Document Document Title
US08037507B2 Video/audio output apparatus and video/audio output method
A video/audio output apparatus comprises a control unit adapted to perform screen management of output video, and generate positional relationship information for each input video data; an extraction unit adapted to generate partial image data from the each input video data; an input unit adapted to input audio source differentiated audio data; and a tile generation unit adapted to configure tile data by compiling the partial image data generated by the extraction unit and the audio source differentiated audio data for each drawing region on a screen, based on the positional relationship information generated by the control unit.
US08037503B2 Method of and device for caching digital content data
The disclosure relates to a method of caching a part of digital content data from a content source (202), comprising the step of: acquiring the digital content data from the content source (202), wherein said part of the digital content data comprises interleaved segments (130; 131) of the acquired digital content data, and said interleaved segments (130; 131) of the acquired digital content data are stored on first storage means (203), thereby allowing for fast access to said digital content data. The disclosure moreover relates to a device for carrying out such a method. The content sources can be DVD, CD, CD-ROM, hard disk, RAM, Flash memory or remote sources accessible over a network, such as the Internet.
US08037502B1 Method and apparatus for archiving media content
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for archiving media content, and more particularly to archiving television and radio broadcasts for later delivery, on-demand, via the Internet. A capture server is used to receive and gather a plurality of media sources for archiving and subsequent delivery to client users. The capture server is capable of receiving numerous digital or analog media signals from a variety of media sources, including transmission through traditional broadcast, coaxial cable, the Internet, personal and public camera systems and the like, and converting these media signals into addressable blocks of media content. Furthermore, the capture server is capable of encoding received media signals, particularly analog media signals, applying an application programming interface and preparing the media signals for implementation by the system in an identifiable form or architecture.
US08037498B2 Reception method, reception device, transmission method, transmission device, transmission/reception method, transmission/reception device
An electronic mail on which a control command is interpolated is transmitted through a public line, received by a modem section of a gate way, converted to a digital data, and supplied to the control section. A CPU of the control section stores the received electronic mail in a RAM, and extracts the control command contained in the electronic mail. The CPU supplies a control signal corresponding to the control command to an interface section. The interface section controls an IR transmission section to transmit a signal corresponding to the control signal supplied from the CPU or outputs a signal through a connection line, and controls a video deck.
US08037496B1 System and method for automatically authoring interactive television content
A system and method is provided to automatically generate content for ITV products and services by processing primary media sources. In one embodiment of the invention, keywords are automatically extracted from the primary media sources using one or more of a variety of techniques directed to video, audio and/or textual content of the multimodal source. In some embodiments, keywords are then processed according to one or more disclosed algorithms to narrow the quantity of downstream processing that is necessary to associate secondary sources (reference items) with the primary video source. Embodiments of the invention also provide automatic searching methods for the identification of reference items based on the processed keywords in order to maximize the value added by the association of reference items to the video source.
US08037494B2 Cross-channel interstitial program promotion
According to the invention, a method for generating a personalized menu promoting other video programs available from a video content delivery system is disclosed. The video content delivery system provides a plurality of channels of video content simultaneously. In one step, it is determined that a triggering event has occurred with a video content delivery conduit. First information about one or more users is gathered. The one or more users are associated with an account with the video content delivery system. Alternative video programs are determined and personalized for the one or more users based, at least in part, upon the first information. The context for the triggering event is analyzed to produce second information. A configuration of the personalized menu is determined based, at least in part, upon the second information. The personalized menu is formulated for presentment to the one or more users. The personalized menu comprises links to the alternative video programs.
US08037493B2 Modular remote control and user interfaces
Techniques are described to customize the functional capabilities of a remote control device with one or more modular hardware components. In an implementation, a modular hardware component coupled to a remote control device is identified. A user interface is configured according to the identified modular hardware component and/or the functional capabilities of the identified modular hardware component. The configured user interface corresponds to the modular hardware component and is operable via inputs or data provided through user manipulation of the modular hardware component.
US08037492B2 Method and system for video enhancement transport alteration
Disclosed is a system for selective modification of transport data for enhanced video content. Video transport data is received in a video signal or an external source and a configurable processor uses criteria to selectively modify units of the video transport data. Disclosed criteria included a rule based pattern matching/replacement as well as criteria for denial, acceptance, or modification of particular units of video transport data. The modified video transport data stream created by the processor can be re-encoded in the video signal and provided to an external monitor.
US08037490B2 Spindle motor
A spindle motor is provided. The spindle motor includes a rotation shaft rotatably installed, a stator around the rotation shaft, a rotor coupled to the rotation shaft, a turntable rotated with the rotation shaft, and a center guide member comprising a body coupled to the rotation shaft and a support rim extending from the body, the support rim can comprise a first sloped surface extending from an outer surface of the body and making an angle of about 47° to 53° with an imaginary vertical line parallel with the rotation shaft, and a second sloped surface extending from an end of the first sloped surface and making an angle of about 16° to 22° with an imaginary vertical line parallel with the rotation shaft.
US08037488B2 Optical pickup device
This invention aims at reducing a rolling moment generated in coils mounted to lens holder side face without losing drive forces in a focusing direction and tracking direction in an objective lens drive of an optical pickup device. By shifting a coil line portion near the objective lens of two coil line portions substantially parallel to the tracking direction of the first coil in a direction departing from a lens optical axis, increase and decrease in drive forces generated in right and left first coils when the lens holder is moved in the tracking direction cancel each other so as to eliminate imbalance between the right and left drive forces.
US08037487B2 Optical disk device
A disk drive according to the present invention includes: a cartridge holder; two guide walls arranged near the holder opening of the cartridge holder; a pair of opening/closing levers that have engaging portions to engage with portions of the cartridge and that turn; lever biasing springs for biasing the opening/closing levers; and an interlocking mechanism that makes the opening/closing levers rotate in synchronization with a clamp holder. The opening/closing levers turn such that when the cartridge starts to be inserted or finishes being ejected, the engaging portions get engaged with the cartridge with a narrower gap left between them than the gap between the guide walls and that when the cartridge gets loaded, the gap between the engaging portions becomes wider than the gap between the guide walls.
US08037486B2 Disk device
A slider is mounted on a chassis forming a frame so as to be movable in a first direction, and is configured to start a movement in conjunction with an operation in which an optical pickup is switched from an operation mode into a non-operation mode and returns to an initial position. A disk tray is mounted on the chassis so as to be movable in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, is configured to move in conjunction with the movement of the slider, and is provided with a first groove extending in the first direction. A protrusion is provided in the slider and is engaged with the first groove when the disk tray moves, thereby preventing the disk tray from moving in the second direction. A second groove is provided in the disk tray, communicates with the first groove, and introduces the protrusion into the first groove when the disk tray is moved. A first drive mechanism is configured to move the disk tray and includes a first pinion provided in the chassis and a first rack provided in the disk tray. The second groove is provided with an opening by cutting a portion of a groove wall of the guide groove.
US08037484B2 Building compound extensible AJAX applications
A method of building compound extensible Asynchronous JavaScript And eXtensible Markup Language (AJAX) applications. A server-side web component utility searches an extension registry for Jazz web User Interface (UI) components and generates cached strings of JavaScript code based on the Jazz web UI components. When a browser accesses a Jazz web UI home page, the web component utility uses script tags to download the cached strings of JavaScript code. The web component utility executes the cached strings of JavaScript code and registers multiple available Jazz web UI components with an AJAX package management system. The web component utility serializes a subset of the extension registry that includes multiple extension points declared within the available Jazz web UI components. The Jazz web browser-based functionality downloads the extension registry subset data, parses the data, and makes the data available through one or more JavaScript Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
US08037482B1 Accelerated class check
Reaching a determination associated with a class of an object is disclosed. An identifier associated with the class of the object is extracted from a pointer to the object. The extracted identifier is compared to a comparison value. At least in part using a result of the comparison a determination is reached.
US08037479B2 Implementing container managed batch jobs in an enterprise java bean environment
An improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for creating and running batch jobs in an object oriented environment, such as a J2EE environment. A request to execute a batch job is received. A deployment descriptor file is processed to identify a batch bean to be invoked. This batch job session bean processes the request, parses deployment descriptor file that comprises definitions of relationships between other helper classes, entity and session beans. The identified batch bean is invoked to execute the batch job step in the order described in the deployment descriptor applying checkpoints at intervals specified in the descriptor.
US08037478B2 Object state transfer method, object state transfer device, object state transfer program, and recording medium for the program
When the states of a large number of objects must be transferred to another device, the overhead can be greatly reduced and the object states can be synchronized in a short period of time. At the time of creating an object, an object creation function arranges the internal state of the object into a byte sequence in a region for transfer, and sets mapping data in a mapping management table. When an application program has manipulated the internal state by using an accessor method, the state is set in the byte sequence in the region for transfer, or obtained therefrom. A transfer function transfers the byte sequence in the region for transfer and the mapping management table to a receiver, where a reproduction function reproduces the object based on the received data.
US08037477B2 Efficient detection of sources of increasing memory consumption
A method for detecting increasing memory consumption of an application program is provided. The method includes monitoring memory consumption at an allocation site and updating an allocation site threshold value each time the memory consumption increases. The method further includes increasing a growth period counter each time the allocation site threshold value increases in a current time period. The method yet also includes comparing the growth period counter to a growth threshold. The method yet further includes, if the growth period counter is greater or equal to the growth threshold, computing an elapse time, which is the time between the current time period and a previous growth period. The method moreover includes comparing the elapse time to a time threshold. The method in addition includes, if the elapse time is less than the time threshold, reporting the allocation site as a potential source of the increasing memory consumption.
US08037476B1 Address level log-based synchronization of shared data
A method of address-level log-based synchronization comprises a thread attempting to acquire a lock on an object. If its lock attempt fails, a thread logs, at a synchronization log, data access operations directed at the shared data object, and waits for a notification from the lock-owning thread indicating whether the logged operations succeeded. If its lock attempt succeeds, the lock-owning thread performs data access operations on the shared data object, and arbitrates among requests logged by other threads in the synchronization log, applying the modifications logged in the requests that do not conflict with other modification operations, and rejecting the requests that conflict. The master sends a success notification to the logging threads whose requests were accepted, and a failure notification to the logging threads whose requests were rejected.
US08037473B2 Method to share licensed applications between virtual machines
A computer implemented method and computer program product for sharing licensed applications between virtual machines. When an event is intercepted which comprises an attempted access of a file stored in a hard disk of a guest operating system, wherein the file type has no association with any application installed on the guest operating system, an application installed on a host operating system capable of opening the file is identified. An association of the file type with an application on the host operating system is established, and the file is copied from the hard disk of the guest operating system to a temporary location on the host operating system. The file is opened and accessed using the associated application on the host operating system. The file is then copied back to the hard disk of the guest operating system.
US08037466B2 Method and apparatus for merging critical sections
Critical sections used for multiple threads in a parallel program to access shared resource may be selected to merge with each other to reduce the number of signals/tokens used to create critical sections. Critical section merge may be based on a summarized dependence graph which is obtained from an instruction level dependence graph constructed based on a result of critical section minimization.
US08037464B2 Generating optimized SIMD code in the presence of data dependences
A method for generating code, including identifying at least one portion of source code that is simdizable and has a dependence, analyzing the dependence for characteristics, based upon the characteristics, selecting a transformation from a predefined group of transformations, applying the transformation to the at least one portion to generate SIMD code for the at least one portion.
US08037461B2 Program code conversion
A method of dynamic real time translation of first program code written for a first programmable machine into second program code (target code) for running on a second programmable machine employing run time generation of an intermediate representation of the first program code. Upon first encountering a given portion of program code, only the target code necessary to execute that portion of program code under a prevailing set of entry conditions is initially generated and stored. When the same portion of program code is again encountered, a determination is made as to whether intermediate representation corresponding to a second subsequent set of conditions has been generated. If not, the target code necessary to execute the same portion of program code under that second set of conditions is generated.
US08037456B2 Program execution device
A program execution device is provided which, even when a currently executed application (program) abnormally terminates, can prevent the application from becoming unusable, and thereby improve user convenience. An MA management unit includes: an MA management unit main for receiving an instruction from an initialization subprogram and controlling the other constituent elements in the MA management unit; an XAIT obtainment analysis unit for analyzing an XAIT sent from the head end; an MA selection unit A for selecting a program to be activated, according to the XAIT analysis result; an MA activation unit for activating of the specified program; an MA monitoring unit for monitoring the operational state of the specified program and notifying when an abnormal termination has occurred; and an MA selection unit B for selecting an alternative program.
US08037455B2 Method and device for the automated evaluation of software source code quality
A method and a device are disclosed for automated evaluation of the quality of a software source code, a quality target being predetermined for the quality of the source code. The current quality of the source code and the distance between the current quality of the source code and the predetermined quality target are determined for the quality of the source code. At least one embodiment of the invention permits high volumes of source code to be evaluated in an automated fashion with respect to their quality.
US08037452B2 Task aware source checkin and build
An integrated source code control and work item tracking tool is capable of establishing a relationship between work definition and work implementation. Once established, a more holistic view of the development process can be attained, and specific tasks can be easily accomplished. Tasks that may be accomplished using an integrated source code control and work item tracking tool include: automated generation of a list of work items that are completed in a new build of the system; automated updates of work items that are included in a build so that the work item details reflect the build in which it became available; automated transitioning of work items through a workflow when their implementation is complete and when their implementation is available in a new build; validation that source code changes represent the implementation of work items that have been approved; and managing change in the source code system with a focus on what work items it represents rather than a focus on what files are affected.
US08037444B1 Programmable control of mask-programmable integrated circuit devices
An integrated circuit device such as a structured ASIC includes a mask-programmable portion and a post-fabrication-programmable portion. The mask-programmable portion includes circuitry that is able to read information from the post-fabrication-programmable portion and use that information to affect operation of other componentry of the mask-programmable portion. Signal timing is an example of the kind of operation that may be affected by the above-mentioned information, which may allow post-fabrication timing tuning of the device.
US08037442B2 Method and apparatus for scaling I/O-cell placement during die-size optimization
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that scales an I/O-cell placement during die-size optimization. During operation, the system starts by receiving an initial die-size for a die and an initial I/O-cell placement for a set of I/O cells. The system also receives a target die-size for the die. The system then determines die-size changes between the initial die-size and the target die-size. Next, the system identifies available spaces between the set of I/O cells in the initial I/O-cell placement. The system subsequently scales the initial I/O-cell placement based on the identified available spaces and the die-size changes to obtain a new I/O-cell placement which fits in the target die-size.
US08037440B2 Optimization of ROM structure by splitting
A method for designing a read-only memory (ROM), and related device, includes partitioning a dataset into two or more sub-datasets that each have the same address space, but are of a smaller bit-width than the original dataset. The sub-datasets are row collapsed, and then respective memory cells for the sub-datasets are provided. The output of the memory cells provides the output of the ROM. Each memory cell includes a decoder that maps addresses to word lines based on mapping information obtained during row collapsing, and a logic array driven by the decoder that encodes the data words of the sub-dataset.
US08037436B2 Circuit verification apparatus, a method of circuit verification and circuit verification program
A circuit verification apparatus for verifying justice of wiring connections of PWB is provided. The circuit verification apparatus includes a net list reduction part for generating a reduction net list in which unnecessary components and connections for verification are eliminated from connection relationships for all components used in the PWB; a connection rule for defining conditions of a pair of start point and end point of each expected connection by using variables and function; a rule expanding part for developing the connection rule by using conditions of a pin specified to the start point, determining end point conditions corresponding to the start point and generating a post-development rule including developed conditions of the start point and end point; and a net list and rule matching verification part for verifying matching state of each connection with referring to the reduction net list and the post-development rule, and outputs a verification result.
US08037432B2 Method and apparatus for mapping design memories to integrated circuit layout
A method and apparatus are provided for receiving a list of design memories, wherein each type of design memory in the list has a name and at least one instance. A pre-placement model is associated with each named memory type in the list. The design memories in the list are mapped to an integrated circuit layout pattern, wherein at least one memory type comprises first and second instances that are mapped differently from one another. After mapping, at least one of the first and second instances is renamed to have a different name than the other. A post-placement model is then associated with each named memory type in the list, including a separate model for each renamed design memory.
US08037426B2 Method of generating a guidance route to a target menu and image processing apparatus using the same
A method of guiding a menu, including storing route information generated based on hierarchical relationships of menus according to a tree structure, and displaying menu items using an on screen display and displaying a location and a function of a menu a user would like to find through a simulated menu using route information.
US08037424B2 Visual browsing system and method
A visual browsing method allows a user to look at an item closely by hovering over, instead of clicking on, an icon representing the item. The method also enables the user to browse items in different levels of a multiple level category without waiting for web pages to be loaded, to know where he/she has been in the multiple level category, and to back up if he/she likes. The method makes the browsing process faster and easier.
US08037423B2 Apparatus, method and computer-readable medium for organizing the display of visual icons associated with information technology processes
A method, system and computer-readable medium are provided for enabling the organization, presentation and selection of icons related to information technology processes. In a first version, icons related to individual information technology processes are associated with an enclosing icon displayed by a computer. The user may direct the computer to display or cease displaying the icons by selecting the enclosing icon. In a second version the enclosing icon may be associated with another enclosing icon, wherein icons are organized into a presentation hierarchy. In a third version, the icons may be personalized by associating textual, graphical and/or photographic data as provided by the user.
US08037422B1 System and method for displaying a constant time selection context menu interface
A system and method are provided for a context menu pop-up interface. In one embodiment, the context menu interface may be activated in relation to a second interface, and may include a plurality of selection areas organized around a central selection area. In a preferred embodiment, the sizes of each of the plurality of selection areas increase as a distance to each selection area increases from the central selection area, and the sizes are selected such that the plurality of selection areas can be selected in approximately the same time.
US08037419B2 Electronic system for collecting and automatically populating clinical order information
A graphical user interface for use on a computer coupled to an enterprise electronic medical records system for accepting order data including an order entry window corresponding to an identified order, the identified order including one or more parameters. The graphical user interface also including an expandable order editing box linked to the order entry window and responsive to identification of the order and adapted to accept an input from a user. The graphical user interface also including an order parameter manager coupled to the enterprise electronic medical records system that is adapted to populate at least one of the one or more order parameters based on information associated with a patient for whom the order is being placed. The graphical user interface further being adapted to display to the user the order and the at least one or more populated order parameters.
US08037410B2 Method and apparatus for estimating the size of rendered text
A method of fitting text comprising characters belonging to a character set into a text area wherein the text is rendered in a font and at a font size estimates a total width of the text based on at least a representative width associated with the character set, font and font size, identifies a horizontal truncation boundary based on at least the estimated width and the width of the text area, identifies a vertical truncation boundary based on at least the estimated width, text area, horizontal truncation boundary, and a representative height associated with the character set, font and font size, wraps the text at the horizontal truncation boundary, and truncates the text at the vertical truncation boundary.
US08037409B2 Method for learning portal content model enhancements
A method and respective system for adapting the user-visible structure of a portal to the needs of a user, wherein the portal structure is stored in a content model, wherein a user interface component is provided for controlling the layout of the plurality of pages rendered at said portal, and wherein a model management component comprises the functionality for performing persistent content model modifications.
US08037407B2 Method and computer system for creating and processing a browser compliant human interface description
Computer-implemented methods, computer systems and computer program products are provided for creating and processing a browser compliant human interface description. A predefined application specific human interface description using application specific layout elements is transformed into a standardized human interface description using basic layout elements. The standardized human interface description is decomposed into a human interface layout template and a data description. A data instance is instantiated from the data description. The data instance is merged with the human interface layout template into an individual browser compliant human interface description, which is then rendered to prompt a user for data input. The received data from the user are stored in the data instance. The status of at least one layout element is either stored in the data instance or in a runtime-copy of the standardized human interface description.
US08037406B1 Dynamic screen generation and navigation engine
A computer implemented system for a dynamic screen generation and navigation engine is provided. The system includes a set of screen templates, a screen data document, and a screen manager. The screen data document includes screen data for at least one screen template of the set of screen templates. The screen manager includes a generator engine and a navigator engine. In response to user input, the generator engine obtains screen data from the screen data document, obtains a screen template from the set of screen templates based on the obtained screen data, combines the obtained screen data with the obtained screen template to generate a screen, and displays the generated screen. The navigator engine obtains a user selection for the generated screen, references the screen data corresponding to the obtained user selection to determine a next screen to generate, and prompts the generator engine to generate the next screen based on the referenced screen data.
US08037403B2 Apparatus, method, and computer program product for extracting structured document
An apparatus for retrieving a structured document including a first specifying unit that specifies a plurality of object documents from a plurality of structured documents being accessible via a network, the object document being the structured document according to retrieval condition; a first extracting unit that extracts text included in the object document; a second extracting unit that extracts metadata appended to the object document, the metadata being first data concerning the text of the object document and second data indicating a link relation between the object document and the structured documents; and a first calculating unit that calculates importance of each of the object documents, based on the text and the metadata of each of the object documents.
US08037400B2 Electronic shipment planner
An electronic shipment planner is adapted for electronically presenting shipment and scheduling information to a user. The shipment and scheduling information includes at least one shipment event date. The shipment planner is linked to a shipment data repository containing shipment and scheduling information. A system interface communicates with the shipment data repository. An interactive shipment data link is electronically associated with the shipment and scheduling information, and cooperates with the system interface as commanded by the user to access and retrieve the associated shipment and scheduling information contained in the shipment data repository. A calendar display interface displays the shipment planner to the user in a calendar format, such that the interactive shipment data link is provided on the shipment event date associated with the shipment and scheduling information.
US08037399B2 Techniques for segmented CRC design in high speed networks
Embodiments of the present invention provide techniques for efficient generation of CRC values in a network environment. Specific embodiments of the present invention enable CRC processing circuits that can generate CRC values at high data throughput rates (e.g., 100 Gbps or greater), while being capable of being implemented on currently available FPGAs. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention may be used in network devices such as routers, switches, hubs, host network interfaces and the like to support high speed data transmission standards such as 100G Ethernet and beyond.
US08037397B2 Method for recovering a lost data unit
The present invention discloses a method for recovering a lost data unit, the method including: partitioning data to be transmitted into one or more data units, sorting the data units according to importance levels of the data units, and determining a check rule for the one or more data units, performing, by a transmitting end, a calculation on the sorted data units according to a predetermined algorithm depending on the check rule, to generate one or more corresponding check units; transmitting, by the transmitting end, the one or more data units to a receiving end in a sorted order, and transmitting the corresponding check units to the receiving end; recovering, by the receiving end, a lost data unit according to the receiving data units and check units as well as the check rule. With the method, the loss-preventative capability of the data units may be improved.
US08037395B2 Encoding and decoding method for packet recovery
A Partially-Overlapped Block (POB) code used in an encoding and decoding method in which a plurality of different block codes are combined so that the block codes partially overlap one another. A method for recovering a plurality of packets by using a loss correction capability of this encoding method in which a larger number of packets than the number of added redundant packets per frame are recovered, by reusing redundant information of neighboring frames effectively, without increasing the asymptotic complexity of its decoding algorithm.
US08037394B2 Techniques for generating bit reliability information in a post-processor using an error correction constraint
Techniques are provided that generate bit reliabilities for a detected sequence. A detector generates the detected sequence. According to one embodiment, a post-processor finds a first set of combinations of one or more error events in the detected sequence satisfying a complete set or a subset of error correction constraints corresponding to the first bit value, finds a second set of combinations of one or more error events in the detected sequence satisfying a complete set or a subset of error correction constraints corresponding to the second bit value, selects a first most likely combination of one or more events of the first set and a second most likely combination of one or more events of the second set, and generates a bit reliability based on the first and the second most likely values.
US08037392B1 Method for optimizing the forward error correction scheme
The present invention relates to a method for optimizing the FEC scheme comprising the steps of (a) receiving a batch of data packets designated for transmission; (b) choosing a number of divisors having no common denominators in accordance with the said batch of data packets; (c) organizing into blocks said batch of data packets a number of times in accordance with the number of divisors using said divisors; and (d) creating a FEC packet for each of said blocks.
US08037388B2 Method and device for layered decoding of a succession of blocks encoded with an LDPC code
The metrics matrix may include at least one particular layer including at least one particular column having several metrics cues, respectively, situated in different rows. For the particular layer, the updating of the channel cue is associated with the particular column involving at each iteration one updated metric cue selected from all the metrics cues of the particular column. The row of the selected metric cues may change at each iteration.
US08037382B2 Multi-mode programmable scan flop
A scannable flop circuit configured for operation in a multiple modes. The scannable flop circuit includes a functional flop having a data input, a clock input, and a data output, a scan flop having a scan data input and a scan data output, and a latch circuit coupled between the functional flop and the scan flop. The latch circuit includes one or more mode signal inputs to enable selection of an operating mode. In a first mode, the latch circuit is configured to enable the functional flop to provide a data signal to the scan flop. In a second mode, the latch circuit is configured to enable the scan flop to provide a data signal to the functional flop. In a third mode, the latch circuit is configured to provide a feedback path in order to feed back to the functional flop a signal generated by the functional flop.
US08037379B1 Prediction of impact on post-repair yield resulting from manufacturing process modification
A method for predicting an impact on post-repair yield resulting from manufacturing process modification is described. The method includes receiving bit data representing locations of defective memory cells for a plurality of memory devices. The bit data is modified by removing a selected failure pattern type according to a modification scheme to generate modified bit data. Repairs are simulated on hypothetical memory devices corresponding to the modified bit data, generating a result indicating whether the hypothetical memory device is good or bad. A post-repair yield is then identified and a report is generated indicating the post-repair yield, the post-repair yield representing a number of the plurality of memory devices that would be functional after repair had the plurality of memory devices been manufactured without the selected failure pattern. A method to identify a process providing the best economic benefit is also described.
US08037373B2 Method of using link adaptation and power control for streaming services in wireless networks
A method for improving the performance for a streaming service by link-adaptation and power-control in a wireless packet network such as an Enhanced General Packet Radio Services (EGPRS) cellular network is described. In particular, the effects of a combined link adaptation and power control scheme (referred to as an error-based scheme) for achieving a target error rate, which is non-zero but low enough so that limited retransmission and error concealment techniques are effective, is presented.
US08037362B2 Storage system that finds occurrence of power source failure
One or more switches are interposed between a controller portion and a storage device. When transmission of a command to a certain storage device fails, a command is transmitted starting from an upstream side to a downstream side of a path between the controller portion and the switch to which the certain storage device is connected, and when command transmission fails while transmitting a command from a kth switch (k is an integer of 0 or more) which is connected to a (k+1)th switch and is one level upstream of the (k+1)th switch or from any port of the controller portion, it is determined that a failure has occurred in a power source that supplies power to the (k+1)th switch.
US08037359B2 Operation management system having a process execution apparatus, information management apparatus, and process analyzing apparatus, process analyzing apparatus, recording medium in which process analysis program is recorded, and process analysis method
A process analyzing apparatus includes processing-identifying-information acquiring, from setting history information in which an update date and time, update-result information, and management-target identifying information, processing identifying information that is associated with the same management-target identifying information indicating that the updating processing is unsuccessful and that is associated with processing identifying information associated with an update date and time within a specific period of time from the update date and time associated with the update-result information indicating that the updating processing is unsuccessful, and failure-cause-processing estimating, from execution history information in which an execution history of each processing contained in the process is associated with the processing identifying information, processing corresponding to the processing identifying information acquired as the processing that is the cause of the failure of the processing corresponding to the processing identifying information associated with the update-result information indicating that the updating processing is unsuccessful.
US08037355B2 Powering up adapter and scan test logic TAP controllers
A method comprises a system comprising a host device coupled to a first remote device actively operating according to a state diagram that the host device and all remote devices follow during operation of the system. The method further comprises powering up a second remote device while the host device and first remote device are actively operating according to the state diagram. The second remote device determines whether to initialize to a standard protocol or to an advanced protocol. Upon determining to initialize to the advanced protocol, the second remote device then waits for a synchronization point sequence.
US08037354B2 Apparatus and method for operating a computing platform without a battery pack
An application control engine computing platform having a shut-down mechanism that permits the platform to adequately start up and operate upon return of power after a power interruption, without a need of a battery pack. The mechanism may target the saving of control object runtime values and operational settings of those objects, rather than the saving of the complete set of objects, and all unsaved alarm and history records upon a power interruption.
US08037351B2 Apparatus and methods for restoring system operation states
A process for restoring an operational state of a portable handheld device is provided. The device may include multiple computing units and persistent storage. The operational state may be generated by a sequence of events. The operational state may receive signals corresponding to a plurality of event types. The process may include selecting an event type for storage, storing in the persistent storage events corresponding to the selected event type, receiving a signal indicating an interruption of operation, and transmitting the stored events to restore the device to the operational state.
US08037350B1 Altering a degree of redundancy used during execution of an application
Processor operating methods and integrated circuits are described. According to one embodiment, a processor operating method includes executing an application using a first number of a plurality of processor cores. The method also includes, during the executing using the first number, evaluating a transition criterion and after the evaluating, executing the application using a second number of the plurality of processor cores. According to another embodiment, an integrated circuit includes a plurality of processor cores and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to configure a first number of the plurality of processor cores to execute an application, evaluate a transition criterion, and, in response to evaluating the transition criterion, configure a second number of the plurality of processor cores to execute the application. Additional embodiments are described in the disclosure.
US08037349B2 Data replication based on capacity optimization
A system and associated method for replicating data based on capacity optimization. A local node receives the data associated with a key. The local node within a local domain communicates with nodes of remote domains in a system through a communication network. Each domain has its own distributed hash table that partitions key space and assigns a certain key range to an owner node within the domain. For new data, the local node queries owner nodes of domains in the system progressively from the local domain to remote domains for a duplicate of the new data. Depending on a result returned by owner nodes and factors for replication strategies, the local node determines a replication strategy and records the new data in the local node pursuant to the replication strategy.
US08037348B2 Vibration-aware data reassignment
An aspect of the present disclosure relates to implementing a temporary reassignment of data based on a vibration condition. An exemplary method includes implementing a data operation for a portion of data and detecting a data error during the data operation. The method further includes obtaining an indication of a vibration condition associated with a device with which the data operation is performed and implementing a temporary reassignment of the portion of data based on the vibration condition.
US08037343B2 Trap-based configuration audit
A method includes generating a layer three trap packet that includes an indicator that indicates an audit request of a resident configuration file, transmitting the layer three trap packet to another device, receiving a reference configuration file in response to transmitting the layer three trap packet, comparing the resident configuration file with the reference configuration file, and replacing the resident configuration with the reference configuration file when a difference between the reference configuration file and the resident configuration file exists.
US08037340B2 Apparatus and method for micro performance tuning of a clocked digital system
An apparatus and method for micro-tuning an effective clock frequency of a core in a microprocessor. The apparatus includes a microprocessor having at least one core with logic configured to transition between states, a clock signal coupled to the microprocessor, the clock signal having a predetermined clock frequency based on a worst-case clock frequency and a predetermined clock period. The apparatus further including at least one voltage drop sensor coupled to the core, the sensor being configured to generate an output signal for detecting a voltage drop in the core and to determine whether or not the output signal is detected within the clock period and, if the output signal is not detected, the sensor dynamically adjusts the clock period of the clock signal provided to the core to allow more time to complete state transitions, such that, dynamically adjusting the clock period effectively changes an effective core clock frequency.
US08037339B2 Security device intended to be connected to a processing unit for an audio/video signal and process using such a device
Example embodiments relate to a security device having two communication interfaces sharing at least one pin, each interface being capable of operating according to either of two predetermined communication protocols. The security device may further include a frequency detector to detect the frequency of a clock signal on the shared pin. Depending on the value of the detected frequency, and to which of a plurality of predetermined frequency ranges the detected frequency pertains, the security device may function according to one of the two predetermined communication protocols, operating at two different frequencies.
US08037336B2 Spread spectrum clock generation
The present disclosure provides a spread spectrum clock generation system having a digitally controlled phase locked loop (PLL) and a digital frequency profile generator to create a near optimal frequency modulation profile for the purpose of achieving spectral flatness in the output frequency modulated clock. The circuit is combined with a multilevel error feedback noise shaping structure that provides the required noise transfer function for the quantization noise but maintains a unity gain all pass signal transfer function. This arrangement offers minimal degradation of the in-band signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the cost of higher out-of-band noise.
US08037335B2 Apparatus and method for synchronizing a channel card in a mobile communication system
An apparatus and a method for synchronization in a channel card in a mobile communication system are provided. A channel card for synchronizing a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) modem and a system clock in a mobile communication system includes the DSP modem for sending a reference signal, informing of a start of a transmission, to a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) modem, and the FPGA modem for comparing a reception time of the reference signal with a Global Positioning System (GPS) timer, for recording a GPS timer value corresponding to a start point based on the comparison, and for sending to the DSP modem the recorded GPS timer value corresponding to the start point at a preset GPS timer reference time.
US08037334B2 Dynamic power control for reduced voltage level of graphics controller component of memory controller based on its degree of idleness
A method includes detecting a trigger condition, and in response to detecting the trigger condition, reducing a voltage applied to a graphics controller component of a memory controller. The reduction in voltage may cause the voltage to be reduced below a voltage level required to maintain context information in the graphics controller component.
US08037330B2 Non-identical power supply units for higher efficiency in redundant mode
A power supply system for a server includes a first power supply, a second power supply, a first variable slope circuit, and a second variable slope circuit. The first power supply unit is adapted to activate if a load is below a predetermined level, and adapted to deactivate if the load is above the predetermined level. The second power supply unit is adapted to activate if the load is above the predetermined level, and adapted to deactivate if the load is below the predetermined level. The first and second variable slope circuits are adapted to receive information about the load applied to the power supply units. The first variable slope circuit is adapted to deactivate the first power supply unit if the load is above the predetermined level. The second variable slope circuit is to deactivate the second power supply unit if the load is below the predetermined level.
US08037328B2 Protocol and interface between a LAN on motherboard (LOM) and a powered device (PD) for a personal computing device (PCD)
A Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) communication system dynamically provides power and data communications over a communications link. In a computing environment made up of one or more personal computing devices (PCD) and/or one or more powered devices (PD), power source equipment (PSE) determines an allocated amount of power to be supplied to each device. The personal computing devices include a unified LAN-On-Motherboard (LOM) that combines the functionality of a powered device (PD) controller of a conventional PD and a LOM of a conventional personal computing device into a single unified subsystem. The unified LOM includes a standard or universal interface between the LOM and PD controller so that different types of PD devices with differing functionality can be easily married to the LOM, without requiring significant hardware or software redesign. The universal or standard interface includes a physical interface between the LOM and the PD controller and a compatible communication protocol to govern the communications between the LOM and the PD controller. This allows the LOM to be mixed and matched with any PD controller, enabling OEMs to economically provide multiple product models with varying degrees of PD and LOM functionality.
US08037326B2 Power control unit with digitally supplied system parameters
Methods and apparatuses provide voltage regulation for a processor. Control or configuration parameters for a voltage regulator (VR) are provided digitally over a configuration bus to a VR controller. The parameters may be provided directly from a storage element, or via a processing element or processor core. Based in whole or in part on the parameters, the VR controller provides an output control signal to affect a power output from a power converter to the processing element. In one embodiment, the VR controller is integrated onto the same IC as the processing element.
US08037322B2 Power consumption reduction device for data backup
A power reducer for data backup stops a power supply one after another for each memory whose backup has been completed, thereby reducing power consumption for battery during the backup lengthening a data backup time. The power reducer for data backup in a device includes an external power supply unit supplying power to the device, auxiliary power supply unit charging based upon the power supply from the external power supply unit and supplying auxiliary power to the device when the power from the external power supply unit is stopped, a cache memory having first and second memory units and recording a part of data stored in a storage medium, and a controller controlling power from the auxiliary power supply unit to the device and stopping power to the first or second memory unit one after another.
US08037321B2 Method and apparatus for the secure storage of audio signals
In one embodiment, a method, system and apparatus for recording audio is provided so that the recording can be authenticated. The system may be implemented as a central server that is accessed via one or more lines for audio communication, or as a stand-alone unit. The system operates by encrypting communicated data (e.g., audio signals), storing the encrypted information, and providing at least one user with a key that can be used to decrypt the stored information.
US08037319B1 System and method for securely storing cryptographic keys with encrypted data
The payload of a set of storage devices is encrypted using a payload key that is stored within the set of storage devices itself. However, the payload key is obtainable only if a user has access to n of the storage devices. A first set of keys can be distributed among a set of n storage devices, such that each key is usable to encrypt and/or decrypt a key stored on a different one of the n storage devices. The first set of keys is usable to encrypt portions of the information needed to regenerate another key (e.g., the payload key or a key used to encrypt the payload key). A different portion of the information needed to regenerate the other key is stored on each of the n storage devices. Accordingly, the other key cannot be obtained unless the user has access to all n storage devices.
US08037317B2 Method for authenticating and executing a program
Unlike the technology for a program downloaded through conventional broadcast waves, in the case of downloading a program via a network, there is a possibility that such program will be activated without noticing that the program is tampered with. For this reason, when a program is downloaded via a network, a file hierarchy for the program located on a server is constructed in a local area of a terminal. Subsequently, the authentication of the program is performed with respect to the file hierarchy constructed in the local area, and the credibility of the program is guaranteed.
US08037315B2 Integrated circuit card
An IC card includes a capacitance type fingerprint sensor, a display device, and a control unit. The display device displays an encrypted image that is readable by an external device. The control unit controls the capacitance type fingerprint sensor and the display device. The control unit erases the encrypted image that is displayed by the display device.
US08037309B2 Portable data storage device with encryption system
A portable data storage device has a non-volatile memory 3 for storing user data, an interface section 7 for receiving and transmitting data to a host, and a master control unit 1 for transferring data to and from the non-volatile memory 3. The portable data storage device further includes an integrated circuit 13 for generating a public/private key pair. The portable data storage device is arranged to transmit at least one of the keys out of the device. In different embodiments, the host can verify that the data it receives is correct, and the device can verify that the host has received the correct data.
US08037308B2 Electronic certificate issuance system, electronic certificate issuing device, communication device, and program therefor
An electronic certificate issuance system comprising at least one communication device, and an electronic certificate issuing device for issuing a set of an electronic certificate and a private key corresponding to the electronic certificate as a certification set for each of the at least one communication device, is provided. The electronic certificate issuing device includes a first connecting interface, an obtaining system, which is adapted to obtain a node ID assigned to each of the at least one communication device, a generating system, and a writing system. The at least one communication device includes a second connecting interface, a judging system, and an installing system.
US08037307B2 System and method for securing on-line documents using authentication codes
A system and method for providing an authentication code across a network for use in authentication of documents, such as printed lottery tickets. The system includes document-printing terminals that include a key that is used in a mathematical function with the bet information for a specific-game entry to generate a document code that is sent to a central server. The central server stores the received document code and then generates an authentication code for the document desired to be printed at the terminal, and sends the authentication code back to the terminal for printing on the issued document. The authentication code can be a further mathematical processing of the document code. Verification of the document occurs from comparison of the authentication code on the document and stored authentication and/or document codes at the server.
US08037303B2 System and method for providing secure multicasting across virtual private networks
A method is provided for securely transmitting multicast data across an unsecured public network. Such a method includes receiving a join message identifying at least one private multicast group; mapping the private multicast group to a public multicast group; generating a membership report specifying the public multicast group; and sending the membership report to the unsecured network. Additionally, the method may further comprise creating a secure tunnel through the unsecured network to a network element coupled; generating an encrypted control message specifying the private multicast group; and sending the encrypted control message through the secure tunnel to the network element.
US08037302B2 Method and system for ensuring secure forwarding of messages
The method is for ensuring secure forwarding of a message is performed in a telecommunication network that has at least one terminal from which the message is sent and at least one other terminal to which the message is sent. One or more secure connections are established between different addresses of the first terminal and address of the other terminal. The connections define at least said addresses of the two terminals. When the first terminal moves from one address to another address, a secure connection, which endpoints are the new address of the first terminal and the address of the other terminal, is registered to be at least one of the active connections.
US08037298B2 System and method for providing security via a top level domain
A system and method is disclosed for providing end-to-end security for communications between registered clients of a top level domain without the need for further encryption/decryption protocols than those provided by said at least one of said plurality of secure communication links and said at least one secure message server. Clients registered with the top level domain are assigned at least one email and IM account and to ensure message security, are required to communicate with other registered others strictly via the assigned email and IM accounts. In this manner, non-registered users are denied secure access to the top level domain. In one embodiment, registered clients of the top-level domain may communicate with non-registered users via a gateway server in a secure or non-secure manner, as is the option of the registered client (sender).
US08037294B2 Authentication of products using identification tags
An identification tag for authenticating a product is associated with the product and has authentication data transmissible to a reader device. The authentication data include source data including a tag identifier that uniquely identifies the identification tag and a signature value that is a result of a private key encryption of a representation of the source data, where the private key encryption uses a private key of a public key encryption method.
US08037293B2 Selecting a random processor to boot on a multiprocessor system
Pervasive logic is provided that includes a random event generator. The random event generator randomly selects which processor of a plurality of processors in the multiprocessor system is to be a boot processor for the multiprocessor system. A corresponding configuration bit for the randomly selected processor is set to identify the processor as a boot processor. Based on the setting of the configuration bits for each processor in the plurality of processors, a selection of a security key is made. The security key is then used to decrypt the boot code for booting the multiprocessor system. Only the randomly selected boot processor is able to select the correct security key for correctly decrypting the boot code, which it then executes to bring the system to an operational state.
US08037289B1 Method and apparatus for cloning a configuration of a computer in a data center
A method and apparatus for cloning a configuration of a computer in a datacenter is described in the present application. In one embodiment, the method comprises accessing a configuration snapshot for a computer in a data center, wherein the configuration snapshot defines at least one configuration attribute for at least one computer resource and indicates an operating system and at least one software application and provisioning a hardware computer in the data center based on the configuration snapshot.
US08037288B2 Hybrid branch predictor having negative ovedrride signals
Various embodiments are described relating to processors, branch predictors, branch prediction systems, and computing systems.
US08037286B2 Data processing apparatus and method for instruction pre-decoding
The present invention provides a data processing apparatus comprising processing circuitry for executing a sequence of instructions and pre-decoding circuitry for receiving the instructions fetched from memory. The pre-decoding circuitry performs a pre-decoding operation to generate corresponding pre-decoded instructions and stores them in a cache for access by the processing circuitry. For each instruction fetched from the memory, the pre-decoding circuitry detects whether the instruction is an abnormal instruction and upon such detection provides in association with a corresponding pre-decoded instruction an identifier identifying that instruction as abnormal.
US08037277B2 Information processing apparatus and computer-readable storage medium
A computer-readable storage medium stores a program for causing a processor to perform a process including: acquiring a first address that specifies a start address of a first area on the main memory where a target data to be cached is stored and range information that specifies a size of the first area on the main memory; converting the first address into a second address that specifies a start address of a second area on the local memory, the second area having a one-to-n correspondence (n=positive integer) to a part of a bit string of the first address; copying the target data stored in the first area specified by the first address and the range information onto the second area specified by the second address and the range information; and storing the second address to allow accessing the target data copied onto the local memory.
US08037275B2 Memory module system using a partitioned serial presence detect memory
A memory module system may include a serial presence detect (SPD) memory and a memory controller. The SPD memory may store first SPD data and second SPD data of a memory module. The SPD memory may be partitioned into at least two regions that may operate as multiple SPD ROMs. The memory controller may boot the memory module system based on a comparison between the first SPD data and the second SPD data when an initialization signal is input to the memory module system. The memory module system may be booted stably and may prevent system breakdowns.
US08037271B2 Method and system for performing memory copy function
Methods copying data from one location to another in a main memory of a cell processor are disclosed. A portion of the data is transferred a first main memory location to the local store of one or more SPU and then transferred from the local store to a second main memory location.
US08037268B2 Storage system and operation method thereof
Aiming to suitably balance, when backing up data to a magnetic tape, search time and writing/reading performance depending on the purpose of the backup, provided is a disk array apparatus including a disk device having hard disks, a magnetic tape device including a magnetic tape to which data to be backed up is written, and a control unit performing writing and reading processings of data between the disk device and the magnetic tape device. The control unit includes an FM (file mark) interval managing unit which receives a purpose of use when backing up the data on the magnetic tape, and from FM intervals which is held in association with the purpose of use thus received and which indicates an interval of recording FMs on the magnetic tape, acquires an FM interval corresponding to the purpose of use thus received, and transmits the acquired FM interval to the control unit.
US08037267B2 Remote copy system and remote site power saving method
A computer migrates to the same remote controller, from among a plurality of remote virtual computers at a remote site, two or more remote virtual computers belonging to a group configured from remote virtual computers with similar remote copy patterns. In the remote controller, these two or more remote virtual computers and remote virtual computers with dissimilar remote copy patterns do not reside.
US08037266B2 Apparatus and method for archiving digital content
An improved memory card includes an interface for receiving content from an appliance, a primary memory, a secondary memory, and primary controller. The primary controller is configured to selectively write the content only on the primary memory card, or only on the secondary memory card, or on both memories. The improved memory card also includes an enclosure for enclosing the primary memory, the secondary memory, the primary host interface and the primary controller. The improved memory card also includes a user interface that includes a user-operable mode switch that is switchable between a “full capacity” mode and a “full redundancy” mode. In the “full capacity” mode the secondary memory is used for recording genuine content, whereas in the “full redundancy” mode the secondary memory is used for backing up content that has been recorded on the primary memory. A digital shoebox is also provided, which can use improved memory cards and conventional memory cards alike for archiving content.
US08037265B2 Storage system and data management method
Storage system and data management method to reduce the load on a virtualization apparatus by executing backup processing or restoration processing within one apparatus in which an externally connected storage apparatus and a tape library apparatus are installed. The storage system includes a virtualization apparatus and an external storage apparatus; the virtualization apparatus having: an actual volume for storing data sent from a host apparatus, formed in a storage area provided by a physical disk; and a virtual volume paired with the actual volume, for storing replicated data for the data, and the external storage apparatus having: a logical volume that functions as an actual storage area for the virtual volume; and a tape associated with the logical volume, for storing the replicated data, wherein the external storage apparatus has a copy unit for copying the replicated data stored in the logical volume to the tape.
US08037263B2 Control device of a storage system comprising storage devices of a plurality of types
A control device of a storage system including a CPU which receives input information including at least a size and an archive deadline of data which is stored in storage devices; wherein data management information includes a write threshold value regarding one type of storage devices, the write threshold value indicating a write limit number to the one type of storage devices, wherein the CPU: selects a storage device which stores data corresponding to the information which is input to an input device, based on the information which is input to the input device and the data management information which is stored in the memory; CPU stores to the selected storage device, the data corresponding to the information which is input to the input device; and, registers to the data management information in the memory, at least one of the information which is input to the input device.
US08037262B2 Hierarchy of a structure of a volume
A method, apparatus and system of a hierarchy of a structure of a volume is disclosed. In one embodiment, a system includes a physical volume, a structure to provide a mapping to a location of a data segment of the physical volume that may include a table having a hierarchy, a logical volume management module to define a logical volume as an arrangement of the physical volume, a snapshot module that may automatically generate a point-in-time image of the logical volume, may prompt the logical volume management module to create and insert a first table and a second table into the hierarchy of the structure, the first table may provide a set of updates to the logical volume, the second table may provide a set of updates to the point-in-time image, and a data processing system to perform a write IO (Input/Output) operation and a read IO operation.
US08037261B2 Closed-loop system for dynamically distributing memory bandwidth
A closed-loop system for dynamically distributing memory bandwidth between real-time components and non-real-time components is provided. Specifically, the present invention includes monitors for measuring a performance of each of the real-time components. Based on the measured performance, closed-loop feedback loop is communicated to a unified memory system. The feedback is used by the memory controls within the unified memory system to efficiently and dynamically distribute memory bandwidth between the real-time and the non-real-time components.
US08037260B2 Method and apparatus for a unified storage system
A unified storage system for executing a variety of types of storage control software using a single standardized hardware platform includes multiple storage control modules connected to storage devices for storing data related to input/output (I/O) operations. A first type of storage control software is initially installed and executed on a first storage control module for processing a first type of I/O operations. A management module replaces the first type of storage control software by installing a second type of storage control software onto the first storage control module. When the second type of storage control software is installed and executed, the first storage control module processes a second type of I/O operation, different from the first type of I/O operation. Control of volumes originally accessed by the first storage control module may be transferred to a second storage control module having the first type of storage control software installed.
US08037257B2 Storage system and path management method for multi-host environment
A storage system and a path management method, which can facilitate node replacement are proposed. In the storage system, the host sets plural paths between the host and the volume and holds path information composed of management information on each of the paths. The management apparatus includes an integrated path management unit that collects the path information on each of the paths defined between the host and the volume from the corresponding host to manage all the collected information as integrated path information; retrieves an alternate path going through a node other than a specified node but has the same function as the specified node, for the path going through the specified node, based on the integrated path information; and displays results of the retrieval.
US08037256B2 Programmable address processor for graphics applications
Methods and systems for processing memory lookup requests are provided. In an embodiment, an address processing unit includes an instructions module configured to store instructions to be executed to complete a primary memory lookup request and a logic unit coupled to the instructions module. The primary memory lookup request is associated with a desired address. Based on an instruction stored in the instructions module, the logic unit is configured to generate a secondary memory lookup request that requests the desired address.In another embodiment, a method of processing memory lookups requests includes receiving a primary memory lookup request that corresponds to a desired memory address and generating a plurality of secondary memory lookup requests.
US08037255B2 Memory and method for data compression and management
A memory and a method for managing data. The memory for compressing and managing data includes a memory unit, wherein the memory unit has a compressed page cache region which includes a plurality of compressed page caches for temporarily storing, compressing and decompressing data; and a compressed page block region which includes a plurality of compressed page blocks for storing compressed data generated through the compression. Since data is stored in the memory after being compressed, it is possible to store much more data. Furthermore, as a great amount of data can be stored at one time, it is possible to minimize a lowering of the data processing speed caused by movement of data between memories.
US08037253B2 Method and apparatus for global ordering to insure latency independent coherence
A method and apparatus is described for insuring coherency between memories in a multi-agent system where the agents are interconnected by one or more fabrics. A global arbiter is used to segment coherency into three phases: request; snoop; and response, and to apply global ordering to the requests. A bus interface having request, snoop, and response logic is provided for each agent. A bus interface having request, snoop and response logic is provided for the global arbiter, and a bus interface is provided to couple the global arbiter to each type of fabric it is responsible for. Global ordering and arbitration logic tags incoming requests from the multiple agents and insures that snoops are responded to according to the global order, without regard to latency differences in the fabrics.
US08037252B2 Method for reducing coherence enforcement by selective directory update on replacement of unmodified cache blocks in a directory-based coherent multiprocessor
Embodiments of the present invention generally provide techniques and apparatus to reduce the number of memory directory updates during block replacement in a system having a directory-based cache. The system may be implemented to utilize a read/write bit to determine the accessibility of a cache line and limit memory directory updates during block replacement to regions that are determined to be readable and writable by multiple processors.
US08037250B1 Arbitrating cache misses in a multithreaded/multi-core processor
In one embodiment, a processor comprises a cache and a cache miss unit coupled to the cache. The cache is coupled to be accessed by cache accesses corresponding to a plurality of threads active in the processor. The cache miss unit is configured to record a plurality of cache misses detected in the cache and to associate each cache miss of the plurality of cache misses with a corresponding thread of the plurality of threads for which that cache miss is detected. Additionally, the cache miss unit is configured to initiate a cache fill for a selected cache miss of the plurality of cache misses. The cache miss unit is configured to select the selected cache miss based on a prioritization of the corresponding threads associated with the plurality of cache misses. In one implementation, the cache is an instruction cache and the cache misses are due to fetches corresponding to the plurality of threads.
US08037248B2 Displaying memory statistics for a keydrive
Methods, systems, and products are provided that display memory statistics for a keydrive that do not require the keydrive to be plugged into another device. Displaying memory statistics according to embodiments of the present invention include receiving a command resulting in a change to the memory usage of the keydrive, calculating memory statistics describing the current state of memory usage of the keydrive, storing the memory statistics in memory on the keydrive, and displaying the memory statistics on a display on the keydrive. Calculating memory statistics describing the current state of memory usage of the keydrive may be carried out by calculating a total memory usage of the keydrive. Calculating memory statistics describing the current state of memory usage of the keydrive may also be carried out by calculating a percent of total memory used.
US08037247B2 Methods, computer program products, and systems for providing an upgradeable hard disk
Methods, computer program products and systems for providing an upgradeable hard disk. The system includes a plurality of memory card slots and a controller. The controller includes a host interface in communication with a host computer, a memory card interface in communication with one or more memory cards located in one or more of the memory card slots, and a detection mechanism. The detection mechanism monitors the memory card slots for newly added memory cards; and in response to detecting a newly added memory card determines characteristics of the newly added memory card and updates the data placement strategy in response to the characteristics of the newly added memory card. The data placement strategy is utilized by the controller to determine write locations for write data received from the host computer via the host interface.
US08037246B2 Storage system and storage management system
A storage system whereby all managers of the storage system can easily collect the history data of the manager of each partition. The storage system is designed such that the memory resources within the system are managed by a system manager while partitions of the memory resources are managed by partition managers assigned for every partition unit. The storage system is provided with management modules that change the configuration of the memory resources corresponding to the content set by the system manager or partition manager, a history data management module that creates history data correlating the identifier of the partition unit that has undergone modification of the configuration of the memory resources, the setting content, and the identification data of the manager, and a history data storage unit that stores the history data.
US08037243B1 Installing data storage system software on disk drive systems
Data storage system software is installed from nonvolatile memory. A storage processor is booted, transferring information stored in a nonvolatile memory module to a disk drive system, thereby enabling the system processor to boot directly from the disk drive system in subsequent boots. After the information is transferred the storage processor reboots using the information transferred to the disk drive system.
US08037242B2 Contents delivery system using cache and data replication
An information processing apparatus is provided capable of effectively utilizing resources in data transmission processes executed by a plurality of control units. A contents delivery apparatus includes network IFs, control units, disk drives used by the respective control units, and cache areas in which content data read by the respective control units from the respective disk drives is temporarily stored. Upon receiving a content data delivery request from a terminal device, the control unit of the contents delivery apparatus checks whether the requested data is present in the cache area, and if it is present (cache hit), replicates the data to the disk drive used by any one of other control units to notify a portal server allocating a delivery destination so that it is well prepared for a new delivery request from the terminal device.
US08037239B2 Storage controller
Provided is a storage controller that will not impair the operation of a storage control system even when a new storage area is added to a pool corresponding to an AOU volume. This storage controller includes a logical volume accessible by a host system; a pool associated with the logical volume and including one or more physical storage areas configuring a storage area of the logical volume; and a memory for storing attribute information showing an attribute of a physical storage area included in the pool; wherein the controller is configured to add a new physical storage area to the pool based on the attribute information.
US08037236B2 Flash memory writing method and storage system and controller using the same
A flash memory writing method for writing data into a flash memory storage system is provided. In the present method, a big data usage number and a small data usage number are counted for each logical unit in the flash memory storage system, so as to respectively represent the numbers of writing a big data and a small data into each the logical unit. When a host system writes new data into a logical unit in the flash memory storage system, the new data is written through different writing processes according to the big data usage number and the small data usage number of the logical unit. Thereby, the data writing efficiency is improved and the lifespan of the flash memory storage system is prolonged.
US08037231B2 Memory architecture for separation of code and data in a memory device
Code, data, and/or other information types, may be isolated from one another and stored in distinct regions within the memory array of a nonvolatile memory. The distinct regions in memory may have corresponding read/write interfaces that are optimized for each information type.
US08037229B2 Combination non-volatile memory and input-output card with direct memory access
A removable electronic circuit card having both a memory module with a non-volatile mass storage memory and a separate input-output module so that data transfers may be made through the input-output module directly to and from the mass storage memory in a direct memory access (DMA) type transfer when the card is inserted into the host system but without having to pass the data through the host system. Once the host gives a DMA command, the data transfer is accomplished independently of the host system, except for the host supplying power and possibly a clock signal and other like support, during such a data transfer directly with card. The data for the transfer can be communicated between the input-output module and the exterior device through either wireless or an electrical connection means.
US08037228B2 Bridge device with page-access based processor interface
An integrated circuit bridge device can include a first interface circuit coupled to a buffer circuit and a configurable in response to configuration information to receive command information, address information, and data values on a same multi-bit input/output (I/O) bus. A second interface circuit can be coupled to the buffer circuit and configured to communicate according to a first communication protocol different from that executable by the first interface circuit. In addition, a controller circuit formed in the same substrate as the first and second interface circuits can be configured to enable data transfers between the first interface circuit and the second interface circuits via the buffer circuit.
US08037223B2 Reconfigurable I/O card pins
In accordance with the present technique, a system and method for configuring pins of an input/output (I/O) card in a host system are provided. The method includes reading configuration information from a card field replaceable unit memory and reading system configuration information from a system field replaceable unit memory. Additionally, the method includes configuring pins of a system logic of the host system to be compatible with the I/O device of the I/O card, and configuring pins of an I/O device on the I/O card to in turn configure the pins of the I/O card with a configuration setting compatible with the host system.
US08037221B2 Dynamic allocation of DMA buffers in input/output adaptors
A method and apparatus for dynamic allocation of DMA buffers in the DRAM banks of an I/O adaptor. The method and apparatus determine the functional status of the adaptor, allocate critical, volatile DMA buffers in non-critical DRAM banks if the adaptor is fully functional, and allocate critical, volatile DMA buffers in critical DRAM banks if the adaptor is partially functional.
US08037216B2 DMA transfer control device
A DMA transfer control device includes a setting register group for setting transfer informations, a number-of-transfers register to which the number of transfers to be performed is set, and which updates a value thereof every time one DMA transfer is completed, a transfer control unit, a secondary setting register group for setting other transfer informations different from the transfer informations, and a specified ordinal-number-of-transfer register. Every time one DMA transfer is initiated, either a value of the setting register group or a value of the secondary setting register group is selected for each of the transfer informations in accordance with a result of an arithmetic operation between a value of the number-of-transfers register and a value of the specified ordinal-number-of-transfer register, and inputted to the transfer control unit. As a result, by making settings for one DMA transfer, it is possible to temporarily change the transfer informations.
US08037212B2 Event notification system and method
A technique for user notification involves modifying a title associated with a process to include information about an event that calls for user notification. A method according to the technique may include running a process, processing an event, generating a string of characters that includes information associated with the event, and displaying the string of characters as a title associated with the process. A system constructed according to the technique may include a client, a title array, an event processing engine, and a title provisioning engine.
US08037208B2 Method and system for device bootstrapping via server synchronization
A method and system for restoring basic functionality to a portable computer system via a server accessed remotely by telephone. A user of a portable computer system which has lost data and software which was held in volatile memory may connect to a server to restore basic functionality to the portable computer system. The server may be an enterprise or a web-based server. The connection may be made, for instance, over a 1-800 or a 1-900 telephone line. The server transfers sufficient software to the RAM of the portable computer for it to regain basic functionality. For example, synchronization software may be transferred to the portable computer. The portable computer may then use the synchronization software to synchronize via the server or host connection more fully in order to restore lost data or lost software applications that were stored on a server or on a host computer system. The step of synchronizing to restore lost data and applications may be done with a second server or, in another embodiment, with the same server which helped the portable computer system regain basic functionality. In one embodiment, the portable computer system can be a palmtop computer system.
US08037206B2 System and method for providing configurable, dynamic multimedia message service pre-transcoding
System and methods for providing multimedia message service (MMS) interoperability between an initiating carrier and a destination carrier. A transcoding facility receives an MMS message from an initiating carrier and accesses a number portability database to determine an identity of a destination carrier to which the MMS message is intended to be sent and a carrier profile repository to obtain a carrier profile for the destination carrier, the carrier profile including information regarding an MMS format acceptable to the destination carrier. The transcoding facility determines, based on the carrier profile and a format of the MMS message received from the initiating carrier, whether the format of the MMS message received from the initiating carrier must be modified to be effectively received by the destination carrier and, if so, transcodes the MMS message in accordance with the carrier profile to generate a transcoded MMS message, and thereafter sends one of (i) the MMS message received from the initiating carrier and (ii) the transcoded MMS message to the destination carrier.
US08037201B2 Content holder unit, information processing method, and program
Transmission fragment content information transmitted by a content holding device is made redundant. A content holding device comprises a content information storage section (22) for storing hold content information including at least fragment content information obtained by fragmenting a set of content information, an instruction information receiving section (21) for receiving instruction information to instruct the transmission of the fragment content information, a content information constructing section (25) for constructing the transmission fragment content information including the instruction fragment content information which is the fragment content information included in the hold content information and the fragment content information whose transmission is instructed by the instruction information and additional fragment content information which is the fragment content information included in the same hold content information as the instruction fragment content information and fragment content information different from the instruction fragment content information, and a content information transmitting section (26) for transmitting the transmission content information.
US08037200B2 Media organization for distributed sending of media data
Media data is distributed across multiple devices and is locatable using a hashing function and a hash table. The media data is partially replicated based on popularity thereof. In a described implementation, a media data block is locatable by hashing a media data indicator to produce a media data hash value that maps to a bin of the hash table. The bin is associated with at least one device that stores and/or with a sender that is capable of sending to clients the media data blocks mapping thereto. Each bin may have primary and secondary roles. Devices holding primary roles store all of the media data blocks mapping to a bin. Devices holding secondary roles replicate the media data blocks mapping to the bin that are also within a top predetermined popularity percentage. Popularity is determined based on numbers of clients currently requesting a particular media data portion.
US08037198B2 Firmware upgrade for thin clients using one or more servers
A process and system for upgrading firmware in a thin client in a network environment. The process may proceed on an automated basis during boot-up by using one or more FTP addresses stored in the thin client. Multiple FTP servers may be accessed. The same firmware upgrades may be stored on more than one FTP server. Different firmware upgrades may instead or in addition be stored on different FTP servers.
US08037194B2 Distributed network identity
A distributed network identity is provided. An identity provider stores a portion of a user's personal information. A service provider accesses user information from one or more identity providers. System entities such as identity providers and service providers can be linked to enable information sharing and aggregation. User policies and privacy preferences are provided to control how information is shared. A single sign-on architecture is provided where an identity provider is used to facilitate cross-domain authentication and to enhance user convenience. Service delegation features are also provided.
US08037191B2 Low-level remote sharing of local devices in a remote access session across a computer network
In one embodiment, a remote access session may be established between a first computer and a second computer. In response to detecting a device in low-level local communication with the first computer via a first local communication port of the first computer, the low-level local communication at the first local communication port may be intercepted and transmitted to the second computer via the remote access session. Then, the low-level local communication may be injected to a second local communication port of the second computer, wherein the second computer responds to the low-level local communication as though the device were located at the second local communication port of the second computer. For example, the device may be configured to autoconnect with the second computer via the remote access session when the device is connected to the first computer.
US08037190B2 Managing multiple network application versions
A session is established between a user system and an existing version of a network application. Once the session is established, session information corresponding to the session is determined and then communicated to the user system. The session information typically includes a version identifier that identifies the existing version of the network application. Requests received during the same session are accompanied with the session information. The session information is used to route the requests to the existing version of the network application.
US08037189B2 Devices, softwares and methods for enabling SIP devices to operate in H.323 devices to operate in SIP networks
Devices, softwares and methods enable SIP devices to operate in H.323 networks, and devices, softwares and methods enable H.323 devices to operate in SIP networks. Messages that initiate communication from a first protocol are translated into the appropriate messages of the second, responded to, and the replies are translated back into the first. Routing by the legacy network is thus seamlessly exploited.
US08037186B2 System and method for routing service requests
A computer-implemented method routes service requests to services in a service framework provided by a plurality of hosts. The method comprises receiving a service request for a service in the service framework and discovering a plurality of candidate hosts that host the service. The plurality of candidate hosts are a subset of the plurality of hosts. The method further comprises selecting a candidate host from the plurality of candidate hosts based on measured latencies for the plurality of candidate hosts and routing the service request to the selected candidate host.
US08037182B2 Capture of content from dynamic resource services
Methods are described which enable processing of resources originally accessed by a content access operation. An identifier is generated and used to augment all requests for resources which relate to a particular content access operation. A proxy stores the resources associated with the identifier and then sends the resources to the application that requested them (e.g. a browser). The resources may be requested from the proxy by applications using the identifier so that they can be processed (e.g. thumbnail generation, textual analysis) and the processed data may be stored and/or presented to the user.
US08037180B2 Centralized control plane appliance for virtual infrastructure
In a virtual infrastructure, a single appliance is provided that hosts a centralized virtual machine monitor (VMM) control plane to effectively establish a single virtual switch across all virtual machines within one or more clusters of servers, thereby reducing the number of management points for the network administrator and facilitating easier VM migration.
US08037178B1 System and method for providing secure access to a remote desktop across firewalls in an interactive grid environment
A system and method for secure access to a remote desktop across firewalls in an interactive grid environment is disclosed. Embodiments of the present invention include an interactive grid computing system comprising an interactive grid computing service provider comprising: a resource for use over the interactive grid, a first firewall for protecting the resource and a remote display server for providing a secure connection and for providing interactive graphical data associated with the resource. The system further comprises a client comprising: a second firewall protecting the client and a remote display resource for providing a secure connection and for viewing the interactive graphical data provided by the remote display server.
US08037175B1 Network device having service card for intercept and monitoring of packet flows
A network device comprises a service card (e.g., a dynamic flow capture (DFC) service card) executing a communication protocol to receive, from one or more control sources, flow capture information specifying at least one destination and criteria for matching one or more packet flows. The network device includes a network interface card to receive a packet from a network, a packet replication module to replicate the packet, and a control unit to provide the replicated packet from the interface card to the DFC service card. The network device includes a filter cache that caches flow capture information recently received from the CSs. The network device may provide real-time intercept and relaying of specified network-based communications. Moreover, the techniques described herein allow CSs to tap packet flows with little delay after specifying flow capture information, e.g., within 50 milliseconds, even under high-volume networks.
US08037172B2 Operation monitoring apparatus, operation monitoring method, and computer-readable recording medium storing operation monitoring program
An operation monitoring apparatus monitors statuses of plural monitoring target apparatus connected to a network, by sending a connection confirmation mail, via a notification server located on the network, receiving the connection confirmation mail and an operation confirmation mail sent from each monitoring target apparatus, storing a scheduled transmission time of a next operation confirmation mail contained in the operation confirmation mail, as part of apparatus information of the monitoring target apparatus and judging, using the scheduled transmission time, whether the next operation confirmation mail has been received. The judgment is not made if a latest connection confirmation mail sent from the operation monitoring apparatus itself has not been received.
US08037168B2 Method, product, and apparatus for enhancing resolution services, registration services, and search services
A WHOIS record of a domain name is retrieved at a first time, the WHOIS record including an expiry date of a second time, a time difference value can be calculated between the first time and the second time, and the time difference value provided to a user. Time difference value can be determined to satisfy at least one condition including a threshold value. An indication can be provided to the user that the at least one condition has been satisfied such as notifying the user of domain name expiration status, storing the domain name in a user expiration watch list, monitoring the domain name for expiration upon or after the second time, and attempting to register the domain name with a selected domain name registration provider after the second time or upon determining that either the domain name may soon be available for registration or available for registration. The WHOIS record can be retrieved in response to receiving or obtaining a request such as a resource location request, domain name resolution request, search engine request, WHOIS request, domain name availability request, and domain name registration request.
US08037167B1 Method for detecting hosts behind network address translators
The present invention is a method and apparatus for counting the number of active hosts behind network address translation boxes. The technique is based on the observation that on many operating systems, the IP header's ID field is a simple counter. By suitable processing of trace data, packets emanating from individual machines can be isolated, and the number of machines determined.
US08037164B2 Network service configuration management
The system remotely manages the configuration of one or several network services (20). The management server (10) has access to a database (12) which stores a representation of the configuration of the network service (20). An agent software component (18)—running preferably on the network device providing the managed service (20)—has access to the configuration in the native language of the network service (20). The management server (10) and the agent software component (18) communicate synchronization information to each other and synchronize the representation of the configuration of the network service in the database (12) and the native language configuration of the network service (20) with each other based on the synchronization information. The synchronization information is in a language different from the native language of the configuration of the network service.
US08037162B2 Method and system for accelerating receipt of data in a client to client network
A method and system for accelerating receipt of data in a client to client network. The method includes the steps of intercepting queries and responses, storing the intercepted queries and responses in an acceleration server and transmitting the intercepted responses to clients submitting intercepted queries. The system includes at least one acceleration server designed and configured to perform the steps included in the method.
US08037157B2 Apparatus and method for generating and using a customized uniform resource locator
An apparatus is provided for generating a Customized Uniform Resource Locator (CURL). The apparatus includes a request receiver, an information obtainer, and a CURL register. The request receiver is adapted to receive a request for assigning a CURL applied by a user to selected content in a network resource accessed through a normal URL. The information obtainer is adapted to obtain the normal URL, the CURL, and a set of description information of the selected content. The CURL register is adapted to obtain a browser context, an application context, and a system context related to the selected content, and is further adapted to store the browser context, the application context, and the system context which have been obtained with the normal URL, the CURL, and the set of description information of the selected content into a CURL repository as a whole.
US08037153B2 Dynamic partitioning of messaging system topics
A dynamic topic partitioning messaging system. The messaging system can include a message server; one or more topics stored in the message server; one or more subtopics associated with at least one of the topics in the message server; and, a dynamic topic partitioning system configured to partition the topics into the subtopics. Notably, the message server can be Java message service (JMS) compliant. In that regard, the message server can reside in a single process address space. For example, the process address space can be a Java virtual machine (JVM).
US08037151B1 Predetermined emergency alert messages
Wireless emergency alert messages are provide to mobile devices as predetermined (canned) messages. The predetermined messages are size limited to conserve network resources and accommodate various mobile devices. In an example configuration, the predetermined emergency alert messages are created based upon the attributes of the common alerting protocol (CAP). To provide greater flexibility to authorized originators of emergency alert messages, the predetermined emergency alert message can include free-form text or characters as provided by the authorized originator.
US08037150B2 System and methods for providing multiple personas in a communications environment
A user interface on a display enables perception of communications that leverage an instant messaging platform. The user interface includes a module for identifying at least two identities within an instant messaging communications environment to whom messages may be directed, a module for associating a first persona of a user with a first functionality, a module for associating a second persona of the user with a second functionality, the second functionality differing from the first functionality, a module for rendering an instant messaging application user interface for a first instant messaging communications session involving the user and a first identity and a second instant messaging communications session involving the user and a second identity, the user interface being presented at a system display presented to the user, and a module for enabling the first person of the user to be projected to the first identity while concurrently enabling a second persona of the same user to be projected to the second identity.
US08037148B1 System and method for authorizing polling selections
A method and system for authorizing polling selections includes a polling server communicating to user terminals, optionally through the Internet, broadcast media, or the like. A polling account is created for each user. One or more issues are identified and the user is notified. The user's identity and, optionally, membership in a polling pool are verified. The user's polling input is stored and disseminated to the public. Optionally, the polling input, or a summary or graphical representation thereof, is disseminated along with a voting record or other objectively verifiable position of a representative of the users for comparison.
US08037143B1 Automatic display of email distribution lists
Embodiments of the present invention are directed generally to autocomplete functionality in messaging applications. The autocomplete functionality, for example, generates frequently and/or recently used distribution lists or groups, performs keyword searches to identify recipient identifiers, and provides convenient modification of existing distribution lists or groups.
US08037140B2 System, method and program product for managing communications pursuant to an information technology (IT) migration
Under the present invention, a distribution list of message recipients within an organization undergoing the IT migration is generated by analyzing the infrastructure of the organization. Once the message recipients are known, they can be grouped into a set of mailing groups. Thereafter, specific message templates can be assigned to each group, and a schedule for sending messages to the message recipients can be set. Messages will then be generated and sent to the message recipients using the message templates assigned to their respective mailing group(s) and the schedule. Responses to the messages will be tracked and processed, and records associated with the message recipients will be updated based thereon. Follow-up messages containing additional questions and/or instructions can be generated and sent using any data that is contained in the responses. Also, “non-responses” can be tracked so that reminder messages can be sent.
US08037136B2 Tracking a state of a document accessible over a computer network
In an embodiment, a method is provided for tracking a state of a document that is accessible over a computer network. In this method, requests to modify the document are received by way of the computer network. A size of a set of these requests are identified to exceed a threshold size and an identifier that identifies this set of requests is generated. The identifier is then transmitted in a response to the requests by way of the computer network.
US08037134B1 Controlled multicast
According to the present invention a method and an apparatus in a packet-switched network for supplying data packets to receivers (4a-c) belonging to a multicast group are disclosed. The apparatus comprises a routing means (2) for receiving data packets from a sender (1) and for buffering data packets the destination address of which is a multicast address of a multicast group. The apparatus further comprises a control means (3) communicating with the routing means (2) for determining the addresses of the receivers (4a-c) of the multicast group indicated by the multicast address and receiver-specific parameters, for designating filters for each receiver (4a-c) and/or each determined receiver address in accordance with the receiver-specific parameters and for supplying the determined addresses and designated filters to the routing means (2). The routing means (2) filters the multicast data packets and/or the determined addresses with the designated filters for each receiver (4a-c) of the multicast group and supplies the filtered multicast dam packets to the filtered receiver addresses.
US08037128B2 Receiving page-specific user feedback concerning one or more particular web pages of a website
In one embodiment, a method for receiving page-specific user feedback concerning a web page of a website includes using an icon viewable on the page to solicit one or more page-specific open-ended comments concerning the page from a user that has accessed the page. The method includes using software associated with the comment icon and executable in a computing environment of the user to receive the one or more page-specific open-ended comments concerning the particular web page from the user and to obtain background data for reporting to a website owner along with the one or more page-specific open-ended comments concerning the particular web page. The background data facilitating resolution of an issue reflected in the one or more page-specific open-ended comments concerning the particular web page received from the user.
US08037127B2 In-line network device for storing application-layer data, processing instructions, and/or rule sets
A network device located in the data path between a user computer and a server stores application data, processing instructions, and/or rule sets. By storing user computer-specific application data, processing instructions, and/or rule sets in the data path between the user computer and the server, the invention reduces the complexity of the web server, improves the handling of server failure, and increases the overall scalability and performance of the system.
US08037124B2 System and method for describing and locating web services
A system and method for describing and locating web services. The system may include a server and a proxy located at a front-end of the server. The server may have an associated Web Services Description Language (WSDL) that identifies web services on the server. The proxy may be structured to automatically construct a synthetic WSDL based on configuration metadata and the WSDL; and implement the synthetic WSDL to automatically mediate requests at the proxy to be appropriate for the WSDL at the server.
US08037123B2 Securely and efficiently extending data processing pipeline functionality
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for securely and efficiently extending data processing pipeline functionality. Data processing agents register, potentially based solely on configuration data contained in the data processing agents, to manipulate data of a data processing pipeline. Configuration data can identify a specified event (e.g., an SMTP verb) the data processing agent is to hook into. Upon detection of a specified event, one or more agents that have registered for the specified event are loaded into secure zones. Process boundaries separate agents from one another and from other processes such that execution of each agent is isolated from other processes. Pipeline related data (e.g., electronic message data) is transferred to each loaded agent. Application Program Interfaces (“APIs”) can be used to transfer data between modules that implement embodiments of the present invention.
US08037119B1 Multipurpose functional unit with single-precision and double-precision operations
A multipurpose arithmetic functional unit selectably performs planar attribute interpolation, unary function approximation, and double-precision arithmetic. In one embodiment, planar interpolation operations for coordinates (x, y) are executed by computing A*x+B*y+C, and unary function approximation operations for operand x are executed by computing F2(xb)*xh2+F1(xb)*xh+F0(xb), where xh=x−xb. Shared multiplier and adder circuits are advantageously used to implement the product and sum operations for unary function approximation and planar interpolation; the same multipliers and adders are also leveraged to implement double-precision multiplication and addition.
US08037114B2 Method for creating a representation of a calculation result linearly dependent upon a square of a value
In the transition into the logarithmic range, not the entire bit width of the result linearly dependent upon the square of the value must be considered. Rather, it is possible to scale the result of a value with x bits such that a representation with less than x bits of the result is sufficient to receive the logarithmic representation based thereon. The effect of the scaling factor on the resulting logarithmic representation may be compensated for by adding or subtracting a correction value received by the logarithm function applied to the scaling factor to or from the scaled logarithmic representation without any loss of dynamics. This way, a method and an apparatus for creating a representation of a result linearly dependent upon a square of a value are provided so that the calculation is simple and/or possible with little hardware expenditure.
US08037112B2 Efficient access of flash databases
Techniques for efficient access to flash databases are described. In one implementation, a method includes performing an operation on a flash database, supplementing at least one portion of a node translation table corresponding to at least one node involved in the operation, and semantically compressing at least one portion of the node translation table. The semantic compression includes discarding at least one log entry that is rendered obsolete by at least one subsequent log entry, and incrementing a version number of the log entries corresponding to the at least one portion of the node translation table. In further embodiments, discarding at least one log entry includes discarding at least one log entry that is at least one of opposed by or overruled by at least one subsequent log entry.
US08037108B1 Conversion of relational databases into triplestores
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for converting a relational database into a triplestore. In one aspect, a method includes retrieving meta schema information for a relational database, including checking a data dictionary associated therewith, and saving the information (including column, primary key constraint and foreign key constraint definitions) in a canonical format; processing the saved information to identify triples to be created in a triplestore; and generating triples in the triplestore in accordance with results of the processing, the generating including: creating first triples (corresponding to data specified within relational database tables) using the column definitions, creating second triples (corresponding to data links between the relational database tables) using the primary key and foreign key constraint definitions, and creating third triples using a primary key constraint definition, a foreign key constraint definition, and an associative mapping table corresponding to the relational database.
US08037107B2 Document transfer assisting system, monitor apparatus, document transfer assisting apparatus, method and computer readable recording medium
A user inputs a document to be registered in a document management server to a document transfer assisting apparatus. The document transfer assisting apparatus automatically acquires attribute information of a document designated by the user, based on an instruction input by the user. The document transfer assisting apparatus further makes an addition or a change to the acquired attribute information according to the user's instruction. The document transfer assisting apparatus then outputs a copy of the designated document and attribute information thereof to a predetermined folder and a predetermined file, which can be referred to by the monitor apparatus. The monitor apparatus monitors the folder and file, and registers the copied file in the folder based on information output to the file.
US08037104B2 System and method for filtering and organizing items based on common elements
A system and method for filtering and organizing items in a computer system based on common elements is provided. A graphical user interface includes a plurality of display objects, each display object representing one or more items and a metadata property control corresponding to a metadata property. Selection of the metadata property control causes a list of filter terms to be presented on the display and also may cause a list of check box controls to be presented on the display, each check box control being adjacent to a respective one of the filter terms. The list of filter terms may be presented in a drop down menu. Selection of a check box control causes each item that satisfies the corresponding filter term to be presented on the display. The filters may be dynamically generated based on the properties of the separate items.
US08037103B2 Accessing a non-relational store with a container-managed persistence bean via a web service function
An apparatus, system, and storage medium that in an embodiment receive a key parameter from a container-managed persistent bean, determine that the container-managed persistent bean is associated with a non-relational data store, creating a web service input message with the key parameter, and invoke a web service function with the web service input message to interface with a non-relational data store. The determination that the container-managed persistent bean is associated with a non-relational data store may be based on deployment description extension settings specified by a bean assembler. In this way, a container-managed persistent bean may be used to access a non-relational data store.
US08037099B2 Information-recording/reproduction apparatus, information-recording/reproduction methods, program-storing medium and programs
An MIA containing file-system information is updated and a recording/reproduction block 53 records Main MIA containing the updated information in block B″1 in a free area on a recording medium. In addition, Main G1, Res.G1, Main G2, Res.G2 and G3, which form a group of files each serving as an object of group management, are recorded in block B″2. Furthermore, Res.MIA containing a backup of the file-system information is recorded in block B″3. By recording information in this way, the recording area of the recording medium can be used effectively. The present invention can be applied to an information-recording/reproduction apparatus for recording information serving as an object of the group management on the recording medium.
US08037096B2 Memory efficient data processing
Memory efficient data processing is provided in a computer environment. A data representation or description is utilized to reduce memory footprint. A data structure can be serialized iteratively utilizing the representation rather than first loading the entire data structure to memory. Portions of the data structure can be materialized to and removed from memory as function of operational need.
US08037094B2 Annotation and publication framework
A hybrid annotation and publication system can access content in a scalable manner from databases, allowing for its editing and publication via wiki-style programs, while at the same time allowing for peer-review of such content via peer-review programs. This system balances the wiki-style programs, the peer-review programs, and any database store accesses in a manner appropriate to the need at hand according to various heuristics. For instance, the system can be accessed via a web browser, and data provided from various databases can be edited. Such data can be stored in the system in a hierarchical manner. Once the content is annotated, it can be reviewed (at various levels, ranging from expert to novice). Upon review, such content can be published using the wiki programs, so that the content is ready for public and/or private consumption.
US08037090B2 Processing structured documents stored in a database
A method, computer readable medium, and system for processing a structured document are disclosed. The method, computer readable medium, and system include identifying a plurality of strings processed by a database, assigning an identifier to each of the plurality of strings, storing each of the plurality of strings and its assigned identifier in a table in the database, and utilizing the table during document processing.
US08037088B2 Change management
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with artifact type neutral change management are described. One example method includes maintaining an access table for each artifact in a collaborative software environment that records a most recent access of an artifact on a per user basis. An artifact type registration table is also maintained that maps each artifact type to the access table that records access information for artifacts of the given type and to a data store that stores artifacts of that type. For a given user, artifact pair, queries on the type registration table, access table, and data store are generated to return the last modification time for the artifact and the user's last access time for the artifact. This information is used to determine a change status of the artifact for the given user. This common framework can be used for artifacts of any type that are registered in the type registration table.
US08037081B2 Methods and systems for detecting fragments in electronic documents
Techniques for automatically detecting similar subsets (e.g., fragments) in electronic documents such as dynamic content-based data, e.g., web pages. The techniques of the invention may perform a systematic analysis of the web pages with respect to one or more of their information sharing behavior, their personalization characteristics, and their change pattern over time. Thus, the invention may be applied to discover fragments in web pages of web sites that are most beneficial for caching the contents of the web site. The present invention also comprises techniques for publishing electronic documents with automatic fragment detection.
US08037080B2 Recommender system utilizing collaborative filtering combining explicit and implicit feedback with both neighborhood and latent factor models
Example collaborative filtering techniques provide improved recommendation prediction accuracy by capitalizing on the advantages of both neighborhood and latent factor approaches. One example collaborative filtering technique is based on an optimization framework that allows smooth integration of a neighborhood model with latent factor models, and which provides for the inclusion of implicit user feedback. A disclosed example Singular Value Decomposition (SVD)-based latent factor model facilitates the explanation or disclosure of the reasoning behind recommendations. Another example collaborative filtering model integrates neighborhood modeling and SVD-based latent factor modeling into a single modeling framework. These collaborative filtering techniques can be advantageously deployed in, for example, a multimedia content distribution system of a networked service provider.
US08037078B2 Corpus clustering, confidence refinement, and ranking for geographic text search and information retrieval
A computer-implemented method for processing a plurality of toponyms, the method involving: in a large corpus, identifying geo-textual correlations among readings of the toponyms within the plurality of toponyms; and for each toponym selected from the plurality of toponyms, using the identified geo-textual correlations to generate a value for a confidence that the selected toponym refers to a corresponding geographic location. Also a method of generating information useful for ranking a document that includes a plurality of toponyms for which there is a corresponding plurality of (toponym,place) pairs, there being associated with each (toponym,place) pair of said plurality of (toponym,place) pairs a corresponding value for a confidence that the toponym of that (toponym,place) pair refers to the place of that (toponym,place) pair. This further method includes, for a selected (toponym,place) pair of the plurality of (toponym,place) pairs, (1) determining if another toponym is present within the document that has an associated place that is geographically related to the place of the selected (toponym, place) pair; and (2) if a toponym is identified within the document that has an associated place that is geographically related to the place of the selected (toponym, place) pair, boosting the value of the confidence for the selected (toponym,place) pair.
US08037077B2 Computer-readable recording medium, method, and apparatus for creating message patterns
An apparatus receives messages having a linking keyword for identification of a transaction, classifies the received messages in terms of transaction using message patterns and the linking keyword. It compares a series of messages associated with the transaction with the message patterns. It makes a decision as to whether the series of messages associated with the transaction matches any one of the message patterns. It creates a record including an identifier for the transaction and the linking keyword. It searches for the unclassified messages based on the linking keywords contained in the unclassified messages, and identifies the record containing the identical linking keyword. It stores the identifiers for the unclassified messages into a linked candidate list in a corresponding manner to linked candidate transactions. It adds the unclassified messages to the message pattern which corresponds to the linked candidate transaction to create a new message pattern.
US08037071B2 Methods and systems for dynamically rearranging search results into hierarchically organized concept clusters
Methods of and systems for dynamically rearranging search results into hierarchically organized concept clusters are provided. A method of searching for and presenting content items as an arrangement of conceptual clusters to facilitate further search and navigation on a display-constrained device includes providing a set of content items and receiving incremental input to incrementally identify search terms for content items. Content items are selected and grouped into sets based on how the incremental input matches various metadata associated with the content items. The selected content items are grouped into explicit conceptual clusters and user-implied conceptual clusters based on metadata in common to the selected content items. The clustered content items are presented according to the conceptual clusters into which they are grouped.
US08037066B2 System and method for generating tag cloud in user collaboration websites
A system and method for searching a collaborative website and displaying one or more words in a tag cloud. The system includes a search engine structured to search a collaborative website and a tag cloud generator configured to produce a tag cloud, which includes one or more words associated with one or more documents and configured to be weighted or scored according to importance within an online community, and based on a search term entered into the search engine. The method includes scoring one or more words within the collaborative website and displaying the one or more words via a tag cloud according to the score.
US08037065B1 Information extraction from a database
Techniques for extracting information from a database are provided. A database such as the Web is searched for occurrences of tuples of information. The occurrences of the tuples of information that were found in the database are analyzed to identify a pattern in which the tuples of information were stored. Additional tuples of information can then be extracted from the database utilizing the pattern. This process can be repeated with the additional tuples of information, if desired.
US08037056B2 Online repair of a replicated table
A method repairs a table. A replication environment has a first replicate comprising a source table on a source server and a target table on a target server. The source server transmits replication data from the source server with repair data from the source server to the target table in accordance with a commit order of the replication data and the repair data. The target server applies the repair data and the replication data to the target table based on the commit order.
US08037053B2 System and method for generating an online summary of a collection of documents
An improved system and method for generating an online summary of a collection of documents is provided. A list of documents may be received, and the titles of the list of documents may be obtained. A set of terms that frequently occur in the titles of the documents may be iteratively expanded and overlapping phrases may be merged until there may be no more terms that occur in the titles with a frequency that exceeds a predefined threshold. In an embodiment, an article summarizer operably coupled to a search engine may be provided to generate a summary of a list of references to web pages in search results using titles of the web pages. The summary of the web pages may then be sent with the list of references to the web pages as search results to a client device for display to a user.
US08037050B2 Methods and apparatus for performing multi-data-source, non-ETL queries and entity resolution
The application discloses a new system for performing queries and entity resolution on two or more data sources without having to ETL all the documents, entities, and descriptions of entities. Also disclosed, is a method to perform advanced entity resolution without divulging personally sensitive information to end-users and intermediate systems.
US08037048B2 Web site search and selection method
According to the web site search and selection method, in response to a search query a relevance score is assigned to each page of the web sites addressed by the search engine. Then, for each web site addressed by the search engine, the relevance scores of the individual pages are added together, after weighting them by a correction factor indicative at least of the number of pages of the site itself. In this manner, in response to the search query an overall relevance value for the sites addressed by the search engine is obtained.
US08037047B2 Technique for inline searching in an instant messenger environment
Techniques for performing inline searches in an instant messaging environment are provided. A user can implement a web search in an instant messaging window by entering a search query. A search query can be preceded by a predefined search trigger to identify the associated text as the search query. The search query is sent to an Internet search server, which processes the query and gathers search results. One or more of the search results is displayed inline in the instant messaging window to the sender and the recipient. The search result can be in XML or HTML format and can include graphics and hyperlinks.
US08037044B2 Search bar with intelligent parametric search statement generation
Described is a method for generating a parametric search statement for finding a target document. The parametric search statement is generated in the text boxes of a search bar. A user action is performed in the text box. An in-place context menu having menu items responsive to the user action are displayed near the location of the user action. Each menu item includes at least one of an attribute of the target document, a comparison operator and a value. One of the menu items is selected from the in-place context menu based on a known characteristic of the target document. Parametric search statements are easily generated using the method without the need to access numerous dialogs boxes or to enter significant text.
US08037041B2 System for dynamic keyword aggregation, search query generation and submission to third-party information search utilities
A system for creating keywords or phrases to be used for mining online information has a text source accessible by the system, a keyword aggregation function, and a mechanism for configuring the system. The system extracts keywords and phrases from the text source according to the configuration, for submission to a search facility.
US08037040B2 Generating continuous query notifications
Techniques are described to allow a query to be registered as a persistent stored entity within the database, and to generate notifications as and when the query result changes continuously as long as the query continues to be registered with the database. According to one aspect, for a table referenced in a query, a filter condition is generated based, at least in part, on a predicate of the query. Then, the database server determines whether the filter condition is satisfied by either a before image of a row, or an after image of the row, that was modified by a transaction. If the filter condition is satisfied by either the before image or the after image, then the query is added to a first set of queries whose result sets may have been affected by the transaction. From among the first set of queries, a second set of queries that have result sets that were actually affected by the transaction is determined. Notifications are then sent based on the second set of queries.
US08037039B2 Runtime class database operation
Programmers typically like operating with databases through use of classes. Classes allow a user to function with a database through use of a non-database programming language. To ease use of the classes, a class context is generated at runtime that does not force a programmer to handle various source files that are a product of class generation. Therefore, the user can have the ease of using classes without having to perform extra actions.
US08037035B2 Apparatus for searching and managing compressed files
A computer-readable, non-transitory medium stores a program that manages compressed file groups on a plurality of slave servers. The file groups include compressed files that are to be searched and have character strings. Each of the compressed file groups is expanded, using a Huffman tree that was used for compressing the compressed file group. A common compression parameter is generated based on appearance frequency, by summing, for each character, the appearance frequency in each of the compressed file groups. The expanded files are recompressed using the common Huffman tree such that sums of the access frequencies of the compressed files that are origins of the recompressed files are substantially equivalent among various slave servers. New archives including the re-compressed files are transmitted to the respective slave servers.
US08037033B2 Log manager for aggregating data
A processing device and a machine-implemented method may be provided for sequentially aggregating, or writing, data to a log included in a data store. The log may store multiple log entries. Each of the log entries may include an entry metadata portion, describing a respective log entry, and an entry payload data portion. The entry metadata portion may include a log sequence number, corresponding to a log entry at a particular position in the log. A library of log-related processes may be provided, along with an application program interface to permit a calling application program to call any of the log related processes. The log-related processes may be called during a boot mode, a user mode, and a kernel mode.
US08037032B2 Managing backups using virtual machines
One embodiment is a method for providing incremental backups for a source computing machine, the method including: (a) creating a first backup snapshot including a virtual machine (VM) snapshot of an initial copy of a source computing machine volume, wherein said VM snapshot includes a timestamp and a first redo log file; (b) reconfiguring and customizing said first backup snapshot to create a first bootable VM, writing changes associated with said reconfiguring and customizing into said first redo log file, then creating a first bootable snapshot including a VM snapshot of said first bootable VM, wherein said VM snapshot of said first bootable VM includes a timestamp for said first bootable VM and a redo log file; (c) performing an incremental update of said first backup snapshot or a subsequent backup snapshot, then creating a subsequent backup snapshot including a VM snapshot of said incremental update, wherein said VM snapshot of said incremental update includes a timestamp for said incremental update and a redo log file; and (d) reconfiguring and customizing said subsequent backup snapshot to create a subsequent bootable VM, then creating a subsequent bootable snapshot including a VM snapshot of said subsequent bootable VM, wherein said VM snapshot of said subsequent bootable VM includes a timestamp for said subsequent bootable VM and a redo log file.
US08037031B2 Method and system for offline indexing of content and classifying stored data
A method and system for creating an index of content without interfering with the source of the content includes an offline content indexing system that creates an index of content from an offline copy of data. The system may associate additional properties or tags with data that are not part of traditional indexing of content, such as the time the content was last available or user attributes associated with the content. Users can search the created index to locate content that is no longer available or based on the associate attributes.
US08037029B2 Automated records management with hold notification and automatic receipts
A records management system and method includes sending periodic notifications to record owners and managers when their records are under a hold order. Also, return receipts in response to an e-mail message related to a record are automatically declared as records themselves and linked to the original record.
US08037027B2 Computer system for hierarchically managing a journal and method therefor
Provided is technology in which a first storage system includes a first logical volume and a second logical volume, the second logical volume stores therein a first differential data item representing a differential between data that was stored in the first logical volume at a first time instant and data that was stored in the first logical volume at a second time instant being later than the first time instant, a second storage system includes a third logical volume, the first storage system transmits the first differential data item to the second storage system, the second storage system stores the first differential data item into the third logical volume, the first storage system deletes the first differential data item from the second logical volume, and the computer system retains management information set for associating the first logical volume with the third logical volume storing therein the first differential data item.
US08037025B2 Method and approach to hosting versioned web services
A method for hosting versioned web services includes steps of: receiving a request from a service requestor, the request comprising version metadata; parsing the request; extracting the version metadata from the parsing step; and locating a target implementation version using the version metadata. If the target implementation version is located, the method proceeds by dynamically routing the versioned request to the target implementation version.
US08037024B1 Data propagation in a multi-shard database system
Methods, systems and apparatus, including computer program products, for propagating data across shards of a database system are described. According to one method, a first request that includes instructions to place a second request in a queue of a second shard is placed in a queue of a first database shard, and the change is committed to the records of the first shard. A queue processor polling the queue fetches and dispatches the first request, placing the second request in a queue of a second database shard. The second request includes instructions for making the change to the second shard. A queue processor of the second database shard polls the queue of the second database, fetches the second request, and dispatches it to make the change on the second database shard.
US08037022B2 Synchronizing content between content directory service and control point
In one embodiment, a method is performed at a control point (CP) in a network. An action is invoked to create a synchronization data structure on a media server that includes a content directory service (CDS) in the network, wherein the synchronization data structure includes a synchronization relationship describing a relationship between the CP and the CDS. Then an action is invoked to add synchronization pair information to one or more objects on the CDS. A change log is requested from the CDS. Then the change log is received from the CDS, wherein the change log contains information about changes to the one or more objects to which synchronization pair information for the CP was added.
US08037018B2 Document validation system and method
The present invention provides a system and method for creating, accessing and managing self-validating documents in supply chain management, documentation services in which at least one alphanumeric string is extracted from a document, relevant alphanumeric strings are determined from the extracted alphanumeric strings by a comparison in sequence and in combination with terms related to materials in a dictionary database of common material terms, and storing matched alphanumeric strings in a data processing system. This system and method provides, among other things, the ability to validate compliance certifications, including via access to underlying source documentation.
US08037016B2 Adaptive storage system transcoder
A system and method are disclosed for the transcoding of data from a first format to a second format. A data format transcoder receives a request for data from a requester. The desired format of the requested data is determined. A descriptor file containing formatting information describing the requested format is loaded into the data format transcoder. The requested data is retrieved in its native format along with its corresponding common descriptor. The requested data is read in its native format, using the formatting information from its associated common descriptor. The data format transcoder then uses the formatting information in the common descriptor of the requested format to perform transcoding operations to convert the requested data from its native format into the requested format.
US08037015B2 Flexible interface using scalable vector graphics with metalevel palette
The present invention provides a method and system of storing information for drawing an object on a computer system that includes providing a palette file that includes a set of first labels matched with numerical values, tagging a vector graphics file for drawing the object with second labels, translating the second labels into one or more of the first labels, and plugging in values stored in the palette file associated with the translated second labels into the tagged vector graphics file.
US08037007B2 Situation-aware thresholding for recommendation
In one embodiment, data relating to usage patterns of the user is stored, wherein the data includes information as to items which were used and the context in which they were used. The data is then clustered into clusters of data points. Then a centroid is determined for each of the clusters. A cluster similar to a current context of the user is selected by comparing a data point representing the current context of the user to one or more of the centroids. For each of one or more items, a threshold based on values for a plurality of the centroids with respect to the corresponding item, wherein a threshold is used to compare with centroid value of an item in a selected cluster to determine whether to recommend the item.
US08037004B2 Computer-implemented methods and systems for identifying and reporting deviations from standards and policies for contracts, agreements and other business documents
A computer-implemented method may include steps of providing a plurality of business document templates; providing a plurality of deviation rules and associating at least some of the plurality of deviation rules with each of the business document templates; storing the plurality of business document templates and the associated plurality of deviation rules; generating a business document (such as a contract, for example) based upon one of the stored plurality of business document templates, the generated business document including a plurality of clauses and business document terms; retrieving the plurality of deviation rules associated with the business document template upon which the business document is based and applying the retrieved plurality of deviation rules against the generated business document; identifying all business document terms of the business document that do not conform to one or more of the applied plurality of deviation rules, and generating a report that includes at least the identified non-conforming business document terms.
US08037003B2 Solution recommendation based on incomplete data sets
In accordance with one aspect of the present exemplary embodiment, a system determines a solution based on received data. An intake component receives an incomplete data set from one or more sources. A recommendation system transforms the incomplete data set into a semantic data set via latent semantic indexing, classifies the semantic data set into an existing cluster and provides one or more solutions of the existing cluster as one or more recommendations.
US08036999B2 Method for analyzing and classifying process data that operates a knowledge base in an open-book mode before defining any clusters
Process data mining system and method. The system analyzes data from complex process plants or systems and operates in open-book and closed-book modes. In closed-book mode, the system monitors incoming data sets against pre-defined clusters of data values and generates reports, indicating whether incoming data is a match or a no-match with the pre-defined clusters. In open-book mode, the system generates initial clusters, without having a-priori knowledge of the component or process, and also creates clusters “on the fly”, thereby fine-tuning the analysis. A knowledge base encompasses a combination of parameters for a particular component. Clusters are defined within the knowledge base, each cluster representing a particular operating condition. The system expands clusters, within pre-defined limits, or creates new clusters, as needed, in order to accommodate incoming data values. Newly created clusters are then named, so as to indicate the particular operating conditions.
US08036996B2 Systems and methods for martingale boosting in machine learning
Boosting algorithms are provided for accelerated machine learning in the presence of misclassification noise. In an exemplary embodiment, a machine learning method having multiple learning stages is provided. Each learning stage may include partitioning examples into bins, choosing a base classifier for each bin, and assigning an example to a bin by counting the number of positive predictions previously made by the base classifier associated with the bin.
US08036995B2 Method for programming by rehearsal
A system (100), apparatus (106 107), and method are provided for an end-user to program-by-rehearsal an Ambient Intelligence environment comprising an Ambient Narrative of at least one beat (104). The end-user's rehearsal actions are visualized on a screen 106) of a portable device (101) that the end-user carries and uses to make inputs while rehearsing a beat being programmed in the actual physical space where the beat is active. The programming-by-rehearsal actions are instantly visualized on a virtual stage (106), i.e., screen, of the portable device (101) so that the end-user has immediate feedback concerning the effects of programming-by-rehearsal actions taken by the end-user.
US08036984B2 Financial account management
An automated account management system provides a user with the ability to establish rules that dictate how the account management system is to manage the user's accounts. Once the user specifies a set of rules, the system automatically manages multiple accounts across multiple financial institutions in accordance with the user-defined rules. Other features, such as an on-line bill payment system, a money transfer system, and a retirement planning system, may be integrated within the automated account management system to provide the user with even greater control over his or her financial assets.
US08036970B1 Asset management reconciliation system and method
A system and a method of managing and reconciling changes in the cost basis for assets is provided. More specifically, the system and the method allow asset management advisors to provide clients with investment portfolio information that is complete and accurate. Specifically, the present system and the method allow cost basis data and tax lot data to be extracted from brokerage systems and other financial instrument administration systems to enable automated reporting of changes to cost basis changes for an individual's portfolio of assets.
US08036969B2 Basket option hedging method
A method and system for hedging a correlation risk associated with a basket option that includes a plurality of securities that includes the step of selecting at least two of the plurality of securities and, in the next step, forming a best-of option for the at least two of the plurality of securities. Finally, the best-of option is combined with the basket option to hedge the correlation risk associated with the basket option.
US08036965B1 Distribution of electronic market data
A system and method are provided that, among other things, can reduce the burden on receiving computers, increase data throughput, reduce system failure, and provide components of a scalable and flexible network architecture. Specifically, the system and method provide a multichannel-multicast network environment for use in dynamically assigning data to channels. This configuration is particularly useful in a trading network environment, as it effectively performs channel reassignments in a way not to disturb the receipt of the underlying data. While the example embodiments described herein pertain to electronic trading, the principles of the present invention may be equally applied in other environments where the advantages presented herein are beneficial.
US08036964B2 Systems and methods for remarketable fixed income securities
A straight debt security may include a maturity component, a reset component, and a remarketing component. In general, the maturity component provides a maturity term of the straight debt security. The reset component specifies the terms and conditions for resetting a yield on the straight debt security. The remarketing component provides terms and conditions for remarketing the straight debt security to new investors. After remarketing, the straight debt security remains outstanding and potential recapture of excess tax benefits is postponed until the straight debt security ceases to be outstanding.
US08036963B2 System and method for updating merchant payment data
A system for updating merchant on file payment data at a payment processor. The system includes a merchant processing selection system receiving selection data for one of two or more types of on file payment data update processing. A merchant account update system receives the selection data and processes account update data based on the selection data.
US08036962B2 Systems and methods for determining payers in a billing environment
Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed for determining payers of cost events in a billing environment. A biller may provide billable services or goods for its customers. At least one participant may be involved in rendering the services or goods, or a service or good related thereto. The payer for each invoice may be determined depending on one or more factors, such as the type of service or good provided and/or the relationships between the involved participant. Additional features may be provided, such as issuing an invoice to the identified payer to request payment.
US08036961B2 Dynamically managing timesheet data associated with multiple billing types
Methods, systems, and computer program products manage timesheet data associated with multiple billing types. Embodiments of the present invention are unique in that each billing type is visually displayed as a separate database record when in actuality it is simply a pivoted representation of attributes on a single record. A method involves retrieving timesheet data associated with a specific timesheet. Each instance of the timesheet data associated with a date and multiple billing types are stored on a server as a single record. The method also involves pivoting the timesheet data to display as separate records the timesheet data associated with a date and multiple billing types. Each billing type associated with actual time entry is displayed and associated with one of the records as displayed. This combination of data storage and data display represents distinct improvements in levels of efficiency for both a timesheet user and a timesheet manager.
US08036957B2 Method for managing inventory under price protection
A method and system for managing inventory under price protection plan determine an inventory replenishment plan for one or more goods considering a price protection agreement including at least length of price protection between at least two supply chain partners in a supply chain having decentralized control over a predetermined time period.
US08036954B2 Customer-specific merchandising program
The invention is directed to facilitating the planning and ordering of a merchandising unit and associated products. A merchandising unit planning screen is presented that displays a representation of a merchandising unit having holders for holding and displaying the products. A product menu is provided for each holder to allow selection of a product from a set of products for each respective holder. Available choices in the product menu of at least one holder are constraining to a subset of the set of products based on predetermined criteria. For each holder for which a product has been selected, a product quantity is determined based on a capacity of the respective holder. An order is generated based on the selected products.
US08036953B2 Method and system for universal gift registry
A gift registry system and method for providing a group gift giving option for gift givers and an option of a gift substitution or cash for gift recipients. The gift recipient registers any type of gift from any retailer for any occasion with an associated gift amount in the registry. The gift recipient also indicates whether they will accept a substitute of gift or cash instead of the gift. The gift giver is able to select a gift and make a partial contribution toward purchase of the gift.
US08036952B2 Alternative selections for compound price quoting
Methods and systems for automated alternative selection for compound price quotes are provided. A requesting party submits a request that includes information regarding at least one specification. A database is searched based on the information provided by the request. The search results are evaluated to determine whether they meet a predefined target. When the search results do not meet a predefined target, an alternative specification is identified. At least a second set of search results is retrieved from the database that may be used to meet the target. Vehicles are selected for inclusion in a compound price quote. A compound price quote including multiple price quotes for each selected vehicles is generated.
US08036951B2 Method and system of providing customized business products to consumer at a retail location
The present invention relates to a retailing system that provides a series of consumer products, customizable prime business communication products and a selection of ready to eat convenience food products. The retail system is provided at a fixed retail location such as a kiosk or permanent installation and may include a series of advertising panels displaying one or more products that is offered by the retail system. The retail system further includes one or more transaction points enabling a user to obtain the consumer goods, business communication products and ready to eat convenience foods.
US08036947B2 System and method for differential payment
Provided is a differential payment system connected to both a supplier terminal of a supplier providing a service and a purchaser terminal of a purchaser purchasing the service though a network, to differentially pay for the service based on an evaluation data of the service provided by the supplier.
US08036945B2 Method of generating product cagetories from a text string
Methods of the present invention allow a static product category to be received from a user for a product on an ecommerce site. The user may then be enabled to dynamically associate the product with the static product category using a metadata tag.
US08036942B2 Ecommerce marketplace integration techniques
Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for integrating ecommerce marketplaces. An ecommerce integration framework has definitions for common data entities that are commonly used by multiple ecommerce marketplaces for listing items. Definitions for common operations that can manipulate the common data entities are provided. An application programming interface is provided that uses the common data entities and common operations to enable enterprise resource planning systems to exchange data in a standardized format with ecommerce marketplaces. Catalogs of items to be sold in ecommerce marketplaces can be created and managed using a customizable structure. The customizable structure enables catalogs to be created in a hierarchical manner with at least one parent catalog and zero or more child catalogs. Data values specified in a respective child catalog override data values specified in the parent catalog. A method for communicating with a particular ecommerce marketplace using an ecommerce integration framework is described.
US08036941B2 Online purchasing system supporting lenders with affordability screening
An online system uses, in various embodiments of the invention, credit report information, loan affordability screening and credit approval and management functionality to facilitate the purchase and finance of products online. The online system may include both sellers of products and lenders that offer financing to buyers seeking to purchase the products. The system may automatically obtain a buyer's credit report information and use that information to determine if the buyer is pre-approved, for example, to obtain financing for a particular product or products. The system also enables use of buyer credit information to identify only those of a seller's products for which the buyer is pre-approved, for example, to finance using one or more loans. The system then enables selection of an identified product or products for purchase, and selection of a loan, for example, for financing of the selected product or products. Credit approval (or pre-approval) may be performed automatically, and along with credit processing, may be performed completely online.
US08036940B2 System and method for displaying inventory and future inventory for purchase
An embodiment of the invention provides the ability for forest products sellers to provide potential buyers with price and availability information about their products, whether or not those products are in existing inventory. It gives the seller control over which products can be pre-sold prior to production or purchase, and control over pre-sold quantities so that the seller may be not committed beyond his capacity to produce or purchase to fill orders and inquiries. An embodiment of the invention provides sellers a means for indicating willingness to sell specific forest products under specific conditions of price, time, delivery, and other terms.
US08036939B2 Reporting in a supply chain
A system and a method for reporting in a supply chain involving an enterprise and at least one partner are provided. A request from a network system for access to real-time data stored in an existing partner system is received at a partner coordinator component. The real-time data relates to a transaction in which the partner is involved. The partner coordinator component is integrated with the existing partner system, and the network system maintains a context for the transaction. The data is converted at the partner coordinator component into a format usable by the network system. The converted real-time data is provided to the network system, thereby enabling the network system to generate real-time reports of the transaction for the enterprise.
US08036932B2 Method and system for valuing advertising content
Methods and media are provided for objectively valuing advertising content (or the potential viewer impact thereof) that occur during the course of an event or other presentation (such as TV sitcom). In one embodiment the method includes receiving a source of media, indexing a set of sponsorship images within the media to provide a set of indices, and providing valuation factors by aggregating the indices so that valuation factors can be derived that indicate a viewer's potential awareness of the advertising content or images therein. The valuation factors can be used in connection with a benchmark, such as the 30-second spot rate or time, to determine a value associated with the media source, including a monetary value.
US08036930B2 Market segmentation analyses in virtual universes
A method includes collecting, by one or more processors, virtual universe data associated with interactions between avatars, entities, and objects in a virtual universe. The collecting includes collecting, by the one or more processors, at least some of the virtual universe data as the interactions occur. The method also includes determining, by the one or more processors, a criteria with which to perform a market segmentation analysis on the virtual universe data. The method also includes performing, by the one or more processors, the market segmentation analysis on the virtual universe data, wherein the market segmentation analysis includes segmenting the avatars based on an amount of time the avatars are in the virtual universe and an amount of money the avatars spend in the virtual universe. The method also includes generating a report indicating results of the market segmentation analysis.
US08036929B1 Method and apparatus for collecting, aggregating and providing post-sale market data for an item
Various systems for collecting individual post-sale market data for products or services, and determining aggregate post-sale market data therefrom, are provided. In such systems, a sale of a product or service may trigger a third party, such as a payment provider, to arrange for the collection of individual post-sale market data from the consumer. Alternatively, such post-sale market data may be directly provided by smart devices and the like. Dependent upon the type of product or service involved, a schedule for continuously submitting post-sale market data for the product or service may be provided and the consumer may be encouraged to submit post-sale market data in accordance therewith through a variety of incentives. The received, individual, post-sale market data may be aggregated by one or more sources to determine aggregate post-sale market data for the product or service. Individual post-sale market data may be normalized based on identifiable traits of the individual submitting the post-sale market data prior to such aggregation. The submitted individual data and/or the determined aggregate post-sale market data may then be provided to consumers in order to assist them in making purchasing decisions. The collection and dissemination of post-sale market data may be accomplished, for example, via a software agent, such as a shopping bot, which may provide desired post-sale market data to a consumer prior to a sale and which may initiate collection of individual post-sale market data after a sale is recognized. Various other on-line and off-line embodiments are proposed for the collection, aggregation and dissemination of such post-sale market data.
US08036927B2 Method for stock keeping, computer system and computer program
The present invention relates to a method, computer system and computer program for stock keeping. An embodiment of the invention determines forecast values of quantities to be consumed of a stock keeping unit for at least two different forecast time spans depending on a historical consumption data. The invention further determines order values of order quantities for each forecast value depending on a respective forecast value, stock keeping costs and ordering costs. The invention further determines an associated order quantity time span for each order value. The invention further determines a respective pair of forecast value and order value with the least deviation between forecast time span and order quantity time span from forecast values, forecast values respective forecast time spans, the order values and the order values respectively associated with order quantity time spans. The invention further processes the determined pair of forecast value and determined order value.
US08036925B2 System and method to manage assets of healthcare facility
A system to manage utilization of a plurality of types of assets by a plurality of independent entities is provided. The system comprises a controller including a processor operable to execute a plurality of program instructions generally representative of the steps of receiving a plurality of parameters from each of the plurality of independent entities; segmenting the plurality the independent entities into more than one cluster dependent on identified similarities in at least one of the plurality of parameters of the one or more of the plurality of entities; and generating a display of a comparison of the plurality of parameters of each of the independent entities relative to another in each of the plurality of clusters.
US08036919B2 Licensed professional scoring system and method
A quantitative system and method that utilizes data sources external to a company, and when available, traditional data sources, e.g., internal company information, to (i) provide an easily accessible means for matching criteria such as, for example, demographic needs, to a database that can quickly provide a number of potential recruits or customers and that can also be used to screen both current and prospective company employees matching the criteria, and (ii) generate a statistical model that can be used to accurately and consistently predict future profitability and productivity of licensed professionals.
US08036916B2 Method of optimizing healthcare services consumption
A method of optimizing healthcare services consumption according to the invention includes the steps of assessing the healthcare situation of an employer providing healthcare benefits to a population, identifying a first group of patients from the population likely to generate expensive healthcare claims based on data representing past claims, periodically determining whether patients in the first group have satisfied certain predetermined healthcare requirements, identifying a first group of providers who provide high quality, cost efficient healthcare services based on the practice patterns of the providers, prompting patients who have not satisfied the predetermined healthcare requirements to obtain services from providers in the first group, and responding to healthcare requests from patients by determining whether the requesting patient is seeking services from a provider in the first group, and, if not, urging the patient to obtain such services from a provider in the first group.
US08036915B2 System and method for collecting and managing patient data
A system and method that employs standardized data collection forms for use by health care providers and patients to enable efficient collection, storage and management of patient data for treatment of diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
US08036912B2 Interactive web based system in support of bariatric procedures
The present invention is directed to a computer-based weight loss system for supporting bariatric treatment of obesity that is accessible to both the patient and the medical practitioner. The system has a central server maintaining a library of information related to the treatment of obesity and a patient interface and a medical practitioner interface linked to the central server for uploading and downloading of information. The patient interface also provides access to information selected from the group consisting of bariatric care pathway, behavioral modification planning, fitness, preoperative diet, postoperative diet, monitoring of a gastric band, monitoring of a patient's weight, monitoring caloric intake and nutritional information. The uploaded information is processed by the central server and then made available to the medical practitioner and the patient.
US08036907B2 Method and system for linking business entities using unique identifiers
A corporate linkage system and method provides customers with complete, accurate, and timely lists of corporate linkage locations, including monitoring company lists for changes to location lists, matching stored locations to a company or third party list of locations, providing detailed coding on matches, and batch updates to global files.
US08036906B2 Method and system for merchandise retail management and portable terminal
An object of the invention is to reduce necessary costs in a merchandise retail store, and to reduce customer inconvenience and waiting time. A customer entering a merchandise retail store borrows a RFID portable terminal at the store entrance. The customer selects a sample commodity from a store sales area, and a commodity code is read out from a wireless tag in a wireless tag label and stored with the RFID portable terminal, which simultaneously relays that information to the outside. An information-processing apparatus in the store receives this message, and prepares the commodity that the customer wishes to purchase. The customer returns the RFID portable terminal to the sales counter, settles payment, and receives his wrapped commodity.
US08036894B2 Multi-unit approach to text-to-speech synthesis
Methods, apparatus, systems, and computer program products are provided for synthesizing speech. One method includes matching a first level of units of a received input string to audio segments from a plurality of audio segments including using properties of or between first level units to locate matching audio segments from a plurality of selections, parsing unmatched first level units into second level units, matching the second level units to audio segments using properties of or between the units to locate matching audio segments from a plurality of selections and synthesizing the input string, including combining the audio segments associated with the first and second units.
US08036886B2 Estimation of pulsed speech model parameters
Methods for estimating speech model parameters are disclosed. For pulsed parameter estimation, a speech signal is divided into multiple frequency bands or channels using bandpass filters. Channel processing reduces sensitivity to pole magnitudes and frequencies and reduces impulse response time duration to improve pulse location and strength estimation performance. These methods are useful for high quality speech coding and reproduction at various bit rates for applications such as satellite and cellular voice communication.
US08036885B2 Method and device for adaptive bandwidth pitch search in coding wideband signals
A pitch search method and device for digitally encoding a wideband signal, in particular but not exclusively a speech signal, in view of transmitting, or storing, and synthesizing this wideband sound signal. The new method and device which achieve efficient modeling of the harmonic structure of the speech spectrum uses several forms of low pass filters applied to a pitch codevector, the one yielding higher prediction gain (i.e. the lowest pitch prediction error) is selected and the associated pitch codebook parameters are forwarded.
US08036884B2 Identification of the presence of speech in digital audio data
The present invention provides a method, a computer-software-product and an apparatus for enabling a determination of speech related audio data within a record of digital audio data. The method comprises steps for extracting audio features from the record of digital audio data, for classifying one or more subsections of the record of digital audio data, and for marking at least a part of the record of digital audio data classified as speech. The classification of the digital audio data record is performed on the basis of the extracted audio features and with respect to at least one predetermined audio class. The extraction of the at least one audio feature as used by a method according to the invention comprises steps for partitioning the record of digital audio data into adjoining frames, defining a window for each frame which is formed by a sequence of adjoining frames containing the frame under consideration, determining for the frame under consideration and at least one further frame of the window a spectral-emphasis-value which is related to the frequency distribution contained in the digital audio data of the respective frame, and assigning a presence-of-speech indicator value to the frame under consideration based on an evaluation of the differences between the spectral-emphasis-values determined for the frame under consideration and at least one further frame of the window.
US08036881B2 Enhancing perceptual performance of SBR and related HFR coding methods by adaptive noise-floor addition and noise substitution limiting
Methods and an apparatus for enhancement of source coding systems utilizing high frequency reconstruction (HFR) are introduced. The problem of insufficient noise contents is addressed in a reconstructed highband, by using Adaptive Noise-floor Addition. New methods are also introduced for enhanced performance by means of limiting unwanted noise, interpolation and smoothing of envelope adjustment amplification factors. The methods and apparatus used are applicable to both speech coding and natural audio coding systems.
US08036879B2 Fast acoustic cancellation
A speech enhancement system improves the perceptual quality of an aural signal. A receiver detects and receives an unvoiced signal, a fully voiced signal, or a mixed voice remote signal. A coherence processor identifies the similarities or differences between a local signal and the remote signal. A cancellation processor or controller dampens reflected signals that may be part of the local signal.
US08036877B2 Context-based suggestions mechanism and adaptive push mechanism for natural language systems
Natural language interface to a back-end application, incorporating synonyms, suggestions, and proposals. Roughly described, synonyms are automatically added to user input to enhance the natural language interpretation, whereas suggestions and proposals are offered to the user in an interaction, usually after an interpretation of prior user input. Suggestions and synonyms can be learned from user input, whereas proposals are programmed by a third party. The selection of synonyms, suggestions, and proposals for use with particular user input can be user input context-based so that further user input can maintain context by explicitly indicating that the same context is intended, and rewards-based reinforcement can be used to better focus suggestions and proposals on the characteristics of the particular user.
US08036876B2 Methods of defining ontologies, word disambiguation methods, computer systems, and articles of manufacture
Methods of defining ontologies, word disambiguation methods, computer systems, and articles of manufacture are described according to some aspects. In one aspect, a word disambiguation method includes accessing textual content to be disambiguated, wherein the textual content comprises a plurality of words individually comprising a plurality of word senses, for an individual word of the textual content, identifying one of the word senses of the word as indicative of the meaning of the word in the textual content, for the individual word, selecting one of a plurality of event classes of a lexical database ontology using the identified word sense of the individual word, and for the individual word, associating the selected one of the event classes with the textual content to provide disambiguation of a meaning of the individual word in the textual content.
US08036875B2 Audio guidance system having ability to update language interface based on location
A CPU of a speech ECU acquires vehicle position information. If it is determined from the position information and map data stored in a memory that the vehicle has moved between areas where different languages are spoken as dialects or official languages, the CPU determines a language corresponding to the vehicle position information and transmits a request signal to a speech information center to transmit speech information in the language. By receiving the speech information from the speech information center, the CPU updates speech information pre-stored in the memory with the speech information transmitted from the speech information center.
US08036871B1 Generating and delaying function calls in a discrete event modeling environment
A mechanism to dynamically vary the amount of delay for an event-generated function call is discussed. The event causing the generation of the function call may be a signal-based event, function call event or some other type of event. A function call generating delay component is inserted into a DES model and dynamically adjusts the amount of delay to apply prior to generating and transmitting the function call to an intended target component. The function call generating component reads a value from an input port in determining the amount of delay. The identified value at the input port may be a signal value or an attribute associated with an event entity received at the port.
US08036869B2 System and method for using first-principles simulation to control a semiconductor manufacturing process via a simulation result or a derived empirical model
A method, system and computer readable medium for controlling a process performed by a semiconductor processing tool. The method includes inputting data relating to a process performed by the semiconductor processing tool, inputting a first principles physical model relating to the semiconductor processing tool, performing first principles simulation using the input data and the physical model to provide a first principles simulation result. The first principles simulation result is used to build an empirical model, and at least one of the first principles simulation result and the empirical model is selected to control the process performed by the semiconductor processing tool.
US08036865B2 System and method for constructing flexible ordering to improve productivity and efficiency in process flows
A plurality of equivalent representations of a process are identified. The process has a plurality of tasks. Each of the representations specifies a different order of the tasks. The plurality of equivalent representations are consolidated into a single representation. The single representation captures, in at least one flexible order grouping, at least two of the tasks that may be performed in more than one order. At least one constraint is specified for the at least one flexible order grouping. Techniques for merging two or more flexible representations are also provided.
US08036862B2 Creation of a linear or planar shape
A watermark is embossed into a model of a linear or surface shape, especially a non-uniform rational B-splines model. The model has a plurality of splines, the combination of which forms the shape. Control points are assigned to the splines such that a course of the respectively associated spline can be modified and thus be controlled by changing the position of the control points and/or weights of the control points. Nodes which are located in a section of the shape that is formed by the respectively associated spline are allocated to the splines. In order to change the shape (the modified curve runs through point Cmod) when a watermark is embossed into the model, the position of at least one control point is modified, the weight by which a control point affects the shape and thus influences at least one area of the shape is modified, and/or an additional control point is inserted into the model. At least one additional node is inserted into the model (new node at u=1.1875 on the modified curve) in order to obtain information on how the change of the shape can be reversed.
US08036853B2 Compressor memory system and method
A compressor memory system includes a compressor with a first non-volatile memory connected to a module. The module has a processor and a second non-volatile memory. The first non-volatile memory is associated with the compressor. The module is selectively attached to the compressor and the processor is configured to access the first and second non-volatile memories.
US08036852B2 Methods, systems and formats for data, such as data used in laser projection of fasteners used in manufacturing
A system and method provides data for a laser projection process used in manufacturing involving fasteners. For example, the laser projection process may include projecting a laser image associated with fasteners used to assemble objects. Fastener attribute data may be extracted from an engineer's design data and processed to generate a laser projection output file. This output file may include geometric data used to project a laser image associated with the fasteners. For example, this image may be an outline indicating the location, shape, and orientation of a fastener. The output file may also include non-geometric data associated with attributes of the objects to be assembled. Both the geometric and the non-geometric data can then be displayed in a user interface, such as a display screen of a laser projector control device, in addition to the display of the laser image in three-dimensional space.
US08036848B2 Semiconductor wafer testing apparatus and method of testing semiconductor wafer
In a method of testing a semiconductor wafer, semiconductor chips of a predetermined number are selected from among a plurality of semiconductor chips formed on a semiconductor wafer, and a first test is performed on I/O pins of each of the selected semiconductor chips. Then, a second test is performed on a part of the I/O pins of each of non-selected semiconductor chips as ones of the plurality of semiconductor chips other than the selected semiconductor chips.
US08036845B2 Method of correcting coordinates, and defect review apparatus
The present invention provides a method of correcting coordinates so as to quickly and properly arrange a sample in a field of view in a review apparatus for moving a sample stage onto the specified coordinates to review the sample. A review apparatus according to the present invention, which is a review apparatus for moving a sample stage onto coordinates previously calculated by a checking apparatus to review the sample, has a function of retaining a plurality of coordinate correction tables to correct a deviation between a coordinate value previously calculated by a checking apparatus and an actual sample position detected by the review apparatus. The review apparatus evaluates correction accuracy of the plurality of coordinate correction tables and applies one of the coordinate correction tables with the maximum evaluation value.
US08036838B2 Pumping installation controller
This invention relates to a controller for a pumping installation using a combined pressure sensor and fluid level sensor arrangement. The controller includes a processor responsive to measurements from the sensor arrangement, as well as memory for storing a set of instructions for execution by the processor to correlate initial measurements taken by the sensors. The instructions allows the controller to monitor a fluid level in a well with the combined arrangement to compile a history of respective measurements for both sensors, and, in the event of an unexpected discrepancy between the measurements, to automatically calibrate the sensor arrangement according to the history of respective measurements to re-establish a correlation between the sensors.
US08036836B2 Dynamic environmental change compensation of sensor data in structural health monitoring systems
A method for adjusting signal data detected in a structural health monitoring (SHM) system to compensate for the effects of environmental variables acting thereon includes constructing a baseline data space comprised of sets of signal data. Current signal data sets are collected for comparison to the baseline data space. The collected current signal data sets are amended to best match baseline signal data sets in the baseline data space. A set of indices are computed for comparing the amended current signal data set to the baseline signal data sets. A threshold for detection is determined by outlier detection for the computed indices. A signal in the collected signal data set is determined to be detected on the basis of the threshold. A representation of the detected signal strength is provided on the basis of the computed indices.
US08036834B2 Multiparameter analysis for predictive medicine
The invention provides a method of determining a comparative expression profile in an individual by comparing the expression levels of a sample of molecules in a population of molecules in a specimen from the individual with a health-associated reference expression region of the sample of molecules, wherein expression levels within the health-associated reference expression region indicate a reference expression profile and wherein expression levels outside the health-associated reference expression region indicate a perturbed expression profile. The invention also provides methods of diagnosing a disease or a health state in an individual by comparing the expression level of a sample of molecules in a specimen from the individual with a health-associated reference expression region of the sample of molecules.
US08036832B2 Automatic threshold setting and baseline determination for real-time PCR
The invention discloses a system and methods for quantitating the presence of nucleic acid sequences by evaluation of amplification data generated using real-time PCR. In one aspect, the methods may be adapted to identify a threshold and threshold cycle for one or more reactions based upon evaluation of exponential and baseline regions for each amplification reaction. The methodology used in the analysis may be readily automated such that subjective user interpretation of the data is substantially reduced or eliminated.
US08036829B2 Apparatus for analysis and control of a reciprocating pump system by determination of a pump card
An instrumentation system for assessing operation of a reciprocating pump system which produces hydrocarbons from a non-vertical or a vertical wellbore. The instrumentation system periodically produces a downhole pump card as a function of a directly or indirectly measured surface card and a friction law function from a wave equation which describes the linear vibrations in a long slender rod. A control signal or command signal is generated based on characteristics of the downhole pump card for controlling the pumping system. It also generates a pump and well analysis report that is useful for a pump operation and determination of its condition.
US08036827B2 Cognitive change detection system
A method of detecting a changed condition within a geographical space from a moving vehicle. Images of that geographic space are memorialized in conjunction with GPS coordinates together with its GPS coordinates. The same geographic space is traversed from the moving vehicle while accessing the route's GPS coordinates. The memorialized images are played back by coordinating the GPS data on a memorialized images with that of the traversed geographic space such that the memorialized images are viewed simultaneously with the geographic space being traversed. An observer traveling within the moving vehicle can compare the memorialized images with those being traversed in order to identify changed conditions.
US08036824B2 System and method for setting a rideshare transaction fee
A system and method for setting a rideshare transaction fee is provided. Data is maintained for rideshare transactions, each associated with a route. At least one rideshare transaction that travels along a particular route is identified. A number of drivers offering transportation on that particular route and a number of passengers seeking transportation on the particular route are determined. A transaction fee for the rideshare transaction along the particular route is set. The transaction fee is increased when there are more passengers seeking transportation than drivers offering transportation. The transaction fee is decreased when there are more drivers offering transportation than passengers seeking transportation.
US08036823B2 Navigation system
A navigation system generating a display which enables an intuitive and instant grasp of a distance to a guide point (such as a guide target intersection) is provided. The navigation system displays an object on a route between the vicinity of a vehicle position and the guide point, and includes a object display control section which calculates a distance from an arbitrary point on the route between the vehicle position and the guide point to the guide point, and sets a mode for displaying the object in accordance with the distance from the arbitrary position on the route to the guide point. The object display control section sets, for example, a display color, a pattern, or a shape of the object in accordance with the distance from the arbitrary point on the route to the guide point.
US08036822B2 Travel time determination
The present invention relates to travel time determination, for example, determining a predicted travel time between locations based on historical data. One aspect of the invention is directed toward a method for determining a predicted amount of time required to travel from one location to another that includes dividing a region into multiple grid portions and designating each grid portion that contains at least one address of interest as a departure grid, a destination grid, or both. The method can further include generating a searchable data arrangement that includes travel times associated with traveling from selected departure grids to selected destination grids, and updating the travel times using historical data.
US08036820B2 Vehicle-mounted device, traffic-information acquisition method, traffic-information provision system, and traffic-information provision method
When a change occurs between a previous traffic condition based on traffic information provided previously and the current traffic condition, a control unit of a vehicle-mounted device performs control such that traffic information is acquired from an external device via wireless communication. A comparison of current vehicle traveling conditions and previous vehicle traveling conditions can also be used to determine whether traffic information should be updated.
US08036814B2 Calibration scheme for an exhaust gas sensor
Various systems and methods are described for controlling an engine in a vehicle in response to an equilibrium value of an exhaust gas constituent generated from an exhaust gas sensor. One example method comprises during engine fueling below a threshold amount where at least one intake valve and one exhaust valve of the engine are operating: generating an equilibrium value of an exhaust gas constituent reading of the exhaust gas sensor, the equilibrium value based on a trajectory of the exhaust gas constituent reading, and under selected engine combusting conditions, adjusting the sensor signal based on the equilibrium value.
US08036810B2 Method for determining the quality of the fuel for an internal combustion engine
A method for determining the quality of the fuel for an internal combustion engine, in particular a direct-injection internal combustion engine in a vehicle, which is characterized by the following be performed: the internal combustion engine is operated in idle mode under predefinable operating conditions, the curve of the injection quantity, necessary for idling, over the engine temperature is determined, and the fuel quality is inferred from the curve of the injection quantity over the engine temperature.
US08036809B2 Engine synchronizer
Engine synchronization apparatus and system for multi-engine vehicles such as boats and aircraft providing limited authority throttle cable trim effected by an apparatus interposed between the throttle plate and throttle cable of a slave engine and mounted in a floating configuration. An actuator is mounted to the apparatus to trim the distance between the throttle plate and throttle cable attachment thereby trimming the throttle cable. A system is provided in which a difference signal derived from master and slave engine tachometer signals is used to control the actuator and synchronize the engines within a predetermined range.
US08036808B2 Ignition control system for internal combustion engine
An object of the present invention is to enable the convergence of the discharge path length of an ignition plug to a target value irrespective of the condition in a cylinder in an ignition control system for an internal combustion engine equipped the ignition plug that can change the discharge path length. To achieve the object, in the present invention, in an ignition control system for an internal combustion engine equipped with a changing device that changes the path length (or discharge path length) of a spark discharge occurring in the discharge gap of the ignition plug, an actual discharge path length or the path length of a spark discharge that actually occurs in the discharge gap is detected, and the changing device is controlled in such a way that the detected actual discharge path length converges to a target discharge path length.
US08036803B2 Adaptive cruise control system for motor vehicles
Adaptive cruise control (ACC) system for motor vehicles is provided, the ACC system having a sensor system for acquiring data concerning a target object and the own (host) vehicle, an actuator system for controlling the longitudinal movement of the vehicle, and a controller that intervenes in the actuator system within certain intervention limits in order to maintain a defined, controlled target distance from the target object, and an output device for issuing a take-over request to the driver if the controlled target distance cannot be maintained. The ACC system further includes a prediction system for predicting a conflict situation in which the controlled target distance cannot be maintained, in which case the take-over request is initiated before the conflict situation actually occurs.
US08036800B2 Method for operating a motor vehicle control unit
A method for operating a control unit, such a control unit, and a computer program and computer program product for implementing the method are provided. In this context, the control unit is able to assume multiple states, a transition state being interposed during the transition from a first state to a second state.
US08036798B2 Controller of driver for vehicle
A control apparatus for a vehicular drive system arranged to electrically transmit a portion of an output force of an engine through an electric path. The control apparatus is configured to reduce loads of components associated with the electric path and to restrict a temperature rise of the components associated with the electric path, making it possible to reduce the required size of a cooling system. This is accomplished by placing a differential portion in a non-differential state or placing a switching clutch or switching brake in a partially engaged state when electrical energy through the electric path has increased to a thermal limit. As a result, the amount of generated electric energy is reduced, making it possible to restrict the temperature rise of the components associated with the electric path. Accordingly, the cooling system size can be reduced for these components.
US08036797B2 Method and system for controlling a vehicle for loading or digging material
A method and system for controlling a vehicle comprises a torque detector for detecting a first torque level and a second torque level applied to at least one wheel of the vehicle. The first torque level is associated with a lower boom position of a boom. An accelerometer detects an acceleration level of the boom during or after raising of the boom. A first hydraulic cylinder is capable of raising a boom from the lower boom position to raise an available torque from the first torque level. A second hydraulic cylinder is adapted to upwardly rotate or curl a bucket associated with the vehicle if the detected acceleration level of the boom is less than a minimum level during an attempt to raise the boom.
US08036793B2 Vehicle steering control without mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the steered wheels
A steering control system is provided for a vehicle with a steered wheel. The vehicle includes a control member that maneuvers within a range between leftward and rightward stops, and that delivers a requested steering signal. The steering control system includes: an actuator that acts on a steering angle of a steered wheel, and a controller that determines a control angle for controlling the actuator to steer the vehicle. The controller includes: a first unit that determines, according to the vehicle's speed and a parameter characteristic of the vehicle's equilibrium, a maximum steering angle on a steered wheel of an equivalent bicycle model of the vehicle, a second unit that determines a gearing-down ratio according to the range of the control member and the maximum steering angle, and a third unit that determines a steering angle according to the gearing-down ratio and the requested steering signal.
US08036790B2 On-vehicle electronic control device
Provided is an on-vehicle electronic control device with low cost and low power consumption for performing monitoring control in both a driving mode and a parking mode of a vehicle. A main CPU is supplied with electric power from an on-vehicle battery via a power switching element and a main power supply circuit so as to control a plurality of electric loads in accordance with operating states of a plurality of input sensors. A sub CPU connected to the main CPU via a serial interface is supplied with electric power from the on-vehicle battery via a sub power supply circuit so as to monitor operations of the main CPU and input signals. The sub CPU has low speed and small memory capacity so as to operate with lower power consumption compared with the main CPU.
US08036788B2 Vehicle diagnostic or prognostic message transmission systems and methods
System and method for monitoring the condition of a vehicle includes a communications unit arranged to interface with a wireless communications network, at least one sensor for monitoring at least one component or subsystem of the vehicle and which is coupled to the communications unit, and a remote site connected to the wireless communications network and arranged to receive diagnostic or prognostic messages from the vehicle with the transmission initiated therefrom. A diagnostic module may be provided, included or coupled to the sensor(s) and directs the communications unit to transmit a message to the remote site upon determining an actual and/or potential failure of a component or subsystem.
US08036776B2 Method and device for controlling motion of an industrial robot with a position switch
A method for controlling a multi-axis industrial robot or manipulator arranged with a robot control unit. The robot or the control unit includes at least one first computer running a servo controller. A motion limit is configured for at least one axis of the robot arm. A reference signal for a robot position is sent to a robot controller together with a measurement of a position of the robot arm. The reference position is processed and the measured position and the processed reference position are then compared in an evaluator for the purpose of limiting the motion of an arm of the robot.
US08036773B2 System, method and corresponding apparatus for storing, retrieving and delivering unit dose blisters
A system, method and corresponding apparatus are provided for storing, retrieving and delivering unit dose blisters in their natural, raw state (i.e., without over-wrapping or repackaging). In particular, a plurality of unit dose blister mounts are configured to position a corresponding plurality of different types of unit dose blisters in a predetermined, repeatable orientation, so that they can be retrieved and delivered using, for example, an automated retrieval system. The storage apparatus (or unit dose blister mount) may include a cavity that is configured to receive a unit dose medication or medication cavity of the unit dose blister in such a way that the unit dose blister lies substantially flat in the horizontal plane, enabling any identification information displayed on the underside of the unit dose blister (i.e., the side opposite the unit dose medication, or medication cavity) to be viewed.
US08036769B2 Method and device for compensating for positional and shape deviations
A method for compensating positional and/or shape deviations in NC-controlled cutting production machines. The method including the steps of securing a new workpiece, processing the workpiece using nominal data of the NC program, acquiring set deviation, optimizing the NC program using the acquired data and repeating the above steps until at least one of required positional and shape tolerances are achieved.
US08036768B2 System and method for creating orthotics
Systems and methods for constructing custom orthotics are described. Several embodiments of the system use sensor pads to obtain both static and dynamic three dimensional information concerning the shape or topography of the bottom surface of a patient's foot. The information is analyzed to obtain information useful in constructing a custom orthotic from a selection of basic orthotic shells. Once constructed, the orthotic can modify a patient's gait. One embodiment of the present invention includes a user terminal including a sensor pad connected to a computer, a server configured to analyze three dimensional information acquired by the sensor pad, a manufacturing terminal configured to display the results of the server's analysis of the three dimensional information and a network that connects the user terminal to the server and the server to the manufacturing terminal.
US08036760B2 Method and apparatus for intelligent control and monitoring in a process control system
A controller includes a control module to control operation of a process in response to control data, a plug-in module coupled to the control module as a non-layered, integrated extension thereof, and a model identification engine. The plug-in detects a change in the control data, and a collects the control data and data in connection with a condition of the process in response to the detected change. The model identification engine executes a plurality of model parameter identification cycles. Each cycle includes simulations of the process each having different simulation parameter values and each using the control data as an input, an estimation error calculation for each simulation based on an output of the simulation and based on the operating condition data, and a calculation of a model parameter value based on the estimation errors and simulation parameter values used in the simulation corresponding to each of the estimation errors.
US08036759B2 Online modular parameterization and successive linear programming for improving manufacturing plant operations
Methods and systems for substantially optimizing plant operations within a manufacturing environment. The method can include separating the manufacturing environment into two or more individual modules, wherein each individual module contains a fundamental principles-based model, and wherein the totality of the individual modules represents the entire manufacturing environment. Each individual module can be independently parameterized upon said module reaching steady state, wherein inter-module data flow can be provided to at least one of the individual modules during parameterization, and wherein an output of the parameterization comprises an individual, calibrated steady-state model of each individual module. A reduced order model can be derived from each parameterized module, and the reduced order models can be assembled to provide a facility reduced order model. The facility reduced order model can then be solved to provide improved or new operating conditions or operating condition targets.
US08036757B2 Pacing lead and method for pacing in the pericardial space
A pacing lead for implantation in the pericardial space includes an elongated lead body, a compression fixation element, and at least one electrode on either the lead body or the fixation element. The fixation element defines a resilient structure, and is positioned and dimensioned so that when the lead is disposed in the pericardial space, the resilient fixation element is compressed between the parietal and visceral pericardium, thereby biasing the electrode against the myocardium and providing positional stabilization to the lead. Further positional stability may be provided mechanically with structures enabling the application of adhesive or with fixation screw or tine elements.
US08036753B2 Stimulation mode for cochlear implant speech coding
A method of stimulating an auditory nerve to produce a percept in response to a detected sound signal. At least one characteristic of the sound signal is identified, and a stimulation mode is selected based on the identified characteristic. The selected stimulation mode is then used for stimulating the auditory nerve to convey the sound signal to the prosthesis recipient. Multiple characteristics of the detected sound signal may be assigned distinct stimulation modes.
US08036750B2 System for neural control of respiration
A system, device and method for neural control of respiration are provided. One aspect of this disclosure relates to an implantable medical device for sensing and controlling respiration during incidence of central respiratory diseases. According to various embodiments, the device includes a sensing circuit to receive sensed signals representative of an incidence of a central respiratory disease. The device also includes a neural stimulator adapted to generate neural stimulation signals, and a controller to communicate with the sensing circuit and to control the neural stimulator to stimulate a desired neural target in response to the detection of the incidence of a central respiratory disease. In an embodiment, the device includes a plurality of sensors which are adapted to monitor physiological parameters to detect the incidence of a central respiratory disease and to send signals to the sensing circuit. Other aspects and embodiments are provided herein.
US08036748B2 Ingestible therapy activator system and method
An ingestible therapy activator system and method are provided. In one aspect, the ingestible therapy activator includes an ingestible device having an effector module to send an effector instruction and a responder module associated with a therapeutic device. The responder module may receive and process the effector instruction, resulting in a response by the therapeutic device. Examples of responses by therapeutic device include activating a therapy, deactivating a therapy, modulating a therapy, and discontinuing a therapy.
US08036745B2 Parasympathetic pacing therapy during and following a medical procedure, clinical trauma or pathology
A treatment method is provided, including identifying a subject as one who is selected to undergo an interventional medical procedure, and, in response to the identifying, reducing a likelihood of a potential adverse effect of the procedure by applying an electrical current to a parasympathetic site of the subject selected from the group consisting of: a vagus nerve of the subject, an epicardial fat pad of the subject, a pulmonary vein of the subject, a carotid artery of the subject, a carotid sinus of the subject, a coronary sinus of the subject, a vena cava vein of the subject, a jugular vein of the subject, a right ventricle of the subject, a parasympathetic ganglion of the subject, and a parasympathetic nerve of the subject.
US08036744B2 Cardiac rhythm management system with defibrillation threshold prediction
A cardiac rhythm management device predicts defibrillation thresholds without any need to apply defibrillation shocks or subjecting the patient to fibrillation. Intravascular defibrillation electrodes are implanted in a heart. By applying a small test energy, an electric field near one of the defibrillation electrodes is determined by measuring a voltage at a sensing electrode offset from the defibrillation electrode by a known distance. A desired minimum value of electric field at the heart periphery is established. A distance between a defibrillation electrodes and the heart periphery is measured, either fluoroscopically or by measuring a voltage at an electrode at or near the heart periphery. Using the measured electric field and the measured distance to the periphery of the heart, the defibrillation energy needed to obtain the desired electric field at the heart periphery is estimated. In an example, the device also includes a defibrillation shock circuit and a stimulation circuit.
US08036735B2 System for evaluating performance of an implantable medical device
A system evaluates the performance of an implantable medical device, such as by using a remote external server and a user interface and stored historical physiological data of a population of congestive heart failure (CHF) patients. A processor is coupled to a patient data storage device to apply multiple algorithm variations against the same implantable physiological data from the patient to produce corresponding resulting CHF indicators. The user interface includes a display that is configured to display to a user information allowing comparison between the resulting CHF indicators from the multiple algorithm variations. The display also includes a population data selector to permit the user to select physiological data from a population that includes a different set of one or more patients or physiological data collected over a period of time from the patient. This permits optimization of an algorithm parameter or selection of a best performing algorithm.
US08036733B2 Diagnostic parameter calculation method, system for diagnosis and diagnostic program
A diagnostic parameter calculation method, system and program which detect symptomatically abnormal electrocardiogram data of a patient, using R-R intervals detected from electrocardiogram data collected for a patient to generate a time-series data, then generating a series of partial sets B(j)'s, each B(j) consisting of successive elements starting from the j-th element of the time-series data, and calculating characteristic quantity set (yj, xj) for each B(j), wherein yj is the mean value of all elements, and xj is the mean value of each difference of the first element from each element in the B(j), then, after splitting the (y, x)-plane into lattices, parameters u, v, w are calculated as indices for diagnosis, wherein v is the number of lattices including only one characteristic quantity set, u is the difference subtracted v from the total number of the characteristic quantity sets, and w is the maximum number of characteristic quantity sets included in a lattice.
US08036732B2 Hemoglobin contrast in magneto-motive optical doppler tomography, optical coherence tomography, and ultrasound imaging methods and apparatus
A novel contrast mechanism for imaging blood flow using magneto-motive optical Doppler tomography (MM-ODT), Optical Coherence Tomography, and Ultrasound. MM-ODT, OCT, and ultrasound combined with an externally applied temporally oscillating high-strength magnetic field detects erythrocytes moving according to the field gradient.
US08036731B2 Ingestible pill for diagnosing a gastrointestinal tract
An ingestible device, adapted to travel in the gastrointestinal tract and perform a diagnostic image of tissue therein, is provided. The diagnostic image may comprise diagnostic information as a function of time, or diagnostic information as a function of distance traveled within the gastrointestinal tract. An imaging method by depth calculations is provided, based on the attenuation of photons of different energies, which are emitted from the same source, coupled with position monitoring.
US08036724B2 Portable data terminal and function selecting and starting method used therein
A selection operation of function of a fold-type housing for each shape is stored as a function history of each shape in a function history storage section 16. Each shape is judged based on the result of each of detections by a first sensor (12), a second sensor (13), and a swivel sensor (14), and the function history is read from the function history storage section (16) based on the judgment result. When one of the function histories displayed corresponding to each shape is selected by a side key, a control section (11) starts the function.
US08036722B2 Mobile communication device with dedicated speakerphone microphone
A mobile communication device having a first housing and a second housing proximally coupled to the first housing. The first housing and the second housing can be, for example, rotationally or translationally coupled. A clamshell form factor and a rotator form factor are rotationally coupled. In another example, a slider phone form factor is translationally coupled. In these examples, the devices are configured to have an open position and configured to have a closed position. A speakerphone microphone is located in the first housing. A speakerphone speaker is located in the second housing wherein the speakerphone microphone is substantially distal the speakerphone speaker.
US08036719B2 System and method for power consumption control in a wireless device
A technique for controlling power consumption in a wireless device detects data frames indicating a pause in the reception of speech frames from the wireless network. The mobile unit places the receiver circuitry in a low-power or sleep mode to thereby reduce processor cycles and save battery power. At the end of a time period, the receiver circuitry awakens to receive and process additional speech frames or to return to the low-power mode if no additional speech signals have been received.
US08036718B2 Power management profile on a mobile device
The present invention provides a method and system suitable for managing the power consumption of a mobile communication device by way of a user-selectable profile. In response to receiving a power management-initiating signal the mobile communication device performs at least one of the following: Receipt of incoming communication is deferred while other functionality of the mobile communication device is retained; outgoing communication is grouped into a single transmission; and a subsequent transmission is deferred if the transmission requires power exceeding a predetermined threshold.
US08036716B2 Temporary storage or specialized transmission of multi-microphone signals
A communication device contains multiple microphones that receive acoustic signals from a user and from the background. The acoustic signals from the user are enhanced using the background acoustic signals to reduce background noise. The enhanced signal are transmitted to an emergency network when an emergency call is made from the communication device. The raw signals are stored in the communication device for later retrieval or are transmitted simultaneously with the enhanced signals. The enhanced signals are transmitted using a circuit-switched voice mode while the raw signals are transmitted using a packet-switched voice mode.
US08036713B2 Apparatus and method for providing standby screen image of mobile terminal
An apparatus and a method for providing a standby screen image of a mobile terminal are disclosed to change a standby screen image in a story-telling manner according to a communication event or a usage amount of the terminal. The method for providing a standby screen image of a mobile terminal includes: displaying a standby screen image of one or more themes; and changing the displayed standby screen image in a story-telling manner according to a usage amount of the mobile terminal.
US08036704B2 Device for wirelessly and remotely actuating a trigger of a weapon
A device for wirelessly and remotely actuating a trigger of a weapon. The device includes a transmitting portion and a receiving portion. The transmitting portion selectively generates a signal wirelessly and remotely that is received by the receiving portion, and when activated thereby, the receiving portion selectively engages and actuates the trigger of the weapon.
US08036703B2 Image capture reporting based on content-associated wireless identification
An electronic device. The device comprises circuitry for capturing data representing an image and circuitry for detecting a wireless signal associated with an object. The device also comprises circuitry, responsive to the detecting circuitry, for storing image data from said circuitry for capturing and associating and storing, with same image data, additional data included in the wireless signal.
US08036690B1 Download prioritization for intelligent content distribution
Systems and methods for transmitting multimedia data are disclosed which, in some embodiments, may comprise polling a first wireless device to obtain at least a first statistics of consumption of content previously transmitted to the first wireless device and polling a second wireless device to obtain at least a second statistics of consumption of content previously transmitted to the second wireless device. The method also comprises determining the resources available to transmit a first content and a second content to the first and second wireless device, wherein the first content to be transmitted to the first wireless device is selected based on the first statistics of consumption, and wherein the second content to be transmitted to the second wireless device is selected based on the second statistics of consumption. The method also comprises creating a priority list based on the first statistics of consumption and the second statistics of consumption, wherein the priority list comprises the first wireless device and the first content and the second wireless device and the second content and transmitting the first content to the first wireless device and the second content to the second wireless device according to the priority list and according to the resources available.
US08036688B2 Mobile communication system and method for sending group schedule using mobile terminal
Disclosed are a method and a mobile communication system for sharing at least one schedule between the members of a group. A user can first register one or more groups and members of each group, which will receive a group schedule, and store schedules in relation to corresponding groups in a master terminal. Each group schedule is stored with an identifier representing a specific group and indicating that the schedule is related to the specific group. When the user selects a group which will receive a group schedule in a schedule transmission mode, the master terminal extracts only the schedules related to the group using the identifier of the selected group, and sends the extracted schedules to every member of the selected group at one time. With a single transmission, every member of the group can share the schedules common to the group members.
US08036687B2 Method and apparatus for supporting short-messaging in a communication network
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for short-messaging in a communication network. More particularly, the invention is directed to an improved method for short-messaging which allows for a service that is adaptable to different communication networks and complies with accepted standards in the industry. The system utilizes a unique UUI format that allows for improved short-messaging service and short-messaging service-based information retrieval.
US08036685B2 Method and apparatus for locating multimode communication devices
A location services controller (104) for locating multimode communication devices (MCDs) (102) has a communication element (302) for communicating with two or more communication networks (106) and MCDs coupled thereto, a memory (304), and a processor (306) for controlling operations thereof. The processor is programmed to request (402) location information of an MCD from at least two sources selected among a group that can include the MCD and one or more communication networks coupled to the MCD, and determine (426) from the sources of location information the location of the MCD.
US08036683B2 Coordination among multiple co-located radio modules
Techniques involving the coordination of wireless activities are disclosed. For example, an apparatus may include two or more transceivers. These transceivers may include a first transceiver to communicate wirelessly across cellular links, and a second transceiver to communicate wirelessly across wireless data networking links. The apparatus may also include controllers, each controlling wireless communications of a corresponding transceiver. Information may be exchanged with each other regarding operation of the transceivers. Through the exchange of such information, activity (e.g., transmission and reception of wireless signals) may be coordinated among the transceivers.
US08036677B2 System and method for locating a phone user
Systems and methods for locating a user of a wired or wireless communication device allow a communication device to respond to a location request with its current location or a default location. A request for the location of a target wireless communication device is sent to the network where the request is responded to by the network or forwarded to the target device. When the request is received by the target device, the device can deny the location request or respond to the location request with the actual location of the device (as determined by GPS or the network) or with a default, predetermined location. The type of response (denial, actual location, or default location) can be selected by the user of the target device on a granular, per request basis so that the user of the target device can selectively respond to location requests in an appropriate fashion.
US08036675B2 Load balancing in wireless networks
A load balancing system for a wireless network comprises: a base station parameter extraction unit able to extract base station availability parameters of currently available base stations; and a base station quality of service selector associated with said base station parameter extraction unit configured to determine from said parameters which of said available base stations is able to provide a currently required quality of service. The system requests resources from one such base station, thereby to ensure that mobile stations are distributed in a balanced manner between the available base stations. As well as quality of service, interference with other links may be taken into account, and uplinks and downlinks may be considered separately.
US08036671B2 Multi-cellular load dependent scheduling
The present invention relates to a scheduler selector and a method for improving network quality by controlling intercellular interference of a multi-cellular mobile radio communication network. The radio communication traffic is controlled by a user traffic scheduler principle. The network quality is improved by selecting another scheduling principle among a number of pre-defined and selectable scheduling principles than the scheduling principle working for the moment in a cell in said network. Said selection being initiated as a result of an intracellular Quality data processing wherein the network quality is determined to be possible to improve.
US08036666B2 Wireless communication system and method for switching base station thereof
A wireless communication system and a method for switching a base station (BS) thereof are provided. In the present invention, a globe positioning system (GPS) of a mobile apparatus is capable of obtaining a location information about the mobile apparatus. On receiving the location information transmitted from the mobile apparatus, a server end apparatus switches to a corresponding BS of a serving area where the mobile apparatus is located so as to serve the mobile apparatus.
US08036658B2 Method and apparatus to improve network acquisition
The present invention provides architectures and methods which use multiple radio receive chains in mobile devices to provide enhanced performance, such as when acquiring and maintaining network access. A plurality of receive chains simultaneously perform signal level measurements across one or more measurement cycles. The number of RF channels upon which measurements are performed may be determined adaptively/dynamically. One or more criterion may be used to set signal level thresholds. If a measured signal for a given channel fails to satisfy a threshold, then that RF channel may be removed from the network acquisition process. If a measured signal for a channel exceeds another threshold, then that channel may be employed in further network acquisition processes, such as identifying potential beacon signal channels, verifying beacon signal channels and synchronizing the device to one of the beacon channels.
US08036654B2 Methods and apparatus for selecting a communication network
A mobile communication device is adapted to provide voice communications with use of a voice service and data communications with use of a data service. The mobile device maintains a preferred network list as well as a service access list in its memory. The preferred network list has a listing of a plurality of networks with assigned priorities for network selection. The service access list has a listing of a plurality of networks that make the data service available to the mobile device. The mobile device performs a scanning operation for identifying one or more communication networks available in a coverage area of the mobile device. When a home network of the mobile device is unavailable in the coverage area, the mobile device consults the preferred network list and the service access list for identifying one of the networks identified by the scanning operation. The mobile device attempts to register for the data service via the identified network and, if successful, operates its wireless transceiver with the identified network to use the data service. If the attempt to register for the data service fails, the mobile device excludes the identified network from being listed in the service access list as making the data service available.
US08036651B1 Systems and methods for enforcing call restrictions between domains
Systems and methods for enforcing calling restrictions are provided. When a first and second communication station are located in different domains, calling restrictions for a first communication station can be based on a current geographic location of the second communication station. The calling restrictions can be enforced independent of an address/identifier of the first or second communication station. The calling restrictions can be based on the current geographic locations of the first and second communication stations and the allowed geographic area of the first communication station.
US08036650B2 Mobile terminal for remotely controlling and method of remotely controlling the same
A mobile terminal for remotely controlling and a method of remotely controlling the same that enable remote control operation of the mobile terminal by connecting a remote control device and the mobile terminal are provided. The method of remotely controlling a mobile terminal includes transmitting a key code from a remote control device by user request; receiving and recognizing the key code in the mobile terminal; converting the key code to an operation code of the mobile terminal; and controlling data output operation according to the operation code.
US08036643B2 Method and device for handling telephone calls directed to non-reachable mobile phones
A method for handling telephone calls directed to a non-reachable mobile phone, and for handling data pertaining to them, wherein: I—provided the call diversion service to a different number, or the answering service, have not been enabled, the phone call is routed towards a phone call data management and storage device, when the mobile phone called user is non-reachable, dut to the fact that is in the detach mode or is temporarily out of the range reachable by radio-frequency signals; II—at the time mobile phone is again reachable, a notification is transmitted to the subscriber number of the telephone call; the notification being effected in the form of SMS, which contain phone call data of missed phone calls performed during the period while the mobile phone was not reachable.
US08036636B1 Access gateway record suppression
A method of operating a communication system is disclosed. An access gateway sends an authentication request to an authentication server. The access gateway receives an authentication response from the authentication server that includes a suppress record attribute. In response to the suppress record attribute, the access gateway disables an accounting record function. A communication system is disclosed. An access gateway sends an authentication request to an authentication server. The authentication server provides an authentication response that includes a suppress record attribute. The access gateway disables an accounting record function in response to the suppress record attribute.
US08036633B2 Method and apparatus for a mobile station to enhance the probability of successful emergency call completion and successful callback from emergency service centre
A method and apparatus for enhancing the probability of a successful emergency call completion and emergency callback on a mobile station in a network, the method comprising the steps of: during an emergency call attempt, monitoring whether the mobile station has received a non-voice service request from the network and, if yes, ignoring the non-voice service request. Further, during a callback period, monitoring whether the mobile station has received a service request from the network and, if yes, ignoring the service request if the service request is a non-voice service request that is anything but a position location service request. Further, during a callback period, monitoring whether a user attempts to initiate a non-voice service request that is anything but a position location service request, and if yes ignoring the non-voice service request.
US08036632B1 Access of information using a situational network
A method of sharing information related to an emergency event using a situational network includes establishing a situational network having multiple access levels in response to an indication of the occurrence of an emergency event. Access to information related to the emergency event is provided based on an access level of a participant in the situational network, where the access level is automatically obtained based on the role of the participant relative to the emergency event. Communication between participants of the situational network is facilitated based on the access level of the participants.
US08036631B2 Method for automatically connecting video communication between mobile stations during an emergency
Disclosed is a method for automatically connecting a video communication between mobile stations in an emergency, wherein a mobile station in an emergency calls another mobile station and, even if there is no response from it, the video connection can be made automatically. The method includes the steps of selecting an automatic emergency response mode so that a first mobile station in an emergency calls a second mobile station and automatically connects to it; making an emergency call from the first mobile station, which is in the automatic emergency response mode, to the second mobile station; and automatically connecting the video communication between the first and second mobile stations, when the first mobile station makes a call even if the second mobile station does not respond to it.
US08036627B2 Bidirectional frequency mixer, radiofrequency transceiver system including such a mixer
The present invention relates to a bidirectional frequency mixer, as well as a radiofrequency transceiver system including at least such a mixer. The mixer includes two ports separated in intermediate frequency FI, one for the reception, the other for the emission and a common port in frequency RF both for reception and for emission. It also includes at least fours mixing cells and three phase shifting means of signals used to remove the undesirable frequencies generated by the mixing cells. The mixer enables a rejection of the frequencies produced by a local oscillator in transmitting phase and a rejection of the image phase in receiving phase to be preformed. The invention is in particular applicable to designing microwave integrated circuits, in particular in millimetric frequency band.
US08036624B2 Off-line channel tuning amplitude slope matched filter architecture
A tuning control system and associated method is provided for continuously and automatically tuning a lobed amplitude slope matching filter (ASMF) to a band center of an interfering signal to provide improved rejection of an interfering signal coupled from a transmission antenna into a local receive antenna in the presence of local multi-path, thereby Providing improved interference cancellation system performance. The tuning control system is provided as an element of an interference cancellation system.
US08036623B2 Wireless receiver with notch filter to reduce effects of transmit signal leakage
This disclosure describes techniques for reducing adverse effects of TX signal leakage in a full-duplex, wireless communication device. The techniques make use of a notch filter to reject TX signal leakage in a signal processed in the RX path of the wireless communication device. The notch filter may be constructed as a complex notch filter using passive resistor and capacitor components to produce a notch frequency that attenuates TX signal leakage components in a desired signal. The notch filter may be applied to a down-converted, baseband signal produced by a passive mixer.
US08036620B2 Receiving apparatus
In order to restore synchronization quickly in the case where synchronization with a transmission signal is not established, when a synchronization signal is not received by an antenna selected in advance in a receiving apparatus (2), a selection controller (C2) continuously switches between antennas (6a to 6h), repeats an antenna switching process for measuring received strengths of the respective antennas in a cycle shorter than a transmission period of transmission information in a radio signal so as to detect an antenna with maximum strength, selects and switches to the detected antenna with maximum strength as a receiving antenna for receiving synchronization information, and continues the connection until at least the synchronization information is received. Further, the selection controller (C2) makes a control so that the antenna switching process for detecting the antenna with maximum strength is repeated for a period longer than a non-transmission period of transmission information.
US08036615B2 Portable simplified image display apparatus and receiving system
A portable simplified image display apparatus and a receiving system are provided, which can sensuously know the state of received strength of radio signals transmitted from a body-insertable apparatus, in either case of before examination or during examination. A viewer (7) includes a detector that detects received strength of a radio signal transmitted from a capsule endoscope (2) and a notifying unit that notifies the detected state of received strength in a display pattern such as a picture display of a capsule (41). Therefore, in either case of before examination or during examination, the state of received strength of radio signals transmitted from the capsule endoscope (2) can be sensuously known according to the notification result of the state of received strength. If it is during examination, supplementary observation can be performed based on an excellent received image by searching a site having strong received strength, thereby enabling contribution to satisfactory examination.
US08036612B2 Method, apparatus and system for terrestrial DMB service
A method, apparatus and system for Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) service are provided. A DMB receiving terminal identifies a channel service area in which the DMB receiving terminal is currently located based on an identified current location, and configures a channel information list by searching only a frequency band corresponding to the channel service area. When the channel service area is changed, the DMB receiving terminal searches a pre-stored connection channel list, and identifies a predetermined channel established as a transition channel corresponding to a channel which the DMB receiving terminal has received, from channels belonging to the changed channel service area. The DMB receiving terminal then receives the identified channel and provides terrestrial DMB service, thereby reducing a channel search time period and smoothly providing the terrestrial DMB service.
US08036608B2 Apparatus and method providing push to talk over cellular (PoC) dynamic service options
An apparatus and method for providing dynamic Push To over Cellular, PoC, service options in a wireless communication network. Service options and terminal capabilities for PoC Clients (11, 15) are stored in the network, preferably in a PoC Server (13). A PoC Client (11) uses a SIP PUBLISH message (17) to set the actual status of the answering mode and any barring service, and, if automatic answering mode is set, also stores a list of codecs that the PoC Client (11) supports. When the PcC Client is called, the calling PoC Client (15) informs the Server (13) of supported codecs, and the Server selects a codec supported by both Clients, thus optimizing the connection.
US08036605B2 Transceiver
A transceiver includes an oscillator and a plurality of communication blocks. Each of the communication blocks includes frequency dividers and mixers. Frequency dividing number of the frequency divider included in one communication block is set to an even-numbered integer, and transmission local signals supplied from the frequency dividers to the mixer become quadrature signals having a phase difference of 90 degrees. The frequency dividing number of another frequency divider in the another communication block is set to a non-integer, and communication local signals supplied from the frequency divider to the mixers become non-quadrature signals having a phase difference at a predetermined offset angle from 90 degrees. The transceiver further includes a converting unit for giving a compensation offset amount having almost the same absolute value and having a polarity opposite to that of the offset angle to communication analog signals related to the mixer of the another communication block. Increase in the number of voltage-controlled oscillators for multiband communication, broadening of the band, and increase in phase noise can be reduced.
US08036603B2 Method, apparatus and system for providing feedback to a transmit diversity device
A method and system for improving closed loop feedback in transmit diversity communication. In one embodiment of the invention, a predetermined variation of one or more transmit diversity parameters is performed at the transmit diversity transmitter. The receiver compares the transmit diversity parameter values of the received signals to the predetermined variation and transmits to the transmitter a value of a transmit diversity correction parameter. The transmitter may use this correction value to modify the transmit diversity parameter in a subsequent transmission.
US08036602B2 Apparatus and methods for providing function specific access to a mobile terminal via an external device
Methods, systems, and apparatus for providing customizable interaction with a mobile terminal using external input devices are provided. A first activation signal that corresponds to a first function in the mobile terminal is received into the mobile terminal from a first external input device of the plurality of input devices that is configured to receive a first activating input from a user. The first function is activated in the mobile terminal responsive to receiving the first activation signal. A second activation signal is received into the mobile terminal from a second external input device of the plurality of external input devices that is configured to receive a second activating input from the user. The second activation signal corresponds to a second function in the mobile terminal. The second function is activated in the mobile terminal responsive to receiving the second activation signal.
US08036596B2 Method and apparatus for generating device address of wireless local network
An apparatus for generating a device address of a wireless local network includes an alien beacon determination unit which determines whether a received beacon is an alien beacon; a zone identity management unit which compares an alien zone identity included in the received beacon with a zone identity of a corresponding device if the received beacon is the alien beacon, and regenerates the zone identity of the corresponding device if the alien zone identity is identical to the zone identity of the corresponding device; and a device address generation unit which regenerates a device address of the corresponding device if a device address of an alien beacon group is identical to the device address of the corresponding device.
US08036595B2 Capacitive bonding of devices
The present invention relates to systems and methods that facilitate wireless device communications and configuration. A detection component identifies N devices that are coupled together via a biological medium, N being an integer, wherein the medium includes direct or indirect touching to a device or devices. After biological contact, a configuration component initiates a configuration between a subset of the devices. Although configurations and/or other communications can be conducted through a medium such as the human body, the present invention can employ an initial touch to identify respective devices whereby other electronic configuration sequences commence without further device contact. Other aspects include chain touching between users and/or devices to facilitate contact between the devices. Location detection components can also be provided to identify when users are present near a device, the detected presence to commence further automated procedures, and/or the location detection components can enable devices to identify other devices in a crowded wireless environment.
US08036594B2 Circularly polarized omnidirectional in-building signal booster apparatus and method
A rebroadcasting apparatus for mobile media includes a receiving antenna and a transmitting antenna. The signal to be rebroadcast is received with a circularly polarized directional antenna. The transmitting antenna has circular polarization opposite to the polarization of the receiving antenna. Amplifiers and filters may be included between receiving and transmitting antennas to regulate retransmitted signal quality. The transmitting antenna uses one or more bays of quasi-helical dipole radiators excited using manifold feed equipped with tuning paddles. The transmitting antenna may be formed from light-weight sheet metal or other readily mass-produced materials. The transmitting antenna may be housed within an ordinary security camera enclosure or similar radio-transparent housing.
US08036593B2 Intercom system with imaging function as well as audio terminal, video terminal, home gateway device and intercom adapter constituting the system
When an intercom slave issues a call signal, all video terminals registered as terminals display images provided from the intercom slave. When an audio terminal responds to a call signal, control is performed to allow speech communications between the intercom slave and the audio terminal having responded to the call signal, to stop displaying of the images of the intercom slave by each video terminal and to cause the video terminal selected by the audio terminal to display the images. A combination of the selected video terminal and the audio terminal is registered. The audio terminals are displayed in a list form for selection. The video terminal receiving a radio wave with the highest intensity from the audio terminal is selected.
US08036592B2 Device and method to improve integrated presentation of existing radio services and advanced multimedia services
A method and apparatus for providing an integrated presentation of existing media program services and secondary media program services is described. The method comprises the steps of accepting a election of a secondary media program transmitted on a secondary media program channel; accessing a mapping to determine a primary media program channel associated with the selected secondary media program channel; commanding a first tuner module to receive conditional access information associated with the primary media program channel from the primary service provider; evaluating the conditional access information to determine if a second tuner is authorized to receive the secondary media program channel; and commanding a second tuner module to receive the secondary media program if the second tuner is authorized to receive the secondary media program channel.
US08036590B2 Image forming apparatus
Disclosed is an image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus includes a housing having a discharge port, a plurality of photosensitive bodies mounted in the housing, a transfer unit to transfer visible images formed on the plurality of photosensitive bodies onto a printing medium, a fusing unit to fuse transferred visible images to the printing medium, and a reverse unit to reverse a moving direction of the printing medium, after the printing medium has passed through the fusing unit. As the moving direction of the printed printing medium is reversed by the reverse unit, the printing medium may be discharged while a printed surface of the printing medium is directed downward, allowing a user to easily draw out the printing medium.
US08036589B2 Image forming apparatus including a stopping unit and method of forming image
In an image forming apparatus, a recording medium is temporarily stopped at an upstream of a fixing unit when the recording medium needs to be stopped for a longer time between the fixing unit and a curved path.
US08036585B2 Lubricant supplying unit, process unit incorporating same, image forming apparatus incorporating same, and method of manufacturing same
A lubricant supplying unit, which can be incorporated in a process unit for use in an image forming apparatus, includes a rotary lubricant supplying member to contact a surface of an image carrier to rotate with the image carrier, a lubricant having an opposed face disposed opposite the rotary lubricant supplying member and side faces, a lubricant holder to hold the lubricant, and a pressing member to press the lubricant toward the lubricant supplying member either directly or via an intermediate transfer member. The rotary lubricant supplying member rotating to scrape the lubricant to supply the scraped lubricant to the image carrier. The lubricant holder supporting at least the entire side face of the lubricant intersecting the opposed face of the lubricant in a cross-section of the lubricant and the lubricant holder in a direction perpendicular to an axial direction of the rotary lubricant supplying member.
US08036584B2 Image formation system, smoothing apparatus, and image forming method
An image forming system includes image forming means for forming toner images on toner receiving resin layers of respective sides of a recording material; fixing means for heat fixing the toner images on the recording material in a fixing nip; and smoothing means for smoothing the toner receiving resin layers of the recording material having the toner images formed by the fixing means; wherein the system is operable in an image formation mode in which the toner images formed on the respective sides of the recording material are fixed by the fixing means sequentially, and then the toner receiving resin layers of the recording material are smoothed by the smoothing means sequentially.
US08036583B2 Preheating of substrates
An electrophotographic imaging apparatus is provided which is capable of performing a method of preparing a non-metal substrate. The method can include imaging at least one surface of the non-metal substrate with a toner composition, the toner composition including IR absorbers. The method can further include exposing the toner composition to IR radiation through the substrate, thereby pre-heating the toner composition and preheating the substrate to a temperature less than a glass transition temperature of the substrate. The method can further include fusing the pre-heated imaged non-metal substrate at a predetermined temperature so that the average temperature of the substrate during and after fusing is less than a glass transition temperature of the substrate.
US08036577B2 Image forming method and image forming apparatus
An objective is to provide an image forming method and an image forming apparatus exhibiting neither failure in lack of line image nor image defect in halftone images, together with extremely high image quality and longer lifetime. Disclosed is an image forming method possessing the steps of evenly charging an organic photoreceptor; conducting a light exposure process; conducting a developing process to visualize the electrostatic latent image formed on the organic photoreceptor to form a toner image; transferring the toner image into a transfer medium; and conducting a cleaning process to remove a residual toner from the organic photoreceptor, the method further comprising the step of replenishing a developing device with a developer comprising toner and carrier, wherein the organic photoreceptor comprises a surface protective layer containing a filler, and the carrier is mixed with the toner, after attaching a lubricant onto a carrier particle in advance.
US08036575B2 Development device, image forming apparatus, and process cartridge having compact structure for discharging developer
In a development device for containing a developer and developing an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier, a supplier supplies fresh developer to the development device. A developer carrier carries the developer to be supplied to the electrostatic latent image formed on the image carrier. A plurality of conveyance members conveys the developer contained in the development device in an axial direction of the development device to form a circulation path. An outlet is provided in a wall of a conveyance path formed by one of the plurality of conveyance members and discharges the developer to an outside of the conveyance path. A discharge conveyance member forms a discharge conveyance path to convey the developer discharged from the outlet in the axial direction of the development device and to discharge the developer to an outside of the development device.
US08036574B2 Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus for forming image on a recording medium includes a photosensitive member, a motor, a belt, and a drive member to rotate the belt, the drive member including a driven coupling. The apparatus also includes a drive coupling to rotate by a driving force generated by the motor, the drive coupling being movable in an axial direction to take an engagement position at which the driving force is transmittable to the driven coupling, and a release position. The apparatus further includes a transfer member to transfer a toner image onto the recording medium or the belt, a voltage application unit to apply a voltage to the transfer member, and a control unit to cause the voltage application unit to apply the voltage to the transfer member after the drive coupling moves to the engagement position and the driving force is transmitted to the driven coupling.
US08036572B2 Color electrophotographic image forming apparatus
A color electrophotographic image forming apparatus including: an opening in a main body; a door opening and closing the opening; a first tray movable between an inside position and an outside position through the opening while removably supporting drum cartridges having photosensitive drums; a second tray movable between the inside position and the outside position through the opening while removably supporting developing cartridges having developing rollers; a transfer member to which toner images are transferred from the photosensitive drums; and a positioning member, which releases, when the door is opened, an engagement between engaging portions of the developing cartridges and engaged portions of the drum cartridges to hold the developing cartridges so that the second tray can be pulled out, and which engages, when the door is closed, the engaging portion with the engaged portion to position the developing cartridges for image formation.
US08036563B2 Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a toner storage part which stores a conductive and magnetic toner, a developing part which is accommodated in the toner storage part and generates magnetism, a hollow imaging drum which comprises a drum shaft parallel with the developing part, and a plurality of electrodes to apply electric magnetism to the toner attached to the developing part, a memory installed inside the imaging drum, a drum driver which rotatably drives the imaging drum; a data receiver which receives image data, and a main controller which controls the drum driver to keep stopping the imaging drum and stores the image data received by the data receiver in the memory if printing is requested.
US08036561B2 Method and apparatus for cleaning
Aspects of the disclosure provided a method to improve performance of a cleaning device to extend a usage life of the cleaning device. The method can include obtaining a performance characteristic of an electrostatic brush that degrades operations of the electrostatic brush, determining at least one parameter that compensates for the degradation, and controlling the electrostatic brush by the at least one parameter to maintain the electrostatic brush operating within a failure boundary.
US08036551B2 Image forming apparatus with a correcting section
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming section, a controlling section, a detecting section, and a correcting section. The image forming section forms an image on an object. The controlling section controls the image forming section to form a calibration pattern on the object. The calibration pattern includes a plurality of marks in a first group and a plurality of marks in a second group. The plurality of marks in each of the first group and the second group is arranged in a first direction over a predetermined range. The plurality of marks in each of the first group and the second group includes first marks and second marks. The first mark in the first group corresponds to the second mark in the second group in a second direction different from the first direction in at least part of the predetermined range. The first mark in the second group corresponds to the second mark in the first group in the second direction in at least part of the predetermined range. The detecting section detects the first mark and the second mark formed on the object. The correcting section corrects, based on the detected first mark, a deviation in the first direction of an image forming position at which the image forming section forms an image, and corrects, based on the detected second mark, a deviation in the second direction of the image forming position.
US08036549B2 Method of revising medium resistance and image forming device using the same
A method of revising a medium resistance to determine a transfer voltage and an image forming device to perform the same. The method includes supplying a medium recognition voltage to recognize a print medium, and reading medium resistances according to a predetermined reading cycle, calculating an estimated medium resistance based on the read medium resistances, by referring to a pattern of medium resistance in an interval between a time at which the medium recognizing voltage is supplied and a predetermined stabilizing time, and determining a medium resistance to be applied when a transfer voltage is supplied, by comparing the calculated estimated medium resistance with the read medium resistances obtained after the predetermined stabilizing time.
US08036543B2 Developing apparatus, process cartridge and image forming apparatus
A developing apparatus usable with an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the apparatus including a developer accommodating container, a developer chamber including a developer carrying member carrying and feeding a developer supplied from the container to develop an electrostatic latent image formed on an electrophotographic photosensitive member, a stirrer stirring the developer in the chamber and supplying the developer from the container into the chamber through an opening in the container, a wall surface, provided in the container, for being contacted by a free end portion of the stirrer while the stirrer moves, and a detector detecting a remaining amount of the developer. The position where the free end portion of the stirrer separates from the wall surface is above the detector and inside the container.
US08036536B2 Optical transmitter, optical network and method for compensation of polarization mode dispersion
An optical transmitter apparatus for use in an optical communications network has a polarization dithering unit, an optical transmitter unit, and a transmission fiber. The polarization dithering unit is connected in series between an output of the optical transmitter unit and the transmission fiber.
US08036526B2 Method and apparatus for restoration of optical ring network operating conditions after a fault is repaired
A method and apparatus for restoration of operating conditions of a WDM optical ring network comprising a plurality of amplifiers linked together in a ring after a break or fault has occurred in the network. The method comprises in response to repair of the break or other fault, increasing output power or/and pump power of an amplifier in the network such that the output power or/and pump power increases substantially in accordance with a ramp function.
US08036524B2 Auto-focusing apparatus and method for camera
Disclosed is an apparatus and method for auto-focusing a camera, which includes the steps of detecting an initial value of an encoder by measuring an initial position of a lens system, matching the measured initial value of the encoder with the initial position value of the lens system to be moved, measuring a distance value of a subject through a distance measuring sensor, determining a displacement that a focus lens has to be moved with respect to the measured distance value, and adjusting a position of the focus lens such that a position value of the focus lens actually moved is the same as the displacement value.
US08036522B2 Method and system for auto-focusing
Method and system for auto-focusing. The method includes checking for presence of a subject in a first frame. The method also includes determining a second frame indicative of an in-focus position of the subject if the presence of the subject is detected. The method further includes causing to focus on the subject based on the second frame. Further, the method includes checking for a change in at least one of location of the subject in the second frame, and sharpness and luminance in an area corresponding to the subject in the second frame. Moreover, the method includes causing to refocus on the subject if the change is detected.
US08036520B2 Information processing apparatus and method, and program
Disclosed herein is an information processing apparatus configured to make a transition to one of a plurality of modes each defining processing to be executed and execute the one of a plurality of modes to which a transition has been made, which may include first selection means; second selection means; communication controlling means; determination means; and mode transition control means.
US08036518B2 Motor and motor speed controlling system
A motor and a motor speed control system are disclosed. Two power signal lines and one feedback/speed-control signal line are coupled between a control device and the motor. The two power signal lines electrically connect the control device to the motor. The feedback/speed-control signal line bi-directionally transmits signals coming from the control device to the motor and from the motor to the control device.
US08036513B2 Playback apparatus and playback method
In the Local Storage (18), a plurality of files, merge management information which specifies a file out of the plurality of files to be used in combination with what is recorded on a Read-Only recording medium, and signature information used for judging the authenticity of the merge management information. The Virtual File System unit (38) judges the authenticity of the merge management information based on the signature information. In the case where the merge management information is judged to be authentic, the Virtual File System unit (38) generates package information which indicates a new file structure obtained by adding the file specified by the merge management information to the file structure of the Read-Only recording medium.
US08036511B2 Resin composition for optical material, resin film for optical material, and optical waveguide
A resin composition for an optical material, which is excellent in heat resistance and transparency and is soluble in an aqueous alkali solution, a resin film for an optical material made of the resin composition, and an optical waveguide using the same are provided. The resin composition for an optical material includes: (A) an alkali-soluble (meth)acrylate polymer containing a maleimide skeleton in a main chain; (B) a polymerizable compound; and (C) a polymerization initiator. The resin film for an optical material is made of the resin composition for an optical material. The optical waveguide has a core part and/or a clad layer formed using the resin composition for an optical material or the resin film for an optical material.
US08036510B2 Optical fiber cable having raised coupling supports
Disclosed is an optical fiber cable that includes optical fibers and a deformable coupling element enclosed within a buffer tube. The coupling element is formed from a deformable yet substantially incompressible material and features a number of raised members projecting toward the optical fibers. The design of the coupling element layer permits coupling of the optical fibers to the buffer tube without the use of a compressive cushioning layer. This arrangement distributes the compressive force applied to discrete points along the outer perimeter of the optical fiber element.
US08036509B2 Optical fiber cable having a deformable coupling element
Disclosed is an optical fiber cable that includes optical fibers and a deformable coupling element enclosed within a buffer tube. The coupling element is formed from a deformable yet substantially incompressible material that is capable of releasably and intermittently coupling the optical fibers to the buffer tube in various orientations. The design of the coupling element layer permits coupling of the optical fibers to the buffer tube without the use of a compressive cushioning layer and yet permits localized movement the optical fibers relative to the buffer tube to account for disparate thermal expansion and to accommodate optical fiber placement.
US08036508B2 Methods for passively aligning opto-electronic component assemblies on substrates
A method for aligning an opto-electronic component assembly (OECA) on a substrate includes positioning a substrate on an assembly surface and positioning an OECA on the substrate such that a first OECA alignment face projects from a first substrate alignment face. The substrate and the OECA are advanced towards a contact face of a first assembly alignment mechanism such that the first substrate alignment face contacts the contact face of the first assembly alignment mechanism after the first OECA alignment face contacts the contact face. The OECA is displaced relative to the first substrate alignment face when the first OECA alignment face contacts the contact face and the substrate continues to move towards the contact face thereby aligning the OECA on the substrate relative to the first substrate alignment face.
US08036507B2 Optical waveguide device and manufacturing method thereof
An optical waveguide device includes: a substrate; an optical element arranged on the substrate; and an optical circuit part having an optical waveguide formed on the substrate. The optical circuit part includes: a core whose optical axis is matched with the optical element; and a dummy core arranged on a same layer to the core and exposed on a side being not opposed to the optical element when the optical element is arranged on the substrate. The relative position between the optical waveguide and the optical element can be recognized by observing the dummy core. The planar shape of the optical circuit has a convex portion. The width of the convex portion and the width of the optical element are same in the opposing edge face where the optical element and the core is opposed to one another.
US08036505B2 Athermal AWG module
An athermal AWG module 10 comprises: an AWG 11 having waveguides partially divided to separate a chip, separated chips being connected by a compensation plate 33 to achieve temperature-independence; an athermal AWG chip 12 having a substrate and the AWG 11 formed on the substrate; a package 13 having an opening 14 and accommodating the athermal AWG chip 12; and a cover for blocking the opening 14. The athermal AWG chip 12 is fully covered with a gelled refractive index matching agent 16 that is matched in refractive index to the waveguides of the AWG 11. As the gelled refractive index matching agent 16 is excellent in water resistance and hardly passes water, the adhesive agent for fixing the compensation plate 33 to the surfaces of the separated two chips is prevented from being deteriorated due to ingress of water, thereby enhancing the reliability.
US08036503B2 Low loss optical delay line using a microfiber coil
An optical delay line is formed from a coil of optical fiber (in many cases microfiber), where the radius of the optical fiber is greater than the wavelength λ of the propagating signal and the radius R of the coil is selected, in consideration with the optical fiber radius, to limit propagation loss by minimizing coupling between adjacent turns of the coil. The difference in dimension between the fiber diameter and wavelength prevents the mode propagating along one turn from coupling into an adjacent turn. It has been discovered that the modal intensity at the interface between the central rod and the coil will be minimized when the radius of the fiber satisfies the following condition: r >> ( R β 2 ) 1 / 3 , where β=(2πn)/λ, and n is the refractive index of the fiber.
US08036502B2 Stress free mounting of optical bench for WSS
An optical bench in a wavelength selective switch (WSS) is mounted using a combination of fixed mounts and stress-free mounts. The WSS is packaged in an enclosure including a base, a sidewall, and a lid. The optical switching engine is attached directly to the base. The optical bench is attached to the base and the optical components supported thereon are aligned with the array of switching elements of the switching engine. The optical bench is attached to the base with at plurality of mounts, which include at least one movable mount supporting movement of the optical bench in a plane parallel to the optical bench and at least one fixed mount maintaining optical alignment between the dispersive element and the array of switching elements.
US08036500B2 Mid-plane mounted optical communications system and method for providing high-density mid-plane mounting of parallel optical communications modules
An optical communications system and method are provided in which multiple parallel optical communications modules are mid-plane mounted on a PCB motherboard. Each module is connected to an optical fiber ribbon cable. The modules are configured to have very low profiles and/or to provide an angular coupling of the ribbon cable to the module. In both cases, the module configurations obviate the need to leave a significant amount of space between a module and the one behind it for the purpose of providing room for the ribbon cable to exit the module without the cable being bent beyond its minimum bend radius. This feature allows the module mounting density on the motherboard PCB to be very high and allows the modules to be mounted closer to their respective hub ICs, which increases mounting density and allows the modules to be mounted closer to their respective hub ICs.
US08036498B2 Method and apparatus for recognition of writing, for remote communication, and for user defined input templates
A device including a housing, a writing tip connected to the housing, a writing surface position indicator, a processor in the housing, a memory device in the housing connected to the processor, and a sensor in the housing and cooperative with the writing surface position indicator. The device may be used to record writings and drawings applied to a surface by a user, to transmit that data to a remote device, to download data from remote devices, and to otherwise communicate with remote devices.
US08036495B2 Resolution conversion apparatus, method, and program
An apparatus includes a first-acquisition unit acquiring, from target image data, an input image pattern including pixel values within a predetermined range with reference to each of ideal corresponding points, a second-acquisition unit acquiring, as candidate image patterns, from search-image-pattern data, a first candidate image pattern including pixel values within the predetermined range, a finding unit finding, from the search-image-pattern data, an estimated image pattern as a second candidate image pattern of the candidate image patterns which has a smaller difference from the input image pattern than other candidate image patterns, a first setting unit setting pixel values of positions corresponding to the ideal corresponding points in the estimated image pattern as pixel values at the ideal corresponding points, and a conversion unit converting a resolution of the target-image data using the N-dimensional coordinate values and the pixel values corresponding to the N-dimensional coordinate values.
US08036494B2 Enhancing image resolution
Methods, machines, and machine-readable media for enhancing image resolution are described. In one aspect, a respective motion map is computed for each pairing of a reference image and a respective image neighboring the reference image in a sequence of base images. Each motion map includes a set of motion vectors mapping reference image pixels to respective neighboring image pixels. Respective regions of a target image are assigned to motion classes based on the computed motion maps. The target image has a target resolution level and the base images have a base resolution level equal to or lower than the target resolution level. Pixel values for the target image are computed based on corresponding pixel value contributions from the motion-compensated neighboring base images selected in accordance with the motion classes assigned to the target image regions.
US08036487B2 Image processing method, apparatus and program as well as imaging apparatus
An image processing method, comprises: an input step of inputting a color digital image; a white balance correction step of correcting white balance of the inputted digital image; an exposure correction step of correcting exposure of the digital image having the corrected white balance; a determination step of determining a pixel in which an output pixel value is saturated without being corrected to be underexposed by the exposure correction, among respective pixels in the digital image having the corrected white balance; and a pixel value correction step of setting only the determined pixel to be saturated as a correction target pixel and correcting the pixel value of the correction target pixel to be more than or equal to the pixel value. Thereby, the color attachment with respect to the blown-out highlight portion can be prevented at the time of the desensitization process.
US08036483B2 Couplet correction in image sensors
A digital filtering algorithm preprocesses couplet defects prior to their being operated on by a main filtering algorithm that focuses on singlet defects. The preprocessing involves the replacement of one of the defective pixel values in the couplet with a pixel value that is known to be non-defective. In preferred embodiments, the selection of the pixel value in the couplet to be replaced is customized depending on the direction of scanning of the pixel array, and can take into account edge effects of border pixels.
US08036481B2 Image processing apparatus and image restoration method and program
An image processing apparatus is provided which performs image restoration as necessary while a computing processing burden based on an image restoration algorithm is reduced. RAW data of a blurred image is input to an RGB interpolation section. The RGB interpolation section generates an R component image, a G component image, and a B component image based on the RAW data. The G component image is input to an image restoration processing section and the R and B component images are input to an RGB to YCC section. The image restoration processing section performs an image restoration process based on a predetermined image restoration algorithm by using a PSF image representing a predetermined point spread function. The RGB to YCC section generates a brightness component image Y and color difference component images CR and CB based on the G component image having been subjected to the image restoration process and the R and B component images which was not subjected to any image restoration process.
US08036480B2 Image processing system
An image processing system for restoring a resolution of a pixel-mixed image represented by a mixed-pixel signal which is acquired when a plurality of pixel signals in an image pickup device are mixed and are read out includes a shooting situation acquiring section, a restoration matrix generating section, and a restoration processing section. The shooting situation acquiring section acquires a shooting situation when the mixed-pixel signal is acquired. The restoration matrix generating section generates a pixel mixture restoration matrix based on the shooting situation acquired by the shooting situation acquiring section. The restoration processing section restores a resolution of the pixel-mixed image using the mixed-pixel signal and the pixel mixture restoration matrix.
US08036479B2 Image processing apparatus and method, and storage medium for controlling gradation of moving images
An image processing apparatus includes an input unit configured to input a moving image on a frame-by-frame basis, a feature quantity calculating unit configured to calculate a feature quantity of the input image, a storing unit configured to store the feature quantity corresponding to a plurality of frames, a motion determination unit configured to determine whether an object of the input image is moving or motionless, a smoothing unit configured to smooth feature quantity of a plurality of images in accordance with a result of determination made by the motion determination unit, and an image correcting unit configured to correct the input image in accordance with an output from the smoothing unit.
US08036478B2 Color image residue transformation and/or inverse transformation method and apparatus, and color image encoding and/or decoding method and apparatus using the same
A color image residue transform and/or inverse transform method and apparatus, and a color image encoding and/or decoding method and apparatus using the same are provided. The residue transform method includes: obtaining a residue corresponding to the difference of an original image and a predicted image; and transforming the residue by using a relation between residues of color image components. The residue inverse transform method includes: generating a residue for each component by performing residue inverse transform of the residue transformed original image; and restoring the original image by adding a predicted image to the residue of each component. Also, the color image lossless encoding method using the residue transform includes: obtaining a residue corresponding to the difference of an original image and a predicted image; and performing encoding by transforming the residue by using the relation between residues of predetermined components. The decoding method includes: extracting residue transformed image data from the coded data of the original image; generating a residue for each component by performing residue inverse transform of the residue transformed image data; and restoring the original image by adding a predicted image to the residue of each component. According to the methods and apparatuses, by performing transform between residues of each color component, the redundancy of the residue of each color component is removed such that when a color image is encoded, a higher compression efficiency can be achieved.
US08036475B2 Compression for segmented images and other types of sideband information
A method and apparatus for processing JPM files having layout objects and sideband information is described. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving a JPM file having layout objects. The layout objects include at least one layout object that represents sideband image information for a purpose other than use in display of a decoded image. The method also includes creating the decoded image by accessing information in the JPM file corresponding to the layout objects and decoding the information. The sideband image information is not intended to be displayed with the decoded image and is absent from display of the decoded image.
US08036474B2 Information processing apparatus enabling an efficient parallel processing
A method of processing information, includes: creating threads for respective input data streams, and switching them for processing, the threads each being for applying predetermined processing to an input data stream and storing the resulting intermediate data into a buffer; and reading multiple pieces of the intermediate data from the respective corresponding buffers to output multiple pieces of output data in parallel. The switching for processing includes: detecting the amount of intermediate data that is stored and yet to be read in the buffers when starting processing the threads; and stopping processing of the thread when the amount of the intermediate data thereof exceeds a set value, and switching processing to other threads.
US08036473B1 Pixel selective wavelet transform methods
A method of transforming and sending data, comprising: receiving an image with an associated mask; transforming the received image; quantizing the transformed image; encoding the quantized image and associated mask; and transmitting the encoded image and mask; wherein transforming the received image comprises transforming the dimension subset by repeating steps of: preparing an input vector; determining a filter type; determining a first intermediate vector; determining a second intermediate vector; computing a transform vector from the sum of the first intermediate vector and the second intermediate vector; and computing an output value from the input vector and the computed transform vector.
US08036467B2 Method for creating and using affective information in a digital imaging system
An image file for storing a still digital image and metadata related to the still digital image, the image file including digital image data representing the still digital image, and metadata that categorizes the still digital image as an important digital image, wherein the categorization uses a range of levels and the range of levels includes at least three different integer values.
US08036466B2 Shape representation using cosine transforms
A method of approximating the inner or outer boundary of an iris comprises generating an approximate boundary representation (20) comprising a least squares approximation by a cosine transform series of a function of the angle (θ) about a fixed point (A) of the distance of measured points (10) on the boundary from the fixed point (A). More broadly, the method may be used to approximate the shape of any two-dimensional curve or figure.
US08036463B2 Character extracting apparatus, method, and program
The present invention provides a technique of accurately extracting areas of characters included in a captured image. A character extracting device of the present invention extracts each character in an image with compensated pixel values. In more detail, the character extracting device integrates pixel values at each coordinate position in the image along a character extracting direction. Then, the character extracting device predicts the background area in the image based on the integrated pixel value. The compensated pixel values are compensated based on integrated pixel values at the predicted background area from integrated pixel values at each coordinate position.
US08036459B2 Image processing apparatus
An image processing apparatus enhances contrast without producing color balance distortion or color collapse by generating a gradation-scale correction table from a distribution of a characteristic quantity of an input image signal, using the gradation-scale correction table to derive a gradation correction parameter for each pixel from a maximum component value of the pixel, and multiplying all components of the pixel by the gradation correction parameter.
US08036458B2 Detecting redeye defects in digital images
A method for detecting a redeye defect in a digital image containing an eye comprises converting the digital image into an intensity image, and segmenting the intensity image into segments each having a local intensity maximum. Separately, the original digital image is thresholded to identify regions of relatively high intensity and a size falling within a predetermined range. Of these, a region is selected having substantially the highest average intensity, and those segments from the segmentation of the intensity image whose maxima are located in the selected region are identified.
US08036457B2 Image processing apparatus with noise reduction capabilities and a method for removing noise from a captured image
An image processing apparatus to perform a denoising process of removing noise included in image data based on a predetermined parameter is provided. The image processing apparatus includes an input unit configured to input image data; a physical characteristic value calculating unit configured to calculate a brightness-dependent physical characteristic value based on brightness of the input image data; a color determining unit configured to determine a color of the input image data; and a parameter deciding unit configured to decide the parameter based on the physical characteristic value calculated by the physical characteristic value calculating unit and a visual characteristic value according to the color determined by the color determining unit.
US08036454B2 Information processing system
An information processing system for performing processes on first image and second image captured from different viewpoints, comprising: a first specifying part for specifying a first corresponding point on the second image, corresponding to a designation point designated on the first image, by searching on a line along a first basis direction corresponding to a predetermined direction and passing through a position corresponding to the designation point in the second image; a second specifying part for specifying a second corresponding point on the second image, corresponding to the designation point, by searching on a line passing through the first corresponding point in the second image and along a second basis direction almost perpendicular to the first basis direction; and a third specifying part for specifying a third corresponding point on the second image, corresponding to the designation point, by searching on a line passing through the second corresponding point in the second image and along the first basis direction.
US08036449B2 Projective transformation convergence calculation method
A method for performing a convergence calculation using a projective transformation between images captured by two cameras to observe a flat part of an object in the images, wherein a computational load is reduced while securing a convergence property of the convergence calculation. Initial values (n0(i), d0(i)) are set to values satisfying a limiting condition that should be satisfied by the initial values (n0(i), d0(i)), where the limiting condition is that a plane πa(i) defined by the initial values (n0(i), d0(i)) of given types of parameters (n(i), d(i)) of a projective transformation matrix in the convergence calculation is inclined with respect to an actual plane including the flat part of the object to be observed.
US08036444B2 Method and system for irradiating and inspecting liquid-carrying containers
A method and system of irradiating a liquid-carrying container for inspection, including rotating the container, its contents or both around a rotation axis and irradiating the container with an electromagnetic radiation beam, wherein the irradiated cross-section of the container, irradiated by the electromagnetic radiation beam, is less than the cross-section of the container; and, a method and system for inspecting a liquid-carrying container for one or more test parameters of the container, the contents of the container, or both, including rotating the container, the contents or both around a rotation axis, irradiating the container with an electromagnetic radiation beam from a first direction along an irradiation center plane substantially parallel to the rotation axis, capturing a representation of a section of the container from a second direction along a detection center plane substantially parallel to the rotation axis, and processing the representation, wherein the irradiated cross-section of the container, irradiated by the electromagnetic radiation beam, is less than the cross-section of the container.
US08036438B2 Outline detection apparatus, outline detection method, and program thereof
An outline detection apparatus which detects an outline of a tooth in a dental image, including: a rectangular range specification device for estimating portions in the dental image as a tooth, gum, and background respectively, and specifying rectangular ranges with predetermined pixels in the positions estimated as the tooth, gum, and background; and a site estimation device for acquiring a characteristic quantity based on color information of the pixels in the rectangular ranges, finding a classification vector which maximizes the Fischer ratio based on the characteristic quantity, and estimating which of the tooth range, the gum range, and the background range, pixels other than the pixels in the rectangular ranges are positioned in according to comparison between a predetermined threshold value and an inner product between the classification vector and a pixel value vector based on color information on pixels other than the pixels in the rectangular ranges.
US08036433B1 Grid-based data input and authentication
A system and method for authenticating user-input signatures or other data. A user draws a pattern on an input pad, using for example a pen, stylus, or finger. A grid, including a set of edges, is displayed on the input pad to help the user in drawing in the correct position on the pad. An input processor detects the edges crossed by the user in drawing the pattern. The sequence of edge crossings are converted into a symbolic sequence that can be output, authenticated, compared with previously stored symbolic sequences, or otherwise processed. Additional information, such as edge crossing timing, pen path, and the like, are optionally made available for further authentication.
US08036432B2 System and method of saving digital content classified by person-based clustering
A system and method of saving digital content classified by person-based clustering. The system for saving digital content classified by person-based clustering, includes a database to save a plurality of digital content classified by person-based clustering; a data structure generation unit to generate a data structure composed of a plurality of nodes using the plurality of digital content; a face recognition unit to extract a face descriptor of new digital content to be saved in the database; a cluster classification unit to classify the new digital content and the plurality of digital content by the person-based clustering using the extracted face descriptor, and a data structure update unit to update the data structure according to the classification.
US08036426B2 System and method for analyzing video from non-static camera
A novel system and method of treating the output of moving cameras, in particular ones that enable the application of conventional “static camera” algorithms, e.g., to enable the continuous vigilance of computer surveillance technology to be applied to moving cameras that cover a wide area. According to the invention, a single camera is deployed to cover an area that might require many static cameras and a corresponding number of processing units. A novel system for processing the main video sufficiently enables long-term change detection, particularly the observation that a static object has been moved or has appeared, for instance detecting the parking and departure of vehicles in a parking lot, the arrival of trains in stations, delivery of goods, arrival and dispersal of people, or any other application.
US08036420B2 Substituting or replacing components in sound based on steganographic encoding
The present disclosure relates to various methods and systems to provide substitute sound (e.g., audio). One claim includes an apparatus comprising: electronic memory for storing identifying information obtained from steganographically encoded sound; an electronic processor programmed for: providing the identifying information to a remote computer, the remote computer including substitute sound corresponding to the identifying information; providing format information to the remote computer, the format information identifying a format in which the substitute sound should be formatted prior to communication of the substitute sound; and controlling receipt of substitute sound corresponding to the identifying information. Of course, other apparatus, methods and combinations are provided as well.
US08036413B2 Remote controller having echo function
A remote controller having an echo function is disclosed, which comprises an echo circuit which includes an echo IC and an echo volume switch, with the echo IC being designed to amplify and circulate voice signals for generating echo, and with the echo circuit being connected with the microphone driving unit, the voice amplifier and the mixer circuit, respectively. In the remote controller, a user's voice and an external sound from an audio apparatus are outputted based on an echo effect when a user practices language or singing.
US08036412B2 Microphone system having pressure-gradient capsules
A microphone system may include a housing having a housing opening. Pressure-gradient capsules may be provided in the housing. The capsules may include a diaphragm and at least one sound entry opening. One sound entry opening may be connected with a front side of the diaphragm in an acoustically conductive manner and another sound entry opening may be connected with a rear side of the diaphragm in an acoustically conductive manner. The sound entry openings may be located in each of the pressure-gradient capsule on an entry surface. The diaphragms of the pressure-gradient capsules may be oriented substantially parallel to each other. The sound entry opening may be directed into a space, which may be closed in a direction perpendicular to the entry surface. The space may be connected to the housing opening in an acoustically conductive manner. The microphone system may be compact and robust, and it may be suitable for use with hands-free devices.
US08036408B2 Phasing plug for a compression driver
A phasing plug for a compression driver includes a base portion and a hub portion. The base portion includes a first side, a second side, and a plurality of apertures extending between the first and second sides. The hub portion extends from the base portion along an axis. The hub portion includes an outer surface and a plurality of ribs disposed on the outer surface. A plurality of recesses are defined by the outer surface and respective pairs of adjacent ribs. At least one aperture fluidly communicates with at least one of the recesses.
US08036407B2 Extended wear canal device with common microphone-battery air cavity
An embodiment provides a continuous wear hearing device to be worn entirely within the ear canal, comprising a receiver assembly sized to be positioned in the bony portion of the canal, a battery assembly and a microphone assembly. The receiver assembly includes a receiver for supplying acoustic signals to the tympanic membrane. The battery assembly is coupled to the receiver assembly and includes a metal-air battery and a battery vent. The microphone assembly is coupled to the battery assembly and includes a microphone and a microphone sound port. The sound port faces a medial direction with respect to the canal. The orientation and position of the microphone in the canal are configured to reduce fouling of the port by cerumen. The positioning of the microphone assembly defines an air cavity disposed between the microphone assembly and the battery assembly with the port and the vent fluidically coupled to the cavity.
US08036406B2 Hearing aid storage case with hearing aid activity detection
A storage case that detects and indicates presence of oscillating or quiescent activity of hearing aids is disclosed. Within the storage case, there is a transducer coupled to a logic circuit. The logic circuit is further coupled to one or more visual cues. The transducer picks up any sounds within the storage case and converts the sounds into electrical signals. The logic circuit receives the electrical signals and activates a visual cue that alerts the user if the logic circuit interprets at least one of the electrical signals to be from an oscillating or quiescent activity of the hearing aid.
US08036404B2 Binaural signal enhancement system
A signal processing system, such as a hearing aid system, adapted to enhance binaural input signals is provided. The signal processing system is essentially a system with a first signal channel having a first filter and a second signal channel having a second filter for processing first and second channel inputs and producing first and second channel outputs, respectively. Filter coefficients of at least one of the first and second filters are adjusted to minimize the difference between the first channel input and the second channel input in producing the first and second channel outputs. The resultant signal match processing of the signal processing system gives broader regions of signal suppression than using the Wiener filters alone for frequency regions where the interaural correlation is low, and may be more effective in reducing the effects of interference on the desired speech signal. Modifications to the algorithms can be made to accommodate sound sources located to the sides as well as the front of the listener. Processing artifacts can be reduced by using longer averaging time constants for estimating the signal power and cross-spectra as the signal-to-noise ratio decreases. A stability constant can also be incorporated in the transfer functions of the first and second filters to increase the stability of the signal processing system.
US08036399B2 Audio output apparatus capable of suppressing pop noise
An audio output apparatus includes: an audio codec outputting an analog audio signal corresponding to a digital audio signal from a system controller; a switch unit having a first end coupled to the audio codec through a capacitor, and a grounded second end; and a switch controller triggered by a trigger signal to output a control signal to a control end of the switch unit such that the switch unit couples the capacitor to ground in response to the control signal. The trigger signal is generated by one of the system controller, the audio codec, and a power circuit supplying electric power to the system controller, the audio codec and the switch controller upon occurrence of a condition associated with pop noise, and is outputted to the switch controller before the pop noise is generated, such that the pop noise is conducted to ground via the switch unit.
US08036394B1 Audio bandwidth expansion
Bandwidth expansion for audio signals by frequency band translations plus adaptive gains to create higher frequencies; use of a common channel for both stereo channels limits computational complexity. Adaptive cut-off frequency determination by power spectrum curve analysis, and bass expansion by both fundamental frequency illusion and equalization.
US08036389B2 Apparatus and method of canceling vocal component in an audio signal
An apparatus and method of canceling a vocal component includes a first vocal canceling unit to delay each of the left and right channel input signals for a predetermined time and to feed-forward cross mix the delayed left and right channel signals with the left and right channel input signals, a sound stage widening unit to delay each of the left and right channel signals output from the first vocal canceling unit for a predetermined time and to feedback cross mix the signal of each delayed channel signals with the left and right channel signals, and a second vocal canceling unit to low-pass filter the left and right channel signals output from the sound stage widening unit and to mix the low-pass filtered left and right low frequency components and a high frequency component of the difference between the left and right channels to cancel the vocal component from an audio signal.
US08036386B2 System and method for providing electronic ticket, and electronic ticket vending apparatus and mobile telephone therefor
An electronic ticket providing system capable of distributing and browsing the information relating to a ticket can be realized while maintaining the security and transferability of an IC card. The electronic ticket information is divided into formal ticket data and provisional ticket data. The formal ticket data includes authentication information for admission, ticket notation information, and authentication information for acquisition of information for a ticket owner. The provisional ticket data includes the ticket notation information, and authentication information for acquisition of information for a ticket purchase requester. The electronic ticket information is distributed from an electronic ticket vending server to a mobile telephone over a communications network. In the mobile telephone, the formal ticket data is stored in a removable storage medium such as an IC card, etc. having high security and transferability, and the provisional ticket data is stored in the internal memory. In the electronic ticket vending server, ticket related information is transmitted if it is confirmed that the provisional ticket data is stored according to the authentication information for acquisition of information for a ticket purchase requester in the provisional ticket data.
US08036381B2 Partial multiple encryption
A partial multiple encryption device consistent with certain embodiments has an input for receiving a unencrypted video signal. An encryption arrangement produces a partially multiple encrypted video signal from the unencrypted video signal. An output provides the partially multiple encrypted video signal. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
US08036378B2 System and method of authentication
Disclosed herein are systems, methods and computer readable media for performing authentication. The proposed scheme utilizes new algorithms that introduce randomness using a physical value for authentication. An exemplary method includes sharing an initial state value S(0) with a sender and a receiver, generating a sender S(t, v) based on a parameter t and an identifier v and based at least in part on the value S(0). The method includes generating a receiver S(t, v) from S(0) based on the parameter t and the identifier v wherein the parameter t is related to a physical value in authenticating the identifier v based on a comparison of the sender S(t, v) and the receiver S(t, v). The process of generating the sender S(t, v) and the receiver S(t, v) includes a random variable generated by a process such as by a random number generator, the Brownian Motion or Wiener Process. Other embodiments do not use the physical value for authentication.
US08036376B2 Echo prevention circuit having adaptive digital filter
An echo prevention circuit comprises a first and second FIR filters into which a first input signal is input through an input terminal; an input/output terminal to which an output signal of the first FIR filter is output and the output signal reflected is input or a second input signal is input; a first subtracter that subtracts an output signal of the second FIR filter from a combined signal of the output signal of the first FIR filter and the second input signal; an adaptive digital filter into which the output signal of the first FIR filter is input; a second subtracter that subtracts the output of the adaptive digital filter from the output of the first subtracter. The adaptive digital filter has such filter coefficients that based on the output of the second subtracter, the output signal from the output terminal is the output from the first subtracter that has had the other than the second input signal removed.
US08036374B2 Systems and methods for detecting call blocking devices or services
Systems and methods for detecting call blocking devices or services. The devices monitor outbound call connections to determine if a connected call has been answered by a call blocking device or service rather than a person or answering machine. The verification is a comparison between the connection of an outbound call and a predefined parameter of data associated with that connection. For example, the predefined timing parameter may require detecting a connection before the first ring, or a connection occur within a predetermine period of time from when the outbound call is placed, or a connection occurring after a certain number of rings, etc. Which predefined parameter is associated with a particular outbound call may depend on the call blocking device or service the call center placing the outbound call expects to encounter on a particular connection attempt of a particular phone number. Once the call blocking device or service has been detected on a connected call, the call can be process as if a connection occurred including routing such calls to an available agent or other handling process customized to handle such calls such as automatically navigating prompts for voice or dialing responses from the privacy director systems.
US08036365B2 Communication assistance system and method
A communication assistance system is provided for accessing information corresponding to a plurality of subscribers. This system is comprised of a telephone switch for receiving calls from a plurality of requesters, a call center for routing each of said received calls to an operator terminal, and a first database configured to store said information corresponding to each of said subscribers. The system provides: a dynamically controlled closing prompt; an interface feature allowing subscribers to update their own information; a dial string translator for identifying service provider of the requester; a billing database for transferring call charges of the subscriber to the requester; a processor to notify subscribers to update their information; the ability to store license plate numbers of the subscribers; a masking feature that allows system to connect requester to subscriber without revealing subscriber's mobile telephone number, a searchable database of subscriber information based on particular information found in the subscriber listing.
US08036357B2 Adding an identified caller's other devices to a voice mail system
A method and system for registering external telephone numbers and associating such external telephone numbers with an extension in a voice mail system. When a call is received from a telephone which is not registered in the called systems database, after the caller has identified an extension and entered an appropriate password, the user is given an opportunity to register the external telephone with the system and to associate the telephone with and extension in the called system.
US08036355B2 Methods and systems for visual voice calls
In an exemplary method, at least one telephony attribute associated with a voice call directed from a client communication subsystem to a voice network identifier is detected. Visual content that has been predefined as being associated with the at least one telephony attribute is identified. A request for the visual content is initiated in response to the detecting step. The visual content is received, in response to the initiating step, for display at the client communication subsystem.
US08036351B2 Methods, systems and computer program products for monitoring service usage
Monitoring criteria is received that corresponds to a usage quantity for a plurality of services. Each of the plurality of services is provided over ones of a plurality of different communication systems. Actual service usage information is received for the plurality of services. The actual service usage information and the monitoring criteria are compared. An electronic notification message is sent when the monitoring criteria for one or more of the plurality of services is satisfied.
US08036345B2 Voice mailbox with management support
Systems and techniques for providing telecommunications services by receiving a notification forwarded from a wireless device, the notification indicating that a voicemail message intended for a recipient associated with the wireless device was received. The voicemail message associated with the notifications is retrieved and forwarded to an alternate device associated with the recipient and/or converted into a text message representative of the content of the voicemail message.
US08036344B2 Alarm system providing multiple network routing, interface module and method
In an alarm system, outgoing calls representing a sensed alarm condition are routed to one of several communications networks. The calls are routed by first initiating a telephone call to a defined number, in response to sensing the alarm condition, and then selecting one of plurality a plurality of available networks based on called number information. A communication over the chosen network is placed to signal the alarm condition. Routing may be performed at an interface module in communication with a conventional alarm panel.
US08036342B2 Methods and systems for providing foreign call back number compatibility for VoIP E9-1-1 calls
Systems and methods provide foreign call back number compatibility. The systems and methods receive a local telephone number assigned to a subscriber, the subscriber having a non-local telephone number as the normal calling number of the subscriber. Furthermore, the systems and methods query a database with the local telephone number to obtain the non-local telephone number and to provide the non-local telephone number. In addition, systems and methods provide a foreign call back number compatibility database. The systems and methods receive a local telephone number assigned to a subscriber and a non-local telephone number comprising the normal calling number of the subscriber and saving the local number and the non-local number to a database.
US08036334B2 Delay lock loop phase glitch error filter
A method and apparatus is provided for providing a phase glitch error filter for a delay lock loop. The device comprises a delay lock loop to provide an output signal based upon a phase difference between a reference signal and a feedback signal. The delay lock loop comprises a filter unit to provide filtering of noise on a phase control signal to substantially reduce a false delay lock loop state.
US08036330B2 System and method for frequency synchronization in a wireless non-hierarchical network
The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for frequency synchronization in a non-hierarchical network. In one example, the method includes receiving, by a node in a wireless non-hierarchical network, frequency synchronization messages from other nodes. The method calculates an average frequency based on the frequency synchronization messages, calculates a control frequency based on the average frequency, and sets an oscillator of the node to the control frequency.
US08036326B2 Apparatus and method for cancelling interferences between orthogonal coded signals in mobile communication system
Apparatuses and methods for cancelling interferences between signals are provided. The apparatuses includes: a receiving unit that receives an orthogonal coded signal from a transmitter and generates a received vector; a channel estimation unit that estimates a state of a wireless channel from the transmitter to the apparatus where the cancelling of the interference between signals is performed and generates a channel state matrix; a Q-R decomposition unit that performs Q-R decomposition with respect to the generated channel state matrix and generates a Q matrix and an R matrix, and generates a decision statistic vector based on the generated Q matrix and the received vector; and a signal determination unit that determines a received signal with interference from the orthogonal coded signal being decreased based on the generated decision statistics vector.
US08036324B2 Digital broadcasting receiving apparatus
A digital broadcasting receiving apparatus has a signal level detecting circuit; a peak detecting section; an abnormal peak deciding section; a specified peak deciding section; a prescribed in-band power deciding section; and makes a decision as to whether a signal being received is a digital broadcasting signal or not according to decision results output form the signal level detecting circuit, the abnormal peak deciding section, the specified peak deciding section and the prescribed in-band power deciding section.
US08036322B2 Method of calculating log-likelihood ratio and method of detecting transmission signal
The present invention relates to a method of calculating a log-likelihood ratio and a method of detecting a transmission signal. According to the present invention, when a transmission symbol candidate vector is detected on the basis of a received signal, a threshold value and an ML metric of each transmission symbol candidate vector are calculated and the ML metric that is larger than the threshold value is updated by the threshold value. Further, a log-likelihood ratio of the transmission signal bit is calculated using the updated ML metric and the threshold value, and a transmission signal is detected using the log-likelihood ratio.
US08036321B2 Multiple channel ballast and networkable topology and system including power line carrier applications
Control systems and methods for independent control of power systems, particularly lighting network branches, and separate control of individual branch components. Multi-branch systems comprise independently controllable branches that inter-communicate via PLC communications. In each branch, components such as ballasts, local control units, sensors, actuators, and repeaters, may exchange commands and queries independently of a branch remote control unit (BRCU). Alternatively, a BRCU may manage or arbitrate communications, or interact with other BRCUs, other control units and external management systems. Ballasts include a multi-channel ballast that enables close-loop control of individual fixtures, or of individual dimmable or non-dimmable lamps within a fixture. The close-loop control is facilitated by sampling circuits/sensors co-located with each controlled fixture or lamp. All controllers are preferably implemented using an integrated digital controller. The PLC communication is preferably carried out by a direct spread spectrum method that eliminates side lobes from a cross-correlation function, using an anti-collision protocol.
US08036319B2 Direct conversion receiver and method for correcting phase imbalance therein
A direct conversion receiver and a method for correcting phase imbalance including applying an input signal to an in-phase channel and a quadrature channel of the receiver. The input signal is processed by the receiver to obtain an in-phase zero intermediate frequency (IF) signal in the in-phase channel and a quadrature zero-IF signal in the quadrature channel. The in-phase zero-IF signal and the quadrature zero-IF signal are filtered to obtain a fixed band signal. A phase imbalance correction value is obtained for the fixed-band quadrature zero-IF signal as a function of the frequency of the fixed-band in-phase zero-IF signal and the fixed-band quadrature zero-IF signal. The in-phase zero-IF signal and the quadrature zero-IF signal are sampled and the phase imbalance correction value is applied using an interpolation to the sampled quadrature zero-IF signal or to the sampled in-phase zero-IF signal to correct the phase imbalance in the direct conversion receiver.
US08036315B2 Multiple signal receiving
Presently disclosed are a multichannel receiver and a method of operating it. The multichannel receiver includes a first channel circuit of N channel circuits. The first channel circuit includes a band pass (BP) filter and a gain control feedback circuit configured to adjust a signal provided by the BP filter with respect to a reference voltage.
US08036314B2 Automatic correction of data polarity on a differential serial bus
Methods and structure described herein provide for detecting data inversions between electronic devices in communication with one another and automatically correcting those that inversions. An electronic device may be configured with a receiver that is configured for receiving differential serial data from a transmitter of another electronic device. The differential serial data is formatted according to a particular communication protocol associated with the electronic devices. The receiver detects an invalid sequence in the received differential serial data, such as an inverted SAS primitive, and automatically change the receive logic of the receiver such that subsequent received differential serial data is in the proper polarity. The transmitting device does not require notification of the change in receive logic.
US08036310B2 Transmitter and receiver
There is provided with a transmitter including: a pilot generation unit configured to generate a plurality of pilot symbols; a bit sequence generation unit configured to invert each bit in a first bit sequence to generate a second bit sequence; a transmission block generation unit configured to generate a transmission block by giving phase rotation determined according a value of each of bits in the first and second bit sequence to each of the pilot symbols corresponding to each of the bits; and a transmission unit configured to transmit the transmission block.
US08036309B2 Method and transmitter structure reducing ambiguity by repetition rearrangement in the symbol domain
A method is provided which improves reliability of channel estimation in a digital communication system by reducing the ambiguity in the recognition of received symbols evaluated for the channel estimation. A data word transmitted according to a first mapping of data word values to modulation states is re-transmitted at least once with a second, re-arranged mapping of data word values to modulation states. The second mapping and possible further mappings are generated from the first mapping in a way that the number of different results which can be obtained from combining the transmitted original data symbol and the re-transmitted counterpart data symbol(s) is lower than the number of original modulation states in the first mapping.
US08036307B2 Spatio-temporal processing for communication
A space-time signal processing system with advantageously reduced complexity. The system may take advantage of multiple transmitter antenna elements and/or multiple receiver antenna elements, or multiple polarizations of a single transmitter antenna element and/or single receiver antenna element. The system is not restricted to wireless contexts and may exploit any channel having multiple inputs or multiple outputs and certain other characteristics. Multi-path effects in a transmission medium cause a multiplicative increase in capacity.
US08036305B2 Precoder design for different channel lengths
Apparatus and methods construct parameters for a unit associated with a precoder to a channel. Embodiments include forming a plurality of values for precoder constructions, where the values may be obtained from applying a transmission quality criterion to each precoder construction for varying channels lengths. Each precoder construction may be built for a predetermined channel length with a different channel length for each precoder construction. A subset of the precoder constructions operate substantially over the entire distance range covered by the varying channels lengths.
US08036302B2 Apparatus with communication capability, method for adjusting the same, and medium recording adjusting program
An apparatus with communication capability is connected to another apparatus through a communication path. The apparatus includes a transmitting unit that transmits specific data with a preemphasized component to the other apparatus, the preemphasized component being varied within a predetermined range by changing a setting of a preemphasis driver, and a preemphasis amount control unit that sets, for the preemphasis driver, optimal setting information about the preemphasized component of the specific data received from the other apparatus in response to the transmission of the specific data from the transmitting unit.
US08036301B2 Radio transmitter with reduced power consumption
A technique for controlling a transmitter apparatus is useful for reducing power consumption, and may be particularly applicable to portable apparatuses such as mobile transceivers which employ a battery power supply. According to an exemplary embodiment, the transmitter apparatus includes a power amplifier for amplifying a transmission signal. A processor controls the power amplifier based on a type of digital modulation associated with the transmission signal.
US08036298B2 Apparatus and method of error vector measurement for digital and multiple-input multiple output IMO communication systems
The present invention discloses an effective apparatus and method to measure the received signal quality for digital communication systems by measuring error vector measurement (EVM) with embedded EVM measurement block in receivers. The distinction of the present invention is that the EVMSIG and the EVMDATA are measured in the receiver for the SIGNAL fields and DATA fields, respectively. EVMSIG is a good indicator for one spatial stream and EVMDATA is a good indicator for current multiple streams. The receiver determines the optimum number of spatial data streams for feedback to the transmitter based on the combinations of EVMSIG and EVMDATA with or without other algorithms such as analysis on periodically requested sounding packet. The receiver also determines the optimum modulation and coding schemes for feedback based on the EVM measurements.
US08036296B2 Method and system for achieving space and time diversity gain
Certain aspects of a method and system for achieving space and time diversity gain are disclosed. Aspects of one method may include modifying a generalization code of at least one pilot channel, to measure signal strengths for each of a plurality of received multipath signals. A portion of the plurality of received multipath signals may be combined based on the measured signal strengths. The signal strengths of the plurality of received multipath signals may be measured on a primary pilot channel by assigning its generalization code to zero. The signal strengths of the plurality of received multipath signals on a secondary pilot channel may measured by assigning its generalization code to a non-zero value.
US08036294B2 Apparatus and method for interference cancellation in a wireless communication system
A symbol demapping method and apparatus for efficient interference cancellation in a wireless communication system. Decision signal points are generated which include decision signal points based on a modulation scheme and a virtual signal point added to a zero point. A magnitude of a complex value of an input signal is compared with a threshold based on system setting. When the magnitude of the complex value is less than the threshold, the virtual signal point of the zero point is mapped and output as a target decision signal point. When the magnitude of the complex value is greater than or equal to the threshold, one of the decision signal points based on the modulation scheme is mapped and output according to the com0plex value.
US08036293B1 Method and apparatus for a multi-protocol XDSL line driver
A transceiver having shared and discrete components forming a transmit path and a receive path configured to couple to a communication medium for establishing a multi-tone modulated communication channel thereon. The transceiver includes a line driver component on the transmit path. The line driver is configured to respond to a protocol determination and by configuring at least one of a transmit power level and a transmit bandwidth of the multi-tone modulated communication channel on the communication medium. The line driver includes a plurality of pre-amplifiers each exhibiting a combination of transmit power and bandwidth for amplification of a transmit signal modulated with a selected multi-tone modulation protocol. The line driver also includes a single output amplifier having an output coupled to the communication medium and an input switchably coupled to an output of a selected one of the plurality of pre-amplifiers in response to the protocol determination.
US08036292B2 Segmented-frame synchronization for ISDB-T and ISDB-TSB receiver
A technique for segmented frame synchronization for Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial (ISDB-T) and Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial Sound Broadcasting (ISDB-TSB) systems, wherein the method comprises receiving a wireless digital signal comprising an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) frame, further comprising ODFM symbols, in a receiver and wherein the receiver comprises a time de-interleaver, a bit de-interleaver, and a descrambler; filling memory of time de-interleaver and bit de-interleaver by the received wireless digital signal; determining an OFDM segmented frame boundary when memory of the time de-interleaver and bit de-interleaver are full; decoding bits from time de-interleaver and bit de-interleaver using a Viterbi decoder; outputting the Viterbi decoding bits from time de-interleaver and bit de-interleaver when the OFDM segmented frame boundary is detected; obtaining a segmented multiplexing frame boundary upon receipt of the first bit from the Viterbi decoder; and synchronizing the OFDM frame based on the segmented multiplexing frame boundary.
US08036291B2 Time domain based approach for fast fading channel FFT trigger point tracking in ISDB receivers
A method of fast fading channel Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) trigger point tracking in an integrated services digital broadcasting (ISDB) receiver includes inputting a signal in a fading channel including N Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, determining an average correlation result of a current time-domain sample of the signal and a previous time-domain sample taken previously of the signal, accumulating the average correlation result for at least one of the OFDM symbols, determining a peak of the average correlation result to obtain a peak position, and identifying the peak position as a trigger point of the input signal. The peak position may be compared with a first trigger point to generate a trigger point error signal. The first trigger point may be set at the middle of a guard of an OFDM symbol to generate the trigger point error signal.
US08036285B2 Multi-carrier communication system
The present application relates to a communication method in which a succession of time domain symbols (TDS) are transmitted by a transmitter to one or more receivers. Each time domain symbol has a plurality of signals which are transmitted in parallel by the transmitter. The signals may comprise data signals or pilot signals. At the transmitter, a set of pilot signals assigned to a given time domain symbol is provided with information about a phase vector applied to the time domain symbol. The phase vector is preferably selected with consideration of the reduction in the ratio of peak-to-average-power which can be achieved when the vector is applied to the time domain symbol. Transmitters and receivers for use in the communication method are also provided. The invention is particularly application to OFDM communication systems.
US08036281B2 Image coding apparatus and image coding method
There is provided an image coding apparatus for outputting an image stream in which random access and easy editing are possible without reducing encoding efficiency. The image coding apparatus sets, in the image stream, a picture in which the random access is possible based on camera control data or correlation between the images.
US08036273B2 Method for sub-pixel value interpolation
A method of interpolation in video coding in which an image comprising pixels arranged in rows and columns and represented by values having a specified dynamic range, the pixels in the rows residing at unit horizontal locations and the pixels in the columns residing at unit vertical locations, is interpolated to generate values for sub-pixels at fractional horizontal and vertical locations, the method comprising: a) when values for sub-pixels at half unit horizontal and unit vertical locations, and unit horizontal and half unit vertical locations are required, interpolating such values directly using weighted sums of pixels residing at unit horizontal and unit vertical locations; b) when values for sub-pixels at half unit horizontal and half unit vertical locations are required, interpolating such values directly using a weighted sum of values for sub-pixels residing at half unit horizontal and unit vertical locations calculated according to step (a); and c) when values for sub-pixels at quarter unit horizontal and quarter unit vertical locations are required, interpolating such values by taking the average of at least one pair of a first pair of values of a sub-pixel located at a half unit horizontal and unit vertical location, and a sub-pixel located at a unit horizontal and half unit vertical location and a second pair of values of a pixel located at a unit horizontal and unit vertical location, and a sub-pixel located at a half unit horizontal and half unit vertical location.
US08036271B2 Method and apparatus for determining a second picture for temporal direct-mode block prediction
A method for determining a first and a second reference picture used for inter-prediction of a macroblock, comprising the steps of (A) finding a co-located picture and block, (B) determining a reference index, (C) mapping the reference index to a lowest valued reference index in a current reference list and (D) using the reference index to determine the second reference picture.
US08036267B2 Rate control for video coder employing adaptive linear regression bits modeling
A rate control system is disclosed for video coding applications. The rate controller assigns a quantization parameter for video data in a picture in response to complexity indicators indicative of spatial complexity, motion complexity and/or bits per pel of the picture. A virtual buffer based quantizer parameter is proposed based on a virtual buffer fullness analysis and a target rate estimate, which is derived from the complexity indicators. A second quantizer parameter is proposed from a linear regression analysis of quantizer parameters used to code previously coded pictures of similar type (e.g., I pictures, P pictures or B pictures). A coding policy decision unit defines a final quantizer parameter from a comparison of the two proposed quantizer parameters.
US08036262B2 Robust mode staggercasting storing content
A method and apparatus for storing staggercasted content includes encoding a set of signals representing content. The set of signals is capable of being decoded to produce a corresponding set of decoded signals, each decoded signal having a quality different from the qualities of the decoded signals corresponding to the other encoded signals. A composite signal comprising the set of encoded signals, staggered in time, is generated. The set of encoded signals is extracted from the composite signal. Errors in the set of extracted encoded signals are detected to produce a subset of available extracted encoded signals which are not erroneous. A content representative signal at a selectable desired quality is decoded. The decoded content representative signal is then stored in a storage device.
US08036261B2 Feature-vector generation apparatus, search apparatus, feature-vector generation method, search method and program
A feature-vector generation apparatus includes an input unit configured to input content data including at least one of video data and audio data, a generation unit configured to generate a feature vector, based on information indicating a time at which a characterizing state of the content data appears, the characterizing state being characterized by a change of the at least one of the video data and the audio data, and a storage unit configured to store the content data and the feature vector.
US08036258B2 Method and system for increasing transmission speed of wired or wireless signals while minimizing the bit error rate
A communication system is provided which offers increased transmission speed while maintaining a low bit error rate. At the transmitter, a digital input is entered and a microprocessor determines from a particular subset of pulse sequence codes a single sequence of pulse coefficients that corresponds to that particular digital input. The sequence of pulse coefficients are then multiplied by a pulse shape, modulate and transmitted. At the receiver, the modulated pulses are demodulated. The demodulated pulses are then, on a pulse by pulse basis, subtracted from each of the subset of pulse sequences with the absolute values of each pulse for each pulse sequence being summed. A comparator selects a sequence of pulse coefficients corresponding to the lowest summed value of a particular pulse sequence, which is then mapped to a digital signal which is the same digital signal as the digital input.
US08036257B2 Method of determining at least one transmit mode parameter for a multiple-input multiple-output system
In an embodiment of the method, at least one signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) for each antenna configuration in a set of transmission antenna configurations is determined based on an estimated channel characteristic. At least one received signal characteristic is determined for each antenna configuration in the set of antenna configurations based on the determined signal-to-interference-and-noise ratios. One of the antenna configurations in the set of antenna configurations is selected based on the determined received signal characteristics.
US08036252B2 Mid-infrared fiber laser using cascaded Raman wavelength shifting
A mid-infrared system for optical probing is disclosed that comprises a mid-infrared fiber laser based on cascaded Raman wavelength shifting, a sample volume, and a detector or detection system. The cascaded Raman wavelength shifting process in optical fibers involves the emission of a plurality of optical phonons for at least some of the pump photonics involved in the process. As one example, using the cascaded Raman wavelength shifting process a pump laser wavelength between 1 and 2 μm can be shifted down to between 2.5 to 10 μm. In one embodiment, the mid-infrared fiber laser comprises a pump laser with a wavelength between 1 and 2 μm, one or more stages of cascaded Raman oscillators implemented in fused silica fiber, and one or more stages of cascaded Raman oscillators implemented in mid-infrared fiber that transmits beyond 2 μm. Examples of mid-infrared fibers include chalcogenides, fluorides and tellurite fibers. The output wavelength from the mid-infrared fiber laser is at an exemplary wavelength longer than 2.5 μm. The mid-infrared optical probing system can be used in applications such as semiconductor process control, combustion monitoring for engines, and defense or homeland security applications such as chemical sensing and infrared counter-measures.
US08036248B2 Method, apparatus, and system for automatic data aligner for multiple serial receivers
A method, apparatus and system for employing an automatic data aligner for multiple serial receivers in serial link technologies is provided. In one embodiment, converting a transmission data path of a single bit into a parallel bit via a data aligner, wherein the data is being transmitted via one or more ports. Further, binding data transmission channels to reduce latency in transmission of the data, wherein the binding of the data transmission channels further includes inserting delay to match latency via the one or more ports.
US08036247B2 System and method of synchronizing real time clock values in arbitrary distributed systems
A system and method of determining a master node in a computer system having a plurality of nodes includes establishing a hierarchy of master nodes from the plurality of nodes, wherein the master node synchronizes the plurality of nodes in the computer system with a clock value and determining the master node from the hierarchy of master nodes. A system and method of synchronizing a plurality of nodes in a computer system includes determining a master node from the plurality of nodes, sending a clock value from the master node to neighbor nodes of the master node, synchronizing a node clock in each node receiving the clock value if a predetermined period of time has elapsed in each receiving node, distributing a node clock value from each synchronized node to neighbor nodes of the synchronized node, and repeating synchronizing and distributing, wherein synchronizing a node clock in each node receiving the clock value includes each node receiving the node clock value.
US08036246B2 Packet coalescing
In general, in one aspect, the disclosures describes a method that includes receiving multiple ingress Internet Protocol packets, each of the multiple ingress Internet Protocol packets having an Internet Protocol header and a Transmission Control Protocol segment having a Transmission Control Protocol header and a Transmission Control Protocol payload, where the multiple packets belonging to a same Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol flow. The method also includes preparing an Internet Protocol packet having a single Internet Protocol header and a single Transmission Control Protocol segment having a single Transmission Control Protocol header and a single payload formed by a combination of the Transmission Control Protocol segment payloads of the multiple Internet Protocol packets. The method further includes generating a signal that causes receive processing of the Internet Protocol packet.
US08036235B2 Home gateway device
The present invention relates to a home gateway device. The home gateway device comprises a main processor generate information process signals and control signals, a computer bus signal Ethernet adapter unit connected to the main processor to translate the signals between computer bus signals and Ethernet signals, an Ethernet frame process unit connected to the computer bus signal Ethernet adapter unit to forward the received Ethernet frame based on a prearranged policy, an inner interface unit connected to the Ethernet frame process unit to connect interior networking devices, and an outer communication module connected to the main processor and the Ethernet frame process unit. The centralized control of the home gateway device of the present invention can decrease the requirement that the household appliances should be intellectualized, thereby achieving more flexible control and reducing the cost. The uplink and downlink Ethernet signals are controlled by using the prearranged policy to separate the Ethernet signals for Internet access from the Ethernet signals of the household information appliances, and avoid the threat due to the unsafe factors.
US08036233B2 Power line communication apparatus, power line communication system, power line communication method and integrated circuit
A power line communication apparatus transmits a signal to a first power line communication apparatus through a power line connecting to a second power line communication apparatus. The power line communication apparatus includes an information retriever for retrieving transmission rate information indicating both a first transmission rate and second transmission rate. The first transmission rate correspond to a first path of the power line along which the signal is directly transmitted to the first power line communication apparatus, and the second transmission rate corresponds to a second path of the power line along which the signal is transmitted through the second power line communication apparatus to the first power line communication apparatus. A selector selects, based on the transmission rate information, a path corresponding to a higher transmission rate among the first and second paths. A transmitter transmits the signal through the selected path.
US08036232B2 Apparatus and method for filtering packet in a network system using mobile IP
A packet filtering apparatus for filtering a packet transmitted from a mobile node to a correspondent node in a network system using Mobile Internet Protocol (IP). The packet filtering apparatus includes a next header reader for reading a next header of the received packet to determine whether it is a mobility header, a mobility header type reader for reading a mobility header type when the next header is the mobility header, a mobility option reader for reading a mobility option added by the mobile node, and a packet rule applier for determining whether a home address included in the mobility option read by the mobility option reader is identical to a source address stored in a packet filter rule, and determining whether to pass the packet according to the determination result.
US08036230B2 System and method for providing single IP tunnel
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a packet at a network processor, and determining the packet is to be directed to a selected one of a plurality of traffic processors if a tunnel endpoint identifier of the packet is associated with a subscriber terminal. The method further includes determining that the packet is to be directed to the selected one of the plurality of traffic processors if a destination address of the packet is associated with the subscriber terminal. The method still further includes distributing the packet to the selected one of the plurality of traffic processors.
US08036226B1 Dynamic flow-based multi-path load balancing with quality of service assurances
In general, the invention is directed to techniques of dynamically balancing network traffic load among multiple paths through a computer network. The techniques distribute and redistribute flows of network packets between different paths based on dynamically measured path bandwidth and loads of each flow. In distributing the flows, Quality of Service (QoS) bandwidth requirements of the flows may be maintained.
US08036225B1 Enhanced ranging in WiMAX
Disclosed herein is a method and system for WiMAX ranging using OVSF ranging codes. Specifically, in an exemplary embodiment, a WiMAX communication system that is configured to provide service at a plurality of quality of service (QoS) levels, may be configured to (a) broadcast a QoS level message in a downlink sub-frame, wherein the QoS level message comprises one or more spreading factor codes, and wherein each spreading factor code indicates a spreading factor for a particular QoS level, (b) receive a ranging request from a device, wherein the ranging request comprises an orthogonal variable spreading factor (OVSF) code, wherein the OVSF code was selected according to the one or more spreading factor codes, (c) determine a spreading factor of the OVSF code in the received ranging request, and (d) use the spreading factor as a basis for selecting a QoS level at which to provide service to the device.
US08036224B2 Method and system for efficient routing in Ad Hoc networks
The present invention relates to a method for efficient routing in a multiple hop wireless communication network. The invention is characterized in that data packets are routed over transmission paths using the following steps providing link status information by acquiring link status quality between nodes in the network, updating a routing element (101) with said link status information, determining possible routes with essentially similar link quality status for said data packet, and routing said data packet via the determined routes.
US08036223B2 Method, apparatus and system for improving packet throughput based on classification of packet loss in data transmissions
A method, apparatus and system for managing loss of packets in data transmissions is provided. In a method embodiment, selective acknowledgements are received at a sending computer from a receiving computer. The sending computer is configured to analyze patterns in the selective acknowledgements and infer a type of packet loss. As a result of the inference, the packet delivery strategy from the sending computer can be adjusted.
US08036222B1 Method for obtaining a mobile internet protocol address
In various embodiments, methods and systems are provided for acquiring a mobile internet protocol address in a communication network. In an embodiment, an authentication node sends a mobile network internet node notification message to a mobile network internet node where the mobile network internet node notification message comprises an authentication node identifier associated with a user identifier. A mobile internet protocol request message is sent from a gateway node to the mobile network internet node. A mobile internet protocol access request message is sent from the mobile network internet node to the authentication node utilizing the authentication node identifier associated with a user identifier. A mobile internet protocol access accept message is received at the mobile network internet node transferred from the authentication node where the mobile internet protocol access accept message comprises a mobile network internet node key. The mobile internet protocol address is assigned at the mobile network internet node to a mobile station associated with the user identifier.
US08036220B2 Pre-dropping of a packet if its time-to-live (TTL) value is not large enough to reach a destination
A packet is pre-dropped if its Time-To-Live (TTL) value is not large enough to reach a destination, such as, but not limited to, its destination if it is a unicast packet, or at least one more destination for a multicast packet. A packet switching device maintains associations between (a) nearest receiving node distances and (b) prefixes or complete addresses. If a packet does not have enough TTL to reach an intended recipient identified by a corresponding nearest receiving node distance, then the packet is dropped even though the TTL has not expired. In this manner, some bandwidth and other network resources are not wasted on traffic that will timeout via the TTL mechanism before reaching a subsequent intended recipient.
US08036219B2 Efficiency improvement for shared communications networks
A technique for providing data unit concatenation in a shared communications network is disclosed. The technique establishes a distinction between a first address space and a second address space within one or more shared communications networks, such as a wireless local area network, in a telecommunications system. At a transmitter node, data units arriving from one or more source nodes are packaged together if they are intended a network accessible through a receiver and then are transmitted to the receiver node. During the transfer of data units across the telecommunications system, the addressing mechanism will use either source and destination nodes or transmitter and receiver nodes, depending on the address space relevant at the moment of transmission. The technique increases utilization efficiency, because overhead attributed to headers, acknowledgements and interframe gaps is reduced.
US08036214B2 Voice over data telecommunications network architecture
The present invention describes a system and method for communicating voice and data over a packet-switched network that is adapted to coexist and communicate with a legacy PSTN. The system permits packet switching of voice calls and data calls through a data network from and to any of a LEC, a customer facility or a direct IP connection on the data network. The system includes soft switch sites, gateway sites, a data network, a provisioning component, a network event component and a network management component. The system interfaces with customer facilities (e.g., a PBX), carrier facilities (e.g., a LEC) and legacy signaling networks (e.g., SS7) to handle calls between any combination of on- network and off-network callers. The soft switch sites provide the core call processing for the voice network architecture. The soft switch sites manage the gateway sites in a preferred embodiment, using a protocol such as the Internet Protocol Device Control (IPDC) protocol to request the set-up and tear-down of calls. The gateway sites originate and terminate calls between calling parties and called parties through the data network. The gateway sites include network access devices to provide access to network resources. The data network connects one or more of the soft switch sites to one or more of the gateway sites. The provisioning and network event component collects call events recorded at the soft switch sites. The network management component includes a network operations center (NOC) for centralized network management.
US08036212B2 Systems and methods for integrating analog voice service and derived POTS voice service in a digital subscriber line environment
Systems and methods for integrating analog voice service and derived POTS voice service in a DSL environment are provided. One embodiment is a system comprising: a first communication path for carrying plain old telephone service (POTS) voice signals between a telephone-type device and a subscriber line of a telephone network; a second communication path for carrying derived POTS voice signals between the telephone-type device and the subscriber line; and a switching mechanism configured to switch the telephone-type device between the first communication path and the second communication path.
US08036209B2 Method and apparatus for announcement for session
A method for an announcement for a session includes: adding at least one playing termination in a context of a session; setting up a topology descriptor between a playing termination and a termination which is about to listen to the announcement in the context; and playing the announcement by the playing termination to the termination connected to the playing termination. An apparatus for an announcement for a session includes a playing termination setting unit, a topology descriptor setting unit and an announcement-playing unit. The present invention ensures that a user can always hear complete announcement even when a termination operable for playing an announcement is deleted or removed from the context and thus cannot play the announcement any more.
US08036206B2 Wireless communication method and device
In a commutation system, a data packet is transmitted and received by radio among radio communication apparatuses. In the communication system, the data packet is started to be transmitted on a transmission right acquired on contention type access control in response to a transmission request for the data packet. It is detected that there is a predetermined state in which the transmission request is generated during or after reception of a long packet which is over a given packet length. When the predetermined state is detected, a start timing of the access control is shifted to a timing at which a desired delay time passes after completing reception of the long packet. One example is that an elapse time from a start of reception of the long packet to generation of the transmission request is measured and, as the desired delay time, a period of time calculated by multiplying the measured elapse time by a specified coefficient is set.
US08036205B2 Methods and apparatus for supporting uplinks with remote base stations
A wireless terminal using OFDM signaling supporting both terrestrial and satellite base station connectivity operates using conventional access probe signaling in a first mode of operation to establish a timing synchronized wireless link with a terrestrial base station. In a second mode of operation, used to establish a timing synchronized wireless link with a satellite base station, a slightly modified access protocol is employed. The round trip signaling time and timing ambiguity between a wireless terminal and a satellite base station is substantially greater than with a terrestrial base station. The modified access protocol uses coding of access probe signals to uniquely identify a superslot index within a beaconslot. The modified protocol uses multiple access probes with different timing offsets to further resolve timing ambiguity and allows the satellite base station access monitoring interval to remain small in duration. Terrestrial base station location/connection information is used to estimate initial timing.
US08036202B2 Physical layer transceiver with integrated time synchronization
Disclosed, inter alia, is a Physical Layer Transceiver (PHY) with integrated time synchronization, such as, but not limited to, IEEE 1588 Standard for a Precision Clock Synchronization Protocol for Networked Measurement and Control Systems. The PHY includes circuitry to maintain a current time, and to trigger the storage of timestamps corresponding to received frames. Typically, in response to a request from an external device, the timestamps are retrieved from storage and are communicated to the external device. By moving the triggering of the storage of the timestamps by the PHY itself, rather than by a monitoring of the traffic between the PHY and the Media Access Controller (MAC), higher accuracy can typically be achieved.
US08036199B2 OFDMA with adaptive subcarrier-cluster configuration and selective loading
A method and apparatus for allocating subcarriers in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system is described. In one embodiment, the method comprises allocating at least one diversity cluster of subcarriers to a first subscriber and allocating at least one coherence cluster to a second subscriber.
US08036198B2 Method and system for managing communication in an OFDMA system
Managing communication in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system using segments in an OFDMA frame is accomplished by setting at least a first segment in the OFDMA frame as a high power segment for a plurality of base station in the OFDMA system. Further, communication is established between at least one base station and at least one communication device in the OFDMA system, in response to setting the at least first segment as a high power segment. Managing the communication further includes assigning a region of the first segment to a set of base stations in the OFDMA system. The assigned region can be used by the set of base stations at high power level to communicate with communication devices located in overlapping areas. A method for coordinating uplink transmission in the OFDMA system for reducing uplink interference is also provided.
US08036195B2 System and method for concurrently utilizing multiple system identifiers
System and Method for providing access to multiple wireless service providers (WSPs) on a shared network infrastructure. The system includes a plurality of access points (Aps) coupled to a network which may be distributed in airports, mass-transit stations, businesses, etc. The network may couple to a wide area network, such as the Internet. Each AP may include a plurality of virtual Aps (VAPs), each corresponding to a WSP. A portable computing device (PCD) of a user stores identification information indicating a WSP of a plurality of possible WSPs, and which may include an access level of the user. Each AP “listens for” or detects identification information associated with numerous WSPs. When the AP receives the identification information from the PCD, it determines the VAP/WSP for the PCD using the identification information. Network access is then provided to the PCD through the determined WSP at the determined access level.
US08036191B2 Mobile station as a gateway for mobile terminals to an access network, and method for registering the mobile station and the mobile terminals in a network
A mobile station is designed, as a gateway for one or several mobile terminals, to establish a connection between the mobile terminal(s) and an access network. The mobile station supports a network-based mobility management such that the mobile station acts as a client instead of the mobile terminals during communication with a home agent of a home network or intermediate network connected to the access network in the framework of a mobile IP connection.
US08036188B2 Frame structure for bridging operation in high-speed wireless personal area network and data transmitting method thereof
Disclosed is a frame structure in a high-speed wireless personal area network (WPAN) and a message transmitting method thereof which enable communications among devices existing in different piconets by using a device that provides a bridging function in the IEEE 802.15.3 WPAN. In a high-speed WPAN system which includes a parent piconet having a plurality of devices and a child piconet using time slots allocated by the devices located in the parent piconet, and a bridge device located in the child piconet, that broadcasts information about the devices of the parent piconet and information about the devices of the child piconet to the devices included in the high-speed WPAN, and operates to perform a data transfer between a first specified device in the child piconet and a second specified device in the parent piconet. A specified device included in the high-speed WPAN constructs a MAC (Media Access Control) header data structure for a data transmission so that the data structure includes a source piconet identification (ID) field for indicating the piconet to which the specified device belongs, and a destination piconet ID field for indicating the destination piconet to which the destination device, to which the specified device intends to transmit data, belongs.
US08036187B2 Broadcast/multicast data in a wireless network
A method, apparatus and computer program product for transmitting broadcast/multicast data in a wireless network, is presented. The network includes either a plurality of multi-radio nodes, or a plurality of single-radio nodes, or a mix of multi-radio and single-radio nodes and the network further includes a control channel and at least one data channel. Transmission of the broadcast/multicast data occurs either on the control channel or on a data channel.
US08036186B2 Adaptively setting transmission power levels of nodes within a wireless mesh network
A method of adaptively setting a transmission power level of a node within a wireless mesh network is disclosed. The method includes monitoring a quality of a plurality of reverse direction links between the node and downstream nodes, and between the node and an upstream node, of the wireless mesh network. At least one worst quality reverse direction link is identified. If the at least one worst quality link is greater than a high threshold, then the transmission power level of the node is decreased. If the at least one worst quality link is less than a low threshold, then the transmission power level of the node is increased. A method of adaptively selecting transmission power of gateway nodes of a wireless mesh network is also disclosed. The method includes each gateway node monitoring a quality of a plurality of reverse direction links between the gateway node and downstream nodes of the wireless mesh network. Each gateway node identifies at least one worst quality reverse direction link. For each gateway node, if the at least one worst quality link is greater than a high threshold, then decreasing the transmission power level of the gateway node is decreased. For each gateway node, if the at least one worst quality link is less than a low threshold, then the transmission power level of the gateway node is increased.
US08036185B2 Methods and apparatus for a consolidated switch for use with networked RF components
A consolidated RF switch includes a cell controller configured to process data packets received from an access port communicatively coupled to a plurality of mobile units via a wireless network, and an RFID network controller configured to process tag information received from an RFID reader communicatively coupled to a plurality of RFID tags. The cell controller and the RFID network controller are configured to transmit the tag information and the data packets to one or more enterprise applications.
US08036184B2 Method to dynamically provide link specific information to mobile clients
The disclosed embodiments enable a Mobile Node to select from or prioritize two or more Foreign Agents using information dynamically provided to the Mobile Node. When a Foreign Agent detects a Mobile Node, it composes an agent advertisement having one or more fields including one or more parameter values. The Foreign Agent then sends the agent advertisement to the Mobile Node. The Mobile Node may then select one of the Foreign Agents, as well as prioritize the Foreign Agents, using the parameter values.
US08036183B2 Method and system for transporting configuration protocol messages across a distribution system (DS) in a wireless local area network (WLAN)
Aspects of a method and system for transporting configuration messages across a DS in a WLAN are presented. Aspects of a method for enabling communication of information in a secure communication system may comprise configuring a wireless client station located in a client network based on configuration information received from a configurator. The configurator is located in a configurator network that is located external to and communicatively coupled to the client network. Aspects of a system for enabling communication of information in a secure communication system may comprise a configurator located in a configurator network that is located external to and communicatively coupled to a client network. The configurator configures a wireless client station located in the client network based on configuration information transmitted by the configurator to the wireless client station.
US08036178B2 Handover processing in multiple access point deployment system
This disclosure relates to method, device and system for performing handover processing. A roaming list is configured at a receiver which includes multiple entries. Each entry of the roaming list includes receive parameters. A measurement operation is performed on an entry of the roaming list. A transmitter is set based on the measurement operation. Finally, an uplink signal is transmitted to an access point at a time based on a slot start time and a random timing offset. The uplink signal is transmitted while a second signal is transmitted from another node.
US08036177B2 Method of supporting handover in a multi-mode mobile station
A method of discovering at least one of a homogeneous and a heterogeneous network module to perform handover with in a wireless mobile communication network is disclosed. More specifically, the method includes establishing a network handover module for converging information from at least one network interface module associated with at least one of a homogeneous and a heterogeneous network handover module into a unified presentation and transmitting a broadcast request message from a mobile station (MS) to a source point of attachment (PoA) which transmits the broadcast request message to at least one interface module to identify whether the at least one interface module supports at least one of the homogeneous and the heterogeneous network handover module and a capability of the at least one of the homogeneous and the heterogeneous network handover module. The method further includes initiating a timer for a specified time period when the broadcast request message is transmitted and receiving at least one response message from the at least one interface module via the source PoA prior to expiration of the timer, wherein the response message indicates that the at least one interface module supports at least one of the homogeneous and the heterogeneous network handover module and the capability of the at least one of the homogeneous and the heterogeneous network handover module.
US08036176B2 MIH pre-authentication
A system and method for performing MIH pre-authentication, which includes providing support for both direct and/or indirect pre-authentication and providing support for both network-initiated and mobile-initiated pre-authentication.
US08036171B2 Multicarrier communication base station device and subcarrier allocation method
A multicarrier communication base station device (1) in accordance with the present invention includes selection unit that selects a subcarrier to be allocated based on transmission rate information in each mobile station (2), evaluation value calculation unit that calculates a reference value of a transmission rate with regard to a subcarrier to be allocated based on transmission rate information in each mobile station (2) and then calculate an evaluation value that is obtained by evaluating a difference between the reference value and a transmission rate of a subcarrier excluded from allocation, and priority determination unit that determines a priority of a mobile station to be assigned to each subcarrier based on an evaluation value calculated by the evaluation value calculation unit.
US08036170B1 Systems and methods for controlling the transmission and reception of packets over a common antenna
Systems and methods for controlling the transmission and reception of WLAN and short range wireless packets over a common antenna. The system includes WLAN communication circuitry to generate data packets for wireless transmission via the antenna and to process data packets received via the antenna, and includes short range wireless communication circuitry to receive and transmit audio packets via the antenna. The system further includes an arbiter to control access of the WLAN communication circuitry and short range wireless communication circuitry to the antenna. The arbiter causes the data packets to be transmitted and received by the WLAN communication circuitry during time intervals during which no audio packets are transmitted or received by the short range wireless communication circuitry.
US08036167B2 Multiple wireless local area networks for reliable video streaming
A media center system comprises a first wireless controller operative to communicate with a first set of devices on a first WLAN using a first wireless standard; a first network processor coupled to the first wireless controller and operative to establish wireless communication over a first channel with the first set of devices on the first WLAN; a second wireless controller operative to communicate with a second set of devices on a second WLAN using a second wireless standard, the second wireless controller substantially dedicated for multimedia content delivery; and a second network processor coupled to the second wireless controller and operative to establish wireless communication over a second channel with the second set of devices on the second WLAN, the second channel being different than the first channel.
US08036159B2 Method of managing the operation of a wireless communication device and corresponding wireless device
The method is for managing the operation of a wireless communication device including several different communication modules respectively adapted to operate according to several given communication protocols including a UWB module operating according to a UWB protocol based on an OFDM modulation scheme. The method includes controlling the UWB module for scanning a chosen frequency band, and managing a communication to be performed by the device on the basis of the scanning result.
US08036156B2 Dynamic reconfiguration of resources through page headers
Methods and systems for reconfiguring communications systems are provided. In one embodiment, a radio head interface for a communications system comprises: a first interface for communicating with a signal processing module digitally performing waveform processing to modulate and demodulate radio signals; a second interface for communicating with a radio head for transmitting and receiving wireless radio signals; a first buffer coupled to the first interface for receiving a page of data from the signal processing module, the page of data comprising a page header for communicating reconfiguration parameters and a plurality of digital radio frequency samples representing a modulated radio signal; at least one digital frequency converter coupled to the second interface; and a configuration management unit, the configuration management unit adapted to receive the reconfiguration parameters from the page header and reconfigure the at least one digital frequency converter based on the reconfiguration parameters.
US08036153B2 Implementing location awareness in WLAN devices
An ambient country identifier (ACI) signal can be used to automatically provide location awareness for a WLAN device. If an ACI signal is detected, then the WLAN device can configure itself to comply with channel and power settings for the country having the detected ACI signal. After detection of the ACI signal, the WLAN device can be “locked” to the country having that ACI signal, thereby ensuring legal operation of the WLAN device even after subsequent restarts. If an ACI signal is not detected, then the WLAN device can be configured in a default mode, e.g. an “open mode” in which end users can configure the WLAN device by entering a country of operation or a “common mode” in which the channel and transmit power settings meet global spectrum usage requirements.
US08036151B2 Power-based rate signaling for cellular uplink
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate utilizing power-based rate signaling for uplink scheduling in a wireless communications system. A maximum nominal power (e.g., relative maximum transmit power that may be employed on an uplink) may be known to both a base station and a mobile device. For example, the base station and the mobile device may agree upon a maximum nominal power. According to another example, signaling related to a maximum nominal power for utilization on the uplink may be provided over a downlink. Further, selection of a code rate, modulation scheme, and the like for the uplink may be effectuated by a mobile device as a function of the maximum nominal power. Moreover, such selection may be based at least in part upon an interference cost, which may be evaluated by the mobile device.
US08036146B2 BCAST service system and contents transmission method using the same
A broadcast/multicast (BCAST) service, specifically, a BCAST service system for transmitting broadcast contents to terminals when a network load is small and a contents transmission method using the same are disclosed. When contents are broadcast by using a distribution window (DM) and a presentation window (PW), the terminals feed back a message indicating reception confirmation of the contents to the network, such that the contents reception success rate between the terminals and the network can be improved.
US08036143B2 Method and apparatus for device communications
Information may be transferred between dissimilar communication devices through a common interface. The common interface may operate on the dissimilar communication devices in accordance with aspects of the dissimilar communication devices that have been abstracted.
US08036141B2 Apparatus and method for managing a network
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a server comprising a controller to capture routing data representative of routing changes associated with a plurality of networks, and compare the routing changes to detect discrepancies in route lists associated with the plurality of networks. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US08036136B1 System and method of allocating sub-channels
Systems and methods of allocating sub-channels are provided. A method a signal quality measure associated with a first mobile station is determined. It is also determined that the first mobile station has an associated Quality of Service (QoS) above a predetermined QoS. A number of sub-channels are allocated to the first mobile station based on the signal quality measure and QoS associated with the first mobile station, where more sub-channels are allocated for lower signal quality measures compared to higher signal quality measures.
US08036135B2 Mac performance of a mesh network using both sender-based and receiver-based scheduling
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate determining when and whether to implement a sender-based data packet scheduling mechanism or a receiver-based data packet scheduling mechanism based on one or mode scheduling factors. For example, a sending node and a receiving node may communicate to permit a determination of which node is more capable of performing the scheduling tasks, and a corresponding scheduling technique may be selected and executed. According to an aspect, an amount of data downloading may be compared to an amount of data uploading at each node, and a sender-based scheduling protocol may be performed when the amount of data uploading is greater than the amount of downloading data.
US08036128B2 Method for communicating backpressure messages in a data communications system
A method for communicating backpressure messaging over a serial encoded link is disclosed. Embodiments of the invention enable advanced backpressure signaling to be retrofitted into legacy systems to achieve performance improvements and support new or enhanced services. Specifically, such signaling enables per-context and per-priority backpressure signaling information to be conveyed by a backpressure message; thereby enabling flow control to be performed in accordance with a priority or context associated with a traffic flow, or flows, carried over the serial link.
US08036127B2 Notifying network applications of receive overflow conditions
A method for notifying a packet destination that includes receiving a packet by a network interface card (NIC), where the packet destination is a destination of the packet, classifying the packet, forwarding the packet to one of a plurality of receive rings on the NIC, determining whether the one of the plurality of receive rings comprises space to store the packet, dropping the packet if the receive ring does not comprise the space to store the packet, and sending a notification message to the packet destination, where the notification message indicates that the packet was dropped by the receive ring.
US08036126B2 System and method for compressing internet protocol routing tables
A networking device connects to a router and to an autonomous system (AS). The networking device receives a routing table from the router, exchanges routing information with the AS, updates the routing table in response to exchanging information with the AS, coalesces the updated routing table into a compressed routing table, and sends the compressed routing table back to the router. The compressed routing table causes the router to forward data in a manner that is identical to the received routing table.
US08036122B2 Initiation of network treatment for data packet associated with real-time application different from network treatment applicable to data packet non-associated with the real-time application
A packet control component of an apparatus in one example monitors a data stream that comprises a plurality of data packets. The plurality of data packets comprise one or more first data packets associated with a real-time application and one or more second data packets non-associated with the real-time application. Upon a detection in the data stream of a data packet of the one or more first data packets, the packet control component initiates a network treatment for the data packet that is different from one or more network treatments applicable to the one or more second data packets.
US08036121B2 Method of estimating quality degradation on network in communication network system
In a quality degradation (QD) portion estimating method on a network, a passive measuring unit connected with a management target network measures E2E flow quality (FQ) data on a route from a transmitting terminal connected with a different network to a receiving terminal connected with the management target network and upstream FQ data on the route from the transmitting terminal to the passive measuring unit in the management target network. A QD portion estimating section connected with the management target network collects E2E FQ data and upper stream FQ data measured by said passive measuring unit. A detecting section detects as a QD flow in the management target network, a flow related to the E2E FQ data that does not show degradation of FQ, for the upstream FQ data related to the same transmitting and receiving terminals, from among the E2E FQ data which show the degradation of FQ.
US08036120B2 Technique for admission control of packet flows
A technique for admission control of packet flows is disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the technique may be realized as a method for admission control of packet flows in a network. The method may comprise determining at least one flow rate associated with a plurality of packets. The method may also comprise marking at least one predetermined bit in at least one of the plurality of packets if the at least one flow rate is greater than a predetermined rate. The method may further comprise controlling an admission of additional packets into the network based at least in part on the marking of the at least one predetermined bit in the at least one of the plurality of packets.
US08036117B1 Dequeuing and congestion control systems and methods
A system provides congestion control in a network device. The system includes multiple queues, a dequeue engine, a drop engine, and an arbiter. The queues temporarily store data. The dequeue engine selects a first one of the queues and dequeues data from the first queue. The drop engine selects a second one of the queues to examine and selectively drop data from the second queue. The arbiter controls selection of the queues by the dequeue engine and the drop engine.
US08036116B2 VoIP network element performance detection for IP NSEP special service
A system and method for receiving performance measurements for a communications network, generating alerts based on each performance measurement and a corresponding performance threshold, receiving network traps from network elements of the communications network, each network trap being generated by the network element based on a process measurement and a corresponding process threshold and correlating the alerts and the network traps to generate correlated alerts.
US08036114B2 Bi-directional ring network having minimum spare bandwidth allocation and corresponding connection admission control
The present invention provides for a method for reserving spare bandwidth for a link in a communication network including a plurality of links. The method provides for monitoring the volume of traffic routed through each link of the communication network. A single link failure for each link is then simulated and the volume of traffic which would be rerouted through each link for maintaining communication and the volume of traffic removed from each link are determined for each simulated single link failure. The difference between the volume of traffic which would need to be rerouted through each link and the corresponding volume of traffic removed from each link is then computed, and a maximum difference value is determined for each link for all simulated single link failures. An amount of spare bandwidth equivalent to the determined maximum difference is then reserved for each link.
US08036107B2 Limiting traffic in communications systems
Limiting traffic in a communications system is based on monitoring data packets traversing a first network node and determining whether at least one first data packet originating from a source node fulfills a predefined criterion. When the predefined criterion is fulfilled, a second network node is instructed to change processing of at least one second data packet originating from said source node.
US08036103B2 Portable internet radio access station including multiple management processors and method of controlling the multiple management processors
The present invention relates to a portable internet radio access station, and more particularly, to a portable internet radio access station including a plurality of management processors and a method of controlling the plurality of management processors. A first management processor of a portable internet radio access station according to the present invention includes: an obstruction sensing unit sensing an obstruction in the first and second management processors; a call processing database storing a call processing information of the portable internet radio access station; an operation state determining unit determining an operation state of the first management processor based on the obstruction; and a database synchronizing unit synchronizing the call processing database with a call processing database of the second management processor based on the operation state of the first management processor Accordingly, continuity and reliability in call processing are obtained in the portable internet radio access station of the present invention.
US08036097B2 Information recording carrier and information reproducing apparatus for the same
Plural grooves or lands formed in an information recording carrier include at least a wobbling region and data is recorded wobblingly in this wobbling region by phase shift modulation while recorded digitally with a single or multiple waves as a channel bit.
US08036095B2 Signal processing device for optical disks and optical disk apparatus
A signal processing device for optical disks includes a reflected light process section configured to convert reflected light received by an optical pickup into an electric signal based on a first gain, wherein the optical pickup emits laser light to an optical disk and receives reflected light from the optical disk; a servo signal generation section configured to generate a servo signal by using the electric signal generated by the reflected light process section; a servo signal control section configured to control the servo signal so that a change in the amplitude of the servo signal, in response to an increase or decrease of the amount of the reflected light from the optical disk, is suppressed using an attenuator that attenuates the servo signal generated by the servo signal generation section by a factor of a second gain; and a gain setting section configured to set the first gain to the reflected light process section and the second gain to the servo signal control section substantially simultaneously.
US08036090B2 Optical pickup device
Provided is an optical pickup device capable of stabilizing a tracking signal and a focusing signal and of preventing quality deterioration of a data signal by eliminating a multi-layer crosstalk. Of reflected lights from a multi-layer disc, a reflected light from a target layer is split into two by a light flux splitting optical system so that the reflected light is spread out toward two directions with respect to a central line, and then the split lights are condensed. In this case, a reflected light from another layer does not reach a condensing position of the reflected light from the target layer, and only the reflected light from the target layer can be detected by a detector. Accordingly, a crosstalk from the another layer is eliminated.
US08036086B2 Optical disc and optical disc device
In a multilayer optical disc having information layers conforming to a plurality of different optical disc standards, because the type of each information layer is not recorded in the other information layers, in read and write operations by a compatible optical disc device conforming to a plurality of optical disc standards, every time the information layer being accessed changes, it has been necessary to read the type of the information layer and select a method of generating a tracking error signal adapted to the type of information layer, so access has taken time. In order to solve the above problem, in the optical multilayer disc according to the present invention, having information layers conforming to a plurality of different optical disc standards, in an area in one of the information layers, information about the other information layers is recorded. The time required to access the other information layers can be reduced.
US08036084B2 Standalone duplication system with network connection
A standalone duplication system with network connection has a casing, multiple recording devices, a control module, a bridge unit, a storage device and a network module, wherein the bridge unit connects between the control module, the storage device and the network module. When the bridge unit confirms that the control module has disconnected from the storage device and the network module receives a data transfer command, the storage device can receive data via the network module and store data for duplication. Therefore, the standalone duplication system is capable of receiving data from different computers over a network without using a high-end central processing unit (CPU). The standalone duplication system need not be moved to different places and connected to and disconnected from different personal computers again and again. Users operate their own personal computers to send required data to the standalone duplication system via the network.
US08036073B2 Storage medium managing device, storage medium managing program, and computer-readable medium
A storage medium managing device is provided which can employ a set of management information containing suitable information from a plural sets of management information contained in the storage medium. An optical disc apparatus (1) manages an optical disc (2) having a plurality of management areas for containing management information with which data is managed and which is recorded in the management areas in a predetermined sequence. The apparatus includes a management information retrieving section (52) for reading the management information in the same sequence as the predetermined recording sequence to retrieve primary management information which is management information that is first retrieved normally.
US08036072B2 Holographic recording and reproduction system having servo optical path
A holographic recording and reproduction system includes a servo optical path, which is used to provide a servo mechanism, so that holographic interference fringes can be stored continuously into a holographic recording medium, and when the reproduction signals are desired, they can be fetched and obtained swiftly and accurately by making use of the servo mechanism. In addition, the servo light spot of the servo optical path is located on the optical axis of an object lens, thus reducing the image aberrations produced and raising the quality of the signals read for the servo track searching. Moreover, the light intensity distribution of the reference beams reflected by the holographic recording medium is monitored and controlled, as such realizing the analysis and adjustment of the relative distance and inclination angle between the holographic recording and reproduction system and the holographic recording medium.
US08036070B2 Magnetic recording device, especially for a hard disk and its manufacturing process
A magnetic recording device comprising at least one unstructured recording support exhibiting at least one elementary magnetic layer, the recording support having a magnetization perpendicular to the plane of the support characterized in that it comprises magnetic elements having a magnetization perpendicular to the plane of the support and a greater inversion field than the inversion field of the recording support, and which are separated from the recording support by a decoupling layer made of a nonmagnetic material so that the magnetic elements produce a dipolar field in the recording support. The magnetic elements are spaced apart from one another by nonmagnetic regions, each magnetic element defining during a write operation a memory point in the recording support.
US08036066B2 Watch
The invention relates to a watch comprising a first hour wheel (16) which is rotatably driven around a rotating pin (3) by means of a drive unit and supports a first hour hand (1), and a second hour wheel ((26) that is joined to the first hour wheel (16) via a springy catching connection and is rotatably driven about a second rotating pin (13) by the first hour wheel (16), a second hour hand (11) being rotatably driven by means of said second hour wheel (26). The watch further comprises a manually adjustable winding stem (62) which supports a drive wheel and with the aid of which the two hour wheels (16 and 23) can be adjusted jointly or individually. The first hour wheel (16) can be adjusted by the drive wheel while the second hour wheel or a third hour tube (26) that supports the second hour hand (11) can be blocked by a manually actuated blocking device.
US08036065B2 Gunshot detection sensor with display
A system for locating and identifying an acoustic event such as gunfire. The inventive system employs a plurality of man wearable acoustic sensors for detecting gunfire, each acoustic sensor having a display associated therewith for displaying information concerning the acoustic event to a user. In preferred embodiments, the sensor includes a microphone for receiving acoustic information; an A/D converter; a processor for processing the digitized signal to detect a gunshot and determine a time of arrival; a GPS receiver for determining the position of the acoustic sensor; and a network interface for bidirectional communication with a system server. Preferably the display comprises: an LCD; and an electronically readable compass. When the display and acoustic sensor are in separate housings, the acoustic sensor includes a transmitter and the display includes a receiver for transferring the gunshot information.
US08036061B2 Integrated circuit with multiported memory supercell and data path switching circuitry
An integrated circuit. The integrated circuit includes a plurality of memory requesters and a memory supercell. The memory supercell includes a plurality of memory banks each of which forms a respective range of separately addressable storage locations, wherein the memory supercell is organized into a plurality of bank groups. Each of the plurality of bank groups includes a subset of the plurality of memory banks and a corresponding dedicated access port. The integrated circuit further includes a switch coupled between the plurality of memory requesters and the memory supercell. The switch is configured, responsive to a memory request by a given one of the plurality of memory requesters, to connect a data path between the given memory requester and the dedicated access port of a particular one of the bank groups addressed by the memory request.
US08036060B2 Semiconductor device in which a memory array is refreshed based on an address signal
In an SDRAM of reduced current consumption, a signal RAS for performing refresh while temporally splitting refresh becomes active N times (where N is an integer and Nε2 holds) in a single refresh time period (indicated by a signal REF) to thereby refresh an internal memory array successively. The SDRAM includes a DLL circuit for aligning phase of an internal clock signal with that of an external clock signal that is externally supplied, and a DLL control circuit for exercising control so as to halt operation of the DLL circuit in an interval in which the address signal becomes active one or more times and N−1 times or fewer, this interval being included in an interval in which the signal RAS becomes active N times. The DLL control circuit counts the signal RAS and decodes the value of the count. Operation of the DLL circuit is halted while a prescribed range of count values is being decoded.
US08036057B2 Semiconductor memory device and control method thereof
A semiconductor memory device (and control method therefor) includes a plurality of word lines, a plurality of bit lines, a plurality of memory cells arranged at intersections of the word lines and the bit lines, a word driver that selects any one of the word lines, a plurality of sense amplifiers connectable to any of the bit lines, a sense-amplifier starting circuit that sequentially starts the sense amplifiers in response to a request of consecutive read operations to the memory cells connected to a predetermined word line, in a state that the predetermined word line is selected by the word driver, and an address determining circuit that temporarily stops an operation of the sense-amplifier starting circuit in response to a request of consecutive read operations to a same memory cell connected to a predetermined word line, in a state that the predetermined word line is selected by the word driver.
US08036056B2 Semiconductor memory device and method of inputting and outputting data in the semiconductor memory device
A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array and an input/output path circuit. The input/output path circuit performs an input/output line pre-charge operation at a write end time point and outputs data stored in the memory cell array when the semiconductor memory device is operated in a read mode.
US08036055B2 Semiconductor storage device
A semiconductor storage device includes: a plurality of I/O terminals configured in a block, and including a representative I/O terminal and a non-representative I/O terminal; a plurality of memory cells each associated with the plurality of I/O terminals to store data; a data input portion to which data to be stored in the plurality of memory cells is input; and a data output portion which outputs data stored in the plurality of memory cells, the data input portion including a branch circuit which distributes the data input to the representative I/O terminal to all of the plurality of memory cells when the data to be stored in the plurality of memory cells is input while in test mode, and the data output portion including: a selection circuit which is connected to the representative I/O terminal, and which selects one of the data output from the plurality of memory cells and outputs the selected data from the representative I/O terminal when the data stored in the plurality of memory cells is output while in the test mode; and a dummy circuit which is provided between the non-representative I/O terminal and the memory cell associated with the non-representative I/O terminal.
US08036051B2 Semiconductor memory device and semiconductor memory system for compensating crosstalk
A semiconductor memory device and a semiconductor memory system. The semiconductor memory device includes channels configured to transmit signals from a transmitter to a receiver, and a crosstalk compensator. The crosstalk compensator may be connected between the channels to compensate for crosstalk. The crosstalk compensator may comprise a capacitor connected in parallel between the channels, and a switching unit connected between the capacitor and one of the channels. The switching unit may control connections or disconnections between the capacitor and the channel. Therefore, the semiconductor memory device and the semiconductor memory system compensate for crosstalk occurring between transmitted signals that are out of phase with each other.
US08036049B2 Semiconductor memory device including a global input/output line of a data transfer path and its surrounding circuits
A semiconductor memory device includes an input/output line of a data transfer path and its surrounding circuits, comprising a controller which generates a control signal corresponding to command and address input in read and write operation; and a repeater which selects any one of the plurality of bank groups as the control signal to control data transfer between the selected bank group and an input/output pad.
US08036045B2 Data output control circuit
A data output control circuit in a semiconductor memory device includes a driving signal generating unit configured to decode first and second I/O mode signals and first and second address level signals in response to a bank active signal and generate driving signals, and a data output multiplexing unit configured to output data signals of global I/O lines as multiplexing signals in response to the driving signals.
US08036044B2 Dynamically adjustable erase and program levels for non-volatile memory
Degradation of non-volatile storage elements is reduced by adaptively adjusting erase-verify levels and program-verify levels. The number of erase pulses, or the highest erase pulse amplitude, needed to complete an erase operation is determined. When the number, or amplitude, reaches a limit, the erase-verify level is increased. As the erase-verify level is increased, the number of required erase pulses decreases since the erase operation can be completed more easily. An accelerating increase in the degradation is thus avoided. One or more program-verify levels can also be increased in concert with changes in the erase-verify level. The one or more program-verify levels can increase by the same increment as the erase-verify level to maintain a constant threshold voltage window between the erased state and a programmed state, or by a different increment. Implementations with binary or multi-level storage elements are provided.