| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US07814461B2 |
Computer programming language statement building and information tool
An intelligent real time tool to assist a computer programmer during the writing and/or maintenance of a computer program. The tool generates assist windows that contain program related information that the programmer can use to construct a programming language statement and/or to obtain real time information about a programming language statement. An assist window can be automatically displayed as determined by the tool itself, and/or manually displayed on demand in response to a user input command. An assist window displays two general categories of information including but not limited to selection menu information based on a partial compilation of all programming language statements, and informational displays based on a partial compilation and a reverse parse of an immediate programming language statement. The statement generating tool assist windows are non-intrusive to programmer input and can be ignored by the programmer by merely continuing to type an immediate programming language statement without interacting with the assist windows that are proximate the programming language statement being constructed by the programmer. |
| US07814457B2 |
System and method for revising flow diagrams displaying a process
Embodiments of the present invention implement a method and system that revise a flow diagram of a selected process of a plurality of processes. The plurality of processes are displayed in a first portion of a screen, and the flow diagram of the selected process is displayed in a second portion of the screen. A user selection of portions of the process flow to be revised is received and the selected portions of the process flow in the second portion of the screen are revised. |
| US07814456B2 |
Method and system for topography-aware reticle enhancement
The present invention provides a method and system for improving reticle enhancement calculations during manufacture of an integrated circuit (IC). The reticle enhancement calculations are improved by incorporating post-planarization topography estimates. A planarization process of a wafer layer is simulated to estimate the post-planarization topography. RET calculations, such as sub-resolution assist feature insertion, optical proximity corrections and phase shifting are then performed based on the post-planarization topography of the wafer layer. |
| US07814455B2 |
Logic synthesis method and device
The present invention provides a logic synthesis method and the like that can shorten the execution time and the confirmation time required for logic re-synthesis and logic equivalence checking. The logic synthesis method characteristically includes the steps of: extracting logically different portions between an existing gate level logic circuit and a modified Hardware Description Language (HDL) description; hierarchizing the different portions between the existing gate level logic circuit and the modified HDL description; generating a gate level logic circuit by logically combining the hierarchized portions of the modified HDL description; and replacing the hierarchized portions of the existing gate level logic circuit with the gate level logic circuit. By this method, a layer containing detected different portions is automatically generated in logic equivalence checking between a modified HDL and a gate level logic circuit, so that logic synthesis can be performed in a unit smaller than the unit for the conventional logic synthesis. Thus, the execution time and the confirmation time required for logic re-synthesis and logic equivalence rechecking can be shortened. |
| US07814441B2 |
System and method for identifying original design intents using 3D scan data
Programmatic extraction and management of solid and surface modeling parameters from raw 3D scan data is discussed. An automated process reads raw 3D scan data and works in communication with a CAD system able to perform CAD part modeling. The user is provided with an automatic function to segment a mesh model (formed from the raw 3D scan data) into dozens of mesh regions. A graphical user interface is provided which enables a user to choose a type of the design intent along with the mesh regions from which the design intent is calculated. Each design intent is represented in a vector, a plane or a poly-line depending upon the type of design intent. In response to a user demand for the parameters of a modeling feature, a best approximation of the requested parameter value is calculated by processing the raw 3D scan data using a set of functions. |
| US07814434B2 |
Operation system
In a navigation device, multi-layered menu windows are sequentially displayed in a display unit and narrowed down by repeatedly selecting an item in each menu window to thereby consequently display a certain instruction window for instructing an execution of a function. This selection procedure is stored such that a selection record, which indicates an association with the certain instruction window, is assigned to each of the selected items in the displayed menu windows. When a certain item assigned the selection record is operated more than a predetermined time period, the currently displayed menu window including the certain item is switched to the certain instruction window without intermediate menu windows displayed. Thus, when intending to display the certain instruction window, which was previously displayed after the selection procedure, a user can significantly simplify the selection procedure and decrease workloads. |
| US07814433B2 |
Heterogeneous content channel manager for ubiquitous computer software systems
A heterogeneous content channel manager is provided for content management and collaboration within and across interactive workspaces. A content channel bar, available on each of the displays in the workspace(s), contains two or more unique representations of respectively two or more different channels available in the interactive workspace(s). Within the set of available channels on each channel bar two or more different channel types are represented. Furthermore, each one of the unique representations in the content channel bar represents different and unique content supported by their respective channels and their types. Channel selection on the channel bar initiates display, on the display where the channel selection was made, of the content represented by the selected representation and channel in a manner appropriate for the channel's type. |
| US07814432B2 |
Method and system for image rendering including polymorphic image data in a graphical user interface
A method and system are provided for developing images for use in a graphical user interface. In one implementation, the method includes displaying a graphical user interface on a display device, and providing an operating system on a computer that is in communication with the display device. The operating system includes an imaging object structure that is an abstract base class from which subclasses of text imaging objects, picture imaging objects, and pattern imaging objects are derivable. The subclasses of text imaging objects, picture imaging objects, and pattern imaging objects are used to respectively generate text imaging objects, picture imaging objects, and pattern imaging objects for display in the graphical user interface. |
| US07814426B2 |
Reusable component in a collaboration workspace
Described herein are methods and apparatus, including computer program products, that implement a collaboration workspace for reusable components. One method includes receiving a specification of a workspace component, where the workspace component is capable of being used with different collaboration workspaces; providing the specification of the workspace component to a collaboration workspace with a set of parameters related to the workspace component; and presenting the workspace component as part of the collaboration workspace. The workspace component may be added to a collaboration workspace that has been formed. The set of parameters may include a first set of access restrictions associated with the collaboration workspace, a second set of access restrictions associated with the workspace component, and access restriction mappings. In that case, the method includes associating the first set with the second set of access restrictions based on the access restriction mappings. |
| US07814425B1 |
Thumbnail image previews
An instant message is received from an instant message sender and a determination is made that the instant message includes a link to a web page that was selected by the instant message sender. In response to determining that the instant message includes the link to the web page, an image corresponding to the web page is fetched and stored, and a thumbnail image preview of the fetched image is generated. In addition, the thumbnail image preview of the fetched portion of the web page is displayed while at least a portion of the instant message is displayed. |
| US07814423B2 |
Method for providing a graphical user interface
A method for rendering a portal graphical user interface (GUI), comprising providing for the representation of a GUI desktop, a GUI look and feel, and a GUI book as a set of controls wherein the controls can be organized in a logical hierarchy, traversing the representation, wherein the traversing comprises associating a theme with a first control in the set of controls, rendering the first control according to the theme, rendering any descendents of the first control according to the theme, wherein any descendents of the first control can override the theme, and wherein one of the set of controls can communicate with another of the set of controls. |
| US07814420B2 |
System and method for providing context sensitive help information
A method includes receiving information identifying a plurality of selections made by a user. The method also includes updating a help index value based on one or more of the selections. The method further includes detecting a request for help from the user. In addition, the method includes retrieving help information using the help index value and presenting the retrieved help information to the user. At least one of the selections by the user may include a selection of an option from a plurality of options, where each of the options is associated with a different incremental value. Updating the help index value may include adding the incremental value associated with the selected option to the help index value. |
| US07814417B2 |
Document processing method and system therefor
According to this invention, a document processing apparatus capable of editing document information includes an operation instruction input unit which can input an operation instruction to be saved, an operation instruction save unit which saves the operation instruction input by the operation instruction input unit together with document information, an operation instruction display unit which displays an image corresponding to the saved operation instruction, and an operation instruction execution unit which reads out, when the image displayed on the operation instruction display unit is designated, an operation instruction corresponding to the image from the operation instruction save unit, and executes the operation instruction for the document information. |
| US07814413B2 |
System and method for controlling web pages
In one embodiment, a system for controlling content on a web page is provided. In the embodiment, the system includes a display map configured to identify selected content to be displayed to a selected position within one or more web pages. Moreover, the system includes a web page control logic configured to display content to one or more web pages based on the display mapping where the displayed content can be reorganized by modifying the display mapping without modifying the web page control logic. |
| US07814411B2 |
Method and apparatus for adapting external controls to a portal design
A method and apparatus for adapting the looks of an at least one control developed in an environment to a portal developed in a different environment. The apparatus and method enable the preview of a component comprising the control without deploying the changes to the portal, so other users can continue using the component in an uninterrupted manner until deployment. |
| US07814408B1 |
Pre-computing and encoding techniques for an electronic document to improve run-time processing
A markup language document, such as an e-book, having a general format is converted into a simplified hierarchy of linked files. During this process, the file is pre-computed and encoded to accelerate run-time search operations and to minimize the computational requirements for run-time parsing and other forms of processing. The resulting e-book content is organized in a simplified file format hierarchy. The e-book file format hierarchy includes a root directory containing all of the files for a particular e-book. The root directory contains a content subdirectory linked to the root directory. The content subdirectory has nested therein at least one linked content file providing content information relating to the electronic book. The content file is pre-computed and encoded to minimize run-time processing. |
| US07814401B2 |
Soft decoding of hard and soft bits read from a flash memory
To read one or more flash memory cells, the threshold voltage of each cell is compared to at least one integral reference voltage and to at least one fractional reference voltage. Based on the comparisons, a respective estimated probability measure of each bit of an original bit pattern of each cell is calculated. This provides a plurality of estimated probability measures. Based at least in part on at least two of the estimated probability measures, respective original bit patterns of the cells are estimated. Preferably, the estimated probability measures are initial probability measures that are transformed to final probability measures under the constraint that the bit pattern(s) (collectively) is/are a member of a candidate set, e.g. a set of codewords. |
| US07814398B2 |
Communication channel with Reed-Solomon encoding and single parity check
A communication channel including Reed-Solomon (RS) and single-parity-check (SPC) encoding/decoding. Multiple RS codewords are combined and then SPC encoded into an RS/SPC array. A soft-input soft-output (SISO) channel detector detects the RS/SPC encoded bits and provides soft (reliability) information on these bits. A combined RS and SPC error correction block provides a recovered user output. An iterative soft input decoding algorithm combines RS and SPC error correction. |
| US07814397B2 |
Intelligent error checking method and mechanism
An intelligent streaming media error check detection method and apparatus. The claimed invention discloses an apparatus and method where all streaming media are initially assumed to have compatible error checksums. A parameter W is initialized to zero. The parameter W is not constant and conceptually represents a state of the error check method. The destructive value of a first predefined constant is added to the parameter W each time the acceptability of a data set cannot be verified. The constructive value of a second predefined constant is subtracted from the parameter W each time the acceptability of a data set is successfully verified. If the value of the parameter W equals or exceeds a predefined threshold, the remainder of the streaming media is decoded and played without error check protection. |
| US07814394B2 |
Post viterbi error correction apparatus and related methods
A Post-Viterbi processor generates a plurality of candidate codewords based on a plurality of dominant error patterns for a particular communication channel. The Post-Viterbi processor selects one among the candidate codewords as a corrected codeword upon determining that the candidate codeword is error free. |
| US07814390B2 |
Rate matching method in mobile communication system
A rate matching method is provided for a mobile communication system that performs an adjustment to a code rate based on an optimal level by puncturing or repetition to respective bit streams of transport channels. The rate matching method is preferably applicable to uplink and downlink rate matching for channel coding including turbo coding, convolutional coding and the like. The rate matching method for uplink can include executing coding for bits of a transport channel, and branching off the bits into a plurality of sequences, constructing a first interleaving pattern for the plurality of sequences, constructing a virtual interleaving pattern for at least one sequence based on a mapping rule with a corresponding first interleaving pattern and calculating different bit shifting values in each column of each virtual interleaving pattern. Then, a bit position to be punctured is determined in each constructed virtual interleaving pattern using the calculated bit shifting values. |
| US07814389B2 |
System for processing and transmitting digital broadcasting signal and method thereof
A system for transmitting a digital broadcasting signal includes a Reed-Solomon encoder that encodes a dual transport stream including a normal stream and a turbo stream to obtain an encoded dual transport stream; an interleaver that interleaves the encoded dual transport stream to obtain an interleaved dual transport stream; and a turbo processor that detects the turbo stream from the interleaved dual transport stream to obtain a detected turbo stream, encodes the detected turbo stream to obtain an encoded turbo stream, stuffs the encoded turbo stream back into the interleaved dual transport stream to obtain a reconstructed dual transport stream, and compensates the reconstructed dual transport stream for a parity error due to the encoded turbo stream to obtain a parity-compensated dual transport stream. |
| US07814387B2 |
Circuit state scan-chain, data collection system and emulation and verification method
The present invention provides a circuit state scan-chain for emulating and verifying integrated circuit design, a data collection system and an emulation and verification method using the scan-chain. The said integrated circuit includes a number of registers and the corresponding input terminal combinational logic and output terminal combinational logic. The construction of the said scan-chain includes the first multiplex module and the second multiplex module arranged with regard to each register, changing the operation mode of the said integrated circuit by controlling the first multiplex module and the second multiplex module, enabling the said integrated circuit to switch among the normal mode, holding mode and snapshot mode, and enabling the registers to form a scan-chain loop in the snapshot mode. |
| US07814385B2 |
Self programmable shared bist for testing multiple memories
A built-in self-test (BIST) device tests multiple embedded memories of different characteristics. The BIST includes a BIST controller, a delay generator, multiple interface modules, and a memory wrapper. The BIST controller generates an initialization sequence and a memory test algorithm. The delay generator provides a delay of an expected data, a valid signal, a BBAD signal, a BEND signal, and a BFAIL signal. The multiple interface modules provide signal pipelining for multiple memories through a bus. The bus carries signals form the BIST device to multiple memories and vice-versa. The memory wrapper decodes a selected memory for decompressing a memory data signal generated by said BIST device and further compresses a memory output signal. |
| US07814383B2 |
Compacting circuit responses
Circuit responses to a stimulus may be compacted, decreasing the number of pin outs, without increasing the circuit element length, using a compactor. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, errors may be detected in scan chains used for integrated circuit testing. The number of outputs applied to output pins or other connectors may be substantially decreased, resulting in cost savings. |
| US07814378B2 |
Verification of memory consistency and transactional memory
A system for efficiently verifying compliance with a memory consistency model includes a test module and an analysis module. The test module may coordinate an execution of a multithreaded test program on a test platform. If the test platform provides an indication of the order in which writes from multiple processing elements are performed at shared memory locations, the analysis module may use a first set of rules to verify that the results of the execution correspond to a valid ordering of events according to a memory consistency model. If the test platform does not provide an indication of write ordering, the analysis module may use a second set of rules to verify compliance with the memory consistency model. Further, a backtracking search may be performed to find a valid ordering if such ordering exists or show that none exists and, hence, confirm whether or not the results comply with the given memory consistency model. |
| US07814376B2 |
Method and apparatus for frame delineation
A frame delineation mechanism which alternately considers even and odd sync pattern position possibilities. With the addition of toggle logic, each of 66 possible states of even and odd alignment are exhausted in turn, odd, followed by even, followed by odd and so on, providing synchronization more quickly than known mechanisms. Additionally, faster convergence is reached due to the use of an exhaust register which keeps track of those alignment states that were tested but did not provide synchronization. Until synchronization is acquired, the states indicated in the exhaust register are ignored in further attempts to acquire synchronization. |
| US07814372B2 |
Method and system for exception detecting and alerting
Methods and system for exception detecting and alerting are described. An exception indicating an occurrence of an error in an application and a path to the exception in an application space may be received. The received exception may be compared to a stored exception in a prior version of an exception data structure to determine whether the received exception is a new exception. The exception data structure may include a plurality of stored exceptions. The results of the comparison may be provided. |
| US07814370B2 |
Wake on LAN (WOL) test system and method thereof
The invention presents a Wake On LAN (WOL) test system and method thereof, wherein the system is applied for a client/server structure with the ILO (Integrated Lights-Out) inside server platform. The system is composed of an examiner end, an examinee end and a network domain. And through the WOL test module automates the WOL test procedure. |
| US07814368B2 |
Adjusting threshold for software error reset attempts to be commensurate with reserve power
Power consumption that occurs in response to software errors may be reduced. In one example a system tracks a number of occurrences a first set of code causes a system to perform one or more reset actions, determines whether the number of occurrences exceeds a threshold, and selects a second set of code to execute in place of the first set of code, if the quantity exceeds the threshold. |
| US07814365B2 |
Backing up selected files of a computer system
A system and method for providing substantially concurrent mirroring of files across a network. A data file is selected for mirroring on a local computer system and one or more remote computer systems are designated to store a back-up copy of the selected data file. As changes to the selected data file occur, change information is captured by a mirroring driver, which is attached to the file system driver, and then forwarded from the local computer system across the network to the remote computer system or systems. Each remote computer system then updates the back-up copy of the data file. |
| US07814362B2 |
System and method for power saving delay locked loop control
The delay locked loop (“DLL”) delay interval can be locked to stop the DLL from wasting power in unnecessarily switching to synchronize the device with the DLL is associated to the system clock. This is achieved by adding logic sensing when a DRAM device will not imminently be called upon to output data and when the device has stabilized. Waiting for the DLL delay interval to stabilize before locking the delay interval still allows the DLL to immediately and effectively resume operations when the DLL is needed to synchronize the output of the DRAM device with the system clock. The DLL delay interval can be locked, together with the DLL clock, after the DRAM device is deselected by the chip select control line, after a number of no operation commands have been received, and/or after any command issued to the DRAM device has been completed. |
| US07814360B2 |
Synchronizing cluster time to a master node with a faster clock
Synchronizing cluster time is described. Times of one or more nodes in the cluster to a master node of the cluster are synchronized. It is discovered that a node of a cluster has a clock time that is ahead of a master clock time of the master node. In response to discovering the node with the clock time ahead of the master clock time, the master node is replaced with the node ahead thereof in time, which thus becomes a new master node. The clock times of the cluster nodes are synchronized with the clock time of the new master node. |
| US07814357B2 |
Method for scheduled power over ethernet port disabling and override mechanism
A system and method for power over Ethernet comprising: a plurality of power over Ethernet supplying ports; and a management station in communication with each of the plurality of power over Ethernet supplying ports, the management station being operative to: disable at least one first power over Ethernet supplying port of the plurality of power over Ethernet supplying ports on a predetermined scheduled basis. Preferably the management station is further operative to: receive an entry indication; and enable the disabled at least one first power over Ethernet supplying port responsive to the received entry indication. |
| US07814356B2 |
Apparatus and control method for initializing a phase adjusting part in response to a power supply cut signal
A mutual electrically connecting part mutually connects a plurality of information processing parts, wherein the mutual connecting part comprises a phase adjusting part configured to adjust a phase from each of the respective ones of the plurality of information processing parts; and the mutual connecting part further has a power supply cut signal transmitting part transmitting a power supply cut signal, indicating that power supply to any one of the plurality of information processing parts is cut, to the phase adjusting part corresponding to the information processing part; and an initializing part initializing the phase adjusting part corresponding to the information proceeding part for which power supply is cut, in response to the transmission of the power supply cut signal from the power supply cut signal transmitting part. |
| US07814354B2 |
Method and apparatus for regulating transceiver power consumption for a transceiver in a communications network
A method and apparatus for regulating transceiver power consumption for a transceiver in a communications network. Data received by the transceiver is monitored to detect the presence or absence of a received data signal. A transceiver state machine is controlled to regulate transceiver power consumption in response to the presence of absence of the data received. |
| US07814346B2 |
System and method for continual cable thermal monitoring using cable resistance considerations in power over ethernet
A system and method for continual cable thermal monitoring using cable resistance considerations for Power over Ethernet (PoE) applications. Cable heating in PoE applications is related to the resistance of the cable itself. By periodically monitoring the resistance of the cable, it can be determined whether the cable has exceeded certain operating thresholds. The determined resistance as a proxy for cable heating can then be used in adjusting operational characteristics of PoE channels. |
| US07814345B2 |
Gate drive voltage selection for a voltage regulator
A system comprises a load and a voltage regulator. The voltage regulator is configured to select a gate drive signal from among a plurality of input voltages. The voltage regulator is configured to use the selected gate drive signal to turn on a power transistor to produce a regulated voltage for the load. |
| US07814343B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit for reducing power consumption and enhancing processing speed
A semiconductor integrated circuit device which consumes less power and enables real-time processing. The semiconductor integrated circuit device includes thermal sensors which detect temperature and determine whether the detection result exceeds reference values and output the result, and a control block capable of controlling the operations of arithmetic blocks based on the output signals of the thermal sensors. The control block returns to an operation state from a suspended state with an interrupt signal based on the output signals of the thermal sensors and determines the operation conditions of the arithmetic blocks to ensure that the temperature conditions of the arithmetic blocks are satisfied. Thereby, power consumption is reduced and real-time processing efficiency is improved. |
| US07814339B2 |
Leakage power estimation
Methods and apparatus to provide leakage power estimation are described. In one embodiment, one or more sensed temperature values (108) and one or more voltage values (110) are utilized to determine the leakage power of an integrated circuit (IC) component. Other embodiments are also described. |
| US07814338B2 |
System and method for virtual tape management with creation and management options
Remote configuration and utilization of a virtual tape management system with creation and management options. At least one security administrator CPU is communicably attached to a virtual tape management CPU. A pair of disk drives is communicably attached to the virtual tape management CPU and to the security administrator. First software within the virtual tape management CPU validates authorized remote access to said disk drives and encrypts the data. Second software facilitates remote configuration and utilization of the virtual tape management CPU. Third software provides tape image file processing including inspecting each remote data storage to determine if a file is present, opening the file, reading tape related information thereon, and reading from or writing to the disk arrays. Fourth software provides checker support for tape image files for enumerating tape image files on the disk drives, opening the tape image files, and reading the tape related information. |
| US07814335B2 |
System and method for installing system manufacturer provided software
A system and method of selectively installing software onto a computer system which includes reading a configuration file that contains computer system information, determining an encryption key from data contained in the configuration file, and deciphering data stored on a nonvolatile storage device using the encryption key. The computer system information includes system specific information that may be used to determine whether the computer system was purchased from a particular vendor. In a Windows™ based application, the configuration file includes a BIOS/DOS file that includes computer system specific information and the encryption key is optionally stored in a registry file to provide for repeated uses of the encryption key if more than one data file are being deciphered. In another embodiment, the data file is stored on a World Wide Web page accessible over a global computer network, such as the Internet, to install and decipher encrypted data files stored on a Web server. |
| US07814334B2 |
Method and apparatus for changing and adding activation keys for functions of digital content without having to change and recompile the digital content
A method and apparatus for changing and adding activation keys for functions of digital content without having to change and recompile the digital content. The rules for validating activation keys, the code for providing instructions for executing the rules for validating the activation keys and a template for identifying possible activation keys, which keys are currently valid and validating rules associated with each currently valid activation key are separated and separately secured. |
| US07814333B2 |
Method for sensing and recovery against buffer overflow attacks and apparatus thereof
Methods and apparatuses for detecting and recovering from a buffer overflow attack are provided. A method of recovering an operation state of a processor from a buffer overflow attach includes: detecting whether a buffer overflow attack is made on any write operation while storing write operations that are potential targets of buffer overflow attacks in a predetermined location instead of an original destination to store write operations; storing the contents stored in the predetermined location at a predetermined interval in the original destination for storing write operations if no buffer overflow attack is detected and discarding unsafe write operations subsequent to a buffer overflow attack if a buffer overflow attack is detected; and ignoring the unsafe write operations subsequent to the buffer overflow attack if a buffer overflow attack is detected. Therefore, a buffer overflow attack occurring in a computer can be effectively detected, and damage of a system which is attacked can be minimized and the system can be recovered or return to the original state before the attack. A system can be effectively protected while minimizing reduction in performance of the computer system according to a method used to implement the present invention, thereby greatly improving the environments under which the computer and the Internet are used. |
| US07814323B2 |
Program, classification method and system
A system and method classifies multiple pieces of private data owned by multiple entities according to data type. Each of the entities has an encryption key. A representative entity is selected that is representative of the entities owning data of the type. Data of each of the representative entity and a target entity is encrypted and the encrypted data is exchanged between the entities. Each piece of the encrypted data that the target entity has obtained is re-encrypted by using its own encryption key to obtain data 1, and the encrypted data that the representative entity has obtained is re-encrypted by using its own encryption key to obtain data 2. If data 1 of the representative entity matches data 2, it is determined that the representative entity and the target entity have data of an identical type. |
| US07814319B2 |
Device and method for information communication, system and method for supporting information exchange and human relation fostering, and computer program
Face-to-face information exchange and fostering of human relations implemented by communication through the virtual world are favorably supported. A user's personal information or other real-world information related to the user is taken one after another into a portable device with memory incorporated. Further, data is taken out of the device and matched with data from another user's device. Thus, information exchange and fostering of human relations are supported in the real world through the virtual world. For example, the present invention is used to provide places for intra-generational and intergenerational encounters or to build message boards for job hunting activities or looking for a match. |
| US07814318B1 |
Scalable file system configured to make files permanently unreadable
One embodiment of the present invention relates to a system for managing files which facilitates making the files permanently unreadable. During operation, the system maintains file-class keys at a file manager, wherein the file-class keys are associated with different classes of files. If a file belongs to a class of files, the system ensures that whenever the file is stored or updated in non-volatile storage that the file is encrypted with an associated key-manager-file-class key for the class of files. The system makes an entire class of files permanently unreadable by causing an associated key-manager-file-class key, which can be used to decrypt the class of files, to become permanently unreadable. |
| US07814314B2 |
Revocation of cryptographic digital certificates
Different targets (c0, N1) of a digital certificate are mapped into a “super-target” using methods allowing a certificate validity verifier (110) to compute the super-target. The certificate includes the super-target instead of the targets. Also, a certificate with multiple targets can be signed with a redactable signature by the certification authority (CA 120). When the certificate's owner provides the certificate to a verifier together with a validity proof, the owner redacts the certificate to delete unnecessary targets. A single validity proof (ci(F)) may be provided to certificate owners for a set (F) of the certificates via a multicast transmission if a multicasting group (2010) is formed to correspond to the set. |
| US07814313B2 |
System, terminal, network entity, method and computer program product for authorizing communication message
A system, terminal, method, and computer program product use a capability certificate to authorize a sender to send a communication message to a recipient, such that the recipient can quickly and easily determine whether to receive the message. In this regard, a system for controlling receipt of a communication message by a recipient comprises a sending terminal and a receiving terminal. The sending terminal may be capable of sending the communication message from a sender. The receiving terminal may be capable of determining if the communication message is cryptographically bound to a capability certificate, such that the receiving terminal receives the communication message if the communication message is cryptographically bound to the capability certificate. Determining if the communication message is cryptographically bound to a capability certificate may comprise determining if the communication message is signed by the sender using a private encryption key of the sender. |
| US07814311B2 |
Role aware network security enforcement
Generating a binding between a source address and one or more roles of a user accessing the network and distributing the binding to a filter node. The source address is currently assigned to the device. The binding may be generated by one or more nodes on an ingress path used during authentication of the user. The binding may be distributed to the filter node on demand or without any request from the filter node. Responsive to a determination that the user is associated with a new source address, a new binding is generated to associate a new source address with the one or more roles for the user. The new binding is distributed to the filter node. Another aspect is a method of enforcing a role based security policy at a filter node, using bindings of source addresses to roles. |
| US07814309B1 |
Method for checkpointing and reconstructing separated but interrelated data
A method is disclosed whereby separate but interrelated data is checkpointed and reconstructed within a router. In one embodiment, each connection is checkpointed with a unique connection identifier, and critical data is stored by a firewall application in a checkpoint server provided within a router. When an application module within the firewall crashes, the firewall and associated modules may recover and restore the data from the checkpoint server by re-assembling the data according the unique connection identifier, thus recovering the connections through the router without interruption. |
| US07814306B2 |
Information device, storage medium and initial state restoration method
An information device has a storage medium storing information items which includes a first program provided on a first partition, a second program and data provided on a second partition to restore the first program on the first partition to a predetermined state, a boot block which causes system activation from one of the first partition and the second partition, and an active-partition switching program which indicates, to the boot block, one of the first and second partitions. An input/output system activates the active-partition switching program when a specific operation is performed. The active-partition switching program indicates to the boot block that system activation is to be executed from the second partition. |
| US07814305B2 |
Apparatus and method for generating reset signals for function chips in a terminal
Provided are an apparatus and method for generating reset signals in a portable terminal, in which function chips are provided. The apparatus includes a master chip, which resets the function chips using at least one address port selected from among address ports connected to a memory, and using a General Purpose Input Output (GPIO) port, and a reset unit, which generates reset signals for the function chips by combining output signals of the at least one address port and enables or disables the reset signals by a control signal received through the GPIO port. |
| US07814303B2 |
Execution of a sequence of vector instructions preceded by a swizzle sequence instruction specifying data element shuffle orders respectively
Operand vector multiplexer sequence control is used in a vector-based execution unit to control the shuffling of data elements in operand vectors used by a sequence of vector instructions processed by the vector-based execution unit. A swizzle sequence instruction is defined in an instruction set for the vector-based execution unit and is used to selectively apply a sequence of vector data element shuffle orders to one or more operand vectors to be used by the associated sequence of vector instructions. As a result, when a common sequence of data element shuffle orders is used frequently for a sequence of vector instructions, a single swizzle sequence instruction may be used to select the desired sequence of custom data element ordering for each of the vector instructions in the sequence. |
| US07814299B2 |
Designating operands with fewer bits in instruction code by indexing into destination register history table for each thread
A circuit arrangement and method support instruction target history based register address indexing, whereby register addresses to be used by an instruction are decoded using a target history table of previous target register addresses, and an index into the target history table supplied by an index value in the instruction. An instruction may include at least one index value that identifies a previously used register address. During execution of the instruction, the index is retrieved from the instruction, and then a register address is retrieved from the target history table using the index. |
| US07814287B2 |
Using writeable page tables for memory address translation in a hypervisor environment
A method and system for using writeable page tables to increase performance of memory address translation in computing environments utilizing a hypervisor. Guest operating systems are given temporary write-access to a page table page after the system confirms that such page is not part of the current address space (i.e., confirming that the page is part of a different page table from the one that is currently in use, such as a different user-space process). Alternatively, if the page is part of the currently running page table, the system invalidates the appropriate entry in the root page directory, thus “unlinking” it, and ensuring that the appropriate region of virtual address space is flushed from the translation lookaside buffer (TLB) in the current CPU and others that may be using it. After giving the OS write-access, the page is added to a validation queue. Validation of all 1024 entries and “re-hooking” of the page occurs whenever a page fault is taken due to the page being unhooked, or before context switching to another page table. |
| US07814282B2 |
Memory share by a plurality of processors
The present invention is directed to a method and a device for memory share by a plurality of processors. The portable terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a main memory; a sub-control unit coupled to the main memory through bus #1, the sub-control unit processing and storing raw data in accordance with a process order, the raw data being stored in the main memory, the main memory being accessed through bus #1; and a main control unit coupled to the main memory through bus #2 and coupled to the sub-control unit independently through bus #3, the main control unit transmitting said process order to the sub-control unit through bus #3. The present invention can prevent the weakening of processing power or the bottleneck problem during the process of information transmission between the memory and a plurality of processors. |
| US07814281B2 |
Method to provide atomic update primitives in an asymmetric heterogeneous multiprocessor environment
The present invention provides for atomic update primitives in an asymmetric single-chip heterogeneous multiprocessor computer system having a shared memory with DMA transfers. At least one lock line command is generated from a set comprising a get lock line command with reservation, a put lock line conditional command, and a put lock line unconditional command. |
| US07814279B2 |
Low-cost cache coherency for accelerators
Embodiments of the invention provide methods and systems for reducing the consumption of inter-node bandwidth by communications maintaining coherence between accelerators and CPUs. The CPUs and the accelerators may be clustered on separate nodes in a multiprocessing environment. Each node that contains a shared memory device may maintain a directory to track blocks of shared memory that may have been cached at other nodes. Therefore, commands and addresses may be transmitted to processors and accelerators at other nodes only if a memory location has been cached outside of a node. Additionally, because accelerators generally do not access the same data as CPUs, only initial read, write, and synchronization operations may be transmitted to other nodes. Intermediate accesses to data may be performed non-coherently. As a result, the inter-chip bandwidth consumed for maintaining coherence may be reduced. |
| US07814275B2 |
Apparatus and method for performing a plurality of storage devices
A storage device batch and parallel processing method adapted for an electronic apparatus, including: (a) connecting a plurality of storage devices to the electronic apparatus; (b) logging device identifiers and disk identifiers of the connected storage devices respectively into a device identifier table and a disk identifier table; (c) obtaining the device identifiers of a predetermined number of the storage devices from the device identifier table and generating a disk table to store the device identifiers of the predetermined number of storage devices; (d) obtaining disk identifiers of the predetermined number of storage devices and recording the disk identifiers to the disk table according to a logging time of each storage device of the predetermined number of storage devices; (e) controlling the storage devices recorded in the disk table performing a data transfer and recursively repeating (c) to (e) until detecting connections between all the storage devices and the electronic apparatus are cutoff. |
| US07814267B1 |
Processor with compare operations based on any of multiple compare data segments
A processor device integrated circuit can include a plurality of storage locations logically configurable into at least one database. Such a database can include a number of records, record having a selectable size of up to F multi-bit segments, where F is an integer greater than one. A search key application circuit can apply a search key value of up to F multi-bit segments to the at least one database in response to receiving one search key segment value. The one search key segment can be applied as any of the F multi-bit segments according to a segment selection value. |
| US07814264B2 |
Memory card, semiconductor device, and method of controlling semiconductor memory
A semiconductor device includes a controller which operates if a request is made that data be written in a certain area in a first block in a semiconductor memory having a predetermined erase block size in which data has already been written, to write the data requested to be written, in a leading area in a second block from which data has already been erased, regardless of a value of an address of the certain area. |
| US07814257B2 |
Data transfer apparatus and data transfer method
A data transfer apparatus for transferring data between a system bus and a local bus at a high speed is provided. A bus bridge 101 is connected between a system bus 132 and a local bus 137. Data transferred between a CPU 133, an I/O device 136 and a main memory 135 on the system bus 132 are retained in an associative memory 106 via an associative memory control unit 105. When an access to this data from an I/O device 138 on the local bus 137 is generated, the data are transferred from the associative memory 106 to the I/O device 138. Thus, when a data transfer request from the I/O device 138 to the main memory 135 is generated, no bus cycle is generated on the system bus 132 as long as this data are retained in the associative memory 106. Consequently, the data can be transferred at a high speed. |
| US07814251B2 |
DMA transfer control system that performs data decode and data transfer and that generates a no operation (NOP) interrupt signal to end the DMA transfer processing in response to a NOP designation
A direct memory access (DMA) transfer apparatus configured to sequentially read, into a register, at least one transfer setting value for data transfer stored in a memory and to perform DMA transfer processing based on the read transfer setting value includes a unit configured to receive a No Operation (NOP) designation for designating no performance of DMA transfer as the transfer setting value, and a unit configured to generate, if the NOP designation has been performed with the transfer setting value read into the register, an NOP interrupt signal to end transfer processing without performing the DMA transfer. |
| US07814241B2 |
Storage system with free ports where logical connections via physical paths connecting free ports are controlled
A first free port present in a controller or a switch device is physically connected to a second free port present in a switch device (switch device in another storage device unit) other than the controller or switch device comprising the first free port. The possibility of logical connection via a physical path connecting the first free port and second free port is controlled. |
| US07814239B2 |
Memory devices implementing clock mirroring scheme and related memory systems and clock mirroring methods
A memory device is configured to operate in first and second data input/output modes. The memory device includes a first electrode pad, a second electrode pad, a clock signal line, a first switching unit, and a second switching unit. The clock signal line is configured to transmit a clock to an integrated circuit inside the memory device. The first switching unit switches to electrically connect the first electrode pad and the clock signal line in response to a control signal occurring for the first data input/output mode. The second switching unit switches to electrically connect the second electrode pad and the clock signal line in response to an inverse signal of the control signal occurring for the second data input/output mode. |
| US07814238B2 |
Apparatus and method for real-time packet reception
Provided is an apparatus and method for real-time packet reception. In a method for data reception in a socket layer with a latest packet only (LPO) function, it is determined whether an LPO mode is set. If the LPO mode is set, whether old data are present in a socket buffer is determined whenever new data are received. If the old data are present in the socket buffer, the old data are erased from the socket buffer. The received new data is stored in the socket buffer after the old data are erased. |
| US07814235B2 |
Page data reception method, page data providing method, device thereof, and program
Even in the case where a first request signal for requesting the source of the top page and a second request signal for requesting the source of A Corporation CD sales page were transmitted from a client terminal 2, if the source of an information page has been stored in a portal server 4, the above source of the information page is transmitted from the portal server 4 to the client terminal 2 before the source of the top page or the source of the A Corporation CD sales page is transmitted from the portal server 4 or the contents sales server 5. |
| US07814232B2 |
Network address translation with gateway load distribution
Gateway and NAT services to a single host or large number of hosts on a local network using a redundancy group having gateway devices. A pool of unique IP addresses are partitioned into address blocks, one of which is assigned to a gateway device. Using the unique IP addresses in its assigned address block, the gateway device translates local IP addresses of hosts on a local network to unique IP addresses from the gateway device's assigned address block for host packets destined for outside networks and creates a mapping of the translation. The gateway device notifies other gateway devices in the redundancy group of the mapping. A master mapping database or a local mapping database is updated whenever one of the gateway devices performs a translation. In the event that one of the gateway devices ceases forwarding of outgoing packets for a host using the gateway device's virtual MAC address, that virtual MAC address is re-assigned to an operating gateway device in the redundancy group to permit continued forwarding of the host's packets destined for outside networks. |
| US07814228B2 |
System and method for using data encapsulation in a virtual network
A method of extending the functionality of a virtual network is disclosed. Messages intended for a virtual destination address located on a network equipped with a device performing packet filtering, network address translation or a similar function on the edge of the network (an “edge device”), are encapsulated in higher level protocols prior to being sent to the edge device. The virtual destination address may be associated with a process on the edge device or a process on another device in the interior of the network. Higher level protocol designations, including transport protocol designations accompanied by a port number and application protocol designations, are retrieved from an extended virtual address registration. Messages arriving at the edge device are determined by the Network layer to contain a higher level protocol and are passed up the Internet Protocol model stack to a higher layer. The higher layers of the edge device, such as the Transport layer and the Application layer, may be accessible and therefore configurable to a non-Systems Administrator thus allowing the message to reach the intended virtual destination address. |
| US07814227B2 |
Computation of a shortest inter-domain TE-LSP across a set of autonomous systems
A technique calculates a shortest path for a traffic engineering (TE) label switched path (LSP) from a head-end node in a local domain to a tail-end node of a remote domain in a computer network. The novel path calculation technique determines a set of different remote domains through which the TE-LSP may traverse to reach the tail-end node (e.g., along “domain routes”). Once the set of possible routes is determined, the head-end node sends a path computation request to one or more path computation elements (PCEs) of its local domain requesting a computed path for each domain route. Upon receiving path responses for each possible domain route, the head-end node selects the optimal (shortest) path, and establishes the TE-LSP accordingly. |
| US07814226B2 |
System and method for supporting service networks in a service-oriented architecture environment
A system and method for supporting Service Networks in a SOA environment. In accordance with an embodiment, the principles governing the topology of computer networks can be similarly applied to the service space—from small federated Service Segments (or sub-domains), to large public federated Service Domains. At the heart of the Service Network are one or more Service Routers, that are themselves responsible for transparently bridging between federated Service Segments. The Service Routers determine where services reside in the Service Network and, based on routing information gathered through interaction with other Service Routers, Network Routers and other mechanisms, deliver service requests, using optimal routes, from a source Service Segment to the target Service Segment. Working in concert with the Service Router, an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) can abstract the location of services, and hide the existence of the Service Network from service requestors. |
| US07814220B2 |
User interface for an electronic device
An electronic device includes a media player and a control unit operable to selectively access any one of a plurality of different types of media sources, such as a local media file memory, and at least one signal input for media data received through a communication connection from an external source, such as a streaming media data or a real time FM radio signal. A user-operable key is carried on the device, which upon activation triggers the control unit to store data related to a currently accessed media source in a playlist. Both the storage and selection of a playlist, which are dependent on from which type of media source the media data is accessed, are performed automatically in the device. |
| US07814216B2 |
System and method for accessing host computer via remote computer
In a peer-to-peer fashion, various host computers communicate with various remote computers using the Internet so that user inputs from the remote computers are transferred to the host computers as if the user inputs occurred locally, and information generated by the host computers is displayed on the remote computers. Thus, a remote computer is able to access all of the information and application programs on the host computer. |
| US07814211B2 |
Varying of message encoding
Embodiments described herein provide a user with the ability to vary the encoding of a message object rather than being bound to a specific one, e.g., the text encoding for SOAP messaging. Accordingly, a message encoding factory is provided that is responsible for mapping a message object (e.g., SOAP Infoset) into raw octets suitable for wire transmission. By encapsulating the notion of a message encoder factory abstractly, embodiments allow users to vary the encoding of an Infoset without varying the programming model (or any other aspect of the system that uses message). In other words, embodiments herein separate the transport (e.g., TCP, HTTP, etc.) from the encoding, which allows users to use any number of encoding mechanisms—even their own proprietary ones. |
| US07814205B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing floor control in a network
A method for managing floor control in a network is disclosed. The method includes beginning a ballot timer when at least one of a) a first node packet is created at the node and b) a second node packet is received at the node from a second node. The first node packet comprises a first timestamp and the second node packet comprises a second timestamp. The ballot timer runs for a first predefined time interval. The method further includes determining a floor holder upon expiration of the first predefined time interval based upon an earliest time of the first timestamp and the second timestamp. Further, the node and the second node have a same absolute timing reference. |
| US07814203B2 |
System and method providing secure access to computer system
A system and method for providing secure access to a computer system. An access device divides the password into multiple segments and places them in data packets. In one embodiment, an authentication server has multiple addresses, and each packet is sent to a different address. The server then reassembles the password. In another embodiment, when the server receives a password, the server sends an index value back to the access device, which then accesses the server on another address indicated by the index value. Alternatively, the password is sent to multiple addresses for the server, and the server determines whether any of the received packets have been altered. The multiple password packets may be forced to follow different paths to the server, thereby denying hackers the ability to intercept all of the password characters or determine the inter-packet timing factor. The system is effective against passive and active hackers, Trojans, and phishing techniques. |
| US07814202B2 |
Isolating local performance variation in website monitoring
Systems and methods are provided for isolating performance variation in website monitoring. A set of geographically diverse monitoring agents are identified and a subset of baseline agents is selected from these monitoring agents. The baseline agents are those agents that are geographically close to the target website or otherwise enjoy reliable communications with the target website and are therefore less affected by network latencies. The frequency at which a target website is monitored is weighted in favor of the baseline agents in order to get an accurate baseline metric for the target website while also obtaining information regarding global accessibility of the website from the geographically disperse monitoring agents. The variations in sample frequency can be optimized for each particular set of baseline agents. The set of baseline agents can be pre-assigned or dynamically identified based on an analysis of the performance variation from each of the monitoring agents. |
| US07814201B2 |
System and method for monitoring global network performance
The present invention provides a system and method for monitoring global network performance across a public Wide Area Network (WAN), and/or private networking through a secure IPSec gateway, and providing a user interface for performance metrics through a secure Internet browser. |
| US07814199B2 |
Method and apparatus for searching for UPnP device
Provided is a method of searching for a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) device in a UPnP network. Accordingly, a control point inserts attribute information on a device designated by a user in addition to information on a device type, a service type, or the like into a search message that is multicasted to search for a UPnP message, and a UPnP device which receives the search message determines whether or not the received attribute information corresponds to an attribute of the UPnP device with reference to a device description and a service description, and transmits a response message according to a result of the determining. Therefore, network traffic that occurs in an operation of searching for a UPnP device can be reduced, and a user can easily and rapidly search for a desired UPnP device. |
| US07814196B1 |
Methods and apparatus for mapping resources
A mapping function deduces or attempts to deduce a type associated with the unknown type of storage area network resource based (at least in part) on functional capabilities or physical attributes associated with the unknown type of storage area network resource. If the mapping function is unable to map the unknown type of storage area network resource with a sufficient degree of certainty based on its physical attributes and/or retrieved configuration information, then the mapping function applies an algorithm that compares retrieved configuration information (such as a data string received from and) associated with the unknown type of storage area network resource to respective configuration information (e.g., data strings) associated with the known types of storage area network resources. Longer matching sequences in the compared data strings indicate a higher likelihood that the unknown type of storage area network resource matches a respective known type of storage area network resource. |
| US07814195B2 |
Method for data synchronization with mobile wireless devices
A system and method for utilizing non-interactive communications with wireless networks for a mobile wireless device such as a telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), laptop, or other mobile device configured for performing data transfers over a wireless network. By way of example, the invention allows a user to send and receive email as well as web updates and other data updates in physical areas and locations of limited signal coverage exists without the user periodically activating the device for updating data. The invention preferably comprises programming configured for awakening the processor in response to time thresholds or the detection of sufficient signal levels from available wireless networks and wireless network devices. The programming establishes a connection with appropriate wireless network devices and communicates selected data, for example data selected by the user, such as emails (to be sent/received), web sites to be refreshed, and other forms of non-interactive data. |
| US07814191B2 |
Methods and systems for network management using periodic status messages
Methods of managing a network comprising a plurality of agents. The methods may comprise the step of storing a plurality of agent data files corresponding to the plurality of agents. The methods may also comprise the step of receiving periodic status messages from at least a portion of the plurality of agents. Upon receiving a status message from a first agent, the methods may comprise the step of updating an agent data file corresponding to the first agent. Also, the methods may comprise the steps of periodically identifying agent data files from the plurality of agent data files that have not been updated for a predetermined amount of time; and sending a request for response to a second agent corresponding to an agent data file that has not been updated for a predetermined amount of time. |
| US07814190B2 |
IT automation filtering and labeling system and appliance
A method of managing information technology (IT) tasks within an enterprise network is described. The method comprises receiving a user input specifying a filter definition, associating a table with the filter definition, and automatically evaluating entities of the network to determine which entities meet the filter definition. A label is assigned to any entity that meets the filter definition, and an IT task is caused to be executed with respect to an entity having the label assigned to it. |
| US07814187B2 |
Method and processing system for determining the spatial structure of a control system
Spatial structure of system modules is automatically determined with respect to other system modules. Information on the spatial structure of a first system module is determined with respect to other system modules by providing an information module, which is respectively associated with the system modules, containing information on the spatial structure of each respective system module, and which can be accessed via an associated interface. |
| US07814182B2 |
Ethernet virtualization using automatic self-configuration of logic
A method of Ethernet virtualization using automatic self-configuration of logic of a data router. The method comprising maintaining control parameters at a master device, accessing, by a slave device, the control parameters at the master devices, and configuring the slave device based on the accessed control parameters. |
| US07814181B1 |
Method for configuring a network element at a customer premise via a mobile data terminal
An enhanced network element and method for configuring and deploying computer network elements is disclosed. A customer orders a network element from an equipment provider. Upon receipt of the unconfigured network element, a Trusted Configuration Device (TCD) is shipped from a network provider to the customer. The TCD transmits information to the NE that enables it to download a configuration file from a Provisioning Server (PS) via a secure channel. |
| US07814178B2 |
Method and apparatus for data configuration in communication device
The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for data configuration in a communication device, comprising the following steps of: a) the configuration data centralized unit filtering its internal data, so as to obtain the data to be configured for each configuration data distributed unit; b) the configuration data centralized unit sending said obtained data to each corresponding configuration data distributed unit; c) each configuration data distributed unit making the received data come into effect in it. An apparatus for data configuration of the present invention comprises a configuration data centralized unit and configuration data distributed units, wherein the configuration data centralized unit comprises a filtering sub-module, and one said configuration data distributed unit comprises an adaptation sub-module. During data configuration, the present invention utilizes filtering and adaptation, which leads to little modification to the existing systems and simple and flexible implementation, and significantly reduced redundant data volume for configuration. |
| US07814174B2 |
Adaptation to device-capability based on device characteristics
The invention is a flexible and adaptive application framework and method for providing media services via an interactive media services client device coupled to a programmable media services server device. A method of the preferred embodiment of the invention includes distributing or partitioning computation, data storage, and/or data transmission between the server and client devices to flexibly adapt to and take advantage of the available computing and/or network resources. |
| US07814171B2 |
Method and system for modifying host application functionality based upon downloaded content
An application hosting a browser modifies its own functionality in some manner based on whether particular content (e.g., an identifier) is present in a document for rendering by the browser. In one embodiment, a financial statement page for rendering via the hosted browser is scanned to determine if an identifier corresponding to a download button is present. If present, the host application provides an alternate download button that does not scroll off the screen as the page is scrolled. The present invention also suppresses a dialog box (e.g., the open/save dialog box) when a request for a certain file type is made by a hosted browser. For example, a request for download of financial information suppresses the open/save dialog box, and automatically opens the downloaded file. |
| US07814168B2 |
Unit-to-unit data exchange system, and unit, exchange completion data keeping device and program for use in the same
A unit-to-unit data exchange system preventing an unfair exchange without increasing communications cost or a load on a server. A unit (11a) exchanges data with a unit (11b). An exchange completion data keeping device keeps exchange completion data that is necessary for each unit (11a and 11b) to reproduce the obtained data after the data exchange is completed. The exchange completion data keeping device transmits the exchange completion data obtained from the unit (11b) to the unit (11a) and transmits the exchange completion data obtained from the unit (11a) to the unit (11b) only when the unit (11a) and the unit (11b) have successfully received data of interest. |
| US07814165B2 |
Message classification system and method
An automatic message classification system includes a set of stored messages. Each message contains address identifiers. An incoming message processor delivers incoming messages to the system, each containing incoming address identifiers. A list of address identifiers is created by retrieving each address identifier of each message within the set of stored messages and adding the address identifier to the list if it does not already exist in the list. A central processor calculates a predictive address value for each address identifier in the list of address identifiers by dividing one by the number of occurrences of the address identifier in all messages within the set of stored messages. A central processor of the system compares the incoming address identifiers with the address identifiers of each message located within the set of stored messages to generate a predictive message value for each message. The predictive message value is the sum of the predictive address values for every incoming address identifier that also exists in the address identifiers of each message. The system classifies the incoming message with the message having the highest predictive message value. |
| US07814162B2 |
Self-protecting e-mail
Local capacity threshold values for a user e-mailbox and costs are stored for overflow storage devices accessible on a network. The costs provided a ranking of the overflow storage devices. E-mail's are processed responsive to increases in accumulated storage of the e-mails beyond the respective local capacity threshold values to reduce storage space of the e-mails. An e-mail is received that increases the accumulated storage volume of the user's e-mails beyond the maximum local capacity threshold value. A subset of the overflow storage devices is selected by reference to the costs. One of the overflow storage devices of the subset is selected responsive to availability of storage space on the overflow storage devices of the subset and cost ranking among the overflow storage devices of the subset. The received e-mail is sent for storing on the selected overflow storage device, instead of storing the received e-mail in the user's e-mailbox. |
| US07814150B1 |
Apparatus and method to bridge telephone and data networks
In accordance with one embodiment, the disclosure relates to a method for initiating an online meeting over a data network between a host party with a first computer and an attendee party with a second computer. Consider that a phone connection already exists over a telephone network between a first phone of the host party and a second phone of the attendee party. A start meeting message is sent over the data network to a data center. A meeting identification is subsequently received from the data center. The meeting identification is stored in a first device that is coupled to both the first phone and the first computer, and the meeting identification is transmitted from the first device over the telephone network to a second device, where the second device is coupled to both the second phone and the second computer. |
| US07814147B2 |
System and method for dynamically changing the content of an Internet web page
A host Web page includes an evolving interactive dialog box wherein an Internet user may enter user data to be processed. When the user completes entering user data in a first revolution of the interactive dialog box, the first revolution is replaced with a second revolution of the evolving interactive dialog box without disturbing or affecting any other part of the host Web page being displayed. Beneficially, the first and second revolutions may be communicated to a user computer together with and at a same time as the host Web page. Also, the second revolution may include a variety of data which is selected or customized to match the user data submitted in the first revolution. Each revolution of the evolving interactive dialog box may be comprised of any combination of general textual data entry fields, category (pull-down) menus, contact information data entry fields, and opt-in/opt-out buttons. The evolving interactive dialog box may also include dynamically selectable features, such as font type, font size, font color, box shape, box dimension(s), background colors, foreground colors, etc. |
| US07814146B2 |
File fragment trading based on rarity values in a segmented file sharing system
Peer-to-peer file sharing clients share file fragments in the background based on rarity values. When a first peer offers a fragment to a second peer to be shared in the background, the second peer checks the rarity of the fragment and identifies one or more fragments from its swarm that is approximately as rare as the fragment being offered. The second peer then offers the one or more fragments in exchange for the originally offered fragment. The first peer may then offer the one or more fragments to other peers in its swarm to be shared in the background. |
| US07814144B2 |
Recommending system, recommending server, content recommending method, and recommending program product
The present invention relates to a recommending system that recommends content so as to keep constant network traffic between a user terminal and a server. The recommending system includes a user terminal, a content server that transmits content prestored in a storage device to the user terminal, and a recommending server that transmits recommendation data, which are connected via a network. The recommending server includes a communications unit that transmits the recommendation data to the user terminal, the recommendation data containing an identifier of provided content and a time, at which the content server starts providing the content to the user terminal, in correspondence with the identifier of the provided content. The user terminal includes a download unit that transmits the content request containing the identifier of the provided content to the content server at the time in correspondence with the identifier of the provided content in the recommendation data. |
| US07814143B2 |
System and method for modifying documents sent over a communications network
A system and method applied to a communications network which transmits document portions in which an original document portion having an identifier portion and an information portion is replaced or swapped with a substitute null document portion. The reads the identifier portion of the original document portion, determines the information portion of the original document portion, and issue a swap order when an undesired original document portion is found. A modified document is created by inserting the substitute null document portion in place of the undesired portion and the modified document is passed on to the user set and displayed. Also, the system performs detection and replacement of undesired content in emails, such as junk mail, viruses and confidential material. |
| US07814141B2 |
Systems and methods for domain name registration by proxy
A system and method of proxy domain name registration permits a would-be domain name registrant anonymity. A registrar affords customers the opportunity to use the proxy registration. If the customer seeking registration of a domain name requests, the registrar obtains contact information needed for registration from a proxy entity established for this purpose. The registrar completes the registration of the domain name with the appropriate registry (i.e. “.com, .net” etc.). The contact information published in WHOIS is that of proxy entity. Contractually the customer is afforded control over the domain name. Emails intended for the customer are received by the proxy entity who may filter them if the customer requests. Emails sent by the customer are sent to the proxy entity who in turn sends them to the indicated addressee. |
| US07814139B2 |
Systems and methods for clickstream analysis to modify an off-line business process involving forecasting demand
Methods and systems are provided herein for the analysis of clickstream data of online users. The analysis methods and systems allow for the creation of new offline business methods based on online consumer behavior. In embodiments, a third party is enabled to forecast offline demand for a good or service based on the online consumer behavior. |
| US07814138B2 |
Method and apparatus for decimal number addition using hardware for binary number operations
According to embodiments of the subject matter disclosed in this application, decimal floating-point additions and/or decimal fixed-point additions may be implemented using existing hardware for binary number operations. The implementation can be carried out in software, in hardware, or in a combination of software and hardware. Pre-calculated constants that are approximations to negative powers of 10 and stored in binary format may be used for rounding addition results to a designated precision by multiplying the results with a pre-calculated constant. Additionally, several parts of a decimal multiplication may be carried out in parallel. Furthermore, a simple comparison with a constant instead of an expensive remainder calculation may be used for midpoint detection and exactness determination. |
| US07814134B2 |
System and method for providing integrated management of electronic information
A system and method for managing electronic information using a computer system for one or more users, comprising creating an electronic folder and storing the folder in an electronic folder management system, creating files for the electronic folder, maintaining a collection of electronic folders and the files stored therein, and associating the electronic folders with one or more files such that each of the files may be accessed by identifying the related electronic folder. |
| US07814133B2 |
List building system
A system implementable using a programmable processor includes a plurality of pre-stored commands for building an inventory of audio, musical, works or audio/visual works, such as music videos. A plurality of works can be collected together in a list for purposes of establishing a play or a presentation sequence. The list can be visually displayed and edited. A plurality of lists can be stored for subsequent retrieval. A selected list can be retrieved and executed. Upon execution, the works of the list are presented sequentially either audibly or visually. The works can be read locally from a source, such as a CD, or can be obtained, via wireless transmission, from a remote inventory. If desired, establishment of a predetermined credit can be a pre-condition to being able to add items to the list for presentation. |
| US07814129B2 |
Method and apparatus for storing data with reduced redundancy using data clusters
Method and apparatus for storing data in a reduced redundancy form. Binary Large Objects (BLOBs) are partitioned into subblocks according to a partitioning method, and the subblocks are stored in subblock clusters. Each BLOB is represented as a list of spans of subblocks which identifies a contiguous sequence of subblocks within a cluster. Storage redundancy can be reduced because the spans of two different BLOBs can refer to the same subblocks. An index may be used to map subblock hashes to subblock cluster numbers. |
| US07814127B2 |
Natural language support for database applications
A method, system and article of manufacture for data processing in databases and, more particularly, for providing natural language support in a database environment. One embodiment provides a method of providing natural language support for users running queries against a database. The method comprises providing a data abstraction model comprising a plurality of logical fields abstractly describing physical data residing in the database, and associating the data abstraction model with a language resource component defining a natural language expression for each of the plurality of logical fields. |
| US07814126B2 |
Using task sequences to manage devices
Task sequences are used to manage devices. According to one aspect, a user-defined or user-selected task sequence is received. The task sequence is converted into an ordered series of steps, and the series of steps are performed, in accordance with their order, in managing a device over a network. In certain implementations, the ordered series of steps are steps for automatically deploying an operating system on the device. |
| US07814121B2 |
Method and apparatus for constructing and maintaining a user knowledge profile
A method of constructing an entity profile, having private and public portions with different access restrictions, commences with the assignment of a confidence level to content within an electronic document. The electronic document may be associated with a first entity. The content may be descriptive of the first entity. If the confidence level assigned to the content is less than a predetermined threshold, the content is automatically rejected for inclusion within the entity profile. If the confidence level assigned to the content exceeds the predetermined threshold, the content is included within the private portion of the entity profile. Thereafter, the content can be automatically presented to the first entity for authorization, by the first entity, for inclusion of the content within the public portion of the profile. The public portion of the entity profile may be freely accessible by other entities, whereas the private portion may have access restrictions. |
| US07814117B2 |
Accessing data from asynchronously maintained index
A method and apparatus for computing queries in a way that is consistent with an index and the underlying base table is provided. A query is computed such that it is consistent with the state of an index and base table as of the last point at which the index and table were synchronized. For example, if an index is maintained asynchronously then it is not necessarily consistent with its base table when a query is to be run against the table and the index. Therefore, the query is computed such that it will be consistent with the last point at which the index and the table were synchronized. In one embodiment, a System Change Number (SCN) of the last successful synchronization operation is used to perform a flashback query on the table. |
| US07814114B2 |
Tree-based information query model
A mechanism and method for querying between two data centers managed by two different data center management products is described. A single information query model is utilized to query multiple instances of another data center, which receives, translates and responds to the information query through the use of a schema. Knowledge of the other (foreign) data center's APIs for each instance is made unnecessary. Improved query efficiency is achieved by combining a plurality of disparate queries into a single information query. The responses to the plurality of queries are populated into a single reply to the information query, which is then transmitted back to the querying data center, translated and made readable to the IT administrator. |
| US07814113B2 |
Efficient top-K query evaluation on probabilistic data
A novel approach that computes and efficiently ranks the top-k answers to a query on a probabilistic database. The approach identifies the top-k answers, since imprecisions in the data often lead to a large number of answers of low quality. The algorithm is used to run several Monte Carlo simulations in parallel, one for each candidate answer, and approximates the probability of each only to the extent needed to correctly determine the top-k answers. The algorithm is provably optimal and scales to large databases. A more general application can identify a number of top-rated entities of a group that satisfy a condition, based on a criteria or score computed for the entities. Also disclosed are several optimization techniques. One option is to rank the top-rated results; another option provides for interrupting the iteration to return the number of top-rated entities that have thus far been identified. |
| US07814112B2 |
Determining relevancy and desirability of terms
A system and method to sort search results based upon a desirability value is illustrated. This desirability value may be based upon the difference between a demand value and a supply value. Demand may be based upon user activity such as click-throughs, purchases, price, or location. Supply may be based upon a supply of keywords that may be the number of times a word is used in search or item title. The system and method may include receiving a search query, associating a first numerical value with a keyword that is a part of the search query, tracking user activity associated with the keyword, associating a second numerical value with the keyword based upon the user activity, finding a difference value between the first and second numerical values, associating this difference value with the keyword, sorting keywords based upon the difference values, and returning the search results of the sorting. |
| US07814104B2 |
Techniques for partition pruning
Techniques are described for performing partition pruning in situations where previous database servers could not. Specifically, techniques are provided for (1) performing partition pruning based on predicates that involve non-prefix subsets of composite partitioning keys, (2) performing partition pruning when a global index access path is used to execute a query, and (3) performing partition pruning when predicates on partitioning columns are OR-ed together. More generally, techniques are described for partition pruning based on a non-contiguous set of not-pruned partitions. |
| US07814100B2 |
Searching electronic content in instant-messaging applications
Searching electronic content in an instant-messaging application includes obtaining input that specifies a search criterion and that further identifies a first set of users. Each user in the first set has stored electronic content that provides information about that user. The stored electronic content associated with each user in the first set is searched, and a second set of users that includes users in the first set with stored electronic content that satisfies the specified search criterion is identified. An indication of the identified users within the second set is provided. |
| US07814099B2 |
Method for ranking and sorting electronic documents in a search result list based on relevance
A method of evaluating the relevance rank of a target document in a search result list, includes the steps of assigning a basic credit to all keywords that are found in the target document; grouping keywords that are found in the target document; assigning extra value of credit to each keyword group; calculating the total value of credit of the whole target document; calculating the maximum value of credit of the whole target document, and calculating the relevance rank according to a comparison function of the total value of credit and the maximum value of credit for the target document. |
| US07814095B2 |
Optimizing the navigation of one-to-one and one-to-many relationships using query batching in named transactions
A system, method, and computer program product for performing transactional prefetching are presented. Steps for sending correlated queries to a database server for processing are disclosed. |
| US07814093B2 |
Method and system for building a report for execution against a data store
A data query and reporting method and system are provided. The method and system allow non-technical computer users to build and execute complex database queries. The method and system accommodate the need for a simple, easy-to-understand interactive and iterative means for generating and validating database queries. The method and system reduce the complexity and costs associated with retrieving useful information for organizations of all sizes, especially smaller businesses. The method and system support a robust security model, enabling organizations to protect sensitive data while providing broad data access. |
| US07814090B2 |
Query generator
A query generator for generating a query for retrieving data from a database comprising at least one table is disclosed. The query refers to one or more data items in a first view defined to expose a portion of the database and to one or more data items that are not exposed by the first view, at least one of which has an associated reach through flag set thereby defining it as a reach through item. The query generator is adapted to: receive user input indicating selected items to be retrieved from the database; ascertain whether any of the selected items that are not exposed by the first view are defined as reach through items; and, if so: create a second view that is a copy of the first view and add a copy of each reach through item to it; and create a query that refers only to the second view and the items exposed by it. |
| US07814088B2 |
System for identifying word patterns in text
A system for identifying word patterns in text is conducted in real time and is highly suitable for network and Internet use. The system comprises a semantic network that may be compiled on a local computer or at a remote host and a software text analysis module for receiving the text to be analyzed, parsing the text, submitting the text to the semantic network, and receiving the results. Recognized, words are then examined, together with surrounding words in the text to determine whether the words are part of a word pattern. Word patterns are located at nodes in the semantic network in a hierarchical structure, and certain word patterns correspond to objects of the semantic network. When all word patterns involving a word are located, links are followed to objects corresponding to the word patterns. Several nodes may point to a single object, but each object is represented only once in the semantic network. Identified objects may thus be identified in real time, as the text streams through the text analysis module. |
| US07814086B2 |
System and method for determining semantically related terms based on sequences of search queries
The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for determining semantically related terms based on sequences of search queries. Generally, a semantically related term tool examines search logs to associate search queries with a user submitting the search query. The semantically related term tool establishes a plurality of sequences of search queries, each sequence of search queries comprising one or more search queries associated with a common user and relating to a common concept. The semantically related term tool receives one or more seed terms and determines one or more terms related to the received seed terms based on the established plurality of sequences of search queries. |
| US07814085B1 |
System and method for determining a composite score for categorized search results
A system and method for scoring documents is described. One or more documents are identified responsive to a search criteria. A text match score indicating a quality of match of the identified documents is determined. A category match score is determined over categories. A document-categories score is determined indicating a quality of match between an identified document and a plurality of categories. A search criteria-categories score is determined indicating a quality of match between the search criteria and the categories. An overall score is determined based on the text match score and the category match score. |
| US07814084B2 |
Contact information capture and link redirection
A contact information function associated with a web browser maintains a look-up table of recognizer functions, indexed by regular expressions that specify URLs. Upon a user entering or selecting a URL, the contact information function indexes the look-up table with the URL against the regular expressions. If one or more recognizers are found, the web content returned from the URL is processed by each of the recognizers, which recognize the format of information on that web site, and locate and extract contact information from the web content. The contact information may be saved, formatted, and output to other applications. Updated recognizers may be downloaded from a recognizer server. |
| US07814083B2 |
Method and system for supporting information access and record media therefor
Method and system for supporting access to information and a recording medium are provided. The method of supporting access to information in a system connected to a user client through a network includes: (a) receiving an access application download request from the user client; (b) transmitting the requested access application to the user client, the access application serving to replace a first address bar existing in a web browser with a second address bar; (c) receiving keyword information among information input to the second address bar by a user, the keyword information being text information not directly including access information; and (d) transmitting at least one of address information corresponding to the keyword information and search result information on the keyword information to the user client. Accordingly, all the kinds of information can be accessed using an address bar, thereby giving convenience to a user. |
| US07814078B1 |
Identification of files with similar content
A method, apparatus, and system identity files with similar content. One embodiment is a method that divides files into plural segments. The method computes a hash value and a size for each of the plural segments of the files. In order to identify which files have similar content, the method adds together segments common between files. File similarity information of files with similar content is output. |
| US07814070B1 |
Surrogate hashing
Surrogate hashing is described, including running a hashing algorithm against a portion of a file to generate a hash value, determining whether the hash value is substantially similar to a stored hash value associated with another portion of another file, the portion and the another portion being standardized, wherein at least one of the portion and the another portion is an extremely small dataset, and identifying a location of the another file if the hash value is substantially similar to the stored hash value associated with the another portion of the another file. |
| US07814069B2 |
Wrapper for use with global standards compliance checkers
Methods and apparatus for checking the compliance of a file with global and custom standards are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for checking a file that is associated with a first set of standards and a second set of standards into a repository includes providing the file to a checking arrangement that includes a checking tool and an adapter that is interfaced with the checking tool. The method also includes executing the checking tool to determine compliance of the file with the first set of standards, and executing the adapter to determine compliance of the file with the second set of standards. |
| US07814066B1 |
System for backup and recovery of a plurality of heterogeneous databases
A system for backup and recovery of a plurality of heterogeneous databases is disclosed. The system comprises a first computer system configured to comprise a plurality of heterogeneous databases and a second computer system configured to execute an application program. The second computer system is in operational relationship with the plurality heterogeneous databases. The application program is configured to issue a transaction statement that triggers a change in the plurality of heterogeneous databases. The system also comprises a third computer system configured to accumulate information from the transaction statement from the plurality of heterogeneous databases. The third computer system is further configured to recover the plurality of heterogeneous databases to a point in time based on the information from the transaction statement. |
| US07814065B2 |
Affinity-based recovery/failover in a cluster environment
Techniques are provided for responding to the termination of a node by selecting another node, and assigning to the selected node the affinity relationships that existed between the terminated node and one or more objects. The resources that belong to the objects involved in the affinity relationships are remastered to the selected node. The selected node then performs recovery of the resources that had been opened by the terminated node and/or serves as a failover node to execute the transactions that had been executing on the terminated node. |
| US07814062B2 |
Systems and methods for expiring digital assets based on an assigned expiration date
Systems and methods for managing digital assets in a distributed computing environment are described. Meta-data for the digital assets is stored separately from the digital assets. Meta-data for some of the digital assets is copied and stored at a central location. Meta-data for the digital assets is generated by clients of the system. |
| US07814060B2 |
Apparatus and method for web service client deployment
A Web service (WS) client archive and its deployment is described. The archive includes components that define and describe the deployable WS client such as the implementation classes of the WS client, a WSDL document, and descriptors that provide more detail than what is described in a normal WSDL that are specific to the WS client of the archive. |
| US07814058B2 |
Clustered filesystem with interruptible token acquisition
A cluster of computer system nodes share direct read/write access to storage devices via a storage area network using a cluster filesystem. Access to files on the storage devices is arbitrated by the cluster filesystem using tokens. Upon detection of a change in location of the metadata server, client nodes waiting for a token are interrupted to check on the status of at least one of data and node availability. |
| US07814057B2 |
Page recovery using volume snapshots and logs
Systems and methods are disclosed that facilitate providing page-level database restore functionality upon detection of a corruption event. Updates to a data page in a database can trigger generation of a snapshot of the data page, and an update log can be maintained that stores information related to page updates. Subsequent snapshots can be generated at predetermined intervals and can trigger truncation of a log segment and initiation of a new log segment. Upon detection of page corruption, a most-recent uncorrupt snapshot of the corrupt page can be identified, copied to the location of the corrupt page in the database, and modified according to the log segment associated with the uncorrupt snapshot to make the page current as of the corrupting event, all of which can be performed to restore the database without having to take the database offline. |
| US07814056B2 |
Method and apparatus for data backup using data blocks
Methods and apparatuses for backing up data to a database are provided. A specified data set to be backed up is broken down into a plurality of data blocks, each data block is associated with a data block digest, and the data blocks and associated data block digests are stored in the database. When one or more data blocks are subsequently changed, an update to the backup may be performed by adding to the backup data only the data blocks that have changed since the initial backup. Methods and apparatuses for restoring backup data from a database are also provided. Timestamp information associated with the data blocks in the database is used to select the data blocks to be restored. |
| US07814055B2 |
Method of managing a calendar and a computer system for implementing that method
The current invention is about methods, systems and machine readable media for operating a calendar in a data processing system. In one exemplary method of managing said calendar, which contains at least one event, the method includes subscribing to said calendar which is available in an electronic format, downloading said calendar from a host electronic device to a subscriber electronic device, and storing said calendar in said electronic format to form a local calendar. |
| US07814050B2 |
Disaster recovery
File system disaster recovery techniques provide automated monitoring, failure detection and multi-step failover from a primary designated target to one of a designated group of secondary designated targets. Secondary designated targets may be prioritized so that failover occurs in a prescribed sequence. Replication of information between the primary designated target and the secondary designated targets allows failover in a manner that maximizes continuity of operation. In addition, user-specified actions may be initiated on failure detection and/or on failover operations and/or on failback operations. |
| US07814049B2 |
Computer device for managing documents in multi-user mode
A computer device for managing Documents in multi-user mode, including a document data processing tool, a document data display manager, and a document user rights manager. |
| US07814048B2 |
Knowledge extraction from online discussion forums
Concepts presented herein relate to extracting knowledge for a chatbot knowledge base from online discussion forms. Within a thread of an online discussion form, replies are selected based on structural features and content features therein. The replies can be ranked and used in a chatbot knowledge base. |
| US07814045B2 |
Semantical partitioning of data
Data can be extracted from one or more data sources. Thereafter, the extracted data can be transformed to a format compatible with a plurality of structurally identical data targets so that the transformed data can be loaded into the plurality of data targets via data transfer processes. The data transfer processes define disjoint data sets among the plurality of data targets. Related apparatus, systems, methods, and articles are also described. |
| US07814042B2 |
Selecting candidate queries
In an example embodiment, multiple candidate selection techniques are made available to a query-processing unit for processing a query. A candidate selection technique is chosen from among the available candidate selection techniques for an incoming query. The candidate selection technique may be chosen based on a configuration file or user input or based on some aspect of the query, the user, or the database on which the query will run. A set of semantically equivalent queries (also called a set of candidate queries) is determined for an the incoming query based on the chosen candidate selection technique. A choice is then made among the candidate queries, usually based on a cost measure, as to which query to execute or store for later execution. |
| US07814039B2 |
Signal processing device and method which learn a prediction coefficient by least-Nth-power error minimization of student teacher data error to detect a telop within image signals which are input signals by selectively outputting input signals following decision of the processing deciding means
The present invention relates to a signal processing device which learns operations made by a user without the user knowing, and which can perform processing optimal to the user based on the learning results. At a learning unit 22, operating signals supplied according to user operations are monitored, and judgment is made whether or not these can be used for learning. In the event that the operating signals are learning operating signals which can be used for learning, the learning unit 22 learns a correction norm which is the norm for correcting input signals, based on the learning operating signals. On the other hand, at a correcting unit 21, post-correction signals, wherein the input signals are corrected based on the correction norm obtained by learning, are output as output signals. The present invention can be applied to an NR (Noise Reduction) circuit which removes noise. |
| US07814036B2 |
Processing well logging data with neural network
An artificial neural network, ANN, and method of training the ANN for inversion of logging tool signals into well logs of formation parameters is disclosed. Properly selected synthetic models of earth formations are used to train the ANN. The models include Oklahoma and chirp type of formations. In each model parameter contrasts of from 10 to 1 to about 100 to 1 are included. Models including maximum and minimum parameter values spanning the operating range of the selected logging tool are included. Parameter contrasts at interfaces are limited to realistic values found in earth formations. The selected models are used to generate synthetic tool signals, which are then used as inputs to the ANN for training. When the ANN coefficients are properly adjusted to produce an output matching the original models, the ANN can be used for inversion of any real signals from the selected logging tool. |
| US07814035B2 |
Large-scale information collection and mining
The methods/systems described herein facilitate large-scale data collection and aggregation. One exemplary system that facilitates large-scale reporting of health-related data comprises a data collection component, a database and an aggregation component. The data collection component can collect health-related data on a large-scale from a non-selected population. The database can store at least some of the health-related data. The aggregation component can facilitate automatically ascertaining at least one pattern from the health-related data at least in part by applying one or more statistical, data-mining or machine-learning techniques to the database. One exemplary method of extracting health observations from information obtained on a macro-scale comprises receiving information about a plurality of self-selected subjects, pooling the information, mining the pooled information at least in part by employing a data-mining algorithm to infer one or more health observations from the pooled information, and monetizing the one or more health observations. |
| US07814033B2 |
Control method to make IC's operation mode to be provided with uncertainty
The invention is related to a control method to make IC's operation mode to be provided with uncertainty, wherein a Genetic Random Number is produced with the first use of IC, and a Run-Time Random Number is produced with every use of IC, both numbers are produced from the Random Number pool in IC, and then produce a long serial number through hash function, which include a plurality of control bits to serve as the function control of data shuffle for IC data access, path and direction for data flow, etc. The said long serial number varies with the random number during each time of execution, thus the control method of the long serial number is various and the IC's operation mode is provided with uncertainty. As IC is applied to e-commerce, data security or encryption/decryption process, due to the uncertainty of IC's behavior, a hacker cannot catch the fixed IC's operation mode to break through it just through analysis to a single IC, therefore the data security can be protected. |
| US07814032B2 |
System and method for mail verification
A system and method is provided for transmitting mail verification data over a wide area network, such as the Internet, in response to receiving and authenticating at least a portion of mail identification (ID) data. In one embodiment of the present invention, a mail verification application is adapted to store at least a verifying portion (e.g., an identifiable code portion, a shipping portion, a recipient portion, etc.) of mail ID data in memory. The mail ID data is then affixed to a mail object. The mail object is then manually delivered to a recipient. At least an authenticating portion of the mail ID data is then provided to a reception device. The reception device, which communicates with the mail ID device over a wide area network, transmits at least the authenticating portion of the mail ID data to the mail verification application operating on the mail ID device. The mail verification application then compares the authenticating portion of the mail ID data with the verifying portion stored in memory. If the authenticating portion of the mail ID data is authenticated, mail verification data is sent to the reception device. In one embodiment of the present invention, at least a portion of the mail verification data includes authenticating data, securing data, sender data, recipient data, mail-content data, downloadable-product data, sender-web-page data, and/or third-party-web-page data. |
| US07814029B1 |
Method and system for estimating consumer satisfaction
An index for an item in a computer implemented merchandising system is computed as a function of objective data, e.g., transaction data, and subjective data, e.g., customer satisfaction ratings or reviews. The index may be extended with other data, including revenue, returns, refunds, discontinuations, and interactive shopping data. The index may further be weighted using a variety of weight factors for different components of the subjective and objective data. A display of the index places customer satisfaction data in the context of transaction data. The index may be used to provide prospective customers with a more balanced picture of consumer satisfaction than can be provided from customer satisfaction data alone, including prospective purchase comparisons and desirability. |
| US07814027B2 |
Matchmaking jewelry and method
A matchmaking ring and method of communicating personal status to another person is provided. The matchmaking ring of the present invention includes means for identifying personal characteristics of the ring wearer. The matchmaking ring further includes means for identifying desired personal characteristics of a potential partner of the ring wearer. When one matchmaking ring is compared or abutted to another matchmaking ring, the engagement or non-engagement between the two rings determines if two people are compatible. Further, the ring itself acts as an indicator to other people that the ring wearer may be a potential partner. Thus, the invention provides a method of wearing the matchmaking ring and identifying others that are wearing a similar matchmaking ring as a potential partner. The ring may be worn as a wedding ring to stave off unwanted advances from individuals who do not know of the ring's significance. |
| US07814026B2 |
Managing investment assets
A method for providing investor liquidity and portfolio growth includes (a) acquiring properties from investors through tax-preferred transactions, at least one of the properties being acquired from one of the investors in exchange for an interest in an investment entity; (b) disposing of at least one of the properties that falls outside of an investment profile; (c) enhancing the value of at least one of the properties by physical improvements; and (c) redeeming interests of investors by the investment entity. |
| US07814025B2 |
Methods and apparatus for title protocol, authentication, and sharing
A title management apparatus resident on a first computer including a memory for storing a control program and data, and a processor for executing the control program and for managing the data. The apparatus includes a title object resident in the memory including a title structure, the title structure further comprising a content element, a set of attributes, and a set of title object security indicia. The apparatus further includes an authorization structure configured to selectively redeem the content element based at least in part on the user security indicia, and further configured to use a set of protocols. The apparatus also includes a title management structure configured to associate a user with the title object based at least in part on the user data and the title attributes. |
| US07814018B1 |
Charge number issuing and transaction system and method
A charge number issuing and transaction system providing a universally acceptable, anonymous and secure payment option. An issuing and transaction system receives a bin of valid purchase numbers from an issuing bank, establishes a prepaid cash account for a user, detects a request for a charge number by the user, and provides a valid purchase number via a computer or telephonic network. The user may then consummate a pending transaction or a subsequent transaction via the network using the provided purchase number. The transaction is cleared through a charge settlement network. The issuing and transaction system may be pre-certified as processor for the purchase numbers, where the charge settlement network routes the purchase transaction back to the issuing and transaction system for verification, authorization and settlement. The issuing and transaction system may generate and provide a valid expiration date and may further expire each purchase number after being used. |
| US07814015B2 |
Methods and systems for performing a sales transaction using a mobile communications device
Methods and systems for performing sales transactions using a mobile communications device and without requiring text messaging or paging services are disclosed. In one example, a subscriber desiring to purchase goods or services proceeds to a point of sale device where the purchase price for the goods or services is totaled. The subscriber then initiates a voice call with a central transaction server. The subscriber provides a point of sale device identifier and the purchase price to the central transaction server. The central transaction server contacts a local transaction server using the identifier provided by the subscriber. The central transaction server also prompts the subscriber to select the payment account for the transaction and verifies that the subscriber has sufficient credit to purchase the goods or services. The central transaction server locates a pending transaction entry in a database local to the point of sale using the device identifier provided by the subscriber. Upon locating the pending transaction entry and verifying that the subscriber has sufficient credit, the central transaction server notifies the subscriber and the point of sale device that the transaction is complete. |
| US07814014B2 |
Providing dual number access electronic wallet
An electronic wallet is based upon a centralized personal data base (CPDB). In the CPDB system merchants obtained customer information by using a primary number and a secondary number given to them by the customer. The CPDB electronic wallet provides a primary number and a wallet number to the merchant to conduct the financial transaction between the user and the merchant. The merchant submits the primary number and the wallet number to the centralized personal data base, the transaction is processed by the CPDB, and the merchant obtains credit for the financial transaction. |
| US07814007B2 |
On-line higher education financing system
A method of providing a user with education financing information, includes the acts of: maintaining an electronic site on a computer network to which the user may connect; sending data to the user over the network for presenting at least one electronic screen which contains financial award information concerning a potential student of an educational institution, the financial award information including a monetary award which may be used for the student to attend the educational institution; and sending data to the user over the network when requested for presenting at least one electronic screen which contains cost projection information, the cost projection information being a function of the award and including an amount of money required for the student to attend the educational institution. |
| US07814002B2 |
Computer implemented automated credit application analysis and decision routing system
A credit application and routing system includes a central processor having and executing a program. The system includes data input capabilities for selectively receiving credit application data from respective applicants at remote locations, and routing capabilities for selectively forwarding the credit application data to remote funding sources and selectively forwarding funding decision data from the funding sources to the respective applicants. The computer program includes routines for receiving a credit application from at least one remote application input and display device, for selectively forwarding a received credit application to at least one funding source, for receiving a funding decision from the at least one funding source, and for forwarding a received funding decision to the at least one remote application input and display device. The system can also obtain credit report data from credit bureau, and analyze and summarize the credit report data. A computer readable storage medium has a substrate physically configured to represent the computer program which causes a computer to provide the credit application and routing system. |
| US07814001B2 |
Modeling portfolios for actively managed exchange traded funds
A process for creating a modeling portfolio to model an actively managed exchange traded fund portfolio. The modeling portfolio comprises a first portfolio of securities and a supplemental portfolio of securities. The modeling portfolio does not reveal the actively managed exchange traded fund portfolio. |
| US07814000B2 |
Method for directing and executing certified trading interests
Preferred embodiments of the subject invention comprise: (a) electronically receiving securities order-related data regarding a set of securities market participants; (b) electronically storing the received order-related data regarding the set of securities market participants; (c) electronically receiving a securities order-related query (or order parameters) from a first securities market participant; (d) based on the order-related query (or order parameters) received from the first securities market participant and on the securities order-related data regarding the set of securities market participants, computing a dissemination list of securities market participants based on ranking likely contras by probability of execution; and (e) transmitting that dissemination list to an entity who has been granted the privilege of receiving such lists in exchange for being contractually bound to respect confidentiality of the dissemination list and to use the list only for the purpose of sending securities-related information to members of the list. |
| US07813997B2 |
System and method for money management in electronic trading environment
A system and method for money management in an electronic trading environment are presented. According to one embodiment, a trader may configure a plurality of filters, each including at least one filter criteria and filter condition. When a money management module detects a new order, the money management module intercepts the order and determines if the order matches one or more predefined filters. If the order matches one or more filters then conditions associated with the applicable filter(s) are applied to the order. The application of one or more conditions to an order may result in sending a modified order, preventing the order from reaching the exchange, or sending order to the exchange without any modifications. |
| US07813994B1 |
System and method for displaying highest and lowest traded prices of tradable objects
A client terminal displays on a graphical interface a first indicator of a price associated with a lowest traded price of a tradable object during a predetermined period of time, a second indicator of a price associated with a highest traded price of the tradable object during the predetermined period of time, along with at least one quantity indicator associated with at least one order to buy/order the tradable object. The first indicator, the second indicator, and the at least one quantity indicator are displayed in relation to a static axis of price, and the client terminal dynamically updates the first and second indicator to new lowest and highest traded prices based on market updates received from an exchange. |
| US07813992B2 |
Balancing arbitragable tracking securities
A financial product is based on a first fund that is traded on a trading marketplace in a first country. The financial product is registered in the first country. The first fund has the characteristics of being based on an index of securities that are traded in a second, different country. The first fund is arbitragable with a second fund that is based on the index and which is registered in a second different country. The first fund has a creation unit basis that is substantially the same basis as a creation unit basis for the second fund. The calculation of the net asset value of the first fund occurs at essentially or exactly the same time that second country fund has its NAV calculated. |
| US07813989B2 |
Financial goal planning and analysis system
A financial advisory system is described that facilitates planning regarding financial goals, such as retirement. According to one embodiment, a method of forecasting a future value of a financial product holding is provided. Exposure analysis is performed on a financial product in which an investor holds an interest to determine how the financial product behaves relative to a set of asset classes. A forecast is generated for the financial product holding at a configurable time horizon based on forward-looking scenarios of one or more asset classes of the set of asset classes. Based on the forecast, information is directly or indirectly caused to be presented regarding a projected value of the financial product holding at the configurable time horizon. |
| US07813985B2 |
Equity-indexed annuity for group savings programs
A Group Equity-Indexed Annuity (GEIA) with a guaranteed minimum equity related return for a set of individuals are provided. An algorithm sets a “participation rate” of a GEIA contract as well as the carrier margin, risk and opportunity for recovery. The carrier is held accountable to the participation rate produced by the model investment portfolio in the formula and subject to the guaranteed minimum. The selection of the participation rate is entirely visible to a GEIA contract-holder. A “hedge budget” is based on a formula-driven amortization process that blends old and new money. Underlying assets are also managed to a “constant” duration, such as the duration of a bond index selected by the GEIA contract-holder. |
| US07813984B2 |
Method and system for determining modulated volume information for a tradeable financial element
A method and system for determining modulated volume information for a tradeable element, such as a security or commodity. The invention compensates for normal fluctuations in volume occurring during the course of a trading period, thereby enabling convenient visualization of abnormal volume activity. In one embodiment, the invention involves providing a historical data source containing historical volume information for the tradeable element for a plurality of historical time intervals; obtaining unmodulated volume information for the tradeable element for a selected time interval in the trading period; retrieving from the historical data source selected data representing historical volume information for one or more of the historical time intervals corresponding to the selected time interval; and using the selected data to convert the unmodulated volume information for the selected time interval to modulated volume information for the selected time interval. |
| US07813983B2 |
Account and customer creation in an on-line banking model
A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for account and customer creation in an online banking model. An application is received from a customer. The application includes information relating to the user and also documentation relating to the user. A first computer is utilized to create a profile for the customer based on the application received from the customer. The first computer is also utilized to create an account for the customer. Information relating to the created profile and account is transmitted from the first computer to a second computer where a notification is generated. The notification indicates that the account has been created. The notification is transmitted from the second computer to the customer utilizing a network. |
| US07813981B2 |
Apparatus and method for simulating an analytic value chain
A computer-implemented simulator models the entire analytic value chain so that data generation, model fitting and strategy optimization are an integral part of the simulation. Data collection efforts, data mining algorithms, predictive modeling technologies and strategy development methodologies define the analytic value chain of a business operation: data→models→strategies→profit. Inputs to the simulator include consumer data and potential actions to be taken regarding a consumer or account. The invention maps what is known about a consumer or an account and the potential actions that the business can take on that consumer or account to potential future financial performance. After iteratively performing simulations using varying inputs, modeling the effect of the innovation on a profit model, the simulator outputs a prediction of the commercial value of an analytic innovation. |
| US07813977B2 |
Graphical user interface related to non-standard trading of financial instruments
A graphical user interface related to non-standard settlement trading in financial instruments is provided. The graphical user interface preferably includes a selectable portion of a display screen related to a financial instrument and a selectable tab for accessing a selectable portion of the display screen related to one or a plurality of non-standard settlement positions with respect to the financial instrument. In one embodiment of the invention, when the tab is selected, access is provided to the selectable portion of the display screen related to the plurality of non-standard settlement positions. |
| US07813974B1 |
Method and apparatus for duplicate shipment detection
Method and apparatus for detecting duplicate shipments at one or more materials handling facilities in a distribution system. For each package processed at one or more downstream processing station(s), a destination identifier (customer/address combination) and one or more item identifiers for item(s) in the package may be obtained. An analysis of the obtained data may be performed in accordance with an analysis interval (e.g., thirty minutes or one hour). For every analysis interval, all destination-identifier/item-identifier combinations obtained in the analysis interval may be examined to determine the number of instances each destination-identifier/item-identifier combination occurred in aggregated data (a window, e.g. two weeks or one month of data). The number of destination-identifier/item-identifier combinations that have an occurrence count greater than a specified number may be counted, and if the sum is greater than a specified threshold, an alarm may be raised. |
| US07813969B2 |
Automated sales support system
A system and method for notifying salespersons of customer communications including a target item is provided. Individual customers are mapped to one or more salespersons. Target items of interest to a salesperson are defined and a salesperson is associated with a customer. For each salesperson, on-line communication channels are monitored for the occurrence of a communications involving a customer associated with the salesperson and including a target item defined by the salesperson. When such an occurrence happens, a notification is directed to the salesperson. Salesperson access to the system and customer access to the on-line communication channels requires authorization. |
| US07813964B2 |
Click and run software purchasing
A method for selling and executing an application using a remote file system for a plurality of clients that includes receiving a purchase request for the application from a client of the plurality of clients, adding an application icon to the remote file system for the client, wherein the application icon allows access to the application and wherein the application icon is added after receiving the purchasing request, receiving an execution request for the application, wherein the execution request is received when the client accesses the application icon, and initiating execution of the application from the remote file system for the client, wherein the application is executed by the client from the remote file system. |
| US07813963B2 |
Interactive electronic desktop action method and system for executing a transaction
A method and system are disclosed for increasing the yield of response to an electronic solicitation to take action by presenting direct action links within the solicitation itself. These direct action links are distinguished by the ability to initiate a transaction when a user interacts with them, without the need to search for or access any other web page or site to begin the authorization. The direct action links are themselves updated without requiring the intervention of the user. The increased marketing efficiency is further enhanced by using a software program other than a conventional internet browser or conventional email client to connect with the user. The enhanced program has the capability of storing information about the user of the system for use in authorizing future transactions, the capability of establishing a dedicated communications connection which uniquely identifies the user to another system, and the capability of remembering previous actions taken by the user. Any protocol of secure encryption can be supported in all these communications. On a recurrent basis the user receives media content containing these direct action links, in addition to alerts when new direct action links are available for the user's consideration. With respect to streaming media content these direct action links can be coordinated to the subject of the stream at any moment over time. A business entity, either non-commercial or commercial, can execute the transaction itself, can execute it on behalf of another business entity, or can set a direct action link to transmit the authorization to another business entity for their own execution. A method and system is further described where a server system can coordinate a peer-to-peer network of client systems to distribute the media content containing these direct action links using the bandwidth capacities of the client systems themselves, or with the informed consent of particular users to send other messages through their own outgoing email functions as the sender. The products and services authorized by these transactions can either be fulfilled back through the system used by the user for the communications, or else be delivered or performed by other means. |
| US07813962B2 |
System and method for generating an image fulfillment order
The present invention relates to a method of ordering images at an imaging device which permits a user to print images immediately, and simultaneously with the printing of the images, access further images for editing. The method of the present invention also provides a running account to the user as the user decides to print an image that details the cost of the jobs as they are being performed. Further, the system provides an ability to check the transaction cost versus the deposit for a fulfillment session and update the cost as the jobs are fulfilled. |
| US07813954B1 |
Audiovisual system and method for displaying segmented advertisements tailored to the characteristic viewing preferences of a user
An audiovisual system for displaying an audiovisual advertisement to a user includes a storage subsystem adapted to receive and store audiovisual advertising segments and to retrieve and transmit stored advertising segments. The audiovisual system further includes a preference determination module coupled to the storage subsystem. The preference determination module is responsive to user input and to metadata to generate one or more user profiles. Each user profile is indicative of characteristic viewing preferences of a corresponding user. The audiovisual system further includes a system controller coupled to the storage subsystem. The system controller is responsive to the metadata and to the user profile corresponding to the user to select and retrieve a plurality of stored advertising segments from the storage subsystem and to dynamically assemble the retrieved plurality of stored advertising segments to form the advertisement which is tailored to the characteristic viewing preferences of the user. |
| US07813953B2 |
System and method for product level projections of pharmacy prescriptions within product therapy classes
Systems and methods for product level projections of pharmacy prescriptions within product therapy classes are provided. Average wholesale dollar sales amounts are obtained or estimated at channel/outlet/product-therapy levels. All of the average wholesale dollar sales amounts are converted to prescription data at channel/outlet/product-therapy levels using a correlation function. The correlation function is derived by correlating samples of total prescription data where available with corresponding average wholesale dollar sales amounts. |
| US07813951B2 |
Managing customer loss using a graphical user interface
A graphical user interface is provided for using a computer to manage customer loss. The graphical user interface includes an overview window and a customer profile window. The overview window is for customer churn information that is associated with a period of time. Customer churn information may include information related to customer churn rates, lost profits, likelihood-to-churn rates, and likelihood-to-churn rates for important customers. The customer profile window is for customer information associated with each of several groups of customers for which customer churn information is displayed in the overview window. Customer information may include information related to customer demographics, such as characteristics of customers who are likely to churn, are loyal or are valuable, or the geographic distribution of customers or a subset of customers. |
| US07813946B2 |
Television and lifetime estimating method of a television
The commodity recycling method of the present invention includes the steps of: selling or renting a commodity to a first user (step S1); collecting the commodity from the first user (step S2); estimating a remaining life of the commodity based on information indicating a usage history of the commodity recorded in a recording section provided in the commodity (step S3); determining sale terms or lease terms based on the estimated remaining life of the commodity (step S4); selling or renting the commodity to a second user in accordance with the sale terms or the lease terms (step S5). The recording section records the information indicating the usage history of the commodity in a manner in which it is substantially impossible for a user of the commodity to alter the usage history information. |
| US07813943B1 |
System and method for managing payments for health care services
A health care claim payment system and method receives a claim for a health care service provided to a participant in a benefits plan. The claim is received by a payment services system, and a portion of the claim is payable by the participant. The payment services system remits the portion of the claim payable by the participant on behalf of the participant so that payment can be remitted to the provider in a single payment and accepts risk of delinquency and/or non-payment by the participant. In one example, the health care provider receives payment for the participant portion and employer portion of the claim within 30 days of issuing a health care service. |
| US07813941B2 |
Patient bed search system
An automated search system uses data indicating clinical and non-clinical needs of a patient to provide a ranked list of candidate beds, status of beds and availability of a specific type of bed having a particular set of clinical attributes, using a score value derived using configurable rules for comparing patient requirements with bed characteristics. A patient bed search system includes at least one repository including bed information for multiple beds in a healthcare facility comprising multiple clinical attributes including current availability for individual beds of the multiple beds. A bed management processor automatically employs the bed information in providing data representing a candidate list of beds for a particular patient in response to clinical and non-clinical requirements associated with the particular patient and a request to allocate a bed for the particular patient. A user interface generates data representing at least one display image presenting the candidate list of beds for a particular patient. |
| US07813938B2 |
Method and system for prescription distribution security
A method and system for enhanced prescription distribution security wherein a prescription form is provided with one or more of: (1) a bar code corresponding to a data base location for a physician's signature; (2) a bar code corresponding to the pharmaceutical/medication to be dispensed and (3) a bar code unique to each prescription form. |
| US07813935B2 |
System for evaluating over and underbalanced drilling operations
A method and a computer program for economic evaluation of completion methods for drilling a well. An extensive user interface is provided for inputting of reservoir data and parameters relating to a first completion method. A rigorous first skin factor is generated based on the reservoir data and first drilling parameters. An interface is preferably provided for entering cost data related to the first completion technique and a first total cost can be generated. Production data is optionally generated from the first skin factor. The production and cost data can then be combined to generate an economic analysis of the first completion technique. The process can be repeated for alternate completion techniques. Preferably, ranges can be entered for certain reservoir and/or cost variables. Multiple iterations can be performed on the ranges resulting in total cost and production ranges which can be combined to yield ranges of economic data for statistical analysis. This results in a user being able to choose the most advantageous completion method. |
| US07813930B2 |
Information processing apparatus and information processing method for determining whether text information of an obtained item should be subject to speech synthesis by comparing words in another obtained item to registered words
Information including a first item and a second item is obtained and the first item of the obtained information is compared with registered words. A determination is made as to whether or not text information of the second item is to be subjected to speech synthesis. If the second item is determined not to be subjected to the speech synthesis, an item other than the second item is synthesized into speech, whereas if the second item is determined to be subjected to the speech synthesis, at least the second item is synthesized into speech. |
| US07813928B2 |
Speech recognition device, speech recognition method, and program
A speech recognition device presenting whether a user's utterance is an unregistered word and whether the utterance should be repeated. The device includes a vocabulary storage unit (102) defining a vocabulary for speech recognition, and a speech recognition unit (101) checking the uttered speech against registered words. The device also includes a similarity calculation unit (103) calculating a similarity between the uttered speech and acoustic units, a judgment unit (104) judging, based on the check by the speech recognition unit (101) and the calculation performed by the similarity calculation unit (103), whether the uttered speech is a registered or unregistered word, an unregistered word unit (106) storing unregistered words, an unregistered word candidate search unit (105) searching the unregistered word unit (106) for unregistered word candidates, the, when the judgment unit (104) judges that the uttered speech is an unregistered word, and a display unit (107) displaying the result. |
| US07813926B2 |
Training system for a speech recognition application
A training system for a speech recognition application is disclosed. In embodiments described, the training system is used to train a classification model or language model. The classification model is trained using an adaptive language model generated by an iterative training process. In embodiments described, the training data is recognized by the speech recognition component and the recognized text is used to create the adaptive language model which is used for speech recognition in a following training iteration. |
| US07813916B2 |
Acquisition and application of contextual role knowledge for coreference resolution
Coreference resolution is the process of identifying when two noun phrases (NP) refer to the same entity. Two main contributions to computational coreference resolution are made. First, this work contributes a new method for recognizing when an NP is anaphoric. Second, traditional approaches to coreference resolution typically select the most appropriate antecedent by recognizing word similarity, proximity, and agreement in number, gender, and semantic class. This work contributes a new source of evidence that focuses on the roles that an anaphor and antecedent play in particular events or relationships. I show that using contextual role knowledge as part of the coreference resolution process increases the number of anaphors that can be resolved, and I demonstrate an unsupervised method for acquiring contextual role knowledge that does not require an annotated training corpus. A probabilistic model based on the Dempster-Shafer model of evidence is used to incorporate contextual role knowledge with traditional evidence sources. |
| US07813915B2 |
Apparatus for reading a plurality of documents and a method thereof
For each of a plurality of documents the thematic hierarchies are recognized, and a topic that commonly appears on the plurality of documents is extracted based on the recognized thematic hierarchies. Then, the description parts corresponding to the extracted topics are taken out from each document and the taken-out parts are outputted as related passages. |
| US07813913B2 |
Emulation component for data backup applications
An emulation component for a data backup system is provided. The emulation component represents a storage device, such as a flash memory device or a partition of a disk drive, as if it were an auto-launch device, that will trigger applications to execute automatically. Accordingly, other computing systems, such as personal computers, interact with the storage device, through the emulation component, as if the storage device were the auto-launch device. Because the emulation component makes this representation, merely connecting the emulation component between the storage device and the computing system can cause a backup application stored on the storage device to automatically execute on the computing system. A data backup appliance including an emulation component and a storage device is also provided. The backup system can also include an interface for connecting another removable device, such as a disk drive, for storing backup content from the data source. |
| US07813912B1 |
Profiling a hardware system generated by compiling a high level language onto a programmable logic device
A method of profiling a hardware system can include compiling a high level language program into an assembly language representation of the hardware system and translating instructions of the assembly language representation of the hardware system into a plurality of executable, software models. The models can be implemented using a high level modeling language for use with cycle accurate emulation. The method also can include instrumenting at least one of the plurality of models with code that, when executed, provides operating state information relating to the model as output and indicating expected behavior of the circuit by executing the models in an emulation environment. |
| US07813911B2 |
Model based testing language and framework
A model based testing framework is provided that can be incorporated into and used to supplement existing testing approaches. Via annotation of custom attributes and requirements, the framework provides the ability to author models in the same language as code (e.g., test code) that interacts with the model. Optionally, the model-based testing techniques are accessible and changeable at run-time so that tests and models that are executing can be dynamically altered. Optionally, weights (and other techniques) may be exerted on one or more portions of the model to influence the execution of the tests. The ability to execute the model-based testing techniques on some portions of test code, while running hand-crafted or custom test code on other portions, is also provided. |
| US07813909B2 |
Register mapping in emulation of a target system on a host system
Methods and systems for register mapping in emulation of a target system on a host system are disclosed. Statistics for use of a set of registers of a target system processor are determined. Based on the statistics a first subset of the target system registers, including one or more most commonly used registers is determined. The registers in the first subset are directly mapped to a first group of registers of a host system processor. A second subset of the set of target system registers is dynamically mapped to a second group of registers of the host system processor. |
| US07813908B2 |
Clock control module simulator and method thereof
A method for simulating an integrated circuit having a plurality of clock control modules includes simulating the integrated circuit, and automatically receiving from each clock control model during simulation an indication of a simulated power state of the clock control model. Accordingly, the simulated power state of the portion of the integrated circuit model to be clocked by a clock control model can be monitored based on the indicator from the clock control model, rather than on a higher level analysis of the simulated input/output behavior of the integrated circuit model. |
| US07813904B2 |
Method, apparatus, and computer readable medium based program for simulating an alternate current electric motor using a motor model
This is to provide a computing method of motor model, a motor simulation method and a motor simulation apparatus in which high-speed real-time simulation is made feasible while saving computer resources. A motor model is formulated, motor model which uses a motor model of alternate-current motor which virtually includes the inverse matrix of an inductance matrix L(θ), which is a predetermined function whose variable is a rotary angle θ, and, in the computation of this motor model, the value, which is obtained by computing a matrix λ(θ) which is equal to the inverse matrix of the inductance matrix L(θ), is used as the value of the inverse matrix of the inductance matrix L(θ). |
| US07813901B2 |
Sketch generator for 3D sheet metal part models created by sheet metal part feature operations
A method is provided for guaranteeing generation of 2D sketches based upon a 3D sheet metal part shape created by any type of sheet metal feature operation. The method includes performing a sheet metal feature operation to create the 3D sheet metal shape. The 3D sheet metal shape will have multiple flanges. Then an editable 2D sketch is created for each flange by obtaining geometric parameters of the 3D sheet metal shape, and linking the parameters with the appropriate generated sketch. The constraint parameters can include line segment lengths and angles between selected adjoining two line segments of the 3D sheet metal shape. |
| US07813900B2 |
Displacement detection method, displacement detection device, displacement detection program, phase singularity matching method and phase singularity matching program
A displacement detection method detects a displacement from phase singularities before and after the displacement, by specifying the phase singularities based on predetermined elements by acquiring the elements from a phase structure of the phase singularities, and detecting positions of the phase singularities after the displacement based on the elements acquired by specifying of the phase singularity. |
| US07813898B2 |
Processing sensing measurements
Software (140) for processing measurements from a distributed sensing system (100) receives the measurements, and generates a graphical representation of the measurements indicating their location or time sequence, and a representation of locations of physical features along the path (50), or times of external events, the representations being scaled and associated to provide a visual correlation between the locations of the measurements and locations of the physical features, or between times of measurements and times of external events. The enhanced visual correlation can lead to cost savings if more rapid interpretation of large volumes of measurements can give warning of changes such as subsidence of structures, or of ingress of water into oil wells, for example in time for remedial action to be taken. |
| US07813892B2 |
Motion detection apparatus and motion detecting method
A motion detection apparatus includes an acceleration sensor which detects acceleration generated by motion of an electronic device; a motion detecting section including a statistical processing section which calculates the average value of data provided from the acceleration sensor, calculates the difference between the average value and the last value of the data obtained, and calculates a pseudo-variance value of the data from the calculated difference; a threshold comparing section which compares the pseudo-variance value calculated by the motion detecting section with a motion threshold to generate a signal value in response to determination that the pseudo-variance value has exceeded the motion threshold; a first buffer memory which sequentially stores signal values generated by the threshold comparing section at predetermined time intervals; and a signal generating section which includes means for adding up values in the first buffer memory, thereby appropriately associating with motion. |
| US07813891B2 |
Methods and systems for detecting spectrophotometer misalignment
This application generally relates to methods and systems for detecting spectrophotometer misalignment. In particular, the application may characterize the noise of a spectral measurement relative to a reference substrate known to exhibit a generally linear (flat) spectral output over a known spectrum. From the spectral measurement, a linear regression may be performed on a portion of the spectral output to determine a best fit line and a correlation of determination (“R-squared value”) may be determined correlated the measured data to the best fit line. Finally, the R squared value may be compared to a predetermined threshold R squared value to determine if the sensor is misaligned beyond an acceptable amount. If so, an alert may be generated. |
| US07813883B2 |
Remotely reconfigurable system for mapping subsurface geological anomalies
Methods and apparatus are provided for receiving, detecting and transmitting geophysical data from a plurality of electrodes inserted through a structure's pavement foundation in a non-destructive manner and into the soil utilizing a dynamically reconfigurable wireless control unit located on each electrode. Data from the control units is transmitted by a wireless signal to a centralized data processor for analysis. Control data is provided from a central control processor to the control unit by wireless transmission. The control unit, which is positioned, includes a multi-channel radio frequency transmitter/receiver and a processor to actuate relays and record data returns from the measured substrate soil for transmission to the central data processor. The control unit incorporates a changeable code or address to unambiguously identify itself, and its spatial relationship to other electrodes, to the central data processor and the central control processor. The control units are equipped with a GPS positioning device to allow for automatic transmission of electrode location and for electrode placement without a manual survey being required. |
| US07813882B2 |
Method for determining average properties of molecules in solution
A new method is presented for measuring the molecular properties of an unfractionated solution of macromolecules. Sample aliquots spanning a range of concentrations are injected sequentially into a stream of solution and flow towards the detectors. Each aliquot produces, thereby, an effective “peak” whose elements correspond to different concentrations of the diluted aliquot. The weight averaged molar mass, the mean square radius, and the second virial coefficient of the macromolecules in solution are derived from an analysis of the angular and concentration dependence of the scattering signals throughout the corresponding peaks. In contrast to earlier on-line methods, better accuracy is achieved, while using a smaller quantity of sample. A similar method for determining cross virial coefficients between two distinct species of macromolecules is also presented. |
| US07813876B2 |
Dismount tablet computer assembly for wireless communication applications
Systems and methods are disclosed for utilizing one or more tablet computer assemblies in a portable communications system. A tablet computer assembly includes a global positioning system module, an L-band transceiver, and a processing system. The global positioning system module that produces location information associated with the position of the tablet computer assembly. The L-band transceiver broadcasts the location information to at least one portable communication device through a relay network and receives location information from the at least one portable communications device via the relay network. The processing unit provides messages to the L-band transceiver and updates a display associated with the tablet computer assembly according the received location information and the location information produced at the global positioning system module. |
| US07813873B2 |
Geocoding locations near a specified city
Specified streets or intersections that are within a specified distance of a specified city can be found by a search, even when they are not actually in that city. For computational efficiency, some addresses are included in search results even when they exceed the specified distance from the specified city by a small amount (“false positives”). The search method guarantees that no instance of the street name within the specified distance of the specified city is erroneously missed (“false negatives”). |
| US07813871B2 |
Methods and systems for aircraft departure enhanced situational awareness and recovery
A method for providing an enterprise with a situational awareness for conditions related to aircraft departure is described. The method includes receiving data related to one or more events that have the potential to affect conditions related to an aircraft's departure from a plurality of enterprise related systems, correlating the received data in accordance with one or more business rules, generating an aircraft departure situational awareness data set from the correlated data, processing the aircraft departure situational awareness data set in view of at least one user profile, and providing at least one recommendation, each recommendation associated with one user profile, directed to addressing the conditions related to aircraft departure. |
| US07813867B2 |
Control apparatus and method and control unit
A control apparatus which can improve the accuracy of control of a controlled variable by a control input exhibiting a periodic fluctuating behavior. The control apparatus calculates an air-fuel ratio correction value DKCMD such that the output from an oxygen concentration sensor converges to a target output, and calculate a modulated value DKCMD_DSM by modulating DKCMD with an algorithm to which is applied a Δ Σ modulation algorithm. Further, the control apparatus calculates a reference air-fuel ratio KCMDBS according to an exhaust gas volume, calculates a model modification coefficient KTRQFF using a modification coefficient calculated such that DKCMD become equal to 0, calculates an adaptive reference air-fuel ratio KCMDADP by the equation of KCMDADP=KCMDBS×KTRQFF, and calculates a target air-fuel ratio KCMD by the equation of KCMD=KCMADP+DKCMD_DSM. |
| US07813855B2 |
Parking assist system
A parking assist system for guiding a vehicle under automatic steering control from a predetermined step position via a turning-direction switching position to a parking target position. With this parking assist system, based upon an operation of a steering wheel by a driver at the predetermined stop position, a parking mode and a parking target position corresponding to that parking mode are determined. And, regardless of the amount of the operation of the steering wheel given at the time of the determination of the parking mode, the vehicle is guided with a correction such that a deflection angle of the vehicle relative to the parking target position may be a predetermined deflection angle, at a corrected switching position nearby the switching position. |
| US07813851B2 |
Sensing misalignment detection and estimation system
A misalignment detection sensor assembly is provided, which includes a forward-looking sensor having a sensing direction along a first axis and an inertia sensor configured to sense acceleration along a second axis, the second axis having a fixed relationship with respect to the first axis. A misalignment detection system uses the misalignment detection sensor assembly and a signal processing system to calculate a misalignment angle between the first axis and the direction of forward motion of the sensor assembly. A method of detecting angular misalignment of a forward-looking sensor assembly is also disclosed, which includes measuring acceleration along an axis having a fixed relationship with respect to the sensing axis of the forward-looking sensor assembly and comparing the acceleration measurement with a predetermined threshold. |
| US07813850B2 |
System and method for shock absorber diagnostic
System and method to diagnose shock absorbers (7) on a vehicle (2) and where at least one of the vehicle's wheel axles are air suspended. A control unit (5) with at least one measuring device (4) connected thereto is provided and in which the measuring device (4) measures a signal that corresponds to the oscillations of the vehicle's wheel suspension. The control unit (5) analyzes the characteristic resonance frequency of the vehicle's wheel suspension. |
| US07813848B2 |
Control system for hybrid vehicle
Disclosed is a hybrid vehicle control system, which comprises a current conversion device for changing an amplitude or a frequency of an alternating current generated by a generator, unit for determining a required output of a vehicle-driving motor in conformity to a required vehicle-driving force, unit for determining a current waveform to be supplied to the vehicle-driving motor, in conformity to the required output of the vehicle-driving motor, and controllably determine a strategy of how to supply an AC electric power, and a bypass line adapted to bypass the current conversion device. When there is a waveform difference between a current waveform required for the vehicle-driving motor and a current waveform output from the generator, an AC electric power is supply to the vehicle-driving motor after eliminating the waveform difference through the current conversion device. When there is no waveform difference between the current waveforms, an AC electric power is supplied directly to the vehicle-driving motor via the bypass line. The hybrid vehicle control system of the present invention makes it possible to supply an AC electric power to the vehicle-driving motor via the bypass line when there is no waveform difference, without AC-to-DC-to-AC conversion and the mediation of the current conversion device, so as to achieve enhanced fuel economy and reduced electric power consumption of the current conversion device while ensuring a desired current conversion through the current conversion device when there is a waveform difference. |
| US07813840B2 |
Comfortable environment providing apparatus
A comfortable environment providing apparatus for controlling at least one comfortable environment creation devices that creates a comfortable environment to provide a user with a comfortable environment. The comfortable environment providing apparatus includes a sensor unit for monitoring a condition related to the user and outputting data representing the monitored condition when carried by the user. A control circuit executes control of the at least one comfortable environment creation devices so that the monitored data approaches comfortable environment reference data quantitatively or numerically indicating a comfortable environment. |
| US07813833B2 |
Automated mail preparation system and method
A system for automatic preparation of mail pieces for special service mailing has a transport device for transporting a series of mail pieces such as envelopes one-by-one in a first path, each envelope having imprinted information. A scanner in the first path reads predetermined information off each envelope. Return receipts are simultaneously fed in a second path past at least one printer, the second path joining the first path at a junction after the printer. The scanner is linked directly to the printer so that the information read from an envelope is immediately applied by the printer to the return receipt, and the prepared return receipt is then secured to the envelope. |
| US07813829B2 |
Sheet manufacturing method and sheet manufacturing device
A sheet manufacturing method is provided including the steps of (i) extruding a sheet material to a sheet form; (2) forming a desired sheet by performing a predetermined processing involving dimensional change in a transverse direction of a sheet; (3) measuring a thickness distribution in the transverse direction of the sheet before completion and after completion of the predetermined processing; (4) calculating a manipulated variable corresponding to each measuring position based on a thickness distribution measurement value in the transverse direction of the sheet after completion of the processing; and (5) controlling the thickness of the sheet. In the calculation of the manipulated variable of step (4), a correspondence position in the transverse direction of the sheet after completion of the processing is determined, and a thickness control is performed based on the determined correspondence position in the transverse direction of the sheet. |
| US07813827B2 |
System and method for an on-line jurisdiction manager
The jurisdiction online manager manages required jurisdictional inspections mandated by a plurality of different jurisdictions performed by non-governmental entities. A central computer system receives object data for an object and most other information via a global computer network, typically the Internet. Based upon the provided object data, the jurisdiction online manage can determine the controlling jurisdiction for the object. The controlling jurisdiction is the jurisdiction in which the object is located. After determining the controlling jurisdiction, the jurisdiction's inspection form or a similar inspection template can be provided to the inspectors, who will perform the actual physical inspections of the objects. After receiving inspection result data from the non-governmental inspection, the inspection result data is stored the system database. The inspection result data is then provided to the controlling jurisdiction. The controlling jurisdiction reviews the result data online and result data is provided to the inspection entity. |
| US07813821B1 |
System, method and computer program product for determining a tennis player rating
Systems, methods and computer program products for determining a player rating for at least one tennis player enhances the tennis playing experience of by matching tennis players of comparable tennis skills. The methodology comprises assigning numerical player ratings generally corresponding to each player's individual tennis skill level. A competitive threshold is established, corresponding to a minimum number of games that a player must win in a match between players having the same player rating. A player is considered to be competitive within a rating level, regardless of whether the player wins or loses matches, provided the player wins at least the minimum number of games that corresponds to the established competitive threshold. Adjustments are made to a player's rating only if/when the player has a sustained record of “non-competitive” matches with similarly rated players. |
| US07813819B2 |
Control system for control subject having combustion unit and control system for plant having boiler
A control system includes a basic control command operating unit, a fuel data storage unit, a running results database for storing past running results values of a control subject, a data creating unit configured to calculate a distance between data of the past running results values and the data sets and determining data set in which a distance between data becomes minimum, a modeling unit configured to model a relationship between operation parameters of a combustion apparatus and components in combustion gas of the combustion apparatus by using the data set determined by the data creating unit and a correcting unit for calculating combustion apparatus operation parameters with which components having a better condition than that of the components in a current gas are provided by using a model of the modeling unit and correcting operation command values of the basic control command operating unit by calculated operation parameters. |
| US07813814B2 |
Control systems and methods for virtual power plants
Systems and methods for the control of distributed systems are presented, particularly virtual power plants. Control software therefore communicates through an interface with decentralized devices. Modules are provided to formulate strategies based on predicted demand for the system, for controlling individual system devices, for system evaluation, for accounting purposes and to provide a user interface. |
| US07813808B1 |
Implanted sensor system with optimized operational and sensing parameters
A medical system includes an implantable sensor; and a medical device having a communication link with the sensor. The medical device further including a controller, wherein operating parameters for controlling sampling of a physiological characteristic or other parameter by the implantable sensor are calculated by the controller and communicated to the sensor dynamically. |
| US07813807B2 |
Systems and methods for treatment of retinopathy and other eye diseases
An oxygen-producing device for aiding in treatment of diseases and conditions of the human eye has a power supply with an electrical output, and at least one pair of electrodes, one electrode of the pair coupled to the electrically positive output and the other coupled to the electrically negative output. The device is characterized in that the device is sized to occupy no more than one fortieth of the volume of an average human eye, and the power supply is enabled to provide a DC voltage of at least 1.2 volts over a period of time. |
| US07813805B1 |
Subcardiac threshold vagal nerve stimulation
In one embodiment, an implantable stimulation apparatus includes a vagal nerve stimulator configured to generate electrical pulses below a cardiac threshold of a heart, and an electrode coupled to the vagal nerve stimulator which is configured to transmit the electrical pulses below the cardiac threshold, to a vagal nerve so as to inhibit injury resulting from an ischemia and/or reduce injury resulting from an ischemia. In another embodiment, an implantable stimulation apparatus includes a vagal nerve stimulator configured to generate electrical pulses below a cardiac threshold, and includes an electrode, which is coupled to the vagal nerve stimulator and configured transmit electrical pulses to a vagal nerve so as to reduce a defibrillation threshold of the heart. |
| US07813802B2 |
Responsive electrical stimulation for movement disorders
An implantable neurostimulator system for treating movement disorders includes a sensor, a detection subsystem capable of identifying episodes of a movement disorder by analyzing a signal received from the sensor, and a therapy subsystem capable of applying therapeutic electrical stimulation to treat the movement disorder. The system treats movement disorders by detecting physiological conditions characteristic of an episode of symptoms of the movement disorder and selectively initiating therapy when such conditions are detected. |
| US07813798B2 |
Systems and methods for preventing, detecting, and terminating pacemaker mediated tachycardia in biventricular implantable cardiac stimulation systems
Various techniques are described for preventing pacemaker mediated tachycardia (PMT) within biventricular pacing systems and for detecting and terminating PMT should it nevertheless arise. In a first prevention technique, refractory periods applied to the atrial channel are synchronized to begin with a second of a pair of ventricular pacing pulses to more effectively prevent T-wave oversensing on the atrial channel. In a second prevention technique, the sensitivity of the atrial channel is reduced during T-waves also to prevent T-wave oversensing. In a third prevention technique, template matching is performed on the ventricular channels to prevent T-wave oversensing. In a fourth prevention technique, T-wave detection windows are applied to both the ventricular and atrial channels subsequent to any paced or sensed events. |
| US07813797B2 |
Cardioverter-defibrillator having a focused shocking area and orientation thereof
One embodiment of the present invention provides an implantable cardioverter defibrillator for subcutaneous positioning between the third rib and the twelfth rib within a patient, the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator including a housing; an electrical circuit located within the housing; a first electrode coupled to the electrical circuit and located on the housing; and a second electrode coupled to the electrical circuit. |
| US07813796B2 |
Biocompatible bonding method and electronics package suitable for implantation
The invention is directed to a method of bonding a hermetically sealed electronics package to an electrode or a flexible circuit and the resulting electronics package, that is suitable for implantation in living tissue, such as for a retinal or cortical electrode array to enable restoration of sight to certain non-sighted individuals. The hermetically sealed electronics package is directly bonded to the flex circuit or electrode by electroplating a biocompatible material, such as platinum or gold, effectively forming a plated rivet-shaped connection, which bonds the flex circuit to the electronics package. The resulting electronic device is biocompatible and is suitable for long-term implantation in living tissue. |
| US07813794B2 |
Body fat measuring apparatus capable of measuring visceral fat with high accuracy
In a body fat measuring apparatus, a constant electric-current is flowed between hand electric-current electrodes and leg electric-current electrodes. From two detected voltages generated between an annular-shaped voltage electrode placed on an abdominal portion and two voltage electrodes placed at the both sides of a lumbar portion, two abdominal impedances are determined. Two electric-current electrodes and two voltage electrodes are placed such that they are spaced apart by a small interval from one another at an umbilicus portion. A constant electric current is flowed between the two electric-current electrodes and the impedance in the vicinity of the subcutaneous of the abdominal portion is determined from the detected voltage generated between the two voltage electrodes. From the two abdominal impedances, the impedance in the vicinity of the subcutaneous of the abdominal portion, and the input physique information, a viscera impedance is calculated. |
| US07813793B2 |
Seizure sensing and detection using an implantable device
A system and method for detecting and predicting neurological events with an implantable device uses a relatively low-power central processing unit in connection with signal processing circuitry to identify features (including half waves) and calculate window-based characteristics (including line lengths and areas under the curve of the waveform) in an electrographic signal received from a patient's brain. The features and window-based characteristics are combinable in various ways according to the invention to detect and predict neurological events in real time, enabling responsive action by the implantable device. |
| US07813792B2 |
Method and apparatus for analyzing and editing ECG morphology and time series
A method and apparatus for analyzing the QT interval characteristics of ECG signal data having a succession of waveforms produced by the beating of the heart. ECG signal data is obtained from a patient. The R-R interval and the QT intervals of the waveforms of the ECG signal data are determined. Waveforms of the ECG signal data having a stable heart rate are selected for use in determining the QT interval characteristics. Preferably, the waveforms selected are those having minimum R-R interval standard deviation and minimum R-R interval dispersion. The QT correction (QTc) is computed from the ECG signal data waveforms selected in the foregoing manner or on the basis of clinician editing. The R-R intervals, the QT intervals, and QTc for the heart beats of the selected waveforms are displayed for analysis and diagnosis purposes. The invention can also be used, in an analogous manner, to obtain and display other cardiac data from the ECG waveforms. |
| US07813789B2 |
In-vivo imaging device, optical system and method
An in-vivo device may include an optical system, and a method for viewing in-vivo sites. A dome or cover may cover an end of the device, protecting optical elements such as illumination devices or imagers, which may be behind the dome. The dome may be forward projecting and may have a convex shape. The field of view of the imager may be for example forward looking. Illumination element(s) and a receiving unit or imager may be disposed behind a single optical window, which for example may enable obtaining of images free of backscatter and stray light. The convex shape of the dome may be defined such that it may have a shape having an isolated area. At least one illumination element and at least one receiving unit may be geometrically positioned (for example in the isolated area) such that rays from the illumination elements, some of which are internally reflected from the internal and/or external surface of the optical window, will not be incident on the receiving unit. |
| US07813787B2 |
Dental implement and method for tooth surface inspection
Described are dental implements useful for inspecting tooth surfaces for abnormalities such as caries or plaque. Preferred implements of the invention include light emitting diodes mounted on an implement body having a mirror for insertion into a user's mouth. Such implements also have on-board batteries mounted in chambers in the implement handle, and a switch for energizing and de-energizing the LED with the battery. Also described are methods for examining tooth surfaces for abnormal conditions indicative of plaque involving illuminating surfaces with radiation at a wavelength in the range of 390-450 nm wherein the radiation is effective to cause detectable fluorescence emissions from bacterial metabolites known to be associated with plaque-containing surfaces, and detecting the emissions. |
| US07813783B2 |
Methods and systems for attenuation correction in medical imaging
Methods and systems for imaging a patient are provided. The method includes scanning a patient and acquiring a plurality of frames of cine computed tomography (CT) images during one complete respiratory cycle. In one embodiment, a method is provided that includes selecting an organ of interest in the cine CT data and selecting a value for each pixel in the organ of interest that represents the maximum density measurement. An attenuation corrected positron emission tomography (PET) image is constructed based on the maximization of the pixel intensity of the organ of interest in the CT attenuation correction map. Incorrect attenuation correction values for PET images can be avoided by utilizing the CT attenuation correction map. |
| US07813781B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining ischaemia
A method and apparatus for determining information concerning ischaemia using a pH sensor. Embodiments of the invention can be used to determine ischaemia caused by a number of factors, including acute compartment syndrome and vascular disorders, e.g. scepticaemia. |
| US07813779B2 |
Hat-based oximeter sensor
A method for use and an improved oximeter sensor substrate that is conforming to the shape of the patient's forehead. In one embodiment, the present invention is an oximeter sensor, having a substrate with a shape similar to a shape of at least a portion of a patient's forehead and including a section adapted to substantially fit over a portion of a forehead of a patient; an emitter disposed on the substrate at a position located on the section; and a detector disposed on the substrate at a distance from the emitter. In one embodiment, the substrate includes a hat that holds the emitter and the detector in a spaced-part manner against the patient's forehead. |
| US07813773B2 |
Electronic key apparatus for vehicle
An electronic key apparatus for vehicle includes a vehicle mounted device, and a portable device. The vehicle mounted device operates a controller upon authenticating an ID code of the portable device by communication with the portable device, and includes a first sending/receiving unit, a first memory that stores ID codes to authenticate portable devices, a first CPU that sends a request signal to the portable device, and receives and decodes whether an answer signal matches the ID code, and a driving unit that outputs a control signal. The portable devices includes a second sending/receiving unit, a second memory that stores a unique ID code, and a second CPU that encrypts the unique ID code and sends an answer signal. The vehicle mounted device includes a disablement unit that temporarily suspends use of an ID code, and does not communicate with the portable device with the suspended ID code. |
| US07813770B2 |
Speaker module design
A speaker module and a mobile device having the speaker module are provided herein. The speaker module includes a speaker unit and a speaker box. The speaker box has a wall defining an aperture receiving the speaker unit therein. The speaker box has a first speaker chamber, a second speaker chamber and a connecting section connecting the first speaker chamber and the second speaker chamber. The cross-sectional height of the space of the connecting section is lower than that of the first speaker chamber or the second speaker chamber. In other option, the space of the connecting section is smaller than that of the first speaker chamber or the second speaker chamber. |
| US07813762B2 |
Wireless communications adapter for a hearing assistance device
A wireless communications adapter adapted for connection to a direct audio input of a hearing assistance device, the wireless communications adapter adapted for radio frequency communications with a remote device. Varying embodiments enable communication using a protocol compatible with a BLUETOOTH standard to reach a hearing assistance device through a direct audio input. Some examples of the wireless communication adapter offer microphone options to receive audio information and transmit it with far field communications. |
| US07813759B2 |
Method and system for inlining services within a network access device
An apparatus for providing network access and application session services includes a wireless network access device for receiving packet data streams from or transmitting packet data streams to one or more subscribers, and for conveying the packet data streams to or from a network or other subscribers. The wireless network access device includes profile information relating to the one or more subscribers. The apparatus further includes one or more application session services that are provided as a component of the wireless network access device. The wireless network access device selects, based on the profile information, zero or more of the application session services to process the packet data streams. The wireless network access device can also determine an application state associated with the packet data streams, and can modify actions of at least one of the application session services according to the application state. |
| US07813756B2 |
Mobile communication system, user equipment in mobile communication system, control program thereof, and transmission power control method in mobile communication system
In a W-CDMA wireless system, when communication is performed by using a StandAlone-DCCH, adequate transmission power control is performed depending on change in a communication status. In a W-CDMA wireless system 1, a reception quality of a common channel is measured, and if a StandAlone-DCCH state has occurred, transmission power control corresponding to the common channel is performed in which a target SIR is determined depending on the reception quality of the common channel. Therefore, even in the StandAlone-DCCH state in which Blind transport format detection is used, it is possible to set the target SIR in accordance with a reception status of a user equipment 20, enabling the adequate transmission power control depending on the change in the communication status. |
| US07813753B2 |
Power control in communication systems
Systems and methods for estimating transmit power in a communication system are disclosed. An estimate of a reverse channel condition is based on a received signal from an access point. A correction factor is determined based on at least one of the number of access points detected, a Rise-over-Thermal (RoT) at the access point, a message error rate, and a message size. Then the correction factor is applied to the transmit power determination. |
| US07813751B2 |
Transmission power control system and method capable of saving battery consumption of mobile station and preventing connection capacity from being reduced
A transmission power control system comprises a communication state monitor circuit and a transmission power control bit adjusting circuit connected to the communication state monitor circuit. The communication state monitor circuit detects quality deterioration of a communication state of radio communication between a base station and mobile stations. The transmission power control bit adjusting circuit adjusts the transmission power control bit signals so as to suppress increase of transmission power of the mobile stations when the quality deterioration detector detects the quality deterioration. |
| US07813750B2 |
Emergency radio communications system incorporating integral public safety radio bridging capability
A communication system and method is provided for handling emergency situations wherein complex public safety radio systems can be used to directly communicate with normally incompatible radio systems used by organizations such as schools, hospital, and other facilities. The system includes a radio communication bridge that is selectively activated by emergency personnel to contact selected organizations. The bridge is activated via a TCP/IP command sent from an organization having activation privileges to the selected communication endpoints. Computer software or firmware installed at various communication endpoints, emergency responder locations, and at an emergency call center is used to facilitate functionality of the system to include emergency notifications, dissemination of information associated with a particular emergency, and the status of the system to include activation and deactivation of the radio bridge. |
| US07813745B2 |
Method for implementing a push service
This invention provides a method for implementing a Push service, which is used to solve the problems of low delivery success rate and relatively long time delay. The method includes the following steps: a Push Initiator (PI) submitting a Push message to a Push Proxy Gateway (PPG); the PPG sending the Push message to a Short Message Service Center (SMSC); the SMSC segmenting the Push message according to the Push content to obtain a group of short messages, and scheduling the group of short messages in a transaction mode and delivering them to a mobile station; after receiving the group of the short messages, the mobile station recombining them to show the Push message. This invention can improve the delivery success rate of a Push message. |
| US07813738B2 |
WLAN operating on multiple adjacent bands
A method for communication includes deploying a plurality of access points, which have respective coverage areas and are configured to operate on a common frequency channel, in a service region of a wireless local area network (WLAN), so that the coverage areas of the access points overlap. A first access point is selected to transmit downlink signals to a station in the service region of the WLAN at a certain downlink data rate. The station is instructed to transmit uplink signals at an uplink data rate that is less than the downlink data rate, so that the uplink signals can be received and decoded by both the first and second access points. |
| US07813733B2 |
Forced roaming to avoid interference
In a wireless network in which a client has access to multiple Access Points the client usually attaches to one of the Access Points (AP) and stays attached even though signal transmission is impaired, whereas transmission would not be impaired if the client attaches to another one of the multiple APs. Apparatus and method are described to detect interference noise level and force the client to roam and attach to another AP if interference noise level impairs signal transmission. |
| US07813731B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling packet service in mobile communication terminal
Provided are an apparatus and method for a packet network register in a mobile communication terminal. The method includes demodulating an incoming broadcasting message; determining a packet network resource state according to specific information contained in the demodulated broadcasting message; determining whether a packet network register is required according to a predetermined attach mode; when the packet network register is required, determining whether a packet network resource is deficient according to a state value; and when the packet network resource is sufficient, performing the packet network register. |
| US07813729B2 |
System and method for associating a wireless mobile communications device with a specific vehicle
A communications system may include a first transceiver and a second transceiver both mountable to a vehicle. The first transceiver may include a range substantially limited to a close proximity of the vehicle. The communications system may also include a mobile communications device. The mobile communications device may be adapted to receive a signal from the first transceiver when within the range of the first transceiver. The signal may include information useable by the mobile communications device for configuration of the mobile communications device for two-way communications with the second transceiver. |
| US07813727B2 |
Portable radio receiver with an identification module
The portable radio receiver (4) with which programs of a central radio sender (1) can be received comprises an identification module (40) in which user-specific data are stored as well as a contactless interface (41) over which a radio connection can be established with external devices at close range in order to send said user-specific data to these external devices.Application: for example as identification module for public transportation. |
| US07813724B2 |
System and method for multimedia-to-video conversion to enhance real-time mobile video services
A communication system converting multimedia data of enhanced services into video stream for transmission to a user's handset communication device. The system includes a database storing therein users profile data; a mailbox system storing therein users mailboxes and capable of storing messages in audio and video formats; an application server managing data storage and retrieval from the database and storage; a multimedia to video converter, receiving multimedia data and converting it into a video streams corresponding to a pre-selected template; an access server providing the multimedia data to the multimedia to video converter and receiving therefrom the video stream, and transmitting the video stream onto a telecommunication network. |
| US07813723B2 |
Method and system for connecting a voice call using a domain name database
A method for connecting a telephone call includes receiving, at a server, from a communication terminal, a first message including at least one word corresponding to a name of an individual or an organization, wherein the first message is transmitted using an Internet-compatible protocol; searching for the at least one word in a server database; at the server, comparing the at least one word with domain names stored in the database and, if domain names are found such that at least a part of the domain name matches the word, transmitting to the communication terminal a list of domain names, each domain name including an identifier of an Internet resource; receiving, at the server, a second message containing the domain name selected by the user from the list; identifying a phone number associated with the selected domain name; at the server, transmitting the phone number to the communication terminal; and connecting the communication terminal to the phone number via the communications network. |
| US07813721B2 |
Mobile terminal, system and method for controlling access to an enhanced services system
A mobile terminal having restricted access to an enhanced services system includes a transceiver which transmits and receives wireless signals, a memory which stores a first preferred roaming list (PRL) listing a basic communication system and an enhanced services system, and a second PRL listing the basic communication system but not the enhanced services system, and a controller which restricts access of the mobile terminal to the enhanced services system by deactivating the first PRL and activating the second PRL in response to receipt of an authentication failure report from the enhanced services system. A system for restricting access to an enhanced services system includes an enhanced services system which provides enhanced services to authorized users and prevents unauthorized users from communicating with the enhanced services system. |
| US07813717B2 |
Authentication of mobile stations
A method and system for authenticating a mobile station, such as a dual mode cellular telephone, for access to a wireless local area network is disclosed. The mobile station can be authenticated by registering, and thus pre-authenticating, it with the wireless area network. Registration can comprise providing identifying information regarding the mobile station to the local area network. Access to the local area network facilitates the use of the local area network for communications by the mobile station, such as using VoIP over the Internet. |
| US07813715B2 |
Automated pairing of wireless accessories with host devices
Techniques that facilitate pairing of wireless accessory devices with wireless host devices are disclosed. Advantageously, the improved techniques permit pairing of wireless devices without requiring user entry of pin codes. In one embodiment, a wireless accessory device, such as a headset or earphone, can be paired with a wireless host device, such as a mobile phone or media player. |
| US07813711B1 |
Stacking baseband circuits using deep n-well and increased supply voltage
A method of designing stacked circuits for an integrated circuit is described. In this method, a plurality of devices that are stackable may be determined. Some of those devices, i.e. a subset of stackable devices, may be formed in a deep n-well, thereby allowing that subset of stackable devices to receive an increased supply voltage. The remainder of the stackable devices may be formed in a standard n-well, thereby allowing such devices to receive a standard supply voltage. In one embodiment, the standard supply voltage may be VDD and the increased supply voltage may be 2×VDD. This method may be advantageously used in both the design of stacked circuits for and the implementation of stacked circuits in an integrated circuit. |
| US07813710B2 |
Receiving circuit
The present invention is a receiving circuit used for a cellular phone that is reduced in size and can realize low power consumption. In a signal reception circuit that is used in a cellular phone that perform transmission and reception of a plurality of band wireless signals and includes a low-pass filter for removing blockers unnecessary for signal reception, the low-pass filter 104 is composed of a plurality of filters composed of a plurality of different circuit configurations and having a plurality of different pole positions, switching between a filter for blocker removal and a filter configuration with reduced sensitivity degradation is performed by combining a plurality of filters for each signal reception band, and by performing power-off of an unnecessary filter portion in the filter configuration, power consumption is reduced. By constituting a plurality of different filters using filters mutually complementing their characteristics, a redundant filter configuration can be avoided, so that the area thereof can be suppressed to necessity minimum, and cost can be reduced. |
| US07813709B2 |
MIMO antenna apparatus provided with variable impedance load element connected to parasitic element
A MIMO antenna apparatus includes a plurality of feeding antenna elements, a parasitic element electromagnetically coupled to each feeding antenna element, and a variable impedance load element connected to the parasitic element. A signal level comparator circuit detects received signal levels of received wireless signals and compares the received signal levels with each other, and thus detects the minimum received signal level. A controller controls an impedance value of the variable impedance load element based on the received signal levels detected by the signal level comparator circuit, such that the received signal level of the wireless signal having the minimum received signal level is substantially maximized. |
| US07813704B1 |
Method for regulating the transmitter power in a radio system and corresponding radio system
In a radio system, in particular a CDMA mobile radio system, a receiver evaluates a signal received from a transmitter and produces power control information for setting the transmission power as a function of this evaluation. In order to improve the transmission reliability of the power control information, it is coded, and is transmitted to the transmitter, together with further data from the said timeslot, for example with bits from the format identification information. |
| US07813703B2 |
Communication system, base station, and mobile station
A communication system includes mobile stations carrying out transmission at report cycles selected from a group consisting of 0, 1 and other integers without having a relation of a multiple and including a lot of prime numbers. |
| US07813699B2 |
Transceiver redundancy in an electronic toll collection system
An electronic toll collection system wherein the reader includes a switching network and a plurality of transceivers operating under the control of a controller. The reader further includes failure detection circuitry for determining whether any of the transceivers have failed based upon the RF outputs of the transceivers. If the controller determines that a transceiver has failed, then it alters the switching pattern such that the switching network excludes the failed transceiver from being connected to the antennas. The reader thereby provides for adaptive RF channel assignment, as the particular transceiver used to excite a particular antenna may be dynamically altered, and the provision of at least two transceivers in the reader ensures transceiver redundancy. |
| US07813698B2 |
Modular wireless multimedia device
A modular wireless headset includes wearable earpiece(s) and wearable microphone(s), where the earpiece and microphone may be physically separate devices. The wearable earpiece renders inbound radio frequencies received from a host device audible. The wearable earpiece may include a receiver module, data recovery module, and speaker module. The receiver module may convert inbound RF signals into low intermediate frequency (IF) signals. The data recovery module recovers audio signals from the low IF signals. The speaker module renders the audio signals audible. The wearable microphone converts received audio signals into outbound RF signals, where the outbound RF signals are transmitted to the host device. The wearable microphone includes an audio input module and a transmitter module. The audio input module is operably coupled to convert received analog audio signals into digital audio signals. The transmitter module is operably coupled to convert the digital audio signals into the outbound RF signals. |
| US07813697B2 |
Power efficient high speed communication systems and methods
Systems and methods for utilizing multiple wireless communication protocols are provided. In one embodiment, the portable device includes circuitry for providing wireless communications utilizing a low power, relatively slow communications protocol, such as Bluetooth, to establish a communications path between two wireless devices. When high speed communications are preferred, the two devices can agree to switch to a different, high speed protocol, such as Wi-Fi, for communications. In this manner, power loss is minimized while one of the devices is seeking another communications node. In another embodiment, the high speed communications are performed utilizing a private network established between the two devices in which a non-standard protocol is utilized. That protocol could be, for example, a minimized subset of 802.11 instructions. |
| US07813695B2 |
Mobile assisted relay selection in a telecommunications system
A mobile station is operated in a telecommunications system that includes a base station and one or more relay stations. The mobile station communicates directly with the base station via a first channel. To facilitate selection of a suitable relay station, the mobile station broadcasts a burst for receipt by a plurality of relay stations. Relay stations each measure a quality of the received burst and communicate this information to the base station, which uses the information to select a most suitable one of the relay stations for use in carrying on indirect communications between the base station and the mobile station. |
| US07813691B2 |
Component mounting structure
A component mounting structure mounting a press component with the press component in a condition of elastic pressing against a pressed article, and comprising an intermediate fixing member mounted on a fixing frame supporting the pressed article and capable of position adjustment in a direction of pressing of the press component against the pressed article; a fixing connection part, supporting the press component, mounted on the intermediate fixing member, and capable of position adjustment in the same direction as the direction of pressing; a setting part setting a distance of separation between the fixing connection part and the pressed article within a prescribed range; a first fixing mechanism fixing a position of the intermediate fixing member with respect to the fixing frame; and a second fixing mechanism fixing a position of the fixing connection part with respect to the intermediate fixing member. |
| US07813688B2 |
Fusing roller with an elastic layer of low hardness and method of manufacturing the same, fusing unit employing the fusing roller, and image forming apparatus employing the fusing unit
A fusing roller which is heated by a heat source, includes: a core member; a first primer which is formed on a circumference of the core member; an elastic layer which is formed on a circumference of the first primer, and adhered on the circumference of the core member by the first primer; and a basic coating layer which is disposed between the core member and the first primer, and chemically combined with the first primer. |
| US07813687B2 |
Sheet transport apparatus and fixing apparatus
A sheet transport technique of clamping and transporting a sheet by a roller and a belt abutted against the roller, the technique capable of suppressing shift of the belt in the rotation axis direction of the roller without hindering downsizing of the apparatus is provided. A sheet transport apparatus is made up of a roller 101 being formed with a tubular cavity having a predetermined length in a rotation direction and covered with an elastic body on the outer periphery in the rotation radius direction of the cavity and a belt unit 102 for abutting a belt 102c of a width narrower than the width of the cavity in the rotation axis direction of the roller 101 against the roller face of the roller 101 so that it is positioned inside the range in which the cavity is formed in the rotation axis direction of the roller 101, and sandwiching a sheet 7 between the belt 102c and the roller 101 and transporting the sheet. |
| US07813686B2 |
Toner image fixing device and image forming apparatus
A roller member includes a cylindrical core bar. The roller member is rotatably supported at both ends, and forms a nip, to which a recording medium is conveyed, by making a contact with another member. The core bar satisfies 1.0≦ΔD/D1×100≦3.0, where D1 is an outer diameter of the core bar in millimeters and ΔD is an outer diameter deformation value of a convey direction in millimeters. |
| US07813684B2 |
Transferring and fixing apparatus and image forming apparatus including the same
A transferring and fixing apparatus includes a transferring and fixing member and a pressure member in close and pressing contact with each other, forming a transferring and fixing region therebetween. A fused toner image held and heated by the transferring and fixing member is transferred and fixed into in the transferring and fixing region onto a recording paper fed to the transferring and fixing region, an end portion of the transferring and fixing region where the recording paper is fed is set to have a highest pressure in the transferring and fixing region. With this arrangement the present invention prevents micro offset phenomenon in a transferring and fixing process of toner into a recording paper in a simultaneous transferring and fixing mode, thereby achieving high picture quality. |
| US07813683B2 |
Belt detaching device and image forming apparatus including belt detaching device
A belt member faces a plurality of carrying bodies that respectively carry toner images or developers. A plurality of facing members respectively faces the carrying bodies via the belt member. A detaching unit brings at least one of the facing members to face a corresponding carrying body and detaches other facing members from other carrying bodies. A contacting member contacts the belt member to detach the belt member from the other carrying bodies when the detaching unit detaches the other facing members from the other carrying bodies. |
| US07813679B2 |
Toner cartridge and image forming apparatus for mounting the same
A toner cartridge in a bottle shape for storing toner is composed of a first cylindrical portion having a blocked bottom wall at one end and an opening at the other end and a second cylindrical portion in which one end thereof is connected to the opening, and an opening for ejecting toner is formed at the other end, and the outside diameter thereof is smaller than the first cylindrical portion. |
| US07813672B2 |
Image forming apparatus and developer cartridge
An elastic member for urging a developer carrier in the direction of an image carrier is located in a casing of a developer cartridge. Since the elastic member will be new whenever the developer cartridge is replaced, an urging force of the elastic member will not deteriorate over time. Thus, a proper pressing state of the developer carrier on the image carrier is maintained. Thus, the amount of toner supplied from the developer carrier to the image carrier is stable. Thereby, a picture of high quality can be formed continuously without poor development by poor pressure between the developer carrier and the image carrier. |
| US07813670B2 |
Developing cartridge, process cartridge, and electrophotographic image forming apparatus
A developing cartridge detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus main body having main body side guide portions and a cartridge mounting portion, including: a developer containing portion; a developing roller for developing a latent image formed on a photosensitive member with developer; first cartridge side guide portions provided at one end and the other end in a longitudinal direction of the roller, for engaging with the main body side guide portions to regulate a movement locus of the cartridge when the cartridge is mounted to the main body; and protruding portions provided at one end and the other end in the longitudinal direction, wherein the cartridge is mounted to the main body in a mounting direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction with the roller being a leading edge, and the protruding portions protrude on a downstream side further than the roller in the mounting direction. |
| US07813666B2 |
Process unit, image formation apparatus, and developing cartridge
When a developing cartridge is accommodated in an accommodating section of a process unit casing, an electrode of the developing cartridge for inputting a bias to a developer carrier enters an engagement portion of the process unit casing to be engaged with and fixed to the engagement portion. A joint member joins the electrode to a developing cartridge casing so that the developing cartridge casing is movable relative to the process unit casing in a state in which the electrode is engaged with and fixed to the engagement portion. |
| US07813665B2 |
Image forming apparatus and fixing device
A fixing unit mounting section is formed to a main body frame. A fixing unit is mounted to the fixing unit mounting section by inserting the fixing unit into the main body along a predetermined inserting direction. An electric power supply section configured to supply electric power to the fixing unit is arranged at a near side of the fixing unit mounting section in the inserting direction. A connecting section configured to establish electric connection to the electric power supply section is formed at the near side of the fixing unit in the inserting direction. |
| US07813659B2 |
Image forming apparatus and method of controlling the same
This invention provides an image forming apparatus capable of more reliably detecting patches formed on a recording medium while suppressing an increase in the consumption of printing media and toners. In an image forming apparatus which detects the density or color of each patch of a patch array fixed on a recording medium that is conveyed and corrects an image formation condition based on the detection result, the patches are formed as the patch array so that the conveyance-direction length of each patch gradually increases in an order of detection by the patch detection unit, and the conveyance-direction length of each patch gradually increases according to increasing of a detection position variation amount of a patch in the order of detection by the patch detection unit. |
| US07813655B2 |
Signal waveform deterioration compensator
The waveform deterioration detection range is broadened and multi bit rates can be handled. A chromatic dispersion compensator (or polarization mode dispersion compensator) (102) receives a waveform-deteriorated NRZ optical signal entered through an input fiber (101) and compensates it. On the other hand, an optical detector (106) receives part of output light and a sampling circuit (A/D converter) (107) performs asynchronous sampling of received waveform intensity. A control circuit (110) calculates the nth even moment (n is 4 or more) from an obtained waveform amplitude histogram and performs control to minimize its value. |
| US07813653B2 |
Method and apparatus for reducing clipping in an optical transmitter by phase decorrelation
A method and apparatus is provided for reducing clipping arising in an optical transmitter. The method begins by generating a frequency multiplexed sub-carrier signal onto which information is modulated at a plurality of different sub-carrier frequencies. The method continues by decorrelating in phase at least some pulses that are formed when two or more of the different sub-carrier frequencies are in phase with one another. An optical output produced by a laser is modulated in accordance with the frequency multiplexed sub-carrier signal after at least some of the pulses have been decorrelated in phase. |
| US07813652B2 |
Optical pulse time spreading device
The present invention is an optical pulse time spreading device comprising a plurality of optical pulse time spreaders that output an input optical pulse as a series of chip pulses stream that are sequentially arranged time-spread on a time axis in accordance with optical phase code. Each of the optical pulse time spreaders comprises phase control means that supplies a phase difference between adjacent chip pulses. Identification parameters are introduced to realize channel discrimination by changing the phase difference conditions supplied between adjacent chip pulses for each of the phase control means. The phase control means have a structure in which an SSFBG is fixed to the core of the optical fiber, for example. The SSFBG has unit FBGs that are arranged in series in the waveguide direction of the core. The code values of the optical phase code established for the phase control means correspond each one-on-one with each of the unit FBGs. |
| US07813645B2 |
Infrared light emitting and receiving system
An infrared light emitting and receiving system (10) includes an infrared light emitting device (100), and an infrared light receiving device (200). The infrared light emitting device including a heat sink (102), at least a heat pipe (104), a metallic plate (106), and at least an infrared light source (108) in thermal connections with one other in that order. The infrared light receiving device receives infrared light beams (300) emitted from the infrared light emitting device, the infrared light receiving device comprising a lens barrel (202), at least one lens (204) received in the lens barrel, an infrared passband filter (220) formed on the at least one lens, a sensor housing (212) coupled to the lens barrel, and an image sensor (230) received in the sensor housing. |
| US07813643B2 |
Portable electronic apparatus having remote control module
An exemplary portable electronic apparatus having a remote control module is provided. The portable electronic apparatus includes a housing, a mobile communication module disposed in the housing, a remote control module disposed in the housing, and a radio frequency (RF) module electrically connected with the mobile communication module. The remote control module includes an infrared sensing module and a digital signal processing (DSP) module electrically connected with the infrared sensing module and the RF module. The RF module is configured for receiving external RF signals and transmitting information received from said mobile communication module and said DSP module with RF signals. The portable electronic apparatus can be used for infrared remote control and mobile communication. |
| US07813642B2 |
Optical transmission apparatus and method of controlling the same
The present invention relates to an optical transmission apparatus capable of suppressing a transitional gain variation when a number of signal wavelengths changes, and maintaining communication quality in optical signals. The optical transmission apparatus is provided with an optical power control device that varies light power of light for each wavelength component corresponding to a wavelength channel, the light including signal light and spontaneous emission light; a wavelength arrangement information obtaining unit that obtains arrangement information of the wavelength channel of the signal light; and a control unit that controls the power control device based on the arrangement information obtained at the wavelength arrangement information obtaining unit so that light power of a wavelength component of the signal light and light power of a wavelength component other than the wavelength component of the signal light become substantially equal. |
| US07813641B1 |
Fiber optic cable topology for fiber optic repeater distributed antenna system
A fiber optic cable topology for a fiber optic repeater distributed antenna system network and a method of configuring the network using the topology is disclosed. The topology includes a first base transceiver station hub, a second base transceiver station hub, and a fiber optic backbone coupled between the first base transceiver station hub and the second base transceiver station hub, where the fiber optic backbone includes a plurality of optical fibers. A distributed antenna system repeater node is coupled to the first base transceiver station hub and the second base transceiver station hub. An optical fiber of the plurality of optical fibers in the fiber optic backbone includes a first portion and a second portion, where the first portion extends between the first base transceiver station hub and the DAS repeater node and the second portion extends between the second base transceiver station hub and the DAS repeater node. |
| US07813640B2 |
Optical connection switching apparatus and management control unit thereof
An optical connection switching according to the present invention comprises an optical connection switching facility capable of making a connection between any one of optical input ports and any one of optical output ports, one or more optical transmitting/receiving units connected to a portion of the optical input/output ports, and management control units for controlling the optical connection switching facility to make a connection between the optical input/output port connected to the optical transmitting/receiving unit and the optical input/output port connected to equipment for acquiring and managing information on the equipment by making a communication with the equipment through the use of the optical transmitting/receiving unit. This enables acquiring the information on the equipment having an optical communication interface to be optically connected, thereby automating the connection management of the equipment. |
| US07813639B2 |
Camera cover
It is an object of the present invention to mount a focusing mechanism of a camera device on a vehicle without bringing the mechanism in contact with a worker's hands in an in-focus state of a lens system in the camera device having an eyelid part for preventing stray light covering part of a lens, and to improve the beauty and increase mounting flexibility. In a camera cover according to the present invention, a cylinder body (21) of the camera cover (10) covers most including the first half portion of the volume of the camera device, and the cylinder body (21), a frame body (23), an eyelid part (25) and/or an eyelid part (26), and a housing part (27) are integrally molded. Beauty seen from the front can be improved, and the beauty will not be spoiled when the camera device (12) is displaced together with the camera cover (10) and mounted. |
| US07813636B2 |
Imaging apparatus, camera system, and controlling method therefor
A camera system that enables to stabilize, when photographing by using a flash apparatus in a live view state, the time lag between pressing the release button and starting the imaging operation thereafter, and also enables to execute the photographing with the short time lag. Photometry is performed in first pre-light emission executed before main light emission of a flash apparatus. Photometry is performed in second pre-light emission executed between the first pre-light emission and the main light emission. shooting condition for the camera system in the second pre-light emission is set based on a photometric value in the first pre-light emission so that an output of the second photometry unit is within a predetermined range. An amount of the main light emission of the flash apparatus is determined based on the photometric value in the second pre-light emission. |
| US07813633B2 |
Imaging device and imaging method
An imaging device includes an autofocusing section, which moves at least a part of an imaging lens as a focusing lens, and focuses the imaging device on a subject, a photographing distance range setting section, which sets a predetermined distance range including a subject distance to the subject obtained by the autofocusing section as a photographing distance range for photographing, a continuous shooting section, which continuously photographs at a plurality of focused positions in the photographing distance range while moving and stopping the focusing lens according to input of a photographing instruction, and a display section, which displays an image of the subject focused by the autofocusing section and the photographing distance range set by the photographing distance range setting section. |
| US07813631B2 |
Image-taking apparatus
In an image-taking apparatus, a main CPU reads a sensitivity level that has been set, thereby determining whether a subject distance measured in AF processing is longer as compared to a threshold. The threshold is variable such that the higher the sensitivity level is the longer the threshold is. When the main CPU determines that the subject distance is longer as compared to the threshold, a metering/distance-measuring CPU causes a first light emitter having a xenon tube to emit light in response to an instruction from the main CPU. When the main CPU determines that the subject distance is shorter as compared to the threshold, the metering/distance-measuring CPU causes a second light emitter having an LED to emit light in response to an instruction from the main CPU. |
| US07813630B2 |
Image capturing device with a voice command controlling function and method thereof
An image capturing device with a voice command controlling function is provided. The image capturing device includes a voice command input unit and a voice command controlling chip. The voice command input unit receives standard voice commands and common voice commands. The voice command controlling chip determines if a common voice command satisfies a predetermined voice command identification standard, by comparing characteristics of the common voice command with characteristics of each of the standard voice commands. If the common voice command satisfies the predetermined voice command identification standard, the voice command controlling chip generates a controlling command according to the common voice command and drives an image capturing unit to perform a corresponding operation according to the command. A related method is also provided. |
| US07813624B2 |
Apparatus for and method of recording digital audio/video signals
A recording apparatus for recording digital audio/video signals on a removable rewritable disc like recording medium has been proposed. The apparatus comprises writing means (21, 22, 25) for recording the digital information signals and control means (20) for controlling the recording. The apparatus is capable of performing initialization, formatting and defect management of a rewritable medium. Further, the apparatus is capable of storing data in replacement areas instead of defect areas, which have been determined to be defective according to rules of the defect management. The control means (20) are adapted to re-record data from the replacement areas in the defect areas in order to improve playability of digital audio/video signals stored on the medium. |
| US07813623B2 |
Method and apparatus for creating still picture management data on a rewritable storage media
A process and system for creating and recording still picture management data in a rewritable storage media making it possible to reduce the amount of navigation information and index information necessary by grouping a plurality of still pictures according to their attributes, thus sharing navigation information and recording index information of still pictures with common attributes linked by the shared navigation information. In the method of the present invention, instead of creating navigation information and index information of each still picture, a plurality of still pictures share navigation information according to their attributes or those of audio signals linked to the still pictures and index information of the still pictures are recorded based on the shared navigation information, thereby effectively reducing the amount of navigation information and index information required for reproduction of still pictures recorded on a rewritable storage media. |
| US07813621B2 |
Synchronized streaming layer with presentation layer
A “tag” is attached to streaming video data as it is streamed from the streaming layer to the presentation engine. Each frame containing a button or other user feature also has a “tag” associated with it. When the presentation engine processes a packet of data, it updates a state variable with the tag associated with the packet of data. The streaming layer can query this state variable at any point to get the tag associated with the currently rendered unit. When the user clicks on a button or feature, the streaming layer, rather than utilizing an associated operation in the data being streamed, instead uses the tag associated with the frame being displayed and then takes the appropriate action. The invention may also be used to provide frame-accurate editing features to allow streaming video data to be indexed or reversed to a frame-accurate level. |
| US07813618B2 |
Editing of recorded media
Various embodiments provide a system and method for editing of recorded media. Briefly described, one embodiment is a method comprising method comprising receiving an image signal captured by an image capture device, the image signal comprising a plurality of saliency values and a plurality of images, each of the images associated with one of the saliency values and the saliency values corresponding to at least one characteristic of the captured images; receiving specification of an overall duration of a program; and generating an editing signal indicative of the specified overall duration of the program and to the plurality of saliency values such that the generated editing signal corresponds to a plurality of portions of the image program having saliency values at least equal to a threshold, the corresponding portions being determined so that the total duration of the program corresponds to the specified overall duration of the program when durations of the indicative portions are summed together. |
| US07813617B2 |
Data recording/reproducing apparatus and method
A data recording/reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a temporary storage unit for storing a data stream including a plurality of data units, which is divided into M (M is a natural number) segments that stores the plurality of data units; a control unit for detecting that K (K is a natural number) data units related to the order of reproducing or recording data of a first data unit, after the first data unit included in the data stream is stored in the temporary storage unit, and setting relational information for the K data units in the first data unit; and a recording/reproducing unit that receives a data stream including the set first data unit from the temporary storage unit on a segment basis, and references the received data stream to generate recording data to record the data on a recording medium, and/or reads the recorded data from the recording medium to reproduce the read data. |
| US07813616B2 |
Semiconductor device with dummy electrode
A semiconductor device includes a gate electrode having a straight portion, a dummy electrode located at a point on the extension of the straight portion, a stopper insulating film, a sidewall insulating film, an interlayer insulating film, and a linear contact portion extending, when viewed from above, parallel to the straight portion. The longer side of the rectangle defined by the linear contact portion is, when viewed from above, located beyond the sidewall insulating film and within the top region of the gate electrode and the dummy electrode. A gap G between the gate electrode and the dummy electrode appearing, when viewed from above, in the linear contact portion is filled with the sidewall insulating film such that the semiconductor substrate is not exposed. |
| US07813613B2 |
Optical connections and methods of forming optical connections
In one embodiment, method of forming fibers is provided. The method includes modifying a first exposed edge of at least one core of a first fiber. The first fiber has a first end, a second end, and a length between the first end and the second end. The second end has the first exposed edge of the core, and the first exposed edge has a first diffusion state. The first fiber may transmit light along the core. The modification of the first exposed edge includes modifying the first diffusion state of the first exposed edge of the core to a second diffusion state such that light exiting the first exposed edge in the second diffusion state is spread over a greater number of angles relative to angles of the light exiting the first exposed edge in the first diffusion state. |
| US07813611B2 |
Aluminum doped optical fiber
According to one example of the invention an optical fiber comprises: (i) a core comprising of Al doped silica having a first index of refraction n1; (ii) at least one silica based cladding surrounding the core and having a second index of refraction n2, such that n1>n2; (iii) a hermetic carbon based coating surrounding said cladding, said hermetic coating being 300 nm-1000 nm thick; and (iv) a second coating surrounding said hermetic coating, said second coating being 5 μm to 80 μm thick. |
| US07813610B2 |
Plastic optical medium and production method thereof
A first polymerizable composition is poured into a pipe (30), then is polymerized to be a first layer (13). Next, a second polymerizable composition is poured into the pipe (30) and polymerized to be a second layer (14). These pouring and polymerizing processes are repeated to form an optical medium (10) including n-layers of polymer. Each layer is formed by polymerizing the polymerizable composition comprising same kinds of plural polymerizable contents as those in other polymerizable compositions for other layers. The layer at the inner side is formed from the polymerizable composition including larger ratio of a polymerizable content which has higher refractive index than that of at least another polymerizable content in the same polymerizable composition, compared with the polymerizable composition for forming the adjacent layer at the outer side. A difference of refractive indices between adjacent two polymer layers is at least 5×10−5 but less than 5×10−3. |
| US07813608B2 |
Optical fiber fabrication
The invention relates to a bundle of optical fibers and a process for its preparation, wherein at least two of the optical fibers are at least partly attached to each other lengthwise by means of a removable longitudinal bridging element. Typically, the bridging element is an open one-hole capillary. |
| US07813605B2 |
Data communication cable comprising filling matrix and method of fabrication
A data communication cable can comprise multiple pairs of twisted conductors. A jacket that extends along the outside surface of the cable can define a longitudinal core, internal to the cable. The conductor pairs can be disposed in the core of the cable along with a foam matrix or a porous filler, with the matrix and the conductors occupying essentially all of the volume of the core. The foam matrix can hold each conductor pair in a respective location within the cable core to control signal crosstalk on each pair. A co-extrusion process can produce the cable via simultaneously extruding the foam matrix and the jacket. A pulling apparatus can feed the conductor pairs though respective ports of an extrusion head-and-die assembly. As one extruder encases the moving conductor pairs in the foam matrix, another extruder forms the jacket over the matrix and the embedded conductors. |
| US07813604B2 |
Laser and photodetector coupled by planar waveguides
An optical apparatus comprises: a waveguide substrate; three planar optical waveguides formed on the substrate, each comprising a transmission core and cladding; a laser positioned to launch its optical output to propagate along the first waveguide; a photodetector positioned to receive an optical signal propagating along the second waveguide; and a branched splitter core formed on the substrate for (i) transferring a first fraction of laser optical output propagating along the first waveguide to the second waveguide, and (ii) transferring a second fraction of the laser optical output propagating along the first waveguide to the third waveguide. |
| US07813594B2 |
Ownership tagging and data assurance of image data system and method
A system and method for managing the archival and retention of data in a multiple-node PACS network. Data is distributed among network nodes such that a secondary node will not delete a received image study it has received from a primary node if the primary node is an originating source. Instead, the secondary node will execute data retention. Data retention is achieved by including a delete retention attribute within the metadata associated with the received image data on the secondary node and requiring that the secondary node enforce data retention if a data retention attribute is identified within the metadata stored on the secondary node. |
| US07813587B2 |
Method and apparatus for shoot suppression in image detail enhancement
A general shoot suppression method and system for image detail enhancement that provides good suppression in shoot areas while preserving the enhancement (with less or no suppression) in non-shoot areas. Asymmetry checker checks the luminance variation of pixels around the current pixel within a filtering range. Based on the checking result, different patterns of luminance variation in the neighborhood of the current pixel are categorized. Higher suppression is applied to those patterns that are more likely to cause overshoot/undershoot. Optionally, suppression is further associated with the intensity of detail signal at each pixel position. An intensity checker checks the magnitude of the detail signal. If the detail signal is weak at a current pixel position, it is unlikely that obvious shoot artifacts appear at that position, and little or no suppression is applied. Such a method and system provide shoot suppression only in shoot areas while maintaining good enhancement in non-shoot areas. |
| US07813586B2 |
Reducing noise in digital images
A target digital image is received from an image sensor. The image is contaminated by noise of unknown magnitude that is represented by a reference digital image. A process is applied that uses statistical analysis of the target digital image and of the reference digital image to estimate a magnitude of the noise for at least some pixels of the target digital image. |
| US07813584B2 |
Image reproduction device and image reproduction method employing a brightness adjustment
An image reproducing device includes: an image signal inputting part for receiving input of a first image signal; a sub image signal generating part for generating a sub image signal from information on a sub image extracted from said first image signal; a main image signal decoding part for extracting a main image signal from said first image signal and decoding said main image signal; a brightness detecting part for detecting a brightness of said main image signal and calculating a brightness average value; a brightness adjusting part for adjusting a brightness of said sub image signal based on said brightness average value; an image signal composing part for composing said main image signal and said sub image signal, the brightness of which is adjusted, and generating a second image signal; and an image signal outputting part for outputting said second image signal. |
| US07813573B2 |
Data coding and decoding with replicated matching pursuits
Embodiments related to coding data using a motion compensated transform, and replicated matching pursuits are disclosed. In some embodiments, a motion compensated transform is applied to an original image sequence to produce a transformed image sequence, and a replicated matching pursuits process is performed on the motion compensated transformed image sequence to code it. |
| US07813568B2 |
Moving picture coding method and moving picture decoding method
According to a picture coding method of the present invention, a coded picture identified by a picture number is stored, as a reference picture, into a storage unit; commands indicating correspondence between picture numbers and reference indices for designating reference pictures and coefficients used for generation of predictive images are generated; a reference picture being used when motion compensation is performed on a current block in a current picture to be coded is designated by a reference index; a predictive image is generated by performing linear prediction on a block being obtained by motion estimation within the designated reference picture, by use of a coefficient corresponding to the reference index; a coded image signal including a coded signal obtained by coding a prediction error being a difference between the current block in the current picture to be coded and the predictive image, the commands, the reference index and the coefficient is outputted. At that time, information indicating the maximum reference index value is coded and included into the coded image signal, and the commands indicating correspondence between at least one picture number and a plurality of reference indices are generated. |
| US07813566B2 |
Data processing apparatus and data processing method
A data processing apparatus includes: a data input section for receiving input of a plurality discrete data arranged at predetermined time intervals; a first-derivative adding section for adding a first derivative to each input discrete data; using a plurality of the discrete data with the additional first derivative, when a difference between one or a plurality of discrete data interposed between two discrete data and a value on a curve passing through the two discrete data points generated on the basis of the two discrete data, the first derivative, and time interval information of the two discrete data is within an allowable error, a homogeneity/heterogeneity conversion section for obtaining a plurality of discrete data having heterogeneous time intervals and the additional first derivative by thinning one or a plurality of the discrete data interposed between the two discrete data; and a heterogeneous-data generation section for generating the heterogeneous data. |
| US07813564B2 |
Method for controlling the amount of compressed data
A method is disclosed for compressing a set of digital images to achieve an average compressed data rate over the entire set. A subset of images are selected from the set of images. A threshold viewing distance and a desired average compressed data rate are specified, and compression parameters are determined from the threshold viewing distance. The subset of images is compressed with the compression parameters to produce compressed data, and an average compressed data rate is calculated for the compressed data from the subset of images. The average compressed data rate for the subset of images is compared to the desired average data rate. If the average compressed data rate for the subset of images is less than or equal to the desired average compressed data rate, remaining images from the image sequence that are not in the subset of images are compressed using the compression parameters that were used for the subset of images. Otherwise, the threshold viewing distance is modified to a larger distance and the compression process is repeated. |
| US07813558B2 |
Template matching method, template matching apparatus, and recording medium that records program for it
There is provided a template matching method having a small amount of calculation and high detection accuracy. The amount of calculation is reduced while minimizing the degradation of the detection accuracy by calculating the similarity between a template image region and a reference image region at rough position intervals and estimating by interpolation of the similarity at a position where it is not calculated from the similarity calculated at a peripheral position. At the time, even if the gradient of a similarity greatly changes at the minimal point, estimation can be realized with high accuracy by executing estimation making use of the directional gradients of the similarity obtained in plural different directions independently. Additionally, occurrence of wrong detection is avoided by the restriction to disable the difference between the estimated similarity and adjacent similarity to exceed a threshold, which is defined based on the similarity between the template image region and the image region obtained by moving the template image region in the same direction as or in the opposite direction to the direction of estimation. |
| US07813553B2 |
Image region detection method, recording medium, and device therefor
Using an image region detection method according to the present invention, the detection of sides in the four directions (vertical and horizontal directions) is performed on the basis of results of edge detection performed on lines having a particular width, starting from an inner point toward the periphery of the quadrangular region in an input image, and the shape and the four corners of the quadrangle formed by the detected four sides are verified. Thereby, when there is a side that has been falsely detected, redetection on sides that are closer to the periphery than the side that has been detected falsely is performed, such that the quadrangular region can be formed at high speed. |
| US07813552B2 |
Methods of representing and analysing images
A method of representing and analyzing images comprises producing a plurality of descriptors of an image at one or more scales and for one ore more color channels, said descriptors capturing color content and interrelation information within the regions, and associating the descriptors in a plurality of ways based on their characteristics such as scale, color channel, feature semantics, and region, and comparing such representations of images to assess the similarity of images. |
| US07813542B2 |
Wafer aligning apparatus and related method
Embodiments of the invention provide a wafer aligning apparatus and a wafer aligning method. In one embodiment, the wafer aligning apparatus comprises an imaging unit adapted to take an image of a wafer being transferred from a load lock chamber to a transfer chamber and adapted to convert the image into digital signals, and a signal processing unit adapted to calculate a center alignment correction value for the wafer by comparing the digital signals to a master image stored in the signal processing unit. The wafer aligning apparatus further comprises a robot controller adapted to receive the center alignment correction value from the signal processing unit and adapted to control a transfer robot in accordance with the center alignment correction value to provide the wafer to a process chamber such that the center of the wafer is substantially aligned. |
| US07813541B2 |
Method and apparatus for detecting defects in wafers
A method for inspecting a wafer including a multiplicity of dies, the method including dividing an image of at least a portion of the wafer into a plurality of sub-images each representing a sub-portion of the wafer and selecting at least one defect candidate within each sub-image by comparing each sub-image to a corresponding sub-image of a reference including a representation, which is assumed to be faultless, of the portion of the wafer. |
| US07813540B1 |
System and method for detecting nuclear material in shipping containers
A system and method for detecting metal contraband such as weapons related material in shipping containers where a container is scanned with at least one penetrating beam, preferably a tomographic x-ray beam, and at least one image is formed. The image can be analyzed by a pattern recognizer to find voids representing metal. The voids can be further classified with respect to their 2 or 3-dimensional geometric shapes. Container ID and contents or bill of lading information can be combined along with other parameters such as total container weight to allow a processor to generate a detection probability. The processor can use artificial intelligence methods to classify suspicious containers for manual inspection. |
| US07813539B2 |
Method and apparatus for analyzing defect data and a review system
In a process for manufacturing a semiconductor wafer, defect distribution state analysis is performed so as to facilitate identification of the defect cause including a device cause and a process cause by classifying the defect distribution state according to the defect position coordinates detected by the inspection device, into one of the distribution characteristic categories: repeated defects, clustered defects, arc-shaped regional defects, radial regional defects, line type regional defects, ring and blob type regional defects, and random defects. |
| US07813538B2 |
Shadowing pipe mosaicing algorithms with application to esophageal endoscopy
In connection with imaging an inner surface of a body lumen, a mosaiced image is created from discrete images or a video produced with a small camera, as the camera is moved through the lumen. In one embodiment, a tethered capsule with a scanning optical fiber provides the images, although other types of endoscopic cameras can instead be used. A surface model of the lumen and camera pose estimates for each image or frame are required for this task. Camera pose parameters, which define camera alignment, are determined for six degrees-of-freedom. The size of each frame projected as a strip on the surface model depends on the longitudinal movement of the camera. The projected frames are concatenated, and the cylinder is unrolled to produce the mosaic image. Further processing, such as applying surface domain blending, improves the quality of the mosaic image. |
| US07813537B2 |
Motion-guided segmentation for cine DENSE images
Myocardial tissue tracking techniques are used to project or guide a single manually-defined set of myocardial contours through time. Displacement encoding with stimulated echoes (DENSE), harmonic phase (HARP) and speckle tracking is used to encode tissue displacement into the phase of complex MRI images, providing a time series of these images, and facilitating the non-invasive study of myocardial kinematics. Epicardial and endocardial contours need to be defined at each frame on cine DENSE images for the quantification of regional displacement and strain as a function of time. The disclosed method presents a novel and effective two dimensional semi-automated segmentation technique that uses the encoded motion to project a manually defined region of interest through time. Contours can then easily be extracted for each cardiac phase. |
| US07813534B2 |
Sensing arrangement
The invention relates to an arrangement for sensing ambient conditions in electric equipment. These conditions may include verification of the user, the location of the equipment and various properties of the environment. The invention is preferably applied in mobile terminals. One idea of the invention is to provide a sensor arrangement with a substrate (663) that forms at least part of a sensor, and also serves as a substrate for other sensors (695-698). The substrate is preferably flexible so that it can be formed in a shape which is follows the shape of the device cover. The invention also describes a way to create two- or three-dimensional electrode structures that can be used to optimize the performance of the sensor. When the surface structure is designed to follow the shape of a finger, a very small pressure is required when sliding the finger along the sensor surface. This way the use of the sensor is ergonomic and the measurement is made very reliable. |
| US07813529B1 |
Optical 3-d surface tomography using depth from focus of partially overlapping 2-d images
A system and method of reconstructing a three-dimensional image of an object is provided. The system includes a single camera including a pinhole lens and having a surface defining an image plane. The single camera can be arranged to move along a linear path relative to the object and is configured to capture images at predetermined locations along the linear path such that at least a portion of the captured adjacent images overlap. The system includes a processor that can be programmed with an image processing logic that enables the processor to create a three-dimensional image of the object. |
| US07813518B2 |
Method of current management in a battery powered audio device
The invention relates to a method of current management in a battery powered audio device. According to the invention the method comprises the following steps: a—comparing the actual supply voltage from the battery with a fixed reference voltage, b—generating a control signal whenever the supply voltage is below the reference voltage, c—use the control signal to reduce the load current in the battery powered device, whereby the supply voltage from the battery will increase, d—repeat steps a, b and c whenever the supply voltage is below the reference voltage, and register the rate at which the sequence of steps are repeated, and e—activate an AGC to decrease the output level whenever repetition rate of the a, b and c steps is above a predetermined level. |
| US07813511B2 |
Facilitating mobility for a mobile station
Providing a mobility key for a communication session for a mobile station includes facilitating initiation of the communication session. A master key for the communication session is established, where the master key is generated at an authentication server in response to authenticating the mobile station. A mobility key is derived from the authentication key at an access node, where the mobility key is operable to authenticate mobility signaling for the communication session. |
| US07813510B2 |
Key management for group communications
A system for key management for a plurality of nodes includes: a first key generation device (130) for generating a first set of secret keys for secure communication between the plurality of nodes; a second key generation device (130) for generating a second set of secret keys that is different from the first set of secret keys for secure communication between the plurality of nodes; and key distribution apparatus (140) coupled to the first and second key generation devices for authenticating the plurality of nodes and selectively distributing the first and second sets of secret keys to the plurality of nodes. |
| US07813506B2 |
System and methods for permitting open access to data objects and for securing data within the data objects
A system and methods for permitting open access to data objects and for securing data within the data objects is disclosed. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for securing a data object is disclosed. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for securing a data object is disclosed. The method includes the steps of (1) providing a data object comprising digital data and file format information; (2) embedding independent data into a data object; and (3) scrambling the data object to degrade the data object to a predetermined signal quality level. The steps of embedding and scrambling may be performed until a predetermined condition is met. The method may also include the steps of descrambling the data object to upgrade the data object to a predetermined signal quality level, and decoding the embedded independent data. The additional steps of descrambling and decoding may be performed until a predetermined condition is met. The predetermined condition may include, for example, reaching a desired signal quality of the data object. |
| US07813504B2 |
Protection of data on media recording disks
This invention discloses a secure recording medium having at least one of audio, video and software content, comprising a plurality of media recording disks (DVD's) with a disk security chip embedded in each the DVD, each the disk chip comprising a security key, wherein at least two of the DVD's have different disk security keys.A method for protecting access to content recorded on a media recording disk (DVD) is also disclosed. |
| US07813500B2 |
Method and apparatus for ringing
A method and apparatus is provided for ring-trip detection in a line card having an analog-to-digital converter for processing voice signals. The method includes receiving a ringing control signal, transmitting a ringing signal to a subscriber line in response to the ringing control signal, and receiving a portion of the ringing signal from the subscriber line. The method includes converting the portion of the ringing signal to a digital signal using the analog-to-digital converter, and providing a ring-trip indication in response to the digital signal. The apparatus includes first circuitry capable of processing a voice signal, the circuitry including a analog-to-digital converter for processing the voice signal. The apparatus includes a ringing generator, second circuitry, and ring-trip detection logic. The generator is capable providing a ringing signal to a subscriber line in response to receiving a ringing control signal. The second circuitry is capable of delivering the portion of the ringing signal to the analog-to-digital converter of the first circuitry, wherein the analog-to-digital converts the portion of the ringing signal to a digital signal. The ring-trip detection logic is capable of providing a ring-trip indication in response to the digital signal. |
| US07813499B2 |
System and process for regression-based residual acoustic echo suppression
A regression-based residual echo suppression (RES) system and process for suppressing the portion of the microphone signal corresponding to a playback of a speaker audio signal that was not suppressed by an acoustic echo canceller (AEC). In general, a prescribed regression technique is used between a prescribed spectral attribute of multiple past and present, fixed-length, periods (e.g., frames) of the speaker signal and the same spectral attribute of a current period (e.g., frame) of the echo residual in the output of the AEC. This automatically takes into consideration the correlation between the time periods of the speaker signal. The parameters of the regression can be easily tracked using adaptive methods. Multiple applications of RES can be used to produce better results and this system and process can be applied to stereo-RES as well. |
| US07813498B2 |
Full-duplex communication device and method of acoustic echo cancellation therein
The invention provides a full-duplex communication device. In one embodiment, the full-duplex communication device comprises a first adaptive filter, a second adaptive filter, a channel decoupling module, and a frequency processing module. The first adaptive filter having a first tap length filters out echoes of a far-end talker from a first near-end signal carrying voices of a near-end talker according to a far-end signal carrying voices of the far-end talker to obtain a second near-end signal. The second adaptive filter having a second tap length less than the first tap length filters out echoes of the far-end talker from the first near-end signal according to the far-end signal to obtain a third near-end signal. The channel decoupling module processes the second near-end signal to generate a fourth near-end signal and subtracts the second near-end signal from the third near-end signal to obtain a fifth near-end signal. Finally, the frequency processing module cancels echoes of the far-end talker from the fourth near-end signal in frequency domain according to the fifth near-end signal to obtain a six near-end signal. |
| US07813497B2 |
Echo canceller with interference-level controlled step size
Echo canceling method comprising the steps: a) receiving a first signal and a second signal, said second signal comprising an echo of the first signal, b) generating an echo replica signal by filtering the first signal with a finite impulse response filter, said finite impulse filter using a filter coefficient vector for generating the echo replica signal, generating an echo cancelled signal by subtracting the echo replica signal from the second signal, d) determining a measure of interference within the second signal, e) determining a step vector depending on said measure of interference, wherein increasing the measure of interference continuously reduces a size of the step vector, and f) updating the filter coefficient vector by the step vector. |
| US07813495B1 |
Apparatus and method for automatic gain control and echo cancellation in a network system
A communications cabling front-end architecture that achieves solid echo cancellation and lower noise performance by combining an echo-cancellation circuit and an equalizer function at the same point, at the most front-end of the system. |
| US07813490B2 |
Methods and apparatus for implementing customized ringback
A ring-back tone generator system receives an inbound call connection request forwarded from a phone switch (such as an MSC) that receives the inbound call connection request from a caller phone attempting to connect to a target phone (e.g., a subscriber). The ring-back tone generator system initiates generation of a first call connection on which to provide the customized ring-back tone (and/or custom video image data) to the caller phone. The ring-back tone generator system also transmits, based on receiving the inbound call connection request, an outbound call connection request to the phone switch (such as the MSC) to establish a second call connection through the phone switch to the target phone. Consequently, an MSC that normally handles such call processing now relies on the ring-back tone generator system to handle call processing and provide a custom ring-back tone service. |
| US07813487B2 |
System and method for billing telephone calls
A method and system are provided for use in billing a toll-free telephone call over a telephone network, the telephone call corresponding to a first toll-free telephone number and initiated by a calling party from an initiating telephone number. In one embodiment, a toll-free telephone call is received at a service node, and routed to a first termination corresponding with the first toll-free telephone number, where the service node remains within the call path of the toll-free telephone call. A first call record is initiated for the toll-free telephone call at the service node, and it is determined at the service node whether the toll-free telephone call is to be connected with a second toll-free telephone number. A second call record is initiated at the service node, where a connection with a second termination corresponding with the second toll-free telephone number has been established. In another embodiment, the toll-free telephone call is received at a service node, and a termination is determined for the toll-free telephone call. The toll-free telephone call is routed by the service node to the termination, where the service node remains within the call path of the toll-free telephone call. The service node initiates a call record for the toll-free telephone call, the call record including an indication to bill the toll-free telephone call to a billing toll-free telephone number different from the first toll-free telephone number. |
| US07813477B2 |
X-ray diffraction device, object imaging system, and method for operating a security system
An x-ray diffraction imaging device includes at least one x-ray detector and at least one scatter collimator positioned upstream of the at least one x-ray detector. The at least one collimator includes a plurality of successive plates. Each of the plurality of plates defines a plurality of rectangular holes. The plurality of successive plates are arranged such that the plurality of rectangular holes define a plurality of quadrilateral passages extending through the at least one scatter collimator. Each of the plurality of quadrilateral passages is configured to increase a rate of detection of first x-rays that define an x-ray transit path enclosed within a single such quadrilateral passage. Also, the plurality of quadrilateral passages is configured to decrease a rate of detection of second x-rays that define an x-ray transit path that intersects more than one such quadrilateral passage. |
| US07813476B2 |
X-ray beam processor
An x-ray beam processor and system that includes an x-ray beam generator for generating x-ray beams; a mirror shield for shielding the x-ray beams from select areas; a cylindrical waveguide for guiding x-ray beams traveling through the waveguide, which includes a plurality of entry ports and exit ports; a plurality of ring-shaped mirrors disposed adjacent to and generally parallel with the entry ports and the exit ports and sharing a common axis “X” with the waveguide; and mountings for mounting the mirrors to the waveguide. |
| US07813470B2 |
Three-dimensional contents determination method using transmitted x-ray
An X-ray that has passed through a target object 13 is detected by a two-dimensional X-ray detector 14 capable of energy discrimination, to determine an actual X-ray strength at a specific energy level. The target object 13 is rotationally scanned in predetermined angular steps around an axis perpendicular to the X-ray. The target object 13 is imaginarily divided into a large number of micro-sized unitary cubic cells, and each detection element 14a is considered to be receiving an X-ray that has passed through a plurality of unitary cubic cells. A data processor 6 creates a system of equations including a measured intensity ratio between the transmitted and direct X-rays and a theoretical X-ray intensity ratio calculated from the mass absorption coefficients, unknown weight ratios and density of the elements contained in each unitary cubic cell. The number of equations is equal to or larger than the total number of the elements having unknown weight ratios and the density. In this manner, one can measure the three-dimensional distribution of the weight ratio of each element and/or compound and the density in the target object containing a plurality of known kinds of elements and/or compounds. |
| US07813468B2 |
Counter circuit
Reduction in power consumption of a counter circuit for continuous operation is demanded. Therefore, provided is a counter circuit including: a first counter of m bits for counting and storing a value of a predetermined bit width according to an input clock; a clock transmission control circuit for controlling whether to transmit the input clock based on a value output according to a counting result of the first counter; and a second counter of n bits for counting and storing another value of the predetermined bit width according to the input clock transmitted from the clock transmission control circuit. |
| US07813466B2 |
Jitter-free divider
A system and method are provided for jitter-free fractional division. The method accepts a first plurality of first signal phases, each phase having a first frequency. To make the division jitter-free, a phase is selected subsequent to deselecting a previous phase selection. The selected phase is divided by the integer N, supplying a second signal with a second frequency. Using the second signal as a clock, a first plurality of counts is triggered in series, and the counts are used to select a corresponding phase. The first signal may separate neighboring phases by 90 degrees. Then, for (N+0.25), a first count triggers a second count and selects the first phase, the second count triggers a third count and selects the second phase, the third count triggers a fourth count and selects the third phase, and the fourth count trigger the first count and selects the fourth phase. |
| US07813464B1 |
Permanent seal ring for a nuclear reactor cavity
A permanent cavity seal ring that replaces the function of the temporary cavity seal ring typically used in narrow thermal expansion gap pressurized water reactors, to seal the gap between the reactor cavity well and the reactor during refueling. The permanent seal ring uses a C-shaped flexure that is shielded by a rigid cantilevered support arm from any accidentally dropped equipment from above in the refueling canal. The construction accommodates the thermal expansion of the reactor vessel while permitting the reactor cavity cooling air to exit the annulus between the vessel and the reactor cavity wall during plant operation, without a significant increase in pressure drop. |
| US07813456B2 |
Frequency correlation based synchronization for coherent OFDM receiver and apparatus thereof
An apparatus for synchronizing pilots contained in symbols received by a receiver in a multicarrier transmission system and a method thereof are provided. Frequency or Time-frequency correlation-based scheme, with exploitation of time-frequency correlation characteristics of the pilots, may be used for identifying the positions of the pilots in frequency or time and frequency dimensions consisting of received symbols. In one example, the apparatus includes a pilot compensator and a signal selector for determining at least one correlation set, a correlator for generating one correlation set result for each of the correlation set, and a judgment or processing unit for determining positions of the pilots in response to the correlation set result. |
| US07813455B2 |
Decoding MIMO space time code symbol-pairs
A MIMO wireless communication system and method reduces the number of recursive operations when decoding received data symbols by decoding the data symbols in pairs rather than on a per symbol basis. Decoding in pairs is facilitated by the determination that errors between selected pairs of data symbols are uncorrelated and identically distributed with a determined variance. Additionally, the system and method can order the pairs and provide decoding rules that result in an insignificant loss of performance for a wide range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Furthermore, the system and method exploit the structure of the error covariance matrix to reduce computational demands. |
| US07813452B2 |
Limiter based analog demodulator
A phase detector includes a decimator to decimate a digitized in-phase signal and a digitized quadrature signal to N times a symbol rate, where N is an integer greater than one. A burst detector to detect bursts in an output of the decimator. A carrier offset block to determine an offset angle based on an output of the burst detector. A rotator to generate a rotated signal by rotating the output of the decimator based on the offset angle determined by the carrier offset block. An equalizer to perform coherent demodulation of the rotated signal. |
| US07813451B2 |
Apparatus and method for frequency shifting of a wireless signal and systems using frequency shifting
Systems, methods and apparatus for improving the coverage of a wireless network based on frequency shifting scheme. A wireless signal in a frequency band is shifted to another distinct band, and carried in the shifted band, using wired or wireless mediums to another location, wherein the wireless signal is shifted back to the original frequency band. The frequency shifting may make use of a conventional frequency shifting schemes such as mixer/filter and heterodyne. In one embodiment the wireless signal is frequency shifted by converting it to other representing signals (such as I/Q components) and forming the frequency-shifted signal from the representations. The system is may be used to increase in-door or outdoor coverage, as well as bridging between in-door and outdoor networks. The medium may use dedicated wiring or existing service wiring in a residence or building, including LAN, telephone, AC power and CATV wiring. The system (in whole or in part) may be enclosed as a stand-alone unit, housed in integrated form as part of a service outlet or as a snap-on/plug-in module. Methods and other systems with different advantageous configurations are also described. This abstract is not intended to limit or construe the scope or meaning of the claims. |
| US07813442B2 |
MIMO channel estimation in presence of carrier frequency offset
A technique to determine carrier frequency offset (CFO) phase shift and perform channel estimation for symbols of a signal communicated across a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) communication channel, in which preambles utilized for channel estimation are sent over more than one time block. Because the transmission of preambles used for channel estimation are sent over multiple time blocks, a CFO phase shift that is flat across tones of an OFDM signal is experienced between preambles of the two time blocks. Upon detection of the CFO phase shift, a weighting matrix used for channel estimation is modified to account for the CFO phase shift, in order to perform the channel estimation with correction for the CFO phase shift. |
| US07813439B2 |
Various methods and apparatuses for impulse noise detection
Methods and apparatuses for reducing effects of impulse noise in a DSL transmitter receiver device are described. According to certain embodiment, the method includes comparing a hard decision output of a decoder with a soft decision output for a convolution coded modulation symbol received at a digital subscriber line (DSL) receiver. The presence of impulse noise is detected based on a lack of agreement between the hard decision output and the soft decision output. |
| US07813434B2 |
Systems and methods for improved bit loading for discrete multi-tone modulated multiple latency applications
Systems and methods for performing bit loading in a dual latency data transmission system. In a computer network, such as an XDSL-based network, carrier channels are allocated between two latency paths. Error sensitive information is transmitted over a latency path employing one or more forward error correction techniques. Latency sensitive information that is relatively more tolerant of errors is transmitted over the other latency path. Rather than employing the lowest coding gain for carrier channels having the two different latency paths, the highest coding gain for each path is used by applying different target S-N-R margins for carrier channels having different latency paths. |
| US07813433B2 |
System and method for communicating data using symbol-based randomized orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with selected subcarriers turned on or off
A device and system communicates data and includes a modulation and mapping circuit that modulates and maps data symbols into a plurality of multiple subcarrier frequencies that are orthogonal to each other to form an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM) communications signal based on a fixed or variable OFDM symbol rate. A pseudo-random signal generator is operative with the modulation and mapping circuit and generates pseudo-random signals to the modulation and mapping circuit based on an encryption algorithm for frequency hopping each subcarrier at an OFDM symbol rate to lower any probability of interception and detection, reduce power per frequency (dB/Hz/sec), and lower any required transmission power while maintaining an instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio, wherein selected subcarriers are turned ON or OFF to increase the transmit power and signal-to-noise ratio and reduce the Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) and adverse effects of frequency selective fading. |
| US07813432B2 |
Offset buffer for intra-prediction of digital video
Encoding digital video frames in intra-prediction mode by selecting reference data locations for blocks adjacent a current block identified by a writing pointer using reading pointer offsets added to the writing pointer. The reading pointer offsets include separate offsets for even and odd macro block rows of the frame that when added to the writing pointer create writing pointers to reference data for blocks located to the left, to the left and above, and above the current block. The offsets are pre-calculated and preloaded in an offset buffer, considering the number of macro blocks in a row of the frame, the number of blocks in a macro block, the number of reference data samples of a block, and the number of adjacent blocks reference data to be read. The concept can be applied to various video processing luminance components, chrominance components, and processing standards. |
| US07813430B2 |
Method and apparatus for decimation mode determination utilizing block motion
In an apparatus that converts (compresses) motion image data, the amount of motion of a subject in a block of motion image data is detected, and spatial decimation is performed in a mode in which sampling point positions are fixed or in a mode in which sampling point positions are shifted, depending on the detected amount of motion. When predicted image quality corresponding to the moving speed of a subject detected by analyzing blocks is lower than a predetermined threshold level, spatial decimation is performed in the mode in sampling point positions are shifted such that the moving speed of the subject is virtually changed to a value at which a super resolution effect occurs, thereby achieving data conversion without causing significant degradation in image quality. |
| US07813429B2 |
System and method for segmentation of macroblocks
A method for processing a video stream is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) checking a respective first motion vector for each of a plurality of blocks in a group within an inter-coded picture of the video stream, (B) loading first motion compensation data for the group from a memory to a motion compensation process in a first bus transfer in response to all of the blocks in the group having both (i) a same first reference frame and (ii) a same first motion vector in at least one of a reference picture list 0 and a reference picture list 1 and (C) reconstructing the blocks from the first motion compensation data and the same first motion vector. |
| US07813427B2 |
Method and apparatus for accomplishing multiple description coding for video
A method and apparatus for utilizing temporal prediction and motion compensated prediction to accomplish multiple description video coding is disclosed. An encoder receives a sequence of video frames and divides each frame into non-overlapping macroblocks. Each macroblock is then encoded using either an intraframe mode (I-mode) or a prediction mode (P-mode) technique. Both the I-mode and the P-mode encoding techniques produce an output for each of n channels used to transmit the encoded video data to a decoder. The P-mode technique generates at least n+1 prediction error signals for each macroblock. One of the at least n+1 P-mode prediction error signals is encoded such that it may be utilized to reconstruct the original sequence of video frames regardless of the number of channels received by the decoder. A component of the one of the at least n+1 P-mode prediction error signals is sent on each of the n channels. Each of the remaining at least n+1 P-mode prediction error signals is sent on a separate one of the n channels (along with the above mentioned component). These remaining at least n+1 P-mode prediction error signals are encoded such that, when combined with the component of the one P-mode prediction error signal which was sent on the same channel, a reasonably good reconstruction of the original sequence of video frames may be obtained if the number of received channels is between 1 and n−1. |
| US07813426B2 |
Digital broadcast transmitter/receiver having improved receiving performance and signal processing method thereof
A digital broadcast transmitter/receiver, and a signal processing method thereof, includes a randomizer randomizing a dual transport stream which includes a normal data packet and a robust data packet and into which stuff bytes are inserted, a stuff-byte exchanger replacing the stuff bytes of the randomized data with known data, a first RS encoder performing RS-encoding of data output from the stuff-byte exchanger, a packet formatter performing an interleaving of the robust packet of the data output from the first RS encoder and reformatting the packet, an interleaver interleaving data output from the packet formatter, a trellis encoder performing a trellis encoding of interleaved data, a second RS encoder changing a parity by performing an RS encoding of the robust data of the trellis-encoded data, and a modulator modulating data output from the trellis encoder and RF up-converting the modulated data. |
| US07813424B2 |
Method and apparatus for compensating for mismatch occurring in radio frequency quadrature transceiver using direct-conversion scheme
A method and apparatus for compensating for a mismatch in a radio frequency (RF) quadrature transceiver using a direct-conversion scheme is provided. The method includes setting an amplification gain for a baseband quadrature signal to be larger than an amplification gain for a baseband in-phase signal in a reception module; receiving only a baseband in-phase signal in a transmission module; and compensating for a phase mismatch on a basis of a signal output from a quadrature output port. The apparatus includes a phase mismatch compensator which sets an amplification gain for a baseband quadrature signal to be larger than an amplification gain for a baseband in-phase signal in a reception module, inputs only a baseband in-phase signal to a transmission module, and compensates for a phase mismatch on a basis of a signal output from a quadrature output port. |
| US07813422B2 |
Adaptive equalizer with tap coefficient averaging
In one embodiment, a receiver has an equalizer, a tap-averaging block, a delay buffer, and a filter. The equalizer receives an input signal from upstream processing and generates sets of filter coefficients. Each set of filter coefficients is adaptively generated by 1) filtering the received signal to generate an equalized signal, 2) calculating an error of the equalized signal, and 3) generating a new set of coefficients based on the error of the equalized signal. The sets of filter coefficients are output to the tap-averaging block, which averages groups of the sets of filter coefficients to generate sets of averaged filter coefficients, where each averaged set is output to the filter. The filter receives a time-delayed version of the input signal from the delay buffer and applies the current set of averaged filter coefficients to the time-delayed signal. The filtered signal is then output to downstream processing. |
| US07813414B2 |
Detection apparatus and method
A transceiver apparatus and a method comprise detecting means for detecting messages, wherein the detecting means comprises a first detector arranged to operate over a first detection period and which output indicates the beginning of a message with a first detection probability, and a second detector arranged to operate over a second detection period and which output indicates the detection of the beginning of a message with a second detection probability. The second detection probability is higher than the first detection probability and the transceiver apparatus is arranged to receive the message if the second detector indicates detection of the beginning of a message. |
| US07813411B1 |
Spread spectrum frequency synthesizer with high order accumulation for frequency profile generation
A frequency synthesizer is described illustrating a system and method for modulation. In particular, the frequency synthesizer includes a control circuit for producing a plurality of input signals that is scalable to a frequency profile. Each of the input signals includes a slope and a direction of the slope. A higher order accumulator block is coupled to the control circuit and receives the plurality of input signals. The higher order accumulator block includes at least two accumulators. The higher order accumulator block sums the plurality of input signals to generate a standard curve that is non-linear. A frequency spreading control pattern generation modulator is coupled to the higher order accumulator block and modulates the standard curve to generate the desired frequency profile. |
| US07813409B2 |
Secure network using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing spread spectrum communications
Described are a method and system for secure transmission of data through a network. A subcarrier sequence for data transmission is generated. The subcarrier sequence designates at least one subcarrier from a number of orthogonal subcarriers for each of a plurality of intervals in a time sequence. The subcarrier sequence is provided to a receiver. A data signal that includes the subcarriers identified in the subcarrier sequence modulated according to the data is transmitted from a transmitter to the receiver. For additional security, the subcarrier sequence can be transmitted to the receiver using a communications channel that is separate from the communications channel for the data signal. The data signal is detected at the receiver and demodulated according to the subcarrier sequence. |
| US07813408B2 |
Wireless communications device with white gaussian noise generator and related methods
A wireless communications device may include a wireless transmitter, a modulator connected to the wireless transmitter, and a white Gaussian noise generator connected to the modulator. The white Gaussian noise generator may include at least one pseudorandom number generator, and a fast Walsh transform module for generating white Gaussian noise based upon the pseudorandom numbers. |
| US07813406B1 |
Temporal laser pulse manipulation using multiple optical ring-cavities
An optical pulse stretcher and a mathematical algorithm for the detailed calculation of its design and performance is disclosed. The optical pulse stretcher has a plurality of optical cavities, having multiple optical reflectors such that an optical path length in each of the optical cavities is different. The optical pulse stretcher also has a plurality of beam splitters, each of which intercepts a portion of an input optical beam and diverts the portion into one of the plurality of optical cavities. The input optical beam is stretched and a power of an output beam is reduced after passing through the optical pulse stretcher and the placement of the plurality of optical cavities and beam splitters is optimized through a model that takes into account optical beam divergence and alignment in the pluralities of the optical cavities. The optical pulse stretcher system can also function as a high-repetition-rate (MHz) laser pulse generator, making it suitable for use as a stroboscopic light source for high speed ballistic projectile imaging studies, or it can be used for high speed flow diagnostics using a laser light sheet with digital particle imaging velocimetry. The optical pulse stretcher system can also be implemented using fiber optic components to realize a rugged and compact optical system that is alignment free and easy to use. |
| US07813405B2 |
Unstable disk resonator
A configuration for an unstable, negative branch imaging resonator (NBIR) is disclosed in which coupling mirrors are added so that the Primary and Secondary mirrors are not in direct optical communication with the imaging systems which minimizes the occurrence of the NBIR experiencing magnification runaway and/or odd order aberrations by using coupling mirrors to provide indirect optical communication between the imaging systems and the Primary and Secondary end mirrors. |
| US07813395B1 |
Distributed feedback laser having enhanced etch stop features
In one example embodiment, a DFB laser includes a substrate, an active region positioned above the substrate, and a grating layer positioned above the active region. The grating layer includes a portion that serves as a primary etch stop layer. The DFB laser also includes a secondary etch stop layer located either above or below the grating layer, and a spacer layer interposed between the grating layer and the active region. |
| US07813394B2 |
Laser with gain medium suppressing higher order modes to provide lasing output with high beam quality
High-power, diode-pumped solid state (DPSS) pulsed lasers are preferred for applications such as micromachining, via drilling of integrated circuits, and ultraviolet (UV) conversion. Nd:YVO4 (vanadate) lasers are good candidates for high power applications because they feature a high energy absorption coefficient over a wide bandwidth of pumping wavelengths. However, vanadate has poor thermo-mechanical properties, in that the material is stiff and fractures easily when thermally stressed. By optimizing laser parameters and selecting pumping wavelengths and doping a concentration of the gain medium to control the absorption coefficient less than 2 cm−1 such as the pumping wavelength between about 910 nm and about 920 nm, a doped vanadate laser may be enhanced to produce as much as 100 W of output power without fracturing the crystal material, while delivering a 40% reduction in thermal lensing. |
| US07813392B2 |
Light transmitter and automatic power control circuit thereof
A light transmitter and an auto-control circuit thereof are provided. The circuit includes a driving module and a feedback module. The driving module is coupled to the feedback module and a load. The driving module provides a driving current for driving the load. The feedback module provides a bias signal to the driving module according to the change of the temperature, for adjusting the driving current and stabilizing an output power. |
| US07813390B2 |
Injection-seeded monolithic laser
An injection seeding laser system in which the seeded laser has a monolithic structure without any moving parts. The seeder emits light whose wavelength is swept in a radio frequency (RF) over a range that covers one or more longitudinal mode(s) of the seeded laser, which eliminates the need for active cavity length control and phase locking between the injected and output signals. The gain medium of the seeded laser is an active medium whose population is substantially inversed in response to an excitation, which can be electrical or optical. Time synchronization between the injected seeds and the triggering signal to the slave is generally not required. The present invention enables fiber MOPO that produces high power laser pulses in an efficient and cost-effective manner. |
| US07813389B2 |
Generating laser pulses of prescribed pulse shapes programmed through combination of separate electrical and optical modulators
A programmable laser pulse combines electrical modulation of the pulse frequency and optical modulation of the pulse shape to form laser pulses of prescribed pulse shapes. A prescribed pulse shape features high peak power and low average power. The laser system disclosed also allows for power-scaling and nonlinear conversions to other (shorter or longer) wavelengths. The system provides an economical reliable alternative to using a laser source with high repetition rates to achieve shaped pulses at a variety of wavelengths. The combinatorial scheme disclosed is inherently more efficient than existing subtractive methods. |
| US07813385B1 |
Adaptive link delay management in wireless link systems
Systems and methods for adapting IEEE 802.11 wireless communications for environments involving long propagation delays. Improved system throughput and stability are provided. Propagation delays are measured systematically and used to adjust contention timing boundaries and a common time slot duration. This reduces the probability of collision in the CSMA/CA mode of the IEEE 802.11 standard. One particular application is a point-to-multipoint campus bridge network. |
| US07813381B2 |
Automatic data rate detection
Various systems and methods for automatic data rate detection are provided. In one embodiment, a system is provided that includes a clock and data recovery circuit embodied in a first integrated circuit, the clock and data recovery circuit being configured to re-clock a data stream. The system also includes an automatic rate detection system embodied in a second integrated circuit, where the first integrated circuit is in data communication with the second integrated circuit. Also, the automatic rate detection system is configured to determine a data rate of the data stream upon identifying a transition in the data rate of the data stream based upon the state of the at least one status flag received from the clock and data recovery circuit. |
| US07813368B2 |
Communication system
A communication system includes master and slave controllers, a local device connected to the slave controller, and a communication cable having a pair of wires and connected between the master and slave controllers. The master controller feeds a first DC voltage to the slave controller via the communication cable and communicates with the slave controller by changing the first DC voltage such that voltages on the wires of the communication cable are opposite in phase. The slave controller generates a second DC voltage from the first DC voltage and feeds the second DC voltage to the local device. When the master and slave controllers communicate with each other, the slave controller changes the second DC voltage such that voltages on terminals of the local device are opposite in phase and vary synchronously with the voltages on the communication cable. |
| US07813367B2 |
Pipeline method and system for switching packets
A switching device comprising one or more processors coupled to a media access control (MAC) interface and a memory structure for switching packets rapidly between one or more source devices and one or more destination devices. Packets are pipelined through a series of first processing segments to perform a plurality of first sub-operations involving the initial processing of packets received from source devices to be buffered in the memory structure. Packets are pipelined through a series of second processing segments to perform a plurality of second sub-operations involved in retrieving packets from the memory structure and preparing packets for transmission. Packets are pipelined through a series of third processing segments to perform a plurality of third sub-operations involved in scheduling transmission of packets to the MAC interface for transmission to one or more destination devices. |
| US07813363B2 |
Network interface controlling lock operation in accordance with advanced extensible interface protocol, packet data communication on-chip interconnect system including the network interface, and method of operating the network interface
A packet data communication on-chip interconnect system is provided including a network interface efficiently controlling a transaction performed between at least one master intellectual property (IP) block and at least one slave IP block connected via a Network on a Chip (NoC). According to an aspect of the present invention, traffic functioning and throughput of the entire NoC may be improved by appropriately controlling an operation of performing a lock operation according to an Advance eXtensible Interface (AXI) protocol in the network interface of the packet data communication on-chip interconnect system. |
| US07813360B2 |
Controlling device access fairness in switched fibre channel fabric loop attachment systems
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to controlling device access fairness in frame-based switches by automatically and continuously counting the number of actively communicating devices connected to each port and the type of devices connected to each port, and adjusting fairness accordingly. During a sampling window, the number of active devices and the type of devices connected to each port is determined. At the start of each fairness window, a weighted number of slots are assigned to each port based on the number of active devices connected to each port and the type of devices connected to that port. Within a single fairness window, each port is able to provide device accesses to the frame-based switch in accordance with the number of slots assigned to that port. |
| US07813357B2 |
Regional service by phone
A method is provided to communicate regional services to a telephone gateway device over a public computer network. The method includes a distribution server sending a list of entities offering a desired service in a desired region to the telephone gateway device. The list includes probability parameters that the telephone gateway device uses in a lottery to arrange the order in which the entities are displayed. A service server adjusts the probability parameters based on the amount of information about the respective businesses accessed by the consumers and the price the respective businesses pay for the access. |
| US07813350B2 |
System and method to process data packets in a network using stateful decision trees
A method and device to process a packet received by a network device is described. The method may comprise analyzing the packet to identify at least one set of a plurality of sets, mapping the at least one set to at least one functional unit, and performing functionality associated with the at least one functional unit. Analyzing the packet to identify at least one of a plurality of sets may comprise determining when the packet includes at least one set identifier, and identifying the at least one set based on the at least one set identifier. A set status identifier may be defined for each set, the set status identifier indicating when set identifiers associated with a corresponding set are detected in the packet. The device may be a router, switch or any other device that processes digital data e.g., packet data including packets headers, payload or the like. |
| US07813349B2 |
Service aware switched SDH/SONET/TDM network
Method and apparatus to establish a communication link over a high speed communications network. A unique predetermined address assigned to a switching and access node of each network node of the high speed communications network is examined. In addition, a service address associated with a request to establish a communication link is examined. The service address indicates at least one of a type of service being requested, a network service detail, and a name of a desired service provider. Thereafter, an end-to-end communication link is established between the calling party and a destination party by routing a connection request through plural switching nodes in accordance with the calling party address, an address associated with the destination party, and the service address. |
| US07813348B1 |
Methods, systems, and computer program products for killing prioritized packets using time-to-live values to prevent head-of-line blocking
Methods, systems, and computer program products for killing prioritized packets in multiple queues using time-to-live values to prevent head-of-line blocking. In one example, a method for scheduling prioritized packets in queuing system includes receiving a plurality of packets having a plurality of different priorities. The method can also include assigning the packets to the queues, wherein at least some of the queues include packets of a plurality of different priorities. In addition, the method can include assigning a first time-to-live (TTL) value to a first packet in a first queue. The method can also include altering the first TTL value of the first packet in response to a second packet of a second queue being scheduled. Further, the method can include discarding the first packet in response to the first TTL value having a predetermined relationship with respect to a predetermined value. |
| US07813347B2 |
System and method to enable combination of network controlled mobility and UE controlled mobility between different IP versions
The present invention provides session continuity when a User Equipment (UE) moves from one network to another network. A method and system for providing access to nodes supporting, for example, both Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol Version (IPv6) on a network supporting only one of the IP versions are provided. In addition, both network based mobility and UE based mobility mechanisms are supported to allow a UE supporting dual stack mobility access to a network supporting only one of IPv4 or IPv6. The invention provides for a reduction of header overhead and signaling overhead. |
| US07813342B2 |
Method and apparatus for writing network packets into computer memory
An apparatus receives packets from a network and inserts the packet data into the memory of a computer system. The invention reduces the amount of computer system memory bandwidth required to receive packets through the use of a retained data buffer. Packet headers and a summary of packet validation results are processed by network stacks within the computer system to identify the intended memory buffer in which the packet payload is to be placed. Packet payload data is directly placed from the retained data buffer to the intended memory buffer without the use of intermediate buffers. A preferred embodiment includes a data retention network interface card (DRNIC) which includes the required data retention buffer for use in direct placement of received data. |
| US07813337B2 |
Network packet processing using multi-stage classification
Methods and systems for processing packets in data network using multistage classification are disclosed. An example method for processing packets includes receiving a data packet at a first processing stage and examining the packet at the first processing stage to determine a first attribute of the packet. Based on the first attribute, a first classification is assigned to the packet. In the example method, the packet and the first classification are communicated from the first processing stage to a second processing stage and the packet is examined at the second processing stage to determine a second attribute of the packet. Based on the second attribute, a second classification is assigned to the packet. The example method further includes processing the packet based on the first classification and the second classification. |
| US07813329B2 |
Base station, and a scrambling code setting method
A base station and a scrambling code setting method of automatically setting up a scrambling code, the base station including a scrambling code setting unit for setting up a base station identifier and a provisional downlink scrambling code that is provisionally assigned; and a transmitting unit for spectrum-spreading the base station identifier by the provisional scrambling code, and for transmitting the base station identifier; wherein the scrambling code setting unit assigns a lasting downlink scrambling code based on a report concerning reception of the base station identifier. |
| US07813325B2 |
Location information communication
A method may include obtaining location descriptor information regarding the location of a first communication device. The method may also include displaying the location of the first communication device by a second communication device. The location descriptor information may be requested by the user of the second communication device to enable the user of the second communication device to determine the location of the user of the first communication device. |
| US07813315B2 |
Spectrum sharing in a wireless communication network
A system and method for synchronous spectrum sharing for use in a wireless communication system based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) signaling is disclosed. The system includes a frame detector configured to detect a frame of a broadcast waveform and extract sub-carrier information from a subframe or Secondary User Map (SU MAP). SU MAP includes information on usable sub-carrier and pilot sub-carriers for secondary users. The system allows transmitting data from the secondary user node in unused sub-carriers thereby making efficient use of unused or idle spectrum. Accordingly, secondary users of wireless communication systems can dynamically form ad-hoc mesh network communications in fixed or mobile scenarios. |
| US07813310B2 |
Digital broadcasting receiver and method for controlling the same
A reception system and a method for processing data in the reception system are disclosed. The reception system includes a baseband processor receiving a broadcasting signal including mobile service data and main service data, the mobile service data including first service data and second service data having a format different from that of the first service data, the second service data configuring a Reed Solomon (RS) frame, and the RS frame including a table which describes the second service data and signaling information of the second service data, a table handler parsing the table from the RS frame and extracting the signaling information of the second service data, and service handlers parsing the second service data from the RS frame on the basis of the extracted signaling information of the second service data. Accordingly, it is possible to transmit/receive service data having a format different from that of the existing method in a single MH system. |
| US07813307B2 |
Power save in IBSS mode of WLAN operation
A system and method for using a single frame to trigger a response from multiple stations in a WLAN network in a scheduled order when in an ad hoc mode. Each responding station responds to the requesting station with an indication of the amount and periodicity of the data stream that the responding stations want to transmit. This allows for an efficient schedule, and a requesting station can go to sleep after it has completed all of its data transactions with the responding stations in the WLAN network. |
| US07813303B2 |
Network fault detection apparatus
A network fault detection apparatus, which detects L2 loops due to L3 bridge connections, is provided. A network fault detection apparatus acquires physical addresses corresponding to the network addresses of at least two nodes among the plurality of nodes constituting a network, and by detecting the existence of a plurality of physical addresses for network addresses of the two nodes, and detecting the existence of a physical address common to network addresses thereamong, detects an L2 loop caused by an L3 bridge connection, which induces a network fault. |
| US07813289B2 |
Electrical idle detection circuit including input signal rectifier
An electrical idle detection circuit including a full wave rectifier and a first amplifier. The full wave rectifier is configured to receive differential input signals and provide a rectified output signal based on the differential input signals. The first amplifier is configured to receive a first input signal based on the rectified output signal and a second input signal based on a reference signal. The first amplifier is configured to provide an output signal that indicates the differential input signals are one of active and in electrical idle based on the first input signal and the second input signal. |
| US07813282B2 |
Connection admission control method and apparatus in broadband wireless access system
Provided are a Connection Admission Control (CAC) method and apparatus in a Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) system. The CAC method includes checking a class of a requested service; converting the transmission request rate of the service into the number of required air resource blocks by using an average block capacity of the checked class; and determining whether to admit or deny connection by comparing the number of required resource blocks with the number of available resource blocks. |
| US07813279B2 |
System for rate management of aggregate-rate communication services
A system for rate management of communication services. The system comprises at least one group of ports sharing a guaranteed-rate; and each of the group of ports determines an allowed-rate using at least one rate management policy. |
| US07813278B1 |
Systems and methods for selectively performing explicit congestion notification
A system provides congestion control and includes multiple queues that temporarily store data and a drop engine. The system associates a value with each of the queues, where each of the values relates to an amount of memory associated with the queue. The drop engine compares the value associated with a particular one of the queues to one or more programmable thresholds and selectively performs explicit congestion notification or packet dropping on data in the particular queue based on a result of the comparison. |
| US07813275B2 |
Wireless communication device, a wireless communication system and a wireless communication method
A wireless communication device, a wireless communication system and a wireless communication method for preventing buffer over flow in the wireless communication device acting as a relay node, and for improving throughput within the whole system are disclosed. The wireless communication device includes an information acquisition unit configured to acquire information on the amount of data relay processing in the wireless communication device and/or a neighbor wireless communication device; a priority calculation unit configured to calculate transmission priority of the wireless communication device, based on the acquired information; and a priority determination unit configured to determine a priority related parameter for data transmission from the wireless communication device, based on the transmission priority. |
| US07813267B2 |
Method and system for providing control plane resiliency with undisrupted forwarding in a data network
Method and system for providing continuous data forwarding during a failure mode in a wireless data network including detecting a control plane failure mode of a network switch, maintaining data path between one or more network entities with the network switch, detecting the network switch recovery from the control plane failure mode, and re-authenticating the one or more network entities over the data network is disclosed without disrupting data traffic forwarding. |
| US07813263B2 |
Method and apparatus providing rapid end-to-end failover in a packet switched communications network
A hardware-based failover scheme enabling rapid end-to-end recovery is provided. Hardware logic periodically generates, transmits, receives, and processes heartbeat packets, sent from one end of the communications network to another, and then returned back. If a communications network node or communications link failure is being experienced along the transport path, then the hardware logic rapidly swaps the affected traffic conveyed to a pre-established backup transport path, typically within microseconds. Advantages are derived from the rapid failover effected end-to-end which enables continued delivery of provisioned communications services improving the resiliency and/or availability of a communications network. |
| US07813261B2 |
Methods and systems for transmission of orthogonal frequency division multiplexed symbols
In some embodiments of the present invention there is provided a frame structure for transmitting an integer number of OFDM symbols in which some of the OFDM symbols are to be transmitted in a unicast format and some of the OFDM symbols are to be transmitted in a broadcast format. The frame structure includes partitioning of a frame into at least two portions to accommodate both unicast and broadcast modes in the frame. The frame structure is used for transmitting multiple frames in a serial manner from at least one transmitter. The unicast mode supports transmission of OFDM symbols from a single transmitter to a single receiver. The broadcast mode supports transmission of OFDM symbols from multiple transmitters to all receivers within range of the multiple transmitters. The multicast mode supports transmission of OFDM symbols from multiple transmitters to multiple receivers within range of the multiple transmitters. |
| US07813256B2 |
Optical disc reproduction method and device, and optical disc manufacturing method
According to the present invention, there is provided an optical disc player adapted to record a unique ID on a read-only optical disc and positively read the unique ID from the optical disc. The optical disc (1) played with this player has a specific physical cluster in which the unique ID is to be recorded. The optical disc (1) used herein is normally molded by a molding machine using a molding die. Thereafter, a unique ID is generated for each of the optical discs (1), and high-power laser light is irradiated to a specific land in the specific physical cluster correspondingly to the bit value of the unique ID to transit the land to a pit. The physical cluster has provided therein a first area where each bit in the unique ID is recorded by the lazering in case the bit value is 0 and a second area where each bit in the unique ID is recorded by the lazering in case the bit value is 1. At the time of playback, the number of errors in the first area is compared with that in the second area to determine the value of each bit in the unique ID. |
| US07813255B2 |
Method for positioning a scanning probe on a target track of a multi-track storage medium, storage device, scanning device, and storage medium
A method for settling on a target track of a servo system in a storage device (110) comprising a scanning probe (e.g., a scanning probe array system (124)) is disclosed, as well as a corresponding storage device (110). A data format is employed for the data stored in servo fields (18), consisting mainly of a preamble for assisting the settle process. |
| US07813250B2 |
Apparatus and method to determine an optimal power level to encode information holographically
A method is disclosed to determine an optimal power level to encode information holographically. The method sets (N) evaluation power levels, displays an evaluation image on a spatial light modulator. For each value of (i), the method energizes a light source using the (i)th power level, generates the (i)th reference beam, generates the (i)th carrier beam, forms the (i)th data beam comprising the evaluation image, forms the (i)th hologram using the (i)th reference beam and the (i)th data beam, and encodes the (i)th hologram in a holographic data storage medium, where (i) is greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to (N). |
| US07813247B2 |
Hybrid laser diode drivers that include a decoder
Provided herein are hybrid laser diode drivers (LDDs) that drive a laser diode in response to receiving enable signals from a controller. In accordance with specific embodiments, a hybrid LDD includes a read channel to selectively output a read current, one or more write channel each to selectively output a write current, and an oscillator channel to selectively output an oscillator current. Additionally, in specific embodiments the hybrid LDD includes a decoder that receives the enable signals from the controller, and based on the enable signals, controls timing of the currents output by the read, write and oscillator channels. |
| US07813246B2 |
Method and apparatus for recording BCA to optical disc using multiple turntables
The BCA recording and reproducing apparatus performs recording of data onto an optical disc placed on a recording turntable, reproduction of data recorded on an optical disc placed on a reproducing turntable and ejection of an optical disc placed on an exchanging table and placement of a new optical disc on the exchanging table in parallel. A processing time is thereby shortened compared with the case of performing data recording, reproduction and exchange in series. |
| US07813243B2 |
Optical disc of write once type, method, and apparatus for managing defect information on the optical disc
An optical disc of write once type, a method and an apparatus of managing defect information on the optical disc of write once type, e.g., a BD-WO, are provided with a temporary defect management area (TDMA). The method includes preparing the temporary defect management area (TDMA) in which a temporary defect list (TDFL) is recorded as defect management information for managing a defective area on the optical disc, recording the most recent temporary defect list cumulatively with the previous temporary defect list in the temporary defect management area, and recording position information for indicating a position of the most recent temporary defect list in the temporary defect management area along with the temporary defect list to more effectively manage the temporary defect list. |
| US07813242B2 |
Write once disc allowing management of data area, method of managing the data area, and apparatus and method for reproducing data from write once disc
A write once disc allowing management of a data area, a method of managing the data area of the write once disc, an apparatus recording data on the write once disc, an apparatus and method of reproducing data from a write once disc. The write once disc, includes a lead-in zone, a data area, and a lead-out zone. The write once disc includes a predetermined area storing area allocation information which indicates whether at least one section of the data area is allocated for disc defect management. In the disc and method, area allocation information specifying a structure of the data area is recorded on the disc, thus allowing a recording/reproducing apparatus to recognize the data area structure. Therefore, allocating areas, such as a spare area, for disc defect management other than an area for storing user data, to the data area is possible. The allocation of the areas for disc defect management to the data area enables effective use of the write once disc. |
| US07813241B2 |
Recovery method for recording to write-once disc
A recovery method for recording to a write-once disc. The recovery method includes: sequentially reading data within a plurality of Data Control Blocks corresponding to respective sessions on the write-once disc; utilizing data included in the Data Control Blocks to establish address information corresponding to each closed session; determining whether the write-once disc is finalized or not according to existence of a lead-out zone; reading a TOC (table of content) block of a TOC area; utilizing the address information stored in a memory of an optical disc drive to recover the TOC block and then storing the TOC block into the memory of the optical disc drive as data of the TOC block prepared for the next recording operation when reading the TOC block fails and the write-once disc is not finalized; and completing the loading operation of the write-once disc to make the write-once disc enter a recordable status. |
| US07813240B2 |
Optical disk recording apparatus and optical recording method
An optical disk recording apparatus having (1) an optical pickup that emits laser light to illuminate a recording surface of an optical disk, receives reflected light resulting from the laser light reflected off the recording surface, and generates a light reception signal based on the thus received reflected light; (2) a laser power controller that sets a laser power setting and controls the power of the laser light emitted from the optical pickup based on the thus set laser power setting; and (3) a signal generator that, when a plurality of trial write areas provided on the recording surface of the optical disk are successively illuminated with the laser light in order to write trial write data, generates a timing notification signal that sets laser arrival timing when the laser light sequentially reaches trial write start positions of the plurality of trial write areas based on the light reception signal generated by the optical pickup. |
| US07813237B2 |
Recording medium having data structure for managing reproduction of multiple audio streams recorded thereon and recording and reproducing methods and apparatuses
The recording medium includes a data area storing at least multiple audio streams in at least one portion thereof. The multiple audio streams are multiplexed, and each audio stream is a transport stream stored as one or more packets. Each packet has a packet identifier, and the packets of the same audio stream have the same packet identifier. |
| US07813236B2 |
Information recording medium, information recording method and information recording/reproduction system
An information recording medium including a plurality of sectors of the present invention includes: a first spare area including a spare sector for replacing a defective sector among the plurality of sectors; a defect management information area for managing the replacement of the defective sector by the spare sector; and a volume space in which user data can be recorded. The volume space is configured so that a second spare area including a spare sector for replacing a defective sector among the plurality of sectors can be additionally allocated. Location information indicating a location of the second spare area is recorded in the defect management information area. |
| US07813235B2 |
Objective lens, optical pick-up device, and optical disk device
An optical pickup device includes light sources for respectively emitting a plurality of different wavelengths of light, a unit structured for causing at least a part of the light emitted from the light sources to pass a same optical path; and a focusing unit for focusing the light. The focusing unit includes at least first and second focusing parts, the first focusing part being to focus mainly a wavelength of light different from a wavelength of light to be mainly focused by the second focusing part. The optical pickup device and optical disk device are capable of realizing at least one of thickness reduction, size reduction and suppression against characteristic deterioration even where coping with various wavelengths of laser including a blue laser. |
| US07813234B2 |
Optical pickup and optical pickup aberration correcting method
An optical pickup includes: a spherical aberration correcting portion for correcting spherical aberration by adjusting a convergence/divergence state of laser light emitted from a light source; a reflecting portion having: a first surface that chooses whether or not to pass laser light emitted from the spherical aberration correcting portion according to the wavelength of the laser light; and a second surface that reflects laser light that has passed through the first surface; and two objective lenses that are selectively used according to whether laser light reflected from the reflecting portion has been reflected by the first surface or by the second surface so as to condense light reflected from the reflecting portion onto a recording layer of an optical disc. Here, between the spherical aberration correcting portion and the objective lenses, there is disposed an astigmatism correcting portion that is formed such that the amount of correction can be changed. |
| US07813228B2 |
Accessing pre-recorded content on a record carrier
A system includes a first manufacturing apparatus (510) for manufacturing a plurality of record carriers, such as DVDs, with a pre-recorded area storing the same content. A second manufacturing apparatus (520) stores an identifier in an identifier area of the record carriers. The identifier is unique for distinct groups of record carriers. Each group is associated with a distinct playlist. The playlists differ in at least a selection of content parts that can be accessed and/or a sequence in which content parts can be accessed. A reading device (530) includes means (532) for receiving a record carrier, means (536) for reading an identifier stored in the identifier area, means (537) for obtaining an associated playlist for the read identifier, and means (538) for providing access for rendering to content parts on the playlist. |
| US07813227B2 |
Musical module for a watch movement
A musical module for a watch movement, said module comprising a barrel (11), at least one part (5) having pins (12), a comb (13) with a number of tines, a regulating system (7, 8, 9, 10), and a control device (16, 17, 21). The part (5) or each part (5) is a toothed disc driven by the barrel (11) via at least one pinion (6). The or each toothed disc (5) with said pins (12) on at least one face is able to be positioned over or underneath the comb (13) so that the pins (12) act on the tines of the comb (13) to play a tune. The control device (16, 17, 21) is designed to trigger a rotation of the toothed disc or discs (5) in order to start the tune. The regulating system (7, 8, 9, 10) maintains a constant rotation of the toothed disc or discs (5). |
| US07813225B2 |
Time adjustment device, timepiece with a time adjustment device, and time adjustment method
A time adjustment device has a reception unit that receives a prescribed signal containing time information transmitted by a base station, a display time information adjustment unit that adjusts the time information displayed by a time information display unit based on the time information, a base station identification information acquisition unit that gets base station identification information contained in the prescribed signal, and a time adjustment execution determination unit that decides based on the base station identification information whether the display time information adjustment unit adjusts the displayed time information using the time information from the prescribed signal. |
| US07813216B2 |
Reading of the state of a non-volatile storage element
A method for reading of the state of a non-volatile memory element, including conditioning the frequency of a first oscillatory to the state of this element, and comparing the frequency of the first oscillator with the predetermined frequency of a second oscillator, selected between two possible frequency values for the first oscillator, according to the state of the storage element. |
| US07813208B2 |
Motherboard with voltage regulator for supporting DDR2 memory modules and DDR3 memory modules
An exemplary motherboard includes a driving module, at least two first slots arranged for mounting two first type of memories, at least two second slots arranged for mounting two second type of memories, and a voltage regulator. The driving module is electronically connected to the at least two first slots, the at least two second slots, and the voltage regulator in turn via a channel. The first type of memories and the second type of memories are alternatively mounted on the motherboard, the voltage regulator detects which type memory is currently mounted on the motherboard and outputs voltages suitable for the type of memory mounted on the motherboard accordingly. |
| US07813206B2 |
Time-switch carrying removable storage and semiconductor integrated circuit
Time-switch carrying removable storage includes a memory cell array, a bit line decoder connected with bit lines of the memory cell array, a word line decoder connected with word lines of the memory cell array, a bit line system amplifier connected with the bit line decoder, a word line system amplifier connected with the word line decoder, a semiconductor time switch clamped or bridged between the bit line system amplifier and the bit line decoder, and performing time management of access of the bit line amplifier and the bit line decoder to/from each other without a power supply, a time switch initializer which sets an operation period of the semiconductor time switch, and a controller connected with the bit line system amplifier and the word line system amplifier to control the amplifiers, and having an I/O terminal which transmits/receives an input/output signal. |
| US07813204B2 |
Method and system for memory thermal load sharing using memory on die termination
Memory component temperature information is used to implement a method for ODT (on die termination) thermal load management. A respective temperature of a plurality of memory components are accessed, and based on this temperature, an ODT cycle is directed to a first of the memory components to avoid imposing a thermal load from the ODT cycle on a second of the memory components. |
| US07813203B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and method of manufacturing of the same
A semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of active areas each extending in a first direction and including a memory cell string which includes select transistors and memory cells, current paths of which are connected in series, a first extension portion which is provided between one-side terminal end portions of two active areas neighboring in a second direction that crosses the first direction, and a second extension portion which is provided between other-side terminal end portions of the two active areas neighboring in the second direction, the first and second extension portions connecting the two active areas in a loop configuration. |
| US07813201B2 |
Differential sense amplifier
A differential sense amplifier can perform data sensing using a very low supply voltage. |
| US07813199B2 |
Current mode data sensing and propagation using voltage amplifier
A method and a circuit for current mode data sensing and propagation by using voltage amplifier are provided. Example embodiments may include providing an output signal from a voltage amplifier in response to the voltage amplifier receiving an input signal. The method may include providing a current output signal from a voltage-to-current converter in response to the voltage-to-current converter receiving the output signal. The output signal may be used to drive a current sense amplifier. |
| US07813198B2 |
System and method for reading memory
One embodiment of the invention includes a memory system. The system comprises a memory cell coupled to a bit-line node. The memory cell can be configured to generate a bit-line current on the bit-line node in response to a bias voltage during a read operation. The system further comprises a sense amplifier configured to maintain a substantially constant voltage magnitude of the bit-line node during a pre-charge phase and a sense phase of the read operation based on regulating current flow to and from the bit-line node, and to determine a memory value of the flash memory transistor during the read operation based on a magnitude of the bit-line current on the bit-line node. |
| US07813196B2 |
Integrated semiconductor memory and method for operating a data path in a semiconductor memory
An integrated semiconductor memory contains a multiplicity of bit line pairs which each comprise a first bit line and a second bit line. Sense amplifiers are each coupled to one of the bit line pairs for evaluating a signal on the first and second bit lines. A data line pair coupled to at least one of the multiplicity of bit line pairs for outputting a datum is furthermore provided. A correction device is connected on the output side to the data line pair or to at least one bit line pair. The device is embodied for feeding a correction signal onto the line pair. |
| US07813194B2 |
Apparatus and method for repairing a semiconductor memory
An apparatus and method for repairing a semiconductor memory device includes a first memory cell array, a first redundant cell array and a repair circuit configured to nonvolatilely store a first address designating at least one defective memory cell in the first memory cell array. A first volatile cache stores a first cached address corresponding to the first address designating the at least one defective memory cell. The repair circuit distributes the first address designating the at least one defective memory cell of the first memory cell array to the first volatile cache. Match circuitry substitutes at least one redundant memory cell from the first redundant cell array for the at least one defective memory cell in the first memory cell array when a first memory access corresponds to the first cached address. |
| US07813193B2 |
Ferroelectric memory brake for screening and repairing bits
A method (300) of identifying failing bits in a ferroelectric memory device including at least one ferroelectric capacitor includes (302) writing same state data to the first capacitor, and (304) baking the first capacitor for a first specified period of time at a first selected temperature. A same state read (306) is performed on the first capacitor after the baking. Based on the results from the same state read, it is determined whether an error occurred. The first specified period of time can be from 10 minutes to 2 hours and the first selected temperature can be in a range from 85° C. to 150° C. A repair can be performed (310) to corrected detected errors. A related method (500) can detect imprinted bits using a same state write (502), followed by a relatively high temperature bake (504), then a same state read (506). An opposite state date write (508) is performed followed by a relatively low temperature bake (510), and then an opposite state data read (512) to identify opposite state error or imprint. |
| US07813191B2 |
Semiconductor memory device overdriving for predetermined period and bitline sense amplifying method of the same
A semiconductor memory device overdriving for a predetermined period when sense amplifying a bitline. An overdriving control unit generates an overdriver enabling signal having an enabling period including a point to enable a bitline sense amplifier and a point to select a column. An overdriver provides an overdrive voltage of a level higher than that of a normal pull-up drive voltage to a pull-up node of the bitline sense amplifier in response to the overdriver enabling signal. The data line pair provides a sufficient difference in potential even for a tRCD_min condition by preventing a drop in the potential of the bitline using the overdrive operation when selecting a column. |
| US07813180B2 |
Non-volatile memory devices and methods of operating the same
Example embodiment non-volatile memory devices may be capable of increased integration and reliability and may provide example methods of operating non-volatile memory devices. Example embodiment non-volatile memory devices may include a first control gate electrode on a semiconductor substrate. A first charge storing layer may be between the semiconductor substrate and the first control gate electrode. A source region may be defined in the semiconductor substrate at one side of the first control gate electrode. A first auxiliary gate electrode may be at the other side of the first control gate electrode and may be recessed into the semiconductor substrate. A first drain region may be defined in the semiconductor substrate at one side of the first auxiliary gate electrode opposite to the first control gate electrode. A bit line may be connected to the first drain region. |
| US07813169B2 |
Integrated circuit and method to operate an integrated circuit
Disclosed embodiments relate to integrated circuits, a method to operate an integrated circuit, and a method to determine an electrical erase sequence. More particularly, the application relates to devices having at least two memory cells and methods relating to its operation. |
| US07813163B2 |
Single-ended read and differential write scheme
A method to read and write at least one static memory cell is provided, said cell comprising a cross-coupled inverter pair and two pass-devices wherein said method is characterized in that during read only one of the two pass-devices is selected, while for write both pass-devices are selected. Furthermore, a circuit to read and write at least one static memory cell is described, said cell comprising a cross-coupled inverter pair and two pass-devices. Said circuit is characterized in that for each pass-device of the cell an individual wordline is connected with a gate of the particular pass-device, wherein both wordlines are selected for write and a single wordline is selected for read. |
| US07813161B2 |
Dual port SRAM with dedicated read and write ports for high speed read operation and low leakage
A dual port static random access memory (SRAM) having dedicated read and write ports provides high speed read operation with reduced leakages. The dual port SRAM includes at least one write word line, at least one read word line, at least one pair of write bit line and read bit line, a plurality of rows and columns. Each rows and column has at least one cell which includes at least one pair of memory elements cross-coupled to form a latch for storing data, a pair of write access semiconductors and a pair of read access semiconductors. The SRAM includes an inverter circuit and a pull down circuit which are operatively coupled to the at least one cell to increase read operation performance and eliminate leakage. |
| US07813160B2 |
Nanocrystal quantum dot memory devices
Memory devices and recordable media are disclosed that take advantage of memory effects in the electronic transport in CdSe nanocrystal (NC) quantum dot arrays. Conduction through a NC array can be reduced with a negative voltage and then restored with a positive voltage. Light can also be used to restore or even increase the NC array conduction. The switching of the conduction in CdSe NC arrays and found the behavior to be highly sensitive to the value and duration of the laser and voltage pulses. |
| US07813158B2 |
Recordable electrical memory
A memory device includes memory cells each having a recordable layer between two metal layers, each memory cell being constructed and designed to change from a first state to a second state upon application of an initialization signal, and change from the second state to a third state upon application of a write signal. For a voltage within a specified range that is applied across the two metal layers, the memory cell has a lower resistance in the first state than in the second state, and has a higher resistance in the second state than in the third state. |
| US07813157B2 |
Non-linear conductor memory
A high-speed, low-power memory device comprises an array of non-linear conductors wherein the storage, address decoding, and output detection are all accomplished with diodes or other non-linear conductors. In various embodiments, the row and column resistors are switchable between a high resistance when connected to a row or column that is non-selected, and a low resistance when connected to the selected row and column. |
| US07813156B2 |
Semiconductor device
The present invention provides a sense circuit for DRAM memory cell to cover the events that a sense time becomes remarkably longer when a power source voltage is lowered, a sense time under the low voltage condition becomes shorter when temperature rises and a sense time changes to a large extent for fluctuation of processes. The present invention provides the following typical effects. A switch means is provided between the bit line BL and local bit line LBL connected to the memory cells for isolation and coupling of these bit lines. The bit line BL is precharged to the voltage of VDL/2, while the local bit line LBL is precharged to the voltage of VDL. The VDL is the maximum amplitude voltage of the bit line BL. A sense amplifier SA comprises a first circuit including a differential MOS pair having the gate connected to the bit line BL and a second circuit connected to the local bit line LBL for full amplitude amplification and for holding the data. When the bit line BL and local bit line LBL are capacitance-coupled via a capacitor, it is recommended to use a latch type sense amplifier SA connected to bit line LBL. |
| US07813152B2 |
Power converter
To provide a power converter, comprising: a pair of main circuit switching elements to which diodes are connected; a means for generating a first PWM basic signal for driving a main circuit switching element; and a reverse voltage application circuit to be operated, triggered by a second PWM basic signal which differs from the first PWM basic signal only in phase. |
| US07813151B2 |
Variable-mode converter control circuit and half-bridge converter having the same
A converter control circuit applicable to various topologies of converters each employing two switching devices is disclosed. The converter control circuit includes an oscillator for generating a pulse signal and triangle-wave signal of a certain frequency, a switching control signal output unit for outputting a switching control signal to control ON/OFF of a plurality of switching devices based on a duty ratio determined from a feedback signal which is applied to a feedback terminal, a mode select signal generator for generating a mode select signal for determination of a control mode of a converter in response to the feedback signal applied to the feedback terminal, and a mode selecting unit for selecting the control mode in response to the mode select signal. |
| US07813149B2 |
System and method for power saving conversion topology in switch mode power supplies
A power supply includes an input filter and rectifier module, a digital control module, and a converter module. The input filter and rectifier module is configured to rectify an input voltage. The digital control module is adapted to prevent a potential saturation of a transformer by setting a maximum allowable duty cycle for a control signal transmitted to the transistor based on an input voltage. The digital control model is further adapted to reduce switching losses in the power supply by setting the control signal switching frequency, based on the input voltage. The converter module is configured to convert the input voltage into a direct current output voltage based upon the control signal. |
| US07813148B2 |
Power converter having flux bias regulation method
Provided is a flux regulation method for use in a power converter, wherein the method is carried out by a flux bias controller. The flux bias controller includes a current detector which is configured to detect the primary current of the transformer of the power converter in a predetermined switching cycle, a DC bias processor which is configured to obtain the duty ratio control signal according to the sampled primary current outputted from the current detector for a switching cycle later than the predetermined switching cycle, and a PWM controller which is configured to generate driving signals to control the on/off operations of the switching circuit of the power converter according to the duty ratio control signal, thereby suppressing the DC bias of the transformer by regulating the duty ratio of the switch circuit. |
| US07813144B2 |
Control apparatus
There is provided a control apparatus capable of simply supporting/fixing a board by a board support, reducing a number of integrating steps, reducing cost and downsizing a board size.In a control apparatus constituted by attaching a board to a board support provided at a base attachably and detachably, the board support is constituted by a resin, and includes a guide having a section in an L-like shape provided at one side end portion of the board support, a hook having a section in an L-like shape provided at other side end portion of the board support, and a board mounting portion provided between the guide and the hook for supporting a lower face of the board. The guide includes an engaging portion engaged with one side end portion of the board mounted to the board mounting portion at an upper portion thereof. The hook includes an engaging portion engaged with other side end portion of the board mounted to the board mounting portion and provided with an elasticity, and the hook is constituted to be able to be inclined. |
| US07813140B2 |
Methods and systems for filtering signals
The present invention describes methods for enhancing the performance of two-capacitor low-pass filters. In certain embodiments of the invention, the capacitors are placed on opposite sides of a PCB board. |
| US07813133B2 |
Semiconductor device
A semiconductor device includes a board, a semiconductor element mounted on one of main surfaces of the board, a plurality of passive elements provided in the vicinity of the semiconductor element, and a heat radiation plate mounted above the board and connected to a rear surface of the semiconductor element via a heat conductive material. A surface roughness of a surface of the heat radiation plate which surface comes in contact with the heat conductive material is non-uniform at a whole of the surface. |
| US07813132B2 |
Heat dissipation assembly
A heat dissipation assembly has a containment apparatus preventing unwanted migration of a thermal interface material to surrounding areas on a top surface of a heat sink. The containment apparatus includes a cap correspondingly covering the thermal interface material and an annular frame extending downwardly from a bottom end of the cap and attached to a periphery of a top of the heat sink. The cap includes a ceiling and a plurality of inclined sidewalls extending downwardly and outwardly from edges of the ceiling, thereby forming a protective space within the cap combining with the top surface of the heat sink to enclose the thermal interface material. Two ears extend outwardly from the frame and accommodate opposite ends of an abutting body of a wire clip therein. |
| US07813131B2 |
Modular outdoor LED power supply
The main objective of the present invention is a modular outdoor LED power supply disposed inside or outside of an outdoor LED light or an LED device so as to decrease the distance between the power supply and a LED light base for preventing an output power drop from an output of the power supply to the LED light base. One or more than one power supply can be disposed in a groove of a main heat-dissipating outer cover of the power supply according to the actual requirements, so that the production and installation thereof become more convenient. The power supply is characterized by being water-resistant, moisture-proof, dust-proof, antirust and direct heat-dissipating, wherein the water-resistant effect is above the IP 65 standard, and thus the reliability and the lifetime of the power supply are increased. |
| US07813128B2 |
Method for cooling a static electronic power converter device and corresponding device
The present invention relates to a method of cooling a static electronic power converter device including at least one electrical circuit including an assembly of active components and of passive components mounted in a closed radiator housing from which only the inlet and the outlet of the circuit communicate with the outside of the housing, in which the distribution of the heat energy given off by the active and passive components is made uniform throughout the inside volume of the housing, and the heat energy is transferred from the radiator housing by forced convection in substantially uniform manner over the entire inside surface of the walls of the housing by causing at least one fluid contained inside the leaktight housing to circulate in a closed circuit. The invention also provides a static electronic power converter device enabling the method to be implemented. |
| US07813127B2 |
Receiver apparatus
There is provided a digital broadcasting receiver apparatus in which a temperature in the area surrounding a removable HDD does not become a high temperature during an operation regardless of whether it is disposed horizontally or vertically. A component with a large heat generating quantity and a component with a small heat generating quantity are installed in respective spaces inside a case. An adapter of the removable HDD is mounted to dispose the removable HDD in a space in which a component with a small heat generating quantity is mounted, thereby preventing the temperature in the area surrounding the removable HDD from becoming a high temperature. |
| US07813124B2 |
Electronic information board
An electronic information board includes a frame, a flat display element and electronic equipment for controlling the display element. The information board includes a display casing for the display element and a device casing for the electronic equipment, such as a control unit and power supply. The display element is supported preferably with flexible support elements to the display casing so that there is a gap between the front and back surfaces of the display element and the walls of the display casing enabling the circulation of air. Cooling system transfers heat from the display casing and the device casing to the outside of the casings. The cooling system includes circulating fans placed in the fan casing with which an air flow is generated through the display casing and the device casing. |
| US07813122B2 |
Electronic device with support member
An electronic device includes a main body, two pivot shafts, a cover rotatably connected to the main body via the pivot shafts, and two supporting members extending from a side of the cover and connected to the main body. Each supporting member has a supporting surface. A distance between the supporting surface and an axis of the pivot shaft is larger than a distance between a bottom surface of the main body and the axis of the pivot shaft. |
| US07813117B2 |
Hard disk drive throughput-enhancing vibration control device
In a hard disk drive (HDD) vibration control device disposed on a HDD bracket including a HDD, the HDD vibration control device includes a main body portion, a rear clip, a front clip, a left rail spring, and a right rail spring. The main body portion includes a front bar, a rear bar, left bar, and right bar. The rear clip extends down from the rear bar clamped onto the HDD. The front clip extends down from the front bar clamped onto the HDD. The left rail spring includes a first flat portion extending outwards from the left bar and including a first spring portion extending from the first flat portion. The right rail spring includes a second flat portion extending outwards from the right bar and including a second spring portion extending from the second flat portion. The first and second flat portions of the left rail spring the right rail spring rest, respectively, on top surfaces of a left side bracket and right side bracket of the HDD bracket. The first and second spring portions of the left rail spring and the right rail spring arc above the top surfaces of the left side bracket and the right side bracket, and are configured to flex downwards when a force is applied from above. |
| US07813112B2 |
Battery cover latching assembly and portable electronic device using the same
A cover latching assembly (60) for a portable electronic device (100) is provided. The portable electronic device includes a housing (10) and a cover (20) configured for attaching to the housing. The cover has a latching portion (26) formed thereon. The cover latching assembly includes a button (30) and an elastic member (40). The button includes a recessed portion (344), and the button is slidably secured on the housing. The elastic member enables the latching portion of the cover to engage with the recessed portion of the button. |
| US07813107B1 |
Wet tantalum capacitor with multiple anode connections
A capacitor assembly comprising a casing, an anode pack housed within the casing and comprising two or more anode pellets of anode active material electrically connected to each other by a bridge, and a cathode comprised of cathode current collectors including major faces with cathode active material provided thereupon is described. The bridge, which spans between sidewalls of the anode pellets, helps maintain them in a parallel alignment. The bridge is also a convenient location to connect the feedthrough wire that exits the casing through a glass-to-metal seal. The cathode current collectors are disposed between adjacent anode pellets and are electrically connected to each other and to the casing. A feedthrough wire electrically connected to the anode pack extends outside the casing in electrical isolation there from. An electrolyte is provided to activate the anode and the cathode. |
| US07813106B2 |
High current efficiency supercapacitor desalination devices and methods of making the same
An electrode assembly is provided. The assembly includes a chargeable electrode configured to adsorb oppositely charged ions, where the electrode comprises a porous material. The assembly further includes an ion exchange material in contact with the porous material of the chargeable electrode, where the ion exchange material is similarly charged as the chargeable electrode, and where the ion exchange material is permeable to the oppositely charged ions and at least partially impermeable to the similarly charged ions. |
| US07813103B2 |
Time-based wafer de-chucking from an electrostatic chuck having separate RF BIAS and DC chucking electrodes
An electrostatic chuck in a reactor chamber has a cathode electrode insulated from ground, a chucking electrode insulated from the cathode electrode and a dielectric layer overlying the chucking electrode that provides a workpiece support surface. A D.C. chucking voltage supply is coupled to the chucking electrode. An RF power generator is coupled to the cathode electrode. A voltage sensing apparatus is coupled to the chucking electrode and to the cathode electrode to monitor the voltage difference between them during discharge after removal of RF and DC power at the conclusion of processing. The reactor includes a controller programmed to raise the lift pins during electrode discharge as soon as the voltage sensing apparatus detects equal voltages simultaneously on the chucking and cathode electrodes. |
| US07813102B2 |
Prevention of emitter contamination with electronic waveforms
An apparatus and method for minimizing contamination buildup on corona emitters that are employed in an ionizer. Contamination buildup control is accomplished with solely electronic means. High voltage is applied to the emitters with waveforms that serve to push contaminants away from the emitter, rather than attracting contaminants toward the emitters. The results are fewer cleaning cycles, more time between cleaning cycles, and more stable ionizer operation. |
| US07813101B2 |
Solenoid-operated valve actuating controller
A solenoid-operated valve actuating controller actuates a solenoid-operated valve by energizing an actuating coil of the solenoid-operated valve in a rated mode, enough to move a movable member in the actuating coil, during a first period. Further, the actuating coil is energized in a power saving mode, during a second period after the first period. The solenoid-operated valve actuating controller has a timer circuit for setting the first period, an oscillating circuit for energizing the actuating coil in the power saving mode during the second period, and a control circuit for stopping an oscillating operation of the oscillating circuit during the first period based on an output signal from the timer circuit, and for energizing the actuating coil in the rated mode. |
| US07813099B2 |
Power line outlet strip and method for powerline communications
A powerstrip apparatus having powerline networking capability. The apparatus has a housing member, which an outer region and an inner region. An AC power line is coupled to the housing member. In a specific embodiment, the AC powerline includes a male connector device, e.g., two prong, three prong. The apparatus has a surge protector coupled to the AC power line. The surge protector is within a first portion of the inner region of the housing member. The apparatus has one or more AC power outlets coupled to the surge protector. The one or more AC power outlets is spatially disposed on a first portion of the outer region of the housing member. An on/off switch is coupled between the one or more AC power outlets and the surge protector. A power line device is coupled to the AC powerline. The power line device is adapted to process a data signal from the AC powerline in a first format to a second format. A switching power supply is coupled to the AC powerline. The switching power supply is adapted to convert an AC power signal into a DC signal for use with the power line device. The apparatus also has a first output port coupled to an first input/output of the PLC device and may also have an Nth output port coupled to a second input/output of the PLC device; where N is an integer greater than 1. |
| US07813090B2 |
DC switchgear provided with a commutation-type DC circuit breaker
A DC switchgear is provided with a commutation-type DC circuit breaker having a main circuit provided with a main switch for interconnecting a DC power supply and a load, and a commutating circuit provided with a commutating capacitor and a commutating switch, which is connected electrically parallel to the main switch. The switchgear further has a DC circuit breaker accommodating box that includes the main circuit provided with the main switch, and the commutation-type DC circuit breaker; a front accommodating box disposed on the front of the DC circuit breaker accommodating box, which accommodates devices having functions for controlling the switchgear and indicating a status, such as a failure status thereof; and a rear accommodating box disposed on the back of the DC circuit breaker accommodating box. The front and rear accommodating boxes are connected to the DC circuit breaker accommodating box to form an integrated DC switchgear. |
| US07813089B2 |
Motor controller and electric power steering apparatus
In a motor controller, if a failed electric current flow in any one of phases of a motor is detected, a motor control signal is generated, based on a phase other than the phase with the failed electric current flow, in such a manner that a motor electric current matches a required torque except for at a specific rotation angle corresponding to the phase with the failed electric current flow. |
| US07813087B2 |
Magnetic memory device having spin wave oscillator arranged to heat magnetic tunnel junction element
A magnetic memory device includes a magnetic tunnel junction element having a plurality of ferromagnetic layers stacked with a dielectric layer interposed between the adjacent ferromagnetic layers and storing magnetic information through reversal of magnetization of at least one of the magnetization layers, and a spin wave oscillator having a magnetization free layer, a nonmagnetic layer stacked on the magnetization free layer, a magnetization pinned layer stacked on the nonmagnetic layer, and a pair of electrodes adapted to apply current in the direction perpendicular to the surface of the magnetization free layer, the nonmagnetic layer and the magnetization pinned layer to thereby generate a spin wave. The spin wave oscillator is arranged in vicinity of the magnetic tunnel junction element to allow heating of the magnetic tunnel junction element and reversal of magnetization. |
| US07813076B2 |
Method for estimating position error gain for hard disk drives
A hard disk drive with a controller that determines a position error signal gain. The position error signal gain is determined from a total servo loop gain and a function that is defined by a slope of a line of A and B servo bits measured at N off-track positions. The function determines an actual plant gain and thus provides a more accurate position error signal gain. |
| US07813075B2 |
System, method and apparatus for performing metrology on patterned media disks with test pattern areas
Techniques for performing metrology on magnetic media disk formations that are arranged in curvilinear patterns are disclosed. Small integrated test patterns having rectangular or hexagonal periodicity are integrated among the concentric circles of patterned media formations. The test patterns cover only very small areas of the disk so as to not significantly affect disk capacity. The periodicity of the test patterns allows their formations to be more readily measured by metrology technology than those having a curvilinear periodicity. |
| US07813073B2 |
Recording data simultaneously at two depths of a tilted magnetic medium
Methods and recording systems are configured for recording different data simultaneously at two different depths of a tilted magnetic medium, the tilted magnetic medium having a hard axis of magnetization, the axis being out of a plane of the medium and at an angle of −10 to −80 degrees with respect to a direction along which data are recorded, the medium being capable of having two depths of recording. A method embodies writing with selected magnetic fields whose amplitudes and whose angles with respect to the medium hard axis direction differ at the two depths of the medium such that the recorded direction of magnetization at the respective two depths can be set independently. |
| US07813072B2 |
Method and apparatus for improving performance of hard disk drive at low temperature
A method and an apparatus for improving performance of a hard disk drive at low temperature are provided. The method includes: measuring an internal temperature of the hard disk drive; checking whether a measured internal temperature is not more than a predetermined critical temperature; if the measured internal temperature is not more than the predetermined critical temperature, driving a motor of the hard disk drive for a predetermined time and proceeding to the operation of the measuring of the internal temperature of the hard disk drive; and if the measured internal temperature is greater than the predetermined critical temperature, determining that reading/writing operations with respect to the hard disk drive are available. |
| US07813071B2 |
Thermally assisted recording system
A thermally assisted magnetic recording system is provided to achieve excellent thermal resistance and low noise. In one embodiment, a magnetic recording medium is used, in which the magnetic intergrain exchange coupling is large to let the magnetization be thermally stable by coupling the magnetic grains constituting the recording layer at room temperature (the temperature maintaining the magnetization) and reduced by heating during recording to let the recording magnetization transition slope become steep. Parameter A normalizing the slope around the coercivity of the MH-loop of the medium is 1.5≦A<6.0 at room temperature, and it becomes approximately 1.0 with heating. |
| US07813067B1 |
Accumulator for non-return to zero (NRZ) linear feedback shift register (LFSR) in controller for disk drive
A disk controller for a hard disk drive includes a disk formatter interfaced via an NRZ bus to a read channel for the disk. The disk formatter includes an LFSR accumulator coupled to the NRZ bus, as well as an LSFR generator that generates synthetic test data for the disk formatter. Under control of a test flag which signifies a test mode, the LSFR generator generates synthetic test data, which is used by the disk formatter to drive the NRZ bus. The LSFR accumulator accumulates data on the NRZ bus, together with data on servo information and sector information. An interface is provided through which the accumulated information is provided to test equipment, for offline analysis of the accumulated information, so as to confirm proper operation of the disk subsystem and/or to detect failures therein. |
| US07813065B2 |
Systems and methods for acquiring modified rate burst demodulation in servo systems
Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for performing modified rate burst demodulation. For example, a method for performing modified rate burst demodulation is disclosed. The method includes receiving a data input that includes a synchronization pattern, an information pattern, and a demodulation pattern. A periodic boundary is established along with a phase and frequency of a sampling clock based at least in part on the synchronization pattern. The information pattern is processed using the sampling clock to determine a location fix. The sampling clock is phase shifted by a skew amount and a phase shifted sampling clock is provided. The demodulation pattern is processed using the phase shifted sampling clock. |
| US07813064B2 |
Color wheel assembly and color wheel with same
A carrier, a locking member, a color filter unit and an elastic member are provided. The carrier includes a main body, a shaft and a lock-receiving portion. The shaft coaxially protrudes outwardly from the main body. The lock-receiving portion is defined in the shaft. The locking member is lockingly received in the lock-receiving portion. The color filter unit is disposed on the main body. The elastic member is interposed between the locking member and the color filter unit and is compressed therebetween to push the color filter unit against the main body. In this way, the color filter unit is firmly fixed on the main body and the color wheel assembly is assembled. |
| US07813063B2 |
Driving unit and optical pick-up device including the same
The present invention relates to a driving unit capable of implementing a long stroke drive while achieving height reduction of the driving unit. The driving unit is provided with a driving mechanism for driving a driven body. The driving mechanism includes: a bendable displaceable member that is fixated at one end and, through electric control, bent and displaced at the other end; a driving direction-changing member changing a direction of the bending and displacement of the bendable displaceable member to a driving direction of the driven body, the driving direction of the driven body being perpendicular to the direction of the bendable displaceable member; a contact member frictionally engaged with the driving direction-changing member and driving the driven body; and a precompression member mounted in the driven body and precompressing the contact member towards the driving direction-changing member. |
| US07813059B2 |
Optical lens base with protective film and process for producing optical lens base
A protective film (10) is eccentrically adhered to a concave-side transfer surface (3b) of a first mold (3) which is used in a plastic lens forming mold, and part (10a) of the peripheral portion of the protective film is projected laterally from the mold (3). The protective film (10) comprises a film layer with an outer diameter smaller than that of the first mold (3), and an adhesive layer with a relatively low adhesive strength which is formed on one surface of the film layer. |
| US07813057B2 |
Optical lens system for taking image
An optical lens system for taking image comprises: a first lens element with positive refractive power, an Abbe Number of the first lens element being V1, and it satisfying the relation: 50 |
| US07813053B2 |
Lens apparatus
A lens apparatus including an optical element includes a motor configured to drive the optical element; a position detector configured to detect a relative position of the optical element; and a controller configured to detect an origin of the optical element by returning the optical element to the origin by controlling the motor. The controller controls the motor so that a speed of the optical element moving to the origin is higher than a speed of the optical element moved by an operation of an operator. |
| US07813051B2 |
High zoom-ratio zoom lens system
A high zoom-ratio zoom lens system of five lens groups includes a positive first lens group, a negative second lens group, a positive third lens group, a positive fourth lens group, and a negative fifth lens group, in this order from the object.Upon zooming from the short focal length extremity to the long focal length extremity, a distance between the first lens group and the second lens group increases, and a distance between the second lens group and the third lens group decreases.The high zoom-ratio zoom lens system satisfies the following conditions: 5.5 |
| US07813045B2 |
Prism pitch optimization
An optical display system is disclosed. The system has an optical light source, a first microstructured optical component having a plurality of first microstructures, and having a nominal first microstructure pitch, P1; and a second microstructure optical component, arranged relative to the first microstructured optical component, having a plurality of second microstructures and having a second nominal microstructure pitch, P2. P2/P1 has a value closer to the mid-point between consecutive integers than to either one of the consecutive integers. |
| US07813033B1 |
Connecting structures comprising heated flexures and optical packages incorporating the same
Particular embodiments of the present invention relate generally to connecting structures comprising heated flexures for aligning a first component with a second component. According to one embodiment of the present invention, an optical package includes a laser, a wavelength conversion device, a mirror and a connecting structure. The mirror reflects a laser beam such that the laser beam is incident upon the wavelength conversion device. The connecting structure includes a structure base and three bipod flexures. Each of the bipod flexures includes first and second bipod legs extending from the structure base to the mirror. A heating element is thermally coupled to the first and second bipod legs. The bipod flexures are arranged in a tripod configuration such that changes in the length of the bipod legs alter the reflection of the laser beam from the mirror. |
| US07813031B2 |
Image display device
An image display device comprising: (i) a pair of substrates facing each other; and (ii) particles placed in a gap between the substrates, wherein at least one of the substrates is a resin substrate which is transparent and exhibits a light transmittance of 50% or more at a wavelength of 300 nm. |
| US07813030B2 |
Display and fabricating method thereof
A display and fabricating method thereof is provided. The display includes a first substrate, a second substrate, a hydrophobic layer, a nonpolar liquid layer, a hydrophilic separator, a polar liquid layer, and a protruding spacer. The first and second substrates respectively include an opposing surface, and are disposed in a way that the opposing surfaces are face-to-face opposing to each other. The hydrophobic layer overlies the opposing surface of the second substrate. The nonpolar liquid layer overlies the hydrophobic layer. The hydrophilic separator overlies the hydrophobic layer and surrounds the nonpolar liquid layer. The polar liquid layer overlies the nonpolar liquid layer. The protruding spacer is disposed between the hydrophilic separator and the first substrate. |
| US07813026B2 |
System and method of reducing color shift in a display
A system and method of reducing color shift in a display includes an interferometric modulator display configured to reflect light from at least one light source and through at least one converging optical element in an optical path from the light source to a viewer via the display. In one embodiment, the converging optical element comprises a diffractive optical element. |
| US07813024B2 |
EC mirror assembly
The present invention provides an EC mirror assembly including an EC mirror cell and a control for controlling the reflectivity of the mirror cell, the assembly also including a pair of contact elements independently displaceable relative to the mirror cell while maintaining an electrical connection with the control, the contact elements also being engageable with opposite edges of the mirror cell in order to provide an electrical connection between the control and the mirror cell. |
| US07813017B2 |
Method and system for increasing holographic data storage capacity using irradiance-tailoring element
A method and system is disclosed for increasing the holographic storage capacity of a holographic recording medium using an irradiance-tailoring (e.g., optical) element by changing the irradiance profile of the modulated object beam (e.g., by imparting motion to an irradiance-tailoring element and/or the holographic recording medium and/or by reconfiguring (e.g., periodically) the phase profile of a stationary irradiance-tailoring (e.g., optical) element) to minimize the effects of fixed-pattern noise buildup from occurring in the holographic recording medium. |
| US07813016B2 |
Method of nonlinear harmonic holography
A harmonic holography (H2) technique and system that combines holography and nonlinear optics that enables holographic recording of 3D images with femtosecond framing time are provided. The H2 technique records holograms with second harmonic (SH) signals scattered off specialized nanocrystals that are functionalized to label specific protein or other biomolecules in a living organism. The capability of generating second harmonic radiations is specific to materials with noncentrosymmetric crystalline structures only, and χ(2) vanishes for all other types of materials. Therefore, a sharp contrast is formed when particles of noncentrosymmetric structures are dispersed in a medium of other species, pumped at a fundamental frequency, and imaged at the second harmonic frequency. The new scheme described herein provides a sound basis for a new type of contrast microscopy with enormous potential in molecular biomedical imaging. |
| US07813012B2 |
Document feeder
An automatic document feeder includes: an inlet; an outlet; a transfer system configured to transfer a document from the inlet to the outlet; an input transfer path configured to guide a document during transfer from the inlet passed a scanning point to an end point positioned above the inlet; an output transfer path configured to guide the document during transfer from the end point passed the scanning point to the outlet; a secondary system configured to feed the document from the inlet; and a drive system configured to drive the transfer elements and the secondary system, wherein the drive system controls the transfer system such that, in at least some instances, operation of the secondary system is independent of operation of the transfer system. |
| US07813011B2 |
Method of conversion of a hard-copy document containing text or image data into the electronic document
A method of obtaining graphical information from a single- or multi-page document printed on a hard media where reading out of the position of the document elements is performed by using a method of volumetric scanning of a document (even closed) is described. Processing of scanning results, comprises joining up the separate scanning layers scanning results, removing noise, correction of document image orientation, dividing information into portions relating to separate pages, is performed after reading the information. Then text information recognition contained in the graphical file is performed. Information may be read out by using methods of magnetic resonance scanning, supersonic scanning, X-ray scanning etc. The results of scanning in electronic form may be stored for further transmission thereof on a medium or via communication channels to a distant location for recognition. |
| US07813010B2 |
Document reading apparatus, image processing apparatus, image forming apparatus, and copying machine
A driving unit drives an illuminating light. An image pick-up device reads a document in a main-scanning direction. An optical unit projects an image of the document onto the image pick-up device. An extracting unit extracts image signals at a plurality of points in the main-scanning direction of a first position and a second position in a sub-scanning direction. A document detecting unit creates binary data indicating a presence of the document at each of the points based on the image signals extracted. A size detecting unit determines a size of the document in the main-scanning direction based on a distribution of presence and absence of the document. |
| US07813008B2 |
System and method for improving an appearance of a raster image comprising glyph shapes
A system and method for improving the appearance of a raster image that includes glyph shapes is provided. A pair of glyph shapes is defined. Each glyph shape is differentiated two-dimensional machine readable data of relatively uniform appearance. Each of the glyph shapes is assigned to a different bit value. Digital data from an input source is encoded into a bitmap image space by representing a bit value for each item of the digital data as the glyph shape corresponding to that bit value. A raster image of the encoded glyph shapes is generated from the bitmap image space. |
| US07813007B2 |
Image processing system determining dot formation for each pixel group and method for the same
The present invention provides a dot data processing apparatus for generating data of dots to be formed on a printing medium. The apparatus includes: a decoding preparation unit that prepares a decoding table for pixel groups, each of the pixel groups grouping together a plurality of pixels that constitute a unit of dot formation, the table containing output dot arrangements and code values in a number of identifiers assigned to the pixel groups, the output dot arrangements and code values being associated, the output dot arrangements representing the dot on-off states for the pixels in the pixel groups, the code values assuming a prescribed range of values; a code value receiving unit that receives code values derived as a result of encoding of image data representing an image with a prescribed tone number, the encoding being performed for the each pixel group as an encoding unit; a decoding unit that acquires the output dot arrangement based on the received code value and the identifier assigned to the pixel group, by means of lookup in the decoding table; and a dot data output unit that outputs dot data which represents an arrangement of dots to be formed on a printing medium, in accordance with the acquired output dot arrangement. |
| US07813005B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing image data
An apparatus includes: a reading unit that obtains image data by reading a document through a reading glass; a detecting unit that detects a dirty place on the reading glass; a determining unit that determines a type of each area in the image data; an edge enhancing unit that applies an edge enhancement to each area based on the type determined; and a control unit that controls, when the type of an area determined is a text area, and when the area overlaps the dirty place detected, an amount of the edge enhancement for the area. |
| US07813002B2 |
Method of backlit display printing
Disclosed is a method and apparatus for improving the backlit display printed image quality. In accordance with the method, the front side image is printed as an original high quality image. The backside image is printed as a blurred image. Both images are generated from the same digital image data. |
| US07812995B2 |
Machine setup by scanning a configuration sheet
A method, system, and computer program for configuring a device provides the capability for a user to easily enter complex configuration settings by scanning sheets or documents having information defining the configuration settings into the device. A method for configuring a device comprises imaging a document, extracting configuration data from the imaged document, and setting configuration parameters of the device using the extracted configuration data. |
| US07812992B2 |
Method and apparatus for gaming promotional printer
A method and apparatus for a promotional printer for use within a cashless enabled gaming machine or vending machine are disclosed. A promotional printer includes a coupon database describing a stack of coupons that are specified using a template based couponing printer language. A coupon is selected for creation and issued to a user or player based on a matrix of event-based triggers involving factors or parameters known to the promotional printer directly or supplied by a master promotional controller. Triggers may include the time of day, the date or amount of a cash-out voucher to be issued to the user or player, the duration of play on a gaming machine, a player classification, the amount of money or credits added to a game, or a random frequency of coupon issuance having satisfied any or all of the aforementioned factors. The promotional printer may further include the ability to store all of the coupons, trigger conditions, and related information resident in the promotional printer in a non-volatile fashion thus enabling a host system to download a promotional environment into the promotional printer which will run promotional campaigns on behalf of the hosting system. |
| US07812991B2 |
Image data control device, image data control program, computer readable recording medium on which the program is stored, image forming device, and image reading device
A server, which functions as an image data control device, makes a judgment as to whether a job containing image data stored in a hard disk of the storage unit has received deletion designation for being designated to be deleted from the hard disk. Then, among the jobs judged to have received the deletion designation, the server provides control that prevents a referenced job containing image data that is referenced by a reproduced or combined job (referencing job) from being deleted from the hard disk. |
| US07812990B2 |
Data processing apparatus and method
Provided are a data processing apparatus and method that make it possible to detect improper resource data that has been stored in a printer. The data processing apparatus, which is connectable to an image forming apparatus that refers to resource data when an image is formed, first acquires information relating to resource data that has been stored in the image forming apparatus and stores the information on a hard disk. Next, improper resource data is detected by control exercised by a CPU in the processing apparatus based upon the acquired information relating to the resource data. After prescribed processing is executed with respect to improper resource data that has been detected, information relating to prescribed resource data is provided to the image forming apparatus via a network controller. |
| US07812989B2 |
System and method for voice help on a topic the user selects at the device, or to correct an error at a multi-function peripheral (MFP)
A method of providing voice help at a multi-function peripheral (MFP) device is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving, at an MFP device, a help request for a task, associated with the use of the MFP device, from a user and providing, at the MFP device, the user with voice help associated with the task. In one embodiment, the task is associated with a topic that the user selects. In another embodiment, the task is associated with correction of an error detected by the MFP device. One embodiment of the invention would provide the user with more “voice” detailed information than with the current technology. Furthermore, a user can easily access and activate complex features of the MFP device via voice help which have not been possible in conventional printing devices. |
| US07812984B2 |
Remote stored print job retrieval
A technique is disclosed for printing, at a local printing device, a print job that was previously stored at a remote printing device. According to one aspect of the technique, a command is received through a console of a local printing device at which a particular print job is not stored. In response to the receipt of the command through the console of the local printing device, the particular print job is requested from a remote printing device at which the particular print job is stored. The particular print job, sent from the remote printing device, is received at the local printing device. The particular print job is printed at the local printing device. |
| US07812983B2 |
Methods and systems for transferring binary data
Various embodiments enable binary data to be included in its original form, along with XML control information, within the protocol used to transfer the data. In the illustrated and described embodiments, a data model is employed in which the binary data comprises part of a multi-part message that is divided with part delimiters. |
| US07812972B2 |
Reticle, apparatus for monitoring optical system, method for monitoring optical system, and method for manufacturing reticle
A reticle has a mask substrate, a test pattern established on the mask substrate having an asymmetrical diffraction grating so as to generate positive first order diffracting light and negative first order diffracting light in different diffraction efficiencies, and a device pattern adjacent to the test pattern established on the mask substrate. |
| US07812971B2 |
Multi color autofocus apparatus and method
An autofocus system and method that includes a controllable light source having at least two selectively activated substantially monochromatic output wavelengths adapted for illuminating an object; a camera receiving light from said light source reflected from a portion of said object and generating output signals responsive to said received light; a controller connected to said camera and said controllable light source for positioning said camera and sequentially illuminating a first portion of the object with at least two selectively activated substantially monochromatic output wavelengths, moving the camera to a second position and sequentially illuminating a second portion of the object with at least two selectively activated substantially monochromatic output wavelengths; and a data processor connected to said camera and receiving said output signals and for each portion, comparing the output signals associated with each wavelength and determining a focus parameter from said comparison. |
| US07812964B2 |
Distance measuring interferometer and encoder metrology systems for use in lithography tools
In general, in one aspect, the invention features a system that includes a moveable stage, an interferometer configured to provide information about a first degree of freedom of the stage, an encoder configured to provide information about a second degree of freedom of the stage, and an electronic processor configured to monitor the position of the stage based on the information about the first and second degrees of freedom. |
| US07812960B2 |
Optical ultrasound device
A new optical ultrasonic analysis transducer is described. The device includes a new detection means for the reflected ultrasound signal. The detector may be incorporated into a microchip design. The detector is compatible with a variety of material and design geometries that may be optimized for the particular application. Versions of the device may optionally include both excitation and receiving elements on the same device or these elements may be separate. Example designs are shown with applications to continuous wave ultrasound analysis useful for example in Doppler fluid flow measurements. Other designs are shown with multiple arrays and multiple excitation transducers to allow flexible three-dimensional imaging apparatus to be built. An equivalent circuit analysis of the frequency response and signal sensitivity provides means to customize material selection and other design parameters for particular applications. |
| US07812959B1 |
Total internal reflection holographic microscope
The present invention provides for a digital holographic microscope using a holographic interferometer and incorporating a TIR sample mount and microscopic imaging optics. The microscope uses phase shifting from frustrated internal reflection within a prism to measure nanometric distances. The invention also provides for a numerical reconstruction algorithm of an inclined surface of the object/prism. |
| US07812956B2 |
Time dependent fluorescence measurements
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for collecting optical data pertaining to one or more characteristics of a sample. The apparatus has a light source, one or more illumination optical elements, a scanner, one or more collection optical elements, and a device forming an aperture that limits detection of light from the sample. The illumination optical elements direct a light beam from the light source onto the sample. The scanner scans the light beam across the sample. The collection optical elements collect light from the sample and transmit the collected light to a detector. None of the collection optical elements are included among the illumination optical elements. The device forming an aperture limits detection of light from the sample to light associated with a limited vertical depth within the sample, and is one of the collection optical elements. |
| US07812953B2 |
Mixture identification system
A mixture identification system for detecting foreign matter admixed in a tobacco material includes a conveyor for conveying the material, an irradiation device for irradiating infrared light toward an inspection line extending across the conveyor, an infrared camera device for receiving the infrared light reflected from the tobacco material passing across the inspection line and outputting image data of the material based on the received infrared light, and a discrimination circuit for detecting foreign matter in the material based on the output from the camera device. The infrared camera device has infrared filters for receiving the infrared light reflected from the tobacco material and allowing only respective specific wavelengths to pass therethrough, and optical line sensors for receiving the infrared light passed through the respective filters. |
| US07812952B2 |
Device for reading plates bearing biological reaction support microdepositions
A method for reading slides bearing fluorescent deposits, such as used in serology or molecular biology analysis, includes: incubating a slide with a sample of serum from a patient, or a dilution thereof, and revealing antibodies in the sample bound to the deposits by labelled reagents. Label reading and analysis is performed by a device including a slide positioner, light emitting diodes arranged in illumination channels to provide oblique illumination at different wave lengths, and a collection optic for forming an image of the deposits on a sensor. |
| US07812950B2 |
System method and apparatus for optical directional determination
A method for measuring the direction and velocity of a target in a measurement volume in a laser Doppler velocimetry system includes selecting a discrete number of grating positions for an electrically switchable grating, placing the electrically switchable grating in a light path of a laser source. The laser source outputs a laser beam along the light path. The method further includes switching the electrically switchable grating sequentially through the discrete number of grating positions at a grating frequency to generate diffracted light beams from the laser, directing the diffracted light beams through a lens, focusing the diffracted light beams on a measurement volume, passing a target through the measurement volume in a target direction at a target velocity and receiving scattered light in a detector and calculating the power spectrum of light intensity fluctuations. The power spectrum includes a maximum peak. The maximum peak occurs at a frequency shifted from the grating frequency an amount corresponding to the target velocity and in a direction corresponding to the target direction. A laser Doppler velocimetry system for measuring the direction and velocity of a target in a measurement volume is also disclosed. |
| US07812945B2 |
Fluorescence tomography using line-by-line forward model
A fluorescence optical tomography system and method uses a photon migration model calculator for which absorption and reduced scattering coefficient values are determined for each source/detector pair. The coefficient values may be determined by measurement, in which a time resolved detector detects the excitation wavelength and generates temporal point spread functions from which the coefficient values are found. Alternatively, the coefficient values may be determined by calculating them from a dataset containing a spatial distribution of absorption and reduced scattering coefficients in a volume of interest. The fluorescence detection may be continuous wave, time resolved, or a combination of the two. An estimator uses a detected fluorescence signal and an estimated fluorescence signal to estimate the image values. |
| US07812942B2 |
Method for detecting surface defects on a substrate and device using said method
A method for detecting surface defects, such as slip line type defects, on a substrate designed to be used in electronics, optoelectronics or analogue, including projection of a pattern of light fringes and dark bands onto the substrate, relative displacement of the substrate relative to the pattern, acquisition of a sequence of at least three images of the pattern reflected by the substrate to a sensor, the images corresponding to displacement of the fringes of the pattern, determination of the gradient of the surface of the substrate using displacements of fringes of the pattern, and determination of the presence of a surface defect on the substrate using variations in the gradient of the surface of the substrate. Another embodiment comprises a device using said method. |
| US07812940B2 |
Angular position sensor for relative attitude sensing
A disclosed sensor includes a light emitter configured to transmit an emitted light beam having a range of wavelengths toward a reflecting element that is configured to produce a reflected light beam having a particular wavelength that is a function of an angle of incidence of the emitted light beam from a normal of the reflecting element. The sensor also includes a color sensor in proximity to and fixed relative to the light emitter and configured to (i) receive the reflected light beam, (ii) detect the particular wavelength of the reflected light beam, and (iii) transmit a color signal indicating the particular wavelength of the reflected light beam. The sensor further includes processing circuitry disposed in electrical communication with the color sensor and configured to receive the color signal and calculate the angle of incidence based on the particular wavelength. |
| US07812939B2 |
Spectrometric measurements during blending / mixing
A mixing bin for the blending of materials (e.g., pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, etc.) bears a spectrometer which monitors the characteristics of the material being tumbled within the bin interior to thereby obtain an indication of the degree to which the material is mixed. An accelerometer also rides on the mixing bin with the spectrometer, and it monitors the position of the mixing bin as it rotates. The accelerometer measurements can then be used to trigger the taking and/or recordation of spectrometer measurements at times during which the material within the bin falls against the spectrometer's input window, thereby promoting greater accuracy in spectrometer measurements, and/or at the same bin position, thereby promoting greater uniformity between spectrometer measurements. |
| US07812937B2 |
Identification medium, article, identification device, and method of identifying identification medium
An identifying medium comprises an optical functional layer that is optically identifiable and comprises a layer containing microcapsules. The microcapsule contains a material that occurs color change by breaking the microcapsule. |
| US07812934B2 |
Physical quantity measuring apparatus
A physical quantity measuring system according to the present invention comprises: an optical fiber having fiber Bragg gratings; a light source connected to the optical fiber; an arrayed waveguide grating connected between the light source and the optical fiber via an optical branching filter, and having output channels of which central wavelengths of at least three output channels are included in a one-tenth loss band of a reflected light by the fiber Bragg grating; light receiving devices for receiving light output from the output channels on a one-to-one basis; and a central reflected wavelength change detecting unit connected to the light receiving devices for estimating a change in a central reflected wavelength based on a physical quantity, by calculating first and second group signals from light receiving signals corresponding to the at least three output channels, and by calculating a differential signal between the first and the second group signals. |
| US07812933B2 |
Electro-optical range finder
An electro-optical range finder (4) having a trapezoidal laser (1) as a laser source, a laser source controller (6) for generating pulsed laser radiation, receiving optics (7) and a detector (8) with an evaluation unit (9) for receiving and evaluating the measuring radiation (RS) reflected by a target (ZI), in order to measure distance, has a separate supply for the guided waveguide region (2) and the trapezoidal region (3) as well as transmitting optics (5) with astigmatism compensation and for collimating the laser radiation. |
| US07812932B2 |
Universal laser range evaluation and verification system
A test station for testing a laser range finder is disclosed. The test station may be a mobile test station. The test station may include an optical system having a first portion which aligns an eyepiece of the test station to the laser range finder, a second portion which aligns the eyepiece to a first range target spaced apart from the test station, and a third portion which aligns the laser range finder to the first range target. |
| US07812928B2 |
Exposure apparatus
An exposure apparatus that exposes an object to be exposed with light from an EUV light source. The light has an exposure wavelength component and a non-exposure wavelength component. The exposure apparatus has a detector that independently detects the quantity of light of the exposure wavelength component and the quantity of light of the non-exposure wavelength component of the light. Therefore, for example, even if the quantity of light of the exposure wavelength component and the quantity of light of the non-exposure wavelength component individually fluctuate, it is possible to accurately ascertain fluctuations in the characteristics of the optical system resulting from irradiation heat. As a result, it is also possible to achieve a high performance mirror adjustment system. |
| US07812927B2 |
Scanning exposure technique
A scanning exposure apparatus for performing exposure of a substrate to light includes a projection optical system to project light from the original onto the substrate, a stage to hold the substrate and to move in a scanning direction, and a focus detector to detect a position of a surface region of the substrate in a direction of the optical axis. The apparatus (i) detects the position of the surface region with respect to each of a plurality of measurement points and with respect to each of a plurality of shot regions of the substrate, (ii) averages the detected positions, (iii) obtains a function which approximates the averaged positions, (iv) calculates a difference between each of the averaged positions and a value of the obtained function, (v) offsets a detected position with a corresponding one of the calculated differences, (vi) controls a position of the stage based on the offset positions, and (vii) logs the obtained function. |
| US07812922B2 |
Liquid crystal aligning device and alignment method thereof
A liquid crystal aligning device (10) includes a UV light source (11), a plurality of liquid crystal cells (13), a mask (12), and a drive circuit (14) is described. The mask (12) is positioned between the liquid crystal cells, containing a mixture of a UV polyimide solution and liquid crystal molecules (131), and the UV light source. The drive circuit applies a voltage to the liquid crystal cells. The liquid crystal cells include a reflective area (13a) and a transmissive area (13b), and after exposing the liquid crystal cells to the UV light source and the voltage from the drive circuit, a pretilt angle of the liquid crystal molecules in the reflective area is larger than that in the transmissive area. Further, an alignment method for liquid crystal cells is also described. |
| US07812921B2 |
Thin film transistor substrate with color filter and method for fabricating the same
A color filter-on-thin film transistor substrate includes gate data lines crossing each other and defining pixel areas, thin film transistors is located at crossings of gate and data lines, pixel electrodes connected to the thin film transistors and formed within the pixel areas, and stripe-shaped color filters overlapping a plurality of pixel areas and oriented parallel to one of the gate and data lines. |
| US07812920B2 |
Production method of substrate for liquid crystal display using image-capturing and reference position detection at corner of pixel present in TFT substrate
A production method of a substrate for a liquid crystal display in which an exposure pattern of a color filter or a black matrix is formed in a predetermined position of a TFT substrate at a high level of precision. Therefore the production method includes following steps: applying a photosensitive material for a color filter or a black matrix onto a TFT substrate; image-capturing a pixel region by an imaging unit while transporting the TFT substrate coated with the photosensitive material at a predetermined velocity by a transporting unit; detecting a reference position preset in the pixel region image-captured by the imaging unit at an image processing section of a control unit; and controlling irradiation timing of a light source in an exposure optical system by a lamp controller with reference to the detected reference position, and forming an exposure pattern of a color filter or a black matrix at a predetermined position of the TFT substrate. |
| US07812918B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and method for fabricating the same
A liquid crystal display device includes first and second substrates facing each other; gate lines and data lines formed on the first substrate such that the gate lines and the data lines intersect each other to define pixel regions; thin film transistors formed at respective intersections of the gate lines and the data lines; a black matrix layer formed on the second substrate such that the black matrix layer corresponds to a region other than the pixel regions; color filter layers extending in an extension direction of the data lines in respective pixel regions; a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first and second substrates; first column spacers formed on one of the first and second substrates such that each first column spacer corresponds to an associated one. of the gate lines or to a channel region of an associated one of the thin film transistors. |
| US07812917B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and method of manufacturing the same
Bead spacers, which are disposed on at least one principal surface of a pair of substrates forming a liquid crystal display device, are bonded to the principal surface by an alignment film or an organic material film. Specifically, the bead spacers disposed on the principal surface are covered with the alignment film, or the bead spacers are bonded by the organic material film to the alignment film formed on the principal surface of the substrate. |
| US07812916B2 |
Liquid crystal display panel with spherical spacer and a concave portion opposite to the spacer
A spherical spacer is used as a spacer member defining a gap, and is fixed to a color filter substrate. A concave portion coming in contact with a part of the spherical spacer is formed in a position in a TFT substrate, the position being opposite to the spherical spacer. The substrates are bonded with each other by engaging the spherical spacer and the concave portion with each other. |
| US07812915B2 |
Method of fabricating liquid crystal display device
A method of fabricating a liquid crystal display includes aligning a mask on a substrate, applying surface treatment to the substrate using light that has passed through the mask, forming a spacer pattern at the surface treated area, and forming a spacer by hardening the spacer pattern. Surface treatment is applied to the area where a spacer is to be formed by an ion beam, ultraviolet radiation or a laser beam. By forming the spacer at the surface treated area using an ink jet, it is possible to control the shape and height of the spacer. Also, since the ink jet is located at the surface treated area, it become easier to align the ink jet to accurately form the spacer at the desired place. |