved by enabling a user to promptly use a function that the user requires, upon suspension of execution of an application program. A mobile communication terminal (mobile phone) 20 includes an output unit 216 having a liquid crystal display (LCD) 27 that displays an image; a main control unit 215 that controls the output unit 216; and an application program executing and managing unit 214 that executes an application program registered by a user. The application program executing and managing unit 214 sends a function transition request instruction (screen transition request instruction) to make a transition to a function specified by the application program, to the main control unit 215, upon suspension of execution of the application program. Based on the function transition request instruction (screen transition request instruction), the main control unit 215 controls the output unit 216 to display an initial screen of the function or a menu screen for selecting the function. |
| US07742584B2 |
Mobile device calls via private branch exchange
Communication systems and methods are described that enable mobile devices to route telephone calls via an enterprise telephone system. The communication system is configured to receive via a data channel a request from the mobile device. The mobile device corresponds to a user making a call. The server receiving the request includes a private branch exchange (PBX) and one or more other servers hosted by or coupled to the enterprise. A first call leg is initiated over a first voice channel in response to the request. The first call leg is coupled to the server and mobile device. A second call leg is initiated over a second voice channel, and the second call leg is coupled to the server and a client device corresponding to an intended call recipient. A voice conference call is formed between the mobile device and client device by joining the first and second call legs. |
| US07742582B2 |
Offender message delivery system
A correctional facility communication system for sending an external message to an offender of a correctional facility is disclosed. The correctional facility communication system includes a messaging system and a correctional facility system coupled together with a wide area network. The messaging system is at a first location and the correctional facility system is at a second location, different from the first location. The messaging system authenticates a sender of the external message, receives the external message in electronic form at the first location, checks the external message against criteria specified by the correctional facility, determine a second location of the offender and a corresponding printer, and sends the external message to the second location for automatic printing with the corresponding printer. |
| US07742579B2 |
Simplified call answering service
There is disclosed a call answering system comprising storage means for storing a user specified address; means for recording voice messages associated with the user; and forwarding means for forwarding recorded voice messages to the user specified address. |
| US07742576B2 |
Processes and systems for creating and for managing trouble tickets and work orders
Processes and systems are disclosed for creating and for managing trouble tickets and work orders. One embodiment includes communicating with a communications network and receiving a request to create a trouble ticket. The trouble ticket is created to investigate a problem with a communications system. The trouble ticket is assigned a work item number, with the work item number including a telephone number experiencing the problem with the communications system. The trouble ticket is tracked, from initial creating to final closure, using the assigned work item number. |
| US07742565B2 |
Method and apparatus for analysis using X-ray spectra
A method for precisely measuring and displaying the whole profile of an X-ray spectral waveform, which rises from a background level and finally returns to the background level after passing across a peak. X-rays are counted for a time interval of to at a spectral position, resulting in X-ray N counts not containing statistical fluctuations. A standard deviation Eo representing a variation accompanying the N counts is given by Sqrt(N). Where the variation is greater than a given magnitude (tolerance error Er for display) at a spectral position where the X-ray intensity is high, X-rays are counted for a time interval of tm longer than the time interval to, producing increased counts Nm. |
| US07742562B2 |
Lower-torso assembly of a treatment couch useable in an X-ray environment
A treatment couch having a tabletop that has a radiolucent region, and a lower-torso assembly that has a first slide member coupled to a slot of the tabletop, a second slide member coupled to a slot of the first slide member, and a link member coupled to the first and second slide members. The lower-torso assembly may be configured to adjust a patient along a longitudinal direction relative to a shoulder line of the tabletop while the lower-torso assembly remains outside the radio lucent region of the tabletop. |
| US07742561B2 |
Imaging apparatus
The present invention is designed to overcome the disadvantages of X-ray imaging having difficulty in high-sensitivity measurement and of optical imaging having difficulty in high-spatial-resolution measurement, when used for diagnostic purposes. The present invention provides an imaging apparatus including an X-ray tube, a detector having sensitivity to X-rays and light, and a processing unit that processes the result of detection. In the imaging apparatus, the processing unit processes, as a first signal, a signal detected by the detector during an irradiation period in which an X-ray source provides X-ray irradiation, and processes, as a second signal, a light signal detected by the detector during a period other than the irradiation period. |
| US07742558B2 |
Mammography tomosynthesis apparatus with a compression plate having a recess therein
A tomosynthesis apparatus for mammography has an x-ray source for emission of x-ray beams from different directions directed toward a detector, and a compression plate and a support plate arranged in the beam path between the x-ray source and the detector. A breast to be examined is positioned and compressed between the compression plate and the support plate. The compression plate exhibits a concave recess open in the direction of the support plate on the side of the compression plate facing toward the support plate. |
| US07742557B2 |
Method for generating a 3D reconstruction of a body
The invention relates to a method for generating a 3D reconstruction of an especially large body that cannot be captured by a single projection by capturing at least two projections, which together capture the body, at each of the positions taken up by a C-arm X-ray unit. Data from the two projections is projected onto a virtual detector and the data from the virtual detector is then used for the filtered back projection procedure. It is assumed here that the real source remains motionless and that only the detector moves. A virtual detector D1′/D2′ is only used in order to carry out large scale filtering in the event that real sources Q1 and Q2 for the two projections do not coincide. A return is then made to two independent projections. These two independent projections are used separately in the filtered back projection procedure to generate the 3D reconstruction. |
| US07742553B1 |
VCO initial frequency calibration circuit and method therefore
A device and a method for processing high data rate serial data includes a VCO initial frequency calibration circuit. The circuit includes a frequency detection block for indicating a difference between a reference clock and a divided VCO clock, a frequency calibration block that produces a digital output signal based upon the difference between the reference clock and the divided VCO clock, and a digital-to-analog converter for producing an analog VCO adjust signal. The frequency detection block produces a plurality of signals based upon the reference clock and the divided VCO clock. A plurality of user selected inputs selects a frequency detection lock range and hysteresis range and a coarse loop open calibration lock and hysteresis range. The frequency calibration block implements a state machine for producing the digital output signal that sets the initial operating frequency then adjusts the frequency of the VCO clock. |
| US07742552B1 |
Spread spectrum clock generator with controlled delay elements
A programmable spread spectrum clock generator (SSCG) reduces electromagnetic interference by spreading the frequency bandwidth of an output signal. The rate at which the frequency of the output signal changes, as well as other aspects of the output signal, are software programmable. The programmable SSCG receives a periodic signal whose cycles have substantially identical periods and outputs the output signal whose cycles have periods that vary smoothly over a plurality of cycles of the periodic signal. The programmable SSCG generates a control signal using the periodic signal. The programmable SSCG includes a variable delay element that generates the output signal by delaying the periods of the periodic signal based on the magnitude of the control signal. The output signal is generated without using a phase locked loop. Moreover, successive cycles of the output signal rarely have identical periods. |
| US07742549B2 |
Dual-polarization receiver
A dual-polarization receiver for receiving polarized wave signals whose directions are different from each other has receiving demodulation units of a working system and a backup system for one of the polarized wave signals, and receiving demodulation units of a working system and a backup system for the other of the polarized wave signals. RF local oscillation circuits of frequency converting circuits of the working system are connected with a common REF oscillation circuit and RF local oscillation circuits of frequency converting circuits of the backup system are connected with a common REF oscillation circuit. |
| US07742548B2 |
Method and device for frame synchronization and coarse frequency offset estimation (CFE)
A device for Frame Synchronization and coarse frequency offset estimation (CFE) and a method thereof is provided. The method may include the step of receiving a communication signal in a matched filter. The matched filter may be configured for selecting one or more blocks from the communication signal. The matched filter may be further configured for filtering the blocks to obtain an output of the matched filter. The method may also include the step of providing the output of the matched filter to a frame synchronizer and to a coarse frequency estimator. The method may include the step of obtaining substantially simultaneously a symbol boundary using the frame synchronizer and a plurality of metrics using the coarse frequency estimator. Each of the metric may be an indicative of an estimate of coarse frequency offset. The method may further include a step of selecting one of the metric from the plurality of metrics according to the symbol boundary for obtaining an estimate of the coarse frequency offset. The method further provides a step of obtaining the estimate of the coarse frequency offset by performing an inverse tangent operation on the selected metric. |
| US07742543B2 |
Transmission circuit by polar modulation system and communication apparatus using the same
A transmission circuit alleviates the frequency characteristics of a group delay and an attenuation amount in a transmission signal band and expands a dynamic range to a high frequency band. A ladder-type resistance-type attenuator includes switching elements, 2R resistor elements and R resistor elements. The 2R and R resistor elements are respectively connected to variable capacitor elements in parallel. The variable attenuator having such a connection structure is connected to an amplitude modulation loop of the transmission circuit. By controlling the capacitance value of the variable capacitor elements using the capacitance value control section when the switching elements are ON/OFF switched based on the transmission power control signal, the influence of parasitic capacitances of the variable capacitor elements is suppressed and the group delay between the amplitude modulation and the phase modulation is reduced. |
| US07742542B2 |
Phase correlated quadrature amplitude modulation
A method for transmitting a base band digital data signal having a bit period and a first bandwidth, comprising providing a carrier wave having a carrier amplitude and a carrier frequency, and synchronously modulating both the carrier amplitude and carrier frequency with the base band digital signal, so as to reduce the bandwidth of the modulated carrier wave below the bandwidth of the base band signal. A method for transmitting a base band digital data signal having a bit period and a first bandwidth, comprising providing a carrier wave having a carrier phase and a carrier frequency, and synchronously modulating both the carrier phase and carrier frequency with the base band digital signal, so as to reduce the bandwidth of the modulated carrier wave below the bandwidth of the base band signal. |
| US07742535B2 |
Crest factor reduction system and method for OFDM transmission systems using selective sub-carrier degradation
A system and method for crest factor reduction of OFDM transmission systems using selective sub-carrier degradation, is disclosed. A modulated communications signal comprising a series of symbols is converted into parallel format in groups of plural symbols in the frequency domain. Crest factor reduction reduces a primary peak of the groups of plural symbols by selective sub-carrier degradation, to generate peak reduction symbols. The groups of plural symbols are converted into time domain symbols, and combined with the peak reduction symbols to provide peak reduced symbols in time domain. |
| US07742534B2 |
Method for transmitting user data in a multi-carrier radio communication system, and corresponding receiver
The present invention relates to a method for transmitting user data between a transmitter and a receiver in a multi-carrier radio communication system having a plurality of orthogonal frequency sub-carriers, said method comprising the steps of selecting a set of sub-carriers on which said user data are to be transmitted between said transmitter and said receiver.According to the present invention, the method comprises the steps of: Sending from said transmitter, before transmission of said user data, an indication related to a threshold; Determining at the receiver a quality level for each sub carriers; Selecting at said receiver sub carriers to received said user data as a function of said indication related to a threshold and of said quality levels. |
| US07742533B2 |
OFDM signal transmission method and apparatus
An orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal transmission apparatus which transmits OFDM signals by using a plurality of transmission antennas includes a subcarrier setting device which sets signals for subcarriers so as to use some of the subcarriers of the OFDM signals as pilot subcarriers to transmit pilot signals and use the remaining subcarriers as data subcarriers to transmit data signals, the subcarrier setting device changing polarities of signals for the pilot subcarriers for each transmission antenna. |
| US07742531B2 |
Coding distortion removal method, video encoding method, video decoding method, and apparatus and program for the same
In an interlaced picture having a mixture of field structure macroblocks and frame structure macroblocks, a coding distortion removal method removes coding distortion in blocks composing the macroblock. The method removes a coding distortion in a block block which is included in a macroblock of a frame structure, and which is not adjacent to a boundary of a macroblock of field structure. A coding distortion in a block which is included in a macroblock of the field structure, and which is not adjacent to a boundary of a macroblock of the frame structure is then removed, and a coding distortion in a block which is adjacent to both a macroblock of the frame structure and a macroblock of the field structure is removed. |
| US07742528B2 |
Variable length encoding method and variable length decoding method
A variable length coding method is comprised of: a coefficient value scanning step in which an RL sequence generation unit 203, a reordering unit 202, and a binarization unit 203 scan coefficient values within a block in a predetermined scanning order starting at a higher-frequency component toward a lower-frequency component; and an arithmetic coding step in which an arithmetic coding unit 205 and a table storage unit 204 perform arithmetic coding on the absolute values of the coefficient values according to the scanning order used in the coefficient value scanning step, by switching between probability tables 1˜4 for use, wherein, in the arithmetic coding step, a probability table to be used is switched to another probability table in one direction, when the arithmetic-coded absolute values of the coefficient values include an absolute value exceeding a predetermined threshold value. |
| US07742525B1 |
Adaptive motion estimation
A method for adaptively performing motion estimation. In some embodiments, the method initially performs a first motion estimation operation. It then determines whether the estimated error in the result of the first motion estimation is greater than a particular threshold. If not, the method uses the results of the first motion estimation operation. Otherwise, the method selects another motion estimation operation. The method continues in this manner until it performs a motion estimation operation that results in an acceptable estimated error, or until it tries all the motion estimation operations at its disposal. When the method cannot identify a motion estimation operation that produces results with an acceptable estimated error, the method selects the result of the motion estimation operation that produced the best results. |
| US07742524B2 |
Method and apparatus for decoding/encoding a video signal using inter-layer prediction
A method of decoding a current layer using inter-layer prediction is disclosed. The present invention includes obtaining a first flag information indicating whether a current block of the current layer is coded using the inter-layer prediction, obtaining a quality identification information identifying a quality of the current block, obtaining a second flag information based on the first flag information and the quality identification information, the second flag information indicating whether a reference block is included in a specific slice of a reference layer, and decoding the current block based on the second flag information. |
| US07742521B2 |
Method and system for processing signals via perceptive vectorial quantization, computer program product therefor
The system carries out conversion of digital video signals organized in blocks of pixels from a first format to a second format. The second format is a format compressed via vector quantization. The vector quantization is performed by means of repeated application of a scalar quantizer to the pixels of said blocks with a quantization step (Q) determined in an adaptive way according to the characteristics of sharpness and/or brightness of the pixels. |
| US07742515B2 |
Vertical cavity surface emitting laser optimized for optical sensitivity
A vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) optimized for use in self mixing applications. The VCSEL generally includes a bottom distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) mirror formed on a substrate. An active region is formed on the bottom mirror. A top DBR mirror is formed on the active region. A trench is formed in the at least the top mirror. An aperture is oxidized into the VCSEL. At least one of the bottom DBR mirror, the top DBR mirror, the metal contacts, the trench, and/or the aperture is optimized to make the VCSEL more optically sensitive to light reflected back into the VCSEL. |
| US07742510B2 |
Compact solid-state laser with nonlinear frequency conversion using periodically poled materials
A compact optically-pumped solid-state laser designed for efficient nonlinear intracavity frequency conversion into desired wavelengths using periodically poled nonlinear crystals. These crystals contain dopants such as MgO or ZnO and/or have a specified degree of stoichiometry that ensures high reliability. The laser includes a solid-state gain media chip, such as Nd:YVO4, which also provides polarization control of the laser; and a periodically poled nonlinear crystal chip such as PPMgOLN or PPZnOLT for efficient frequency doubling of the fundamental infrared laser beam into the visible wavelength range. The described designs are especially advantageous for obtaining low-cost green and blue laser sources. |
| US07742506B2 |
Controlling timeslot delay in a digital communication system
A buffer circuit for use in a digital communication system includes a memory and a controller coupled to the memory. The memory is configurable for storing a plurality of data frames of a first data stream, each of the data frames including a plurality of timeslots corresponding to respective channels in the digital communication system. The controller is operative to store data from the first data stream into corresponding timeslots in the memory in a first order, to individually adjust delays of the respective timeslots as a function of respective delay control parameters, and to generate a second data stream by reading the timeslots stored in the memory in a second order. |
| US07742504B2 |
Continuous media system
Systems and techniques for transmitting data stream to a client include transmitting a data segment from one of a plurality of nodes of a continuous media server to a client according to a scheduler on the node. A system includes a plurality of data processing devices, each data processing device coupled with at least one storage device. Each data processing device includes a scheduler to schedule transmission of the data segment to a client in sequence with other data segments, and a module to transmit the data segment to the client. |
| US07742501B2 |
System and method for higher throughput through a transportation network
Systems and methods for transporting data from a source network to a destination network by way of a transport network. Data transmission units (DTUs) from the source network are received at a server logically located between the source and the transport networks. These first DTUs are subdivided into second DTUs and are transmitted to the destination network by way of the transport network. Also transmitted are encoded or extra second DTUs that allow the original first DTUs to be recreated even if some of the second DTUs are lost. These encoded second DTUs may be merely copies of the second DTUs transmitted, parity second DTUs, or second DTUs which have been encoded using erasure correcting coding. At the destination network, the second DTUs are received and are used to recreate the original first DTUs. In the event an insufficient number of second DTUs are received, such that recreating the original first DTU cannot be accomplished, a re-transmission of the second DTUs is requested. |
| US07742499B1 |
Adaptive bandwidth network management for VOIP network
A packet-based communications system or network is configured into multiple geographically distinct network bandwidth zones having interzone communications links with a configured maximum bandwidth. Adaptive bandwidth management based upon quality of server (QoS) measurement between two zones is utilized to dynamically raise or lower the maximum allowable bandwidth limit for the link between the two zones. When QoS between two zones degrades, the allowable bandwidth for new calls between the two zones is lowered to a point that assists in increasing the QoS back to an acceptable level (i.e., by blocking new calls or rerouting them). In one embodiment, the QoS information takes the form of QoS alarms generated and transmitted by active IP phones in the network bandwidth zone. |
| US07742488B1 |
Router having a single CPU MAC
A network device comprises one or more first ports to receive at least one layer 2 frame of data comprising a media access control (MAC) client data field. An egress policy module adds M bits to the frame of data before the MAC client data field, where M is an integer greater than zero. A second port transmits the frame of data after the M bits are added to the frame of data. |
| US07742481B2 |
Multiplexer, multimedia communication apparatus and time stamp generation method
In order to allow the generation of a time stamp in consideration of a frame skip even in the case where the frame skip is generated, a PES generation section of a multiplexer detects the number of skipped frames by analyzing elementary video streams output from a video encoder to determine a PTS on the basis of the time difference between frames calculated on the basis of the number of skipped frames. Then, a frame to which a PTS is to be placed with the above stream analysis is cut out to insert the PTS into a PES header of this frame to be transmitted to the transmission channel. |
| US07742477B1 |
Interconnectivity between autonomous systems
A method, apparatus and computer program product each provides interconnectivity between autonomous systems. A control plane and a data plane are included in a network device. A single interface is included in the control plane for all customers. An interface is included in the data plane for each respective one of the customers. |
| US07742476B2 |
Synchronous peer to peer deployed application propagation for large clusters
The present invention a synchronous peer to peer transfer model that utilizes all available network bandwidth to deploy application code to an entire cluster as fast as it can be sent to one machine. A method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes: determining a number N of simultaneous connections that should be opened to the cluster members to maximize network bandwidth; and synchronously deploying the application to the cluster members using the N simultaneous connections. |
| US07742470B2 |
Network resource reallocation
A method of assigning resources within a network element within which a traffic termination point or AAL2 termination point has been established is described. The network element accepts a connection request, and it is then ascertained whether available resources have sufficient capacity to establish the requested connection. In the event that there is sufficient capacity, it is ascertained whether the termination points defined in relation to the available resources fragments the resources such that the connection cannot be established. If the resources are so fragmented, then one or more of the termination points are reallocated, without breaking the connection to which they relate, thereby defragmenting the resources sufficiently that the requested connection can be established. |
| US07742463B2 |
Security gatekeeper for a packetized voice communication network
Admission control means for controlling admission of traffic into a voice communication network, the admission control means comprises means for examining a call control message of a call control dialogue when admission of said traffic into said voice communication network is requested, the admission control means admit a traffic into said voice communication network only if the call control message accompanying the traffic admission request satisfies a pre-determined admission criterion. |
| US07742461B2 |
Method for remotely associating a communications device with a computer
A Computer Telephony Integration environment has reduced risk of inadvertent or fraudulent registration of the association of a user's computer terminal with the wrong telephone, i.e. one other than the telephone adjacent to the computer terminal or the user's mobile telephone, a host computer instructs the user via a screen display to call a particular extension of a CTI-enabled communications switching system. |
| US07742456B2 |
System and method for locationing in a communications network
Described is a method for locationing in a communications network. A wireless access point receives a signal corresponding to activity of a plurality of wireless devices on a predetermined bandwidth. The signal is processed to generate a plurality of subsignals using a predetermined signal processing procedure. An energy level of a particular subsignal of the plurality of subsignals is determined. A location of a corresponding wireless device is determined as a function of the energy level and a predetermined locationing procedure. |
| US07742455B2 |
Scheduling method for wireless packet data channel
A scheduler at a base station may schedule packet data traffic based on a ranking metric that varies directly with the mobile station's scheduling downlink transmission rate and a delay factor indicative of the staleness of the corresponding queued data. The ranking metric may advantageously vary in a direct non-linear fashion with the delay factor to allow for delay sensitive data, such as VoIP data, to be scheduled with increased urgency when quality of service is about to be compromised. The scheduler may attempt to pack a multi-user downlink physical layer packet by selecting a tentative rate and determining if an aggregate amount of data in the packet may be increased by transmitting the packet at a lower rate. If so, additional queued data is added to the packet and the transmission rate for the packet is lowered. Such an approach allows for greater link efficiency to be achieved. |
| US07742454B2 |
Network performance by dynamically setting a reassembly timer based on network interface
The reassembly timer in a TCP/IP receiver is dynamically set to avoid data corruption on fast networks caused by IP identification wrap-around. A receiver independently sets the reassembly timer to a first reassembly time set by the user for fast networks or to a second reassembly timer set by the user for slow networks based on whether the receiver and sender are on the same subnet. |
| US07742450B2 |
Method for efficient bearer traffic routing in a communication system
A method for routing bearer traffic (70′) between 3G networks (32, 42) and 2G networks (12, 22) and vice versa uses voice signaling gateways (VSGW)(14, 24, 34, 44). The method determines a VSGW nearest the calling party (11). The nearest VSGW directly routes (86) the bearer traffic through the inter-network (50) to the called party (31) and avoids the “tromboning” effect of always sending bearer traffic to the called party's home location. |
| US07742447B2 |
Method and apparatus for performing acquisition in power save mode for wireless communication systems
Techniques to efficiently attempt acquisition of a packet data system (e.g., an IS-856 system). If a terminal has acquired one or more channels in a voice/data system (e.g., an IS-2000 system), then it can attempt acquisition on channels in the packet data system that are co-located with the acquired channels in the voice/data system. Multiple acquisition modes may be used, and on-going acquisition attempts on the co-located channels may be performed using one acquisition mode at a time in order to reduce power consumption. Acquisition attempts may be performed in a “ping-pong” manner to improve the likelihood of acquisition. For a ping-pong search, an acquisition attempt is made on the most recently acquired channel prior to an acquisition attempt on each of the remaining channels. Received signal strength estimates may also be obtained for selected channels and may be used to determine whether or not to attempt acquisition on these channels. |
| US07742446B2 |
System and method for performing distributed signal classification for a multi-hop cognitive communication device
A system and method for cognitive communication device operation. In accordance with the system and method, a node (102, 106, 107) that communicates in a wireless multihopping communication network (100) uses a receiver (302, 402, 502, 602) to acquire a digital sample of a communication signal, and extracts at least one feature of the digital sample. The node (102, 106, 107) employs a classifier (306, 406, 506) to determine the signal type, and a transmitter (108) to send feature vectors including information representing the signal type to other nodes (102, 106, 107) in the network (100). |
| US07742443B2 |
Transmit power management in shared-communications channel networks
A method of ameliorating the hidden node problem in wireless local area networks employing power control is disclosed. The illustrative embodiments function in a variety of ways that have a common theme: while the Data Frames are transmitted at lesser potency, at least one of the control frames—Request-to-Send, Clear-to-Send, and Acknowledgement—associated with the Data Frame are sent at a greater potency. This causes at least one of the “loud” control frames to be heard and decoded by all of the potentially contending stations. And because the control frames carry duration information for the virtual carrier sense mechanism, their reception suppresses transmissions by potentially-contending stations that cannot sense the “quiet” Data Frames. |
| US07742439B2 |
Automated correction of duplex mismatches
One embodiment relates to a method for automated correction of duplex mismatches. A duplex mismatch is detected at a port of a network device, and characteristics of the duplex mismatch are determined. The configuration of the mismatched port is automatically modified based upon said characteristics. Another embodiment relates to an apparatus for automated correction of duplex mismatches. The apparatus includes a duplex mismatch detector and an automated duplex mismatch fixer. The duplex mismatch detector is configured to detect a duplex mismatch at a port of a network device and to determine characteristics of the duplex mismatch. The automated duplex mismatch fixer is configured to modify a configuration of the mismatched port based upon said characteristics. Other embodiments and features are also disclosed. |
| US07742436B2 |
Distributed networking agent and method of making and using the same
The present invention relates to an agent for distributed networking and a processor-readable software code. The agent may include, for example, a cosite analyzer, an EMI sniffer, an asset controller module, an asset discovery module, and a link negotiator. The agent may be configured to initiate and optimize network configurations for radio communications systems based on parameters. The software code may receive data associated with a network plan, may determine if any planned links are included in the network plan and may establish connectivity of a confirmed link between at least two nodes in the network. Additionally, the software code may determine if a non-planned link should be added to the network and may establish connectivity for the non-planned link based on a priority associated with the non-planned link. |
| US07742435B1 |
Providing a low latency backbone in a wireless mesh network
Communicating for a mesh network is disclosed. A battery-powered node is assigned to communicate with a sending powered backbone node. The sending powered backbone node is assigned to either a first group or a second group. If the sending powered backbone node is assigned to the first group, then the sending powered backbone node sends a packet to either a gateway node or a second group receiving powered backbone node that is assigned to the second group and that is closer to the gateway node. If the sending powered backbone node is assigned to the second group, then the sending powered backbone node sends a packet to either a gateway node or a first group receiving powered backbone node that is assigned to the first group and that is closer to the gateway node. |
| US07742430B2 |
System for automated management of spontaneous node migration in a distributed fixed wireless network
Methods and systems of managing node migration in a wireless network where nodes may spontaneously migrate from a first communication path to a second communication path. The system includes a first collector disposed within the first communication path and a second collector disposed within the second communication path, a network management server that determines a network state and maintains a database of the network state. When the network management server detects that a node has migrated from the first communication path to the second communication path, information associated with the node is retrieved from the first collector and downloaded to the second collector to ensure the proper operation of the node in the network. |
| US07742428B1 |
Dynamic gateway selection
A communication network comprises a first gateway, a second gateway, a soft switch, and an end device. The end device transmits a first test message to the first gateway and transmits a second test message to the second gateway. The first gateway receives the first test message and transmits a first response message responsive to the first test message. The second gateway receives the second test message and transmits a second response message responsive to the second test message. The end device receives the first response message, receives the second response message, processes the first response message and the second response message to determine a preferred gateway of the first gateway and the second gateway, generates an update message indicating the preferred gateway, and transmits the update message to the soft switch. |
| US07742423B2 |
Method of heuristic determination of network interface transmission mode and apparatus implementing such method
A method for measuring and determining the duplex modes of a network interface. The method assumes the network interface to be operating in a half-duplex mode until the bandwidth utilization reaches a threshold. When the threshold is reached, the method checks the traffic collision in the interface. If there is no collision, then the duplex mode is determined to be full-duplex. If there is collision, then the duplex mode is determined to be half-duplex and an alarm is set off. In another embodiment, the interface type is determined through SNMP. If the interface is a WAN interface, then the interface is determined to be full-duplex. |
| US07742422B2 |
Distributed message routing in a virtualized messaging system using recursive least squares links cost estimation with choke points
Routing data packet traffic in packet networks, expediting the flow of the data packets and reducing the effects of congestion at nodes is accomplished by capturing latency data for nodes for initial measurement times; and computing a least squares estimate of the delay as a recursive least-squares solution. |
| US07742420B2 |
Method and apparatus for bandwidth management of aggregate data flows
The present invention relates to a transmission device implementing a flow control mechanism for aggregate trunks. The transmission device can be implemented as a router that includes an input for receiving aggregate traffic streams, an output for releasing the aggregate traffic streams to a destination point and a control unit capable to regulate the rate of release of packets from the output. Specifically, the flow control operation effected by the control unit is dependent on receipt of acknowledgement messages issued at the destination point, each acknowledgement message confirming the receipt of one or more particular packets at the destination point. The control unit will continuously increase the packet sending rate until a packet is lost in the network between the transmission device and the destination point. On detection of packet loss, based on the lack of one or more corresponding acknowledgement messages from the destination point, the control unit will reduce the packet sending rate. |
| US07742418B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining latency and throughput of a data communication
The technology in this application determines the throughput over a data communication substantially as experienced by a user receiving the data. The determined throughput is substantially independent of the total amount of data transferred over the connection. This “active” throughput measure is divided into two parts to provide two performance measures: transfer throughput and latency. Latency corresponds to a time period needed to accomplish one or more functions associated with the data connection, like setting up and taking down the connection, during which payload type data to be transferred to an end user is not transferred. By identifying and removing the initial latency from the throughput determination for the data connection, the determined transfer throughput provides a more accurate measure of the throughput actually experienced by the end user. |
| US07742414B1 |
Lightweight indexing for fast retrieval of data from a flow-level compressed packet trace
The present invention describes methods, systems, and data structures to create and search index records within a trace of a packet-based communications link that has been compressed by organizing the data packets according to which flow they belong. Index points are inserted within the compressed flow trace file to create frames and index records are created and saved for each index point. Consequently, searching for a particular data packet does not require sequentially reading the compressed flow trace file, but rather locating the appropriate index record and its corresponding frame in the compressed flow trace file. |
| US07742413B1 |
Utilizing a null jitter buffer to monitor session traffic
A null jitter buffer provides performance and diagnostic information relating to a communications network topology. A method is provided for receiving session traffic having an origin and a destination, multicasting the session traffic to the destination and to a null jitter buffer, receiving session traffic in the null jitter buffer, buffering the session traffic in the null jitter buffer, and analyzing performance metrics of the null jitter buffer. |
| US07742408B2 |
System and method for filtering packets in a switching environment
In particular embodiments of the present invention, a method for filtering packets in a switching environment is provided. In particular embodiments, the method includes receiving a packet at an input port of a switch, the switch comprising a memory and one or more output ports. The method also includes storing at least a portion of the packet in the memory and determining one or more output ports from which the packet is to be communicated from the switch. The method further includes, after beginning to determine one or more output ports from which the packet is to be communicated from the switch, determining whether the packet is an illegal packet. The method also includes, if the packet is an illegal packet, dropping the packet from the memory, and if the packet is a legal packet, communicating the packet from the determined one or more output ports. |
| US07742395B1 |
Control of optical connections in an optical network
A method for lightpath restoration in a reconfigurable optical network comprises the steps of naming each network addressable element in said reconfigurable optical network, determining current topology in said reconfigurable optical network, determining current resources in said reconfigurable optical network, requesting establishment of a lightpath, requesting reservation of restoration capacity, allocating the lightpath, and reserving the restoration capacity. Also disclosed is a method for lightpath restoration that comprises the steps of reserving restoration capacity, detecting transmission failures in the reconfigurable optical network, handling exceptions as a 10 result of transmission failures, and allocating transmission capacity. |
| US07742388B2 |
Packet generation systems and methods
Disclosed herein are various embodiments of methods, systems, and apparatus for increasing packet generation in a digital communication system. In one exemplary method embodiment, subcarriers are added to a packet in a wireless local area network transmission to increase the data rate. |
| US07742386B2 |
Multiple channel interference cancellation
A method and apparatus for reducing crosstalk in a multi-channel communication system is disclosed. In one embodiment, outgoing signals in a multi-channel environment are manipulated into a transform domain, such as the frequency domain. Thereafter, the signals may be combined and modified based on a weighting variable to create a cancellation signal. Combined processing greatly reduces system complexity and increases processing speed. After processing in the transform domain, the cancellation signal undergoes further processing to return the cancellation signal into the time domain. The cancellation signal may then be combined with received signals to cancel crosstalk or echo. A method and apparatus for crosstalk cancellation in the analog domain and digital domain is also disclosed. Cancellation at least partially in the analog domain reduces the dynamic range requirements for digital to analog converters within the front-end processing system of a receiver and thereby reducing clipping and increasing operating speed. |
| US07742380B2 |
Optical recording method, optical recording apparatus and optical recording medium
To provide an optical recording method, optical recording apparatus and optical recording medium, capable of effective control of light irradiation position, such as focusing control or tracking control, at the time of recording or reproducing and efficiently adjusting the light irradiation position control according to variations in distance between layers in an optical recording medium or according to manufacturing errors in optical recording and reproducing apparatus, the method including applying at least one of an information light and a reference light to an optical recording medium for detection and control of focus positions of the information light and reference light in a thickness direction of the optical recording medium; and applying the information light and reference light to form an interference image to be recorded in a recording layer provided in the optical recording medium, wherein information is recorded in the recording layer by holography. |
| US07742379B2 |
Optical recording method, optical recording apparatus, optical recording medium, and optical reproducing method
There are provided: an optical recording method containing a deviation detecting step, a horizontal location controlling step, and an interference image recording step; an optical recording apparatus containing a derivation detecting unit, a horizontal location controlling unit, and an interference image recording unit; an optical recording medium recorded in accordance with the optical recording method; and an optical reproducing method reproducing a recorded information recorded in accordance with the optical recording method. |
| US07742378B2 |
Method and apparatus for azimuthal holographic multiplexing using elliptical reflector
A method and an apparatus for recording at least two multiplexed holograms. Either an object beam or a reference beam is reflected from an aspherical reflecting surface. Either the reference beam impinging on a recording media at the selected storage location or the object beam impinging on the recording media at the selected storage location is rotated through a selected azimuthal angle about an axis that passes through a plane defined by the intersection of the object beam and the reference beam in the recording media, wherein an angle between the object beam and the reference beam impinging on the recording media is preserved. |
| US07742371B2 |
Information recording/reproducing device, information recording/reproducing method, and information recording/reproducing program
It is possible to obtain preferable recording characteristic and reproduction characteristic by considering irregularities of unique characteristics of an LD or the like mounted on an information recording and reproduction apparatus as well as characteristics of an optical disc used. In the information recording and reproduction apparatus, a light source such as a laser diode is driven by a laser drive signal so that a laser beam for recording or reproduction is emitted from the light source. Moreover, the laser drive signal is superimposed by a high-frequency signal of a predetermined frequency so as to eliminate effect of the return light from the optical disc. The information recording and reproduction apparatus superimposes the high-frequency signal by using a high-frequency signal level during recording which is different from a high-frequency signal level during reproduction. |
| US07742364B2 |
Timepiece display apparatus, movement, and timepiece
A timepiece display apparatus causes a day hand to move reciprocally by means of center wheel, driven day wheel, cam, lever, and rack. These wheels, cam, lever, and rack can be easily arranged to fit the available space on the main plate of the movement, and the construction of the display apparatus can thus be simplified. Furthermore, locating the cam between the rotary shaft and rack of the lever portion enables arranging a plurality of parts more compactly than if the cam is disposed to a different location, and affords a simple assembly. |
| US07742358B2 |
Power supply circuit and semiconductor memory
A power supply circuit outputs different set potentials in response to control signals, wherein a voltage detecting circuit changes levels of a first reference potential and a second reference potential in response to inputs of control signals, and a clock generating circuit increases a frequency of the frequency divided clock signal when the levels of the first reference potential and the second reference potential are greatly changed in response to the inputs of the control signals. |
| US07742350B2 |
Semiconductor device
A word line WLA of A port is activated based on a clock signal ACLK, and a word line WLB of B port is activated based on a port setting signal RDXA indicating that A port is a selected state. In addition thereto, a bit line of B port is precharged. A state in a simultaneous access operation is reproduced by activating the word line WLB during a time period of activating the word line WLA regardless of a delay difference of the clock signal and maintaining Vds of an access transistor of A port at a constant value. |
| US07742334B2 |
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device for writing multivalued data
A memory cell of a memory array stores two bits. A memory array sense amplifier provides two bits in a verify operation. Two bits in a page buffer stores a write target value for the corresponding memory cell. Each bit in a mask buffer stores a value defining processing to be effected on the corresponding memory cell. A write driver applies a write pulse when the bit in the mask buffer corresponding to the selected memory cell is “0”. A verify circuit compares the two bits provided from the memory array sense amplifier with the corresponding two bits in the page buffer, and changes the corresponding bit in the mask buffer from “0” to “1” when the result of the comparison represents matching. |
| US07742333B2 |
Magnetic memory device using domain structure and multi-state of ferromagnetic material
Disclosed is a memory device using a multi-domain state of a semiconductor material, and more particularly to a magnetic memory device, in which a ferromagnetic layer for recording magnetic data serves as a sensing layer so as to have a simple structure, shorten a manufacturing process, and reduce the unit cost of production. The planar hall effect or magneto-resistance is used to measure multi-domain states so as to read data stored in a multi-level state. |
| US07742330B2 |
Semiconductor device
For example, one memory cell is configured using two memory cell transistors and one phase change element by disposing a plurality of diffusion layers in parallel to a bit-line, disposing gates between the diffusion layers so as to cross the bit-line, disposing bit-line contacts and source contacts alternately to the plurality of diffusion layers arranged in a bit-line direction for each diffusion layer, and providing a phase change element on the source contact. Also, the phase change element can be provided on the bit-line contact instead of the source contact. By this means, for example, increase in drivability of the memory cell transistors and reduction in area can be realized. |
| US07742329B2 |
Word line transistor strength control for read and write in spin transfer torque magnetoresistive random access memory
Systems, circuits and methods for controlling word line voltage at a word line transistor in Spin Transfer Torque Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (STT-MRAM) are disclosed. A first voltage can be supplied to the word line transistor for write operations. A second voltage, which is less than the first voltage, can be supplied to the word line transistor during read operations. |
| US07742327B2 |
Computer-readable medium encoding a back-gate controlled asymmetrical memory cell and memory using the cell
Techniques are provided for back-gate control in an asymmetrical memory cell. In one aspect, the cell includes five transistors and can be employed for static random access memory (SRAM) applications. An inventive memory circuit can include a plurality of bit line structures, a plurality of word line structures that intersect the plurality of bit line structures to form a plurality of cell locations, and a plurality of cells located at the plurality of cell locations. Each cell can be selectively coupled to a corresponding one of the bit line structures under control of a corresponding one of the word line structures. Each cell can include a first inverter having first and second field effect transistors (FETS) and a second inverter with third and fourth FETS that is cross-coupled to the first inverter to form a storage flip-flop. One of the FETS in the first inverter can be configured with independent front and back gates and can function as both an access transistor and part of one of the inverters. |
| US07742326B2 |
8T SRAM cell with higher voltage on the read WL
The present invention provides circuitry for writing to and reading from an SRAM cell core, an SRAM cell, and an SRAM device. In one aspect, the circuitry includes a write circuit coupled to the SRAM cell core that includes a write transistor gated by a write word line. The circuitry also includes a read buffer circuit coupled to the SRAM cell core to read the cell without disturbing the state of the cell. The read buffer circuit includes a read transistor gated by a read word line, the read transistor coupled between a read bit-line and a read driver transistor that is further coupled to a voltage source Vss. The read driver transistor and a first driver transistor of the cell core are both gated by one output of the cell core. The read transistor has an electrical characteristic that differs from that of the core cell first driver transistor. |
| US07742323B2 |
Continuous plane of thin-film materials for a two-terminal cross-point memory
A structure for a memory device including a plurality of substantially planar thin-film layers or a plurality of conformal thin-film layers is disclosed. The thin-film layers form a memory element that is electrically in series with first and second cladded conductors and operative to store data as a plurality of conductivity profiles. A select voltage applied across the first and second cladded conductors is operative to perform data operations on the memory device. The memory device may optionally include a non-ohmic device electrically in series with the memory element and the first and second cladded conductors. Fabrication of the memory device does not require the plurality of thin-film layers be etched in order to form the memory element. The memory element can include a CMO layer having a selectively crystallized polycrystalline portion and an amorphous portion. The cladded conductors can include a core material made from copper. |
| US07742321B2 |
Measurement of the current of a frequency converter
A method and an apparatus for measuring the output currents of a frequency converter, preferably a vector-controlled frequency converter, which comprises a mains bridge (10) connectable to an alternating-current network and a load bridge (11) connectable to an alternating-current load and between these a direct-voltage intermediate circuit, by using current samples obtained from a current measuring sensor in the intermediate voltage circuit, wherein a sample is taken from the signal of the current measuring sensor substantially simultaneously with a point of change of the output voltage vector and upon the lapse of a predetermined delay after the point of change after the switching effects have settled. |
| US07742320B2 |
Method and apparatus for regulating power in a flyback converter
An integrated circuit includes an operational amplifier configured to receive a current sense voltage (VCS) at a first input and an offset voltage at a second input. A comparator is coupled to the operational amplifier and adapted to receive at a first input an output voltage signal (VOUT) of the operational amplifier. A voltage limiting circuit is configured to receive a regulation voltage. A fold back correction circuit is coupled to the voltage limiting circuit and to a second input of the comparator. A pulse width modulator circuit is coupled to the comparator and is adapted to receive the output of comparator. |
| US07742318B2 |
Multi-element resonant converters
A resonant switched power converter having switching frequency controlled in response to an output voltage thereof achieves over-current protection such as at start-up or under short circuit conditions using a resonant tank circuit which provides a notch filter in addition to a band pass filter. A additional band pass filter provided in the resonant tank circuit achieves increased power transfer to a load and reduced circulating resonant currents and conduction losses. The inductances of the preferred LCLCL tank circuit or other tank circuit with two pass band filters and a notch filter may be integrated into a single electrical component. |
| US07742315B2 |
Circuit on a printed circuit board
The present invention relates to computer hardware design, and in particular to a printed circuit board (card) comprising wiring dedicated to supply electric board components such as integrated circuits with at least three different reference planes. In particular at locations, where the pins of a card-to-card connector enter the layer structure of the card discontinuities brake the high frequency signal return path of a given signal wiring.In order to close the signal return path around a signal path from card to card including the connector, and thus to limit the signal coupling while concurrently keeping the card design as simple as possible, it is proposed to provide a) an additional capacitance for a given signal wiring in a discontinuity section, b) wherein the additional capacitance is formed by a voltage island placed within a signal layer located next to the given signal wiring. |
| US07742312B2 |
Electronic device and method of fabrication of a same
An electronic device and method of fabrication are provided. The electronic device comprises a substrate, a patterned conductive layer serving as an antenna layer formed on the outer surface of the substrate, electrically connected with a printed circuit board (PCB) for sending or receiving a wireless signal, wherein the substrate is placed between the patterned conductive layer and PCB. The patterned conductive layer may be electrically connected to the PCB through a hole in the substrate by a connecting piece. The substrate may be a housing of the electronic device. |
| US07742309B2 |
Electronic device and method of assembling an electronic device
An electronic device and method of assembling an electronic device, said device including an electronic component; an electrically insulating protective layer overlaying and in contact with at least a portion of the electronic component; and injection molded material overlaying at least the portion of the component and the overlaying protective layer. |
| US07742297B2 |
Ceramic foam electronic component cooling
In an exemplary apparatus for cooling an electronic component, a housing defines an inlet port and an exhaust port and a foam member is disposed within the housing. The foam member has a shape that conforms to a shape of at least one surface of an electronic component such that the foam member is receivable thereon in thermal communication. The foam member has a pore size of no more than around 50 micrometers and a porosity of at least around 80 percent. The foam member is arranged within the housing such that coolant is flowable through the foam member. Pore size may be around 35 micrometers and porosity may be around 90 percent. Foam may be a ceramic foam that includes silica, aluminum oxide, and aluminum borosilicate fibers. In an application, at least one exemplary apparatus may be received in thermal communication on an upper case of an electronic chip. |
| US07742296B2 |
Computer having apparatuses for cooling elements
A computer includes a chassis, a motherboard, an air guiding member, and a fan. The chassis includes a rear wall at a rear side thereof and a sidewall at a lateral side thereof. The rear wall defines a plurality of inlet holes therein, and the sidewall defines a plurality of outlet holes therein. The motherboard is received in the chassis opposite to the sidewall, a heat sink is installed on the motherboard for dissipating heat generated by a processor mounted on the motherboard. The air guiding member is received in the chassis at a front side, for guiding air drawn into the chassis through the inlet holes toward the outlet holes. The fan is used for drawing air from outside of the chassis through the inlet holes, and blowing the air out of the chassis through the outlet holes. |
| US07742295B2 |
Cooling device and electronic device
According to one embodiment, a cooling device includes a heat diffusion plate, a heat receiving portion, a heat sink and a heat pipe. The heat receiving portion is provided on the heat diffusion plate and thermally connected to an object to be cooled. The heat sink is provided on the heat diffusion plate, and it releases the heat of the heat receiving portion to outside. The heat pipe has a first end portion to be connected to the heat receiving portion and a second end portion located on an opposite side to the first end portion and to be connected to the heat sink. |
| US07742292B1 |
Component array bracket assembly
A component positioning and securing bracket assembly includes a front rail, a rear rail, and a bottom rail to define a front, a rear, and a bottom boundary of the component positioning and securing bracket assembly. The front rail, the rear rail, and the bottom rail define a structure into which is received the component in a first direction of movement, and a lever provides leveraged motion in a second direction of movement to connect a port of the component to a component connector and to secure the component in the component positioning and securing bracket assembly. The component positioning and securing bracket assembly is in an array of a plurality of components, in which any one component can be installed or removed without installing or removing any other component in the array. |
| US07742290B1 |
Portable computer with flip keyboard
A portable computer, such as a tablet personal computer, is provided having a display screen, a transparent input panel, and a hinge. The hinge can secure the input panel over the display screen when in a closed position, or secure the input panel away from the display screen when in an opened position. At least one of the opposed first and second planar surfaces of the input panel are contact-sensitive. At least one of the first and second surfaces can also include a resistive film or a capacitive film. Transceivers can be mounted on the computer near the lateral extents of the input panel for measuring acoustic, magnetic, electromagnetic, or optical signals transmitted across a surface of the input panel to detect where an object is placed upon or near the input panel. The input panel can also accommodate a template containing a QWERTY keyboard. When the input panel is opened and the keyboard template is inserted thereon, the input panel can receive keyboard input; when closed, the input panel can receive a stylus or fingertip input. |
| US07742283B2 |
Gas-insulated equipment
A gas-insulated equipment such as a gas-insulated switchgear provided according to the invention can efficiently improve dielectric strength of an entire electrode system considering electric field distribution of the electrodes and conductors and improving insulation coordination so that miniaturization of the entire device can be achieved. The gas-insulated switchgear includes insulating gas sealed within an earth metal container and an insulating spacer insulating and supporting high-voltage receiving portions. Surfaces of shielding electrodes having a larger diameter than that of high-voltage conductors are covered with thick dielectric coatings, and surfaces of the high-voltage conductors are covered with thin dielectric coatings. |
| US07742282B2 |
Solid electrolytic capacitor and manufacturing method thereof
In this solid electrolytic capacitor, a plate-shaped anode having a porous sintered body, a dielectric layer and an electrolyte layer of polypyrrole are formed in this order for covering one part of an anode lead. An intermediate layer of aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) is formed for covering the electrolyte layer. A cathode having a first conductive layer containing graphite particles and a second conductive layer containing silver particles is formed for covering the intermediate layer. The cathode and a cathode terminal are connected by a conductive adhesive layer. The anode lead and the anode terminal are connected by welding. Further, a mold outer resin is formed to allow one end of the cathode terminal and one end of the anode terminal to project therefrom. |
| US07742281B2 |
Solid electrolytic capacitor
The present invention is a solid electrolytic capacitor having a dielectric coating film, a solid electrolytic layer, and a cathode lead-out layer on a peripheral surface of an anode body in this order, in which the solid electrolytic layer is equipped with at least a first electrolytically polymerized layer and a second electrolytically polymerized layer formed by electrolytic polymerization of the same monomer, and the first electrolytically polymerized layer and the second electrolytically polymerized layer contain a different dopant. With this configuration, a solid electrolytic capacitor is provided that is superior in an ESR characteristic and also superior in heat resistance without deteriorating leakage current. |
| US07742278B2 |
Dielectric ceramic composition and laminated ceramic capacitor
There is provided a dielectric ceramic composition that is a dielectric ceramic material used for a laminated ceramic capacitor; that can be co-fired with internal electrodes mainly composed of Ni at a temperature of 1300° C. or less; and that has a high dielectric constant, good temperature characteristics of capacitance in a range of −55 to 175° C., and a high resistivity ρ at 175° C. The dielectric ceramic composition includes a main component represented by a composition formula (1-a) (K1-xNax)(Sr1-y-zBayCaz)2Nb5O15-a(Ba1-bCab)TiO3 (where a, b, x, y, and z are all molar amounts and 0.3≦a≦0.8, 0≦b≦0.2, 0≦x<0.2, 0.1≦y≦0.5, 0.1≦z≦0.5, and 0.2≦y+z≦0.7); and M, as an additional component, in an amount of 0.1 to 40 parts by mole relative to 100 parts by mole of the main component (where M is at least one element from the group of V, Mn, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, Mg, and Si). |
| US07742276B2 |
Wiring structure of laminated capacitors
The present invention relates to a wiring structure for reducing the equivalent series inductance (ESL) of a laminated capacitor. The laminated capacitor comprises a number of conductive layers, a power via extending along a thickness direction of the laminated capacitor and arranged to extend from the top conductive layer to the bottom conductive layer, and a ground via extending along the thickness direction of the laminated capacitor and arranged to extend from the top conductive layer to the bottom conductive layer. The conductive layers include a set of first conductive layers and a set of second conductive layers. The power via is electrically coupled to the first conductive layers and the ground via is electrically coupled to the second conductive layers. The laminated capacitor further comprises a supplemental via between the power via and the ground via. The supplemental via is shorter in length than the power via and the ground via. The supplemental via is electrically coupled to one of the first conductive layers and the second conductive layer. |
| US07742274B2 |
X-ray detector grounding and thermal transfer system and method
A method is provided for conducting electricity and thermal energy in an imaging system. The method includes providing a conductive path between a plurality of components and a support structure of the imaging system, in which the support structure comprises a material consisting essentially of conductive elements disposed in a non-conductive material matrix. An imaging system is provided, with a support structure of a conductive elements disposed in a non-conductive material matrix, a plurality of components coupled to the support structure, an imaging panel disposed in the housing, and a conductive path extending through the non-conductive exterior to engage the conductive elements, wherein the conductive path is configured to conduct heat, electricity, or a combination thereof, with one or more components of the imaging system. Another imaging system is provided, with a portable panel-shaped housing, a support structure including a compound plastic, a composite material, or a combination thereof, a conductive path penetrating a non-conductive exterior to a conductive interior of the compound plastic of composite material, and an imaging panel coupled to the support structure via the conductive path. |
| US07742265B2 |
High voltage power supply clamp circuitry for electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection
In one embodiment, an ESD protection circuit comprises a switchable current sinking circuit connected to a positive ESD clamp rail voltage, which may be a power supply voltage, and a single trigger control circuit coupled to a control connection of the switchable current sinking circuit. The single trigger control circuit may be configured to couple the control connection of the switchable current sinking circuit to a negative ESD clamp rail voltage, which may be signal ground, during an ESD event occurring on the positive ESD clamp rail connection. In one embodiment, the switchable current sinking circuit is capable of sinking large amounts of current, and the ESD protection circuit is tolerant of rail voltages that exceed the breakdown voltage of semiconductor devices used in constructing the ESD circuit. In one embodiment, the single trigger control circuit is implemented with a single n-well, thereby minimizing the amount of required silicon area during fabrication of the ESD protection circuit. |
| US07742264B2 |
Hybrid-type superconducting fault current limiter
Disclosed is provided a hybrid-type superconducting fault current limiter for rapidly limiting a fault current, the fault current limiter having a first circuit and a second circuit which are connected in parallel with each other, wherein the first circuit includes a superconductor and a circuit breaker which are connected in series with each other, and wherein the second circuit includes a driver having a driving coil and an electromagnetic repeller, a short contact connected in parallel with the driver, and a current limiting unit connected in series with a third circuit including the driver and the short contact. The hybrid-type superconducting fault current limiter comprises a power semiconductor element switch connected in series with the first circuit, the power semiconductor element switch normally maintaining an ON state and being activated and changed into an OFF state by a fault sensing signal generated according to an inflow of the fault current. |
| US07742263B2 |
Magnetoresistance device with a diffusion barrier between a conductor and a magnetoresistance element and method of fabricating the same
A magnetoresistance device is provided for improving thermal stability of a magnetoresistance element by preventing inter-diffusion between a conductor (such as a via and an interconnection) for connecting the magnetoresistance element to another element and layers constituting the magnetoresistance element. A magnetoresistance device is composed of a magnetoresistance element, a non-magnetic conductor providing electrical connection between the magnetoresistance element to another element, and a diffusion barrier structure disposed between the conductor and the magnetoresistance element, the magnetoresistance element including a free ferromagnetic layer having reversible spontaneous magnetization, a fixed ferromagnetic layer having fixed spontaneous magnetization, and a tunnel dielectric layer disposed between the free and fixed ferroelectric layers. |
| US07742262B2 |
Magnetoresistive element, magnetic head, magnetic recording apparatus, and magnetic memory
A magnetoresistive element includes a first magnetic layer a magnetization direction of which is substantially pinned, a second magnetic layer a magnetization direction of which varies depending on an external field, a magnetic spacer layer provided between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer, and electrodes which supply a current perpendicularly to a plane of a stacked film including the first magnetic layer, the magnetic spacer layer and the second magnetic layer. In this element, the magnetization directions of the first and the second magnetic layers are substantially orthogonal at zero external field. |
| US07742259B2 |
Perpendicular magnetic recording head capable of suppressing PTP and obtaining stabilized recording medium and method of manufacturing the same
Particularly, there is provided a perpendicular magnetic recording head capable of suppressing PTP and obtaining a stabilized recording ability by improving the shape of the opposed surface of a return yoke layer and a method of manufacturing the same. The shape of the return yoke layer on the opposed surface includes a downside formed linearly parallel to a track width direction (X direction shown in the drawing), a center portion where a protrusion portion having a maximum width T1 larger than a track width Tw by protruding upwardly is formed in a position opposed to a main magnetic pole layer in a film thickness direction (Z direction shown in the drawing), and opposed end portions, having a film thickness smaller than the center portion, that extend on the opposite sides in the track width direction of the center portion. As a result, it is possible to properly obtain both effects such as the improvement of the recording ability and the suppressing of PTP generation. |
| US07742257B2 |
Acoustic damping pad that reduces deflection of a circuit board
A acoustic damping pad is provided. The acoustic damping pad includes a first surface and an opposing second surface that are defined by a periphery. A first set of perforations extend between the first surface and the second surface of the acoustic damping pad. Each adjacent perforation in the first set of perforations is uniformly spaced apart from each other across a first select surface area of the first surface and across a corresponding first select surface area of the opposing second surface to form a uniform pattern. |
| US07742256B2 |
Cartridge slot door mechanism for covering cartridge slot
A cartridge slot door mechanism is disclosed that covers a cartridge slot arranged at a front panel of a frame. The cartridge slot door mechanism includes an upper door having an upper side supported by the front panel, and a lower door having a lower side supported by the front panel. The upper door and the lower door are configured to open toward the inner side of the frame, and a lower side portion of the upper door and an upper side portion of the lower door are arranged to overlap. |
| US07742255B2 |
Head-disc interface (HDI) modal response monitoring
Apparatus and method for head-disc interface (HDI) modal response monitoring. A sensing element disposed on a rigid actuator arm is mechanically impedance matched to a head-disc interface (HDI) supported by the actuator arm to resonate at a predetermined frequency corresponding to at least one disturbance associated with the HDI. |
| US07742254B2 |
Servo channel for tape drive systems
Provided are techniques for synchronous servo channel for a data tape drive. A servo reader is configured to read servo bursts from a data tape. An anti-aliasing filter is operable to output a bandlimited signal and is coupled to receive a servo channel signal comprising servo bursts from the servo reader. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is operable to output signal samples and is coupled to receive the bandlimited signal from the anti-aliasing filter. An interpolation and control unit is operable to output interpolated signal samples and control signals, has a first input coupled to receive the signal samples from the ADC, and has a second input coupled to receive the correlation signal samples from the dibit correlator. A dibit correlator is operable to output correlation signal samples and is coupled to receive the interpolated signal samples and control signals from the interpolation and control unit. |
| US07742250B2 |
Spectral analysis of a position error signal
The present disclosure is directed to spectral analysis of a position error signal. In a particular embodiment, the method includes analyzing a spectral content of a position error signal. The method also includes comparing the spectral content to a threshold. Further, the method includes determining a result based on the comparing the spectral content to the threshold. In another particular embodiment, the spectral content of the position error signal is determined by performing a discrete fourier transform (DFT) on the error signal, determining a magnitude of the DFT output, and low pass filtering the magnitude. |
| US07742248B2 |
Apparatus and method for setting a parameter of a lens of a television, video or studio camera
An apparatus is used to manually set a parameter of a lens of a television, video or studio camera, and especially to set the distance between the camera and an object which is to be photographed. The apparatus which is connectable with the camera, has a hand wheel that can be rotated about an axis of rotation, as well as an adjusting wheel that can be connected through a gear mechanism with the hand wheel to engage a corresponding wheel at the lens for setting the parameter. Two stops, which can be adjusted variably relative to one another and fixed at different angular positions, are provided for limiting the angle of rotation of the hand wheel. A counterstop, arranged in the path of the two stops, is connected torsionally rigidly with the hand wheel. |
| US07742247B2 |
Lens control apparatus
A lens control apparatus for controlling a lens apparatus having an extender is provided. When an operation of storing a shot is performed in a shot box connected to the lens apparatus having an extender, a memory stores data including a position of a zoom lens group at that time, a position of a focus lens group at that time, and a magnification of the extender at that time. When an operation of reproducing the shot is performed, a CPU transmits a control signal for moving the zoom lens group and the focus lens group to positions represented by the shot. In addition, the CPU transmits to the lens apparatus a control signal for setting the magnification of the extender at a value of the magnification thereof represented by the stored shot. |
| US07742245B2 |
Lens unit
A lens unit includes at least three lenses that are laminated and received in a lens barrel. The lenses include a first lens, a second lens, and a third lens that are laminated from the side of an object in this order. The first lens includes a first contact face that is formed at an outer peripheral portion thereof and comes in contact with the second lens, and a first opposite surface that is formed at an inner peripheral portion of the first contact face, is spaced from the second lens, and faces the second lens. The second lens includes a second contact face that is formed at a position closer to the center of the second lens than the first contact face and comes in contact with the third lens, and a second opposite surface that is formed at an outer peripheral portion of the second contact face, is spaced from the third lens, and faces the third lens. |
| US07742243B2 |
Projection lens with high resolution and reduced overall length
An exemplary projection lens includes, in this order from the magnification side to the minification side thereof, a negative lens group of negative fraction power, and a positive lens group of positive fraction power. The projection lens satisfies the formulas of: −2.5 |
| US07742240B2 |
Subminiature imaging optical system
There is provided a subminiature imaging optical system utilizing only three sheets of lenses having positive, negative and positive refractive powers, respectively. The subminiature imaging optical system comprising, sequentially from an object side: a first lens having a meniscus shape with a convex object-side surface, the first lens having at least one aspherical surface and positive refractive power; a second lens having a meniscus shape with a convex image-side surface, the second lens having at least one spherical surface and negative refractive power; and a third lens having both surfaces formed of an aspherical surface and having positive refractive power. |
| US07742239B2 |
Method to control point spread function of an image
A method of controlling the point spread function of an image projected with said image being diffused by a filter; said point spread function is a result of the application of spatial filter(s) on said image; with said control of the point spread function effected by varying the distance between such image and said spatial filter(s) and varying the bidirectional scattering transmission function of the spatial filter(s). Said spatial filter may be a holographic diffuser, which by method of manufacture has a well defined bi-directional scattering transmission spread function. Control of said spread function is particularly useful to maintain image quality while abating moiré interference in situations where two periodic patterns are layered causing moiré interference. |
| US07742238B2 |
Imaging lens
An imaging lens includes, in order from an object side, a first lens having a positive refractive power and having a meniscus shape with a convex surface directed to the object side thereof, a second lens having a concave object-side surface and a third lens having a negative refractive power in a vicinity of an optical axis. Each of the second and third lenses has at least one aspheric surface. The following conditional expressions are satisfied: 0.8 |
| US07742236B2 |
Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus
A zoom lens includes, in order from an object side, a first lens group having a negative power, a second lens group having a positive power, and a third lens group having a positive power. At least the first and second lens groups are movable during a change from a wide-angle end state in which a focal length becomes shortest to a telephoto end state in which the focal length becomes longest. The first lens group is constructed of a glass lens and a plastic lens, the glass lens being positioned on the object side and having a negative power, the plastic lens being positioned on an image side and having a positive power. The second lens group includes a single plastic lens having a negative power. The third lens group includes at least one plastic lens having a positive power. The lenses are satisfied predetermined conditions. |
| US07742235B2 |
Zoom lens system, imaging device and camera
A zoom lens system comprising a first lens unit having negative power, a second lens unit having positive power and a third lens unit having positive power, wherein: the first lens unit comprises a first lens element having a concave surface at least on the image side and negative power and a second lens element having a convex surface at least on the object side and positive power; the second lens unit comprises a cemented lens element fabricated by two lens elements having optical power of mutually different signs and one single lens element; in zooming, all of the lens units move along an optical axis; and conditions (1): 5.0<αiW<20.0 and (I-2): n11≧1.9 (where, 3.2 |
| US07742233B2 |
Image correction using a microlens array as a unit
A system constructs a composite image using focus assessment information of image regions. |
| US07742231B2 |
Zoom lens and imaging apparatus
A zoom lens includes: a front group including a plurality of movable lens groups; and a rear group that is provided on an image side of the front group and that includes a negative lens and a positive lens. The positive lens has a flat lens surface on its image side, and is tiltable about a spherical center of its object side lens surface that is convex on the object side. When a lens system is inclined, the positive lens is tilted in relation to the optical axis of the lens system based on: a focal length of the overall lens system; an angle of the optical axis of the lens system after being inclined in relation to the optical axis before being inclined; a distance between the image side lens surface of the positive lens and the image plane; and a refractive index of the positive lens. |
| US07742230B2 |
Projection display-use screen and projection display system optical system
To realize a diffusion film in which arbitrary control of the diffuse light intensity distribution characteristics, and an angular range of diffusion does not change with respect to an incoming light from a specific angular range and a light-outgoing direction converting element that is high in efficiency of conversion of the outgoing direction, and has no limit in the angle of conversion of the outgoing direction, and to provide a thin-model high-quality projection display using the same as a screen. |
| US07742228B2 |
Far-optical device
A far-optical device comprising a reversal system (1) and an adjustable optical magnification means with more than fourfold magnification, wherein the far-optical device has an optical beam deflection means (2) which at all magnifications ensures a subjective field of view of the far-optical device of at least 22° at least for light of a wavelength of about 550 nm. |
| US07742222B2 |
Conversion device with multi-faceted output face and laser projection system incorporating the same
The present invention relates generally to multi-faceted wavelength conversion devices and laser projection systems incorporating the same. |
| US07742220B2 |
Microelectromechanical device and method utilizing conducting layers separated by stops
A microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device includes a reflective element that includes at least one stop member. The device also includes an electrode and an aperture that extends at least partially through the electrode. The aperture has a boundary. The device has an electrically nonconductive surface within the aperture or on a portion of the boundary of the aperture. A support structure separates the reflective element from the electrode. The reflective element can be moved between a first position and a second position. The stop member is spaced from the electrically nonconductive surface when the reflective element is in the first position. A portion of the stop member is in contact with the electrically nonconductive surface when the reflective element is in the second position. The reflective element and the electrode are electrically isolated from each other when the reflective element is in the second position. |
| US07742218B2 |
Mirror device comprising micromirrors possessing a specific natural oscillation frequency
The present invention aims at providing a mirror device, comprising a plurality of mirror elements, wherein each of the mirror elements comprises a deflectable mirror, and an elastic member for deflectably supporting the mirror, wherein the mirror allows to be controlled under a first deflection control state in which incident light is reflected toward a first direction, a second deflection control state in which the incident light is reflected toward a second direction, and a third deflection control state in which the mirror oscillates between the first deflection control state and second deflection control state, wherein the mirror device reproduces gradations by combining the first through third deflection control states, and the natural oscillation cycle T of the oscillation system constituted by the mirror and elastic member satisfies: 110 [μsec]>T=2π*√(I/K)>2 [μsec], where “I” is the moment of rotation of the oscillation system and “K” is the spring constant of the elastic member. |
| US07742217B2 |
Image generation unit and method to use an image generation unit
An image generation unit with an illumination unit for generating a plurality of coherent sub-beams and for illuminating an image modulator, including a light source, and a projection lens for superimposing each of the coherent sub-beams onto a projection screen plane. An optical set-up introduces angles between each two of the sub-beams, which are chosen to produce uncorrelated speckle patterns in the projection screen plane, resulting in an interference speckle pattern. A phase modulator including a liquid crystal cell changes its directory profile in a lateral manner, thereby being able to change the phase of light of each sub-beam individually. |
| US07742216B2 |
Electro-chromic display device and method of manufacturing the same
Disclosed herein is an electrochromic display device comprising a pair of transparent substrates facing each other, an anode electrode and a cathode electrode respectively formed on the transparent substrates, an electrolytic layer disposed between the anode electrode and the cathode electrode, an electrochromophore layer of a nano structure formed on at least one of the anode electrode and the cathode electrode, and a redox promoter layer coated with a conductive compound, on the other electrode. |
| US07742214B2 |
Optical scanning device and printing apparatus
An optical scanning device comprises: an oscillating mirror which has a pair of electrodes and a mirror oscillator; a driving unit which applies a wave-like driving signal to the electrodes so as to oscillate the mirror oscillator correspondingly to the driving signal; a detecting unit which detects an oscillation amplitude of the oscillating mirror; an adjusting unit which changes a value of at least one of a duty ratio, a driving frequency, an amplitude, and a bias voltage of the driving signal as a parameter so as to adjust the oscillation amplitude detected by the detecting unit to a target value; and a storing unit which stores the value of the parameter changed by the adjusting unit as a reference value, wherein when the oscillating mirror is activated, the adjusting unit starts the adjusting of the oscillation amplitude with using the driving signal based on the reference value. |
| US07742212B2 |
Precision laser machining apparatus
A focused laser beam having an optical axis passes sequentially through a simple, positive lens, a pair of plane, parallel windows, and a second, simple, negative lens. Each of the plane, parallel windows are mounted to a galvanometer motor and positioned orthogonally to one another. The focused laser beam is therefore displaced in a controlled manner from the optical axis to enable laser machining of very precise geometric features over a large processing window. A field size of one thousand microns is achieved. |
| US07742203B2 |
Image reading apparatus
An image reading apparatus includes an integral scanning optical unit in which a light source device for illuminating an original placed on an original table, a plurality of mirrors for reflecting a light beam from the original and an imaging optical system for imaging the light beam reflected by the mirrors, upon a reading device, are integrally accommodated, wherein at least one mirror is so configured that the light beam is incident thereon twice or more, wherein, in a sub-scan section, reflection surfaces of the mirrors are disposed in a space at an original-reading-position side of a light entrance surface of the imaging optical system, and wherein the reflection surface of a mirror disposed at a position optically closest to the light entrance surface of the imaging optical system is placed at a position furthermost from the original table with respect to a direction of a normal thereto, as compared with the reflection surfaces of the remaining mirrors. |
| US07742202B2 |
Image reading apparatus and image forming apparatus
A light-collective member (142) for collecting a light outputted from a light source (140), which irradiates a light toward a document surface, toward a sub-scanning direction is provided in front of the light source (140). An illuminating portion which is so formed that each of opposite end surfaces (170, 172) in the main scanning direction of the light-collective member (142) has an obtuse angle with respect to a bottom surface (174) facing the light source (140). |
| US07742196B2 |
Information processing apparatus and method for processing information
An information processing apparatus specifies an area wherein a tint block image is applied, or an area wherein a tint block is not applied. A user selects either an application mode or a non-application mode in an area 2250 to specify a tint block application area or a tint block non-application area, and selects, in an area 2251, a shape for a tint block application area or a tint block non-application area. Then, the user employs, for example, a mouse to adjust the size and the location of the selected figure, and specifies the tint block application area or the tint block non-application area. The printer driver employs the selected area information to generate tint block application/non-application area information, and employs this information to create tint block image data while taking into account the area. |
| US07742194B2 |
Image processing device, image processing method, image forming apparatus, image processing program, and storage medium
The present invention includes a plurality of color correction tables respectively corresponding to a plurality of groups into which a page-background color is sorted. It is determined which group a page-background color of image data in a block that belongs to a page-background region belongs to. Consequently, color correction processing is performed by using a color correction table corresponding to the group determined. This makes it possible to carry out appropriate color correction processing according to the page-background color of an original document. |
| US07742188B2 |
Image forming apparatus and method
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus fuses an image to a recording medium by heat and pressure. To ensure that the recording medium does not stick to the fusing roller, a non-printable margin is normally reserved at the leading edge of the recording medium. When the recording medium has sufficient stiffness, however, as determined from its thickness and other factors such as its width or orientation, marginless printing is permitted. The setting of an unnecessary margin is thereby avoided. |
| US07742187B2 |
Image forming apparatus, image forming method and recording medium having program recorded thereon
An image forming apparatus including: a memory section having a common storage area that temporarily stores data in an intermediate form, which are generated on the way between image data in a form of page description language and data in a bitmap form obtained by interpreting the image data, and the data in a bitmap form; and a control section configured to monitor a first event that the data in an intermediate form stored in the common storage area have been deleted and a second event that the data in a bitmap form stored in the common storage area have been deleted, and to determine presence or absence of area for the data in an intermediate form to be stored when either of the first and second events occurs. |
| US07742182B2 |
System and method of identifying a printer output tray
A printing system that includes a personal computer and a printer having multiple output trays. The printer operates both as a server and a printer. The printer serves a program to the personal computer upon request. The program enables the personal computer to print a document using the printer. The program also enables the personal computer to display an image of the printer while the printer is printing the document. The image indicates the printer output tray receiving the document. The image further indicates the present capacity of the output tray to receive additional media. |
| US07742180B2 |
Dust and/or dirt detection in image reading apparatus having read-while-feed function
In image reading apparatus capable of performing a read-while-feed operation in which an original is read while being fed by an image sensor placed at a fixed position, presence/absence of dust and/or dirt on a platen is detected, and, in a case where dust and/or dirt are detected at all of a plurality of predetermined positions by said detector, the read-while-feed operation is inhibited and the presence of dust and/or dirt is notified to a user. When, removal of dust and/or dirt on the platen is detected in a state that the read-while-feed operation is inhibited, the read-while-feed operation is allowed. |
| US07742173B2 |
Methods, arrangements and systems for polarization-sensitive optical frequency domain imaging of a sample
Arrangements and methods are provided for obtaining data associated with a sample. For example, at least one first electro-magnetic radiation can be provided to a sample and at least one second electro-magnetic radiation can be provided to a reference (e.g., a non-reflective reference). A frequency of such radiation(s) can repetitively vary over time with a first characteristic period. In addition, a polarization state of the first electro-magnetic radiation, the second electro-magnetic radiation, a third electro-magnetic radiation (associated with the first radiation) or a fourth electro-magnetic radiation (associated with the second radiation) can repetitively vary over time with a second characteristic period which is shorter than the first period. The data for imaging at least one portion of the sample can be provided as a function of the polarization state. In addition or alternatively, the third and fourth electro-magnetic radiations can be combined so as to determine an axial reflectance profile of at least one portion of the sample. |
| US07742172B2 |
Apparatus for varying the path length of a beam of radiation
An apparatus for varying the path length of a beam of radiation, the apparatus comprising: an element (51) rotatably mounted about an axis, said element comprising two reflective surfaces in fixed relation to one another such that radiation may be reflected between said reflective surfaces and out of the element (51); and driving means (55) for rotatably oscillating said element about said axis. |
| US07742170B1 |
Method and system for countering laser technology
Described herein is a method and system for providing a countermeasure against laser detection systems using nanocomponent material that is tailored to cloak or obscure a target from detection by transmitted laser radiation. The nanodot material absorbs and/or down-converts the transmitted laser radiation. Similarly, described herein is a method and system for providing a countermeasure against laser systems intended to blind a target through the use of a specifically engineered nanocomponent material for absorbing and/or down-converting the radiation from the laser system. |
| US07742165B2 |
Cells for biochemical analysis, kit for biochemical analysis, and biochemical analyzer
The invention makes it possible to measure binding of a biochemical substance with a high throughput and with high sensitivity using a small cell capable of being filled with a small amount of chemical solution. A space between a first substrate and a second substrate such that probes are immobilized on their mutually facing planes is used as a cell that houses a specimen solution. Light is irradiated from a first substrate side, and reflected light is subjected to spectroscopy. Binding of the target with the probe is detected by a wavelength shift in the reflection spectrum. |
| US07742155B2 |
Diffusion material, diffusion material evaluating method, blending method for fine particles in the diffusion material, and production method for the diffusion material
A diffusion material includes a prescribed scattering S(λ) of respective fine particles that are determined by Mie theory for all plural kinds of fine particles at a wavelength λ of an incident light. The diffusion material includes plural kinds of fine particles having different refractive indices, dispersed into a matrix. Each particle providing light intensity attenuating rate C(λ) in the diffusion material, and chromaticity variations Δx and Δy of the incident light. The diffusion power of the diffusion material by using determined chromaticity variations Δx and Δy; the diffusion material that is evaluated by this evaluation method and can emit illumination light free from wavelength unevenness. The diffusion material includes a blending the fine particles to provide the prescribed diffusion and uniform illumination. |
| US07742154B2 |
Method and device for testing valuable documents
In an apparatus for testing value documents, such as for example bank notes, an area of the bank note is captured from different directions with the help of two optical sensors aligned symmetrically to each other. The measured values supplied by the sensors on the one hand are added up in order to obtain a total measured value which is insensitive to asymmetric effects of the value document, and on the other hand the measured values are subtracted in order to capture exactly these asymmetric effects. In this way with the help of one single apparatus there can be tested authenticity features as well as the quality of the actual state of the value document. |
| US07742152B2 |
Coherent detection scheme for FM chirped laser radar
An optical homodyne detection scheme for FM chirped lidar is described. The system performs de-chirping within a photodetector, and it does not require high-speed photo-detection or RF mixing. Embodiments are also described for dealing with phase noise. |
| US07742151B2 |
Laser-based system with LADAR and SAL capabilities
A laser-based system with laser detection and ranging (“LADAR”) and semi-active laser (“SAL”) system capabilities is disclosed. In a first aspect, an apparatus includes a gimbal capable of scanning in azimuth and in elevation and a sensor mounted on the gimbal capable of LADAR acquisition and laser designation. In a second aspect, a method includes flying an airborne vehicle through an environment, scanning a LADAR signal from a sensor into the field of regard to identify a target; and laser designating the identified target with the sensor. |
| US07742148B2 |
Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method for writing a digital image
First pluralities of radiation spots generated by an array of individually controllable elements are exposed on a substrate. The radiation spots are equally spaced across an entire area of the substrate to be exposed. The substrate is then shifted relative to the array of individually controllable elements in a direction perpendicular to a scanning direction of the substrate. Second pluralities of radiation spots generated by the array of individually controllable elements are alternatingly formed on the substrate with respect to each of the first plurality of spots. |
| US07742147B2 |
Exposure apparatus
An exposure apparatus for measuring a position of a stage, configured to hold a substrate, using a laser interferometer, and exposing the substrate through an original, and an optical element opposite to the substrate with a gap between the optical element and the substrate filled with liquid. A first supply nozzle is arranged around the optical element, which supplies the liquid to the gap, a first recovery nozzle arranged around the first supply nozzle recovers the liquid from the gap, a second supply nozzle supplies a gas outside the first recovery nozzle, a controller controls an amount of the liquid supplied from the first supply nozzle and an amount of the liquid and gas recovered from the first recovery nozzle, and a wall portion is arranged around the optical element and substantially parallel to a surface of the substrate. If Q1 is the amount of the liquid supplied from the first supply nozzle and Q2 is a sum of the amount of the liquid and gas recovered from the first recovery nozzle, a relationship Q1 |
| US07742143B2 |
Large-sized display apparatus and display device and display module used in large-sized display apparatus
A protective measure against rainfalls or ultraviolet rays is applied to planar display devices which comprise a large-sized display apparatus thus allowing display modules which include display devices to be used outdoors and, at the same time, the structure of a frame is simplified thus realizing the reduction of weight, thickness and a manufacturing cost of the large-sized display apparatus. In a large-sized display apparatus arranging a plurality of planar display devices, as the planar display device, a display device which comprises a display device body which includes a display region in the inside thereof and has a peripheral portion of the display region sealed, and a protective glass which is fixedly mounted on a front surface of the display device body using an adhesive material is used. |
| US07742142B2 |
Display and tape carrier package structure
A display including a display panel, a circuit board and a tape carrier package structure is provided. The circuit board is disposed at the display panel. The tape carrier package structure includes a substrate having an opening, a plurality of leads, a chip, and a blocking bar. The substrate is between the display panel and the circuit board. A plurality of leads, each having an inner lead and outer lead, are disposed around the opening on the substrate. A portion of the outer leads is electrically connected to the display panel, and another portion is electrically connected to the circuit board. The chip has a plurality of contact points, and is disposed at the opening of the substrate. The contact points are electrically connected to the inner leads. Moreover, the blocking bar is disposed on the substrate between the chip and the display panel. |
| US07742137B2 |
Display device and electrical appliance using the same
A liquid crystal display device comprising a pair of substrates, a liquid crystal display panel having a liquid crystal layer positioned between the substrates, a transparent protective plate arranged on a front surface side of the display panel, and an optically transparent layer between the display panel and the protective plate, and wherein the protective plate includes fine concavity and convexity configurations on at least a surface thereof toward the display panel. |
| US07742136B2 |
Manufacturing method for sheet with anti-counterfeit functions
A sheet with anti-counterfeit functions for making counterfeiting highly difficult in the case where authentication information is recorded using the properties of cholesteric liquid crystal is provided. A cholesteric liquid crystal layer 110 having a selective reflected wavelength band in at least the visible light region is provided in such a manner that this cholesteric liquid crystal layer 110 is a single layer of which thickness is approximately uniform, and an authentication region 112 of which selective reflected wavelength band is different is provided in at least one place. Preferably, an adhesive layer 130 is provided on one side of the cholesteric liquid crystal layer 110. Preferably, a base 120 is provided between the cholesteric liquid crystal layer 110 and the adhesive layer 130. Preferably, a light absorbing layer 140 is provided on adhesive layer 130 of the cholesteric liquid crystal layer 110. |
| US07742128B2 |
Hybrid color display apparatus having large pixel and small pixel display modes
A display apparatus includes display cells, arranged in a row direction and a column direction, each having a color filter and an optical modulation device for modulating a brightness and a color of an incident light by voltage application. The optical modulation device modulates color of the incident light over at least three colors, and the color filter is provided in a set of color filters including a color filter which transmits light of two colors in the above-mentioned at least three colors. Two types of display modes consisting of a large pixel display mode using a group of display cells containing color filters of all of the above-mentioned at least three colors as a display unit and a small pixel display mode using groups of display cells each containing color filters of a part of the above-mentioned set of color filters as display units are executed. |
| US07742126B2 |
Method of fabricating an LCD, including steps of forming a color filter by pressing with a soft mold
There is disclosed a liquid crystal display panel that is adaptive for simplifying its process and reducing its cost by performing a patterning process without using a photolithography process, and a fabricating method thereof.A liquid crystal display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a color filter which is formed by a press forming by a soft mold; and a black matrix to divide the color filter by the cell. |
| US07742125B2 |
Light switch having plural shutters
A display includes a light switch overlying a backlight and having at least two light shutters which do not, by themselves, convey information by the shape thereof. The lit area of the backlight is equal to or greater than the sum of the areas of the shutters within the area. The display can also include a graphics layer overlying the light switch. The information content of the display is changed by changing the graphics layer. |
| US07742119B2 |
Pixel structure having two TFTs connected to pixel electrode, second TFT having floating main gate electrode and top gate electrode, with repair method connecting the gate electrodes of the two TFTs
A pixel structure includes a backup thin film transistor with a float gate electrode or a float drain electrode and a working thin film transistor. When the pixel of the working thin film transistor does not work, the backup thin film transistor replaces the working thin film transistor to drive the pixel. The method of repairing the pixel is to cut off the connection between the drain electrode of the working thin film transistor and the pixel electrode, and then to connect the main gate electrode or the drain electrode of the backup thin film transistor to the gate electrode or the drain electrode of the working thin film transistor, such that the backup thin film transistor can replace the working thin film transistor to drive the pixel electrode. |
| US07742116B2 |
Display panel and method of manufacturing the same
A display panel and a method of manufacturing the same in which a storage electrode is formed on a first base substrate, and an insulating layer is formed on the first base substrate to cover the storage electrode. The insulating layer is recessed directly above the storage electrode. A pixel electrode faces the storage electrode and is formed on the insulating layer. A protruding portion is formed on a second base substrate facing the first base substrate. The protruding portion protrudes toward a concaved portion of the insulating layer. |
| US07742115B2 |
Pixel structure having notch on capacitor electrode and contact opening above the notch connecting pixel electrode above passivation layer with the capacitor electrode
A pixel structure disposed on a substrate is provided. The pixel structure includes a first and a second capacitor electrode, a dielectric layer, a passivation layer, a pixel electrode, and an active device. The first capacitor electrode is disposed on the substrate and has a first notch. The dielectric layer covers the first capacitor electrode, and the second capacitor electrode is disposed on the dielectric layer above the first capacitor electrode. The passivation layer is disposed on the dielectric layer to cover the second capacitor electrode, and the passivation layer has a contact opening above the first notch for exposing a part of the second capacitor electrode. The pixel electrode is disposed on the passivation layer and is electrically connected to the second capacitor electrode through the contact opening. The active device is electrically connected to the pixel electrode. Additionally, a method for repairing the pixel structure is also provided. |
| US07742113B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device includes first and second opposed facing substrates and liquid crystal sandwiched therebetween. The first substrate includes a thin film transistor having a first electrode thereof connected to a video signal line and a second electrode thereof connected to a pixel electrode, a first silicon nitride film, an organic insulation film, a capacitance electrode, and a second silicon nitride film. The second silicon nitride film is formed at a temperature lower than a forming temperature of the first silicon nitride film. The second electrode and the pixel electrode are connected to each other via a contact hole formed by the first and second silicon nitride films. A potential different from a potential applied to the pixel electrode is applied to the capacitance electrode, and a holding capacitance is formed by the pixel electrode, the second silicon nitride film and the capacitance electrode. |
| US07742111B2 |
Highlight detecting circuit and related method for audio feature-based highlight segment detection
A highlight detecting circuit for detecting a highlight segment within a video signal includes a pitch-tracking module for estimating a plurality of pitch values for an audio signal; a pitch difference detecting module coupled to the pitch-tracking module for computing a plurality of pitch difference values according to the pitch values; and a highlight detecting module coupled to the pitch difference detecting module for determining a starting point and a stopping point of the highlight segment according to the pitch difference values. |
| US07742109B2 |
Adaptive noise reduction for digital display panels
A plasma display panel is a pure linear display and does not provide a non-linear gamma behavior like a CRT so that an artificial gamma function has to be applied to the signal in digital form. This gamma function increases the quantization steps in the dark areas whereas the quantization steps will be reduced in the luminous areas. The basic idea is to apply an adaptive noise filtering after the gammatization process. The adaptive filtering is a specific filtering which is adapted to the gammatization quantization noise. In other words, the filtering will be maximum for dark areas and its efficacy will be automatically decreased when the luminance of the area is increasing. |
| US07742107B2 |
Display apparatus and method for controlling the same
A display apparatus comprises a display unit; a first processor for outputting a first signal including an on-screen-display (OSD) menu signal and a first image signal. A second processor has a picture-in-picture (PIP) function, the second processor processes one of a second image signal and the first signal and outputs the processed signal to the display unit. A control unit controls the first processor for interrupting an output of the first image signal and outputting the OSD menu signal and for controlling the second processor for PIP-processing to output the OSD menu signal as a main screen and the second image signal as a sub-screen in the case that a prescribed OSD menu function is selected when the display unit displays an image according to the second image signal. Thus, a display apparatus and a method for controlling the same are provided which can display a harmonized OSD menu screen without an additional cost. |
| US07742104B2 |
Display apparatus and control method thereof
A display apparatus and a control method thereof is provided in which channels corresponding to a predetermined broadcasting format are displayed on a display unit even though they are not separately selected by a user as desired channels. A display apparatus includes a display unit to display a picture thereon, and a tuner to select a channel, a broadcasting format selection unit to select a predetermined broadcasting format, a signal receiver to receive information about the broadcasting format, and a controller to control the tuner to allow the channel corresponding to the broadcasting format to be displayed on the display unit when the broadcasting format is selected through the broadcasting format selection unit. |
| US07742100B2 |
Portable terminal having digital camera function
A portable terminal is provided having a digital camera function that includes a display main body having a display, a camera assembly having a camera module for focusing on a subject and photographing an image of the subject displayed on the display and a turning unit to rotatably couple the display main body to the camera assembly. A terminal main body may have an information processing function and may being movably mounted on the display main body. A speaker unit and a mike unit may transmit or receive voice information. The portable terminal may have the digital camera function and allow the user to perform voice communication and easily photograph a still image or dynamic image of a subject. This may improve the structural intensity in photographing. |
| US07742099B2 |
Incorporating imaging unit position data
An imaging apparatus includes an imaging unit configured to execute processing to capture an image; a GPS (Global Positioning System) device configured to execute position calculation processing based on data received from a satellite; a power-supply control unit configured to control power supply to the GPS device; an apparatus control unit configured to monitor a state of photographing by a user to calculate a frequency of use of the imaging unit per unit time, and to cause the power-supply control unit to intermittently supply power to the GPS device when the calculated use frequency is lower than a predetermined threshold; and a data-recording control unit configured to generate photographed data attribute information in which positional information acquired in the GPS device is set as attribute information of an acquired image in the imaging unit, and to execute processing to store the photographed data attribute information in a storing unit. |
| US07742097B2 |
Optical device and control method thereof
Provided is an optical device having image capturing means that converts an optical image of an object to an electric signal, and an optical element arranged before the image capturing means. In the optical device, an insulation member is arranged at a position facing the optical element in a way to be movable in a substantially entire area of a light entering surface of the optical element, and an electric control unit is provided for at least electrostatically charging or neutralizing the insulation member. |
| US07742096B2 |
Image pickup apparatus including a lens barrel opening and closing a lens barrier protecting a lens and control method therefor, and control program for implementing the control method
An image pickup apparatus that can accurately correct an error in the position of a taking lens due to a loss of synchronism of the stepping motor during opening and closing of the lens barrier. The position of a taking lens retractable into the body of the image pickup apparatus is detected. A reference position is provided on one of both sides of a section in which the lens barrier is driven to open and close, the one side being a side on which the lens barrier is not driven to open and close. |
| US07742093B2 |
Digital camera
A digital camera comprising an imaging device, a memory, a monitor, and a monitor controller is provided. The digital camera is used for photographing an optical image of an object as an image of a first rectangle. An aspect ratio of the first rectangle is a first aspect ratio. The imaging device generates an image signal. The monitor is a second rectangle. An aspect ratio of the second rectangle is a second aspect ratio. The second aspect ratio is decided to be lower than the first aspect ratio if the first aspect ratio is higher than one. The second aspect ratio is decided to be higher than the first aspect ratio if the first aspect ratio is lower than one. The monitor controller makes a displayed-image be displayed on the monitor according to a first or a second replay mode. |
| US07742092B2 |
Solid-state imaging device, pixel-signal processing method, analog-signal transferring device, and analog-signal transferring method
A solid-state imaging device including: an imaging pixel region where a plurality of imaging pixels is disposed; a vertical selecting circuit for outputting pixel signals from imaging pixels of respective columns on a selected row of the imaging pixel region to vertical signal lines provided respectively for the columns; charge integrating amps provided respectively for the vertical signal lines of the columns so as to receive inputs of pixel signals from imaging pixels of the respective columns; holding elements that allow the input pixel signals to be held in the charge integrating amps even in periods when the charge integrating amps are in a standby state; and a horizontal selecting circuit for transferring pixel signals output from the respective charge integrating amps by a horizontal signal line. |
| US07742089B2 |
CMOS solid-state image pickup device and drive method thereof
A CMOS solid state imaging device is capable of achieving a higher image quality while reducing the size and power consumption and increasing the number of pixels and speeds. According to the invention, in a CMOS solid state imaging device, including a light-receiving portion (11) that performs photoelectric conversion according to a quantity of received light, a transfer gate (12a) used to read out charges obtained through the photoelectric conversion in the light-receiving portion (11), and a peripheral transistor provided in a periphery of the light-receiving portion (11), and a driving method of the same, a voltage applied to the transfer gate (12a) is set higher than a voltage applied to the peripheral transistor. |
| US07742088B2 |
Image sensor and digital camera
A color solid-state image pickup device includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion areas provided in an array pattern on a surface of a semiconductor substrate. The inside of each of photoelectric conversion areas 10 is two-dimensionally partitioned into a plurality of segments R, G1, G2, and B which output a plurality of photoelectric conversion signals of different spectral sensitivities. As a result, occurrence of a false signal and a false color is suppressed, and high-sensitivity, high-resolution image data having superior color reproducibility can be obtained. |
| US07742084B2 |
Network configuration file for automatically transmitting images from an electronic still camera
A network configuration file is generated at a host computer and downloaded to a digital camera. This file contains instruction information for communicating with a selected destination via a communications interface. The digital camera includes a “send” button or LCD icon which allows the user to easily transmit one or more images via a wired or wireless communications interface to a desired destination, which among other possibilities may be an Internet Service Provider or a digital photofinishing center. When the user selects this option, the communications port settings, user account specifics, and destination connection commands are read from the network configuration file on the removable memory card. Examples of these settings include serial port baud rate, parity, and stop bits, as well as account name and password. |
| US07742083B2 |
In-camera dud image management
In an image record organization method, camera, and system, a plurality of image records are provided and a value index is determined for each of the image records. The image records are classified into unacceptable records having respective value indexes within a predetermined threshold and acceptable records having respective value indexes beyond the threshold. The unacceptable records are demarcated from the acceptable records. |
| US07742075B2 |
Lens driving device, image stabilizing unit, and image pickup apparatus
A lens driving device having a simplified structure in which a holding member is moved relative to a stationary member with appropriate viscous damping is provided. The lens driving device includes the holding member configured to hold a compensation lens for image stabilization, the stationary member configured to support the holding member in a movable manner in a plane that is perpendicular to a light axis, a driving unit configured to change the position of the holding member relative to the stationary member, and a damping material disposed between the holding member and the stationary member. The damping material has a transition region in a frequency range between 0.3 Hz and 100 Hz. |
| US07742074B2 |
Image file sharing method, and digital camera and center server used in image file sharing system
Group keys and image group names of image groups to which the owner of a digital camera belongs are transmitted from a server to the digital camera. The image group names are displayed in list form and an image group name is selected from the list. The group key of the selected image group is transmitted from the digital camera to the server. The server sends the digital camera access information for accessing the user computer of another user who belongs to the image group identified by the received group key. The digital camera accesses the user computer based upon the access information and receives the image file desired. |
| US07742070B2 |
Panoramic camera
An improved camera for the acquisition of panoramic images is disclosed. The camera comprises a convex photochromic reflector directed towards an image capture element. Multiple incoming light sensors around the perimeter of the camera detect strong incoming light and cause the activation of a corresponding UV light. The UV light in turn activates the photochromic effect on a particular region of the photochromic reflector that corresponds to an area of strong incident light. The photochromic reflector then darkens in that area, providing compensation for a scene that has a wide range of lighting conditions. Therefore, the camera compensates for strong lighting indoors as well as outdoors. |
| US07742068B2 |
Method and system for auto configuration in a video phone system
A method and system for automatic camera configuration, upon establishment of a communication session is described. A number is entered into a video phone and a first segment of a communication session is established between the video phone and a service system. The service system retrieves and stores a current default pan, tilt, zoom (PTZ) setting from the video phone camera. The service system transmits the video phone's corresponding camera PTZ preset settings and the video phone configures the camera according to the preset. Upon termination of the communication session, a video relay service (VRS) transmits the default PTZ setting to the video phone and the video phone reconfigures the camera according to the original camera setting. |
| US07742063B2 |
Efficient and high speed 2D data transpose engine for SOC application
An apparatus comprising a buffer circuit, a rotation circuit and a memory. The buffer may be configured to store original image data in one or more sub-matrices. The rotation circuit may be configured to (i) produce rotated data and (ii) store the rotated data in a transposed matrix. The memory may be configured to position the rotated data in the transposed matrix. The transposed matrix comprises final image data rotated by a predetermined angle from the original image data. |
| US07742060B2 |
Sampling methods suited for graphics hardware acceleration
Embodiments of the invention provide sampling methods suited for graphics hardware acceleration. A graphics application may specify a grid of pixels to be rendered. The graphics application may supply a graphics rendering engine with one or more sets of camera parameters. Each set of camera parameters is used to alter the position of the pixel grid relative its original position so that a grid of samples can be generated at the new grid position. The graphics rendering engine then renders a grid of samples at the new grid position. Each sample grid may be used sampled to determine a set of intermediate color values that may be blended together to generate a final color value for each pixel in the pixel grid. |
| US07742058B2 |
Method for selecting a color transformation
An output color profile, such as an ICC output profile, contains a look-up table to separate the color of a pixel, for example a CIELAB color, into a set of colorant values, for example CMYK colorants. In practice, most CMYK images have been separated using one of a limited set of standardized output profiles. The problem to be solved is guessing which one of these standardized output profiles has been used to separate a specific image. For this purpose the CMYK values of the image are analyzed. The analysis involves calculating a distance in the CMYK space between the CMYK values of an image, and the CMYK values produced by different output profiles. A profile is selected based on these distances, for example by selecting the profile yielding the shortest distance. This profile is then used for converting the CMYK colorant values of the image into CIELAB color values. |
| US07742053B2 |
Multi-thread graphics processing system
A graphics processing system comprises at least one memory device storing a plurality of pixel command threads and a plurality of vertex command threads. An arbiter coupled to the at least one memory device is provided that selects a command thread from either the plurality of pixel or vertex command threads based on relative priorities of the plurality of pixel command threads and the plurality of vertex command threads. The selected command thread is provided to a command processing engine capable of processing pixel command threads and vertex command threads. |
| US07742051B2 |
Device control using data communication
A data processing device connected with a data supply device for performing predetermined data processing includes: a communication control unit for controlling communication with the data supply device; a data processing unit for performing the data processing based on input data received from the data supply device; and a device control unit for performing predetermined processing in correspondence with command data received from the data supply device based on the command data. The communication control unit receives the input data and the command data each of which is contained in a packet having a common fixed length from the data supply device. When an identification part at a predetermined position in the reception packet received from the data supply device is set at a predetermined command identification value indicating the command data, the communication control unit supplies data contained in the reception packet to the device control unit. When the identification part is set at a value different from the command identification value, the communication control unit supplies data contained in the reception packet to the data processing unit. The device control unit uses the remaining part in the reception packet other than the identification part as the command data. The data processing unit uses the remaining part as the input data. |
| US07742050B2 |
System and method for optimizing a graphics intensive software program for the user's graphics hardware
A system and method for optimizing the performance of a graphics intensive software program for graphics acceleration hardware. This system and method encompasses a procedure that validates the different functions of a 3D acceleration capable video card, decides whether to use the acceleration hardware and optimizes the software application to selectively use the functions that work on the specific video acceleration card. Functions checked include sub-pixel positioning, opacity, color replacement and fog. If these tests are successful, then the graphics acceleration is used by the software application. However, if the tests are not successful the decision is made not to use graphics accelerator. Those with ordinary skill in the art will realize that it is not necessary to perform all of the tests in a specific order. Additionally, other types of tests could be performed to ensure software application and video card compatibility before the software application is uses graphics acceleration to render 3D graphics. |
| US07742049B2 |
Method and apparatus for displaying characters on a screen
A method and apparatus for displaying characters on a TV screen in an electronic appliance such as a DVD player is disclosed. Vertically compressed character fonts are stored. When it is requested to display a character, the stored character font is read and displayed in a video field and then the character font is displayed again in the next video field, whereby flickering can be effectively eliminated with a reduced-size memory for storing fonts data. |
| US07742048B1 |
Method, system, and apparatus for converting numbers based upon semantically labeled strings
A method, system, and apparatus are provided for converting numbers to text and to digit shapes expressed in different languages. When a string of text is entered into an application program, the string is analyzed to determine whether the string of text includes a number expressed using digits. If the string of text includes a number expressed using digits, the number is semantically labeled with schema information. When a selection is received of the number, a list of actions may be provided identifying conversion actions available for the number. One of the conversion options may then be selected resulting in the conversion of the selected number to text in one or more languages. A conversion option may also be selected for converting the number digits to digits expressed using other digit shapes. The converted number may then be inserted into the string of text to replace the selected number. |
| US07742046B2 |
Method, device, and program for producing elemental image array for three-dimensional image display
A two-dimensional image can be displayed in a desired position, a desired aspect ratio of the display image can be maintained, and such an elemental image array as to maximize an interpolating effect can be produced. A producing method of an elemental image array for three-dimensional image display includes: converting the resolution of the two-dimensional image into substantially the same resolution of a three-dimensional image display device; obtaining multipoint images by shifting the position to sample the two-dimensional image after the resolution conversion at regular intervals in the horizontal direction; and rearranging the multipoint images according to the positional relationship between exit pupils and projecting directions. |
| US07742045B2 |
System and method for an enhanced analog video interface
A method is provided for accurately sampling pixels in a fixed-format display, which is connected to a host computer through an analog video display adapter. The method comprises the step of confirming that the fixed-format display is able to receive a pixel clock signal from the analog video display adapter. Another step is sending the pixel clock signal across an analog video sync line so that synchronization data and the pixel clock signal will be contained on the analog video sync line. An additional step is receiving the pixel clock signal in the fixed-format display. A further step is applying the pixel clock signal in the fixed-format display to sample pixels. |
| US07742042B2 |
Touch-sensitive device for scrolling a document on a display
A touch-sensitive device for use as an electronic input device for controlling by scrolling the visible portion of a document or image relative to a display. The device can include various improved configurations such as physically separate opposed input surfaces at opposite longitudinal ends and/or lateral sides. The end regions of a touch sensitive surface may be rounded and/or tapered to provide relative positional feedback to the user. Tactile positional feedback can also include surface texture changes on the scrolling area and/or changes in the surface of the frame in the region immediately adjacent the scrolling area. The touch sensitive areas may be provided within a split alphanumeric section of an ergonomic keyboard to enable scrolling without the user having to remove his or her hands from the alphanumeric section. |
| US07742040B2 |
Keypad
A keypad is disclosed which has a plurality of keys (12) for the input of information. Each key has a first switch (80) and a second switch (90). The first switches (80) are all connected to a common electrical interconnection (120) and the second switches (90) are connected into a matrix electrical interconnection (62, 100). The microprocessor (66) detects a global signal on the common interconnection (120) and supplies scan signals to the matrix interconnection (62, 100) to enable detection of a particular key. The processor (66) may also selectively change the state of lines (62, 100) of the matrix and also maintain particular lines in a predetermined state by open drain ports of the processor to which the lines of the matrix are connected. |
| US07742037B2 |
Input device, input method and electronic equipment
A detection section that detects a key-tapping speed and key-tapping intensity is provided to detect a user's impatience level. An input device detects the key-tapping intensity and key-tapping speed. The input device compares the detection value of the key-tapping speed and an average key-tapping speed. When the detection value exceeds a stored normal key-tapping speed, the input device then compares the detection value of the key-tapping intensity and a reference pressure value. When the detection value exceeds a stored normal key-tapping intensity, information to be output for a user is changed over. In this case, displayed characters are enlarged and emphasized to a maximum extent. On the other hand, in the case where a detection value does not exceed the normal key-tapping speed and the detection value exceeds the normal key-tapping intensity, displayed characters are only slightly enlarged. |
| US07742035B2 |
Liquid crystal display and driving method thereof for adjusting refresh rate and luminance according to that of ambient light
An exemplary liquid crystal display (200) includes a liquid crystal (LC) panel (210), a gate driving circuit (220) for scanning the liquid crystal panel, a data driving circuit (230) for providing a plurality of gradation voltages to the liquid crystal panel, an photo sensor (250) configured for measuring a frequency and a luminance of ambient light and generating a measurement signal, a timing control circuit (240) configured for controlling the gate driving circuit and the data driving circuit, and a backlight module driving circuit (270) for driving a light source (260) to emit light beams for illuminating the liquid crystal panel. One of the timing control circuit and the backlight module driving circuit is configured for receiving the measurement signal and adjusting a refresh rate and a luminance of the LC panel according to the frequency and the luminance of the ambient light. |
| US07742034B2 |
Color display
A color display device comprises a plurality of picture elements (14), at least two light sources, having different radiance spectra and being activated alternately, and color selection means for generating, together with said light sources, primary colors in a color image (P1, P2). Each of a number of image information sets, each set being related to a color image (P1, P2) to be displayed, are divided into a first subframe (A1, A2), being picture element settings to be maintained during the operation of a first light source, and a second subframe (B1, B2), being picture element settings to be maintained during the operation of a second light source. The polarity of the picture elements (14) is, in an alternating manner, shifted between a first polarity (+) and a second polarity (−). The polarity is shifted in such manner that a first subframe (A1) and a subsequent first subframe (A2) are matched with different polarities (+, −) in order to avoid a polarization in the picture elements (14) which may result in slow response or other artifacts. |
| US07742031B2 |
Display device and light source
A display device includes: a gate driver for carrying out display scanning on pixels sequentially in a first direction of a TFT liquid crystal panel so as to set pixels to display states thereof according to information to be displayed by the pixels in the TFT liquid crystal panel. The pixels being arranged in two dimensions and being individually controllable in terms of the display state through illumination. There is a backlight, unit for illuminating the individual pixels with intensity of light which increases and subsequently decreases in synchronism with the display scanning carried out by the gate driver, but only after the display scanning. The arrangement enables the backlight flashing period to be determined independently from a TFT panel scanning period or response time of liquid crystal, ensures an extended operating time of a TFT panel, effects a display period equal to, or longer than, the black blanking type, and achieves higher contrast than the black blanking type. |
| US07742030B2 |
Liquid crystal display driving apparatus and method thereof
A pixel of the LCD is driven according to a precharge pixel value and a compensation pixel value both being generated from a pixel value during a precharge field and a compensation field respectively. A precharge driving voltage corresponding to the precharge pixel value, and a compensation driving voltage corresponding to the compensation pixel value is then determined and used to drive the pixel. The lightness of the pixel driven according to the precharge pixel value and the compensation pixel value is substantially the same as the lightness of the pixel if driven according to the pixel value. The precharge field comes before the compensation field when the precharge pixel value is larger than the compensation pixel value, and the compensation field comes before the precharge field when the compensation pixel value is larger than the precharge pixel value. |
| US07742029B2 |
Display device and control method thereof
A display device with improved brightness and a method of controlling the display device are presented. The display device includes a driving transistor, a pixel electrode electrically connected to the driving transistor, a detecting transistor detecting a magnitude of an electric signal transferred from the driving transistor to the pixel electrode, and a controller. The controller regulates a data voltage applied to the pixel electrode based on a difference between the detected electric signal and a predetermined reference level. The display device achieves improved homogeneity of brightness by compensating for any deterioration of TFTs. |
| US07742027B2 |
Pixel circuit and display apparatus
Disclosed herein is a pixel circuit, including: three pixels to which three primary colors are allocated; and a power supply line. In the pixel circuit, each of the three pixels includes a sampling transistor configured to sample an image signal, a retaining capacitor configured to retain the sampled image signal, a drive transistor configured to output drive current corresponding to the retained image signal within a predetermined light emission period, and a light emitting element configured to emit light in the color allocated to the three pixels in response to the drive current. The pixel circuit includes a single switching transistor disposed commonly to the three pixels for connecting the drive transistors of the pixels to the power supply line within the light emission period. |
| US07742022B2 |
Organic electro-luminescence display device and driving method thereof
There is disclosed an organic EL display device using pre-charge which can improve display quality by preventing a cross talk generated by a brightness difference within the same picture realization area, and a driving method thereof.An organic EL display device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a display panel where a plurality of data lines cross a plurality of scan lines and electro luminescence cells are arranged in the crossing parts thereof; a pre-charge driver for supplying a pre-charge current to the data line in accordance with gray levels of data; and a data driver for charging a data current to the data line for a designated period which is set before a scan pulse is supplied to the electro luminescence cell and after the pre-charge current is supplied. |
| US07742021B2 |
Organic electroluminescent display and demultiplexer
An organic electroluminescent display and a demultiplexer, wherein the organic electroluminescent display comprising: a plurality of pixels displaying an image corresponding to output data current; a plurality of scan lines to transmit a scan signal to the plurality of pixels; a plurality of output data lines to transmit the output data current to the plurality of pixels; a scan driver outputting the scan signal to the plurality of scan lines; a demultiplexer comprising a plurality of demultiplexing circuit; and a data driver outputting input data current to the demultiplexer, wherein the demultiplexing circuit transmits the input data current after applying pre-charging voltage to the output data line selected among the output data lines in sequence. With this configuration, the present invention provides an organic electroluminescent display and a demultiplexer, in which comprises a current programming type pixel circuit uniformizing brightness of a screen even if threshold voltage is not uniform, and the demultiplexer placed between a data driver and an organic electroluminescent display panel, thereby reducing time taken to program data of a current programming type pixel. |
| US07742018B2 |
Plasma display device
A plasma display device which selectively generates address discharge in each display cell in accordance with pixel data based on a video signal in an address period, applies a sustain pulse between row electrodes forming each row electrode pair in a sustain period, and applies a wall-charge adjusting pulse between row electrodes forming each of said row electrode pairs in a period from an end of the address period to a beginning of the sustain period. |
| US07742016B2 |
Display methods and apparatus
The invention relates to methods and apparatus for forming images on a display utilizing a control matrix to control the movement of MEMs-based light modulators. |
| US07742015B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
In order to prevent a gradation shift due to variations in the thickness of a film used to form an auxiliary capacitor, a detection capacitor having a layer structure similar to that of the auxiliary capacitor placed for each pixel is provided on an array substrate. Furthermore, the capacitor value of the detection capacitor as a representative of the plurality of auxiliary capacitors is detected, and the potential amplitude ΔVcs of a power supply line connected to the auxiliary capacitor is adjusted based on this detected value. |
| US07742010B2 |
Antenna arrangement
An antenna arrangement (1000) for use in an RF communication terminal including a plurality of resonators (1003, 1005, 1007, 1009) formed from a plurality of conducting wires (1002, 1004, 1008, 1010, 1012) the resonators being operable to provide radio frequency resonances in at least two different operational frequency bands (VHF, UHF, 700/800 MHz, GPS ranges) the wires being mutually adjacent and at least three of the wires having different lengths, and a plurality of radio frequency feed channels (113, 115, 117, 119) each being operably connected to an associated one of the resonators to deliver an RF signal between that resonator and an associated radio. |
| US07742009B2 |
Antenna for the plug-in dual-interface smart card
An antenna for the non-contact interface of a plug-in dual-interface smart card, wherein the plug-in smart card includes a card module and chip base, the antenna includes a substrate, antenna loop fixed on the first surface of the substrate, and the first and second pins of the antenna, wherein the substrate comprises a structure to cooperate with the card module, the first and second contact points on the second surface, and the first and second vias. The first and second contact points and structure cooperating with the card module are arranged on the substrate on the position corresponding to the contact points of the plug-in smart card. The first and second antenna pins connect with the first and second contact points via the first and second vias. |
| US07742006B2 |
Multi-band loop antenna
An antenna includes a non-conductive pane, a ground plane disposed on the non-conductive pane, and a radiating strip disposed on the non-conductive pane for operating in a plurality of frequency bands. The radiating strip defines a plurality of loops. A portion of a periphery of one of the loops coincides with at least a portion of a periphery of another of the loops. The radiating strip also includes at least one branch extending away from the periphery of one of the loops to allow tuning and shifting of the resonant frequencies of the antenna. |
| US07742005B2 |
Multi-band strip antenna
A multi-band antenna includes a non-conductive pane, a ground plane disposed on the non-conductive pane, and a radiating strip for operating in a plurality of frequency bands. The radiating strip includes an elongated portion and a meander line portion extending away from an end of the elongated portion. The radiating strip also includes a pair of tuning stubs extending from the elongated portion. |
| US07742003B2 |
Broadband antenna and an electronic device thereof
A broadband antenna for wireless signal transmission of an electronic device is disclosed. The broadband antenna has a radiating element, a grounding element, a short-circuiting element and a feeding plane. The radiating element has a first radiation area and a second radiation area, the first radiation area and the second radiation area perpendicularly connected to each other substantially. The feeding plane perpendicularly connected to the second radiation area substantially, the feeding plane comprising a feeding point, a first end and a second end; wherein a distance between the feeding point and the first end is less than a distance between the feeding point and the second end. The short-circuiting element is used for connecting the first radiation area with the grounding element or connecting the feeding plane with the grounding element. |
| US07742001B2 |
Two-tier wide band antenna
A two-tier wideband antenna comprising a chip of a dielectric material with an upper radiating structure and a lower radiating structure, the dielectric chip being mounted on an insulating carrier substrate which includes a feed-line to connect the antenna to a transceiver device. The lower radiating structure comprises two side elements which have a large aspect ratio so as to reduce the frequency of the lower band edge of the frequency response of the antenna when compared with the frequency response of a monopole patch antenna fabricated on a similar dielectric chip. The antenna of the present invention is suitable for operation over an ultra wideband, e.g. a frequency range extending from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz. |
| US07742000B2 |
Control of an integrated beamforming array using near-field-coupled or far-field-coupled commands
In one embodiment, an integrated circuit antenna array includes: a substrate, a plurality of first antennas adjacent a first side of the substrate; and an RF network adjacent a second side of the substrate, the RF feed network coupling to a distributed plurality of amplifiers integrated with the substrate and to a distributed plurality of phase-shifters also integrated with the substrate, each phase shifter being associated with a receptor to receive a beam-forming command, wherein each receptor is configured to receive the beam-forming command through either a near-field coupling or a far-field coupling. |
| US07741996B2 |
Positioning system, information supply device, terminal device, control method of information supply device, control program of information supply device, and computer readable recording medium recording control program of information supply device
A positioning system, wherein the communication base station has: signal transmitting means for transmitting a base station timing signal and a communication signal; the terminal has: standard timing signal correcting means; total delay information generating means for generating total delay information; and basic information transmitting means for transmitting basic information including the current position information and the total delay information to the information supply device and the like; and the information supply device has: base station position information storage means; basic information receiving means for receiving the basic; distance information generating means for generating distance information indicating a distance between a current position of the terminal and a position of the communication base station;propagation delay information generating means for generating propagation delay; device peculiar delay information generating means for generating device peculiar delay information indicating a delay other than the propagation delay time; and the like. |
| US07741994B2 |
Ionospheric error prediction and correction in satellite positioning systems
A GPS server capable of receiving information for use in determining ionospheric errors using mathematical formulas and sending ionospheric error correction information to GPS receivers that are in a location capable of receiving the ionospheric error correction information. |
| US07741988B2 |
Analog-digital converter, solid-state image capturing apparatus, and electronic information device
An analog-digital converter is provided. The analog-digital converter includes: a comparing section for comparing an input signal voltage and an analog ramp voltage in which a voltage level gradually increases; and a latch section for storing a digital value of a digital ramp signal, in which a digital value of a voltage level gradually increases in synchronization with the analog ramp voltage when the analog ramp voltage or a voltage corresponding to the analog ramp voltage and the input signal voltage are equal. A voltage in which part or all of a plurality of analog ramp signals are added is used as the analog ramp voltage so that a gain is selectable. |
| US07741982B2 |
Estimation of timing errors in a time-interleaved analog to digital converter system
A method for estimating a relative time difference vector in a group of digitized signals from a time interleaved analog-to-digital module having a plurality of parallel and time interleaved analog-to-digital converters. The method comprises the steps of selecting (S1) one of said digitized signals as a reference signal, calculating (S2-S3) an actual time delay between each of the remaining signals and said reference signal, and subtracting (S4), for each of said remaining signals, an intended interleaving time delay from said time delay. In order for this method to provide the correct estimate, the signal must be bandlimited, not only to the system bandwidth, but to the bandwidth of one ADC. However, given this bandwidth limitation, the estimation is very precise, and therefore enables reconstruction of the digitized signal without feedback. |
| US07741981B1 |
Dual-use comparator/op amp for use as both a successive-approximation ADC and DAC
A re-configurable circuit acts as an Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) and as a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). An array of binary-weighted capacitors stores an analog input. Switches connect different capacitors in the array to fixed voltages that cause charge-sharing with a terminal capacitor. The voltage of the terminal capacitor is compared by a re-configurable comparator stage for each different combination of the capacitors. The comparison results are analyzed to determine the closest digital value for the analog input. In DAC mode, the array capacitors are switched based on an input digital value. The switched capacitors connect to a charge-sharing line to generate an analog voltage that is applied to the re-configurable comparator stage. A differential amplifier generates a buffered analog voltage that is fed back to the other input of the re-configurable comparator stage for unity gain. The gain of the re-configurable comparator stage adjusts for ADC and DAC modes. |
| US07741979B2 |
Haptic keyboard systems and methods
Various embodiments provide keyboards that utilize electrically-deformable material as an actuating mechanism to provide haptic feedback to a user of the keyboard. In at least some embodiments, the electrically-deformable material is utilized to impart, to a depressed key or keyboard element, a multi-vectored movement that produces a perceived acceleration of the key or keyboard element thus providing a user with haptic feedback which simulates a snapover movement. |
| US07741978B2 |
System and method for providing location-based entertainment
There is disclosed a system and method for providing location-based entertainment. In one embodiment, a device capable of providing location-based entertainment comprises a navigational interface module configured to receive navigational data, an entertainment selection module configured to utilize the navigational data to generate location-based entertainment content for a user, and a presentation module configured to present the location-based content to the user. The system may also include a position finding module and a routing module. In one embodiment, a method for providing location-based entertainment comprises identifying a present location of a mobile user, identifying a destination of the mobile user, determining a travel route of the mobile user based on the present location and the destination of the mobile user, providing navigational data according to the travel route, generating a location-based entertainment content for a user utilizing the navigational data, and presenting the location-based content to the user. |
| US07741970B2 |
Method and apparatus for a radio frequency identification repeater
The present method enables an RFID repeater to be used in conjunction with an RFID tag to allow data in the RFID tag to be read using wireless packet switched technologies. For example, the present method enables an RFID repeater to be coupled with an RFID tag. The RFID repeater reads and records the data from the RFID tag and then transmits the retrieved data from the RFID tag over a wireless packet network. |
| US07741969B2 |
Door entry security device with electronic lock
An alarm system and method for (1) assisting a user in arming and disarming an alarm system when locking and unlocking an entry door, (2) automatically locking an entry door when arming the alarm system, and/or (3) remotely controlling an electronic lock in an entry door. |
| US07741965B2 |
Radio frequency identification (RFID) system
A group of technologies related to RFID reader and tag are described, including: redundant networked multimedia RFID reader, auto-ranging RFID reader, auto-planning RFID reader, smart active antenna RFID reader and novel RFID tags. These enabling technologies bring RFID reader operations into a new level of automation, capability and ease of implementation. |
| US07741964B2 |
Tire pressure detector having reduced power consumption mechanism
A tire pressure detector employs a reduced power consumption mechanism comprising a PLL circuit including a VCO, that is operated in response to the logic states of an input data stream and a power amplifier configured to be externally located to an integrated circuit. The input data stream includes tire pressure information and is configured to be encoded to have multiple logic states. A micro-controller is employed to control the VCO, turning the VCO, and/or the amplifier, on and off for a certain period, according to the pattern of each data bit of the input data stream thus providing reduced current consumption. This tire pressure detector thus embodies an optimized circuit arrangement in terms of power efficiency. |
| US07741958B2 |
Network cable for transmitting data and power to networked devices
The present technique relates to the distribution of power and data signals throughout a networked system. For example, three-phase power may be conducted to a device over a set of conductors. One of the conductors, however, may be configured to conduct, in conjunction with a neutral conductor, both one phase of three-phase power as well as data signals in accordance with a predetermined data communications protocol. As an alternate example, the present technique may comprise a set of a first power conductors configured to conduct three-phase power and a secondary power conductor which works in conjunction with an auxiliary conductor to conduct power and data-signals. Additionally, the present technique provides for the maintenance data communications and a level of power upon the interruption of three-phase power to a particular component or device. |
| US07741957B2 |
Method for break reminder and display device using the same
The present invention provides method for break reminder and a display device. The display device includes a display unit; a clock counter; a distance estimator configured for detecting if the display device being used by a user, calculating distance between the user and a front of the display device, and generating a tracking signal if the distance is less than a predetermined distance; and a central processing unit configured for waiting for the tracking signal, resetting a worked time and a rested time when the tracking signal is received, signaling the clock counter to track the worked time, detecting if the worked time is less than a first predetermined time, and signaling the display unit to output the message prompt when the worked time is equal to or greater than the first predetermined time, thereby the present invention can prevent the user of the display device from fatigue. |
| US07741956B1 |
Dual mode transmitter-receiver and decoder for RF transponder tags
An enhanced backscatter RF-ID tag reader system and multiprotocol RF tag reader system is provided. In a multiprotocol mode, the system emits a non-stationary interrogation signal, and decodes a phase modulated backscatter signal by detecting a stronger phase component from quadrature phase representations or determining phase transition edges in a phase of a received signal. The RF tag reader system predicts or follows the phase of the backscatter signal, thereby avoiding interference from nulls in the received signal waveform due to the non-stationary interrogation signal, relative movement or environmental effects. An acoustic RF-ID tag detection system detects the reradiated signal corresponding to respective transformation of a signal in the tag. Detection of either type of RF-ID tags therefore is possible, and the absence of any tag or absence of any valid tag also determined. |
| US07741952B2 |
Electronic access control device
An electronic lock utilizes two microprocessors remote from each other for enhanced security. The first microprocessor is disposed close to an input device such as a keypad, and the second microprocessor is disposed close to the lock mechanism and well protected from external access. The first microprocessor transmits a communication code to the second microprocessor when it receives via the input device an access code that matches a preset access code. The second microprocessor opens the lock if the transmitted communication code matches a preset communication code. The dual-microprocessor arrangement is advantageously used in a voice controlled access control system and in a motorcycle ignition control system. The present invention further provides an electronic access control system which has a master electronic key having a preset number of access, and an electronic alarm system for a bicycle that has a remote control mounted in the helmet of the rider. |
| US07741950B2 |
Humidity sensor and a method for manufacturing the same
The invention relates to a humidity sensor comprising a sensor element, a molding, which preferably consists of a thermoplastic material or a two-component polyurethane, epoxy or silicone casting and which is adapted to adhere to the sensor element, a dead-space volume, which is arranged in connection with the sensor element and which is covered by a membrane. The membrane is attached to an external surface of the molding and is adapted to protect the sensor element from exposure to ambient moisture and dirt and allowing diffusion of ambient air gas molecules, like water vapor, into the dead-space volume. The dead-space volume is less than 100 mm3. |
| US07741949B2 |
Varistor
A varistor includes a ceramic insulating substrate, a varistor section having an outer surface, and first and second external electrodes provided on the outer surface of the varistor section. The varistor section includes a varistor layer on the ceramic insulating substrate, first and second internal electrodes, and first and second via-conductors embedded in the varistor layer and exposing from the varistor layer. The second internal electrode has a portion facing the first internal electrode. The first internal electrode and the portion of the second internal electrode sandwiches at least a portion of the varistor layer. The first and second via-conductors are connected to the first and second internal electrodes, respectively. The first and second external electrodes are connected to the first and second via-conductors, respectively. This varistor has a small thickness and a large mechanical strength. |
| US07741945B2 |
Dry-type transformer with improved terminal construction and mounting system therefor
The invention is directed to a transformer having a ferromagnetic core with a coil disposed around the core. An insulation layer is disposed over the core and the coil and terminals are connected to the coil. Each of the terminals is formed from cast metal and has a base and a connector. The base is at least partially disposed under the insulation layer. A connector is joined to the base at about a right angle and is located toward the middle of the base. |
| US07741944B2 |
Saddle-shaped coil winding using superconductors, and method for the production thereof
Disclosed is a saddle-shaped coil winding which is formed onto an outer tube surface from a planar race track-type coil shape so as to be provided with axially extending winding sections on the longitudinal side and winding sections that extend therebetween, are located on the front side, and form winding overhangs. The individual windings of the coil winding are to be formed with at least one band-shaped superconductor which comprises especially high Tc superconductor material and whose narrow side faces the outer tube surface. In order to prevent unacceptable mechanical stresses of the conductor when forming the coil, the windings in the saddle shape have a circumferential length which is virtually unchanged from the length in the planar oil shape. |
| US07741941B2 |
Dual armature solenoid valve assembly
An electromagnetic valve assembly having a dual armature solenoid for controlling two valves is disclosed. In one embodiment, the solenoid may include a first pole piece, a second pole piece spaced from the first pole piece, a coil disposed about at least a portion of the first pole piece, a first armature extending laterally across the first pole piece and the second pole piece, and a second armature extending laterally across the first pole piece and the second pole piece. In one illustrative embodiment, the first armature and the second armature pivot relative to the second pole piece. In another illustrative embodiment, the first armature and the second armature pivot relative to the first pole piece. In yet another illustrative embodiment, the first armature and the second armature pivot relative to opposite pole pieces. In any case, the coil may electromagnetically actuate the first and second armatures to selectively open and/or close corresponding valves or other actuatable components. |
| US07741936B1 |
Tunable micro electromechanical inductor
The present invention provides a monolithic inductor developed using radio frequency micro electromechanical (RF MEMS) techniques. In a particular embodiment of the present invention, a tunable radio frequency microelectromechanical inductor includes a coplanar waveguide and a direct current actuatable contact switch positioned to vary the effective width of a narrow inductive section of the center conductor of the CPW line upon actuation the DC contact switch. In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the direct current actuatable contact switch is a diamond air-bridge integrated on an alumina substrate to realize an RF switch in the CPW and microstrip topology. |
| US07741933B2 |
Electromagnetic composite metamaterial
An electromagnetic composite metamaterial including an electromagnetic medium and a plurality of spaced electromechanical resonators disposed in or on the electromagnetic medium configured to control electromagnetic wave propagation properties in the electromagnetic composite metamaterial. |
| US07741931B2 |
Acoustic wave device, resonator and filter
A filter includes a parallel resonator having first comb electrodes provided on a piezoelectric substrate and a first dielectric film that covers the first comb electrodes, and a series resonator having second comb electrodes provided on the piezoelectric substrate and a second dielectric film covers the second comb electrodes and is made of a material identical to that of the first dielectric film. The first dielectric film has a different thickness from that of the second dielectric film. |
| US07741927B2 |
PWM control circuit and motor equipped with the same
The PWM control circuit is provided. The PWM control circuit includes: a PWM control signal generator that generates a PWM period signal defining a period of a PWM signal and a PWM resolution signal specifying a resolution in one period of the PWM period signal; and a PWM unit that generates the PWM signal based on the PWM period signal and the PWM resolution signal, wherein the PWM control signal generator changes a frequency of the PWM resolution signal while keeping a frequency of the PWM period signal unchanged. |
| US07741926B2 |
Frequency synthesizer having improved frequency hopping
A frequency synthesizer switches the frequency at a high rate, is of low power consumption, and has a high signal-to-noise ratio. CMOS quadrature VCOs 31, 32 generate and output four-phase signals 36, 37, respectively. CMOS selector 33 selects either one of two four-phase signals 36, 37 generated by CMOS quadrature VCOs 31, 32 and outputs the selected signal as output signal 38. CMOS SSB mixer 34 multiplies output signal 38 selected by CMOS selector 33 and four-phase input signal 39 input from an external source by each other to generate a signal having a frequency represented by the sum of, or the difference between, the frequency of output signal 38 and the frequency of four-phase input signal 39, and outputs the generated signal as output signal 40. CML buffer 35 adjusts the level of output signal 40 from CMOS SSB mixer 34 and outputs the level-adjusted signal to another circuit. |
| US07741921B2 |
Trigger-mode distributed wave oscillator system
A Trigger-Mode Distributed Wave Oscillator that provides accurate multiple phases of an oscillation and a method of use of the same. An auxiliary oscillator triggers an oscillation on independent conductor loops or rings forming a differential transmission medium for the oscillation wave. Once the oscillation wave is triggered, the auxiliary oscillator can be powered down to turn it off, and the wave can sustain itself indefinitely through active amplifying devices which can compensate for losses in the conductors. |