| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08122517B2 |
Mediated access of software dumped data through specialized analysis modules
The present invention can include a method, computer program product, and system for mediating access to content of a software dump. The invention can identify an event occurring within a computing device, which causes data to be dumped to file. A dump file can be created responsive to the event, wherein the dump file includes data defining a state of the computing device. Using an analysis module to analyze the dump file to determine content to be placed in a tailored dump file. In one embodiment, custom analysis modules or custom modifications to existing analysis modules can be added to the computing device at any time, which permits a tailoring of dumps to cover circumstances not originally known in advance of a situation for which they are needed. The tailored dump file can include a subset of the content of the dump file for which access privileges have been granted in accordance with the analysis module. The output file can be created, which comprises the determined content. |
| US08122516B2 |
Method and system for enabling a first party to provide a second party with personalized digital content
A method for enabling a first party to provide a second party with personalized digital content includes at a network unit: in response to receiving a request from a first party, the request including an identifier identifying a second party, retrieving identity credentials of the second party; and transmitting the identity credentials of the second part to a first party or to a content providing system; and in a content providing system: in response to receiving: a) an identifier from the first party, the identifier identifying digital content in a digital content storage, and b) the identity credentials of the second party, personalizing digital content using the identity credentials, the personalizing adapted to enable the second party to reproduce the digital content but to prevent any unauthorized party to reproduce it; and delivering the personalized digital content to the first party. |
| US08122515B2 |
Access control with decomposable values and its application for virtual worlds
An access control method performed by a network server to which a plurality of users are connected is disclosed. In the access control method, upon access from each user to data stored in a network resource, the access control method searches a plurality of access control rules prepared in advance for controlling accesses from the users and each including an access control value which is one of a finite integer number of values, by using at least one of information on the user and information on the data. Then, on the basis of the retrieved access control rule, the access control value is determined. Thereafter, response information from the data or access request information to the data is changed by using the determined access control value. |
| US08122511B2 |
Attribute information providing method
A method for providing attribute data. A request is received from a user device for a virtual ID token relating to attribute information pertaining to a subscriber associated with the user device. Responsive to the request for the virtual ID token, a data record is read from a database. The data record includes L attributes of the subscriber. L is at least 2. The data record is provided to the user device. A selection of M attributes of the L attributes is received from the user device. M is less than L. A virtual record including the M attributes selected from the data record is generated. The virtual record includes a virtual ID (VID) for identifying the virtual record. The generated virtual record is stored in the database. The virtual ID token is provided to the user device. The virtual ID token includes the VID. |
| US08122509B1 |
Method for accelerating hardware emulator used for malware detection and analysis
A method and system for accelerating malware emulator by using an accelerator. The accelerator allows for a potentially malicious component (i.e., process) containing dummy processes to be executed in a real CPU of a computer system using its operating memory. A special memory area is allocated for the process based on the memory requested by the process in the emulator. The state of the CPU and the memory is loaded in the emulator prior to executing the suspicious process. The system can be restored to its initial state in case of malicious actions performed by the process. The dummy instructions of the process are processed by the CPU at its own speed and as soon as the process performs a malicious instruction it is stopped by the emulator. The emulation process is accelerated to a speed of a regular CPU. |
| US08122508B2 |
Analyzing traffic patterns to detect infectious messages
Managing electronic messages comprises receiving a message, forwarding the message, determining that the forwarded message is infectious after the message has been forwarded and preventing the infectious forwarded message from spreading. |
| US08122506B2 |
Method and system for detecting characteristics of a wireless network
Characteristics about one or more wireless access devices in a wireless network, whether known or unknown entities, can be determined using a system and method according to the present invention. An observation is made of the activity over a Wireless Area Network (WLAN). Based on this activity, changes in state of wireless access devices within the WLAN can be observed and monitored. These changes in state could be indicative of normal operation of the WLAN, or they may indicate the presence of an unauthorized user. In the latter case, an alert can be sent so that appropriate action may be taken. Additionally, ad hoc networks can be detected that may be connected to a wireless access point. |
| US08122505B2 |
Method and apparatus for detection of malicious behavior in mobile ad-hoc networks
Systems and methods are provided for detecting malicious behavior in mobile ad-hoc wireless networks. The mobile ad-hoc network contains a plurality of actual nodes and a plurality of decoys that are derived from the actual nodes using duplicate instances of the operational software of the actual nodes in combination with a virtual interconnection topology created to make the decoys appear as actual nodes within the mobile ad-hoc network. The interconnection topology includes routing characteristics indicating that the most efficient path of communication to any given decoy is through at least one actual node in the network. The decoys are used to identify malicious behavior in the network and in particular to identify attempt to communicate directly with decoys in contradiction to the created interconnection topology. When the malicious behavior is associated with an identifiable node, corrective action is taken that includes quarantining that node from the other nodes in the network. |
| US08122502B2 |
Detecting the presence of an installation on a data processing system based on the relative storage locations of one or more files
The presence of an installation on a data processing system may be detected by providing a signature that includes m files having paths associated therewith, respectively. A number n files on the data processing system are determined that match files in the signature and a files found ratio given by n/m is determined. A transformation is applied to the signature by replacing at least a portion of at least one of the paths with a new path. Then, a distance is determined between the n files on the data processing system and the m signature files. The distance corresponds to a sum of a number of path segments associated with the m signature files that cannot be matched to a corresponding path segment associated with files on the data processing system. The presence of the installation on the data processing system is determined based on the files found ratio and the distance. |
| US08122501B2 |
Traitor detection for multilevel assignment
One embodiment of the present invention includes a method for traitor tracing that includes performing an inner code traitor tracing on a recovered pirated digital file, the recovered digital file incorporating an inner code for assigning segments of the digital file and an outer code for assigning inner codes to individual digital files. The method also includes extracting partial information regarding the outer code from the inner code tracing. An outer code tracing procedure may then be performed using the partial information. |
| US08122499B2 |
Network security apparatus and method
A network security system and method performs quantifying and billing for network security consumed during a period of time. Implementations may include billing server configured to calculate the security protection consumed by calculating damages avoided from attacks that were blocked. The network security system also may include a scanner inside the customer network configured to scan devices for vulnerabilities and to quantify assets at risk. The system may further include an intrusion suppression module outside the customer network configured to maintain a list of attacks sustained and blocked during a period of time. The network security system may also include a blocker inside the customer network configured to detect unauthorized disclosures of confidential information and block the disclosures in real time. |
| US08122496B2 |
Secure display method and device
A secure display device is designed to display on a screen a first set of information edited by an open operating system. A secure operating system resident in a dedicated circuit edits a second set of information. A filter allocates, independently of the open operating system, a first zone of the screen to the first set of information and a second zone of the screen to the second set of information. The zones and can have a non-zero intersection and any value. A real video memory is used for transferring the two sets of information to the screen under the sole control of the secure operating system so as to produce a secure display of the second set of information. |
| US08122494B2 |
Apparatus and method of securing network
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method of securing a network. In the present invention, a pattern matching engine 210 corresponding to a first security module initially performs a hardware-based filtering process for a static attack of an input network packet and transmits a normal packet determined to be normal as a result of the filtering to a dynamic attack detection module 230 corresponding to a second security module through a PL3 interface. The dynamic attack detection module 230 performs a hardware-based filtering process for a dynamic attack of the normal packet transmitted from the pattern matching engine 210. The dynamic attack detection module 230 transmits the filtering result to a main CPU 400 through a PCI 300 if filtering the dynamic attack is completed. Then, a main CPU 400 transmits a response policy based on the transmitted filtering result to a response engine 220 through the PCI 300 and the dynamic attack detection module 230 to block an abnormal packet. Therefore, the present invention is very effective in that accuracy of detection is enhanced, and weakness in processing speed and performance of a network security solution can be compensated to meet requirements on real-time. |
| US08122490B2 |
Transfer server of a secure system for unattended remote file and message transfer
A method for automatically transferring a data file from a network drive of a client controlled local area network to a transfer server over the Internet comprises using a first workstation to configure event parameters within event tables of the transfer server. An unattended interface module executed by a processor of a second workstation obtains, from the transfer server, the event parameters stored in the event tables. The event parameters comprise a file name and a directory path. The file name identifies the data file to be uploaded. The directory path identifies an upload directory of the network drive. The second workstation periodically searches the upload directory and, upon locating a data file in the upload directory with the file name, transfers the data file to the transfer server over a secure connection established with the transfer server over the internet. |
| US08122486B2 |
Method and system for secure management of co-located customer premises equipment
A method, system, and apparatus for managing customer premise equipment according to one embodiment includes establishing a secure connection between a first transport unit and a second transport unit. The secure connection includes an embedded operations channel and is operable to isolate a management plane from a data plane. The method further includes the first transport unit receiving a request for access to the first transport unit from the second transport unit. The method further includes establishing a secure terminal session between the first transport unit and the second transport unit using the embedded operations channel in response to receiving the request for access. The first transport unit then receives a management command from the second transport unit and the first transport unit performs at least one management function in response to receiving the management command. |
| US08122482B2 |
Cryptographic peer discovery, authentication, and authorization for on-path signaling
A method is disclosed for cryptographic peer discovery, authentication, and authorization. According to one embodiment, a data packet, which is addressed to a destination device other than an intermediary network device, is intercepted at the intermediary network device. The data packet contains a request and a group identifier. A shared secret cryptographic key, which is mapped to the group identifier, is selected. A challenge is sent toward an upstream device from whence the data packet came. A response is received. A verification value is generated based on the cryptographic key and the challenge. It is determined whether the response matches the verification value. If the response matches the verification value, then it is determined whether the request is allowed by an authorization set that is mapped to the group identifier. If the request is allowed, then a policy of the intermediary network device is configured based on the request. |
| US08122479B2 |
Methods and apparatus for providing virtual content over a network
Methods and apparatus for selecting, purchasing and delivering content to users of a network so that the user has “virtual” ownership of and access to the content, thereby obviating the need for physical media (e.g., DVDs or CDs). In an exemplary embodiment, the network comprises a hybrid fiber coax (HFC) network, and on-demand (OD) sessions or broadcast modes are used to deliver the virtual content stored at the head-end (or hub site) to the requesting owner. The purchased content is associated with one or more users when stored, thereby providing the owner(s) unlimited access thereto, without the costs and effort associated with renting/purchasing and maintaining DVDs. The content may also comprise new release content, which would otherwise not be available over the network at that time but for the purchase and delivery mechanisms of the invention. Various other complementary features for enhancing the user's virtual ownership experience are also disclosed. |
| US08122473B2 |
Digital broadcasting system and data processing method
The present invention relates to a digital broadcasting system and a processing data method thereof. The present invention includes acquiring a first ensemble providing service guide information for mobile service data from a broadcast signal in which the mobile service data and main service data are multiplexed, acquiring, from the first ensemble, first program table information including information which indicates that the first ensemble provides service guide information for a second ensemble, and decoding the first program table information and acquiring service guide information for mobile service data included in the second ensemble by using the decoded first program table information. |
| US08122468B2 |
System and method for dynamically constructing audio in a video program
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer readable-media for dynamically constructing audio in a video program. The method includes extracting video metadata from a video program displayed on a playback device to a viewer, extracting component metadata from a plurality of audio components stored in a media object library, extracting viewer preferences from a viewer profile, receiving synchronization information about the video program, identifying a segment of the video program susceptible to inserting an audio component based on extracted video metadata, component metadata, and viewer preferences, transmitting the audio component to the playback device and a set of instructions detailing how to insert the audio component in real time in the segment of the video program, and constructing audio in the video program at the playback device using the audio component and the set of instructions. |
| US08122464B2 |
Methods and apparatus to monitor media content on a consumer network
Example methods and apparatus to monitor media content on a consumer network as described herein. An example metering system includes a metering device to monitor the consumption of media content at a consumer location and a universal plug and play (UPnP) compatible metering helper to collect audience measurement data from UPnP devices in a consumer network. |
| US08122462B2 |
Panel attachment structure for disk tray
A panel attachment structure for a disk tray includes an attachment frame, a decoration panel, a spring body, a restricting mechanism and a positioning mechanism. The attachment frame is non-movably coupled to a front end portion of the disk tray. The disk tray is movable between an ejected position and a retracted position through a tray opening of a cabinet. The decoration panel is movably coupled to the attachment frame. The spring body includes a compression coil spring. The spring body elastically couples the decoration panel to the attachment frame and biases the decoration panel against the attachment frame. The restricting mechanism restricts displacement of the decoration panel relative to the attachment frame. The positioning mechanism selectively positions the decoration panel relative to the attachment frame in a predetermined position and releases the decoration panel from the predetermined position when the disk tray is retracted to the retracted position. |
| US08122460B2 |
Partial dynamic implementation of java interfaces
A system and method for implementing dynamic interfaces in a JAVA program including methods having a common implementation and other methods to be handled independently. The system comprises a first dynamic proxy object implementing an invocation handler for providing default implementations; a separate object providing implementations of any method in a defined interface that requires independent handling; and, a second dynamic proxy object provided for checking a method definition object for an implementation of the method, and in response, one of: invoking the method on the separate object if the implementation exists, and if the implementation does not exist, invoking the method on the first dynamic proxy object. The second dynamic proxy object thus allows for a single implementation for repetitive methods, while allowing special cases to be handled independently. |
| US08122456B2 |
Microcircuit card comprising means for publishing its computer objects
The invention concerns a microcircuit card including at least one computer object and a register (Registry) having a logic identifier (myCalculator) of the object and at least one local reference (A000000000H,0060H) of the object pertaining to the card. The card further includes elements (CardManager) adapted to communicate, upon reception of a first message (look_APDU) including the logic identifier (myCalculator), at least one local code (K(0060H) obtained from the local reference (0060H). |
| US08122451B2 |
Method and apparatus for dispatching tasks in a non-uniform memory access (NUMA) computer system
A dispatcher for a non-uniform memory access computer system dispatches threads from a common ready queue not associated with any CPU, but favors the dispatching of a thread to a CPU having a shorter memory access time. Preferably, the system comprises multiple discrete nodes, each having a local memory and one or more CPUs. System main memory is a distributed memory comprising the union of the local memories. A respective preferred CPU and preferred node may be associated with each thread. When a CPU becomes available, the dispatcher gives at least some relative priority to a thread having a preferred CPU in the same node as the available CPU over a thread having a preferred CPU in a different node. This preference is relative, and does not prevent the dispatch from overriding the preference to avoid starvation or other problems. |
| US08122450B2 |
Method and apparatus for distributing memory in a data processing system
Methods and systems are provided for tuning memory allocated among a plurality of applications in a data processing system. In one implementation, the method includes generating memory benefit data for the plurality of applications, comparing the generated memory benefit data associated with each of the plurality of applications, and dynamically reallocating memory from one or more of the plurality of applications to one or more other of the plurality of applications based on the comparison. A method and system is also provided for tuning memory allocated among a plurality of individual memory consumers for a given application. |
| US08122446B2 |
Method and apparatus for provisioning software on a network of computers
An apparatus and method for provisioning software on a network of heterogeneous computers in a network. The provisioner receives a list of packages and deployment scope of the packages, then checks each node for installed applications and records dependency and potential application conflicts. In addition, the provisioner measures a plurality of network and node metrics. Based on the dependency information, conflict information, and metrics, one or more nodes are selected and software is provisioned and/or removed in accordance with the dependency and conflict information. |
| US08122443B2 |
Dynamic multi-context delta view for merging structured data in a visual merge tool
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for a dynamic multi-context delta view for merging structured data in a visual merge tool. In one embodiment of the invention, a method for providing a dynamic multi-context delta view can include rendering a compare view of a merged state for a selected model to include model controls each corresponding to a different model state for the selected model. The method further can include detecting a transient proximity event in connection with a particular one of the model controls. The method yet further can include identifying a corresponding model state for the particular one of the model controls. Finally, the method can include replacing the merged state with the corresponding model state in the compare view. |
| US08122439B2 |
Method and computer program product for dynamically and precisely discovering deliquent memory operations
A method and computer product for dynamically and precisely discovering delinquent memory operations through integration of compilers, performance monitoring tools, and analysis tools are provided. The method includes compiling an application, and linking the application with a tracing library to generate executable, compiler annotated information and linker mapping information. The application is executed to obtain runtime trace information that includes hardware performance counters and tracing library instrumentation events. The trace information, the compiler annotated information, and the linker mapping information are analyzed to produce a delinquent memory operation file containing delinquent memory operation information. The delinquent memory operation information of the delinquent memory operation file is read by the compiler to perform memory reference mapping to guide static analysis and memory hierarchy optimization. The memory reference mapping maps delinquent memory operations precisely, both externally in a user source code and internally in a compiler intermediate representation. |
| US08122433B2 |
Software documentation manager
A computer-implementable method and system for managing software code documentation is disclosed. The method receives computer software code and documentation selected by a user and inserts one or more association keys in the selected code and one or more association keys in the selected documentation. The association keys are used to identify a portion of computer software documentation that corresponds with the computer software code. When the user wants to see documentation for a section of code, or code that corresponds to a section of documentation, the user selects the relevant text. The method receives the selected text, retrieves the association keys inserted in the selected text, determines whether the selected text is code or documentation, searches for documentation or code with matching association keys and alters the display of the matching documentation or code. |
| US08122431B2 |
Device for processing formally defined data
A data processing device, including a formula editor capable of establishing a formal mathematical formula with variable identifiers, a set on metadata maintaining correspondence between the identifiers and stored data, and a code generator capable of generating a code executing the formula on the stored data. An editor of conditions establishes an expression of condition operable on database tables to provide a data table. The formula editor authorizes a particular notation bearing on a particular operator and a variable identifier, in the presence of which the condition editor is actuated to establish a correspondence with a particular metadata serving as a pointer to an expression of condition and to a standby table, and the code generator produces through the particular metadata of the executable code resolving the condition and fills the standby table with the data derived from the resolution of the condition and applies the operator to the table. |
| US08122430B2 |
Automatic customization of classes
A method and computer readable medium for automatic replacement of object classes in a library with custom classes to improve program efficiency. The method begins with static analysis preformed on a program containing a plurality of objects in order to determine type-correctness constraints and to detect unused functionality in one or more of the objects to be replaced. The plurality of objects is instrumented to detect usage patterns of functionality in one or more objects. Customized classes are generated based upon the static analysis and usage patterns detected. Bytecode is rewritten which is used for generating classes. The present invention provides transparency in the replacement of the objects. |
| US08122429B2 |
Method, system and program product for developing a data model in a data mining system
A database table of predefined data transformations is provided. Each predefined data transformation is associated in the table with a unique identifier, a corresponding description and a validity period. When a data modeler wishes to develop a data model for a desired prediction, he/she will first determine a set of variables that will be used therefor. The set of variables can include any of the predefined data transformations from the database table. The data model will then be developed by applying raw data to the set of variables and determining a mathematical relationship there between. Once the data model has been developed, the data modeler will write a reusable specification for applying the data model operationally. Thereafter, IT personnel or the like can code and deploy the data model using the specification. |
| US08122428B2 |
Methods and apparatus for automation and facilitating design of register maps
In one aspect, a software application for facilitating design of a register specification is provided. The application comprises an interface adapted to receive input from a user indicating information about at least one register in the register specification, the interface generating register information based on the received input, a translator coupled to the interface to receive the register information and adapted to convert the register information to an internal representation, and at least one filter adapted to transform the internal representation into at least one respective output format. |
| US08122423B2 |
Analog circuit testing and test pattern generation
Test vectors for structural testing of an analog circuit are selected by first selecting an initial set of test input vectors for the analog circuit. A set of faults is selected, comprising faults that each correspond to a respective node in the analog circuit and corresponding fault voltage value for that node. A measure of overlap is computed between probability distributions of test output signal values for the analog circuit in response to the test input vectors in the presence and absence of each of the faults from said set of faults respectively, as a function of estimated statistical spread of component and/or process parameter values in the analog circuit. Test input vectors are selected from the initial set of test input vectors for use in testing on the basis of whether the measure of overlap for at least one if the faults is below a threshold value in response to the selected test input vector under control of the test selection computer. |
| US08122420B1 |
Congestion elimination using adaptive cost schedule to route signals within an integrated circuit
A computer-implemented method of routing a circuit design for a target integrated circuit (IC) can include determining a characterization of routing congestion of the circuit design within the target IC and determining a first order cost component of using routing resources of the target IC according to the characterization. The method can include determining a higher order cost component of using routing resources of the target IC according to the characterization and assigning signals of the circuit design to routing resources according to costs calculated using the first order cost component and the higher order cost component. Signal assignments of the circuit design can be output. |
| US08122419B2 |
System and method for three-dimensional variational capacitance calculation
Capacitance extraction techniques are provided. In one aspect, a method for analyzing variational coupling capacitance between conductors in an integrated circuit design is provided. The method comprises the following steps. Coupling capacitance is computed between conductors of interest from the design using a set of floating random walk paths. One or more of the conductors are perturbed. Any of the floating random walk paths affected by the perturbation are modified. The coupling capacitance between the conductors of interest is recomputed to include the modified floating random walk paths. |
| US08122418B2 |
Capacitor arrangement method and layout apparatus
A layout apparatus stores a plurality of capacitor cells which are classifiable into a first classification for identifying capacitor cells having different sizes by frequency characteristic correlating with gate width of a capacitor and a second classification for identifying capacitor cells having different frequency characteristics by cell size. The layout apparatus: recognizes a plurality of combinations of a directed frequency characteristic and arrangement area; selects, for each of the combinations, capacitor cells corresponding to the directed frequency characteristic based on the first classification; reads out the capacitor cells in the descending order of cell size from the selected capacitor cells; arranges the read out capacitor cells to fill the directed arrangement area; checks a violation of capacitor density for all the directed arrangement areas of the plurality of combinations; replaces, when detecting the violation, a capacitor cell having larger gate width out of the arranged capacitor cells with a capacitor cell having smaller gate width besides the same cell size as the capacitor cell having larger gate width in accordance with the second classification; and retries checking the violation of capacitor density after finishing the replacement. |
| US08122414B1 |
Placeholder-based design flow for creating circuit designs for integrated circuits
Within a system comprising a processor and a memory, a method of creating a circuit design for implementation within an integrated circuit can include inserting a placeholder block into the circuit design, wherein the circuit design includes a circuit block comprising circuitry and a circuit block interface, and wherein the placeholder block is devoid of circuitry and, responsive to receiving a user input specifying a coupling between the placeholder block and the circuit block, automatically determining a plurality of attributes of the circuit block interface. The method can include automatically generating, according to the attributes and by the processor, a placeholder interface within the placeholder block, wherein the placeholder interface is complementary to the circuit block interface. The placeholder block can be stored within the memory. |
| US08122411B2 |
Method of performing static timing analysis considering abstracted cell's interconnect parasitics
An abstraction model supporting multiple hierarchical levels is inputted into a generalized static timing analysis of a hierarchical IC chip design to analyze and optimize the design of circuits integral to the chip containing a plurality of macro abstracts. An electrical network, synthesized for an internal abstract interconnect segment, is performed only once per macro and is applied to multiple instances of the macro abstract model in the IC chip design. The synthesized electrical network is a resistive capacitive or a resistive inductive capacitive network or a combination thereof. The synthesized electrical network is then used to match impulse response transfer functions of the network and the abstract interconnect segment's timing model. This network is stitched with the electrical parasitics of external interconnect segments connected to macro primary outputs. Various model order reductions are then performed on the electrical parasitics of external interconnects prior to network stitching. A static timing analysis is performed on the final network. |
| US08122410B2 |
Specifying and validating untimed nets
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, specifying a portion of a circuit design to be treated as untimed by static timing analysis is performed on the RTL design by means of an attribute annotation. The process is operable to map through to the Physical Design by correlating latches and chip-level nets. This allows the testing process to become closed-loop. Design and simulation time is also greatly reduced due to the accessibility of RTL design. |
| US08122400B2 |
Logic difference synthesis
A computer executed method is disclosed which accepts an original circuit with an original logic, accepts a modified circuit, and synthesizes a difference circuit. The difference circuit represents changes that implement the modified circuit's logic for the original circuit. The synthesis may locate an output-side boundary in the original logic in such a manner that the original logic is free of logic changes in between the output-side boundary and the primary output elements of the original circuit. The disclosed synthesis may also locate an input-side boundary in the original logic in such a manner that the original logic is free of logic changes in between the input-side boundary and the primary input elements of the original circuit. A computer program products are also disclosed. The computer program product contains a computer useable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein. The computer readable program code when executed on a computer causes the computer to carry out the methods of finding input and output side boundaries in an original logic, and synthesizing in between those boundaries a difference circuit representing logic changes. |
| US08122394B2 |
Performance-aware logic operations for generating masks
A method for forming masks for manufacturing a circuit includes providing a design of the circuit, wherein the circuit comprises a device; performing a first logic operation to determine a first region for forming a first feature of the device; and performing a second logic operation to expand the first feature to a second region greater than the first region. The pattern of the second region may be used to form the masks. |
| US08122385B2 |
Mask pattern correcting method
In a model-based OPC which makes a suitable mask correction for each mask pattern using an optical image intensity simulator, a mask pattern is divided into subregions and the model of optical image intensity simulation is changed according to the contents of the pattern in each subregion. When the minimum dimensions of the mask pattern are smaller than a specific threshold value set near the exposure wavelength, the region is calculated using a high-accuracy model and the other regions are calculated using a high-speed model. |
| US08122384B2 |
Method and apparatus for selecting an object within a user interface by performing a gesture
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates invoking a command. During operation, the system suggests with a graphic element a gesture to use to invoke a command. The system then receives the gesture from a user at a device. Note that the gesture is received via an input mechanism, and also note that the gesture is a predetermined manipulation of the input mechanism. The system then determines a graphic element within the user interface that is associated with the gesture. Finally, upon determining the object associated with the gesture, the system invokes the command associated with the graphic element. |
| US08122382B2 |
Television broadcast receiver
A television broadcast receiver has an operation section including up, down, left, and right cursor keys and a function of displaying an operation guide composed of contents of a plurality of pages. In the television broadcast receiver, in a state in which contents of an arbitrary page among the contents of the plurality of pages composing the operation guide are displayed, a function as a key for changing a displayed page to a previous page is assigned to a first key which is one of the up, down, left, and right cursor keys, and a function as a key for changing the displayed page to a next page is assigned to a second key which is one of the up, down, left, and right cursor keys and which is other than the first key. |
| US08122380B2 |
Multi-repository display system using separate presentation, adaptation and access layers
In a software object display system, an adaptation layer is used to isolate the presentation layer from expectations of the structure of the software objects displayed. A small set of data can be transferred between the adaptation layer and the presentation layer in order to provide for the display. |
| US08122375B2 |
Electronic device and method for controlling its menu display
An electronic device which displays a function setting menu for managing plural items by a hierarchical structure on a display and sets setting contents of various functions based on the function setting menu displayed on the display, comprising: a display control unit which displays each item in the function setting menu having the hierarchical structure on the display based on the hierarchical structure in accordance with an operation by a user; a function selection unit which selects and displays on the display the content of a desired function based on the items of the function setting menu displayed by the display control unit; and a hierarchical structure changing unit which changes the hierarchical structure of the function setting menu so to have the item, which is selected by the function selection unit and displayed on the display, positioned at the top of the hierarchical structure. |
| US08122370B2 |
Visual bookmarks for home and landscape design
A method includes receiving a request to generate a visual bookmark for a home design product based on a selection of the home design product from a website and extracting information about the home design product from the website. The method also includes categorizing the home design product based on the information and generating the visual bookmark for the home design product, the visual bookmark comprising an image of the home design product and information related to the home design product. |
| US08122369B2 |
System for providing information to a user
The present invention is directed to a system for providing information to a user comprising: a screen for showing the information to the user, wherein the screen is the screen of a portable device or of a personal computer, receiving means for receiving one or more values from a source of values on which values the information shown to the user is based, generating means for generating two or more data lines wherein each of said data lines comprises at least one data set, wherein the data sets comprise data which are based on said values and wherein the data sets are assigned to the at least two data lines by predetermined or changeable criteria and displaying means for simultaneously showing said two or more data lines to the user on said screen. |
| US08122368B2 |
System and method to facilitate progress forking
A method, system and computer-usable medium are disclosed for providing graphical completion status information for the management of serial computer operations that are forked into parallel operations. A first interactive progress bar, comprising a plurality of progress indicator segments, is implemented to show the completion status of a composite application. A second progress bar is implemented for each element of the composite application as it is executed. Elements that are serially executed may require prerequisite or dependent operations. Forking operations are performed to execute elements in parallel. One or more progress indicator segments are selected to display information about their related computer operations. The user interacts with the information to pause, modify, reorder, reverse, retarget, or reverse the selected computer operations. |
| US08122365B2 |
System and method for dynamic creation and customization of a user interface in a web service environment
A method, system, and computer program product for dynamic creation and customization of a user interface in a web service environment, including dynamically generating and customizing a portlet; providing policy based access to the portlet depending on a consumer of the portlet; providing caching or cache refreshing of a feed to the portlet; and providing authentication of a consumer of the portlet. |
| US08122364B2 |
Method and computer-readable medium for navigating between attachments to electronic mail messages
A method and computer-readable medium are provided for navigation between attachments to electronic mail messages. According to the method, a list of e-mail messages is displayed that includes header information associated with each of the messages. When one of the messages in the list is selected, a determination is made as to whether the selected message has attachments. If the selected message has attachments, an identifier is displayed adjacent to the header information for each attachment. The identifier indicates that the attachment is associated with the selected message and may provide other information such as the type and size of the attachment. The identifiers are displayed in a manner to indicate clearly to a user that the attachments are associated with the selected e-mail message. The identifiers may be selected to preview the corresponding attachment. |
| US08122362B2 |
Control and visibility for digital calendar sharing
A digital calendar sharing control and visibility system and method for providing a user with control and visibility of digital calendar sharing. The system and method enhance and improve the sharing capabilities of current digital calendar applications. The system and method include a time-based (or expiration) sharing feature that gives a user control over the expiration date of the calendar sharing. The user can expire the sharing after a certain duration or date. The user also can specify a date range or a time range that a person can view in the user's digital calendar. A sharing audits and history feature allows a user to view who has looked at their calendar and what calendar information has been viewed. A private notes section allows a user to enter information that will not be seen by another person, even if that person has sharing permission to view the user's calendar. |
| US08122360B2 |
Automatic selection of user-oriented web content
A toolbar is provided, which may be downloaded and installed in a user's web browser. The toolbar uploads the user's browsing history to a server. The server determines, based on the browsing history, which sites the user visits frequently. Additionally, the server determines, based on an analysis of web content, which categories of content, and which concepts, the user is interested in based on the concepts and categories that occur frequently in the user's browsing patterns. The server identifies content of interest to the user—where such content may comprise frequently-updated content, such as news or RSS feeds—and provides a custom web page that shows or identifies the selected content. |
| US08122355B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method, information processing program and recording medium
Disclosed herein is an information processing apparatus including: a display unit; a communication unit for carrying out a communication with an external apparatus; a reproduction unit for reproducing a content; and a control unit for executing control to change a predetermined display screen appearing on the display unit on the basis of whether or not the content being reproduced by the reproduction unit is a content acquired through the communication unit. |
| US08122353B2 |
Composing a message in an online textbox using a non-latin script
A method and an apparatus are provided for composing a message in an online textbox using a non-Latin script. In one example, the method includes receiving a selection of a target language for composing the message in the online textbox, loading a hash table and an integer n that are associated with the target language, adding to a queue a character inputted from a QWERTY keyboard, and applying appropriate parsing and mapping techniques to the queue using the hash table and the integer n to display an appropriate script of the target language. |
| US08122352B2 |
Parts marking system and method
A parts marking system has memory for storing data indicative of at least one algorithm associated with at least one object material and logic configured to display the at least one algorithm to a display device and receive a user input for at least one part in response to the displayed algorithm. |
| US08122349B2 |
Listing and modifying groups of blocks in the editing of a document
Grouping blocks of text according to user-defined contexts, and editing group specific blocks can be used to improve document consistency during editing and revising of electronic documents. A change made in one block often requires appropriate changes to be made in other blocks that are contextually related to the changed block. Such changes are made to ensure this consistency. Commands that deal with block groups (such as, create group, add block to group(s), delete block from group(s), edit group, merge group, etc.) are provided to assist a user in editing documents. |
| US08122333B2 |
Method of detecting and isolating fault in redundant sensors, and method of accommodating fault in redundant sensors using the same
Provided are a method of detecting and isolating fault in sensors and a method of accommodating fault in sensors using the same. In the method of detecting and isolating fault in sensors, a one reduced-order parity vector is obtained by excluding the output of one sensor selected from n sensors, a two reduced-order parity vector is obtained by excluding output of two sensors selected from the n sensors, and when there are a plurality of parity vectors obtained at plural points of time, one reduced-order parity vectors are averaged to obtain an averaged one reduced-order parity vector and likewise, two reduced-order parity vectors are averaged to obtain an averaged two reduced-order parity vector. Therefore, a decrease in fault detection and isolation (FDI) performance can be hindered, and even when double faults occur, sensors to be excluded can be selected. Thus, a system including sensors has high reliability and high accuracy. |
| US08122332B2 |
Method and apparatus for error compensation
Various approaches to recover data are described. An one example, an encoded data stream is processed in a first channel decoder producing a channel decoder output. The channel decoder output and the encoded data stream are processed in an error compensation unit to compensate the channel decoder output for low frequency noise and produce an error compensated data stream. The error compensated data stream is processed in a second channel decoder to produce a recovered data stream, wherein the recovered data stream has a reduction in the number of errors as compared to the encoded data stream. Systems to iteratively recover data from an encoded data stream are also described. |
| US08122327B2 |
Symbol-level soft output viterbi algorithm (SOVA) and a simplification on SOVA
A method and apparatus for processing symbols of a block code is presented. A sequence of symbols is received, e.g., from an inter-symbol interference (ISI) channel. A soft value is determined for each symbol using a binary trellis. |
| US08122321B2 |
Methods of data handling
Methods of data handling include receiving data having a previously-generated error correction code and generating one or more error correction codes for the data, with each error correction code corresponding to the data having one or more particular bits of the data in differing data states. Such methods further include comparing the generated one or more error correction codes to the previously-generated error correction code, and if a particular one of the generated one or more error correction codes matches the previously-generated error correction code, transmitting the data having its one or more particular bits in the data states corresponding to that particular one of the generated one or more error correction codes. Methods of data handling may further include prioritizing the error correction in response to at least locations of known bad or questionable bits of the data. |
| US08122319B2 |
Page-based failure management for flash memory
A page-based failure management system for flash memory includes at least one flash memory device which includes at least one page and at least one operable page. The system also includes an indication of operability of the at least one page in the at least one flash device. |
| US08122310B2 |
Input buffer, test switches and switch control with serial I/O
The peripheral circuitry (350, 360, ESD, BH) of an integrated circuit die on a wafer is tested without physically contacting the bond pads of the die. |
| US08122309B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing failures during semiconductor device testing
Methods and apparatus for processing failures during semiconductor device testing are described. Examples of the invention can relate to testing a device under test (DUT). Fail capture logic can be provided, coupled to test probes and memory, to indicate only first failures of failures detected on output pins of the DUT during a test for storage in the memory. |
| US08122307B1 |
One time programmable memory test structures and methods
One Time Programmable (OTP) memory structures and methods for pretesting the support circuitry are provided. A group of dedicated test cells associated with one or more groups of regular OTP cells are used to test the support circuitry for the regular OTP cells. The dedicated cells are programmed and read. The read values are compared to the programmed values or expected values. As a result of the comparison, failing memories may be designated “Not Usable”, while regular OTP cells of passing memories can be programmed for their purpose resulting in elimination of wasted memories during test. |
| US08122306B2 |
Test circuit for supporting concurrent test mode in a semiconductor memory
A test circuit is capable of simultaneously performing various test modes. The test circuit includes a concurrent test mode controller for providing a plurality of decoding signals by receiving test mode input signals while test modes are being activated, and simultaneously providing the decoding signals if predetermined concurrent test mode signals are received. |
| US08122305B2 |
Standalone data storage device electromagnetic interference test setup and procedure
A system for operating a data storage device having a plurality of sectors and at least one port, each port having a transmitter and a receiver, is disclosed. In one embodiment the system includes coupling at least one of the transmitters to at least one of the receivers, providing power to the data storage device, detecting that the transmitter is coupled to the receiver, and executing code for exercising the data storage device. |
| US08122303B2 |
Data structure for flash memory and data reading/writing method thereof
A data structure for a flash memory and data reading/writing method thereof are disclosed. A 512 bytes data and a redundant code derived from the data encoded with a 6-bit error correcting code scheme are stored in a first sector and a second sector with sequential address in a block of the flash memory respectively. A logic block address information of this block is divided into two parts that are stored in the first sector and the second sector respectively. |
| US08122297B2 |
Method and apparatus for parallel and serial data transfer
A method and apparatus are disclosed for performing maintenance operations in a system using address, data, and controls which are transported through the system, allowing for parallel and serial operations to co-exist without the parallel operations being slowed down by the serial ones. It also provides for use of common shifters, engines, and protocols as well as efficient conversion of ECC to parity and parity to ECC as needed in the system. The invention also provides for error detection and isolation, both locally and in the reported status. The invention provides for large maintenance address and data spaces (typically 64 bits address and 64 bits data per address supported). |
| US08122295B2 |
Memory systems and methods of detecting distribution of unstable memory cells
A circuit is operated to detect unstable memory cells from among a plurality of memory cells in at least one page. A determination is made from an initial status of data stored in a memory cell whether no read error occurs when the data is read at a standard read voltage level, whether a read error occurs and the read error is correctable, and whether a read error occurs and the read error is uncorrectable. Responsive to determining that a read error occurs that is correctable, a further determination is made as to whether the memory cell is correctable by reading the data stored in the memory cell at a correction read voltage level, which has a different voltage level from the standard read voltage level, and by determining whether a read error occurring in the data read at the correction read voltage level is correctable or uncorrectable. |
| US08122294B2 |
Apparatus, system, and method for rapid grading of computer storage operating condition
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for rapidly grading the operating condition of computer storage. A storage log module 312 logs error information regarding any error in a storage subsystem 302 that occurs during normal operation. A storage test module 314 performs a cursory check 318 of the storage subsystem 302 as requested by a user. A storage diagnostic module 316 grades the storage subsystem 302 on an operating condition scale based at least in part upon the error information logged and upon results of the cursory check 318. In one embodiment, the storage subsystem 302 is graded as pristine if no error has been logged and no error was detected by the cursory check 318, as potentially failing if any error has been logged but no error was detected by the cursory check 318, and as failing if any error was detected by the cursory check 318. |
| US08122293B2 |
Method for automatically simulating manual testing of a computer, and testing system for performing the method
A method for automatically simulating manual testing of a computer after the computer is powered on includes the steps of: (a) connecting the computer to an external storage device having a script recorded thereon that corresponds to a manual testing operation; and (b) after the computer is powered on, enabling the computer to access the script of the external storage device for performing the manual testing operation. By providing automatic simulation of manual testing of a computer after the computer is powered on, time and labor costs incurred in a conventional method of manually inputting instructions required for the manual testing operation in the computer are saved. |
| US08122292B2 |
Debugging of business flows deployed in production servers
Facilitating debugging of business flows deployed on a production server. An aspect of the present invention processes some service requests (received from a client system) in a normal mode and some other service requests in a debug mode concurrently, all according to a business flow. According to another aspect, the debug mode supports a single step debug operation, in which each step corresponds to a single activity of the business flow. Accordingly, an administrator of the production server is enabled to better determine, the problems in the execution of business flows deployed on a production server at runtime. |
| US08122290B2 |
Error log consolidation
A system for error log consolidation is disclosed herein. A server computer includes a plurality of system processors and error log consolidation logic. The system processors are configurable to form isolated execution partitions. The error log consolidation logic is configured to, based on detection of a fault in the server, retrieve error logs from the system processors, and to consolidate the retrieved logs with server computer information not available to the system processors to generate a consolidated error log. The consolidated error log includes a comprehensive set of server information relevant to identifying a cause of the detected fault. |
| US08122289B2 |
Load balancing and high availability of compute resources
Compute resources of multiple resource cards are assigned to compute resource pools. Each compute resource pool is typically associated with a specific service (e.g., VoIP, video service, deep packet inspection, etc). Compute resource groups are created in each compute resource pool and are allocated one or more compute resources of that compute resource pool. Those compute resources in a given resource pool that are not allocated to a compute resource group are set as backup compute resources. Upon a failure of a compute resource in a compute resource pool that includes backup compute resources, a backup compute resource is selected and takes over the function of the failed compute resource. Upon a failure of a compute resource in a compute resource group of a compute resource pool that does not include a backup compute resource, the traffic is load balanced across the remaining compute resources of that compute resource group. |
| US08122282B2 |
Starting virtual instances within a cloud computing environment
Embodiments of the present invention provide a system that leverages the Operational Support System(s) (OSS) and Business Support system(s) (BSS) of a (e.g., public) computing Cloud with a service to automate virtual instance restarts. For example, under embodiments of the present invention, a failed virtual instance is detected within the Cloud computing environment, and a request for a new virtual instance is received in response thereto. Upon receiving the request, an entitlement of a user associated with the failed virtual instance will be tested. Specifically, a set of authentication calls and checks are deployed in accordance herewith to ensure the integrity of the requests, as well as the authorization of the requester for the resource use. Assuming testing is passed, a countdown timer associated with the failed virtual instance will be decreased. When the countdown timer reaches a predetermined threshold (e.g., zero), the new virtual instance will be started, the failed virtual instance will be terminated, and the countdown timer will be reset/restarted by instance. Integration with BSS further allows for monitoring and charging of service usage as well as opening the option for pay-as-you-go charges for the restart service itself. |
| US08122281B2 |
System and method for dependent failure-aware allocation of distributed data-processing systems
A system and method for allocating distributed processing systems includes inputting component descriptions in a distributed processing system and determining importance of each component. Capacity and failure characteristics of resource groups representing units of available processing capacity are also input. Components are assigned to a plurality of resource groups based on the capacity. Each resource group includes components where the failure characteristics permit simultaneous failures, such that in the event of such failures, an output value of the application is maximized. |
| US08122279B2 |
Multiphase clocking systems with ring bus architecture
Systems and methods for transferring data using a ring bus architecture in a system that implements multi-phase clocking. In one embodiment, the system is a multiprocessor having multiple processor cores coupled to the ring bus. The bus may be a bidirectional bus having a first data path on which data is transferred in a clockwise direction and a second data path on which data is transferred in a counterclockwise direction. Controllers within the processor cores provide phase-shifted signals to the latches to clock data into them. Data transfers on the bus may be controlled by an arbiter which is coupled to the processor cores' controllers. The arbiter may schedule data transfers on the bus based on data transfer speeds associated with left-to-right and right-to-left data transfer directions. The arbiter may cause the phases of the clock signals to be selectively varied, or may cause the clock signals to be gated. |
| US08122277B1 |
Clock distribution chip
In one embodiment, a clock distribution chip includes a clock input adapted to receive an input clock signal, clock dividers each adapted to receive a clock signal based on the first input clock signal and to generate a divided clock signal, and programmable clock outputs adapted to provide output clock signals. The clock outputs are configurable to support a number of signaling standards. A programmable switch fabric is coupled between the clock dividers and the clock outputs and is configurable to provide the divided clock signals to the clock outputs. |
| US08122276B2 |
Apparatus and method for dynamic clock control in a pipeline system
An apparatus and method for dynamically controlling a clock signal in a pipeline system are provided. In the apparatus and method, a clock generator outputs the clock signal at every period, a PDR is included with each stage for outputting information about a processing speed of each stage, and a CCU controls the delay of the clock signal using the processing time of each stage received from the PDR and providing the clock signal with the controlled delay to a register between stages. Accordingly, the clock signal is dynamically controlled to provide higher operating speeds. |
| US08122274B2 |
Method, system and computer program product for certifying a timestamp of a data processing system
The disclosed embodiments present a system, method, and computer program product for certifying a timestamp generated by a data processing system. In some embodiments, the method includes receiving a request to certify a timestamp generated by a trusted data processing system, analyzing historical data related to a system time of the data processing system, and certifying the timestamp in response to determining that the historical data indicates a trustworthy system time of the data processing system when the timestamp was generated. |
| US08122273B2 |
Structure and method to optimize computational efficiency in low-power environments
A method and structure to optimize computational efficiency in a low-power environment. A design structure is embodied in a machine readable medium used in a design process. The design structure includes a component to determine an optimal point for maximizing computational efficiency in a low-power environment, and a component to selectively control operation of at least one processing unit of a plurality of processing units in accordance with the determined optimal point. The design structure further includes at least one of a component for controlling a frequency of a clock signal transmitted to the at least one processing unit in accordance with the determined optimal point, and a component for determining a present power available. |
| US08122272B2 |
Method and apparatus for power management
An electronic device includes a processor configured to run a plurality of applications, a power supply coupled to the processor, and a database coupled to the processor The database is configured to store information identifying each of the plurality of applications as being in either a first set of applications or a second set of applications. The processor monitors the power level of the power supply and is configured to disable the first set of applications when the power level reaches a predetermined power level. |
| US08122268B2 |
Reducing power consumption of mirrored RAID subsystems
Power consumption reduction of a mirrored RAID storage subsystems is disclosed, wherein data are mirrored to a secondary mirror disk system, the secondary mirror disk system alternates between an operational stage and a power-save stage, wherein data to be mirrored to the secondary mirror disk system is saved in a substantially always operational pre-stage storage if the secondary mirror disk system is in a power save stage and subsequently moved from the pre-stage storage to the secondary mirror disk system when the secondary mirror disk system is operational. |
| US08122260B2 |
Shaping classification boundaries in template protection systems
The invention relates to a method of authentication of a physical object and an apparatus applying said method. The method uses a helper data (W1) and a control value (V1) associated with a reference object to generate a first property set (C1) using the helper data (W1) and a metric (Y) associated with the physical object. It further comprises a step to generate a second property set (S1) using a noise compensating mapping (NCM) on the first property set (C1), as well as a step to establish a sufficient match between the physical object and the reference object using the second property set (S1) and the first control value (V1). The method is characterized by a step that generates an error measure (ERR) by quantifying the noise removed by the noise compensating mapping (NCM) using the first property set (C1) and information derived from the noise compensating mapping (NCM). Error measure (ERR) is subsequently used for generating an authentication decision (D). Also provided is an apparatus configured to carry out the method. |
| US08122255B2 |
Methods and systems for digital authentication using digitally signed images
Various systems, methods, and programs embodied in computer-readable mediums are provided for digital authentication using digitally signed images. In one representative embodiment, a method includes extracting a first image portion from an image selected by a first party, where the first image portion including a first encoded part of an second party digital signature, and obtaining a second image portion associated with the first image portion, where the second image portion including a second encoded part of the second party digital signature. The first and second encoded parts of the second party digital signature are decoded and validity of the second party digital signature is confirmed based upon a second party public key. |
| US08122253B2 |
Data validation using signatures and sampling
Architecture that facilitates validation of a data mapping of data from a data source to a data target. There is included a signature generation component that generates a source signature of all or a portion of the data source and a target signature of all or a corresponding portion of the data target, and a sampling component that obtains a sample of the source data a corresponding sample of the target data. The data signatures and data samples are compared respectively and processed with a processing component to determine the status of the validation process. |
| US08122251B2 |
Method and apparatus for preventing phishing attacks
The invention includes a method and apparatus for preventing phishing attacks. A first method, for informing a user that a remote server is valid, includes receiving a request for information available from the remote server where the request includes an identifier, obtaining a dynamic personal attribute associated with the user using the identifier, and propagating the dynamic personal attribute toward the user, wherein the dynamic personal attribute is adapted for use by the user in validating the remote server. The remote server may be a web server, an authentication server, or any other remote device with which the user may desire to authenticate. A second method, for informing a user that a received message is associated with a valid website, includes obtaining a dynamic personal attribute associated with a user, generating a message for the user where the message is adapted to enable the user to request a website and includes the dynamic personal attribute associated with the user, and propagating the message toward the user. The received message may be any type of message, such as an email message, an instant message, a text message, and the like. |
| US08122245B2 |
Anonymity revocation
Methods and systems for anonymity revocation, enabling a trusted entity to identify a user computer within an anonymous system. A system comprises an attester computer providing attestation value cert from a security module public key and an identifying value. The user computer having a module providing the module public key and a security module attestation value, the user computer providing a user public key, a user attestation-signature value derived from the attestation value cert, and an encryption computable under use of a trusted-entity public key and a module-generated-identifier value, the module-generated-identifier value relating to the identifying value; a verification computer verifying validity of received user attestation-signature value and the encryption; and a trusted entity having a trusted entity secret key, wherein the trusted entity is able to derive the module-generated-identifier value from the encryption, the module-generated-identifier value being usable to identify the user computer with the security module. |
| US08122242B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling the flow of data across a network interface
The present invention performs “flow control” based on the remaining encryption capacity of an encrypted outbound network interface link of a network routing device, such as a router or switch. As the encrypted link begins to run low on encryption key material, this invention begins to discard datagrams queued for transit across that link, in order to signal distant host computers that they should slow down the rate at which they are sending datagrams. The invention, which is particularly useful in cryptographically protected networks that run the TCP/IP protocol stack, allows fine-grained flow control of individual traffic classes because it can determine, for example, how various classes of data traffic (e.g., voice, video, TCP) should be ordered and transmitted through a network. Thus, the invention can be used to implement sophisticated flow control rules so as to give preferential treatment to certain people, departments or computers. |
| US08122238B2 |
Multi-channel algorithm infrastructure for programmable hardware elements
System and method for implementing multi-channel operations in a programmable hardware element (PHE). A hardware configuration program, including a processing function, inputs and outputs of the processing function, a plurality of channels, and channel scanning functionality for the plurality of channels, is specified. A PHE is configured with the hardware configuration program, including implementing the processing function and the channel scanning functionality on the PHE. A respective state and configuration of each of the plurality of channels is stored in a memory of the PHE to enable logic-sharing between each of the plurality of channels. The PHE is operated, including performing channel scanning on the plurality of channels, and updating the configuration of one or more of the channels in the memory of the PHE without interrupting the channel scanning, without taking any of the channels offline, and/or without interrupting a continuity of an output of the PHE. |
| US08122234B1 |
Flash memory backup system for network devices
A device includes a first memory with first and second memory segments. The first memory segment stores a full image file. A second memory segment stores a partial image file, which is a smaller file and has fewer features than the full image file. A second memory stores a boot program. A control module detects an error in the full image file and executes the boot program using the partial image file. |
| US08122232B2 |
Self programming slave device controller
A self programming slave device controller is described which comprises interface circuitry and control circuitry. The interface circuitry is responsive to one or more configuration parameters to communicate data between the slave device controller and a slave device in accordance with the one or more configuration parameters. The control circuitry is responsive to one or more operating parameter signals indicative of one or more operating parameters influencing current performance characteristics of the slave device to set the one or more configuration parameters so as to control an access operation for accessing the slave device to accommodate the current performance characteristics of the slave device. In this way, an access operation can be conducted efficiently and reliably having regard to the current performance characteristics of the slave device. This makes it possible to automatically adjust configuration parameters used to control an access operation in dependence on changes to operating parameters of the slave device which may influence the performance characteristics. |
| US08122231B2 |
Software selectable adjustment of SIMD parallelism
Selective power control of one or more processing elements matches a degree of parallelism to requirements of a task performed in a highly parallel programmable data processor. For example, when program operations require less than the full width of the data path, a software instruction of the program sets a mode of operation requiring a subset of the parallel processing capacity. At least one parallel processing element, that is not needed, can be shut down to conserve power. At a later time, when the added capacity is needed, execution of another software instruction sets the mode of operation to that of the wider data path, typically the full width, and the mode change reactivates the previously shut-down processing element. |
| US08122228B2 |
Broadcasting collective operation contributions throughout a parallel computer
Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for broadcasting collective operation contributions throughout a parallel computer. The parallel computer includes a plurality of compute nodes connected together through a data communications network. Each compute node has a plurality of processors for use in collective parallel operations on the parallel computer. Broadcasting collective operation contributions throughout a parallel computer according to embodiments of the present invention includes: transmitting, by each processor on each compute node, that processor's collective operation contribution to the other processors on that compute node using intra-node communications; and transmitting on a designated network link, by each processor on each compute node according to a serial processor transmission sequence, that processor's collective operation contribution to the other processors on the other compute nodes using inter-node communications. |
| US08122227B2 |
SIMD processor for performing data filtering and/or interpolation
A data processing circuit contains an instruction execution circuit that has an instruction set that comprises a SIMD instruction. The instruction execution circuit comprises a plurality of arithmetic circuits, arranged to perform N respective identical operations in parallel in response to the SIMD instruction. The SIMD instruction defines selects a first one and a second one of the registers. The SIMD instruction defines a first and second series of N respective SIMD instruction operands of the SIMD instruction from the addressed registers. Each arithmetic circuit receives a respective first operand and a respective second operand from the first and second series respectively, when executing the SIMD instruction. The instruction execution circuit is arranged for selecting the first and second series so that they partially overlap. Preferably, the position of the operands of at least one the series is under program control, preferably under control of operand data. Preferably the program control selects the start of a series with respect to the start of the first register, the series running on into the second register if the series does not start at the start of the first register. |
| US08122224B2 |
Clearing selected storage translation buffer entries bases on table origin address
An instruction is provided to perform clearing of selected address translation buffer entries (TLB entries) associated with a particular address space, such as segments of storage or regions of storage. The buffer entries related to segment table entries or region table entries or ASCE addresses. The instruction can be implemented by software emulation, hardware, firmware or some combination thereof. |
| US08122219B2 |
Storage allocation
Techniques for storage allocation of a data record are provided. The techniques include attempting to identify a first location for storing a data record, wherein the data record comprises one or more data record attributes, if the first location is identified, selecting the first location for storing the data record, and if the first location is not identified, identifying a second location for storing the data record using a cost penalty function and selecting the second location for storing the data record based on the cost penalty function. |
| US08122218B2 |
Semiconductor memory asynchronous pipeline
An asynchronously pipelined SDRAM has separate pipeline stages that are controlled by asynchronous signals. Rather than using a clock signal to synchronize data at each stage, an asynchronous signal is used to latch data at every stage. The asynchronous control signals are generated within the chip and are optimized to the different latency stages. Longer latency stages require larger delays elements, while shorter latency states require shorter delay elements. The data is synchronized to the clock at the end of the read data path before being read out of the chip. Because the data has been latched at each pipeline stage, it suffers from less skew than would be seen in a conventional wave pipeline architecture. Furthermore, since the stages are independent of the system clock, the read data path can be run at any CAS latency as long as the re-synchronizing output is built to support it. |
| US08122216B2 |
Systems and methods for masking latency of memory reorganization work in a compressed memory system
Computer memory management systems and methods are provided in which data block buffering and priority scheduling protocols are utilized in compressed memory systems to mask the latency associated with memory reorganization work following access to compressed main memory. In particular, data block buffers and priority scheduling protocols are implemented to delay and prioritize memory reorganization work to allow resources to be used for serving new memory access requests and other high priority commands. |
| US08122214B2 |
System managing a plurality of virtual volumes and a virtual volume management method for the system
This invention provides a control technique of a data processing system, in which functions of a highly-functional high-performance storage system are achieved in an inexpensive storage system so as to effectively use the existing system and reduce the cost of its entire system. This system has a RAID system, an external subsystem, a management server, a management client and the like. The management server includes an information management table for storing mapping information of the RAID system and the external subsystem. When performing copy process, the pair creation in which a logical volume of the RAID system is set as a primary volume of copy source and a logical volume of a mapping object of the RAID system mapped from the logical volume of the external subsystem is set as a secondary volume of copy destination is executed from the management client by using the information management table. |
| US08122213B2 |
System and method for migration of data
Systems and methods for data migration are disclosed. A method may include allocating a destination storage resource to receive migration data. The method may also include assigning the destination storage resource a first identifier value equal to an identifier value associated with a source storage resource. The method may additionally include assigning the source storage resource a second identifier value different than the first identifier value. The method may further include migrating data from the source storage resource to the destination storage resource. |
| US08122211B2 |
User interface indicator for mobile device backup status
Systems and methods are provided for performing data backup of a communication device. Data backup can occur automatically or manually. A data backup status indicator is displayed on the communication device indicating the current status of the data backup. The user can select the data backup status indicator to obtain additional information about the status of the data backup service. |
| US08122206B2 |
Systems, methods, and apparatus for pixel fetch request interface
Presented herein are system(s) and apparatus for a memory access unit for accessing data for a module. The memory access unit comprises an output port for providing access requests for lists of addresses in a memory over a link to a memory controller. |
| US08122204B2 |
Shadow write and transfer schemes for memory devices
Systems and methods for controlling memory devices are disclosed. In one embodiment, a memory system comprises a memory controller for forwarding a command signal and an address signal and for receiving and forwarding a data signal, and a first memory device for receiving the command signal and the address signal from the memory controller, where the first memory device comprises a first command judging circuit for receiving and forwarding the data signal and for decoding the command signal. The memory system further comprises a second memory device for receiving the command signal and the address signal from the memory controller, where the second memory device comprises a second command judging circuit for receiving and generating the data signal and for decoding the command signal. The command signal, the address signal and the data signal are commonly connected to the first memory device and the second memory device. |
| US08122203B2 |
Serviceability level indicator processing for storage alteration
A method, system, and computer program product for implementing Serviceability Level Indicator Processing (SLIPs) for storage alterations in a computer system is provided. A plurality of storage release requests is analyzed to identify an address monitored by a storage alteration slip. Upon identification of the address, the storage alteration slip is disabled and an initialization slip is re-enabled. |
| US08122202B2 |
Reduced pin count interface
An arrangement of memory devices and a controller is based on an interface with a reduced pin count relative to a known memory device and controller arrangement. Facilitating the reduced pin count interface are some operations performed by the controller. The controller determines a width for a Data bus while assigning a target device address to each of the memory devices. |
| US08122201B1 |
Backup work request processing by accessing a work request of a data record stored in global memory
Communicating work requests from a first storage unit of a storage device to a second storage unit of a storage device include providing a data record that contains information indicative of the work request, directly writing the data record from the first unit to the second unit, and writing the data record to a global memory that is accessible by the first unit and by the second unit. Writing the data record to a global memory may include writing the data record to an array in the global memory, where the array may include a plurality of locations that each have space to store a data record. Communicating work requests may also include generating a random number that is used to index the array to determine a location for storing the data record. |
| US08122200B2 |
Modified machine architecture with advanced synchronization
A multiple computer environment is disclosed in which an application program executes simultaneously on a plurality of computers (M1, M2, . . . Mn) interconnected by a communications network (53) and in which the local memory of each computer is maintained substantially the same by updating in due course. A lock mechanism is provided to permit exclusive access to an asset, object, or structure (ie memory location) by acquisition and release of the lock. In particular, before a new lock can be acquired by any other computer on a memory location previously locked by one computer, any re-written content(s) for the previously locked memory location are transmitted to all the other computers and their corresponding memory locations (before the in due course updating). Thus when the new lock is acquired all the corresponding memory locations of all computers have been updated. |
| US08122199B2 |
Multi port memory device with shared memory area using latch type memory cells and driving method
A multiport semiconductor memory device includes; first and second port units respectively coupled to first and second processors, first and second dedicated memory area accessed by first and second processors, respectively and implemented using DRAM cells, a shared memory area commonly accessed by the first and second processors via respective first and second port units and implemented using memory cells different from the DRAM cells implementing the first and second dedicated memory areas, and a port connection control unit controlling data path configuration between the shared memory area and the first and second port units to enable data communication between the first and second processors through the shared memory area. |
| US08122198B2 |
Modified machine architecture with partial memory updating
The updating of only some memory locations in a multiple computer environment in which at least one applications program (50) executes simultaneously on a plurality of computers M1, M2 . . . Mn each of which has a local memory, is disclosed. Memory locations (A, B, D, E, X) in said local memory are categorized into two groups. The first group of memory locations (X1, X2, . . . Xn, A1, A2 . . . An) are each accessible by other computers. The second group of memory locations (B, E) are each accessible only by the computer having the local memory including the memory location. Changes to the values of memory locations in the first group only are transmitted to all other computers. A promotion mechanism is disclosed to promote memory locations in the second group into the first group in the event that application program execution means that a memory location in said second group is referred to by a memory location in the first group (ie the first group location now points to the second group location). |
| US08122195B2 |
Instruction for pre-fetching data and releasing cache lines
A prefetch data machine instruction having an M field performs a function on a cache line of data specifying an address of an operand. The operation comprises either prefetching a cache line of data from memory to a cache or reducing the access ownership of store and fetch or fetch only of the cache line in the cache or a combination thereof. The address of the operand is either based on a register value or the program counter value pointing to the prefetch data machine instruction. |
| US08122194B2 |
Transaction manager and cache for processing agent
A processing agent is used in a system that transfers data of a predetermined data line length during external transactions. The agent may include an internal cache having a plurality of cache entries. Each cache entry may store multiple data line lengths of data. The agent further may include a transaction queue system having queue entries that include a primary entry including an address portion and status portion, the status portion provided for a first external transaction of the agent, and a secondary entry including a status portion provided for a second external transaction. |
| US08122191B2 |
Data protection systems with multiple site replication
Systems and methods for replicating data from a first site to a second site remote from said first site are described. An embodiment includes storing compressed data on a hard disk appliance, reading said data without decompressing said data, sending said data over a wide-area-network (WAN) in a compressed state, and storing said data on a second hard disk appliance remote from said first hard disk appliance in its compressed state without performing an additional compression operation. |
| US08122186B2 |
Memory device, memory system and dual port memory device with self-copy function
A memory device with a self-copy function includes a memory cell array having first and second banks, and a memory interface. The memory interface reads data from a memory area of the first bank corresponding to a source address contained in previously set self-copy information and writes the read data to a memory area of the second bank corresponding to a destination address contained in the self-copy information via a self-copy data path when a self-copy signal is activated by an external self-copy start request. |
| US08122181B2 |
Systems and methods for enhancing a data store for handling semantic information
Systems (100) and methods (300) for enhancing a data store (DS) addressable at a block level and interfaced with a host device (HD) via a memory controller (MC), which may comprise a VMCC (110, 210). The methods involve receiving an access operation (AO) from HD (104) at MC. In response to receiving the AO, plug-ins (232) are invoked. The plug-ins include a pre-processing plug-in (2324) for facilitating an indexing function of MC and/or a post-processing plug-in (2325) for facilitating a monitoring function of MC. The methods also involve accessing DS (106, 206) to read a bock of data therefrom, write the block of data thereto, or erase the block of data therefrom in accordance with the AO. The methods further involve obtaining post-processing information about the AO in response to an invocation of the post-processing plug-in and updating a log-file (224) stored in the DS with the post-processing information. |
| US08122180B2 |
Methods and systems for reconfiguring data memory of embedded controller managed flash memory devices
Methods and systems for reconfiguring data memory of an embedded controller managed flash memory device are disclosed. According to one method, using a controller managed flash memory device reconfiguration module configured to execute on a general purpose computing platform separate from a computing platform in which an embedded controller managed flash memory device is located, reconfiguration data to be written to a data memory of the embedded controller managed flash memory device is received from a user and I/O commands for writing the reconfiguration data to an external device are generated. Flash device commands corresponding to the I/O commands are generated. The reconfiguration data is communicated to the data memory of the embedded controller managed flash memory device by sending the flash device commands and the reconfiguration data over a flash device interface of the embedded controller managed flash memory device. |
| US08122175B2 |
Opportunistic transmission of software state information within a link based computing system
A method is described that involves determining that software state information of program code is to be made visible to a monitoring system. The method also involves initiating the writing of the software state information into a register. The method also involves waiting for the software state information to be placed onto a link within a link based computing system. |
| US08122174B2 |
System and method for provisioning a remote resource for an electronic device
The invention provides a system and method for updating a resource to an electronic device. The method provisions a resource to an electronic device by: (a) maintaining the resource at a remote server from the device; and (b) after a triggering event, providing a data transmission to the device containing access information for the resource. The system incorporates the method and comprises: a resource providing information for the device; a server to maintain the resource; a communication link providing the device with access to the resource; a data transmission module for extracting and transmitting access information about the resource to the device; and a data processing module for processing the received information at the device. In the device, a GUI provides information on a topic retrieved from local storage on the device and additional information about the resource is incorporated into the GUI for that topic. |
| US08122173B2 |
Serial peripheral interface (SPI) circuit having driving circuit with data input and output common pin and display using the same
A serial peripheral interface (SPI) circuit and a display using the same are provided. The SPI circuit includes a mater device and a slave device. A serial data input pin and a serial data output pin of the slave device are both electrically connected to a data input/output pin of the master device. When a read instruction is sent from the master device to the slave device, the master device is set in a read status, and the slave device outputs data to the master device via the serial data output pin in response to the read instruction. When a write instruction is sent from the master device to the slave device, the master device is set in a write status, and writes data to the slave device via the serial data input pin thereof in response to the write instruction. |
| US08122171B2 |
Bus enumeration in a system with multiple buses
Enumerating an expanded bus system in a system. The expanded bus system may include a first bus, a bridge coupled to the first bus, and a second bus coupled to the bridge, where the second bus includes one or more downstream bus ports. One or more of the downstream bus ports may initially be masked. An initial bus enumeration may be performed during system boot, which may not include enumerating the masked bus ports. After the initial bus enumeration, the masked bus ports may be unmasked. An operating system may re-enumerate the bus system, which may include enumerating the no-longer-masked bus ports. |
| US08122169B2 |
Data buffering based on priority tagging of input data
A data buffer device includes: a tag value generation circuit that generates a tag value; a first buffer that stores first priority data; a second buffer that stores second priority data; and a data output circuit that outputs the first priority data or the second priority data, wherein the tag value generation circuit sets a tag value for the following second input data to a second tag value which differs from a first tag value for second preceding input data, and sets a tag value of the following first input data to a fourth tag value that is the same as a third tag value for the first preceding input data, and wherein the data output circuit outputs the first priority data or the second priority data in a first mode based on the tag values and outputs the first priority data earlier in a second mode. |
| US08122166B2 |
Management of redundant physical data paths in a computing system
A redundancy manager manages commands to peripheral devices in a computer system. These peripheral devices have multiple pathways connecting it to the computer system. The redundancy manager determines the number of independent pathways connected to the peripheral device, presents only one logical device to the operating system and any device driver and any other command or device processing logic in the command path before the redundancy manager. For each incoming command, the redundancy manager determines which pathways are properly functioning and selects the best pathway for the command based at least partly upon a penalty model where a path may be temporarily penalized by not including the pathway in the path selection process for a predetermined time. The redundancy manager further reroutes the command to an alternate path and resets the device for an alternate path that is not penalized or has otherwise failed. |
| US08122165B2 |
On-demand power supply current modification system and method for an integrated circuit
A circuit that selectively connects an integrated circuit to elements external to the integrated circuits. The circuit includes an input/output element that selectively connects an input/output pin as a function of a power requirement or a signal bandwidth requirement of the integrated circuit. The input/output element includes one or more switching devices that connect the input/output pin to an external element, such as a power supply or external signal path. The input/output element also includes one or more switching devices that connect the input/output pin to an internal element, such as a power network or internal signal line. |
| US08122157B2 |
Managing read requests from multiple requestors
Techniques are described herein for expanding the range of data targeted in I/O requests made by clients, so that the expanded range results in aligned I/O operations within the file system. Data that is included in the expanded range, but was not actually requested by the client, is trimmed off the data chunk returned by the file system, so that the client receives only the data required by the client. The blocks that contain the partially-read data are cached, so that they can be provided to the clients in response to subsequent I/O requests, without having to retrieve the blocks again from the file system. The I/O requests of multiple clients are handled by a read scheduler that uses a single global queue for all such requests. When appropriate, the read scheduler creates companionship relationships between the requests, and services the “companion” requests based on the data returned for the requests with which the companion requests are associated. |
| US08122156B2 |
Method and computer for processing an operation command in a computer
A method is provided for processing operation command in a computer that has a display and a host which includes a first display processing unit for local displaying and a second display processing unit for remote displaying. The operation command is from a remote data processing terminal. The method includes: receiving a first operation command from the data processing terminal, the first operation command being a power-on command; performing power-on of the computer, shielding the first display processing unit and loading only a driver of the second display processing unit according to first operation command; receiving a second operation command from the data processing terminal, the second operation command being not a power-on command; executing the second operation command to obtain operation results, the operation results being image data processed by the second display processing unit, and sending the operation results to the remote data processing terminal, for remote displaying. |
| US08122151B2 |
Storage system for optimally controlling a plurality of data transfer paths and method therefor
Provided is a storage system, which includes: a storage medium for storing data; a plurality of ports for connection to a network; and a control section, and in which: the network is connected to another storage system; the plurality of ports include a first port; the plurality of ports involve a plurality of data transfer paths extending from the plurality of ports to the another storage system, which include a first data transfer path extending from the first port to the another storage system; and the control section: transmits data to be stored into the another storage system from the plurality of ports; acquires performances of the plurality of data transfer paths; and transmits, if the performance of the first data transfer path is lower than a predetermined threshold value, the data to be stored into the another storage system from the plurality of ports excluding the first port. |
| US08122150B2 |
Maximization of sustained throughput of distributed continuous queries
A system, method, and computer readable medium for optimizing throughput of a stream processing system are disclosed. The method comprises analyzing a set of input streams and creating, based on the analyzing, an input profile for at least one input stream in the set of input streams. The input profile comprises at least a set of processing requirements associated with the input stream. The method also comprises generating a search space, based on an initial configuration, comprising a plurality of configurations associated with the input stream. A configuration in the plurality of configurations is identified that increases throughput more than the other configurations in the plurality of configurations based on at least one of the input profile and system resources. |
| US08122149B2 |
Model-based datacenter management
Computer-readable media, systems, and methods for model-based data center management. In embodiments, a request to perform a management operation on a device in a data center is received and available paths to the device are determined. The paths are determined based on an artifact storing a topology of the data center. Further, a current favored path that is one of the available paths is determined based on a policy and the device is bound for performance of the management operation using the current favored path. In embodiments, the model-based data center management is configured to provide a generic description of the data center architecture and a generic description for one or more devices in the data center. The generic description provides for dynamic runtime data center configuration. |
| US08122148B2 |
Method and apparatus for internet connection of mobile communication terminal
A method and an apparatus for Internet connection of a mobile communication terminal are disclosed. The Internet connection method includes extracting URL (uniform resource locator) information from web sites of the Internet and storing the URL information and connecting to a web site of Internet by using the extracted URL information, wherein extracting URL comprises inputting at least one numeric value representative of the URL information and inputting an designated key for Internet connection after inputting the associated numeric values. According to the present invention, a user may connect to a desired web site by inputting a web site name by using numeric keys and an Internet key. Accordingly, the quantity of key strokes required for connecting to a web site is reduced and user convenience is improved. |
| US08122146B1 |
Intelligent switching of client packets among a group of servers
The content-aware application switch and methods thereof intelligently switch client packets to one server among a group of servers in a server farm. The switch uses Layer 7 or application content parsed from a packet to help select the server and to schedule the transmitting of the packet to the server. This enables refined load-balancing and Quality of-Service control tailored to the application being switched. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a method includes maintaining a server load metric for each server in a group of servers; parsing application content from a packet; selecting a destination server from the group of servers, wherein selecting the destination server is dependent on the server load metric for each server, assigning a priority to the packet, the priority being dependent on the application content; and dropping the packet if the priority comprises at least one of a predetermined type. |
| US08122144B2 |
Reliable messaging using redundant message streams in a high speed, low latency data communications environment
Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for reliable messaging using redundant message streams in a high speed, low latency data communications environment that include brokering, by a stream administration server, establishment of an active message stream to a subscribing client device from an active feed adapter, the active message stream capable of communicating active application messages; brokering, by the server, establishment of a backup message stream to the subscribing client device from a backup feed adapter, the backup message stream capable of communicating backup application messages representing duplicates of the active messages; receiving the active messages in messaging middleware of the subscribing client device; receiving, in response to a failover, the backup messages in the messaging middleware; and administering, by the messaging middleware, the backup messages in dependence upon an active stream source identifier, an active stream source sequence number, a backup stream source identifier, and a backup stream source sequence number. |
| US08122143B2 |
System and method for transmission of telescopic advertising
One aspect of the invention is a method for playing a stored content providing a plurality of segments which collectively contains the stored content, each segment has using first terminus and a second terminus with the content having a temporal flow from the first terminus to the second terminus. At least one segment is associated with a plurality of links to other segments. The method includes playing at least one segment with the temporal flow, determining whether a content expansion is desired prior to reaching the second terminus. If the content expansion is desired, then linking to an expansion segment and playing the expansion segment. If the content expansion is not desired, then linking to a continuing segment and playing the continuing segment. The method includes an additional link from the expansion segment to the continuing segment such that the continuing segment is played after the expansion segment has been played. Other aspects of the invention include other methods for playing stored content, for capturing and playing content, capturing segment and linkage descriptions, storage devices of the segment content, storage mechanisms referencing the continuous media content by segments and linkages and apparatus for capturing and playing continuous media content. |
| US08122142B1 |
Obtaining and displaying status updates for presentation during playback of a media content stream based on proximity to the point of capture
Systems and methods are provided for obtaining status updates relevant to a segment of a media content stream for presentation during playback. In general, a status updating service collects status updates sent by users via corresponding mobile devices of the users. A media playback device of a user receives a media content stream and obtains data defining a time of capture and, in some embodiments, a location of capture of a segment of the media content stream. Either prior to or during playback of the media content stream, the media playback device obtains status updates that are relevant to the segment of the media content stream directly or indirectly from the status updating service. The media playback device then presents the relevant status updates, or at least a subset thereof, during playback of the media content stream and preferably during playback of the segment of the media content stream. |
| US08122141B2 |
Streaming media buffering system
Streaming media, such as audio or video files, is sent via the Internet. The media are immediately played on a user's computer. Audio/video data is transmitted from the server more rapidly than it is played out by the user system. The audio/video data in the user buffer accumulates; and interruptions in playback as well as temporary modem delays are avoided. |
| US08122137B2 |
Dynamic location of a subordinate user
Providing location information to a supervisory user includes providing a parental control, using a computer automatically to determine a location of a subordinate user, and storing location information indicative of the location of the subordinate user in a database. A request of the supervisory user to locate the subordinate user is received and a user interface informs the supervisory user of the location of the subordinate user based on the stored location information. At least one of the storing and/or the informing are based on the parental control. |
| US08122132B2 |
Techniques for dynamically assigning jobs to processors in a cluster based on broadcast information
A technique for operating a high performance computing cluster (HPC) having multiple nodes (each of which include multiple processors) includes periodically broadcasting information, related to processor utilization and network utilization at each of the multiple nodes, from each of the multiple nodes to remaining ones of the multiple nodes. Respective local job tables maintained in each of the multiple nodes are updated based on the broadcast information. One or more threads are then moved from one or more of the multiple processors to a different one of the multiple processors (based on the broadcast information in the respective local job tables). |
| US08122128B2 |
System for regulating access to and distributing content in a network
There is provided a system for regulating access and managing distribution of content in a network, such as the Internet. The system includes communication gateways, installed at a subscriber site, internet control points, installed remotely, and various network elements installed throughout the network. The communication gateways and network elements operate in conjunction with the internet control points to restrict or allow access to specified Internet sites and to manage efficient distribution of content such as music, video, games, broadband data, real-time audio and voice applications, and software to subscribers. |
| US08122127B2 |
Automatic aggregation of inter-device ports/links in a virtual device
A virtual device includes multiple devices connected to operate as a single device. A first one of the devices is configured to determine that the first device connects to a second one of the devices via a first link; identify a second link; determine that the second link connects the first device to the second device; and automatically aggregate the first link and the second link to form a link aggregation with the second device based on determining that the first device connects to the second device via both the first and second links. The first device is further configured to transmit packets to the second device via the first and second links of the link aggregation. |
| US08122121B2 |
Event notification over a communications network
One or more users of a present state are notified of at least one property of an entity. A request message is received from a user over a first communications channel, the message containing information indicative of at least one property of an entity in which the user is interested. The present state of the at least one property is determined, as is an identifier of a second communications channel onto which future messages containing information relating to future changes of state of the at least one property of the entity will be transmitted. A reply message is transmitted to the user, the reply message containing information indicative of the present state of the at least one property and of the identifier of the second communications channel. |
| US08122119B1 |
Non-resident metering and billing system for applications and devices
A licensing envelope provides use of an application or device on a metered basis. The licensing envelope can be used with or without a connection to a computer network. In one embodiment, an application is provided with a dynamically linked library for the licensing envelope. The dynamically linked library verifies that access is enabled and calls a local licensing server when the application is opened. The local licensing server connects to and transfers data to a remote licensing server on a periodic basis. The remote licensing server can provide authorization codes for additional use of the application, bill the user, and forward payment to the application vendor. |
| US08122115B2 |
Communication profiles for integrated database messaging system
Systems, methods and media for providing communication profiles for an integrated database messaging system are disclosed. Embodiments of the method may include receiving from a user of the database messaging system a request for one or more profiles and determining one or more profiles associated based on the attributes of each profile request by accessing a profile database. The one or more profiles may include an indication of a user of the database messaging system and an Internet Protocol (IP) address. Embodiments may also include providing the one or more determined profiles to the requesting user. Further embodiments may include receiving an indication of one or more changes to the profile database and modifying the profile database. The user may include a database administrator (DBA) or user of a database. Each profile may contain personal, organizational, contact, group or other types of information. |
| US08122110B1 |
Active configuration templating
There is provided a configuration management system for a network device, said network device including one or more sub-systems for implementing network services, said system comprising a configuration management interface in communication with an external configuration management agent; a sub-system interface in communication with said one or more sub-systems; a control entity for establishing configuration elements based on a previously stored template, said template including a set of defined values; and a subscription sub-system for sending a specification for implementing a service determined by each configuration element to said sub-system interface; wherein when one of said set of defined values is updated, said control entity updates all of said configuration elements based on said previously stored template. |
| US08122108B2 |
Database-less leasing
One embodiment of the present invention comprises determining a cluster leader and using the cluster leader to set up a lease table at an application server of a cluster of application servers. The lease table can be used to maintain at least one lease for a singleton service. |
| US08122105B2 |
Method, system architecture and computer software for communication between devices
A method for communication between a plurality of devices connected to each other through a network. Each device includes at least one service that provides a set of functions for controlling and/or monitoring the device. A service of a first device detects the presence of a second device, detects the presence of a service of the second device, retrieves information about the functions of the service of the second device, and invokes a function of the service of the second device. A system architecture for communication between the devices includes a communication module configured to enable a service of a first device to detect the presence of a second device, to detect the presence of a service of the second device, to retrieve information about the functions of the service of the second device and to invoke a function of the service of the second device. |
| US08122104B2 |
Method and system for providing XML-based asynchronous and interactive feeds for web applications
A system for providing XML-based asynchronous and interactive feeds for Web applications that provides a highly efficient and extensible XML Javascript framework allowing easy insertion of a comment/news feed control into any Web page. The framework allows for reading of any XML format and provides a new and easy way for modifying the look-and-feel of the control via HTML templates with familiar XPath bindings. The rendering performed through the system supports both flat and indented (“threaded”) views for a comment thread. The system improves the parsing speed of incoming XML, and supports a flexible event model for others to develop plug-ins and mashups in the spirit of Web 2.0. |
| US08122102B2 |
Content delivery network (CDN) content server request handling mechanism
To serve content through a content delivery network (CDN), the CDN must have some information about the identity, characteristics and state of its target objects. Such additional information is provided in the form of object metadata, which according to the invention can be located in the request string itself, in the response headers from the origin server, in a metadata configuration file distributed to CDN servers, or in a per-customer metadata configuration file. CDN content servers execute a request identification and parsing process to locate object metadata and to handle the request in accordance therewith. Where different types of metadata exist for a particular object, metadata in a configuration file is overridden by metadata in a response header or request string, with metadata in the request string taking precedence. |
| US08122100B2 |
Multiple object download
According to the invention, a system for downloading a plurality of content objects from the Internet to a computer of a user is disclosed. The system includes first and second web pages, a database and a media server. The first web page allows selection of the number of content objects. The second web page includes a link to an application that includes embedded information that correlates the number of content objects to the application. The database stores the number of content objects. The media server composes an application that includes the embedded information. The number of content objects are selected by a user from the first web page. The media server allows download of the number of content objects after receiving the embedded information from a computer of a user. |
| US08122099B2 |
Image forming device that prepares and transmits formatted order data to web server
When a user inputs a URL character string indicating data for an order document, the CPU receives data for the order document indicated by the URL and reading method data from the web server at the URL destination and prints the order document on a recording unit. The user then fills in circles on the order document to indicate desired content and feeds the order document into the manual-feed paper tray on the facsimile device. At this time, the facsimile device reads a user number and data regarding printing details and scrapbook entry details and transmits order data described as a URL to the web server. |
| US08122098B1 |
Managing content delivery network service providers by a content broker
A system, method, and computer readable medium for managing network storage provider and CDN service providers are provided. A content broker component obtains client computing device requests for content provided by a content provider. The content broker processes the client computing device requests and determines whether a subsequent request for the resource should be directed to a network storage provider or a CDN service provider as a function of the updated or processed by the content broker. |
| US08122084B2 |
Collaborative conversation channels
Systems and techniques to facilitate communications among individuals in an enterprise may use collaborative conversation channels that are associated with specific communities within the enterprise. In general, in one implementation, the technique includes defining communities within an enterprise and providing access to collaborative conversation channels through a user interface. Each collaborative conversation channel is associated with a specific community and has an associated set of message types. A request to send a message of a selected message type within one of the collaborative conversation channels may be received through the user interface. In response to the request, the message may be sent through the collaborative conversation channel. |
| US08122081B2 |
Method and apparatus for a portable information agent
A method and system for providing enhanced intelligent agents that are moveable by a user from a browser application to a desktop. In specific embodiments, agents provide advanced interactive graphics and communications back to a server. |
| US08122079B2 |
Event counter
A counting method and a counter using an integrated circuit memory area, including at least one step of storage of partial values in several words of identical memory sizes, the result of the counting being obtained by arithmetically adding the values contained in the different words. |
| US08122078B2 |
Processor with enhanced combined-arithmetic capability
A method of operation within an integrated-circuit processing device having an enhanced combined-arithmetic capability. In response to an instruction indicating a combined arithmetic operation, the processor generates a dot-product of first and second operands, adds the dot-product to an accumulated value, and then outputs the sum of the accumulated value and the dot-product. |
| US08122077B2 |
Generation of test cases with range constraints for floating point add and subtract instructions
Methods, apparatus and systems are disclosed for the generation of range-constrained test cases for verification of designs of arithmetic floating point units. Given three ranges of floating point numbers Rx, Ry, Rz, a floating point operation (op), and a rounding-mode (round), three floating point numbers x, y, z are generated such that x ε Rx, y ε Ry, z ε Rz, and z=round ( x op y). Solutions are provided for add and subtract operations. Range constraints are imposed on the input operands and on the result operand of floating point add and subtract instructions to target corner cases when generating test cases for use in verification of floating point hardware. |
| US08122075B2 |
Pseudorandom number generator and encryption device using the same
A pseudorandom number generator reduced in size while maintaining high security is disclosed. The generator has a state storage unit of 2 blocks (n bits per block) and a buffer of plurality of blocks, and mixes their contents to obtain a random number sequence. The mixing is done by a nonlinear transformation unit for inputting the stored content of the buffer to output data of the same size as the input data, a first linear transformation unit for inputting the content of the state storage unit and the output of the nonlinear transformation unit to store an output into the state storage unit, and a second linear transformation unit for inputting the stored content of the buffer and the stored content of the state storage unit to store an output into the buffer. The mixed content of the state storage unit is output as a random number sequence. |
| US08122074B2 |
Digital electronic binary rotator and reverser
A binary rotator which includes an array of n cascaded 2-input multiplexer banks and received at an input 2n-bit binary data words can be used not only for rotation but also for selective reversal, without the necessity of the addition of a further multiplex bank dedicated to the reversal. This is achieved by making groups of multiplexers of at least all but one of the n banks of multiplexers separately controllable by words from control logic, rather than feeding the multiplexer banks with single control bits. The control bits are appropriately selected to provide the desired rotation-cum-reversal with just the 2n×n array of multiplexers, and can themselves be generated by appropriate logic gates. |
| US08122073B2 |
Computational systems for biomedical data
Methods, apparatuses, computer program products, devices and systems are described that accepting an input identifying a treatment target in search of an agent, the input associated with at least one query parameter; determining, based on the input, at least one subset of study data for which at least one adverse event profile associated with administration of at least one agent is acceptable within a defined limit relative to a population for which the at least one adverse event profile is unacceptable with respect to the defined limit; and presenting the agent, based on the at least one subset and the at least one query parameter. |
| US08122057B2 |
System and method for the transformation and canonicalization of semantically structured data
A method of transforming and canonicalizing semantically structured data includes obtaining data from a network of computers, applying text patterns to the obtained data and placing the data in a first data file, providing a second data file containing the obtained data in a uniform format, and generating interface specific sentences from the data in the second data file. |
| US08122053B2 |
Method of bibliographic field normalization
A method of normalizing a bibliographic field of a structured field relational database is disclosed. The method includes weighting potential candidate records according to the value in the corresponding field in the records, together with other related fields in the candidate record and other related records in the database. Each of the candidate records is successively evaluated and compared against an acceptable threshold. If the weight exceeds the threshold, the candidate record is returned from the query. Otherwise, a new entry in the database is created. Optionally, before creating such a new entry, the highest weighted candidate record may be compared against a minimally acceptable threshold and if the weight exceeds such a lower threshold, the candidate is returned from the query. |
| US08122050B2 |
Query processing visualization system and method of visualizing query processing
A query processing visualization system comprises a visualization module. The visualization module visualizes logging information of query processing events occurring during processing of a client query requesting data from one or more data sources by analyzing the logging information to identify dependency of the query processing events, formatting visual presentation components representing the logging information in a hierarchy to reflect the dependency of the query processing events, and presenting the visual presentation components in the context of the hierarchy of the visual components as formatted. |
| US08122048B2 |
Context sensitive term expansion with dynamic term expansion
Methods, articles of manufacture and systems for searching collections of data using context sensitive expanded term searching using dynamic term expansion are provided. The collection of data may be a relational database, text document, or any other type of searchable collection of data. In either case, a query including a search condition based on a specified search term may be modified to include additional conditions based on a set of expanded (e.g., conceptually-related) search terms dynamically linked with the query. For some embodiments, a user may be given the ability to choose whether the set of expanded search terms are dynamically linked with the query or not. |
| US08122046B2 |
Method and apparatus for query rewrite with auxiliary attributes in query processing operations
Methods and apparatus are provided for rewriting queries during a database query processing operation to include auxiliary attributes not included in the original query, thus improving processing efficiency. For example, in one aspect of the invention, a technique for rewriting a query in a query processing operation includes the following steps. First, the query is processed in accordance with at least a portion of a data set, producing query results. Second, data attributes from the query results are analyzed. Finally, at least one new predicate from at least one auxiliary data attribute is appended on the query. |
| US08122044B2 |
Generation of business intelligence entities from a dimensional model
The present invention automatically generates an object model from a dimensional model. The object model can then be queried using object oriented expressions. |
| US08122043B2 |
System and method for using an exemplar document to retrieve relevant documents from an inverted index of a large corpus
A system and method for using an exemplar document or search query to retrieve relevant documents from an inverted index of a large corpus of documents. The system and method groups words by synonym and calculates term frequency (TF) and inverse document frequency (IDF) scores for the respective word groups. A composite term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) score is calculated for each word group and the documents of the corpus are ranked based on the TF-IDF scores, utilizing a vector space model incorporating a cosine similarity function. |
| US08122040B2 |
Method of integrating remote databases by automated client scoping of update requests over a communications network
A method for bi-directional data replication between a Web Service application and a relational database are provided. Techniques of Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and Extract Transform Load (ETL) technology are employed to create a relational database schema, load the schema, synchronize the structure and the content of the schema, and replicate changes in the content of the schema to the web services application. Optional advanced techniques to support reporting, legacy data migration, and integration with other applications are also provided. |
| US08122035B2 |
Method and system for transactional fingerprinting in a database system
Transactions with respect to database operations are fingerprinted by associating transaction identifiers with logged information about those database operations. An SQL query is obtained prior to its evaluation by a database engine. A transaction identifier to be associated with the SQL query is also obtained. The SQL query is then modified to generate a modified SQL query, wherein the modified SQL query includes a WHERE clause that contains an expression that always evaluates to a logical true value, and wherein the expression contains the transaction identifier. The modified SQL query is then sent to the database engine for evaluation within the data processing system. When the processing of the modified SQL query is logged with a copy of the modified SQL query, the logged information contains a copy of the transaction identifier. |
| US08122034B2 |
Method and system for incremental search with reduced text entry where the relevance of results is a dynamically computed function of user input search string character count
A method and system are provided for processing a search request received from a user operating a text input device. The search request is directed at identifying a desired item from a set of items. Each of the items of the set of items has one or more associated terms. The method includes receiving a query input from a user directed at identifying the desired item. The query input comprises one or more characters input by the user on the text input device. As each character of the query input is received from the user, a group of items having one or more terms matching the characters received thus far of the query input is dynamically identified. The items in this group of items are ordered based on relevance values of the terms matching the characters and on the number of characters of the query input used in identifying the group of items. Identification of the group of items as ordered is transmitted to the user to be displayed on a device operated by the user. |
| US08122033B2 |
Database query optimization
A method, system, and computer program product for optimizing database queries in a data processing system. A query optimization (QO) utility maximizes the query coverage of Materialized Query Tables (MQTs) in order to efficiently process various types of incoming queries to a database engine. In particular, the QO utility enables MQT technology for nullable foreign key columns in a number of table joins involving fact tables and dimension tables, in which the fact tables and dimension tables have column data which are not null. The QO utility also enables MQT query matching for a relational database engine for non-additive measures, and improves the performance of existing query-matching capabilities for a relational database engine for additive measures. The QO utility specifies a number of functionally dependent relationships between the columns of a table in order to enhance the query matching abilities of the database engine. |
| US08122032B2 |
Identifying and linking similar passages in a digital text corpus
A corpus contains digital text from multiple documents. A passage mining engine identifies similar passages in the documents and stores data describing the similarities. The passage mining engine groups similar passages into groups based on degree of similarity or other criteria. The passage mining engine ranks the similar passages found in the text corpus based on quality or other criteria. A user interface is presented that includes hypertext links associated with the similar passages that allow a user to navigate the documents. |
| US08122030B1 |
Dual web graph
Scoring a document is disclosed. One or more metrics is determined in a forward direction. One or more backwards metrics is determined. The document is scored based at least in part on a combination of the metrics. |
| US08122029B2 |
Updating an inverted index
Systems and methods for processing an index are described. To insure that the most updated index is available without having to update the index after every change (which can consume enormous resources), a specially marked postings list is generated for a changed item. During retrieval, the specially marked postings list supplements the existing content of an inverted index referencing the changed item. In this manner, the retrieval result for items containing the term under which the changed item was originally indexed is updated in accordance with the specially marked postings list to insure the most accurate retrieval result. |
| US08122026B1 |
Finding and disambiguating references to entities on web pages
A system and method for disambiguating references to entities in a document. In one embodiment, an iterative process is used to disambiguate references to entities in documents. An initial model is used to identify documents referring to an entity based on features contained in those documents. The occurrence of various features in these documents is measured. From the number occurrences of features in these documents, a second model is constructed. The second model is used to identify documents referring to the entity based on features contained in the documents. The process can be repeated, iteratively identifying documents referring to the entity and improving subsequent models based on those identifications. Additional features of the entity can be extracted from documents identified as referring to the entity. |
| US08122025B2 |
Method of managing locations of information and information location management device
A communication log storage section stores a communication log of emails exchanged with an external device over an external network. An acquisition destination-selecting section reads out the communication log and identifies an other-end party with whom a target user has performed transmission and reception of emails not less than a predetermined number of times to select the other-end party as an information acquisition destination. An information location-generating section extracts key information related to a location of information at the information acquisition destination contained in the emails transmitted and received to and from the information acquisition destination, to generate information location information. The information location information is stored in an information location-accumulating section. An information acquisition device acquires the information based on the information location information accumulated in the information location-accumulating section. |
| US08122023B2 |
Data access using multilevel selectors and contextual assistance
A method and system to derive association-explicit metadata, about a target data collection, that is useful to facilitate access and searching of the data collection, regardless of the organizational structure of the collection. The metadata may be generated to comprise DetailSelectors describing lowest level data elements; groups thereof that provide context for member DetailSelectors, plus Boolean properties for queries using such Selectors, and association links to higher-level GlueSelectors that comprise such DetailSelectors, as well as association links to yet higher levels, eventually to Items, which are of a level greater than the highest level GlueSelector, reference a predetermined collection of data in the target collection, and comprise suitable matches for all of the DetailSelectors represented. Such metadata may be used to present choices to a user for terms to add to a query while ensuring suitable match by information in at least one Item. Information about Groups of DetailSelectors and Groups of GlueSelectors, as well as information about content of a GlueSelector, may be presented to a user to reduce in the query and in the data thus located. |
| US08122021B2 |
Domain expertise determination
A user's domain expertise may be estimated through several factors by monitoring different aspects of a user's interaction with a web browser. Based on the user's domain expertise, search results may be presented to the user that is commensurate with their expertise, resulting in a more efficient and productive on line session. A user's expertise in a knowledge domain may be determined from the user's behavior, including analyzing search queries, monitoring how the user navigates between and through websites, and analyzing the specific cites visited. As a user interacts with a browser, the user's estimated domain expertise may be updated and used to provide appropriate and useful search results. In many embodiments, a user may have different expertise levels for different technical domains. |
| US08122019B2 |
Sharing user distributed search results
A universal distributed search system allows users to find and distribute search results (possibly including advertisements) to those with whom they communicate. The search results can be easily distributed by the user via a simple interface that allows the search results to be easily added to the user's content. In one implementation, the search results may be automatically generated by the system based on user input to a content creation application. |
| US08122013B1 |
Title based local search ranking
A method for performing a local search includes receiving a local search request that includes at least a search term and a geographic identification. Business listings matching the received local search request are identified. The business listings are then ranked based on at least a webscore associated with each listing. Each listing's webscore is based on the listing's web popularity. In this manner, local search listings are ranked and presented in a more accurate manner. |
| US08122011B1 |
Identifying sibling queries
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, in which one or more search query suggestions can be identified based upon the intersection of predicate search groups. A first predicate search group can be compared to a second predicate search group to derive a query map value associated with the intersection of the predicate search groups. The query map value can be compared to a threshold to determine whether to identify different search queries as suggestions for one another. |
| US08122004B2 |
Generating and providing rich media presentations optimized for a device over a network
Generating and providing rich media presentations to a requesting device is described. Attributes of the requesting device are determined and used to create optimized code for the requesting device. The attributes may include information relating to the operating system of the requesting device; a media player; a bandwidth parameter; presence or absence of a firewall, permissions related to the requesting device, and the like. A virtual player is created that includes code to play media files. A presentation package is created that sets the presentation attributes for the multimedia experience. A media package is created that instructs the virtual player what multimedia content to play. |
| US08121999B2 |
Methods for searching private social network data
A method for searching a database that includes private social network data includes providing one or more databases including a plurality of database entries, a first portion of the database entries including private social network data and a second portion including non-social network data that is publicly accessible on the World Wide Web. The method further includes receiving a keyword search request from a search request user and searching the one or more databases or a keyword index thereof using one or more keywords and determining a hierarchy for search result items. The method also includes displaying at least a portion of search results items according to the hierarchy. And, determining whether the user has access rights to a particular subset of the private social network data and wherein if the user has access rights to the particular subset of private social network data, using at least a portion of the particular subset of social network data in the step of (i) searching the one or more databases, (ii) determining the hierarchy, and/or (iii) displaying the search result items. |
| US08121992B2 |
Log data store and assembler for large objects in database system
A mechanism works in conjunction with a DB2® Log and an analysis tool, such as BMC's Log Master™, to handle logged data for Large Objects (LOBs) stored in tables of a DB2 database system. A plurality of controls track data logged for the LOBs. The mechanism reads log records from a DB2 Log and uses the controls to determine which of the tracked LOBs is associated with the log records and obtains data from those associated log records. The mechanism builds keys to index the data and stores the keys and the data in a Virtual Storage Access Method store having Key Sequenced Data Sets maintained separate from the log record store for the DB2 Log. When requested by the analysis tool, the data in the store can be reassembled using the keys and map records in the first store that map the logged data for the tracked LOBs. |
| US08121990B1 |
Methods, systems and program products for communicating file modification information
According to one feature of the system, a method for updating a file maintained by first, second and third computers. The method comprises steps of the first computer communicating to the second computer a file modification instruction, the file modification instruction including the file identifier and a modification for the file. The third computer issuing to the second computer a request to notify the third computer of a file modification when the master property identifier does not match the property identifier maintained by the third computer. The second computer receiving the request to notify and, in response to the file modification instruction, implementing the modification of the master file whereby the master property identifier changes, and, upon noting that the master property identifier does not match the property identifier maintained by the third computer, issuing a master update to the third computer, the master update including the file identifier, the master property identifier and the modification for the file. The third computer receiving the master update and responsively modifying the version of the file that it maintains and updating the property identifier that it maintains for the file. |
| US08121989B1 |
Determining differences between documents
Embodiments of a computer system that compares documents are described. During operation, the computer system identifies a set of matching elements and associated locations in a first document and a second document. Next, the computer system repeatedly identifies additional sets of matching elements and associated locations in the first document and the second document until there are no further matches. Note that a given additional set of matching elements may be different than the set of matching elements and other additional sets of matching elements. |
| US08121988B2 |
Autonomic index creation, modification and deletion
An index advice record engine generates and stores index advice records. An index advice policy mechanism allows a user to define an index advice policy that specifies criteria for autonomic index creation, modification and deletion. An autonomic index mechanism reads the index advice records, compares this information with the criteria in the user-defined index advice policies, and determines whether an index should be created, modified or deleted based on the information in the index advice records and the index advice policies. By automating the process of creating, modifying and deleting indexes according to user-defined policies, the preferred embodiments alleviate human users from most of the work of manually creating, modifying and deleting indexes. |
| US08121985B2 |
Delta versioning for learning objects
A method for versioning learning objects comprises identifying learning content, which includes a plurality of learning objects, for storage in a content repository. Each learning object comprises or contains at least one content file. The method then includes comparing first version information of a first of the content files to versioning information obtained from an object version file identifying a prior version of the particular learning object. In response to at least a portion of the first version information of the first content file matching a corresponding portion of the versioning information stored in the object version file, a pointer to a corresponding content file in the prior version of the learning object is stored in a new object version file. |
| US08121983B2 |
Systems and methods for monitoring application data in a data replication system
Performing data management operations on replicated data in a computer network. Log entries are generated for data management operations of an application executing on a source system. Consistency point entries are used to indicate a time of a known good, or recoverable, state of the application. A destination system is configured to process a copy of the log and consistency point entries to replicate data in a replication volume, the replicated data being a copy of the application data on the source system. When the replicated data represents a known good state of the application, as determined by the consistency point entries, the destination system(s) may perform a storage operation (e.g., snapshot, backup) to copy the replicated data and to logically associate the copied data with a time information (e.g., time stamp) indicative of the source system time when the application was in the known good state. |
| US08121981B2 |
Database snapshot management
Technologies are described herein for managing database snapshots. One user interface is provided for managing the automated creation and deletion of database snapshots. Parameters are received through the user interface that define how the database snapshots should be created and deleted. Once the parameters are defined, a timer job is executed that causes a DBMS to create and delete the database snapshots according to the specified parameters. A user interface is also provided for manually managing the creation, deletion, and restoration of database snapshots. A request may be received through this user interface to recover data from a database snapshot. In response to such a request, another user interface is provided for specifying the data that should be recovered. Once the data to be recovered has been specified, the desired data is recovered from the database snapshot. |
| US08121980B2 |
Transactional record manager
Transactional record management methods and systems enabling multiple independent servers (such as database servers) using shared storage to initiate transactions in parallel without inter server communication and without locking the records used by the transaction. The in-flight transactions can be included in a shared transaction log without a final determination of whether the transaction committed. The log updates can be broadcast to each of the servers, which each parse the log, using the same rules of analysis, and therefore each compute server can independently and asynchronously come to the same conclusion as to which transactions aborted and which transactions committed. |
| US08121978B2 |
Database system providing improved methods for data replication
A system providing improved methods for data replication is described. A method for replicating a transaction from a primary database to a replicate database while the replicate database remains available for use comprises: recording information about a transaction being performed at a primary database in a transaction log; synchronously copying the information about the transaction in the transaction log to a mirrored transaction log; generating a reconstructed transaction based on the information about the transaction copied to the mirrored transaction log; and applying the reconstructed transaction at the replicate database while the replicate database remains available for use. |
| US08121977B2 |
Ensuring data persistence and consistency in enterprise storage backup systems
Ensuring data persistence and consistency in enterprise storage backup systems method and apparatus are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes creating a data log structure (e.g., a log file) on a storage device (e.g., a Serial ATA drive, a SCSI drive, a SAS drive, a storage are network, etc.) coupled to an application server to store a backup data generated by a filter module in a continuous backup environment and buffering the backup data generated by the filter module through a memory module that transfers the backup data to the data log structure on the storage device based on an occurrence of an event. The data log structure may be created by configuring a portion of the storage device as a dedicated resource available to the memory module to copy the backup data and the data log structure may be a file on the storage device coupled to the application server having the file system. |
| US08121972B2 |
Reduction of classification error rates and monitoring system using an artificial class
Systems and methods for enhancing the accuracy of classifying a measurement by providing an artificial class. Seizure prediction systems may employ a classification system including an artificial class and a user interface for signaling uncertainty in classification when a measurement is classified in the artificial class. |
| US08121962B2 |
Automated entity identification for efficient profiling in an event probability prediction system
A computer-implemented method and system for automated entity identification for efficient profiling in an event probability prediction system. A first subset of entities belonging to one or more entity classes is defined. At least one historical profile is constructed for each entity in the subset of entities based on a set of possible outcomes of transaction behavior of each entity in the first subset of entities. Based on the historical profiles, a second subset of entities having transaction behavior associated with a transaction is selected, the transaction behavior being predictive of at least one targeted outcome from the set of possible outcomes. The first subset of entities is redefined with the second subset of entities. |
| US08121959B2 |
Methods and systems for cost estimation based on templates
Systems and methods are disclosed for generating cost estimates. In one implementation, a computer-implemented method for producing a cost estimate, comprising selecting at least one cost object included in the cost estimate. The cost object requires evaluation of a first function stored in a cost estimation system. The selected cost object is described by a mapping between the first function and a second function in a costing platform. The mapping indicates a matching of local and remote fieldnames that describe a logical storage location of the cost object within the cost estimation system and the costing platform, respectively. The method further comprises determining whether the selected cost object requires evaluation of the second function, receiving cost data for the cost object from the costing platform, calculating the cost estimate using the cost data and the first function and producing the cost estimate via a user interface. |
| US08121955B2 |
Signing program data payload sequence in program loading
Communicating program data between a first device and a second device comprises disassembling a first program file comprising program data into at least one logical data unit, partitioning each of the at least one logical data unit into at least one protocol data unit and computing a first fingerprint over the payload portion of the at least one protocol data unit of the at least one logical data unit. The format of the at least one protocol data unit is defined by a communication protocol and includes a payload portion. |
| US08121953B1 |
Intelligent meeting planner
One embodiment of the present invention includes a meeting planning tool that contains information about as many different aspects of a meeting as desired, including the cost of the meeting, both in direct expenses and indirect costs to the enterprise or organization, thus allowing a meeting planner to optimize the overall cost of the meeting to the lowest point in a total-cost-of-ownership approach to planning. |
| US08121952B2 |
System, method, and service for delivering multimedia content by means of a permission to decrypt titles on a physical media
Enhanced multimedia content on physical media interacts with the user through a media player and the Internet. Enhanced multimedia utilizes IDs for pieces of content on the media and a media key block. On the enhanced media is a file with a list of URLs. As the enhanced media plays a title requiring an external permission for decryption, the media player accesses the URL for that title and obtains the permission. The permission may be purchased or provided for free. Secure encryption and transmission of permission is accomplished by broadcast encryption using a media key block. Each media has a unique set of keys that allow the media player to process the media key block; however, each media follows a unique path through the media key block. All legitimate media players obtain the media key; circumvention devices cannot decipher the media key block. |
| US08121949B2 |
Computer-based method and system for aiding transactions
A method for providing a warranty relating to a transaction between two parties, each party having a data communications device, in a system which includes an infrastructure composed of a plurality of locations each associated with a respective institution which provides services to clients, each location having a computer system, a database coupled to the computer system and storing information about each client of the institution and a data communications device coupled to the computer system for communication with the data communications device of any one party, each party being a client of at least one of the institutions, the method containing the steps of: transmitting a request for a warranty from one party to the transaction which is a client of the respective institution to a respective location associated with the respective institution, which request includes information identifying the other party to the transaction and information about the nature of the transaction; conducting an exchange of information between the respective location and a location associated with a institution of which the other party is a client; and transmitting a response to the request from the respective location to the one party. |
| US08121947B1 |
Methods and systems for electronic transfer of financial accounts between financial institutions
A method of transferring a financial account from an existing financial institution to a new financial institution includes receiving a customer request for financial account transfer, determining information regarding the existing financial institution using information stored at the new financial institution, receiving, via an aggregation tool, information regarding the financial account, determining financial obligations associated with the financial account using the received information, and populating a database of the new financial institution to reflect the determined financial obligations. |
| US08121946B1 |
System and method for modular electronic signature block
Method and system are directed to capturing consumer agreement to the terms of a transaction conducted online. The method/system uses a modular electronic signature block that may be applied to electronic versions of any standardized form. The electronic signature is implemented in a non-invasive way that does not alter or replace the contents of the electronic forms. The modular nature of the electronic signature block allows a separate electronic signature to be used for each online form, or a single electronic signature for multiple online forms. The online forms themselves are generated by populating a generic template of the standardized forms with consumer-specific data. The electronically-signed forms may thereafter be stored as data for a particular template. Such an arrangement provides a more secure, reproducible, verifiable, and unalterable means of capturing consumer consent, thereby allowing consumer transactions to be conducted entirely online. |
| US08121942B2 |
Systems and methods for secure and transparent cardless transactions
Systems, methods, and apparatus for handling and/or authorizing payment requests by a consumer for a transaction are provided. Payment information can be sent directly from a consumer to a non-merchant, thereby allowing no new entities to obtain the payment information. Transaction identifiers can be used to facilitate communications among the entities. The payment information can be sent to the non-merchant via a merchant application with a submit payment button directed to the non-merchant so little or no deviations from standard practices are required. |
| US08121939B2 |
Method and apparatus for a model assessing debtor behavior
A computer implemented method for assessing different expected payment behavior of a debtor with respect to different creditors. |
| US08121938B1 |
Comprehensive online loan transaction
Method and system for conducting a commercial transaction requiring a monetary loan online to allow a consumer or borrower to access a lending institution over a network connection and apply for a monetary loan online. The loan application is processed in real time and the borrower is notified of the type of loan, loan amount, interest rate, etc., that he/she is qualified for. Upon acceptance of the loan terms, the borrower is provided with a personal identification number (PIN) and a unique lender transaction ID that serves as confirmation of the loan. The lender transaction ID may then be taken to a suitable seller and used to conduct the transaction. The seller simply accesses the lending institution over a network connection, enters the lender transaction ID, the borrower's PIN, and other transaction-related information, and the lending institution automatically sends the appropriate payment to the seller. |
| US08121937B2 |
Gaming industry risk management clearinghouse
Systems, methods, apparatus, computer program code and means for gathering, organizing and presenting on a real time basis information pertinent to Risks associated with subjects related to the Gaming Industry. Risks associated with the Gaming Industry can be managed by gathering data relevant to the Gaming Industry from multiple sources and aggregating the gathered data according to one or more risk variables. An inquiry relating to a risk subject can be received and portions of the aggregated data can be associated with the risk subject. The associated portions of the aggregated data can be transmitted to an entity placing the inquiry or other designated destination. |
| US08121935B2 |
System and method for assigning responsibility for trade order execution
An embodiment of the present invention provides a system and method for a sponsoring organization to: (1) utilize a rules-based computer system to capture trade orders from sub-advisors (money management firms) in order to implement a pre trade compliance review process, thereby enabling the sponsoring organization to prevent the execution of trade orders by a sub advisor that violates securities laws and/or account restrictions; and (2) determine and assign, based on expected market impact of a trade order to buy or sell securities, whether responsibility (discretion over the decisions related to how, when and with whom a trade order is executed) for executing the trade order is assigned to the money management firm for an investment portfolio or to the sponsoring organization of that portfolio. Trade orders are categorized in real-time as “high touch” (significant effort and market impact) or “low touch” (insignificant effort and market impact). |
| US08121933B1 |
System, method and program for preventing gaming in a trading system
System, method, and program for preventing gaming in a trading system. The systems, methods and programs can receive an order from a trader to trade securities in an alternative trading system, determine if gaming is occurring, set a price collar for the order, and submit the order to the alternative trading system with the price collar. |
| US08121932B2 |
Fuel offering and purchase management system
The present disclosure is directed towards apparatuses, systems and methods to facilitate the pricing, sales and delivery of a commodity fuel to a Customer. In one embodiment, the disclosure teaches a Fuel Offer Generator that facilitates the purchase and management of fuel offerings. The Fuel Offer Generator allows Customers interested in securing fuel to obtain an offer for fuel at lock-in prices for various tenors. Fuel Customers can buy these fuel offers such that they may later exercise the fuel offers so their fuel costs are locked-in at desired levels (e.g., they may be set to strike prices). The Fuel Offer Generator also can establish a Premium Price that will be part of the fuel offer. The Fuel Offer Generator may generate hedges to counteract fuel related risks stemming from fuel offer purchases. Ultimately, a customer that purchases a fuel offering can exercise their fuel offering order at a specified price and redeem any difference between the market price for their purchased fuel and the price specified in their fuel offering order. The Fuel Offer Generator employs a geographical fuel pump location metric as well as consumer redemption to establish the pricing of fuel offerings. |
| US08121929B2 |
Apparatus and methods for automatic trade execution in a trading system
A trading system transitions from a first state to a second state and may award a participant, when one or more criteria and/or a status of trading rights are met, with an exclusive and/or semi-exclusive right in the second state to trade on an incoming contra order. |
| US08121928B2 |
Electronic reimbursement of customs broker
Disclosed herein are methods of automatically reimbursing a customs broker for payments made to a customs agency on behalf of an importer. The methods include procedures for balancing broker payments and for automatically verifying that data provided by the broker coincides with data provided with shipments of imported goods. The methods further include procedures for adjusting broker payments where deviations are detected in the verification processes. |
| US08121921B2 |
Method, apparatus and article-of-manufacture for managing and supporting initial public offerings and other financial issues
The present invention relates generally to the field of computer-assisted business methods, and to system and articles-of-manufacture for implementing such methods. More particularly, the invention relates to computer-based methods, apparatus and articles-of-manufacture for supporting the coordination, communication, record-keeping, accounting, security and scheduling needs for the syndicate associated with an initial public offering (“IPO”) or other new financial issue. While the invention is exemplified and discussed herein with reference to IPO's, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is equally applicable to other types of securities and debt instruments, such as preferred stock, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, etc. |
| US08121918B2 |
Using commercial share of wallet to manage vendors
Commercial size of spending wallet (“CSoSW”) is the total business spend of a business including cash but excluding bartered items. Commercial share of wallet (“CSoW”) is the portion of the spending wallet that is captured by a particular financial company. A modeling approach utilizes various data sources to provide outputs that describe a company's spend capacity. Government agencies, procurement departments, and others that patronize small businesses can use CSoW/CSoSW to determine businesses that should be awarded contracts and businesses that should be denied. CSoW/CSoSW may also be used to manage approved vendor lists. |
| US08121917B2 |
Systems for implementing a loyalty program
A system for implementing a loyalty program includes a personal terminal, an interaction terminal, and a loyalty module. The personal terminal may be associated with a user. The interaction terminal may be associated with a product or service. The interaction terminal and the personal terminal may be operable to establish a communication when in proximity of each other. The loyalty module may be operable to provide a benefit to the user in response to the communication. The benefit may be provided without regard to whether the user obtained or purchased the product or service. |
| US08121916B2 |
Method and system for risk-hedging in project management
A computer program product stored on machine readable media including machine readable instructions for selecting a project portfolio from available projects, the instructions for implementing a method include inputting an investment cost and a return for each available project and user-specified constraints; creating a formulation, the formulation comprising the investment cost and the return for each available project, the constraints and variables, the variables comprising for each available project a threshold probability of success and a selection decision; solving the formulation to select the project portfolio and to determine the threshold probability of success for each available project; and outputting the project portfolio and the threshold probability of success for each available project. |
| US08121912B2 |
Automated method for reconciling asynchronous time attendance records
A method for reconciling asynchronous time attendance records in a time attendance system is provided. The reconciliation method of the present invention can reconcile and synchronize time attendance records from a single time attendance recorder device, or multiple time attendance recorder devices which are independent from one another and not electronically connected to a central processor or each other. Each time attendance event includes a time attendance recorder identifying code, a user identifying code, and is processed according to whether it is determined to be a start activity or a stop activity. A series of completed time records is created for each user as all of the time attendance events from all of the recorder devices are processed. |
| US08121910B2 |
Automatic loaner part replacement to prevent system callback
A system for automatically replacing loaner parts within a loaner system to prevent loaner system callback. In response to selecting a loaner system within loaner inventory data, it is determined whether the selected loaner system is required to be returned based on a target return date for the selected loaner system. In response to determining that the selected loaner system is not required to be returned, a notification is automatically generated and sent to a customer to return expiring loaner parts within the selected loaner system based on loaner part rules. A part replacement order is automatically generated for replacement loaner parts for each of the expiring loaner parts. Then, the replacement loaner parts are automatically shipped to the customer to replace the expiring loaner parts to prevent callback of the selected loaner system. |
| US08121899B2 |
Method and apparatus for managing subscriptions
A subscription system allows a customer to establish a subscription to a product with one or more retailers (e.g., by establishing the subscription through a controller or central system). In one embodiment, a subscription may be established after receiving information that identifies a product. Terms of a subscription for the product are established, such as a frequency and a duration of the subscription. |
| US08121898B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for geographic area selections in pay-per-call advertisement
Methods and apparatuses to connect telephone calls and track information about the telephone calls for geographic area based advertisements. In one embodiment, a method includes: receiving an indication of a target geographic area of an advertisement for an advertiser having a telephone number, the advertisement including one of: a telephone number assigned to the advertiser and a reference to the telephone number assigned to the advertiser; and providing the advertisement for delivery to users of interest in the target geographic area, the advertiser billed for the advertisement based on telephonic connections made to the telephone number of the advertiser through the telephone number assigned to the advertiser. |
| US08121896B1 |
System and method for presenting advertisements
A system and method, comprising providing a speech engine running on a computer system supporting an interface selected from the group consisting of one or more of a text-to-speech interface and a speech-to-text interface; presenting to a user through a user interface, an interactive advertisement, the interactive advertisement at least one of: presenting a speech output derived from a text file received from a server to a user; and receiving a speech input which is converted to text in dependence on a data file defining at least one of a vocabulary and a grammar, the speech input converted to text being communicated to an advertisement server. |
| US08121894B2 |
Early-payment discount for e-billing system
An Early Payment Discount (EPD) mechanism that enables customers to automatically receive an early payment discount for paying their invoice electronically, e.g., via electronic funds transfer (EFT), through an e-Billing system within a designated number of days from on-line invoice post date. |
| US08121891B2 |
Personalized product report
A system is disclosed that facilitates creation of a web-based user interface which obtains user profile information from a database, gathers information from one or more users regarding product characteristics, correlates the user responses, performs statistical analysis of the user responses and presents the statistical analysis in a user comprehendible manner. The system also stores statistical ratings in a database correlated to a particular product or service. Ratings are provided to a user from the database based on a particular product or service, and the database can be queried to retrieve one or more user profiles that have rated a product of interest to the current use. |
| US08121889B2 |
Information technology portfolio management
An information technology portfolio is managed using assessments that are based on a set of criteria. Each of the criteria may have one or more attributes, and may be different in priority from one another. The criteria are preferably directed toward evaluating, ensuring, and/or improving acceptance of the products in the portfolio by their target marketplace or market segment. Assessments are performed, using the criteria and attributes, and results of these assessments may be used when making various decisions regarding the products in the portfolio. |
| US08121887B2 |
Method and system for reporting on the quality of a repair process
A method of reporting on the quality of repair work performed on an article such as a vehicle including the steps of: (1) identifying occurrences of quality problems in repair of an article at a repair facility, (2) generating quality data on the occurrences of quality problems of step (a), (3) electronically transferring the quality data to a computer database, (4) sorting the quality data in the database and (5) producing a report of the sorted quality data. A system for practicing this method includes one or more repair shops in communication with a computer. Data on the insurance of quality problems during the repair of vehicles is transmitted from the repair shops to the computer which then sorts the quality data in the database and produces reports of assorted quality data to provide information to repair shops, insurance companies and manufacturers. |
| US08121885B2 |
Plan solver
Systems and methods for supply chain management and identification of feasible plans. Identification of feasible plans includes simultaneous breadth and depth satisfaction of demands. Demands are satisfied using multiple sources of supply, consideration of substitute items, generation of supply, and/or reallocation of supply previously pegged for satisfaction of a lower priority demand. Reallocation optionally includes consideration of items and demands associated with multiple level codes. |
| US08121881B2 |
Project management method and system
The method and system for managing a project with multiple tasks and milestones by defining probabilities of key project events and assessing their performance risk. Each task of the project is described as a waveform propagating from this task to an assigned milestone, and each milestone is described as a coherent superposition of task waveforms. The probability of any milestone is obtained by comparison of probabilities of non-perturbed and perturbed milestone, which caused by delay of a task or combination of tasks. |
| US08121879B1 |
Automatically generating assessments of qualification relevance and qualification issuer credibility
A method, system, and computer-readable medium is described for generating assessments of relevance of qualifications and of credibility of qualification issuers, such as in an automatic manner and for use by users in an electronic marketplace that facilitates interactions between task requesters who have tasks that are available to be performed and task performers who are available to perform tasks. Such assessments may in some situations be provided to users in various manners and for various purposes, such as to allow task requester users to identify appropriate qualifications to associate with their tasks and/or to allow task performer users to identify appropriate qualifications to acquire to assist in future performance of tasks. The assessments may be generated in various manners, including based on analyzing usage data related to the use of qualifications by task performers and task requesters and based on feedback provided by human users. |
| US08121878B2 |
Execution decision support program and device of regulation measures
The present invention calculates a predicted accumulative import amount for each chemical substance for each month by using information on a predicted monthly shipping amount and the amount of a chemical substance contained in the product and specifies the chemical substance whose predicted accumulative import amount exceeds a regulation threshold and the time when the import amount exceeds the regulation threshold. The present invention specifies the product containing the chemical substance, calculates the predicted shipping amount of the product from the threshold excess time of the chemical substance to the end of the year, and calculates the loss amount caused by the loss of sales opportunities from the profit per unit sales amount for each product when any regulation measures are not executed on the chemical substance. The present invention finally calculates the ratio of the expense necessary for the measures and the summed value, and displays the ratio. |
| US08121877B2 |
Dynamic evolution of business performance management solutions using declarative evolution policies
A policy-driven approach to Business Performance Management (BPM) evolution is to capture the mechanism of BPM solution evolutions. These policies are executed by the runtime infrastructure which transforms and interprets evolution policies and allows fine granularity controls on solution evolution. At transformation time, the relationship among the event processing progress and the runtime state is derived based on the observation model. Such relationship information allows verification of freshness of migrating data and parallelization of runtime state validation and event processing. Consistent and efficient evolution of BPM solutions transit while event processing is operational. |
| US08121875B2 |
Comparing taxonomies
A system for comparing a first taxonomy and a second taxonomy. The system may comprise at least one processor having associated cache memory, a cache module and a comparison module. The cache module may be configured to load a portion of a comparison sample to the cache memory. The comparison sample may comprise a part of the first taxonomy and a part of the second taxonomy. The comparison module may be configured to cause the processor to retrieve the portion of the first comparison sample from the cache memory and compare the portion of the first comparison sample. |
| US08121873B1 |
Rapid categorization of data center serviceability characteristics
In one embodiment, a method and apparatus for rapid categorization of data center serviceability characteristics is disclosed. The method includes identifying one or more variables of interest relating to serviceability of data centers, identifying one or more archetypal data center patterns using historical data for the one or more variables of interest, wherein the one or more archetypal data center patterns do not include mythical measurements, collecting data for the one or more variables of interest from a target data center, and determining a best match of the collected data from the target data center to one of the archetypal data center patterns. Other embodiments are also disclosed. |
| US08121870B2 |
Methods, systems, and devices for verifying and approving government required release forms
The disclosure herein provides methods, systems, and devices for managing, transferring, modifying, converting and/or tracking medical files and/or medical system messages. In certain embodiments, the foregoing may generally be based on requesting medical files at a first medical facility, identifying the requested medical files at a second medical facility, initiating a secure network connection between the first and second medical facility, modifying a header portion of the medical files based on patient identification information created by the first medical facility, and other processing steps. |
| US08121868B1 |
Systems and methods for providing an inducement to purchase incident to a physician's prescription of medication
Systems and methods for providing targeted content to a patient who has received a prescription for medication. The systems and methods generally provide the content prior to the Point of Sale (POS) of the actual prescription allow patients to review the content and possibly act on it prior to actually obtaining the medication. Depending on embodiment, the content may be provided by a pharmacy at or around the time of dispensing or by a physician at or around the time of prescribing. |
| US08121860B2 |
Patient care and treatment data structure and processing system
An expected outcome data system stores data representing a plurality of different expected outcomes of patient care and treatment for use in providing healthcare to a patient. An acquisition processor acquires data representing an expected outcome of treatment associated with a medical problem for storage in a repository. A repository, electrically coupled to the acquisition processor, includes data representing a plurality of different expected outcomes; an individual expected outcome has an expected outcome name and is characterized by expected outcome attributes; an individual expected outcome has a plurality of attribute properties determining how an expected outcome attribute is represented. Expected outcome attributes include a focus term indicating a topic of an expected outcome, an expected outcome likelihood term indicating an assessment of likelihood of the associated corresponding expected outcome, and a client term indicating at least one target person for care. The attribute properties include a format attribute property indicating a format constraint of an expected outcome attribute and a content attribute property indicating a content constraint of an expected outcome attribute. A retrieval processor, electrically coupled to the repository, retrieves data representing at least one expected outcome from the repository. |
| US08121858B2 |
Optimizing pharmaceutical treatment plans across multiple dimensions
A computer implemented method for generating optimized pharmaceutical treatment plans for an individual. A set of known treatments to be used by the target individual over a future period of time is generated. An actual use of the treatments in the set of known treatments by the target individual during the future period of time is substantially certain. A set of probable treatments of the target individual is received. The actual use of the treatments in the set of probable treatments by the target individual during the future period of time is uncertain. An optimized pharmaceutical treatment plan for the target individual is generated. The optimized pharmaceutical treatment plan comprises medications and durable medical goods that are likely to be used by the target individual over the future period of time optimized over a set of dimensions associated with the set of known treatments and the set of probable treatments. |
| US08121844B2 |
Dimension measurement system
A dimension measurement system is provided. The dimension measurement system includes a speech I/O device fit in an ear canal of a worker, generating a voice signal from vibration in the air emitted from an eardrum of the worker and propagated inside the ear canal, and outputting the voice signal and an information processing device realizing a speech recognition function recognizing a measurement value of a dimension of an object from the voice signal that the speech I/O device output and a judgment function judging if the measurement value satisfies a reference value of the object. |
| US08121835B2 |
Automatic level control of speech signals
Automatic level control of speech portions of an audio signal is provided. An audio signal is received in the form of a sequence of samples and may contain speech portion and non-speech portions. The sequence of samples is divided into a sequence of sub-frames. Multiple sub-frames adjacent to a present sub-frame are examined to determine a peak value of samples in the sub-frames. A gain factor is computed for the present sub-frame based on the peak value and a desired maximum value for said speech portion, and each sample in the present sub-frame is amplified by the gain factor. In an embodiment, variations in filtered energy values of multiple sub-frames enable determination of whether a sub-frame corresponds to a speech or non-speech/noise portion. |
| US08121832B2 |
Method and apparatus for encoding and decoding high frequency signal
Provided are a method and apparatus for encoding and decoding a high frequency signal by using a low frequency signal. The high frequency signal can be encoded by extracting a coefficient by linear predicting a high frequency signal, and encoding the coefficient, generating a signal by using the extracted coefficient and a low frequency signal, and encoding the high frequency signal by calculating a ratio between the high frequency signal and an energy value of the generated signal. Also, the high frequency signal can be decoded by decoding a coefficient, which is extracted by linear predicting a high frequency signal, and a low frequency signal, and generating a signal by using the decoded coefficient and the decoded low frequency signal, and adjusting the generated signal by decoding a ratio between the generated signal and an energy value of the high frequency signal. |
| US08121830B2 |
Methods and apparatus to extract data encoded in media content
Methods and apparatus to extract data encoded in media content are disclosed. An example method includes receiving a media content signal, sampling the media content signal to generate digital samples, determining a frequency domain representation of the digital samples, determining a first rank of a first frequency in the frequency domain representation, determining a second rank of a second frequency in the frequency domain representation, combining the first rank and the second rank with a set of ranks to create a combined set of ranks, comparing the combined set of ranks to a set of reference sequences, determining a data represented by the combined set of ranks based on the comparison, and storing the data in a tangible memory. |
| US08121828B2 |
Detecting conditions for transfer of execution from one computer instruction stream to another and executing transfer on satisfaction of the conditions
A computer has instruction pipeline circuitry capable of executing two instruction set architectures (ISA's). A binary translator translates at least a selected portion of a computer program from a lower-performance one of the ISA's to a higher-performance one of the ISA's. Hardware initiates a query when about to execute a program region coded in the lower-performance ISA, to determine whether a higher-performance translation exists. If so, the about-to-be-executed instruction is aborted, and control transfers to the higher-performance translation. After execution of the higher-performance translation, execution of the lower-performance region is reestablished at a point downstream from the aborted instruction, in a context logically equivalent to that which would have prevailed had the code of the lower-performance region been allowed to proceed. |
| US08121826B1 |
Graphical user interface for system design
A design tool for designing a system includes a display device with a first visualization pane showing a symbolic representation of a connection between a first port and a second port of the system and a second visualization pane showing an unconnected port of the system. A text entry pane on the display device shows a textual definition of the connection. An optional status pane shows a textual log of user-performed actions relating to construction of the system. |
| US08121825B2 |
Method and apparatus for executing a hardware simulation and verification solution
One embodiment of the present invention provides systems and techniques to execute a hardware simulation and verification solution on a multiprocessor system. The hardware simulation and verification solution can be partitioned into different modules which can include a simulation kernel to simulate changes in signal values, a value change dump module to store the changes in the signal values on a computer-readable storage medium, a functional coverage module to check functionality, a toggle coverage module to check signal toggling, an assertion engine to check complex behaviors, and a testbench module to generate test scenarios. Embodiments of the present invention can execute different modules on different processors, thereby improving performance. |
| US08121824B2 |
Predicate checking for distributed systems
Predicate checking in conjunction with distributed systems can enable an investigating user to check predicates in the context of instance states and/or distributed states of a distributed system. In an example embodiment, a method entails accepting distributed system simulation data and performing a simulation of a distributed system using the distributed system simulation data to create distributed system simulated states. At least a portion of the distributed system simulated states are exposed. The exposed portion of the distributed system simulated states is retrieved and stored as exposed states for the distributed system. The exposed states for the distributed system are compared to predicate states for the distributed system. If an inconsistency is detected between the exposed states and the predicate states based on the comparing, at least one alarm is issued. |
| US08121820B2 |
Program managed design for complex construction projects
A method for generating architectural design requirements for a building structure is disclosed. A schematic drawing file of the building structure is loaded. The building type for the building structure is designated. A topology mask identifying the functional zones demarcated by the schematic drawing is created over the schematic drawing. Architectural design standards that are specific to the building type designated are applied to each of the identified functional zones to generate the architectural design requirements for the building structure. The architectural design standards being stored in a relational database. |
| US08121815B2 |
Noise separating apparatus, noise separating method, probability density function separating apparatus, probability density function separating method, testing apparatus, electronic device, program, and recording medium
There is provided a noise separating apparatus that separates a probability density function of a predetermined noise component from a probability density function of a signal under test. The noise separating apparatus includes a domain transforming section that is supplied with the probability density function of the signal under test and transforms the probability density function into a spectrum in a predetermined variable axis, and a standard deviation computing section that computes standard deviation of a random component of noise contained in the signal under test based on a magnitude of a predetermined variable component in a main lobe of the spectrum. |
| US08121814B2 |
Three-dimensional processor and method for controlling display of three-dimensional data in the three-dimensional processor
A method is provided for controlling display of three-dimensional data in a three-dimensional processor that processes three-dimensional data indicating three-dimensional position coordinates of each point on a surface of an object to be measured, the three-dimensional data being obtained by projecting measurement light onto the object and receiving measurement light reflected from the object. The method includes obtaining reliability data that are an index of reliability of three-dimensional data of said each point, enabling a user to adjust a threshold for defining a range of the reliability, and displaying, on a screen of a display, three-dimensional data corresponding to reliability falling within a range defined by the threshold adjusted by the user with the three-dimensional data displayed distinguishably from different three-dimensional data. |
| US08121807B2 |
Method and system for device reconfiguration for defect amelioration
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to cost-effective defect amelioration in manufactured electronic devices that include nanoscale components. Certain embodiments of the present invention are directed to amelioration of defects in electronic devices that contain nanoscale demultiplexers. In certain embodiments of the present invention, the nanoscale-demultiplexer-containing devices include reconfigurable encoders. In one embodiment of the present invention, the table of codes within a reconfigurable encoder is permuted, and a device is configured in accordance with the permuted codes, in order to produce a permuted table of codes that, when input to an appropriately configured nanoscale demultiplexer, produces correct outputs despite defects in the nanoscale demultiplexer. |
| US08121805B2 |
Method and system for determining locations of moving objects with maximum length sequences
A location of an object is determined by arranging a sequence of bits on a substrate. The sequence of bits includes subsequence of bits, and each subsequence of bits is unique for each location along the substrate. When the object is at a particular location along the substrate a sensor detects the subsequence of bits at the particular location, and a decoder associates the location of the subsequence at the particular location with the object. The substrate can be a leaky coaxial cable with slits or not, corresponding to the bits, or lane markings on a road. |
| US08121802B2 |
System and method for determining an expected vehicle drive range
A vehicle may include one or more controllers configured to determine a remaining energy of the vehicle's battery, to determine a series of energy consumption rates of the vehicle, and to select a set of energy consumption rates from the series. The one or more controllers may be further configured to determine an expected drive range for the vehicle based on the remaining energy and the selected set of energy consumption rates. |
| US08121801B2 |
System and method for multi-rate concurrent waveform capture and storage for power quality metering
Systems and methods are provided for use in an IED that perform high resolution waveform capture to generate multi-rate waveform data in real-time. In one embodiment, high-resolution sampled data is dynamically pre-ordered into separate high resolution and low resolution data streams for presentation and storage. This pre-ordering of data is optimized so as to minimize the amount of data manipulation required to prepare the sampled data for eventual presentation and storage in the IED. Pre-ordering of data facilitates minimum performance impact so that continuous real-time data capture can be achieved. |
| US08121799B2 |
Life estimating method for heater wire, heating apparatus, storage medium, and life estimating system for heater wire
A method of estimating the life of a heater wire, including the steps of: detecting a maximum value of electric power supplied to the heater wire during a temperature rising period during which a temperature is elevated to a preset heating temperature, obtaining an index indicative of the amplitude of the electric power, and giving a notice that the heater wire is approaching the end of its life when the electric power and the index indicative of the of amplitude of the electric power exceed threshold values respectively provided thereto. |
| US08121798B2 |
Gas flux determination using airborne DIAL LIDAR and airborne wind measurement
A system for obtaining emission flux of a gas plume, emanating from a source, includes an airborne differential absorption lidar (DIAL) system for determining multiple concentration path length (CPL) values along a flight path; and an airborne wind measuring system (WMS) for determining a wind vector at the aircraft altitude. Also included is a processor for receiving the multiple CPL values determined by the DIAL system and the wind vector determined by the WMS. The processor uses the CPL values to compute either (a) an area-integrated concentration (AIC) value or (b) an average concentration value over a cross-plume extent, defined along the length dimension of the flight path. The processor also scales the wind vector to the near ground altitude level of the gas plume to obtain a scaled wind vector. The emission flux is obtained by multiplying either the AIC value or the average concentration value with a component of the scaled wind vector. The component of the scaled wind vector is defined by a vector perpendicular to the length dimension of the flight path. |
| US08121797B2 |
T-cell epitope prediction
Epitope prediction models are described herein. By way of example, a system for predicting epitope information relating to a epitope can include a classification model (e.g., logistic regression model). The trained classification model can illustratively operatively execute one ore logistic functions on received protein data, and incorporate one or more of hidden binary variables and shift variables that when processed represent the identification (e.g., prediction) of one or more desired epitopes. The classification model can be configured to predict the epitope information by processing data including various features of an epitope, MHC, MHC supertype, and Boolean combinations thereof. |
| US08121791B2 |
Spectral shaping inversion and migration of seismic data
A geophysical model of a subsurface region is generated based on seismic data, e.g., seismic reflection data. Migration and seismic inversion are applied to the seismic data to generate estimates of one or more physical or seismic properties of the subsurface region. Seismic inversion, such as spectral shaping inversion, is applied before or after migrating the seismic data through a variety of techniques that each avoid the amplification of dipping energy while optimizing computational efficiency and/or accuracy. |
| US08121790B2 |
Combining reservoir modeling with downhole sensors and inductive coupling
A method is disclosed of characterizing a well using a series of measurements taken along the sandface of that well in order to optimize a well model. The method may comprise providing a well model with a plurality of adjustable physical parameters, providing a data set made up of a plurality of sandface measurements, and running the well model with different combinations of adjustable physical parameters so that the results of the well model substantially match the results of the sandface measurements. In one embodiment, the method may comprise creating a communication pathway between the surface and the sandface including an inductive coupler. A further step may include pre-processing the plurality of the sandface measurements. In addition, a further step may be to establish or set at least one control device in order to change the flow characteristics of the production fluid in the well. |
| US08121786B2 |
Method and device for preventing collisions on the ground for aircraft
The invention has as its object to determine a risk of collision on the ground between an aircraft and another object. The aircraft comprises at least one proximity detector and a communication system suitable for setting up a communication among several points, at least one of the points being able to be external to the aircraft. After having received at least one indication from the proximity detector relating to the presence of an object, a signal representing an acoustic alarm linked to the detection of the object is generated then transmitted to the warning system. A comparison advantageously is made between the indication received from the proximity detector and certain parameters of the aircraft, the signal representing an acoustic alarm linked to the detection of the object being generated in response to the result of this comparison. |
| US08121784B2 |
GPS triggered narration and recording for drive events
Automatically presenting content to an occupant of a vehicle as the vehicle traverses a route (e.g., during a test drive or other drive event). Content items are associated with GPS coordinates the route. A GPS device on the vehicle identifies the vehicle location as the vehicle traverses the route, and content item associated with particular locations is presented to the occupant of the vehicle. Audio and/or video of the occupant may be captured and stored on a computing device remote from the vehicle. The captured audio and/or video represents feedback from the occupant during the drive event. |
| US08121779B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information providing method, program, and information providing system
There is provided an information processing apparatus capable of communicating with an information management apparatus storing service information including place information, service content information, and start time information; the information processing apparatus including a communication portion; a position measurement portion for generating positional information; a data acquiring portion for acquiring, based on an input search condition, service information satisfying the search condition from the information management apparatus; and a list generating portion for generating a presentation list recorded with information on a service providing place capable of receiving the service at a provision start time based on the positional information, the place information and the start time information of the acquired service information, and time information defining a time the positional information is generated. |
| US08121777B2 |
Wireless broadcasting of drive-times data
Either vehicle traffic or financial markets data is regularly broadcast in a fixed size packet over a wireless network in a push manner to one or more wireless receiver devices located within a particular service coverage region. A data center stores information specific to the particular region including drive-times strings metadata, drive-times data, drive-times route metadata, traffic incident data and financial markets indicators data. The data center decides upon a particular type of information to be placed into a payload of a next packet to be broadcast and pre-formats this information accordingly without receiving any information from the receiver devices. Data structures are provided which contain data representing the drive-times strings metadata, drive-times data, drive-times route metadata, traffic incident data and financial markets indicators data. |
| US08121772B2 |
Headway distance maintenance supporting device and method
A headway distance maintenance supporting system may include a running controller for performing constant headway distance control, a deceleration controller for performing deceleration support control, a transitional state detector for detecting transitional states of said given vehicle based on the running environment of said given vehicle or the operations performed by the driver. The system controller is configured such that when said transitional state detector detects that the transitional state of said given vehicle is a prescribed transitional state, said running controller is controlled such that said constant headway distance control is released, and said deceleration controller is controlled such that said deceleration support control can be performed. |
| US08121770B2 |
Boundary adaptation scheme for spool valve pressure control
A method for adapting a closing boundary for a proportional spool valve includes generating or detecting a pressure command signal. Next a pressure error is obtained by subtracting an actual wheel brake pressure from its pressure command. Then a modified pressure error is calculated a modified pressure error is calculated in such a way that steady state pressure errors resulting from mismatched feedforward term, control deadzone and other factors are subtracted from measured pressure error to leave the only error to be that due to boundary deviation. An estimator is then used to estimate an apply boundary deviation or a release boundary deviation of the spool valve, as appropriate. A boundary table is updated using the resultant boundary deviation estimate. |
| US08121767B2 |
Predicted and immediate output torque control architecture for a hybrid powertrain system
A method for controlling torque in a hybrid powertrain system to selectively transfer mechanical power to an output member includes monitoring operator inputs to an accelerator pedal and to a brake pedal. An immediate accelerator output torque request, a predicted accelerator output torque request, an immediate brake output torque request, a predicted brake output torque request, and an axle torque response type are determined. An output torque command to the output member of the transmission is determined based upon the immediate accelerator output torque request and the immediate brake output torque request. |
| US08121761B2 |
Acceleration sensor arrangement, safing arrangement for an activation system, activation system
An acceleration sensor arrangement comprises, in one package, an acceleration threshold detector for detecting acceleration and for providing an output signal and a processor circuit for receiving the output signal. The acceleration threshold detector provides an output signal having a first value when the acceleration is less than a predetermined threshold and is arranged to switch the output signal from the first value to a second value when the acceleration reaches the predetermined threshold. The processor circuit generates an event signal to trigger an event, such as the closing of a safing transistor switch in an airbag system, in response to the output signal from the acceleration threshold detector switching to the second value. |
| US08121756B2 |
Device and method for driving dynamics control in a vehicle
Disclosed is a device for influencing the driving dynamics of a vehicle with an electronic brake system. The device includes a brake actuator for adjusting a brake torque at least one wheel brake of the vehicle. The brake torque can be determined in a torque distributing device according to a yaw torque requirement. A first control unit can be activated in the presence of a critical driving condition as is used to determine a first yaw torque requirement due to driving dynamics control. A management device (12) has a second control unit, which can be activated in the presence of a subcritical driving condition, and a second yaw torque requirement (R:D_GM) can be determined by the second control unit due to driving dynamics control, and the second yaw torque requirement (R:D_GM) can be sent to the torque distributing device (20), and an activated state of the first control unit a signal (I:EBS_Status; R: D_GM; R:[S1, S2, . . . ]) can be sent from the electronic brake system (2) to the management device (12), which causes deactivation of the second control unit. |
| US08121751B2 |
Method for assisting in error detection for a motor vehicle
In a method for assisting in error detection for a motor vehicle, characteristic data for an accessory device connected to a device in the motor vehicle are stored in a memory unit provided in the motor vehicle. |
| US08121750B2 |
Vehicle load backup circuit
A load backup device includes an abnormality detection part which detects an abnormal operation of a processing part, and a backup driving part which drives a load based on an output from the abnormality detection part when the abnormality detection part detects the abnormal operation of the processing part. |
| US08121744B2 |
Control system and method for oxygen sensor heater control
The present disclosure provides a control system for a heating element used in an oxygen sensor. The control system comprises a rate module that periodically determines a rate of change of current through the heating element and a temperature adjustment module that periodically compares the rate of change and a rate value. The temperature adjustment module selectively adjusts an operating temperature of the oxygen sensor between a normal temperature and a remedial temperature lower than the normal temperature based on the comparison of the rate of change and the rate value. The present disclosure also provides a related control method for the heating element. |
| US08121742B2 |
Methods, circuits, and computer program products for generation following load management
Two water heaters may be installed in series at a customer location, such that an output of a first (or storage) water heater is coupled to the input of a second (or primary) water heater, the output of which provides hot water to the customer location. During normal operation, only the primary water heater may actually heat water for use at the customer location. However, during periods of excess capacity, the electrical service provider may enable the storage water heater to store the excess electrical power that is generated by operating the power plant at higher output (which may be more efficient). Later, during hours of greater demand, the electrical service provider may disable the storage water heater used to store the excess capacity, whereas the primary water heater may operate normally. However, during the time of greater demand, the storage water heaters may provide pre-heated water to the primary water heater, which in-turn, may need to heat the water less or perhaps not at all. |
| US08121739B2 |
Reactive power management for wind power plant internal grid
A wind power plant comprising a plurality of wind turbine converters coupled to a High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) converter via an internal grid and a power plant controller. The power plant controller is configured to monitor a voltage of the internal grid, and allocate responsibility for generating reactive power to the HVDC converter and the wind turbine converters to maintain the voltage of the internal grid at a desired voltage. |
| US08121738B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling wind turbine electric power generation
A method of controlling a wind turbine farm includes programming at least one algorithm within at least one processor. The wind turbine farm has at least one wind turbine that includes a generator. The at least one algorithm is representative of a relationship between at least one electric power grid tolerance range and an electric power generation rating. The method also includes determining the electric power grid tolerance range. The method further includes generating at least one wind turbine farm tolerance adjustment signal representative of a wind turbine farm tolerance range. The method also includes changing the wind turbine farm tolerance range. |
| US08121736B1 |
Air spindle with closed loop speed control
A method and apparatus for controlling an air motor. Speed information is received for an operation using an apparatus comprising the air motor having an inlet and an exhaust, and a valve comprising a body with a first port, a second port, and a third port. The first port is connected to the air motor, the second port is configured for connection to an air supply, and the third port is configured to vent air out of the body. A first flow of air is controlled in the body between the first port and the second port and a second flow of air is controlled out of the body through the third port to control a speed of the operation. |
| US08121734B2 |
Method and system for controlling the climate in a house
The invention provides a method for controlling the climate of an environment, e.g. a house, which exchanges thermal energy with an ambient space. Energy is supplied to the environment e.g. by radiators, floor heating, electrical heating fans etc. According to the method, a numerically expressed comfort criteria, and a numerically expressed weight of importance of compliance with the comfort criterion are defined. Subsequently, a supply of a specific amount of energy is considered, and with respect to that amount, a numerical expression of a degree of compliance with the comfort criterion, and a numerical expression of costs related to the supply of that amount of energy are provided. |
| US08121733B2 |
Kinematic singular point compensation systems
According to an embodiment, a numerically controlled (NC) processing system includes materials processing installation having a multi-axis kinematic linkage operable to position a tip portion of the linkage along a predetermined process path. The system also includes a processor having a compensation system operable to detect a singular point in the process path and to improve the accuracy tip portion positioning near the singular point. |
| US08121725B2 |
Apparatus, system and methods for dispensing products
Products are dispensed from a dispensing apparatus in which products marked with transaction information are received in a two-dimensional array of moveable bins. In response to control information synthesized from transaction information on the products in the bins and a dispense request, the array is operated to place a bin at a dispensing station on the dispensing apparatus. At the dispensing station, a mechanism is operated in response to the control information to provide access to the bin. A product in the bin may then be retrieved. |
| US08121721B2 |
Extrusion of articles
An extrusion control system for use with one or more extruders has a data acquisition module in communication with one or more data acquisition nodes that are associated with an extrusion process. A control module is also in communication with one or more control nodes associated the extrusion process. A synchronization signal to one or more control nodes causes the nodes to adjust to a predetermined setting. |
| US08121718B2 |
Interactive orthodontic care system based on intra-oral scanning of teeth
Interactive, computer based orthodontist treatment planning, appliance design and appliance manufacturing is described. A scanner is described which acquires images of the dentition which are converted to three-dimensional frames of data. The data from the several frames are registered to each other to provide a complete three-dimensional virtual model of the dentition. Individual tooth objects are obtained from the virtual model. A computer-interactive software program provides for treatment planning, diagnosis and appliance from the virtual tooth models. A desired occlusion for the patient is obtained from the treatment planning software. The virtual model of the desired occlusion and the virtual model of the original dentition provide a base of information for custom manufacture of an orthodontic appliance. A variety of possible appliance and appliance manufacturing systems are contemplated, including customized archwires and customized devices for placement of off-the shelf brackets on the archwires, and removable orthodontic appliances. |
| US08121711B2 |
System and method for controlling movement of a measurement machine
Controlling movement of movable arms on motion shafts of a measurement machine is disclosed. Each motion shaft of the measurement machine are divided into different motion ranges. The movable arms move in different motion ranges at different speeds. Motion direction of the movable arms is associated with an operation direction of a joystick. |
| US08121708B1 |
Control system design method
A control system design method and concomitant control system comprising representing a physical apparatus to be controlled as a Hamiltonian system, determining elements of the Hamiltonian system representation which are power generators, power dissipators, and power storage devices, analyzing stability and performance of the Hamiltonian system based on the results of the determining step and determining necessary and sufficient conditions for stability of the Hamiltonian system, creating a stable control system based on the results of the analyzing step, and employing the resulting control system to control the physical apparatus. |
| US08121707B2 |
Method for download of sequential function charts to a triple module redundant control system
Embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods for an online load of logic to a triple module redundant (TMR) control system using a cascading switch and designated controller. Application code having SFC logic may be first downloaded to a designated controller of the TMR system. After download to the designated controller, the other controllers of TMR system may be updated in a cascading (circular) pattern. After updating the second controller with the updated logic, the designated controller may provide correct state information to the second controller. |
| US08121706B2 |
Information processing device and home network system
There is provided an information processing device capable of dynamically generating and presenting to the user a user interface for remotely controlling at least one other device connected via a network and performing conjunctive operations between the information processing device and the other device, the interface being generated in accordance with the type of the other device. Remote control commands are shared between the networked information processing devices, including commands for controlling devices controlled by different protocols, combinations of commands available for the conjunctive operations are extracted from the remote control commands, and when requested by a terminal device to present remote operations, the type of the terminal device is determined to present the remote operations. |
| US08121701B2 |
System and method for displaying stimulation field generated by electrode array
An implantable pulse generator includes a current steering capability that allows a clinician or patient to quickly determine a desired electrode stimulation pattern, including which electrodes of a group of electrodes within an electrode array should receive a stimulation current, including the amplitude, width and pulse repetition rate of such current. Movement of the selected group of electrodes is facilitated through the use of remotely generated directional signals, generated by a pointing device, such as a joystick. As movement of the selected group of electrodes occurs, current redistribution amongst the various electrode contacts takes place. The redistribution of stimulus amplitudes utilizes re-normalization of amplitudes so that the perceptual level remains fairly constant. This prevents the resulting paresthesia from falling below the perceptual threshold or above the comfort threshold. |
| US08121699B1 |
Sound processing and stimulation systems and methods for use with cochlear implant devices
Sound processing strategies for use with cochlear implant systems utilizing simultaneous stimulation of electrodes are provided. The strategies include computing a frequency spectrum of a signal representative of sound, arranging the spectrum into channels and assigning a subset of electrodes to each channel. Each subset is stimulated so as to stimulate a virtual electrode positioned at a location on the cochlea that corresponds to the frequency at which a spectral peak is located within an assigned channel. The strategies also derive a carrier for a channel having a frequency that may relate to the stimulation frequency so that temporal information is presented. In order to fit these strategies, a group of electrodes is selected and the portion of the current that would otherwise be applied to electrode(s) having a partner electrode in the group is applied to the partner electrode. |
| US08121698B2 |
Outer hair cell stimulation model for the use by an intra-cochlear implant
Contrast between various frequency components of sound is enhanced through a lateral suppression strategy to provide increased speech perception in the electrically stimulated cochlea. A received audio signal is divided into a plurality of input signals, wherein each input signal is associated with a frequency band. A plurality of envelope signals are generated by determining the envelope of each of a plurality of the input signals. At least one of the envelope signals is scaled in accordance with a scaling factor to generate at least one scaled envelope signal. An output signal is generated by combining at least one envelope signal with at least one scaled envelope signal, and the cochlea is stimulated based on the generated output signal. The lateral suppression strategy can be applied to one or more frequency bands using scaled amplitude signals associated with one or more neighboring frequency bands. |
| US08121692B2 |
Method and apparatus for neural stimulation with respiratory feedback
A neural stimulation system controls the delivery of neural stimulation using a respiratory signal as a therapy feedback input. The respiratory signal is used to increase the effectiveness of the neural stimulation, such as vagal nerve stimulation, while decreasing potentially adverse side effects in respiratory functions. In one embodiment, the neural stimulation system synchronizes the delivery of the neural stimulation pulses to the respiratory cycles using a respiratory fiducial point in the respiratory signal and a delay interval. In another embodiment, the neural stimulation system detects a respiratory disorder and, in response, adjusts the delivery of the neural stimulation pulses and/or delivers a respiratory therapy treating the detected respiratory disorder. |
| US08121690B2 |
Treatment of female fertility conditions through modulation of the autonomic nervous system
Methods are provided for treating a subject for a fertility condition. In accordance with the subject methods, at least a portion of a subject's autonomic nervous system is modulated to increase the sympathetic activity/parasympathetic activity ratio in a manner that is effective to treat the subject for the condition. Embodiments of the subject invention include modulating a subject's autonomic nervous system using electrical energy and/or one or more pharmacological agents. The subject methods find use in the treatment of a variety of different fertility conditions. Also provided are kits for use in practicing the subject methods. |
| US08121689B2 |
Proactive interactive limits override for implantable medical device user interface
An external device includes a communication circuit, a programming interface including a display, and a processor. The processor includes a parameter analyzer to apply a rule to a combination of operating parameter values of the IMD to determine operating parameter interaction. The display includes a first warning that is displayed when the parameter analyzer determines that a combination of operating parameter values entered via the programming interface is not allowed, and a second warning that is displayed when the parameter analyzer determines that a combination of operating parameters values entered via the programming interface is allowable but not recommended. The processor is configured to program the operating parameter values associated with the second warning into the IMD only after a user acknowledgement of the second warning is received from a user via the programming interface. |
| US08121688B2 |
Method and system for automatically switching between modes of an implantable medical device
An implantable medical device includes a lead, a pulse generator, an autocapture module, an autothreshold module, a fusion detection module, and a control module. The lead includes electrodes configured to be positioned within a heart. At least one of the electrodes is capable of sensing cardiac signals. The pulse generator delivers a stimulus pulse through at least one of the electrodes. The autocapture module senses an evoked response of the heart after delivery of the stimulus pulse when operating in an autocapture mode. The autothreshold module performs a threshold search when operating in an autothreshold mode. The fusion detection module identifies fusion-based behavior in the heart. The control module automatically switches between the autothreshold and autocapture modes based on a presence of the fusion-based behavior. |
| US08121679B2 |
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator with hot or cold thermal application
A Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator (TENS) and electrode pad that is capable simultaneously of delivering hot or cold thermal therapy for the relief of pain. |
| US08121677B2 |
Method for diagnosing a disease
Methods, systems, and apparatus to determine the presence of a disease condition in a medical patient by evaluating conductivity information. In some embodiments, point-attributes values may be obtained from conductivity data sets. This data may be compared to previously determined data, such as threshold values. In some embodiments, z-scores may be determined to combine a plurality of point-attribute values in formulation of a composite score for a patient. In some embodiments, z-scores may be weighted by overall accuracy of the point-attribute in predicting presence of the disease. |
| US08121663B2 |
Photoacoustic measurement of analyte concentration in the eye
In one aspect, the invention features a method and device for measuring blood concentration of a substance such as glucose in the aqueous humor by illuminating the aqueous humor with a light source at a frequency that is absorbed by the substance to the measured, and then sensing photoacoustically generated sound waves originated within the aqueous humor as a consequence of illumination by the light source. The blood concentration can be estimated from the amplitude of the sound waves received. The method may be combined with other optical techniques for glucose measurement and/or with optical or ultrasonic techniques for topographic mapping of eye structures. |
| US08121659B2 |
Slide mechanism
A slide module includes a slide middle part positioned and located between a slide glide and slide base for providing relative sliding movement with respect to one another such that the slide middle part moves a first distance with respect to the slide base and the slide glide moves a second distance with respect to the slide middle part.The slide glide may be attached to a cover part and the slide base may be attached to a base part such that the cover and base part are arranged for relative movement with respect to one another so that at least a first portion of the base part is revealed when the cover part is extended a first distance relative to the base part and the remaining portion of the base part is revealed when the cover part is extended a second distance relative to the base part. |
| US08121654B2 |
Apparatus and method for removing an echo signal in a signal transmission/reception apparatus of a communication system
A method and apparatus for removing an echo signal in a signal transmission/reception apparatus of a communication system is provided. A signal transmission/reception apparatus estimates an input channel response using a training sequence, generates a first signal by removing the input channel response from a first reception signal, detects an echo channel impulse response using the first signal, detects an echo signal removing coefficient using the echo channel impulse response, generates a second signal in which an echo signal is removed by applying the echo signal removing coefficient to a second reception signal, and removes the second signal from a third signal, wherein the first signal is received prior to receiving the second signal and the second signal is received prior to receiving the third signal. |
| US08121650B2 |
Menu displaying method in a mobile terminal
A menu displaying method in a mobile terminal. When a user opens a menu function, a list of menu items is displayed on a display. Upon user selection of a menu item from the list, the selected menu item is perceivably displayed. It is determined whether a sub-menu of the menu item has been set as status information of the menu item. If the sub-menu has been set as the status information, a bubble window having the status information is displayed near the menu item. |
| US08121646B2 |
Method and system for equalizing cable losses in a distributed antenna system
The invention is directed to a method and system for equalizing the signal losses over cable runs in a Distributed Antenna System (DAS). In a DAS, two or more antennae are connected to the system by cable runs that can vary widely in length. As a result, the signal loss over a given cable run can also vary widely which can impact the design and deployment of the DAS and reduce antenna spacing. In addition, for a broadband DAS that supports many frequency bands or ranges using a common antenna unit, the signal losses vary with respect to frequency further making it difficult to equalize the cable losses. According to one embodiment of the invention, the method and system provide for measuring and adjusting the signal losses of each cable run to be a predefined value. According to another embodiment of the invention, the DAS can include a hybrid passive-active antenna unit which includes a frequency multiplexer that separates the signal into frequency bands or ranges that are connected to an antenna element associated with a particular frequency band or range. Where a single frequency band needs to be amplified (or attenuated), a single band amplification block (SBAB) can be inserted in the connection between the frequency multiplexer and the antenna element to amplify (or attenuate) the desired frequency band. Where more than one frequency band need to be amplified (or attenuated), a multiband amplification block (MBAB) can be inserted in the connection between the frequency multiplexer and the appropriate antenna element to amplify (or attenuate) the desired frequency bands. |
| US08121641B1 |
Communication device
The communication device comprising a voice communicating implementer, a sound caller ID implementer, an auto time adjusting implementer, a calculation implementer, a word processing implementer, a stereo audio data output implementer, a digital camera implementer, a multiple language displaying implementer, a caller's information displaying implementer, a communication device remote controlling implementer, an icon software implementer, a spreadsheet displaying implementer, and a TV remote controlling implementer. |
| US08121640B2 |
Dual module portable devices
A dual module portable device may be provided. A motion of a first module of the dual module portable device may be detected. Based at least in part on the detected motion, a position of the first module may be determined relative to the second module of the portable device. Once the relative position of the first module has been determined, a portion of a user interface associated with the relative position may be displayed at the first module. |
| US08121634B2 |
Radio communication terminal device, radio communication base station device, and radio communication method
It is possible to provide a radio communication terminal device, a radio communication base station device, and a radio communication method capable of rapidly completing a handover even during DRX/DTX. In the devices and the method, a terminal (100) transmits a quality measurement result to a base station (150) at an Active interval. Here, the terminal (100) sets the DRX/DTX interval to a short interval since performance of a handover is predicted. The base station (150) which has received the quality measurement result transmitted from the terminal (100) recognizes that the terminal has set the DRX/DTX interval to a short interval and transmits a handover instruction to the terminal (100) at the Active interval, considering the shortened DRX/DTX interval. |
| US08121631B2 |
Method and communication system for calculating a rise-over-thermal (RoT) threshold value
A method for calculating a RoT threshold value in a communication system in which user terminals communicate with a base transceiver station, comprising the steps of providing a RoT minimum, maximum and margin, acquiring the maximum nominal transmit power of each user terminal, detecting the transmitted power of each user terminal, calculating the power difference between the maximum nominal transmit power and the transmitted power for each user terminal, and processing this power difference calculated for each user terminal, the RoT margin and the minimum and maximum RoT threshold to calculate the RoT threshold value. |
| US08121628B2 |
Vehicle telematics unit data upload deferral
A method for deferring a telematics data upload from a vehicle equipped with wireless telephony and wireless networking communications devices. The method steps include detecting the availability of a connection to one or more wireless networks along with an associated time of day during which the connection is available, determining that one of the one or more wireless networks is periodically available at a particular time of day, receiving a request to upload data from the vehicle to a central facility via a wireless telephony connection, delaying the data upload until the particular time of day, and uploading the data to the central facility via a wireless network connection to the previously determined particular wireless network. |
| US08121627B2 |
Method and mobile terminal for outputting automatic response message with implementation of schedule management function
Disclosed are a method and a mobile terminal for outputting an automatic response message informing a caller of a user's (i.e. recipient's) current schedule when the user is unable to answer an incoming call. The method includes receiving an incoming call, determining whether an automatic response key is pressed to output an automatic response message with implementation of the schedule management function, detecting any schedule information corresponding to the current time by reference to a schedule management table when the automatic response key is pressed, and sending a schedule informing message including the detected schedule information to a caller's terminal. |
| US08121626B1 |
Method and systems for short message forwarding services
Methods and systems are described for processing visual messages, such as text or multimedia messages, originated from a mobile phone. In an embodiment, a visual message from an originating wireless telephonic device is directed to an original destination address associated with a user. An indication that the visual message has been received at a first telecommunications system, wherein an original destination associated with the original destination address is not available to receive the originating wireless telephonic device visual message. The visual message is wirelessly transmitted to an alternate destination. |
| US08121625B2 |
System for enabling communication between computers and mobile telephones
There is disclosed a system and method for enabling text messages to be sent from a computer to a mobile device, and for a reply text message to be sent from the mobile device to the computer. An outgoing text message, including a reply telephone number, is sent from a source computer to a destination mobile device. The reply number that is sent is chosen on the basis of regions (either geographic or regions associated with particular mobile communications providers) with the reply number being “leased” for use with a particular outgoing message. A protocol exists for choosing an alternate reply number if the first choice is not available. Means are then also provided for forwarding a reply message received by receiving means associated with a reply number to the source computer. |
| US08121624B2 |
Message spoofing detection via validation of originating switch
Message spoofing is detected by an anti-spoofing application comparing a trusted switch address (i.e., corresponding to an originating switch having processed an incoming message) to an “affiliated” address (i.e., corresponding to a switch serving the location of the identified sender). Message spoofing is detected if the trusted address differs from the affiliated address. |
| US08121623B2 |
Method for reducing the delay time by a paging procedure in network-initiated data transmission in GPRS-mobile communication networks
The invention relates to a method for reduction of the incoming delay time in network-initiated data transmission in GPRS-mobile communication networks, wherein data transmission is initiated to a mobile communication terminal device in a ready state via a requesting network node, wherein the first data packet to be sent by the requesting network node has already been transmitted to the base station subsystem together with a Paging Request message. |
| US08121622B2 |
Method and system for providing location measurement of network based to mobile communication terminal by using G-pCell database according to location
Disclosed is a system and method for providing a mobile communication terminal with network-based location measurement according to locations by using a G-pCell database. The system includes an NPS for storing a neighboring base station database and a G-pCell database; and an SPC for detecting the location of a base station by parsing a base station signal received from the mobile communication terminal when a location measurement request signal is received from the mobile communication terminal, and determining a location of the mobile communication terminal by using a G-pCell pattern matching algorithm when the number of base stations neighboring the mobile communication terminal, detected by parsing the base station signal, is less than the stored number of neighboring base stations corresponding to the location of the base station, discovered using the neighboring base station database. Considering that the accuracy of location measurement may be lowered when the G-pCell pattern matching algorithm is applied to the upper stories of a high-rise building in an area where high-rise buildings stand closely together, such as a downtown area, the system and method selectively uses the G-pCell pattern matching algorithm or a location measurement algorithm based on triangulation to position a mobile communication terminal according to a rough location of the mobile communication terminal, thereby further improving the accuracy of location measurement. |
| US08121620B2 |
Location tracking of mobile phone using GPS function
A system, method, service and mobile device are disclosed for providing a location of the mobile device. The invention utilizes a mobile phone with a global positioning system (GPS) module which is located in a wireless network. A third party device is able to submit a location query to a mobile telephone service operator (MTSO). This location query includes the mobile phone's telephone number. Using the telephone number, the MTSO determines the base station with which the mobile phone is associated. The location query is then forwarded to the mobile phone via the base station. The mobile phone collects the GPS data from the GPS module and forwards the GPS data to the base station. The base station converts the GPS data to location information and forwards the location information to the third party device via the MTSO. |
| US08121618B2 |
Intuitive computing methods and systems
A smart phone senses audio, imagery, and/or other stimulus from a user's environment, and acts autonomously to fulfill inferred or anticipated user desires. In one aspect, the detailed technology concerns phone-based cognition of a scene viewed by the phone's camera. The image processing tasks applied to the scene can be selected from among various alternatives by reference to resource costs, resource constraints, other stimulus information (e.g., audio), task substitutability, etc. The phone can apply more or less resources to an image processing task depending on how successfully the task is proceeding, or based on the user's apparent interest in the task. In some arrangements, data may be referred to the cloud for analysis, or for gleaning. Cognition, and identification of appropriate device response(s), can be aided by collateral information, such as context. A great number of other features and arrangements are also detailed. |
| US08121615B2 |
Mobile station, wireless communication system and method of operation
A mobile station (105, 200) operable in a wireless communication system (100), the mobile station including means (218, 202 of 105) for reporting to a location server (104) of the system a current location of the mobile station and a controller (201 of 105) for controlling the means for reporting to report to the location server a current location of a second mobile station (107) detected to be near to the mobile station. A wireless communication system (100) in which the mobile station is operable and a method (500) operable in the system are also described. |
| US08121613B1 |
Method and system for obtaining emergency caller location
Methods and systems for obtaining the location of a caller during an emergency or other telephone call. Before or during a call, a phone system can obtain from one or more sources a subscriber access line identity associated with a subscriber location record that includes a subscriber access line identity attribute and a subscriber location attribute. A phone system can send a query that includes the subscriber access line identity to a subscriber location query system that returns a subscriber location record or a subscriber location to the phone system. The phone system can then display the caller location information to a phone system, an agent or operator so that emergency services can be quickly and accurately dispatched. Using similar procedure and a memory, phone systems can also determine if a subscriber phone has or is changing location. Methods for testing the emergency call capabilities of a subscriber access line. |
| US08121612B2 |
Method and system for improved WLAN location
Mobile units within an area are located using a wireless local area network. Reference signal transmitters are provided at selected fixed locations within the area. Reference signals are transmitted using the reference signal transmitters using a first selected channel of the wireless local area network. A computer is provided having a database relating signal characteristics of signals transmitted by the reference signal transmitters to location within the area At least one access point is coupled to the computer and provides wireless data communications between the computer and the mobile unit using one or more channels of the wireless data communications system that are different from the first data communications channel. A selected plurality of the reference signals are received at the mobile unit, signal characteristics of the received reference signals are determined and data representing the received reference signal characteristics is transmitted to the computer via the access point using the one or more data communications channels. The data representing reference signal characteristics is received at the computer and position of the mobile unit is determined using the database. |
| US08121611B2 |
SET initiated area event triggered positioning method in mobile communication system
A SET-initiated area event triggered positioning method in a session-based service system is disclosed. The method is variously performed according to a proxy mode or a non-proxy mode, and further according to which SLP (SUPL location platform) has a positioning procedure. |
| US08121610B2 |
Methods and apparatus for associating mapping functionality and information in contact lists of mobile communication devices
In one illustrative example, a method of providing mapping functionality in a contact list of a mobile communication device comprises the acts of providing a contact list organizer function in the mobile device for use in organizing a plurality of contacts of a contact book or list; identifying, through a user interface of the mobile device, a user input request to map a location of a selected one of the contacts of the contact list; and in response to the user input request, performing the following further acts of identifying an address of the location in one or more address fields of the selected contact; sending, to an address geocoding server via wireless network, a request for location coordinates with the address as an input; receiving, via the wireless network, latitude and longitude coordinates of the location in response to the request for the location coordinates; and causing a map corresponding to the location of the selected contact to be visually rendered in a display of the mobile device based on map rendering data for the location corresponding to the latitude and longitude coordinates received via the wireless network in response to a request for map data of the location. |
| US08121601B2 |
Methods for integrating cell measurement procedures of a communication apparatus and communication apparatuses utilizing the same
A communication apparatus is provided. The communication apparatus includes a processor, a first and a second subscriber identity card and at least one radio transceiver module. The processor is coupled to the first subscriber identity card, the second subscriber identity card and the radio transceiver module, merges a first neighbor cell list and a second neighbor cell list to obtain a merged neighbor cell list, tunes the radio transceiver module to the corresponding channel frequency/frequencies of the neighbor cells in the merged neighbor cell list to respectively receive signals from the neighbor cells therein, and accordingly measures and evaluates quality of the neighbor cells therein. |
| US08121599B2 |
System and method for inferring wireless trajectories in a cellular telephone network
A device includes a processor configured to determine a number of users in each of a plurality of wireless telephone cells of a trajectory in a wireless telephone network. The processor is also configured to determine handoff data between each adjacent pair of the wireless telephone cells, and to determine a first number of users traveling along the trajectory in the wireless telephone network while on a telephone call. The processor also calculates a total number of users associated with the trajectory in the wireless telephone network based on the handoff data between each adjacent pair of the wireless telephone cells, and based on the first number of users traveling along the trajectory while on the telephone call. |
| US08121594B2 |
Method and system for providing roaming services to inbound roamers using visited network Gateway Location Register
The present invention provides a method for providing roaming services to one or more subscribers, correspondingly associated with the one or more HPMNs, while the one or more subscribers are registered with the VPMN. The method includes allocating a pool of GTs to a Gateway Location Register (GLR) that is associated with the VPMN, where the pool of Global Titles (GTs) corresponds to at least one of: one or more VLRs associated with the VPMN, one or more SGSNs associated with the VPMN, one or more HPMNs, and one or more HLRs associated with an HPMN from the one or more HPMNs. The method further includes facilitating mobile communication of the one or more subscribers in the VPMN using the allocated pool of GTs. |
| US08121591B2 |
System and method for determining mobile telephone voice quality in a live network
A system and method for determining the quality of communications provided by a plurality of mobile telephones is provided. The method may comprise, for example, receiving one or more telephone voice signals from each mobile telephone; storing the one or more telephone voice signals in a memory; concurrently with aid receiving telephone voice signals from a mobile telephone, receiving one or more reference device voice signals from a reference device substantially co-located with the mobile telephone; storing the one or more reference device voice signals in a memory; determining voice quality data for the telephone voice signals; determining voice quality data for the reference device voice signals concurrently received with the telephone voice signals; and normalizing the voice quality data of the telephone voice signals from each mobile telephone based on the voice quality data of the reference device voice signals concurrently received with the telephone voice signals. |
| US08121589B2 |
Reporting measurements from a mobile station to a network and associated handover control method
A mobile station receives dedicated signaling from the network to obtain measurement configuration data specified for it. The measurement configuration data stored in the mobile station include: measurement object elements each designating communication resources on which measurements are requested by the network; reporting configuration elements each defining reporting criteria to trigger a measurement report from the mobile station to the network and a reporting format indicating at least one quantity included in the measurement report; and measurement identity elements each identifying a relationship between a measurement object element and a reporting configuration element such that any measurement report sent from the mobile station in accordance with this reporting configuration element includes at least one quantity measured on communication resources designated by the corresponding measurement object element. Storage by the mobile station of at least one measurement identity element identifying a relationship between a stored element, being a measurement object element or a reporting configuration element, and an unspecified element is enabled. |
| US08121586B2 |
Systems and methods for voice based search
Systems and methods are provided to facilitate voice-based search of information. For example, a portable device may be in a first orientation to present a display of a graphical user interface, such as a search interface presented within a web browser of the portable device. When the portable device is in a second orientation different from the first orientation, the portable device records a voice input for the graphical user interface. When the portable device is back to the first orientation, the portable device applies the voice input to the graphical user interface. When the user shakes the portable device, the portable device re-initializes the graphical user interface for a subsequent input. |
| US08121584B2 |
Methods for handling conference communication and the communication apparatuses utilizing the same
A communication apparatus is provided. A first subscriber identity card camps on a first cell belonging to a first wireless network capable of providing a conference communication service for the first subscriber identity card with at most N peer communication entities via a first radio transceiver module. A second subscriber identity card camps on a second cell belonging to a second wireless network via a second radio transceiver module. A processor builds a conference communication for the first subscriber identity card with at most (N−1) peer communication entities via the first cell, receives an add request to add a new peer communication entity to the conference communication, adds the second subscriber identity card to the conference communication via the first cell, and adds the new peer communication entity to the conference communication via the second cell. |
| US08121581B2 |
Wireless communications methods and devices selecting configurations from multiple configurations stored in nonvolatile memory
A wireless communications device obtains a configuration identifier and selects a wireless communications configuration from among a plurality of wireless communications configurations stored in a non-volatile memory of the wireless communications device based on the configuration identifier. The wireless communications device applies the selected wireless communications configuration to configure the device for use with a network. Respective ones of the plurality of wireless communications configurations may correspond to respective networks; and the configuration identifier may include a network identifier obtained, for example, from a subscriber identity module (SIM) engaged with the wireless communications device. |
| US08121579B2 |
Active mixer circuit and a receiver circuit or a millimeter-wave communication unit using it
The present invention provides a semiconductor integrated circuit including an active mixer circuit that is operated at low voltage, low noise, and low power consumption. It includes a transconductance amplifier, a transformer, and a multiplier, connects a transformer between the transconductance amplifier and the multiplier, and separates between the transconductance amplifier and the multiplier with respect to direct current inside the transformer. Further, each of the tranconductance amplifier and the multiplier is configured of transistors that are single-stacked between the supply voltage terminal and ground terminal. |
| US08121571B2 |
Method for second intercept point calibration based on opportunistic reception
A transceiver device that performs an intercept point calibration using signal interferers is described. The signal interferers include at least self-generated signal interferers or opportunistic signal interferers in surrounding areas. Due to non-linearity in the transceiver device, intermodulation distortion (IMD) signal components are generated. Filtering of the IMD signal components is performed to allow low-frequency components, such as a second order intermodulation (IM2) to pass through. A dynamic minimization algorithm is performed to minimize distortion effects of the low-frequency components. |
| US08121570B2 |
Method and system for flexible FM tuning
A system for processing signals is disclosed and may include a single chip having an integrated Bluetooth radio and an integrated FM radio. The single chip may include at least one processor that enables selecting from a range of FM channels, a particular frequency for one of the FM channels based on an intermediate frequency (IF). The particular frequency may be selected so that it is an integer multiple of a channel spacing between neighboring allocated FM channels within the range of FM channels, and may be offset by at most one-half the channel spacing. The at least one processor may enable determining a frequency error of the selected particular frequency for the one of the FM channels. The at least one processor may also enable determining, whether the particular frequency includes an on-frequency channel based on the determined frequency error. |
| US08121566B2 |
Broadcast receiver and broadcast channel seek method
A broadcasting receiver suitable for receiving broadcasting signal transmitted with signal format is provided in which carrier wave is allocated in a frequency channel with certain frequency offset and signal intensity, which comprises: an information acquiring means for acquiring information related to the frequency channel in seek; and a station existence determining means for determining whether the frequency channel is station-existent or not based on information acquired by the information acquiring means; and wherein, the information acquiring means acquires information for receiving intensity of carrier wave and information for frequency offset. |
| US08121562B2 |
Transmitter and hybrid communication method for capacity optimization and outage minimization
Embodiments of a system and method for communicating over a fading channel are generally described herein. A transmitter uses a water-filling technique at lower power levels when the channel is not experiencing fading and uses channel-inversion technique at higher power levels when the channel is experiencing some fading. The transmitter refrains from communicating when the channel is experiencing deep fading. An average transmit power specification is maintained over a predetermined period of time even though transmissions using the channel-inversion technique may significantly exceed the average transmit power specification. |
| US08121561B2 |
Power tuning system and method for power amplifier
An automatic power tuning system and method, and a transmitter employing either the system or the method. In one embodiment, the system includes: (1) a power detector circuit coupled to an output of a transmitter, the transmitter having an integrator with a first, reference integrator current power control input, a second, integrator capacitor power control input and a plurality of driver fingers selectably employable by a third, driver finger power control input, the power detector configured to generate signals indicating an output voltage of the transmitter and (2) a digital processing circuit coupled to the power detector circuit and configured to employ the signals to determine at least near-optimum reference integrator current and integrator capacitor settings and select a number of driver fingers to employ to drive the output voltage. |
| US08121560B1 |
Pre-distortion with enhanced convergence for linearization
A pre-distorter is provided for distorting an RF input signal to provide a pre-distorted radio frequency (RF) input signal to an amplifier that provides an amplified RF output signal, wherein the RF input signal has an envelope. The pre-distorter includes: a radio-frequency signal processing circuit that distorts the RF input signal according to a polynomial of powers of the envelope, each power of the envelope being weighted by a corresponding pre-distortion weight; and a performance monitor operable to compare a version of the amplified RF output signal to a delayed version of the RF input signal to provide an error signal, wherein the performance monitor is configured to iteratively adapt the coefficients based upon a gradient of a cost function, the cost function being a function of the error signal. |
| US08121557B2 |
Configurable RF sections for receiver and transmitter and methods for use therewith
A transceiver includes an RF receiver section having a plurality of RF receiver stages configured in parallel, and a configurable RF transmitter section. The plurality of RF receiver stages are selectively enabled in response to a control signal. The configurable RF transmitter section is configured to operate in one of: a mixed signal mode of operation and a phase modulation mode of operation, in response to the control signal. |
| US08121554B2 |
Radio apparatus
A data rate is to be determined depending on circumstances. A control unit (30) transmits, at a predetermined frequency, a request signal by which to supply information on a data rate to a targeted radio apparatus compatible with a variable data rate. The control unit (30) receives rate information from the targeted radio apparatus. The control unit (30) sets a data rate used in the case of transmitting data, based on the information on a data rate contained in the rate information. The control unit (30) identifies the reliability level of the data rate contained in the rate information. And when the reliability level is low, the control unit (30) lowers the frequency at which the rate request signal is transmitted. |
| US08121553B2 |
Apparatus and method for determining channel quality indicator (CQI) using beamforming in multi-antenna system
An apparatus and a method for determining a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) using a beamforming in a multi-antenna system are provided. A transmitter for determining a CQI based at least partly upon the beamforming in the multi-antenna system includes a beam former for distinguishing frequency tone intervals having a constant channel across an entire frequency tone, forming a beam by multiplying frequency tones of the frequency tone interval having the constant channel by different beamforming weights, and transmitting a preamble signal. Hence, the users can be scheduled based at least partly upon the beamforming gain, and throughput can be enhanced through the practical MCS selection. |
| US08121549B2 |
Method and system for allocating resource in a communication system
A method for allocating resource in a communication system. The resource allocation method includes dividing a data transmission region into a first region and a second region; allocating resource of the first region when a first Mobile Station (MS) among MSs is an MS located in a non-interference region; and allocating resource of the second region when a second MS among the MSs is an MS located in an interference region. |
| US08121546B2 |
Bluetooth-enabled mobile terminal and fast device connection method thereof
A Bluetooth-enabled mobile terminal and fast device connection method is provided for reducing device connection latency and power consumption. The device connection method includes inquiring of devices by broadcasting an inquiry at an inquiry Power Control Level (PCL), requesting the devices responded to the inquiry for remote names by transmitting a remote name request, determining whether a device is selected among the devices responded to the remote name request, determining, when a device is selected, whether the selected device is a pre-paired device, attempting, when the selected device is a pre-paired device, pairing with the selected device at a preset PCL, and attempting, when the selected device is not a pre-paired device, pairing with the selected device at the inquiry PCL set for broadcasting the inquiry. |
| US08121542B2 |
Virtual connector based on contactless link
The today's mobile handheld and portable devices become slim and thin while need to communicate with other devices and accessories that are attached or at very short range. The interface (contact based physical connector) becomes a real challenge and unreliable to the consumer that needs to attached and detach its device several times a day.It is an object of the present invention to provide system and method of replacing a contact based physical interface (connector) with very short range wireless (contactless) interface. This technique is called “contactless virtual connector” or CVC.The method of the present invention is based on a transmission of a very low power and wideband RF signal. The new innovating mechanism replaces the traditional physical connector with new radiated signal technique that consumes very low power and may be cost competitive with the today's physical connectors.The innovated contactless technology may be used for small flexi-cable replacement in the handheld devices as flip or slider based handheld devices.Although the contactless technique is a wireless based solution, yet, the link may be well secured at the Physical layer when the near-field technique is used. |
| US08121540B1 |
Repeater system and method for providing wireless communications
A repeater system is supplied for providing wireless communications. In an example, a repeater system is supplied to receive user information with an antenna in a wireless signal at a first frequency and transfer the user information in an electrical signal at the first frequency. A frequency converter receives the user information in the electrical signal at the first frequency and transfers the user information in the electrical signal at a second frequency. A first coupler receives the user information in the electrical signal at the second frequency and transfers the user information in a capacitive signal. A second coupler receives the user information in the capacitive signal and transfers the user information in an electrical signal at the second frequency. A second frequency converter receives the user information in the electrical signal at the second frequency and transfers the user information in the electrical signal at the first frequency. An antenna receives the user information in the electrical signal at the first frequency and transfers the user information in a wireless signal at the first frequency. Additionally, a method of providing wireless communications using the above mentioned repeater system is also provided. |
| US08121539B2 |
Antenna arrangement
A multi-part, distributed antenna arrangement including: an antenna element as a first part; and a semiconductor chip as a second part, separated from the first part, wherein the semiconductor chip comprises integrated radio frequency circuitry and a coupling element for wirelessly coupling the integrated radio frequency circuitry with the antenna element. |
| US08121538B2 |
Communication system and handshake method thereof
A communication system and a handshake method thereof are provided. The communication system has a service path and comprises a BS, at least one MS, and an MS. One of the at least one RS is located within a coverage of the BS. The MS is located within a coverage of one of the at least one RS. The BS, the at least one RS, and the MS are configured to build the service path via handshaking according to a plurality of control signals, each of the control signals has an authentication code adopted to be authenticated completeness of the control signal, and each of the control signals is generated by one of the BS, the at least one RS, and the MS. |
| US08121534B2 |
System and method for sending and receiving images via wireless audio channels
A system and method for adding images to a wireless audio service. The invention is adapted for use in a system for wirelessly transmitting and receiving an audio data stream and includes an arrangement for providing an image and a mechanism for inserting the image into the data stream prior to transmission thereof. In the illustrative embodiment, a third arrangement is provided for receiving and decoding the data stream to extract and a fourth arrangement is included for displaying the image while the audio signal is output. The fourth arrangement may be a digital radio, i.e., a radio adapted to process digital signals, such as a satellite radio, high definition radio, digital AM or other suitable primarily audio wireless communication system. In a specific embodiment, the invention includes an arrangement for automatically inserting a selected image in the stream. In the illustrative embodiment, this arrangement includes a source selector, an image editor coupled to the source selector, an image resizer, an image compressor, and an arrangement for allowing a user to add text, color, style and/or other information to an image output by the compressor. The invention further includes an arrangement for adding images from an archive to the stream and a graphical picture show composer for providing an image queue. An image server is included for feeding the image queue to the output data stream provided by a system server such as an XM or Sirius satellite radio server. |
| US08121531B2 |
Apparatus and method for selective interfering with wireless communications devices
An apparatus operable to disable operation of wireless communications devices, for use within a vehicle, includes a drive circuit coupled to at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies in response to movement of a vehicle above a defined threshold. The drive circuit being selectively disabled while the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold. The interference may take the form of a bare carrier wave, or may take the form of noise, and is transmitted at sufficient power to interfere with communication between the wireless communications device and a destination device. |
| US08121530B2 |
Image forming method and image forming apparatus
In an image forming method, an electrostatic latent image formed on a surface of a photoreceptor is developed into a developer image with a developer, and a printing paper transported on a transfer belt is brought into contact with the surface of the photoreceptor so as to transfer the developer image onto the printing paper. The printing paper is transported in a proper transport direction, in which a projection generated in one direction on the printing paper as a result of cutting the printing paper in a printing paper manufacturing process does not face a surface of the transfer belt at a leading edge of the printing paper being transported on the transfer belt. In this way, even in the presence of the projection generated when the printing paper is cut, the printing paper naturally strips off from the surface of the photoreceptor, thereby preventing toner contamination caused by a striping claw in contact with the leading edge of the printing paper. |
| US08121524B2 |
Developer supply container and image forming apparatus
A developer supply container includes a container body, a developer conveyance member, and a clog prevention member. The container body includes an outlet port and contains developer therein. The developer conveyance member includes a rotational shaft and a conveyance-member body. The conveyance-member body is supported by the rotational shaft and has flexibility. The developer conveyance member is disposed in the container body and conveys the developer to the outlet port for discharge. The clog prevention member is formed in the conveyance-member body in a position corresponding to the outlet port. The clog prevention member goes into the outlet port to protrude to outside of the container body as the rotational shaft rotates. |
| US08121521B2 |
Support structure for a photoconductive drum of a production printing system
A drum support structure of a production printing system is disclosed. The drum support structure secures a photoconductive drum within a printing system during operation. The drum support structure includes a plurality of ring members spaced in parallel along a longitudinal axis. The ring members have an outside diameter that corresponds with an inside diameter of the drum so that the ring members fit within the drum. The drum support structure also includes a plurality of connecting members that affix the ring members to one another. The drum support structure also includes an inner end cap that connects to an inner-most ring member through one or more connecting members and is adapted to contact one end of the drum. The drum support structure also includes an outer end cap that is adapted to fasten to an outer-most ring member and is further adapted to contact another end of the drum. |
| US08121511B2 |
Image forming apparatus and operation system for image forming apparatus
The present invention includes a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to a network, and a server which controls the operation state of the image forming apparatuses via the network. The image forming apparatuses are operable in a normal operation mode and in one of plural power-saving modes with different power consumption. The server individually sets the operation mode of the image forming apparatuses in accordance with a preset power-saving operation policy, and controls the image forming apparatuses so that each of the image forming apparatuses operates in the preset operation mode in each predetermined time band. |
| US08121508B2 |
Image forming apparatus and image forming method
The image forming apparatus includes: an image former which, upon receiving a first instruction, feeds a sheet and performs an image forming operation to form an image on the sheet; a fixing part which (i) secures a fixing nip by bringing outer circumferential surfaces of first and second rotating bodies into contact with each other, (ii) upon receiving a second instruction, heats the first and second rotating bodies until a temperature thereof reaches a target temperature, and (iii) thermally fixes the image onto the sheet passing through the fixing nip; and a determiner which determines output timings of the first and second instructions such that a timing at which a leading end, in a sheet convey direction, of the image formed on the sheet reaches the fixing nip and a timing at which the temperature of the first and second rotating bodies reaches the target temperature match each other. |
| US08121503B2 |
Image forming apparatus, developing device, and method of adjusting developer
An image forming apparatus includes an image supporting member; a developer supporting member for attaching developer to the image supporting member to form a developer image; a regulation member for forming a thin layer of the developer on the developer supporting member; a charge adjustment member for receiving a charge adjustment voltage and contacting with the thin layer of the developer formed on the developer supporting member to adjust a charge amount of the developer; and a charge adjustment voltage switching unit for switching the charge adjustment voltage applied to the charge adjustment member between an image forming voltage upon forming an image and a non-image forming voltage during a preparation operation. |
| US08121498B2 |
Image forming apparatus and developer supply method therefor
An image forming method and apparatus, the apparatus including a latent image carrier configured to carry a latent image thereon, a developing unit disposed facing the latent image carrier to develop the latent image with developer, a developer container containing the developer and attachable to the image forming apparatus, a developer detector configured to detect the presence of the developer in the developing unit, and a developer supply controller, and a disengagement detector configured to detect whether or not an intermediate transfer member is disengaged from the latent image carrier. The developer supply controller prohibits supply of the developer from the developer container to the developing unit when the developer detector detects that the developer is present in the developing unit, and when the disengagement detector detects that the intermediate transfer member is not disengaged from the latent image carrier. |
| US08121492B2 |
Optical transmitting apparatus
An optical transmitting apparatus includes a modulating unit that branches an input light and performs independent phase modulation to branched optical signals of arms, a phase adjusting unit that changes a phase difference between the optical signals of respective arms according to a control signal, a combining unit that combines modulated lights having the phase difference, an acquiring unit that acquires a positive-phase signal and a negative-phase signal from the combining unit, a subtracting unit that obtains a difference between the positive-phase signal and the negative-phase signal acquired by the acquiring unit, a detecting unit detecting a power of a differential signal from subtraction by the subtracting unit, and a control unit that changes the control signal according to signal component intensity detected by the detecting unit. |
| US08121489B2 |
Optical transmitting and receiving system
Signals can be superimposed on optical phase even when low-coherency light is used, and a bit rate and a signal coding format similar to those used in ordinary optical communications can be used. A transmitter includes an asymmetric interferometer or an antisqueezed light generator to convert a train of single pulses into a train of dual pulses. A receiver also includes an asymmetric interferometer that provides the same delay time as that between the dual pulses. The receiver allows pulses originating in the same light source to interfere, so that signals can be superimposed on the phase even when a low-coherency light source is used. The delay time (optical path length difference) provided in the asymmetric interferometer is set to be longer than half the period of the pulses outputted from the optical pulse source. In the transmitter, two pulses are modulated as a unit, one of the two pulses being the rear pulse of a pair of dual pulses and the other pulse being the front pulse of the next pair of dual pulses. In the receiver, a balanced detector receives the modulated pulses, and the balanced detector only outputs interference pulses but does not output non-interference pulses. |
| US08121488B2 |
Infrared communication apparatus and infrared communication method
An infrared communication apparatus and method enabling data communication with a receiving device, regardless of a protocol with which the receiving device is compatible. A transmitting unit transmits a first packet to inquire whether a receiving device is compatible with a first protocol and transmits a second packet to inquire whether the receiving device is compatible with a second protocol, to the receiving device at least once, and transmits a plurality of third packets to inquire whether the receiving device is compatible with a third protocol, to the receiving device. A receiving unit receives a response packet indicating a protocol with which the receiving device is compatible, from the receiving device having received the first packet, the second packet, and the plurality of third packets. A data transmitting unit transmits data to the receiving device, based on the protocol indicated by the response packet received by the receiving unit. |
| US08121487B2 |
System and method for free space micro machined optical bench
An optical bench communicates light through free space in a plurality of trenches formed in the bench, each of the trenches formed by deep ion reactive etching and defined by two opposing side walls, such that the free space is between the opposing side walls. An exemplary embodiment has a first trench operable to receive the beam of light and operable to communicate the beam of light through the free space in the first trench; an angled reflection side wall operable to receive the beam of light routed through the first trench and operable to reflect at least a portion of the beam of light; and a second trench operable to receive the portion of the beam of light reflected from the angled reflection side wall and operable to route the portion of the beam of light through the free space in the second trench. |
| US08121484B2 |
Bi-direction optical module installing light-emitting device and light-receiving device in signal package
A bi-directional optical module with an improved optical crosstalk between the transmitter unit and the receiver unit is disclosed. The optical module provides the LD, the PD, the WDM filter secured with the block, and the package with the co-axial shape. The block provides a slant surface, where the WDM filter is secured thereon, the bottom surface facing the PD mounted on the package, and an aperture connecting the slant surface and the bottom surface. The PD is enclosed within a space formed by the bottom surface and the primary surface, which electrically and optically isolates the PD from the LD. |
| US08121474B2 |
Standby broadband light source for passive optical networks
Techniques are disclosed for a broadband service provider to maintain continuity of service in the event that a broadband light source fails in a passive optical network which uses injection-locked transmitters. Generally, a first broadband light source is connected to a passive optical network. Should the first broadband light source fails, it is disconnected from the network, and a second broadband light source is connected to the network. |
| US08121473B2 |
Imaging apparatus
An imaging apparatus includes a photometry unit dividing a subject into a plurality of regions and performing a photometry, a first calculating unit calculating a first control value based on a photometry result of the photometry unit, a comparing unit comparing the first control value with a maximum value of photometry values in the plurality of regions, a second calculating unit correcting the first control value depending on a comparison result by the comparing unit to calculate a second control value, an image pickup unit picking up an image of the subject according to the second control value and generates an image data, and a third calculating unit calculating a lightness improvement amount for a correction of dark area gradation of the image data depending on the comparison result. Therefore, optimum exposure adjustment and correction of dark area gradation can be performed depending on the subject. |
| US08121471B1 |
Focusing system for motion picture camera
A camera focusing system employs left and right video cameras flanking a principal photographic camera. The video cameras are coupled to respective video monitors, each of which has a vertical cursor line superimposed in the middle of the screen representing 90°. A cursor controller allows this line to be moved left and right. As the line is moved left or right to track a desired point of focus on the camera subject, the value increases or decreases from 90°. Software interprets the cursor displacement and determines a real world angular value based on calibration of the focusing system. The angular values are then used to compute the focal distance between the principal camera and the subject. Other embodiments are also described and claimed. |
| US08121470B2 |
Focusing device, image pick-up apparatus, and control method
A focusing device includes a first focus-position determining unit configured to determine a focus position based on a change in a radio-frequency component in an image signal obtained with movement of a focusing lens, a second focus-position determining unit configured to determine a focus position by using a different process from a process performed by the first focus-position determining unit, a mode setting unit configured to select at least a first mode which uses a result with the first focusing-position determining unit together with the second focusing-position determining unit or a second mode which uses a result with the first focus-position determining unit without the second focus-position determining unit, and a control unit configured to control driving of the focusing lens according to selection by the mode setting unit such that the focusing lens is driven in the first mode at a higher speed than in the second mode. |
| US08121469B2 |
Autofocus system
An autofocus system includes an image pickup unit that takes a subject image formed by an optical system; an autofocus unit that performs focus adjustment on the optical system so as to bring into focus a subject within a predetermined AF area in a photographing image taken by the image pickup unit; a tracking unit that moves an AF frame, which indicates an outline of the AF area, in accordance with the movement of the subject within the photographing image taken by the image pickup unit; a face direction detection unit that detects a face direction of the subject from the photographing image; a face direction registration unit that registers the face direction of the subject together with coordinates which represent a position of the AF frame in the photographing image; a face direction comparing unit that compares the detected face direction of the subject with the registered face direction. |
| US08121467B2 |
Position controller for optical element
A position controller for an optical element of an optical system includes a first movable member supported by a support member to be movable relative thereto in a first direction orthogonal to an optical axis, a second movable member which holds the optical element and is supported by the first movable member to be movable relative thereto in a second direction which is nonparallel to the first direction, an electromagnetic actuator that produces a driving force for moving at least the second movable member in the second direction, and an insertion/removal drive mechanism for moving the second movable member between an anti-shake driving position, at which a position control for the second movable member can be performed using the electromagnetic actuator, and a removed position at which the second movable member is positioned outside a range of the position control that uses the electromagnetic actuator. |
| US08121460B2 |
Information recording medium and playback device for playing back 3D images
To aim to increase the use efficiency of a screen on which a subtitle is displayed together with a stereoscopic image. A video shift mode is set for each subtitle. When a stereoscopic image is played back, in accordance with the video shift mode of the subtitle, a video plane is shifted upward or downward to perform cropping processing of collecting black frames provided in the upper end and the lower end of the screen in either one of the upper end and the lower end so as to save a display region of the subtitle. |
| US08121459B2 |
Preview method
A preview method is discussed. According to an embodiment, the preview method includes calculating preview reproduction periods for respective chapters that are selected for reproduction, based on a set preview period; and reproducing each chapter for the preview reproduction period calculated for the corresponding chapter. |
| US08121458B2 |
Fiber distribution hub with swing frame and modular termination panels
A fiber distribution system includes one or more fiber distribution hubs (FDHs) that provide an interface at a termination panel between incoming fibers routed from a central office and outgoing fibers routed to network subscribers. Termination modules can be incrementally added to the termination panel. The FDH can include one or more optical splitter modules that split an optical signal into two or more signals. The optical splitter modules can be incrementally added along with one or more storage modules. The subscriber termination panel, optical splitters, and storage modules can be provided on a swing frame. |
| US08121456B2 |
Cable payout systems and methods
A method for deploying a telecommunications cable includes obtaining a payout arrangement including a length of cable, selecting one of the first end and the second end of the length of cable to access; accessing the selected end of the length of cable; and pulling the selected end to unwind the length of cable from the payout arrangement. In some embodiments, the cable is arranged around adjacent spools. In other embodiments, the cable is arranged within a container with access opening on the top and bottom. In still other embodiments, the cable is wound around a spool and at least one spacer. |
| US08121455B2 |
Carrier system for mounting telecommunication and data technology devices
The invention relates to a support system (5) for fixing telecommunication and data systems technology resources, comprising at least one profiled support (72), wherein the at least one profiled support (72) is constructed with fixing means on at least one side and with further fixing means (135) by means of which resources can be fixed to the front and/or rear (V, R) of the support system (5). |
| US08121454B2 |
Apparatus for the collection and transmission of electromagnetic radiation
A collector for propagating incident radiation is disclosed. The collector may comprise a light directing component coupled to a buffer component, a first propagation component coupled to the buffer component and configured to transmit the incident radiation into a collector region through one of a plurality of windows, and an optical transport assembly coupled to an end of the collector region and having a second propagation component. Each light directing component may be configured to redirect the incident radiation from a first direction to a second direction, and the collector region may include a plurality of regions exhibiting a refractive index value that gradually transitions from about 1.5 to about 2.0. The second propagation component may be further configured to retain the incident radiation. |
| US08121451B2 |
Module having a plurality of circuit boards stacked with a prescribed distance therebetween and optical connector for the same
An optical connector has a body, a mirror provided within the body, an optical waveguide path, and a linking section. The optical waveguide path extends from a first end face exposed on a part of the surface of the body, bending via the mirror up to a second end face exposed on a part of the surface of the body not parallel to the first end face. The linking section is formed so as to include the first end, face and has a mechanism linking the fixing member first end face to the second end face of the optical waveguide path of the fixing member. |
| US08121450B2 |
Coupling between free space and optical waveguide using etched coupling surfaces
A plasma-based etching process is used to specifically shape the endface of an optical substrate supporting an optical waveguide into a contoured facet which will improve coupling efficiency between the waveguide and a free space optical signal. The ability to use standard photolithographic techniques to pattern and etch the optical endface facet allows for virtually any desired facet geometry to be formed—and replicated across the surface of a wafer for the entire group of assemblies being fabricated. A lens may be etched into the endface using a properly-defined photolithographic mask, with the focal point of the lens selected with respect to the parameters of the optical waveguide and the propagating free space signal. Alternatively, an angled facet may be formed along the endface, with the angle sufficient to re-direct reflected/scattered signals away from the optical axis. |
| US08121448B2 |
Rotary transformer
A rotary transformer having first light-conducting curved tube segments, the first tube segments being disposed to form a first tubular arrangement, is disclosed. The rotary transformer has at least one first transmitter for producing first light signals and at least one first receiver for receiving the first light signals. The first light signals are transmitted from the first transmitter via the first tube segments to the first receiver. |
| US08121443B2 |
Optical transmission apparatus
An optical transmission apparatus includes an optical element that has at least one of a light emitting part and a light receiving part on a surface opposed to a mounting surface of the optical element, an optical waveguide that is made of a polymer material, and has an optical path deflecting part in a through hole or an opening, wherein the optical path deflecting part deflects an optical path of the optical with respect to the at least one of the light emitting part and the light receiving part of the optical element, and a substrate that has a mounting region on which the mounting surface of the optical element is mounted, and a plurality of waveguide holding parts, each holding the optical waveguide so that the optical path deflecting part of the optical waveguide is arranged opposite to the at least one of the light emitting part and the light receiving part of the optical element. |
| US08121439B2 |
End-to-end design of electro-optic imaging systems using the nonequidistant discrete Fourier transform
A unified design strategy takes into account different subsystems within an overall electro-optic imaging system. In one implementation, the design methodology predicts end-to-end imaging performance using a spatial model for the source and models for the optical subsystem, the detector subsystem and the digital image processing subsystem. The optical subsystem and digital image processing subsystems are jointly designed taking into account the entire system. Unconventional techniques such as the nonequidistant DFT (nDFT) are used to accelerate the design process. |
| US08121438B2 |
Aircraft doors
An alarm system for an aircraft door is disclosed. The alarm system comprises a sensor for sensing when the door operating handle is about to be gripped by an operator and an aural alarm associated with the sensor. The oral alarm sounds when the sensor detects that the handle is about to be gripped. Means are provided for arming the sensor and/or the aural alarm when the aircraft door is armed. |
| US08121435B2 |
Systems and methods for resolution switching
Systems and methods are provided for switching a resolution of an image, wherein the image includes at least one block. In some embodiments, the image is compressed. At least one compressed block in the compressed image is tagged, if the data size of the compressed block exceeds a threshold. A non-transition region is grown based on the at least one compressed block that is tagged until a safe-transition block is reached, wherein the non-transition region includes the at least one compressed block in the compressed image. The resolution of each compressed block in the non-transition region is reduced. |
| US08121434B2 |
Multi-pass image resampling
Multi-pass image resampling technique embodiments are presented that employ a series of one-dimensional filtering, resampling, and shearing stages to achieve good efficiency while maintaining high visual fidelity. In one embodiment, high-quality (multi-tap) image filtering is used inside each one-dimensional resampling stage. Because each stage only uses one-dimensional filtering, the overall computation efficiency is very good and amenable to graphics processing unit (GPU) implementation using pixel shaders. This embodiment also upsamples the image before shearing steps in a direction orthogonal to the shearing to prevent aliasing, and then downsamples the image to its final size with high-quality low-pass filtering. This ensures that none of the stages causes excessive blurring or aliasing. |
| US08121428B2 |
Accelerated image rendering
Systems and methods are presented for accelerated image rendering. In one implementation, the systems and methods receive digital image data and derive intermediate data associated with the digital image data to accelerate image rendering. |
| US08121425B2 |
Method and apparatus for encoding and decoding multi-view image
Provided is a method and apparatus for encoding and decoding a multi-view image. By predicting a current picture based on at least one of an intra (I) picture of a previous image processing block and an I picture of a current image processing block, which is generated for a different view than a view at which the I picture of the previous image processing block is generated, and encoding the current picture based on the prediction, it is possible to prevent display quality degradation that may occur in images at views other than a base view. |
| US08121424B2 |
System, computer program product and associated methodology for video motion detection using spatio-temporal slice processing
A system, computer program product and associated methodology for video motion detection combines a series of images of a video sequence into an image volume having vertices of X, Y and t. The image volume is sliced in either the (X,t) or (Y,t) planes, filtered with a spatio-temporal filter and thresholded to reduce the amount of information. Then a search algorithm searches along search lines in a subset of the video sequence to locate motion. Motion can be detected by identifying lines that are not parallel to any of the vertices. Stationary subjects and lighting changes appear as lines parallel to one of the vertices. Thus, true motion can be distinguished from lighting changes. |
| US08121423B2 |
Remote user interface raster segment motion detection and encoding
Raster segment commands are generated by a delta encoder and are encoded for raster segments detected to have moved in the current frame with respect to a location of the raster segment in a previous frame. Raster segment motion commands are stored in a queue and, when written, copy a raster segment into the current frame from a previous payload or cache. When written from the queue to a payload, raster segment motion commands are applied to a copy of the current frame maintained at the server using a copy of the previous payload sent. When copying a raster segment from a raster segment cache, a raster segment cache command retrieves identified raster segment data from the raster segment cache and copies the raster segment into a particular location in the current frame at the client. The raster segment commands are sent to a client via a payload to copy a raster segment from a previous payload into the current frame at the client or from a raster segment cache to the current frame. |
| US08121421B2 |
Media content management
The invention relates to media management and combats media degradations arising when transcoding the media. The invention solves this by—generating processing hints based on the media transcoding. The hints are employed for controlling a post-transcoding processing of the transcoded media content in connection with rendering the media. The hints and this controlled processing increases the user-perceived quality when rendering the media by mitigating the media degradations caused by the transcoding. The processing hints could specify how the actual transcoding was performed by including values of the employed transcoding parameters or information of the alterations to the media caused by transcoding. Furthermore, instructions or commands for appropriate post-transcoding processing could also be processing hints according to the invention. |
| US08121418B2 |
Methods and systems for significance coefficient coding in video compression
A method for decoding significance coefficients in an encoded video sequence is described. An encoded video bitstream is received. Codebook table information is retrieved from the bitstream. Significance symbols are decoded using the retrieved codebook table information. Significance coefficients are decoded using the significance symbols. A plurality of transform coefficients is dequantized. An inverse transform is applied to a residual signal. A video sequence is constructed. A method for coding significance coefficients in a video sequence is also described. |
| US08121414B2 |
Image processing method, image processing apparatus, and image forming apparatus
The number of pixels in an identified pixel region is counted, a feature point of the pixel region is extracted and the number of the feature points is counted when the number of the pixels counted has been determined to be equal to or higher than a first threshold value, whether the counted number of the feature points is equal to or lower than a second threshold value is determined, features is calculated based on the feature point extracted from the pixel region when the number of the feature points has been determined to be above the second threshold value, and the first threshold value is changed when the number of the feature points has been determined to be equal to or lower than the second threshold value. Image similarity determination process can be stably performed without any degradation in determination accuracy. |
| US08121413B2 |
Method and system for controlling browser by using image
Browser controlling method and system using an image are provided. The method includes inputting an image; recognizing the image; and executing a command based on the recognized image. Accordingly, the command based on the user's input image can be executed in the browser. Also, since the browser does not need to display various function buttons, the screen can be utilized more efficiently. |
| US08121412B2 |
Recognition of tabular structures
A number of regions and partitions may be created based on input handwritten atoms and a grammar parsing framework. Productions for tabular structures may be added to the grammar parsing framework to produce an extended grammar parsing framework. Each of the regions may be searched for a tabular structure. Upon finding a tabular structure, a type of tabular structure may be determined. Configuration partitions may be created, based on the added productions, and added to the created partitions. A set of configuration regions may be created based on the configuration partitions and added to the created regions. The productions for tabular structures and productions of the grammar parsing framework may be applied, as rewriting rules, to the atoms to produce possible recognition results. A best recognition result may be determined and displayed. A mechanism for correcting misrecognition errors, which may occur while recognizing tabular structures, may be provided. |
| US08121410B2 |
System, apparatus, and method for providing illegal use research service for image data, and system, apparatus, and method for providing proper use research service for image data
In a system for providing an illegal use research service for image data, the image data received from a terminal apparatus is registered as a research subject, a research condition for research whether or not the image data being registered is illegally used by a Web site on the network is set, image data that are identical or similar to the image data being the research subject from a web site on the network are searched for based on a feature amount and the research condition, and a search result is informed as a research report to the research client using said terminal apparatus. |
| US08121409B2 |
Method for handling static text and logos in stabilized images
To handle static text and logos in stabilized images without destabilizing the static text and logos, a method of handling overlay subpictures in stabilized images includes detecting an overlay subpicture in an input image, separating the overlay subpicture from the input image, stabilizing the input image to form a stabilized image, and merging the overlay subpicture with the stabilized image to obtain an output image. |
| US08121405B2 |
Systems and methods for skin-color-cognizant color mapping
Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems and methods for adjusting image color values to accommodate a different color gamut. In some embodiments, colors within a skin-color region are preserved while colors outside the skin-color region are stretched to fill the new color gamut. |
| US08121404B2 |
Exposure control apparatus and image pickup apparatus
An exposure control apparatus for controlling an exposure adjustment mechanism on the basis of a captured image signal includes the following elements. A face detecting unit detects a face of a person appearing in a captured image on the basis of the captured image signal. A histogram data determining unit determines histogram data by setting a face detection region in the captured image according to detection information and detecting at least a brightness value of the face detection region from the captured image signal. A target brightness setting unit sets a target brightness range for desired brightness of the face. An exposure control amount determining unit determines, when a face is detected, an amount of control for the exposure adjustment mechanism by comparing the target brightness range with a brightness value at a peak of the histogram data or a brightness region in the vicinity of the peak. |
| US08121401B2 |
Method for reducing enhancement of artifacts and noise in image color enhancement
A method for enhancing the color of an image to be displayed on a display includes receiving an image having a plurality of pixels where each of the pixels has a plurality of color components. The image is filtered using a spatial filter in such a manner that the lower frequency content of the image is enhanced in such a manner that the dynamic range of the lower frequency content is increased. The filtered image is modified such that the higher frequency content of the image to obtain a modified image that includes the higher frequency content and the lower frequency content. |
| US08121392B2 |
Embedded imaging and control system
A stand alone imaging system is disclosed that captures undistorted, high resolution, stop-action images of objects (e.g., medicine pills) moving at automation speeds, processes the images in real time, and then performs real-time I/O based control that is a function of the image processing results. The imaging system has a form factor that enables it to be embedded inside a product (e.g., a pill dispenser). The imaging system also has a flexible I/O system so that a variety of different applications can be handled by changing only the programming and the external hardware connected to the device in which the imaging system is embedded. In the case of pill dispensing and quality control, a miniature, low cost imaging system can be embedded in a pill dispenser to obtain a pill image and then process the image in real time as the pill moves through a counting system. The embedded imaging system processes the images fast enough and with sufficient quality and resolution so as to command a pill counting mechanism to dispense or reject the pill based on the image processing results. Images of the pills can also be sent to a remote location or an archive. The embedded imaging system has sufficient processing power and I/O to control the entire pill counting mechanism. Lighting may be provided by a separate solid state lighting source which may be controlled by the embedded imaging system's camera or operated independently. Because of the rules governing abstracts, this abstract should not be used to construe the claims. |
| US08121384B2 |
Method and apparatus for magnetic character recognition
A method for magnetic character recognition may include preparing standard array data of peak intervals; generating a regeneration waveform out of a character string of magnetic characters printed on a surface of an information data recording medium; segmenting a character waveform of each magnetic character out of the regeneration waveform; generating array data of peak intervals out of an array pattern of a plurality of intervals between peaks that are included in the character waveform; and comparing the array data of peak intervals with the standard array data of peak intervals; wherein, based on a comparison result of comparing the array data of peak intervals with the standard array data of peak intervals, a read character is identified with a character corresponding to an array data of peak intervals that shows the highest coincidence. |
| US08121382B2 |
Method for setting at least one control variable of a filter for noise reduction in medical images
A method for setting a control variable of a filter for noise reduction in medical images is provided. Image data of the medical images is classified into at least one noise region and at least one structure region. A variance measurement is performed either for all the image pixels or a subset of them to determine the edge thicknesses. A histogram is generated from the edge thicknesses. The maximum of the histogram is determined and a Gaussian curve is fitted to the histogram. A threshold value for noise and structure is determined as a function of the standard deviation of the Gaussian curve. The noise and structure are measured in the regions. The standard noise and structure deviations are determined and compared. The control variable is setup as a function of the comparison of noise and structure. The invention can be used for reduction of temporal noise in bandpass images. |
| US08121381B2 |
X-ray image processing apparatus and method
An X-ray image processing apparatus includes a site information determination unit configured to determine, based on discrete site information, continuous site information to be obtained by radiographing a moving image, an information acquisition unit configured to extract, from the discrete site information, image construction information, image processing method information, and X-ray exposure control method information, a computation unit configured to compute processing information about a site located between positions represented by the discrete site information using the information extracted by the information acquisition unit, an image processing unit configured to perform image processing based on the processing information which is computed by the computation unit, and an X-ray exposure control unit configured to perform X-ray exposure based on the processing information which is computed by the computation unit. |
| US08121380B2 |
Computerized imaging method for a three-dimensional reconstruction from two-dimensional radiological images; implementation device
A set of surface reference marks (26, 26′) detectable by a surface sensor (4) is disposed on the surface of the subject for acquiring three-dimensional or 3D surface images of the surface of the subject, the surface reference marks being radio-opaque; with each radiological image (3, 3′) acquired is associated a corresponding surface image acquired at substantially the same time; an iterative process includes a phase of incidence angle calculation (10) and a phase of deformation calculation (11), intended to determine (15) the relative positions of the radiological images and the surface images as well as to perform a positioning (16) in the three dimensions of the radiological images by assuming an absence of deformation of the subject, and intended to determine (19) and correct (21) on the radiological images the deformations of the subject for the relative positions determined in the phase of incidence angle calculation. |
| US08121374B2 |
Bands artifact reduction for cardiac CT imaging
A subject is imaged at a preselected phase point (34) which occurs in one or more successive cardiac cycles as the subject moves in an examination region (16). An illumination window (94) illuminates each reconstructed voxel (A, B, C) of the subject in phase point windows (92) adjacent surroundingly the preselected phase point (34). A temporal window (90) is determined which includes an integer number N of successive cardiac cycles, in which the phase point windows (92) are entirely included in the illumination window (94). The illumination window (94) is truncated in accordance with the determined temporal window (90). First and second regions (72, 74) are determined along an axial direction (Z), the first and second regions (72, 74) alternating with one another. A temporal weighting profile processor (64) generates a projection dependent temporal weighting profile (66). A temporal window processor (102) applies the normalized backprojection weights for each voxel which lies in an associated first region. A varying weight processor (110) continuously smoothly weights readings for each voxel lying in an associated second region (74). A backprojection processor (120) three-dimensionally backprojects the weighted readings into a volumetric image representation. |
| US08121372B2 |
Method for reducing image noise in the context of capturing an image using two different radiation spectra
The invention relates to a method for reducing image noise in the context of capturing at least one radiation-based image of a region of interest using two different radiation spectra, in particular two different x-ray radiation spectra, comprising the following steps: capturing raw images of the region of interest using the two different radiation spectra with in each case mutually paired measured values; and to separate different materials in the region of interest, applying to the captured raw images at least one inversion operator with integrated noise filtering, said operator describing a transition from a measured value pair to an assigned reconstruction value pair. |
| US08121371B2 |
Method of performing measurements on digital images
A first and a second image are expressed in a common coordinate system by applying a geometric transformation to the second image so as to map a structure in the second image onto a corresponding structure in the first image in a common coordinate system. Starting from initial values, the parameters of the geometric transformation are updated taking into account the result of an evaluation of a cost function.Measurements are performed in the common coordinate system. |
| US08121366B2 |
Alignment of fat-sat and non-fat-sat T1 weighted images in MRI applications
A method for aligning medical images, including: generating a learned joint distribution of intensities of corresponding voxels of images acquired by a first modality and a second modality, wherein the first and second modalities are different from each other; acquiring a first image of a patient using the first modality; acquiring a second image of the patient using the second modality; and aligning the first and second images based on the learned joint distribution. |
| US08121363B2 |
Thermographic image processing system
The system permits sharing both thermographic image processing and visualization across a single universal platform, thus allowing for sharing of processor resources and visualization of thermographic images on a variety of imaging (client) devices without high-performance graphical display cards. In a typical embodiment, a (e.g., medical) thermographic image 2D linear registration algorithm is implemented on a Cell Broadband Engine processor, which has nine processor cores on a chip and has a 4-way SIMD unit for each core. This multi-core processor technological advancement allows for the development of a thermographic image processing system that is used for thermographic image capturing modalities. A platform is used to provide a generalized medical thermographic image capturing and processing system, which handles different types of medical thermographic image apparatuses on a single data processing platform. |
| US08121358B2 |
Method of grouping images by face
A method of browsing face regions in digital images in a photo displaying system includes detecting a plurality of face regions from a plurality of images, grouping the face regions into a plurality of clusters based on similarities of the face regions, determining a degree of connection between the clusters, modifying the degree of connection between the clusters according to a relationship of the face regions, and displaying the face regions according to the degree of connection between the clusters. |
| US08121353B2 |
Apparatus, system and method for mapping information
An apparatus, system and method for mapping information. The apparatus for mapping information includes an information input unit providing image information and position-view information in a specified area, a three-dimensional model database storing three-dimensional model data of a structure within the specified area and generating a two-dimensional image from the three-dimensional model data using the position-view information, an image processing unit comparing the two-dimensional image with the image information to analyze the image information, a related information acquiring unit acquiring structure related information within the specified area with reference to the analyzed image information, and an information mapping processing unit mapping the structure related information on the image information and outputting a mapping result. |
| US08121350B2 |
Apparatus, method and computer program for determining a position on the basis of a camera image from a camera
An apparatus for determining a position on the basis of a camera image from a camera includes a Hough transformer, a positional description establisher and a database comparator. The Hough transformer is formed to identify circular arcs or elliptical arcs in the camera image or in a preprocessed version of the camera image derived therefrom, and to identify a plurality of straight stretches passing in various directions through the camera image or through the preprocessed version. The positional description establisher is formed to obtain a positional description describing the identified circular arcs or elliptical arcs and the identified straight stretches by parameters, on the basis of the identified circular arcs or elliptical arcs and on the identified straight stretches. The database comparator further is formed to compare the positional description with a plurality of comparative positional descriptions and to obtain information on a position as a result of the comparison. |
| US08121345B2 |
Vision guidance system and method for identifying the position of crop rows in a field
A system and method of identifying a position of a crop row in a field, where an image of two or more crop rows is transmitted to a vision data processor. The vision data processor defines a candidate scan line profile for a corresponding heading and pitch associated with a directional movement of a vehicle, for example, traversing the two or more crop rows. The candidate scan line profile comprises an array of vector quantities, where each vector quantity comprises an intensity value and a corresponding position datum. A preferential scan line profile in a search space about the candidate scan line profile is determined, and the candidate scan line profile is identified as a preferential scan line profile for estimating a position (e.g., peak variation) of one or more crop rows if a variation in the intensity level of the candidate scan line profile exceeds a threshold variation value. In addition, a template scan line profile may be utilized, where a candidate scan line profile is identified to be a preferential scan line profile if it is consistent with the template scan line profile. |
| US08121341B2 |
Data processing apparatus and method
A water marking system generates a water marked image frame for conveying a payload data word by combining at least one image frame with a two-dimensional water mark pattern. The water mark pattern includes plural regions each associated with one of symbols of the payload data word. Each region includes a two dimensional water mark block selected from a predetermined set of possible water mark blocks to represent the value of the payload data symbol associated with that region. A detecting data processing apparatus detects the payload data from a received water marked image frame, which has been encoded by utilizing a block match prior probability calculator operable to correlate each region of the water marked image frame with each of the water mark blocks from the set of water marked blocks) to form for each region a set of probability surfaces. |
| US08121339B2 |
Adaptive mark placement
A method of encoding a message into a document containing known information is disclosed. The method comprises identifying (1502) a plurality of logical information content categories associated with the known information, establishing (1503) a priority order in which said message is to be added to each of the categories, determining (1504) an amount of said message to be added to each of the categories, and encoding (1506) the message into the document according to the established priority order and the determined amount. |
| US08121338B2 |
Process for generating images with realistic text insertion
A method for generating an output image with realistic individual text inserts via software loaded on a computer is provided. The method comprises the steps of (1) providing a base image in a commercial graphical format with at least one position frame defined within the base image; the position frame defines an area within the base image where a text insert is insertable; (2) providing software loaded on the computer which transforms a low resolution image into a high resolution image; (3) defining a vector path within the position frame; (4) arranging the text insert along the vector path; (5) composing the text insert wherein the such step comprises the steps of (i) selecting individual elements, (ii) sizing the individual elements as a function of the vector path, (iii) assembling the elements into letters, and (iv) assembling the letters along the vector path to compose the text insert; and (6) entering text of the text insert via a user interface. |
| US08121337B2 |
Free air magnetic circuit and speaker
Disclosed is a free air magnetic circuit and speaker in which no pole piece is used. A magnet layer is located between a top plate and a back plate with a gap defined essentially in the center thereof. Into the gap, a wire coil attached to a diaphragm may be inserted. A magnet flux passes between the top and back plates. In some embodiments, the interior edge of each of the metal plates tapers toward the gap, and the magnet layer extends past the peripheral edge of each of the metal plates so as to discourage magnetic flux between the metal layers at the peripheral edge. |
| US08121335B2 |
Accentuated headwear
An article of accentuated headwear includes an attire portion configured for attachment to a wearer's head. An electronic visual display and an audio output device are operatively coupled to the attire portion. The headwear includes an electronic memory. A processor is in data communication with the electronic visual display, the audio output device, and the electronic memory. The processor includes programming to actuate the electronic visual display and the audio output device. The headwear includes a user interface for controlling the processor. The headwear includes a power source for powering the processor, the electronic visual display, the audio output device, and the electronic memory. |
| US08121332B2 |
Microphone mount for a cabinet
A microphone mount for mounting a microphone adjacent a speaker housed in a cabinet is defined by an elongate body having gripping fingers on opposite ends. The body is extendable and an elastic cord housed in the body normally pulls the gripping fingers together so that the mount may be extended and retained on a cabinet. A microphone interface is attached to one end of the body, which allows the user to position the microphone in any desired position relative to the speaker. |
| US08121331B2 |
Surface mount silicon condenser microphone package
The present invention relates to a surface mount package for a silicon condenser microphone. The inventive package uses a limited number of components which simplifies manufacturing and lowers costs, and features a substrate which performs functions for which multiple components were traditionally required, including providing an interior surface on which the silicon condenser die is mechanically attached, providing an interior surface for making electrical connections between the die and the package, and providing an exterior surface for making electrical connections between package and a user's printed circuit board. In some embodiments, the acoustic port is located in the substrate directly under the silicon condenser die which decreases the thickness of the inventive package. |
| US08121329B2 |
Expandable speaker assemblies for portable media devices
Speaker assemblies and cradles for portable media players are disclosed herein. Speaker assemblies can include means for contracting and expanding the speakers to facilitate viewing and listening to a PMP in multiple orientations. Preferred means for contracting and expanding the speaker casings are operably coupled with means for rotating the PMP, such that when the PMP is in a wide viewable configuration, the speakers are expanded. |
| US08121323B2 |
Inter-channel communication in a multi-channel digital hearing instrument
A multi-channel digital hearing instrument is provided that includes a microphone, an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, a sound processor, a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter and a speaker. The microphone receives an acoustical signal and generates an analog audio signal. The A/D converter converts the analog audio signal into a digital audio signal. The sound processor includes channel processing circuitry that filters the digital audio signal into a plurality of frequency band-limited audio signals and that provides an automatic gain control function that permits quieter sounds to be amplified at a higher gain than louder sounds and may be configured to the dynamic hearing range of a particular hearing instrument user. The D/A converter converts the output from the sound processor into an analog audio output signal. The speaker converts the analog audio output signal into an acoustical output signal that is directed into the ear canal of the hearing instrument user. |
| US08121322B2 |
Method for identifying hearing aids within the scope of wireless programming
A method for identifying hearing aids is described wherein a wireless connection is established between a control device and at least one unidentified hearing aid, and which comprises the following procedural steps: a request is sent by the control device to at least one unidentified hearing aid; the request is received by the hearing aid addressed; a response is provided in the hearing aid addressed, whereby the response contains an individual identifier of the respective hearing aid; and the response is sent by the hearing aid addressed to the control device, whereby the response is transmitted at a point in time that is individually determined by the responding hearing aid. |
| US08121321B2 |
Hearing aids
The hearing aids comprise a microphone, a signal processor, and a receiver, and have a constitution in which the microphone generates an input signal from an input sound and generate an output signal and send it to the ear on the opposite side only when a specific condition is satisfied with respect to the input signal at the signal processor, and the receiver reproduces an output sound from the output signal. |
| US08121318B1 |
Two channel audio surround sound circuit with automatic level control
The two channel audio surround sound circuit with automatic level control includes a right amplifier, a left amplifier, a right automatic level control and a left automatic level control. A right input is coupled to a positive input of the left amplifier through the right automatic gain control. The right input is coupled to a negative input of the right amplifier and coupled to the output of the right amplifier with one resistor. A left input is coupled to a positive input of the right amplifier through the left automatic gain control. The left input is coupled to a negative input of the left amplifier and coupled to the output of the left amplifier with another resistor. |
| US08121311B2 |
Mixer with adaptive post-filtering
A noise reduction system includes multiple transducers that generate time domain signals. A transforming device transforms the time domain signals into frequency domain signals. A signal mixing device mixes the frequency domain signals according to a mixing ratio. Frequency domain signals are rotated in phase to generate phase rotated signals. A post-processing device attenuates portions of the output based on coherence levels of the signals. |
| US08121310B2 |
Sound receiving apparatus and method
A plurality of sound receiving units is installed onto an equipment body. An initial information memory stores an initial direction of the equipment body in a terminal coordinate system based on the equipment body. An orientation detection unit detects an orientation of the equipment body in a world coordinate system based on a real space. A lock information output unit outputs lock information representing to rock the orientation. An orientation information memory stores the orientation detected when the lock information is output. A direction conversion unit converts the initial direction to a target sound direction in the world coordinate system by using the orientation stored in the orientation information memory. A directivity forming unit forms a directivity of the plurality of sound receiving units toward the target sound direction. |
| US08121305B2 |
Fetal communication system
A compact fetal sound system delivers high-fidelity sound to a fetus in utero through a miniature, abdominally mounted driver with a convex diaphragm. No gel is necessary at the interface between the diaphragm and the mother's abdomen. Digital signal processing shapes the frequency spectrum of the sound transmitted to the fetus, so that after traveling through the attenuative tissue of the expectant mother the desired volume of sound and frequency content reach the ears of the fetus. As the term of pregnancy progresses, the frequency shaping provided by the digital signal processing automatically varies to compensate for changes in uterine lining thickness and the like. Preferred embodiments also include a microphone attached to the abdomen of the mother and signal processing to correct for frequency and amplitude distortions of sound eminating from the womb. Embodiments also include an elastic belt to maintain the transducer and microphone against the abdomen. |
| US08121296B2 |
Method and apparatus for security in a data processing system
Method and apparatus for secure transmissions. Each user is provided a registration key. A long-time updated broadcast key is encrypted using the registration key and provided periodically to a user. A short-time updated key is encrypted using the broadcast key and provided periodically to a user. Broadcasts are then encrypted using the short-time key, wherein the user decrypts the broadcast message using the short-time key. |
| US08121294B2 |
System and method for a derivation function for key per page
Disclosed herein are systems, methods and computer-readable media to perform data encryption and decryption using a derivation function to obtain a key per page of data in a white-box environment. The method includes sharing a master key with the sender and receiver, splitting the input data into blocks and sub-blocks, and utilizing a set of keys and a master key to derive a page key. In another aspect of this disclosure, the key validation and shuffling operations are included. This method allows for the derivation of a key instead of storing a predetermined key, thus maintaining system security in a white-box environment. |
| US08121287B2 |
System, method, and service for performing unified broadcast encryption and traitor tracing for digital content
A unified broadcast encryption system divides a media key tree into S subtrees, divides digital content into segments, and converts some of the segments into variations; the number of segments and variations is q. The system subdivides each of the subtrees into q/|S| subdivided subtrees, assigns a key media variant to each of the subdivided subtrees, and generates a unified media key block (MKBu). The system decrypts digital content by obtaining required key media variants from the MKBu, using the key media variant to find an entry in a variant key table, decrypt a title key, and locate a variant number from the variant key table. The system uses the variant number to identify which of the variations may be decrypted by the title key and uses the title key to decrypt segments and variations. |
| US08121286B2 |
Hash function with provable resistance to differential attacks
A system and method for coding data to help resist differential attacks. Data in m columns may be initialized to an initialized value. One new column of data may be mixed with a new input word and input to an advanced mixer. The advanced mixer may include linear mixing having indexed bytes and performing of exclusive-OR operation and transposing. An output of the advanced mixer may be a new m column state. A value of m could be 0 through 30. The value of m may have a preferred range of 27 through 36. Systems to implement the foregoing method are also described. |
| US08121281B2 |
Interactive process map for a remote call center
Provided is a method for operating a server computer to provide an interactive application to enable a plurality of client-specific protocols for a remote call center, the remote call center configured to receive a plurality of calls for a plurality of clients. The method includes linearly administering a plurality of states defined in a process map of client-specific protocols for a plurality of call types expected to be received for each client; displaying the process map at the remote call center via a graphical user interface; and enabling a client to remotely alter the process map over an internet connection in near real-time. |
| US08121279B2 |
Discussion unit with removable rim
The discussion unit (10) for use in a conference system is disclosed, which is adapted to be connected to at least one second discussion unit (10). The discussion unit (10) comprises an essentially closed casing (410) and at least one exchangeable portion (420). The at least one exchangeable portion (420) is removably mounted to the casing (410) and at least partially covers at least one outside part (424, 412) of the casing (410). The invention allows for an easy first installation of the exchangeable portion (420). Nevertheless, after installation, the exchangeable portion (420) is difficult to remove by a user (preventing unintended removal or removal by vandalism or “play instinct”), but allowing for an easy exchange of the exchangeable portion (420) by an installer and/or a service technician. |
| US08121278B2 |
Teleconferencing systems and methods
A method implemented by a teleconferencing system includes assigning a teleconferencing bridge to a teleconference responsive to at least a current workload of the teleconferencing bridge, and forwarding a first plurality of communication sessions corresponding to the teleconference to the teleconferencing bridge, wherein the teleconferencing bridge is configured to connect each of the first plurality of communication sessions to each other communication session among the first plurality of communication sessions. |
| US08121275B2 |
Temporary provisioned public call treatment for calls initiated from a private party device
Methods are disclosed for provisioning a private party telephony device for public call treatment on a temporary basis (for example, before allowing third party use of the device) and applying such public call treatment for call originations or terminations. Billing in public call treatment is arranged with assistance of an operator services platform with the user (for example, the third party user) of the private party telephony device. Advantageously, therefore, in public call treatment mode, the owner of the private party phone need not police third party use of the phone and will not be billed for such third party use. The owner may resume private call treatment when desired by converting the device from public mode to private mode. |
| US08121267B2 |
Forked-call ringback replacement system
A ringback replacement system for modifying or replacing certain communications network signals and tones in a roaming, forked-call, forwarded-call, or mobility environment is disclosed. Communications devices activate and interact with the ringback replacement system to allow for modification of the network service. |
| US08121256B2 |
Radiographic image data correction method and apparatus and radiography apparatus
Offset correction based on offset correction data is performed on radiographic image data that have been read out from a radiation image detector, and the offset correction data are updated. In the offset correction method, correction data for low-frequency components and correction data for high-frequency components, as the offset correction data, are generated based on offset image data that have been read out from the radiation image detector while the radiation image detector is not irradiated with radiation. Further, the correction data for low-frequency components and the correction data for high-frequency components are separately updated. |
| US08121253B2 |
Radiation therapy using beam modifiers placed against a patient's skin
A method for making a beam modifier to be used in radiation therapy includes defining a region of interest in a patient that is to receive radiation, with the region of interest being defined using an anatomy coordinate system format. Radiation treatment parameters are defined for the defined region of interest, and correspond to an initial type beam modifier to be coupled to an output of a radiation device. Design data on a beam modifier to be placed on the skin of the patient is generated, with the design data being based on the defined region of interest and the defined radiation treatment parameters for the defined region of interest. The design data is in the same anatomy coordinate system format as the defined region of interest that is to receive the radiation. The design data is treated as a new region of interest, and the radiation dosage to be applied to the new region of interest is re-calculated while taking into account the beam modifier to be placed on the skin of the patient. |
| US08121252B2 |
Use of planning atlas in radiation therapy
A method for determining a radiation treatment plan for a patient includes determining a reference plan, the reference plan including information regarding a reference region that has a different configuration from that of a region in the patient, and using the reference plan to determine the treatment plan for the patient. A method for use in a treatment planning process includes determining a reference plan that includes information regarding a reference region, determining a deformation field that registers the reference region in the reference plan with a region for a patient, and determining a result of using the reference plan as it applies for the patient. |
| US08121250B2 |
Method for calibration of a CT scanner
A method for calibration of a CT comprises sequentially positioning a phantom having a non-circular cross section and a length commensurate with the extent of a detector at a plurality of positions between an X ray source and the detector array or sequentially positioning a plurality of generally similar phantoms or sequentially positioning a same phantom at a plurality of positions between the X ray source and detector array of the CT scanner; acquiring calibration attenuation data for X rays that have been attenuated by traversing the phantom positioned at each of the plurality of positions; and calculating calibration corrections for CT scanner scan data from the calibration attenuation data. |
| US08121249B2 |
Multi-parameter X-ray computed tomography
The present invention relates to the field of x-ray imaging. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to methods, systems, and apparatus for imaging, which can be used in a wide range of applications, including medical imaging, security screening, and industrial non-destructive testing to name a few. Specifically provided as embodiments of the invention are systems for x-ray imaging comprising: a) a first collimator-and-detector assembly having a first operable configuration to provide at least one first dataset comprising primary x-ray signals as a majority component of its data capable of being presented as a first image of an object subjected to x-ray imaging; b) a second collimator-and-detector assembly having a second operable configuration or wherein the first collimator-and-detector assembly is adjustable to a second configuration to provide at least one second dataset comprising primary and dark-field x-ray signals as a majority component of its data capable of being presented as a second image of the object; and c) a computer operably coupled with the collimator-and-detector assemblies comprising a computer readable medium embedded with processing means for combining the first dataset and the second dataset to extract the dark-field x-ray signals and produce a target image having higher contrast quality than the images based on the first or second dataset alone. Such systems can be configured to comprise at least two collimator-and-detector assemblies or configurations differing with respect to collimator height, collimator aperture, imaging geometry, or distance between an object subjected to the imaging and the collimator-and-detector assembly. |
| US08121244B2 |
Dual shift register
Disclosed is a dual shift register that includes a first shift register configured to include a plurality of stages which sequentially output scan pulses using at least two clock signals with sequential and circular phases, and a second shift register configured to a plurality of stages which form pair with the respective stages of the first shift register and sequentially output the scan pulses using at least two clock signals. Each stage includes: a scan direction controller configured to respond to the scan pulses from previous and next stages and to selectively output forward and reverse direction voltages with opposite electric potentials to each other; and an output portion configured to respond to the output signal of the scan direction controller, to generate two sequential scan pulses using two of the at least two clock signals, and to distribute the sequential scan pulses to the previous and next stages. |
| US08121243B2 |
In-core-monitor-guide-tube supporting apparatus
Monitor-guide-tube fixing sections are fixed to portions on a core support plate side of a plurality of in-core monitor guide tubes disposed in a reactor vessel. The monitor-guide-tube fixing sections are fixed to the core support plate disposed in the reactor vessel to fix the in-core monitor guide tubes to the core support plate. This makes it possible to realize improvement of rigidity of the fixed sections of the in-core monitor guide tubes. A tie plate is fixed to the in-core monitor guide tubes. The in-core monitor guide tubes are coupled by the tie plate. This makes it possible to realize improvement of rigidity of the entire in-core monitor guide tubes. As a result, it is possible to realize vibration damping for the in-core monitor guide tubes. |
| US08121242B2 |
Frequency lock stability in device using overlapping VCO bands
A system and method are provided for frequency lock stability in a receiver using overlapping voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) bands. An input communication signal is accepted and an initial VCO is selected. Using a phase-locked loop (PLL) and the initial VCO, the frequency of the input communication signal is acquired and the acquired signal tuning voltage of the initial VCO is measured. Then, the initial VCO is disengaged and a plurality of adjacent band VCOs is sequentially engaged. The acquired signal tuning voltage of each VCO is measured and a final VCO is selected that is able to generate the input communication signal frequency using an acquired signal tuning voltage closest to a midpoint of a predetermined tuning voltage range. |
| US08121234B2 |
Multi-dimensional detector for receiver of MIMO system
Provided are a multi-dimensional detector for a receiver of an MIMO system and a method thereof. The multi-dimensional detector includes a first symbol detecting unit for calculating symbol distance values using an upper triangular matrix (R) obtained from QR decomposition to detect an mth symbol; a symbol deciding unit for deciding a symbol having a minimum distance value among the calculated symbol distance values from the first symbol detecting unit; and a second symbol detecting unit for calculating symbol distance values using an updated received signal y and the upper triangular matrix R to detect a (m−1)th symbol. |
| US08121232B2 |
Transmitting/receiving system and method of processing broadcast signal in transmitting/receiving system
A receiving system and a method of processing broadcast signal are disclosed herein. The receiving system includes a signal receiving unit, a detector, and a channel equalizer. The signal receiving unit receives a broadcast signal including mobile service data and a data group including N number of training sequences. The detector detects N number of training sequences from the broadcast signal (wherein N≧5), wherein the detected N number of training sequences are received during N number of training sections. And, the equalizer estimates a channel impulse response (CIR) of N number of training sections, based upon the detected N number of training sequences, applies the channel impulse response estimated in M number of training sections (wherein N≧M) to a cubic spline interpolation function, so as to generate a channel impulse response of (N−1) number of mobile service data sections located between the N number of training sections, thereby performing channel-equalization on the mobile service data of the corresponding mobile service data section. |
| US08121228B2 |
Detecting a data frame
A detector (109) and corresponding method is configured for detecting presence of a data frame. The detector includes a first correlator (123) that is configured to provide a first plurality of correlations corresponding to similarity between data as received and first information, e.g., an ordered set of coefficients, that denotes the data frame and a second correlator (125) that is configured to provide a second plurality of correlations corresponding to similarity between the data as received and second information, e.g., another ordered set of coefficients, that denotes the data frame, where the second information includes a portion of the first information. Further included is decision logic (129) coupled to the first correlator and the second correlator, where the decision logic is configured to provide an indication (111) that the data frame is present based on the first plurality of correlations and the second plurality of correlations. |
| US08121227B2 |
Reception device
It is possible to demodulate a plurality of modulated signals transmitted from a plurality of antennas by using a comparatively small-size circuit with a preferable error ratio characteristic. Partial bit judgment units (509, 512) demodulates partial bits of the 64QAM-modulated signal by modifying which of the bits in the 6-bit strings constituting a symbol is to be demodulated depending on in which region of the IQ plane the reception signal point exists. This improves the partial bit error characteristic judged by the partial bit judgment units (509, 512), which in turn improves reliability of the reduced candidate signal point for use by a likelihood detection unit (518). As a result, it is possible to improve the error ratio characteristic of the final reception digital signals (322, 323). |
| US08121225B1 |
Estimating the angle of arrival of a signal received by an array of commutated antenna elements
The angle of arrival is estimated for a received signal received by an array of commutated antenna elements, wherein there is a temporal boundary at the instant of commutation between antenna elements. Samples of the signal received by the elements of the array are preprocessed to construct maximum-likelihood-estimates of the received signal for points in time that are immediately adjacent the temporal boundaries and thereby provide a preprocessed signal. A maximum-likelihood-estimation of the angle of arrival of the received signal is made for the array of commutated antenna elements by processing the preprocessed signal. |
| US08121223B2 |
Architectures for universal or software radio
A system and technique for providing to flexible, programmable frequency estimators and spectrum analyzers that can operate over extremely large bandwidths and yet provide high spectral resolution are described. The acquisition time and hardware complexity of one technique scale as O(N), where N denotes the number of frequency bins acquired. Embodiments are disclosed in which architectures are implemented using exponentially-tapered transmission lines and filter cascades. |
| US08121219B1 |
Decision directed timing recovery using multiphase detection
A sampled signal is processed by periodically sampling an input signal to obtain a set of samples. A first detection process is performed using the set of samples to obtain a first decision and a first error; the first detection process is associated with a first phase offset. A second detection process is performed using the set of samples to obtain a second decision and a second error; the second detection process is associated with a second phase offset. Either the first decision or the second decision is selected based at least in part on the first error and the second error. |
| US08121211B2 |
Adaptive switching techniques for hybrid automatic repeat request systems
An adaptive transmission selection technique is provided. A retransmission scheme is selected for a multiple-input-multiple-output wireless system. A plurality of communication techniques is provided for when a first device needs to retransmit a signal to a second device. The first device determines when the original signal, transmitted to the second device using beamforming techniques, needs to be retransmitted to the second device. If a retransmission is needed, the first device determines channel conditions with respect to the second device. The first device selects a retransmission scheme from a plurality of transmission schemes based on the channel conditions for retransmitting the signal. A first retransmission technique is selected when the channel conditions are static. A second retransmission technique is selected when the channel conditions are relatively slowly changing, and a third retransmission technique is selected when the channel conditions are relatively quickly changing. |
| US08121210B2 |
Apparatus and method for signal detection in multiple input multiple output wireless communication system
A Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) wireless communication system is provided. A receiving end apparatus includes an estimator for estimating a channel between a plurality of Transmit (Tx) antennas of a transmitting end and a plurality of Receive (Rx) antennas of a receiving end; a filter for extracting a sum between interference and noise included in an Rx signal by using the estimated channel value and for computing a covariance matrix for the sum between the interference and the noise; and a detector for detecting a Tx signal by using a signal processing matrix generated from the covariance matrix. |
| US08121207B2 |
Method for transforming data, and method for transmitting and receiving data using the same
A method for transforming data to reduce an amount of data in a communication system equipped with several sub-carriers, and a data transmission method using the same are disclosed. The method for transmitting data using a Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) in a communication system based on a plurality of sub-carriers includes: a) performing a Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) on first data; b) selecting a predetermined number of data from among the DCT-processed first data, and performing data processing on the selected data; and c) transmitting the data-processed resultant data to a reception end. A method for reducing an amount of overhead of transmission data for use in the multi-antenna communication system is disclosed. |
| US08121203B1 |
Ranging code detection
A ranging code present in a transmission from a transmitter to a receiver can be detected, and hence a time offset can be determined. For each of the possible ranging codes in a transmitted signal, a correlation is formed between a received signal and the ranging code for multiple subcarriers in the received signal. For multiple adjacent ranging subcarriers, the correlation is multiplied by a conjugate of the correlation of an adjacent ranging subcarrier in order to form a differential phase value. At least one ranging code in the transmitted signal can then be determined based on the differential phase values for said plurality of subcarriers. A time offset in the transmission from the transmitter to the receiver can then be determined, based on the differential phase values for the subcarriers, and based on the determined ranging code. |
| US08121199B2 |
Reducing the block effect in video file compression
We describe a method for reducing the block effect in video file compression including inspecting an image in a row and column direction, calculating an intensity vector of the block effect responsive to the inspecting, obtaining distribution data for the block effect responsive to the intensity vector, determining position information of the block effect responsive to the distribution data, and filtering the image responsive to the intensity vector and the position information. |
| US08121196B2 |
Method and apparatus for multi-threaded video decoding
A method and an apparatus for performing multi-threaded video decoding are disclosed. The method takes use of a multi-threaded scheme to process an encoded picture stream on a picture by picture basis. In the method, multiple threads are used for performing video decoding at the same time, such as one thread for the operation of parsing input bits into syntax elements of one picture implemented by the first thread, another thread for the operation of decoding the parsed syntax elements of another picture into pixel values implemented by the second thread, and the other threads for the operations of the non-reference picture, such as bidirectional predictive picture, including parsing input bits into syntax elements and the subsequent operation of decoding the parsed syntax elements into pixel values. Therefore, the decoding speed is substantially increased, and the decoding efficiency is enhanced. |
| US08121195B2 |
Memory reduced H264/MPEG-4 AVC codec
A method for reducing memory utilization in a digital video codec. The method generally includes the steps of (A) generating a second reference picture by downsampling a first reference picture using a pattern, wherein the pattern (i) comprises a two-dimensional grid and (ii) is unachievable by performing a vertical downsampling and separately performing a horizontal downsampling, (B) generating a third reference picture by upsampling the second reference picture and (C) processing an image in a video signal using the third reference picture. |
| US08121187B2 |
Method and apparatus for performing multiple bit rate video encoding and video stream switching
A Multiple Bit Rate (MBR) video coding method and apparatus for performing video encodings at multiple bit rates and for performing advantageous switching therebetween. Frequent switching points and high video coding efficiency are achieved with use of a plurality of video encodings at each of a plurality of bit rates, wherein the switching points between multiple encodings at a given bit rate are shifted with respect to one another so that the frequency of available switching points is significantly improved without a corresponding loss of coding quality. In addition, one or more “high quality” encodings may be provided at each bit rate, wherein the “high quality” encodings employ infrequent switching points, providing a very high quality encoding at the given bit rate which may be used (or switched to) whenever possible. |
| US08121176B2 |
Iterative interference canceler for wireless multiple-access systems with multiple receive antennas
This invention teaches to the details of an interference canceling receiver for canceling intra-cell and inter-cell interference in coded, multiple-access, spread spectrum transmissions that propagate through frequency selective communication channels to a multiplicity of receive antennas. The receiver is designed or adapted through the repeated use of symbol-estimate weighting, subtractive cancellation with a stabilizing step-size, and mixed-decision symbol estimates. Receiver embodiments may be designed, adapted, and implemented explicitly in software or programmed hardware, or implicitly in standard RAKE-based hardware either within the RAKE (i.e., at the finger level) or outside the RAKE (i.e., at the user or subchannel symbol level). Embodiments may be employed in user equipment on the forward link or in a base station on the reverse link. It may be adapted to general signal processing applications where a signal is to be extracted from interference. |
| US08121174B2 |
Signal quality measurement system
This disclosure relates to method, device and system for measuring signal quality in a communication system. An access point receives an uplink signal from a transmitter. The uplink signal contains a data portion and a result of a hash function. The uplink signal is received at a time based on a slot start time and a random timing offset and is received while a portion of a second signal is received from a second transmitter. The access point measures a noncoherent energy metric for the uplink signal. The access point computes a local result of the hash function using the data portion. The uplink signal is then discarded if the result of the hash function matches the local result of the hash function but the noncoherent energy metric is below a threshold value. |
| US08121171B2 |
Optical systems for laser arrays
Surface emitting laser arrays with intra-cavity harmonic generation are coupled to an optical system that extracts harmonic light in both directions from an intra-cavity nonlinear optical material in such a way that the focusing properties of the light beams are matched. |
| US08121170B2 |
Gain-coupled distributed feedback semiconductor laser including first-order and second-order gratings
A gain-coupled distributed feedback (DFB) semiconductor laser includes a grating formed by grooves through at least a part of an active region of a laser cavity. The DFB laser may be configured with a substantially pure gain-coupled grating and may be configured to provide facet power asymmetry. The grating may include at least a first-order grating section and a second-order grating section. A lasing wavelength may be obtained at the Bragg wavelength of the second-order grating section by substantially eliminating index coupling in the grating. The first-order grating section may act as a reflector for the lasing wavelength, thereby producing asymmetric power distribution in the laser cavity. |
| US08121168B2 |
Multibeam laser diode
A multibeam laser diode capable of improving heat release characteristics in the case of junction-down assembly is provided. Contact electrodes are provided respectively for protruding streaks of a laser diode device, and pad electrodes are provided to avoid the protruding streaks and the contact electrodes. The contact electrodes and the pad electrodes are connected by wiring electrodes, and the contact electrodes are covered with a first insulating film. Thereby, electric connection is enabled without straightly jointing the contact electrodes to a solder layer. A heat conduction layer configured of a metal is provided on the first insulating film, the heat conduction layer is jointed to the solder layer, and thereby the heat release characteristics are able to be improved even in the case of junction-down assembly. |
| US08121166B2 |
Side-emitting LED light source for backlighting applications
This invention relates to a side-emitting light device comprising two sub-assemblies which are optically bonded together. Each sub-assembly comprises a substrate, at least one light source disposed on the substrate, and a luminescent plate optically bonded with the at least one light source. The light source emits light of a wavelength capable of exciting luminescence light from the luminescent plate. The two sub-assemblies are arranged having the free surface of the luminescent plates facing each other. The side-emitting light device is for instance applicable for light sources comprising naked dies arranged with Thin Film Flip Chip (TFFC) technique or laser diodes. |
| US08121162B2 |
Nanocrystal structures
A structure including a grating and a semiconductor nanocrystal layer on the grating, can be a laser. The semiconductor nanocrystal layer can include a plurality of semiconductor nanocrystals including a Group II-VI compound, the nanocrystals being distributed in a metal oxide matrix. The grating can have a periodicity from 200 nm to 500 nm. |
| US08121158B2 |
Optical projection system and method for a cooled light source
A light projection optical system is presented. The system comprises a cooling chamber containing: a light source operative at a cool temperature being lower than 240K; a cooler unit capable of cooling said light source to said cool temperature during the light source operation,- an optical window permitting light emergence outside from the cooling chamber; and an optical unit accommodated in the optical path of light emitted by said light source and enabling emergence of this light through said optical window outside from the cooling chamber. |
| US08121152B2 |
Method for encoding broadcast channel protocol data unit based on broadcast control channel scheduling error in universal mobile telecommunications system
A method for encoding a broadcast channel protocol data unit (BCH PDU) based on a broadcast control channel (BCCH) scheduling error in a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) having a Node B and a radio network controller includes setting up a call between the radio network controller and the Node B to receive system information and scheduling information for a system information update from the radio network controller; initializing broadcast channel protocol data units and control information for every system frame number (SFN) at the Node B; and detecting the broadcast control channel scheduling error on the scheduling information for the system information update based on segment types of the system information when combining the system information for every system frame number. In case the broadcast control channel scheduling error is not detected, the broadcast channel protocol data units are encoded to be incorporated therein the system information. |
| US08121151B2 |
Reception apparatus and method and program
A decider decides whether a predetermined period of time has elapsed after a last one of first packets was received and a timeout thereby occurs. A second packet having a size of data greater than a size of data placed in each of the first packets is produced from a number of the first packets, the number being a first threshold value. Another decider decides, when the predetermined period of time has elapsed, whether a number of times by which the predetermined period of time has successively elapsed exceeds a second threshold value which is a permitted number of times of the timeout. A processing unit sets, when the second threshold value is exceeded by the number of times that the predetermined period of time has successively elapsed, the first threshold value so as to decrement the number of the first packets to be used to produce the second packet. |
| US08121150B1 |
Method and apparatus for processing variable-length packets in a buffer memory for transmission
Method and apparatus for processing variable-length packets in a buffer memory for transmission are described. In some examples, as each packet of the packets is written to a buffer memory, a length of the packet is obtained from a length field therein. For each packet of the packets, the length of the packet is compared with a threshold length. An encoded length for each of the packets is stored in a sideband memory, the encoded length for each packet of the packets being: (i) the length of the packet if the length satisfies the threshold; or (ii) a predefined value if the length of the packet does not satisfy the threshold. As each packet of the packets is read from the buffer memory, an end location of the packet is determined responsive to the encoded length thereof in the sideband memory. |
| US08121146B2 |
Method, apparatus and system for maintaining mobility resistant IP tunnels using a mobile router
A method, apparatus and system enable a mobile device to roam while maintaining a persistent IP tunnel. Specifically, a mobile router may be utilized to enable a mobile device to maintain a persistent IP tunnel while the device roams. In one embodiment, the mobile device is a virtual host and the mobile router is a virtual mobile router. |
| US08121145B2 |
Contention-based random access method with autonomous carrier selection
The method and apparatus described herein controls transmission from a plurality of user terminals to an access point on a random access channel in a wireless communication system. An access point determines an allowed information rate for each user terminal and transmits a rate control parameter indicative of the allowed information rates to the user terminals. The access point also computes a packet transmission probability and transmits the packet transmission probability to the use terminals on a common control channel. The packet transmission probability controls the number of user terminals that transmit in a given time slot to reduce collisions and increase the departure rate. The user terminals selectively transmit one or more packets to the access point in a time slot on the random access channel based on the allowed information rate and the packet transmission probability. |
| US08121143B2 |
Scheduling method for broadband wireless access system
A scheduling method for a Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) system is provided. The scheduling method for a BWA system includes selecting a terminal having a highest priority using a scheduling algorithm, determining a burst region to be assigned to the terminal, and constructing a frame intended for the terminal according to the determination. The method improves network throughput and power conservation performance of subscriber stations. |
| US08121140B2 |
Cost containment of mobile datalink communications
A method for transmitting messages over a datalink communication system is disclosed. The method comprises assigning each message a cost index value based on prescribed factors for at least one message transmission attribute of the message and transmitting each message that satisfies a select transmission attribute over at least one mobile communications sub-network associated with a datalink communication system. |
| US08121139B2 |
Communication module and communication apparatus
A communication module mounted on a communication apparatus which includes plural communication modules, plural apparatus side signal processing circuits for processing a communication signal which is transmitted to and received from the communication modules by a predetermined communication speed, and a switch LSI for changing a destination of the communication signal, includes a switching portion for at least one of dividing the communication signal transmitted and received in a communication speed of the communication modules and combining the communication signals transmitted and received in a communication speed of an external apparatus, and a connector comprising a plurality of ports, the connector being connected to the switching portion. |
| US08121138B2 |
Communication apparatus in label switching network
In a label switching network using a plurality of labels, a communication apparatus receives signaling information for setting a first label switching tunnel. This signaling information includes one or more values of one or more labels representing one or more pseudowires accommodated in a first label switching tunnel, the bandwidth information of the pseudowire, and the bandwidth-sharing identifier. A bandwidth management table holding correspondence relationships between values of a plurality of labels, the bandwidth information, and the bandwidth-sharing identifiers are generated. One or more second label switching tunnels may be accommodated instead of one or more pseudowires. |
| US08121136B2 |
Dynamic discovery mechanisms via inter-domain routing protocol
In an embodiment, a method is provided at which it is used in a device. In this method, a logical identifier assigned to the device is identified and additionally, a mesh group identifier identifying a mesh group is identified. The logical identifier and the mesh group identifier are encoded in a routing message, which is used in an inter-domain routing protocol, and this routing message is transmitted to a reflector device in communication with the device. The reflector device is configured to transmit the routing message to a remote device included in the computer network. |
| US08121134B2 |
Spoof checking within a label switching computer network
A label switching router (LSR) is described that spoof checks Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) packets to prevent malicious or inadvertent injection of MPLS packets within a label switched path (LSP). The LSR ensures that MPLS packets received from an upstream label switching router (LSR) contain labels that were advertised to that upstream LSR. A software module associated with a signaling protocol, such as the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), the Label Distribution Protocol (LDP), or the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), is extended to utilize an MPLS forwarding table, and MPLS interface table, and a remote autonomous system table. A set of interfaces for which the label was advertised may be checked to determine whether an interface on which a packet was received is contained in the set of interfaces. The MPLS forwarding table may contain a spoof-check field used to specify one of several different types of spoof checks and to specify the set of interfaces. |
| US08121129B2 |
Optimizing throughput of data in a communications network
A method for transmitting data in a communications network is provided. The method comprises identifying a first data packet associated with a first transmission priority, wherein the first data packet encapsulates a plurality of messages designated for transmission to a destination; adding one or more additional messages to a second data packet associated with a second transmission priority to more optimally utilize capacity of the second data packet to encapsulate a plurality of messages, while the first data packet is being finalized for transmission, wherein the second transmission priority is less than the first transmission priority; and transmitting the first data packet before transmitting the second data packet. |
| US08121128B2 |
Method and apparatus for link control in a wireless communication system
Techniques for controlling transmission of packets on multiple links are described. In one design, a transmitter may generate packets of data for a receiver, assign the packets with sequence numbers from a single sequence number space, demultiplex the packets into multiple streams for multiple links, and send each stream of packets on the associated link to the receiver. The receiver may receive some packets in error, and the correctly received packets may be out of order. In one design, the receiver may maintain the largest sequence number of correctly received packets for each link. After detecting at least one missing packet, the receiver may send status information conveying the missing packet(s) and the largest sequence numbers for all links to the transmitter. The transmitter may use the largest sequence numbers for all links and its packet-to-link mapping to determine whether to quickly resend each missing packet or wait. |
| US08121126B1 |
Layer two (L2) network access node having data plane MPLS
The invention is directed towards techniques for forwarding subscriber frames through a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) aggregation network using MPLS labels. Layer two (L2) network devices, such as access nodes, of a service provider (SP) network implement MPLS functionality in the data plane, but do not implement an MPLS signaling protocol in the control plane. The L2 network devices include an interface for configuring a static pool of labels applied in the data plane of the L2 network device to output MPLS communications to the MPLS network. The access nodes may be configured by an administrator to maintain static pools of subscriber labels and MPLS labels. The access nodes autonomously allocate the subscriber labels to subscriber devices that request broadband services from a Broadband Services Router (BSR), and distribute the subscriber labels and MPLS labels as upstream assigned labels. |
| US08121119B2 |
Point-to multipoint (P2MP) network resource management
Techniques for managing resources in a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) network are disclosed. In some examples, a root station is adapted to transmit and receive network packets and leaf stations are adapted to transmit and receive the network packets from the root station. An electrical control system can be adapted to adjust a control error toward a zero value and adjust an output toward a steady state. The electrical control system may include feedback to control the root station based, at least in part, on the output of the electrical control system. |
| US08121117B1 |
Application layer network traffic prioritization
Layer-7 application layer message (“message”) classification is disclosed. A network traffic management device (“NTMD”) receives incoming messages over a first TCP/IP connection from a first network for transmission to a second network. Before transmitting the incoming messages onto the second network, however, the NTMD classifies the incoming messages according to some criteria, such as by assigning one or more priorities to the messages. The NTMD transmits the classified messages in the order of their message classification. Where the classification is priority based, first priority messages are transmitted over second priority messages, and so forth, for example. |
| US08121112B2 |
Method and system for processing voice traffic from a multi-channel link into a VoIP network over a broadband network
A microprocessor and a DSP are coupled with a cable modem and an IAD framer to terminate a DS1 link at a media terminal device. The processor performs call control operations and the DSP performs signal processing, such that call processing occurs at the device. The framer extracts or inserts call control information from robbed-bit signaling bits.Data streams from the DS1 link are formatted/packetized according to a protocol used by a VoIP network. VoIP is used to transmit the packetized call from the cable modem portion to a CMTS over a broadband network. QoS attributes are implemented on the derived data streams as would be done for calls generated by a standard PacketCable EMTA. |
| US08121110B2 |
Method and apparatus for locationing an object in a communication network
A method and apparatus for locationing an object in a communication network. The method includes transmitting by a wireless transceiver fixed to the object of unknown location a plurality of radio frequency (RF) packets to a plurality of locationing receivers (LRs) in the communication network. The method further includes determining by each locationing receiver the local time of arrival of the RF packet and places a time stamp on the received RF packet based on a corresponding local clock, wherein the local clocks of the locationing receivers are synchronized based on a plurality of RF beacon packets transmitted by at least one reference transmitter at a known location. |
| US08121104B2 |
Method and apparatus for blind transport format detection using discontinuous transmission (DTX) detection
Methods and apparatus are provided for blind transport format detection using Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) detection. According to one aspect of the invention, the transport format that was used to transmit information is determined by identifying a transition between a Discontinuous Transmission segment and a data segment included in the transmitted information; and determining the transport format based on a location of the transition of the Discontinuous Transmission segment. A cyclic redundancy check can optionally be performed for a plurality of possible transport formats, and then the step of identifying a transition can be limited to those transport formats having a valid cyclic redundancy check. |
| US08121102B2 |
Methods and apparatus for recovering from misconfiguration in a WLAN
A method of recovering from misconfiguration of APs and other networked components includes storing a “safe” configuration, implementing a configuration request received from a network operations center (NOC), then reverting to the stored configuration in the event that connectivity is not restored with the NOC within a predetermined time period. The NOC is configured to transmit one or more handshake messages to the AP after sending the configuration request. |
| US08121098B2 |
Method and system for transferring information between network management entities of a wireless communication system
A method and wireless communication system for transferring management information. The system includes at least one access point (AP) including a first management entity and a second management entity, and at least one wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) including a third management entity and a fourth management entity. The AP transmits a management information base (MIB) information request action frame including a category field and an action details field to the WTRU. In response to receiving the information request action frame, the WTRU determines whether or not to provide management information to the AP. When the WTRU provides management information to the AP, the WTRU compiles management information stored in a MIB located in the WTRU and transmits a MIB information report action frame to the AP. The MIB lists a plurality of tables containing information associated with radio resource management (RRM) and at least one table containing physical layer measurements. |
| US08121096B2 |
Method and apparatus for circular buffer-based rate matching and burst multiplexing for packet data transmission in a communication system
A method and apparatus for circular buffer-based rate matching and burst multiplexing for data transmission. According to the method and apparatus, rate matching patterns are efficiently determined according to data code rates in a wireless communication system using CBRM, and burst multiplexing is performed in units of bits without using an external channel interleaver when several RLC data blocks are transmitted via radio blocks. Accordingly, data bits are distributed into and carried by a plurality of bursts, thereby improving transmission performance. |
| US08121089B2 |
Femto-BTS RF access mechanism
Femto cells that extend mobile network coverage into customer premises operate in a frequency band typically assigned to a macro network. As disclosed, to facilitate system discovery and registrations of mobile stations with femto cells, a carrier designates one the channels within the band as a primary channel for its femto cells. For example, neighbor list messages transmitted by macro network base stations can provide frequency and PN code information directing mobile stations to search the primary channel for a PN code of the femto cells. Also, a mobile station PRL may identify femto cells by SID/NID. The SID is that of the carrier's macro network, whereas the NID may be a NID of the macro network or one specifically assigned to femto cell operations. The PRL uses frequency acquisition information for the femto cells that is the same as or similar to that for one of the macro networks. |
| US08121087B2 |
Method of providing information of neighbor base station by mobile subscriber station in broadband wireless access system
A method of providing neighbor base station information via a mobile subscriber station in a broadband wireless access system is disclosed. In providing neighbor base station information (S316) to a serving base station from a mobile subscriber station in a broadband wireless access system, the present invention includes the steps of performing a scanning and a synchronization (S312, S313) on a mobile base station based on information provided from the serving base station (S311) and transmitting the neighbor base station information acquired from the scanning and the synchronization to the serving base station (S316) regardless of a presence or non-presence of a request from the serving base station. Accordingly, the present invention can efficiently transmit the neighbor base station signal intensity and frame information acquired by the mobile subscriber station. |
| US08121084B2 |
Area management system
A transmission area is specified flexibly in accordance with the contents of a flow. An area identification number (SHOG) is specified for each interlaced stream of wireless base stations. The same flow is sent at the same timing (or substantially at the same timing) in the interlaced stream specified for the same SHOG. A wireless terminal determines a neighbor sector or a neighbor wireless base station sending the same flow, in accordance with information given from the wireless base stations, and receives and combines the flows. |
| US08121083B2 |
Method and device for reporting request for uplink scheduling or emergency in wireless network
The object of the present invention is to provide a reporting strategy for uplink scheduling request information in wireless telecommunication network. Above all, a method for the user equipment to report the uplink scheduling request information to the base station in wireless telecommunication network is disclosed. Firstly, the user equipment computes the overall service data amount of all radio bearers in each group of radio bearers in the buffer of the user equipment; then the user equipment only reports group-related information of triggered one or more groups of radio bearers to the base station. The present invention further proposes a method in the user equipment in wireless telecommunication network for reporting the emergency information to the base station, that is, the user equipment judges whether each radio bearer is in the emergency, and when one or more radio bearers are in the emergency, the user equipment sends emergency indication information to the base station. By the combination of the two reporting method, the base station can realize efficient and fair scheduling. |
| US08121081B2 |
Method and apparatus signaling resource allocation
A method of signaling to a mobile terminal the radio resources that will be used in a wireless communication between the mobile terminal and a base station is described. The base station provides a plurality of radio resources. The method comprises the steps: splitting the plurality of radio resources into a set of partitions (124, 126), wherein each partition of the set of partitions comprises a set of virtual blocks (128, . . . , 138), wherein each virtual block of the set of virtual blocks is exclusively mapped to one or more radio resources of the plurality of radio resources; using an identification format (144) according to which a collection of one or more virtual blocks of the set of virtual blocks is identifiable; allocating at least a first virtual block (130, 132) for communication between the mobile terminal and the base station, first block identifier the at least first virtual block being identifiable by a first specification (146) according to the identification format; sending first block identifier the first specification to the mobile terminal. |
| US08121079B2 |
Method for allocating transmission capacities during a signal transmission, base station, and mobile terminal
Transmission capacities are allocated during a signal transmission from a base station of a cellular radio network to a number of mobile terminals, the base station simultaneously sending a plurality of oriented radio beams. A first candidate set of radio beams is defined, the main parameters thereof changing only slowly in relation to an acknowledgement time of the terminals. Information relating to the radio beams of the candidate set is then signaled to the terminals from the base station. Furthermore, pilot signals are emitted from the base station by the radio beams of the candidate set at short temporal intervals in relation to the variation time of the radio beams. The terminals respectively determine an SINR value for each of the radio beams of the candidate set by way of the received pilot signals and, for each received radio beam, respectively transmit an acknowledgement value determined on the basis of the corresponding SINR value to the base station. The acknowledgement values enable suitable combinations of radio beams for a subsequent signal transmission from the base station to be allocated to the different terminals. |
| US08121072B2 |
Adaptive modulation and coding
A mobile communication system for transmitting or receiving a signal among a user equipment and a base station, includes the user equipment and the base station. The user equipment includes a unit operable to measure a received signal quality, and a unit operable to report the measuring received signal quality to the base station or a selected modulation and coding scheme to the base station. The base station includes a unit operable to receive the measuring received signal quality at the user equipment or an information indicating a selected modulation and coding scheme at the user equipment. |
| US08121070B2 |
Security system for portable computer
A portable computer searches for preprogrammed wireless stations when it boots, and if it does not recognize any, stops booting the O.S. so that data cannot be accessed. In this way, should the portable computer be stolen and removed from its intended vicinity, data on the computer cannot be accessed by the thief. |
| US08121069B2 |
Adaptive data delivery
A system and a method for a wireless communication system (700) for adaptively delivering data to a wireless mobile communication device (702) based upon an availability status of the mobile device (702) in the wireless communication system (700) are disclosed. The wireless communication system (700) includes a host service (704) having data for the mobile device (702); a wireless router system (710) coupled to the host service (704) for determining the availability status of the mobile device (702) in the wireless communication system (700); and a wireless network (724) coupling the wireless router system (710) and the mobile device (702). The host service (704) transmits the data for the mobile device (702) if the availability status of the mobile device (702) is available, and queues the data in the host service (704) if the availability status of the mobile device (702) is unavailable until the availability status of the mobile device (702) becomes available. |
| US08121067B2 |
Quality of service provisioning using periodic channel time allocation
To maximize power saving performance without compromising on the QoS requirement of an application stream, a method and wireless network device generates a subset of a periodic service interval can be used for medium time allocation and data and information can be transmitted in contiguous medium time allocated this way. This selection of a period of time below service capacity allows multiple applications access the medium and for the selection of contiguous medium time during which data transmission can occur. |
| US08121066B2 |
Radio network expansion method
One objective of the present invention is to determine a location for a relay terminal in a radio network, without preparatory surveying a radio status, and to arrange the relay terminal at the location. Another objective is to provide a method for retrieving the arranged relay terminal. When a relay terminal is to be arranged, the relay terminal transmits a survey packet to examine the quality of communication with a communication terminal or other relay terminal. Where a location is appropriate, the relay terminal gives a notice. The arranged terminal relays communication. Further, when the relay terminal is to be retrieved, the relay terminal carried by a user transmits a retrieval packet to the arranged relay terminal, which notifies the user of its presence by light, sounds, or returning a packet. In this manner, a single relay terminal provides functions of arrangement, relay and retrieval. |
| US08121065B2 |
TDMA controller for a wireless communication system and method of operating same
A time division multiple access (TDMA) controller and method for operating the same includes a frame position module that generates a frame position signal. The controller also includes a signal module that generates a signal-on signal and a signal-off signal and a comparison module that generates a timing control signal based on the frame position signal, the signal-on signal and the signal-off signal. |
| US08121064B2 |
Digital broadcasting system and method of processing data in digital broadcasting system
A digital broadcasting system and a method for controlling the same are disclosed. A method for controlling a digital broadcast receiving system includes the steps of receiving a broadcast signal having mobile service data and main service data multiplexed therein, extracting transmission parameter channel (TPC) signaling information and fast information channel (FIC) signaling information from a data group within the received mobile service data, by using the extracted fast information channel (FIC) signaling information, acquiring a program table describing virtual channel information and service of an ensemble, the ensemble being a virtual channel group of the received mobile service data, by using the acquired program table, detecting a descriptor defining basic information required for accessing the received service, and, by using the detected descriptor, controlling the receiving system to enable access to the corresponding service. |
| US08121063B2 |
Method and apparatus for handling timers during re-establishing receiving sides in a wireless communications system
A communications device utilized in a wireless communications system has an RLC entity with a transmitting side and a receiving side. Handling timers during re-establishment of the receiving side includes only re-establishing the receiving side in the RLC entity of the communications device, stopping a first timer corresponding to the receiving side, and prolonging and not stopping a second timer corresponding to the transmitting side. |
| US08121062B2 |
Method and apparatus for cross-talk cancellation in frequency division multiplexed transmission systems
A method and apparatus are disclosed for canceling cross-talk in a frequency-division multiplexed communication system. The disclosed frequency-division multiplexed communication system employs multiple carriers having overlapping channels and provides an improved cross-talk cancellation mechanism to address the resulting interference. Bandwidth compression is achieved using n level amplitude modulation in each frequency band. An FDM receiver is also disclosed that decomposes the received broadband signal into each of its respective frequency bands and returns the signal to basehand in the analog domain. Analog requirements are relaxed by removing cross-talk from adjacent R-F channels, from image bands, and minimizing the performance degradation caused by In-phase and Quadrature-phase (I/Q) phase and gain mismatches in modulators and demodulators. The disclosed transmitter or receiver (or both) can be fabricated on a single integrated circuit. |
| US08121061B2 |
Efficient file management through granular opportunistic locking
Improved methods and systems for granular opportunistic locking mechanisms (oplocks) are provided for increasing file caching efficiency. Oplocks can be specified with a combination of three possible granular caching intentions: read, write, and/or handle. An oplock can be specified with an identifier that indicates a client/specific caller to avoid breaking the original oplock due to an incompatibility from other requests of the same client. An atomic oplock flag is added to create operations that allow callers to request an atomic open with an oplock with a given file. |
| US08121059B2 |
Wireless non-cellular network
A communication method includes monitoring a time division multiple access (TDMA) frame structure of a cellular system by a plurality of non-cellular nodes of a non-cellular network by using a common channel of the cellular system, and using the time division multiple access (TDMA) frame structure of the cellular system in the non-cellular network for exchanging data between at least some of the plurality of non-cellular nodes. |
| US08121058B2 |
Cognitive IP radio with repeaters
An operational mechanism enables extending the range of cognitive networks through the use of repeater transceivers and selective routing. |
| US08121050B2 |
Maintaining time of day synchronization
A technique for maintaining time synchronization between network nodes involves broadcasting a timing signal from a source node to its neighbors. The timing signal is transmitted in a dedicated source time slot of a super epoch comprising a number of epochs each having a number of time slots. A reply timing signal is received at the source node from a neighboring node designated as the destination node, where the reply timing signal is received in a dedicated destination time slot of the super epoch. The clock drift and propagation delay between the source and destination nodes are computed at the source node. At the neighboring nodes other than the destination node, clock drift can be computed using previous estimates of propagation delay. RTS and CTS exchanges from PTP packets can also be used to estimate the propagation delay in the source node and the clock drift in the destination node. |
| US08121048B2 |
Repeat control method in enhanced uplink asynchronous hybrid automatic repeat request
A repeat control method in enhanced uplink asynchronous hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) includes the following steps: (1) the network side adding a repeat timer parameter in the HARQ attribute of each dedicated media access control (MAC-d) entity flow, the user terminal setting the repeat timer value in the enhanced media access control (MAC-e) entity protocol data unit (PDU) according to the repeat timer parameter; (2) the user terminal performing the repeat control utilizing the repeat timer value in cooperation with the maximum repeat number. The wireless bearer QoS requirement and the cooperation working between the sender and the receiver are implemented. |
| US08121047B2 |
Access technology indication for Proxy Mobile Internet Protocol version 6
A Local Mobility Anchor/Agent (LMA), on seeing a Proxy Binding Update (PBU) with a same Network Access Identifier (NAI) but with a different access technology indication or interface identifier can assign a unique prefix to a mobile node (MN) via a PBAck message. The unique prefix avoids the creation of a duplicate address that would conflict with the address assigned to another interface that was configured using a prefix provided by the LMA. This solution can enable an MN to attach to different Mobility Access Gateways (MAGs) that are in different access networks of differing technologies but attached to the same LMA (i.e. the MAGs and the LMA are in the same PMIP6 domain) and not cause conflicts in prefix assignment or confuse the LMA into thinking that the MN had performed a handover (HO). |
| US08121046B2 |
Efficient block error rate evaluation in a femto cell network
System(s) and method(s) are provided to evaluate uplink or downlink block error rate (BLER) performance in a femto cell network. Data on uplink or downlink communication of data blocks for a set of femto access points (APs) is aggregated, wherein the selected is a fraction of a larger set of provisioned femto access points. The set of femto APs can be selected based at least in part on various criteria which can ensure that operation of the selected set of femto APs is a statistically meaningful representation of operation of the larger set of femto APs. Composite alarm thresholds facilitate triggering alarm(s) when a predetermined portion of the aggregated data reveal a BLER failure condition. Composite thresholds can be generated through analysis of aggregated uplink/downlink (UL/DL) BLER data for a set of femto APs. |
| US08121045B2 |
Channel quality indicator transmission timing with discontinuous reception
A user equipment (UE) is disclosed. The UE includes a processor configured to begin channel quality indicator (CQI) transmissions using an assigned periodic CQI reporting resource before the start of the on-duration of a discontinuous reception (DRX) operation mode. |
| US08121042B2 |
Reliability estimation methods for large networked systems
A computer-based method for determining a probability that no path exists from a specified starting node to a specified target node within a network of nodes and directional links between pairs of nodes is described. The nodes and directional links form paths of a reliability graph and the method is performed using a computer coupled to a database that includes data relating to the nodes and the directional links The method includes selecting a set of paths, from the set of all paths, between the starting node and the target node that have been determined to be reliable, calculating a reliability of the union of the selected path sets, setting an upper bound for the unreliability of the set of all paths, based on the calculated reliability, selecting a set of minimal cutsets from all such cutsets that lie between the starting node and the target node, calculating the probability of the union of the minimal cutsets, and setting a lower bound for the unreliability of the set of all cutsets. |
| US08121039B2 |
United route query method in the automatic switched optical network
A joint route query method in ASON. After the route controller in each route domain has received a route query request, it calls a routing algorithm based on the request and the route calculation is performed based on the route database of the current node; if the route calculation succeeds, a route query result is returned to the requester, if no complete route can be obtained, said route query request will be forwarded to the RC in the parent domain. Based on the request, the RC in the parent domain interacts with RCs in other domain of the same layer, and the RCs in the sub-domains contained in the parent domain to complete the route query, and calculates to obtain a complete route, then a route query result will be returned to the RC that initiates the request and this RC will return the route query result to the requester. |
| US08121038B2 |
Backward congestion notification
In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises a network interface system having at least one input port configured for receiving frames and a logic system comprising at least one logic device. The logic system may be configured to perform the following functions: determining a source address and a destination address of a frame received at an ingress port; calculating a flow hash based at least upon the source address and the destination address; forming a congestion management (“CM”) tag that includes the flow hash; inserting the CM tag in the frame; and forwarding the frame to the destination address. |