| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08171566B2 |
Copyright protection data processing system and reproduction device
If playback devices are prohibited from playing back contents recorded in R media, there occurs a problem that it takes more time to manufacture commercial ROM media. Conversely, if playback devices are permitted to play back contents recorded in R media, there occurs a problem that copyrights might be infringed. In view of these, the aim of the present invention is to provide a content protection data processing system and a playback device capable of determine whether to permit playback of a content recorded in a recording medium, based on a medium type of the recording medium and a signature type of a signature attached to a program. This enables both the protection of the copyright of the content and the efficient manufacturing of commercial ROM media. |
| US08171564B2 |
Systems and methods for one-to-many secure video encryption
A video encryption/decryption scheme is provided allowing an originator of video content to encrypt the video content using a session key, wherein the encrypted content and an encrypted form of the session key are provided to a destination. The session key is encrypted using a long term key value, and the long term key value itself is encrypted using shared secret information that is only stored in the main memory of the originator and destination's systems. The long term key is encrypted, typically by a third party, and provided to the originator and destination systems for encrypting/decrypting the session key. The third party also provides a pass phrase file, which the originator and destination systems can use as input with shared secret information to a certain cryptographic hashing algorithm to encrypt/decrypt the long term key. |
| US08171562B2 |
System and methods for protecting against denial of service attacks
A system and methods utilizing the network layer to provide security in distributed computing systems in order to thwart denial of service attacks. The system and methods of the present invention utilize puzzles placed at the network layer level to protect against denial of service attacks. The system and methods of the present invention advantageously provide a robust and flexible solution to support puzzle issuance at arbitrary points in the network, including end hosts, firewalls, and routers and thereby a defense against denial of service attacks. |
| US08171561B2 |
Secure personal content server
A local content server system (LCS) for creating a secure environment for digital content is disclosed, which system comprises: a communications port in communication for connecting the LCS via a network to at least one Secure Electronic Content Distributor (SECD), which SECD is capable of storing a plurality of data sets, is capable of receiving a request to transfer at least one content data set, and is capable of transmitting the at least one content data set in a secured transmission; a rewritable storage medium whereby content received from outside the LCS may be stored and retrieved; a domain processor that imposes rules and procedures for content being transferred between the LCS and devices outside the LCS; and a programmable address module which can be programmed with an identification code uniquely associated with the LCS. The LCS is provided with rules and procedures for accepting and transmitting content data. Optionally, the system may further comprise: an interface to permit the LCS to communicate with one or more Satellite Units (SU) which may be connected to the system through the interface, which SUs are capable of receiving and transmitting digital content; at least one SU; and/or at least one SECD. The SECD may have a storage device for storing a plurality of data sets, as well as a transaction processor for validating the request to purchase and for processing payment for a request to retrieve one of the data sets. The SECD typically includes a security module for encrypting or otherwise securitizing data which the SECD may transmit. |
| US08171559B2 |
Detecting a phishing entity in a virtual universe
An invention for detecting a phishing virtual entity in a virtual universe is disclosed. A virtual entity may be registered as authentic and be identified with multiple physical characteristics thereof. Another virtual entity will be monitored to detect whether it includes a physical characteristic that is sufficiently similar to that of a registered virtual entity to cause confusion. A phishing virtual entity is detected based on the monitoring and phishing prevention processes may be implemented on the phishing virtual entity. |
| US08171556B2 |
Personal information protection method, personal information protection system, processing device, portable transmitter/receiver, and program
A prescribed virtual person was created for allowing a real person (user) in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person (virtual person) and act as the virtual person when acting on a network and registered in a database 12a of a financial institution 7 for enabling the user to make shopping or the like as the virtual person with an electronic certificate issued by the financial institution 7 for the virtual person when pretending to be the virtual person and acting on the network, and the address of the virtual person necessary as the destination of a purchased article was set to a nearby convenience store. When acting on the network as the virtual person, cookies are rendered easily acceptable as compared with the case of the real person. |
| US08171554B2 |
System that provides early detection, alert, and response to electronic threats
The invention is a computer system that provides early detection alert and response to electronic threats (eThreats) in large wide area networks, e.g. the network of an Internet Services Provider or a Network Services Provider. The system of the invention accomplishes this by harnessing the processing power of dedicated hardware, software residing in specialized servers, distributed personal computers connected to the network, and the human brain to provide multi-layered early detection, alarm and response. The layers comprise: a Protection Layer, which detects and eliminates from the network data stream eThreats known to the system; a Detection Layer, which detects and creates signatures for new eThreats that are unknown to the system; an Expert Analysis Layer, which comprises a group of human experts who receive information from various components of the system and analyze the information to confirm the identity of new eThreats; and a Collaborative Detection & Protection Layer, which detects potential new eThreats by processing information received from various system agents and users. A Dynamic Sandbox Protection Layer associated with the distributed personal computers connected to the network. can optionally be part of the system of the invention. |
| US08171551B2 |
Malware detection using external call characteristics
A malware scanner 2, for malware such as computer viruses, worms, Trojans and the like, utilizes the external call characteristics associated with known items of malware to identify the presence of malware within a computer file. Malware written in a high level language when compiled can take a variety of different forms as object code, but these different object code forms will usually share external call characteristics to a sufficient degree to allow the presence of such external call characteristics to properly and accurately generically identify different compiled variants of the source code malware. |
| US08171548B2 |
0-touch and 1-touch techniques for improving the availability of computer programs under protection without compromising security
Protected software, such as an application and/or DLL, is monitored by protective software to guard against attacks, while distinguishing spurious, benign events from attacks. In a 1-touch approach, the protected software is monitored in a testing environment to detect spurious, benign events caused by, e.g., incompatibility or interoperability problems. The spurious events can be remediated in different ways, such as by applying a relaxed security policy. In a production mode, or 0-touch mode, when the protected software is subject to attacks, the corresponding remediation can be applied when the spurious events are again detected. Security events which occur in production mode can also be treated as benign when they occur within a specified time window. The applications and/or DLLs can further be classified according to whether they are known to have bad properties, known to be well-behaved, or unknown. Appropriate treatment is provided based on the classification. |
| US08171546B2 |
Keyboard security status check module and method
A keyboard security status check module and method are provided. The module is provided to enable a user to easily check the operating status of a keyboard security program installed in a user terminal. The module includes a keyboard security monitor linked to the keyboard security program and configured to monitor a reception status of key input data protected by keyboard security, and a controller configured to display a dynamic keyboard security check representation on a screen of the user terminal according to the reception status of the key input data monitored by the keyboard security monitor. |
| US08171545B1 |
Process profiling for behavioral anomaly detection
An anomalous process behavior manager uses statistical information concerning running processes to detect and manage process behavioral anomalies. The anomalous process behavior manager collects per process statistical data over time, such as resource allocation statistics and user interaction statistics. Current collected statistical data is analyzed against corresponding historical statistical data to determine whether processes are behaving in expected ways relative to past performance. Appropriate corrective steps are taken when it is determined that a process is behaving anomalously. For example, the process's blocking exclusions can be revoked, the process can be uninstalled, the process and/or the computer can be scanned for malicious code, the user can be alerted and/or relevant information can be shared with other parties. |
| US08171544B2 |
Method and system for preventing, auditing and trending unauthorized traffic in network systems
A method and system for preventing, auditing and trending unauthorized traffic in a network system is provided. The unauthorized traffic is detected at the router level. An attacker transmits an attack vector to the network system. The attack vector is detected at the router and signatures are created for network system resources, wherein each signature represents the response of a network system resource to the attack vector. Signatures are created by learning how the attack is taking place within the network system. Network system resources corresponding to the signatures are then emulated, thereby protecting the network device. |
| US08171537B2 |
Method of securely controlling through one or more separate private networks an internet-connected computer having one or more hardware-based inner firewalls or access barriers
A method of securely controlling through a private network a computer protected by a hardware-based inner access barrier or firewall and configured to operate as a general purpose computer connected to the Internet, comprising: two separate network connections separated by an inner hardware-based access barrier or inner hardware-based firewall protecting a private network connection configured for connection to a private network of computers but not protecting a public network connection configured for connection to a public network configured to include the Internet, the method including the step of controlling at least one operation of the computer, the control being provided through the private network and the operation involving data and/or code transmitted through an out-only bus or channel. Another method includes the step of controlling an operation of a second or third private protected unit of the computer, the control being provided through a second or third private network, respectively. |
| US08171535B2 |
Dynamic web service policy broadcasting/enforcement for applications
A system enables a client coupled to a server via a network to exchange security policy information across the network. The client is configured to determine security policy associated with the server based on a notification returned from the server. The notification having policy information embedded therein is issued by the server in response to the server's decision to deny client's access request. Based on the policy information embedded in the notification, the client is configured to generate a new access request by either acquiring information from a client user or selecting a different credential from a library of credentials. |
| US08171533B2 |
Managing web single sign-on applications
A method of managing a web single sign-on (SSO) application with a common set of uniform resource locators (URLs) includes defining a first servlet mapping including a description of a protected URL resource pattern, defining a second servlet mapping including a description of an unprotected URL resource pattern, determining display logic support to establish if display logic of the web SSO application supports both the first servlet mapping and the second servlet mapping, configuring the display logic of the web SSO application based on the determination, defining an intercepting filter, and registering URL patterns for the common set of URLs in the intercepting filter, the URL patterns including definitions of the protected URL resource pattern and the unprotected URL resource pattern. |
| US08171530B2 |
Computer access security
A method is provided for improved computer access security, the method including protecting an access record to prevent password access to a computer via the access record, creating an alternate access record corresponding to the protected record, enabling password access to the computer via the alternate record, providing the alternate record with the access level of the protected record, and configuring the alternate record to indicate a supplemental security program to be executed once a correct password for the alternate record is provided. |
| US08171527B2 |
Method and apparatus for securing unlock password generation and distribution
A process may be utilized for securing unlock password generation and distribution. A first set of exclusive responsibilities, assigned to a trusted authority, includes random generation and encryption of an unlock password to compose a randomly generated encrypted unlock password. Further, a second set of exclusive responsibilities, assigned to a security agent, includes sending information associated with the unlock password and a digital signature of information associated with the unlock password to a communication device configured for a network in order to mate the unlock password to the communication device, and sending the randomly generated and encrypted unlock password along with mating data to a password processing center. In addition, a third set of exclusive responsibilities, assigned to a password processing center, includes decrypting the randomly generated and encrypted unlock password. |
| US08171525B1 |
Enabling users to select between secure service providers using a central trusted service manager
Systems and methods are described herein for enabling users to select from available secure service providers (each having a Trusted Service Manager (“TSM”)) for provisioning applications and services on a secure element installed on a device of the user. The device includes a service provider selector (“SPS”) module that provides a user interface for selecting the secure service provider. In one embodiment, the SPS communicates with a key escrow service that maintains cryptographic keys for the secure element and distributes the keys to the user selected secure service provider. The key escrow service also revokes the keys from deselected secure service providers. In another embodiment, the SPS communicates with a central TSM that provisions applications and service on behalf of the user selected secure service provider. The central TSM serves as a proxy between the secure service providers and the secure element. |
| US08171524B2 |
Physical access control
A system and method are disclosed for controlling physical access through a digital certificate validation process that works with standard certificate formats and that enables a certifying authority (CA) to prove the validity status of each certificate C at any time interval (e.g., every day, hour, or minute) starting with C's issue date, D1. C's time granularity may be specified within the certificate itself, unless it is the same for all certificates. For example, all certificates may have a one-day granularity with each certificate expires 365 days after issuance. Given certain initial inputs provided by the CA, a one-way hash function is utilized to compute values of a specified byte size that are included on the digital certificate and to compute other values that are kept secret and used in the validation process. |
| US08171523B2 |
Embedded email receiver authentication
The present invention relates to a method and system for providing an option when sending an email which will require the recipient of the email to provide an extra level of authentication before displaying the email contents in order to prove that he or she is indeed the correct recipient of the email. Validation is required by the recipient every time he or she opens an email. This validation occurs in the form of authentication that the user is indeed the intended recipient of the email, and can be provided in various means, including biometric identification, password phrases, and so forth. |
| US08171520B2 |
Method of sharing personal media using a digital recorder
A method and apparatus for sharing personal media using a digital recorder transfers multimedia content via email to a digital video recorder. |
| US08171519B2 |
Video broadcasting method, apparatus, and system
A video broadcasting method includes assigning channels to a video content based on a total number of channels usable for broadcasting the video contents and a playback time of the video content, calculating a broadcast start time interval of the channels assigned to the video content based on the playback time of the video content and number of the channels assigned to the video content setting broadcast start time per channel of the channels assigned to the video content, and broadcasting the video content at the broadcast start time set per the channel. |
| US08171515B2 |
Automatically generated TV favorites list
A favorite channel list for a media system is generated by observing the viewing, surfing, and recording habits of a user. The viewing habits may include the duration and frequency of viewing a channel. A user's surfing habits, including navigation habits of a guide, the method used for navigation to a channel, and information queries made during a surfing session may be used to determine which channels may be added to a favorites list. When the user has an ability to record a program and view the program later, the user's behavior in selecting programs for recording, and the behaviors of playing back and archiving recorded shows may also be used to identify favorite channels. In some embodiments, the favorites list may be customized for a user or node of a playback system, as well as time of day. |
| US08171511B2 |
Dynamic bandwidth allocation for addressable content
Systems and methods for push-based dynamic bandwidth allocation deliver addressable, advertising content in a digital network. Bandwidth is allocated on a push basis in response to receiving a cue tone from a broadcast stream. The cue tone contains data indicating an addressable break. A portion of bandwidth is then allocated to an addressable content stream based on the data of the cue tone. The addressable content stream is then streamed to a receiver during the addressable break and the receiver is tuned from the broadcast stream to the addressable content stream for the duration of the addressable break. The additional bandwidth is de-allocated at the end of the addressable break. |
| US08171508B2 |
Enhanced parental control
A parental control method, including receiving a channel selection command from a user to select from a plurality of channels for playing, each of the channels having a plurality of programming content, performing a parental control procedure prior to allowing playing of the programming content of one of the channels, during at least one specific timeslot, and allowing playing of the programming content prior to performing a parental control procedure for at least one of the following the one channel outside of the at least one specific timeslot, and another one of the channels. Related apparatus and methods are also described. |
| US08171503B2 |
Image processing system and image processing method in which a plurality of devices cooperate to perform image processing, wherein the image processing system and image processing method are capable of displaying information on operations to be performed by the devices
Image processing conditions that have been set are divided into a plurality of processes, and devices capable of executing the processes are searched for. Based on functions of devices that are found as a result of the search and the set image processing conditions, operation flows to be executed by the devices are assigned to the devices, and the assigned operation flows and the names of the corresponding devices are displayed. The operation flows are then executed. Thus, a desired output can be achieved by a plurality of devices that cooperate with each other. |
| US08171502B2 |
Methods, devices and computer program products for automatically installing device drivers from a peripheral device onto a host computer
One or more custom device drivers for a peripheral device may be installed from the peripheral device onto a host computer. Upon connecting the peripheral device to the host computer, an operating system of the host computer is exposed to a default configuration of the peripheral device that contains only a device driver class interface or interfaces for which the operating system includes preinstalled class level device drivers. The peripheral device then receives an install command from the host computer, and automatically transmits one or more custom device drivers from the peripheral device to the host computer. In response to receipt of a change command from the host computer, the configuration of the peripheral device is changed to an alternate configuration that includes interfaces for the custom device drivers. |
| US08171500B2 |
System and method for supporting multiple users
Systems and methods that support splitting a compute resource from its input/output and sharing among one or more users are provided. In one embodiment, a system that supports one or more user devices may include, for example, a compute engine, a first user device and a second user device. The compute engine may be adapted to provide virtualization. The virtualization may provide, for example, a first instance of a particular operating system and a second instance of the particular operating system. The first user device may be coupled to the compute engine and may access the first instance of the particular operating system. The second user device may be coupled to the compute engine and may access the second instance of the particular operating system. In one example, the user devices are input/output devices that do not run applications or operating systems. |
| US08171498B2 |
Adaptive service for handling notifications and synchronizing directories of a file system
Adaptive techniques for handling notifications and updating a directory of a file system in a graphical user interface of a computing environment are disclosed. The adaptive techniques include receiving a notification that at least something has been potentially changed in the node. A current time value of the notification is obtained, and a preferred time value or trigger time for responding to the notification is calculated. In a preferred embodiment, the preferred time value is calculated by adding an adjustment or incremental value to a recorded time of the last synchronization performed on the directory. The adjustment or incremental value is preferably calculated by weighting a duration of one or more synchronizations performed on the directory. The adaptive techniques then compare the current time value to the trigger time. If the current time is greater than the trigger time, the Finder and the directory are synchronized. Otherwise, a timer is set to the trigger time, and synchronization of the Finder and the directory is delayed until the trigger time. |
| US08171497B2 |
Method for efficient location of corba objects based on an unmarshaled object key in a request
Disclosed are methods and threads for responding to a request to perform an operation on a server object as may be provided in software form within an object request broker (ORB) server library or an ORB server. The specified object is identified by a marshaled object key in a conventional manner. The method improves upon prior art techniques by directly locating the object using the marshaled object key free of any unmarshaling step. The specified operation can then be invoked on the located object. The method applies to both in-process and out-of-process requests. In a preferred implementation, the marshaled object key is utilized as a hash key to directly access a pointer to the object. |
| US08171491B2 |
Object synchronization in shared object space
A system for synchronizing shared objects among multiple applications includes a shared object space in which the shared objects are stored and accessible to the multiple applications. In order to properly control access to shared objects, each shared object includes a header that is capable of storing an identification of a sole application that is the only application currently accessing the shared object or a reference into a lock table that stores lock nodes corresponding to a number of applications that are currently seeking access to the shared object. |
| US08171483B2 |
Method and system for communicating between isolation environments
A method and system for associating installation scopes within an isolation environment, where the method includes defining an isolation environment for encompassing an aggregation of installation scopes. Associations are created between a first application and a first installation scope. When the first application requires the presence of a second application within the isolation environment for proper execution, an image of the required second application is mounted onto a second installation scope and an association between the second application and the second installation scope is created. Another association is created between the first installation scope and a second installation scope, and this third association is created within a third installation scope. Each of the first, second, and third installation scopes are stored and the first application is launched into the defined isolation environment. |
| US08171482B1 |
Application environment specifications for provisioning application specific runtime environments using subsets of resources required for execution
Systems and methods of executing an application in an application specific runtime environment are disclosed. The application specific runtime environment is defined by an application environment specification to include a minimal or reduced set of software resources required for execution of the application. The application environment is generated by determining software resource dependencies and is used to provision the application specific runtime environment in real-time in response to a request to execute the application. Use of the application specific runtime environment allows the application to be executed using fewer computing resources, e.g., memory. |
| US08171481B2 |
Method and system for scheduling jobs based on resource relationships
The present invention proposes a scheduler, which is used to submit execution of jobs according to a predefined plan. Each job is defined by a corresponding descriptor. The descriptor specifies the resources to be used by the jobs (through their properties). In addition, for each resource the descriptor can also specify one or more relationships with other resources (defined by their properties as well). When the job must be submitted, the scheduler identifies the actual resources that possess the desired properties and that satisfy the desired relationships. For this purpose, the scheduler accesses a repository with stores information about the available resources and their relationships. |
| US08171475B2 |
Intelligent retry method using remote shell
Method for issuing and monitoring a remote batch job, method for processing a batch job, and system for processing a remote batch job. The method for issuing and monitoring a remote batch job includes formatting a command to be sent to a remote server to include a sequence identification composed of an issuing server identification and a time stamp, forwarding the command from the issuing server to the remote server for processing, and determining success or failure of the processing of the command at the remote server. When the failure of the processing of the command at the remote server is determined, the method further includes instructing the remote server to retry the command processing. |
| US08171473B2 |
Method and apparatus for determining a service cluster topology based on static analysis
The service assignment tool analyzes a service to determine whether the service can execute on a cluster. If the service cannot execute on a cluster, the service is assigned to a single virtual machine. The service assignment tool identifies non-cluster friendly services by performing a static analysis on the bytecode of the service. The bytecode of the service is analyzed by comparing each segment of bytecode to a list of known good and bad coding conventions. If each segment of bytecode in a service meets the good coding convention criteria, then the service is cluster friendly. If one segment of bytecode does not meet the good coding convention criteria, then the entire service is considered to be not cluster friendly. |
| US08171471B1 |
Method and system for performing initial data setup of an application
A method for initial data setup of an application that includes installing the application for execution on a computer system, submitting data to a generic edition of the application using guidance from a coach to generate application formatted data, wherein the data is submitted via a network, and storing the application formatted data on the computer system for use by the application executing on the computer system. |
| US08171470B2 |
Software installation and support
This specification describes technologies relating to software installation. In general, a method of installing software can include obtaining a first installation package distributed for installation on multiple different platforms, the first installation package including program content and package information, the package information including information stored in a platform independent format and useable in an installation sequence; converting the first installation package into a second installation package stored in a format native to a target platform, wherein the second, native installation package includes at least a portion of the program content and the information useable in the installation sequence; and initiating installation on the target platform with the second, native installation package. |
| US08171469B2 |
Package compatibility
One method embodiment includes defining a first package to be opened by a computing device. The method includes associating installation content to be installed on the computing device with the first package. The first package includes a second package that includes the installation content to be installed and the first package includes package functionality information to determine whether a particular package functionality can be utilized by the computing device. |
| US08171460B2 |
System and method for user interface automation
A system and method for language-neutral runtime user interface automation by: providing an automation script for automating use of the user interface in an application; intercepting a call from the automation script to a function simulating a user action on the application; retrieving a translated text string associated with the function call; and calling the function simulating the user action with the translated text string. This provides the advantages of not attaching any extra burden on the script developer and requiring little extra from the user (other than providing a native-language reference file). |
| US08171454B2 |
Method and apparatus for programming software components
A method and apparatus are disclosed for programming software components that treats software components as the basic unit of abstraction and computation. A software component is encapsulated and classes and other program entities, such as data fields and methods, within a given component do not exist beyond a component boundary. A component interacts with other components only by means of a defined set of input and output ports. A component can inherit and implement ports declared in a template and can declare and implement new ports. A component can only access the external environment through its output ports. An output port of one component can only be connected to a conforming input port of another component. A connect statement is an explicit plumbing operation for connecting components together. Interactions between components are loosely coupled. A related set of templates can be grouped together to form a group. Groups are useful for implementing implicit invocation and multicasting. |
| US08171451B2 |
Providing reports as web services
A report web service system comprises a web service interface, a report service manager, and a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) generator. The web service interface receives from a Client Application a request for a web service definition for a report as a web service, and transports to the client application the requested web service definition. The report service manager converts definitions of one or more objects in a report definition in a report store that corresponds to the requested report into web service definitions, and generates an object model based on the web service definitions to reflect a structure of the objects of the report. The WSDL generator generates a WSDL definition for the web service based on the object model. When a report as defined in the WSDL definition is rendered, a selector selects relevant objects from a generalized model of the rendered results based on information in the WSDL definition, and a representation formatter formats representation of the relevant objects. |
| US08171450B2 |
System and apparatus for graphically building business rule conditions
A system and apparatus are disclosed for graphically building business rule conditions. The apparatus of graphically building business rule conditions comprises an expression icon module that displays a menu of function icons for the user, and a business attribute module that displays a menu of business rule attribute icons for the user. A user interface module allows the user to freely drag and drop functions and attributes onto a staging canvas, and relate the functions and attributes to build a graphical depiction of the desired business rule condition. A source code module generates source code directly from the graphical depiction such that the user does not have to understand the specific syntax and nuances of the development environment or runtime environment for the business rule. |
| US08171444B2 |
Layout design method, apparatus and storage medium
A layout design support apparatus divides a first module obtained by dividing a semiconductor integrated circuit into a plurality of second modules in order to support a layout design for determining the disposition of each cell constituting the semiconductor integrated circuit and wiring, and makes the detailed design of a layout for determining the disposition of each cell in the second module and wiring for each second module. |
| US08171439B2 |
Warning device and warning method
A warning device checks for errors in design object data and issues a warning for detected errors by storing allowance information, which allows issuance of warning prevention, cancel information, which cancels relevant allowance information to permit issuance of warning for each error identification, and instruction identification, which identifies an edit command for editing generated design object data for error identification. When said edit command is accepted, the error identification for the instruction identification of edit command is acquired. Cancel information can be registered for error identification. Respective errors corresponding to error identifications are checked, when an operation for checking the design object data is accepted, and when a type of an error is identified, whether to issue a warning based on the allowance information and cancel information for relevant error identification is determined. |
| US08171437B2 |
Automated convergence of ternary simulation by saturation of deep gates
A method, system and computer program product for X-Saturated ternary simulation based reduction. An X-Saturated ternary simulation (XSTS) utility, which executes on a computer system, receives design information, where the design information includes a netlist. The XSTS utility initializes one or more data structures and/or variables and simulates, in a ternary fashion, the netlist at a time value by applying logical X values to all RANDOM gates of the netlist and to registers marked X_SATURATED. For each register of the netlist XSTS utility: determines whether or not the register departs from its expected prefix behavior, and if the register departs from its expected prefix behavior, the register is marked as X_SATURATED and the current state is updated with an X value upon the register. XSTS utility can store the current state in a data structure and can use the information from the data structure to simplify the design. |
| US08171435B2 |
Integrated circuit structure incorporating an inductor, an associated design method and an associated design system
Disclosed are embodiments of a circuit (e.g., an electrostatic discharge (ESD) circuit), a design methodology and a design system. In the circuit, an ESD device is wired to a first metal level (e.g., M1). An inductor is formed in a second metal level (e.g., M5) above the first metal level and is aligned over and electrically connected in parallel to the ESD device by a single vertical via stack. The inductor is configured to nullify, for a given application frequency, the capacitance value of the ESD device. The quality factor of the inductor is optimized by providing, on a third metal level (e.g., M3) between the second metal level and the first metal level, a shield to minimize inductive coupling. An opening in the shield allows the via stack to pass through, trading off Q factor reduction for size-scaling and ESD robustness improvements. |
| US08171432B2 |
Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for displaying and selecting application options
In accordance with some embodiments, a flat version of an application interface is displayed. In response to detecting a user gesture on a view options icon while the flat version of the application interface is displayed, a curled version of the application interface is displayed. The curled version of the application interface includes an image of a curled page that obscures a first portion of the flat version of the application interface, and a roll-up region in a display region formerly occupied by a second portion of the flat version of the application interface. The roll-up region includes a plurality of option icons. When a user selection gesture on one or more of the plurality of option icons is detected, the flat version of the application interface is redisplayed with information corresponding to the option icons upon which user selection gestures were detected. |
| US08171431B2 |
Handle flags
The claimed subject matter provides techniques to effectuate and facilitate efficient and flexible selection of display objects. The system can include devices and components that acquire gestures from pointing instrumentalities and thereafter ascertains velocities and proximities in relation to the displayed objects. Based at least upon these ascertained velocities and proximities falling below or within threshold levels, the system displays flags associated with the display object. |
| US08171424B1 |
Method, system, and graphical user interface for meeting-spot maps for online communications
A method, system, and graphical user interface for meeting-spot maps for online communications are disclosed. A “meeting spot” is a specific physical location where two or more people can arrange to meet face to face. One aspect of the invention involves a computer-implemented method in which a server computer sends information corresponding to a map to a client device and sends information corresponding to a plurality of icons for meeting spots to be overlaid on the map. In some embodiments, selection of an icon in the plurality of icons by a user at the client device initiates the display of information about other users that have also selected the icon. In some embodiments, selection of an icon in the plurality of icons by a user at the client device initiates online communications with one or more other users that have also selected the icon. |
| US08171422B2 |
System and method for scrolling data
In a system and method for displaying data, a processor may simultaneously scroll at different paces through a first data and through a second data in response to a single scroll instruction. |
| US08171421B2 |
Portable electronic device and method for displaying large format data files
A portable electronic device includes a rendering circuit to visualize large format data files on a narrow display. The large format data files are rendered using either a desktop display mode or a mobile display mode. The desktop display mode renders the data file using data file-specified dimensions and resolutions. The data file is viewable in its entirety by automatic scrolling achieved by moving a cursor near the edge of the display. Data file elements may be edited while in desktop display mode. The mobile display mode renders the elements of the data file as a list with minimal regard for spatial orientation. Navigation in mobile display mode is field-to-field. |
| US08171419B2 |
Method and system for remote media management on a touch screen device
The method of managing media files remotely on a portable electronic device having the touch screen display includes storing a composite media file index that lists all media files, and their attributes, whether stored on the portable electronic device or accessible at a remote computing device. The method continues by rendering a graphical user interface for a media manager application, operable to access the stored media file index, on the touch screen display. At least one activation touch event is then detected on the touch screen display, and in response to the at least one activation touch event, a group of media files having shared attributes are displayed within the graphical user interface, and at least one media file is identified for download from the remote computing device. The at least one media file is then downloaded during synchronization of the portable electronic device to the remote computing device. |
| US08171414B2 |
System and method for consolidated reporting of characteristics for a group of file systems
A system and method enables one or more storage volumes and associated devices on one or more storage appliances (filers) to be combined or consolidated into arbitrary groups so that statistical information related to performance, operational status and other usage-based parameters can be made available to interested parties associated with the group. The volumes can drawn from different storage appliances and grouped so as to allow administration and access by a common group of administrators or users. The statistical information can be compared to threshold values to generate events. The events can be e-mailed or otherwise transmitted to interested parties. The statistical information can also be organized and displayed in a variety of formats as a web page on a graphical user interface that resides on a management station and/or client display of an interested party. |
| US08171412B2 |
Context sensitive text recognition and marking from speech
A visual presentation system and method for synchronizing presentation data being viewed in a display with speech input. A system is disclosed that includes: a speech recognition system for recognizing speech input; an association system for determining a context of the speech input and matching the context with a relevant portion of the presentation data; and a visual coordination system for coordinating the display of a data item from the presentation data based on a match made by the association system. |
| US08171410B2 |
Method and system for generating and presenting mobile content summarization
This invention involves a system and method to construct a visual representation of multidimensional data that works especially well for video. The system comprises an application on a mobile device having a screen, an assignment module assigning the media segments to the screen, a rendering module rendering the assigned media segments on the screen, a playback module playing the assigned media segments, a catalog module representing media metadata about the mobile content, a summarization module stewarding the media metadata, and a remote server storing the mobile content and the media metadata. The application retrieves the mobile content from the remote server and accesses the assignment, the rendering, the playback, the catalog, and the summarization modules. The system also comprises a method to log and analyze the browsing interactions of one or more users, and present a view of the media that reflects what is interesting to the user. |
| US08171407B2 |
Rating virtual world merchandise by avatar visits
Generating popularity ratings for virtual world artifacts based on how often and in what manner avatars access the artifacts is provided. The popularity ratings for virtual world artifacts may be used to determine what virtual world artifacts are selected to have a prominent presence in a virtual world. When an event caused by an avatar accessing a virtual world artifact in a virtual world is detected, the illustrative embodiments receive information about the event, such as the event type, the avatar identifier (ID), and the time the event occurred. The illustrative embodiments generate a rating score for the virtual world artifact based on the information received about the event. The illustrative embodiments update a rendering of the virtual world artifact in the virtual world based on the rating score. |
| US08171406B1 |
Automating user interface navigation
A system processes a set of instructions, each of which indicates an action to perform on a user interface. The system does not have prior information concerning the layout of the user interface, nor does the system interact with the user interface through an automation API. For each instruction in the set, the system automatically performs the indicated action on the user interface. To do so, the system identifies the selected control on an active window, and determines whether it is the control to activate in order to perform the indicated action. If so, the system generates an input signal configured to activate the selected control, and sends the input signal to the user interface. If not, the system selects a new control and determines whether it is the desired one. The system cycles through the controls to find the desired one to activate. |
| US08171404B2 |
Methods and systems for disassembly and reassembly of examination documents
Aspects of the present invention relate to systems, methods and devices for manipulating documents. According to one aspect of the present invention, the responses, from multiple examinees, to a question on an examination may be combined to form a combined document associated with the question for grading, scoring or other analysis. According to a second aspect of the present invention, markings made by the examination grader, on the combined document, associated with an examinee may be combined with the examinee's examination document to produce a modified examination document. |
| US08171401B2 |
Resizing an editable area in a web page
Embodiments of the present invention provide for vertically and/or horizontally resizing a zone or DIV element of a Web page via a browser-based Web authoring tool, while preserving a DIV element's ability to dynamically size to its Web content. Drag and drop vertical resizing of a DIV element is accomplished by creating two hidden DIV elements that are set to the specific left/top anchor, width, and altered HTML content of the DIV element to be resized. The two hidden DIV elements provide specific top and bottom pixel height limits to determine when a line break should be appended or decremented to the original DIV element's HTML content. By utilizing line breaks to vertically resize, a DIV element maintains its capability of sizing to dynamic Web content. |
| US08171398B2 |
Content server and layout system
A server system for generating information to be delivered to a client having an RSS reader according to this invention, includes a layout unit configured to execute layout processing of content data acquired from a content server in accordance with template data, a generation unit configured to generate, when an error has occurred in the layout processing by the layout unit, syndication data including link information to data associated with the error, and an information providing unit configured to provide the syndication data generated by the generation unit to the client, and to provide, when an acquisition request of the data designated by the link information included in the syndication data is issued, that data to the request source. |
| US08171396B2 |
Method and apparatus for declarative updating of self-describing, structured documents
The present invention includes a method and device for updating a self-describing, structured document. A further aspect of the present invention is enabling client-based modification of the document. Additional aspects of the present invention are described in the claims, specification and drawings. |
| US08171394B2 |
Methods and systems for providing a customized user interface for viewing and editing meta-data
Systems and methods are disclosed for providing a user interface. The disclosed systems and methods may include receiving a request to initiate an application program configured to generate a data file. Furthermore, the disclosed systems and methods may include displaying, by the initiated application program, a property panel in response to the request. The property panel may be configured to receive meta-data to be associated with the data file generated by the application program. Also, the property panel may be configured to provide the only place to receive the meta-data by the application program. Moreover, the disclosed systems and methods may include receiving the meta-data in the property panel. |
| US08171392B2 |
Automatic forms processing systems and methods
Systems and methods analyze the physical structure of text rows in a document image, including the positions of one or more alignments of one or more character blocks in one or more text rows of the document image. The systems and methods determine one or more groups of text rows that are placed into a class based on the structures of the text rows, such as the positions of the one or more alignments of the one or more character blocks in each text row. |
| US08171391B2 |
Method of describing the structure of graphical objects
The proposed technical solution allows processing of machine-readable forms of unfixed format. It comprises a method of specifying the logical structure of a document characterized by: preliminary specification of the list and descriptions of varieties of elements which may be present in the form, specifying an algorithm of setting the search constraints for every element, description of at least the following characteristics of search for every simple or compound element—the spatial characteristics of the search area and the parametric characteristics of the element, description of the method of identification of obtained elements, testing the type of the element, testing the properties which are typical of the type, testing the completeness of composition of the parts of the element. |
| US08171389B2 |
Method of hierarchical processing of a document and system therefor
The present invention discloses a method for processing document data, wherein the document data comprises at least one page in order and the page comprising at least one layer in order, the method comprises: managing and controlling the at least one layer respectively. The technical scheme of the present invention enables process a document on layers in the docbase management system and provides more flexible document processing. |
| US08171385B1 |
Load balancing service for servers of a web farm
A system for maximizing the efficiency of a load balancing server for an asymmetric web farm utilizes a TCP stack and data packets to send and receive client service requests. An internal buffer enables each web server in the web farm to balance their loading based on the contents of the client service request. Data switching between the address portion of the user space and the address portion of the kernel space within the load balancing server is eliminated. |
| US08171377B2 |
System to improve memory reliability and associated methods
A system to improve memory reliability in computer systems that may include memory chips, and may rely on a error control encoder to send codeword symbols for storage in each of the memory chips. At least two symbols from a codeword are assigned to each memory chip and therefore failure of any of the memory chips could affect two symbols or more. The system may also include a table to record failures and partial failures of the codeword symbols for each of the memory chips so the error control encoder can correct subsequent partial failures based upon the previous partial failures. The error control coder is capable of correcting and/or detecting more errors if only a fraction of a chip is noted in the table as having a failure as opposed to a full chip noted as having a failure. |
| US08171375B2 |
Distributed processing LDPC (low density parity check) decoder
Distributed processing LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) decoder. A means is presented herein that includes an LDPC decoding architecture leveraging a distributed processing technique (e.g., daisy chain) to increase data throughput and reduce memory storage requirements. Routing congestion and critical path latency are also improved thereby. Each daisy chain includes a number of registers, and a number of localized MUXs (e.g., MUXs having merely 2 inputs each). The means presented herein also does not contain any barrel shifters, high fan-in multiplexers, or interconnection networks; therefore, the critical path is relatively short and it can also be pipelined to further increase data throughput. If desired, a communication device can include multiple configurations of such daisy chains to accommodate the decoding of various LDPC coded signals (e.g., such as for an application and/or communication device that must decoded LDPC codes using different low density parity check matrices). |
| US08171374B2 |
LDPC check matrix generation method, check matrix generator, and code retransmission method
A check matrix generation method for generating a check matrix H1 of a code H1 from a check matrix H0 of a code C0, where codes C0 and C1 are LDPC systematic codes having different encoding ratios in a rate-compatible relationship and information bit sizes of the systematic codes C0 and C1 are K, and parity bit sizes thereof are M0 and M1 (M1−M0=L) respectively. The method comprising steps of: selecting L number of rows out of the check matrix H0; separating an information bit portion and a parity bit portion constituting each of the selected rows into two respectively, such that each of the separated information bit portions includes one or more non-zero elements which are “elements different from 0”; creating a new first row by coupling one separated information bit porting and one separated parity bit portion and creating a new second row by coupling another separated information bit portion and another separated parity portion; and generating the check matrix H1 of the systematic code C1 by placing the new first and second rows in place of each of the selected L number of rows in the check matrix H0. |
| US08171373B2 |
Coding circuit for recording data on DVD disk
A coding circuit that includes a buffer manager and a coding block is provided for generating product codes for parity checks as error correction code and adding the product codes to digital data to be recorded in a record medium. |
| US08171370B2 |
Method and apparatus for applying forward error correction in 66b systems
A method and apparatus for applying Forward Error Correction (FEC) in 66b systems. For a user data, the apparatus uses a method comprising the steps of generating one or more data blocks using a 66b code format and the user data; generating one or more FEC parity blocks using the 66b code format, wherein the parity is calculated over the data blocks; and generating an FEC codeword using the data blocks and the FEC parity blocks. |
| US08171365B2 |
Communication apparatus and method thereof
This is disclosed a communication apparatus. A receiving unit receives plural data frames which are transmitted from other communication apparatus. An error detection unit checks whether each data frame is received correctly or incorrectly. A determination unit estimates a first overhead and a second overhead and determines whether or not to send a block acknowledgement frame by comparing the first and the second overheads. The determination unit estimates the first overhead being caused by sending the block acknowledgement frame and the second overhead being caused by not sending the block acknowledgement frame. The receiving unit receives the data frames which are retransmitted from the other communication apparatus after a certain period of time has passed without sending the block acknowledgement frame, the data frames retransmitted from the other communication apparatus including both data frames which are correctly received and incorrectly received. |
| US08171364B2 |
System and method for power outage and restoration notification in an advanced metering infrastructure network
A method and system are provided to transmit a meter power status. The method includes recognizing a power status change at a meter. The method includes, if the meter is scheduled to transmit first, transmitting a notification message to at least one neighboring meter towards a mesh gate, wherein the notification message includes a power status indicator and a meter identifier. The method includes, if the meter is not scheduled to transmit first, waiting a predetermined time period to receive a notification message from at least one neighboring meter. The method includes, responsive to receiving a notification message, adding a meter identifier to the received notification message before retransmitting the modified notification message to at least one neighboring meter. The method includes retransmitting the notification message. |
| US08171362B2 |
Apparatus, method and computer program product for HARQ buffer size reduction
Apparatus, methods and computer program products implement HARQ buffer size reduction by storing successfully received blocks of a multi-block signal in a code block buffer and only storing unsuccessfully received blocks of the multi-block signal in the HARQ buffer. As HARQ retransmissions of the signal occur, previous successfully received blocks are discarded. Blocks that were not successfully received in one or more previous signals but are successfully received in a HARQ retransmission are saved in the code block buffer. The process may continue until all blocks of the multi-block signal have been successfully decoded received and stored in the code block buffer. The successfully received blocks of the multi-block signal are then passed to higher layers. |
| US08171353B2 |
System and method for initializing a memory system, and memory device and processor-based system using same
Systems, controllers and methods are disclosed, such as an initialization system including a controller that receives patterns of read data coupled from a memory device through a plurality of read data lanes. The controller is operable to detect any lane-to-lane skew in the patterns of read data received through the read data lanes. The controller then adjusts the manner in which the read data received through the read data lanes during normal operation are divided into frames. The controller can also couple patterns of command/address bits to the memory device through a plurality of command/address lanes. The memory device can send the received command/address bits back to the controller through the read data lanes. The controller is operable to detect any lane-to-lane skew in the patterns of command/address bits received through the read data lanes to adjust the manner in which the command/address bits coupled through the command/address lanes during normal operation are divided into frames. |
| US08171349B2 |
Associating a monitoring manager with an executable service in a virtual machine migrated between physical machines
A virtual machine is migrated from a source physical machine to a target physical machine, where the virtual machine has an executable service and a monitoring agent for monitoring the executable service. In response to the migrating, a monitoring manager is started that issues a command to start the executable service. It is determined whether the command is for the executable service that is already running in the migrated virtual machine. In response to such determining, the started monitoring manager is associated with the already running executable service, where the monitoring manager cooperates with the monitoring agent to detect fault of the executable service. |
| US08171348B2 |
Data consistency in long-running processes
Long running computer implemented processes are dynamically adapted to improve data consistency. A range of process steps in a long running computer implemented process is specified. Additionally, each of the computer-implemented process partners that are associated with the execution of the long running process are identified within the range of specified process steps. Monitoring information is also collected with regard to at least one identified process partner. An automatic determination is made as to whether each monitored process partner is available before initiating execution of the specified range of process steps in an instance of the long running computer implemented process and a flow of the long running computer implemented process is transformed based at least in part upon the determination as to whether each monitored process partner is available. |
| US08171345B2 |
Disablement of an exception generating operation of a client system
A method and system of disablement of an exception generating operation of a client system are disclosed. In an embodiment, a method is disclosed in which a snapshot of a client system is acquired. An execution of the client system is recorded, and a system wide exception is intercepted before it causes a client system crash. The execution of the client system is replayed from the snapshot of the client system, and an operation that generates the system wide exception is disabled. |
| US08171342B2 |
Device and method for outputting BIOS POST code
A device and method for outputting BIOS POST code, applied to a computer system. The device includes a basic input output system (BIOS), a transfer module and a video graphics array (VGA) connector. The BIOS generates a power-on self-test (POST) code using a low pin count (LPC) interface format. The transfer module receives the POST code and transfers the format of the POST code to a system management bus (SMBus) format. The VGA connector receives and outputs the POST code transmitted from the transfer module. |
| US08171340B2 |
Software performance counters
A system for providing software performance counters includes an operating system that receives a first request of a first application to monitor performance of a second application, the first request identifying a type of event to monitor during the execution of the second application. The operating system determines that the event is a software event, monitors the performance of the second application with respect to the type of the software event, and updates a counter associated with the type of the software event based on the monitoring. Further, the operating system receives a second request of the first application for performance data associated with the type of the software event counter, and provides the value of the counter to the first application. |
| US08171339B2 |
Testing a virtualised storage system in response to disk exercising commands
Provided are a method, apparatus, and computer program product for testing a virtualized storage system. Data defining one or more configuration features of the virtualized storage system is received. Also received is a set of one or more predetermined rules defining interpretation of the disk exercising commands, the interpretation being dependent on one or more of the configuration features. A first disk exercising command is received. The first disk exercising command is interpreted in accordance with one of the predetermined rules to produce a second disk exercising command. The second disk exercising command is sent to the virtualized storage system. |
| US08171337B2 |
Computer architectures using shared storage
Shared storage systems and methods are provided. A particular shared storage system is a system including multiple instances of shared storage. Each of the instances of shared storage includes data and file system metadata separated from the data. The file system metadata includes location data specifying storage location information related to the data. A persistent common view is provided of local and remote files, file systems, and services in the shared storage. |
| US08171336B2 |
Method for protecting a secured real time clock module and a device having protection capabilities
A method for protecting a secured real time clock module, the method includes: locking multiple input ports of the secured real time clock module if the multiple input ports of the secured real time clock module are idle during at least a first duration; unlocking the multiple input ports of the secured real time clock module if a predefined high frequency code is received over a control input port of the secured real time clock module; and providing a secured real time clock signal when the multiple input ports of the secured real time clock module are locked and when the multiple input ports of the secured real time clock module are unlocked; wherein changes in a supply voltage results in a supply voltage induced changes of an input signal provided to an input port of the secured real time clock module; wherein a maximal frequency of the supply voltage induced changes of the input signal is lower than the high frequency of the predefined high frequency code. |
| US08171329B2 |
Method of dynamically adjusting signal delay time of circuit system
A circuit system periodically checks a system-environment monitor value, and then obtains a system-environment monitor value index corresponding to the system-environment monitor value in the environment-adjustment look-up table. Finally, the circuit system adjusts a signal delay time according to a delay adjustment value corresponding to the system-environment monitor value index. |
| US08171325B2 |
Computing component and environment mobility
Methods, services, devices, and programmable code are provided for moving computing processes without loss of service. Powered components supporting a computing infrastructure executing computing processes are monitored for thermal characteristics, each associated with at least one of the deployed components. A thermal characteristic rule set comprising a threshold is applied to the monitored characteristics, and in response to an association with a monitored characteristic correlating with the threshold, a computing process is moved from one powered component to another having a monitored thermal characteristics not correlated with the threshold, the moving in real-time and without causing an interruption of service to an end user using the moved process. |
| US08171319B2 |
Managing processor power-performance states
Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer program products for managing power states in processors of a data processing system. In one embodiment, the invention is directed to a data processing system having dynamically configurable power-performance states (“pstates”). The data processing system includes a processor configured to operate at multiple states of frequency and voltage. The data processing system also has a power manager module configured to monitor operation of the data processing system. The data processing system further includes a pstates table having a plurality of pstate definitions, wherein each pstate definition includes a voltage value, a frequency value, and at least one unique pointer that indicates a transition from a given pstate to a different pstate. The voltage value, frequency value, and unique pointer of a given pstate definition are configurable, during operation of the data processing system, by the power manager module in response to changes in the operating parameters of the data processing system. |
| US08171311B2 |
Transferring data values via a data bus or storing data values using a selectable representation
Data values being stored and transferred within a data processing system 8 have a selectable representation, such as true and complement, as indicated by an accompanying representation specifying bit. This assists in obscuring the operation and the power signature of the device in a manner that improves security. |
| US08171310B2 |
File system filter authentication
A software entity on a host device attempting to access protected content in a secure memory device must be authenticated using a challenge/response authentication mechanism before the secure file system can be accessed. A file system filter determines whether requested content is protected. If the content is protected, the file system filter provides a challenge to the software entity and generates a file system filter response using the same challenge. The software entity must then send a software entity response using the challenge to the file system filter. If the file system filter determines that the software entity response matches the file system filter response, the software entity is allowed to access the protected content through a secure file system installed on the host device for the memory device. |
| US08171308B2 |
Digital broadcasting system and method of processing data in digital broadcasting system
A digital broadcast receiver and a control method thereof are disclosed. The control method includes receiving a broadcast signal into which mobile service data and main service data are multiplexed, extracting transmission parameter channel (TPC) signaling information and fast information channel (FIC) signaling information from a data group in the received mobile service data, acquiring control data required to decrypt an encrypted service included in an ensemble by using the extracted FIC signaling information, the ensemble being a virtual channel group of the received mobile service data, and controlling such that the encrypted service is decrypted by using the acquired control data. |
| US08171305B2 |
Method for authorizing a telephone transaction and local node
The invention relates to a method for authorizing a telephone transaction and in particular an access to a database through a user in a telecommunication network, said telecommunication network comprising a user interface, an access control for the database and an authentification device, which are connected with each other over a local node in the telecommunication network, as well as to a corresponding local node.The invention is characterized in that the comparative result is output by the authentification device over the local node to the access control and the result of the comparison is communicated by the access control to the user over the local node, signals sent by the authentification device being masked. |
| US08171304B2 |
Method, system and computer program product for multiple biometric template screening
A method, system and computer program product which allows identification of an enrollment biometric template having a highest probability of matching a sample biometric template from a plurality of enrolled biometric templates without compromising or significantly compromising system security. In one embodiment of the invention, first feature set information is derived from sample and enrollment biometric templates. The first feature set information generally comprises spatially dependent information associated with a fingerprint. The first feature set information is then used to determine which enrollment biometric template has the highest probability of matching the sample biometric template. Second feature set information is then derived from the biometric sample template and the determined enrollment biometric template and used to perform a one-to-one match. The second feature set information generally comprises pattern dependent information associated with a fingerprint. |
| US08171303B2 |
Authenticating a login
Techniques for authenticating a login that avoid the imposition of memorization burdens on users of a computer system. The present techniques include determining whether an appropriate token is stored on a client system that originates the login, authenticating a login by communicating with a user via a secondary communication channel, and authenticating a login by engaging in a private question/private answer dialogue with a user. |
| US08171302B2 |
Method and system for creating a pre-shared key
There is provided a system and method for creating a pre-shared key. More specifically, in one embodiment, there is provided a method comprising accessing an identifier associated with a computer system, and performing at least one mathematical function on the identifier to create a pre-shared key for the computer system. |
| US08171299B2 |
Data communication apparatus, data communication method, data communication program, and storage medium storing the program
A data communication apparatus which is capable of preventing reception of undesired data by a destination without increasing the load on a network, etc. Data and a destination thereof are input. A sender ID related to a sender who sends the input data is input. The input data is sent to the input destination. A sender ID for data transmission to the input destination is permitted is stored as a permission ID. The input sender ID is collated with the stored permission ID. Whether to permit data transmission is determined according to the collation result. |
| US08171294B2 |
Additional-information detection processing apparatus and method, content playback processing apparatus and method, and computer program
Information capable of tracing a content distribution route, such as a user ID of a content destination, a content ID, a content provider ID, and a service provider ID, is superimposed on the content as additional information for digital watermarking or steganography before delivering the content. For example, the content ID and the user ID are detected from the delivered content. When both the content ID and the user ID are not detected from the content, it is determined that the content is illegally distributed, and the content distribution route is traced to identify the source of the illegally distributed content. In most cases, unique information, such as a user ID, still remains in copies of the content, thus effectively preventing illegal distribution of the content. |
| US08171293B2 |
Receiver non-repudiation via a secure device
Techniques for assuring a receiver's non repudiation of a communication are provided via cooperation with a secure device. A secure device operates within a local environment of a receiver and exchanges certificates with a sender via the receiver. The sender encrypts data in a communication with the receiver. Separately, the sender sends an encrypted version of a decryption key to the receiver. The receiver presents the encrypted version of the key to the secure device and the secure device supplies the decryption key for use by the receiver to decrypt the previously sent encrypted data. |
| US08171288B2 |
System and method for authenticating users in a computer network
A rule based biometric user authentication method and system in a computer network environment is provided. Multiple authentication rules can exist in the computer network. For example, there may be a default system-wide rule, and a rule associated with a particular user trying to log in. There may be other rules such as one associated with a remote computer from which the user is logging in, one associated with a group to which the user belongs, or one associated with a system resource to which the user requires access such as an application program or a database of confidential information. An order of precedence among the rules is then established which is used to authenticate the user. |
| US08171286B2 |
Computer program for securely viewing a file
A method for distributing a password protected content file without revealing the password to a recipient. An unlocking program that has access to at least one password corresponding to the password protecting the password protected content file is distributed to the recipient's computer. The password protected content file is distributed to the recipient's computer wherein upon activation of the unlocking program, the unlocking program automatically supplies the at least one password upon loading of the password protected content file. |
| US08171280B2 |
Method of running multiple operating systems on an X86-based computer system having a dedicated memory region configured as a do not use region
Two or more distinct operating systems (OSs) are loaded simultaneously and run on an x86 computer system. Each OS is booted serially and in such a way that the OS resides in a separate memory footprint than the other OSs by partitioning the memory map. The partition of the memory map includes a low memory region, dedicated memory partitions for storing each OS, and dedicated regions for storing shadows of the low memory region and the ACPI for each OS. Switching between the two or more resident OSs is performed by sleeping the current OS and then resuming the desired OS using the shadow previously stored for the desired OS. None of the resident OSs require any modification in order to run in this fashion. |
| US08171278B2 |
Booting a computer system from central storage
A filter driver that is loaded during an initial part of the boot process enable operating systems that are not capable of booting from central storage to be booted from central storage. According to this technique, an initial set of operating system files is loaded into system memory from a local storage volume. The initial set of files includes a small subset of all of the operating system files and includes a boot loader, a kernel, boot time drivers, a file system driver, and a filter driver. The filter driver takes control over the loading of the remainder of the operating system files, so that these files are loaded from central storage instead of the local storage volume. |
| US08171275B2 |
ROM BIOS based trusted encrypted operating system
There is disclosed a device, system, and method for a ROM BIOS based trusted encrypted operating system for use in a gaming environment. The gaming device includes a ROM storing a BIOS, a secure loader, an encrypted operating system, and a decryption key for decrypting the encrypted operating system. The decryption key is partitioned and scattered about the secure loader. The method includes initializing the BIOS, locating the decryption key, decrypting the encrypted operating system with the encryption key, verifying a plurality of check codes, and transferring control to the operating system. The check codes are verified responsive to decrypting the encrypted operating system. The check codes are dispersed about the operating system and are unrelated to the operating system. Control is transferred to the operating system responsive to verifying the check codes. |
| US08171270B2 |
Asynchronous control transfer
Methods and apparatus to perform asynchronous control transfer are described. In one embodiment, upon occurrence of an event (e.g., an architectural event), a service routine data block (SRDB) is accessed via a service routine base pointer (SRDS) and a service routine offset value (SRDBP) to obtain the address of a yield service routine via a service routine instruction pointer (SRIP) and a service routine code segment (SRCS). Other embodiments are also described. |
| US08171254B2 |
Memory controller and memory control method
According to one embodiment, a memory controller comprises a counter and a setting module. The counter is configured to count the number of valid pages in a block includes a page to be invalidated, when data is written in a nonvolatile memory. The setting module is configured to set the block as an object of compaction when the number of valid pages counted by the counter is smaller than a predetermined number. |
| US08171253B2 |
Virtual disk mapping
A storage area network can include a storage virtualization entity—intelligent storage application resource (iSAR)—either as a separate device in the fabric, or as an integrated module in one or more switches within the fabric. All I/O operations can be re-directed to iSAR for processing. iSAR can segment virtual storage and physical storage into units, where each unit of the virtual storage is mapped to a single unit in physical storage. Data associated with incoming I/O operation can be compressed before being stored in physical storage. iSAR includes overflow reserve storage at the block, sub-page and page level to accommodate changes in compressed data size on subsequent I/O operations. These measures can improve I/O performance and reduce fragmentation. iSAR can also employ deduplication of incoming data stored on physical storage to improve storage efficiency. |
| US08171245B2 |
Data migrating method taking end time into consideration
There is provided a data migrating method including the steps of: calculating, in a case where data stored in a volume is migrated to another volume, a required period of time for migrating the data based on a size of data to be migrated and volume configuration information on the volume in which the migrated data is stored and the volume to which the data is to be migrated; determining a start time at which the data migration starts to generate a volume migration plan; setting a priority of the generated volume migration plan; prioritizing, in a case where a periods of time during which the generated volume migration plan is executed and a period of time during which an existing volume migration plan is executed are overlapped with each other, and changing the start time of at least one of those volume migration plans having a lower priority. |
| US08171243B2 |
Data control apparatus, data control method, and data control program
A data control apparatus is connected to a central processing unit that processes data and to a main storage unit that stores therein the data, and controls output of the data. The data control apparatus includes a data storage unit that stores therein data output from the central processing unit to the main storage unit and data output from the central processing unit to other central processing unit, an information addition unit that adds information indicating an output enabled state to the data when the data stored in the data storage unit is in the output enabled state, and a data output unit that outputs the data with the information added thereto by the information addition unit from oldest stored data in order of storage in the data storage unit. |
| US08171241B2 |
Computer system, computer and method for managing performance based on I/O division ratio
Provided is a computer system including a host computer, a plurality of virtual storage systems coupled to the host computer, a storage system coupled to the plurality of virtual storage systems, and a management computer. The storage system includes storage areas provided as volumes to the host computer. Each of the virtual storage systems provides virtual volumes corresponding to the volumes to the host computer. The host computer disperses a plurality of data I/Os containing data to be written in one of the volumes to the virtual volumes of a plurality of paths reaching the one of the volumes at a determined ratio. The management computer calculates a threshold value of a performance value to be set in the virtual volume of each of the paths to determine whether to generate an alert based on the predetermined ratio. Thus, performance of the computer system is properly managed. |
| US08171239B2 |
Storage management method and system using the same
A storage management system and a storage management method are provided. The storage management system includes a host, a memory buffer, a plurality of storage blocks, and an input/output bus to perform an interface function among the host, the memory buffer, and the plurality of storage blocks, wherein each of the plurality of storage blocks is connected with the input/output bus via a corresponding channel, and the plurality of storage blocks is managed for each channel group generated by grouping at least one channel. |
| US08171236B2 |
Managing migration of a shared memory logical partition from a source system to a target system
Migration management is provided for a shared memory logical partition migrating from a source system to a target system. The management approach includes managing migration of the logical partition from the source system to the target system by: transferring a portion of logical partition state information for the migrating logical partition from the source system to the target system by copying at the source system contents of a logical page of the migrating logical partition into a state record buffer for forwarding to the target system; forwarding the state record buffer to the target system; and determining whether the migrating logical partition is suspended at the source system, and if not, copying at the target system contents of the state record buffer to paging storage of the target system, the paging storage being external to physical memory managed by a hypervisor of the target system. |
| US08171234B2 |
Multi-bank multi-port architecture
A memory system including a plurality of ports and a memory core having a plurality of memory banks. Access requests received at the ports are broadcast to the memory banks. Multiple memory banks may be concurrently accessed in response to access requests received on different ports. A memory controller provides the access requests to the memory system, and ensures that a single memory bank is not concurrently accessed by different ports. All access requests are processed with the same latency. If the memory banks include memory cells that must be periodically refreshed, then the memory controller also provides refresh requests to the memory banks. Because multiple memory banks may be concurrently accessed in response to access requests provided on different ports, the memory banks can operate at a lower frequency than the ports. |
| US08171233B2 |
Multi port semiconductor memory device with direct access function in shared structure of nonvolatile memory and multi processor system thereof
A multiport semiconductor memory device and a multiprocessor system employing the same directly accesses a shared nonvolatile memory. The multiport semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of port units coupled with respective corresponding processors. A shared memory area is accessed by both the processors through the port units. A data path control unit controls a data path between the shared memory area and the port units and data transmission/reception is performed between the processors through the shared memory area. An access authority information storage unit is positioned outside of the memory cell array and stores information for an access authority of nonvolatile memory and provides the information to the processors. Accordingly, a direct access is performed by a processor indirectly connected to nonvolatile memory. |
| US08171232B2 |
Stored value accessors in shared memory regions
Instruction sets in computing environments may execute within one of several domains, such as a natively executing domain, an interpretively executing domain, and a debugging executing domain. These domains may store values in a shared region of memory in different ways. It may be difficult to perform operations on such values, particularly if a domain that generated a particular value cannot be identified or no longer exist, which may obstruct shared accessing of values and evaluative tasks such as stack walks. Instead, accessors may be associated with a stored value that perform various operations (such as low-level assembly instructions like Load, Store, and Compare) according to the standards of the value-generating domain, and domains may be configured to operate on the value through the accessors. This configuration may promote consistent accessing of values without having to identify or consult the value-generating domain or reconfiguring the instruction sets. |
| US08171229B2 |
Wait-free parallel data cache
A system and method for managing a data cache in a central processing unit (CPU) of a database system. A method executed by a system includes the processing steps of adding an ID of a page p into a page holder queue of the data cache, executing a memory barrier store-load operation on the CPU, and looking-up page p in the data cache based on the ID of the page p in the page holder queue. The method further includes the steps of, if page p is found, accessing the page p from the data cache, and adding the ID of the page p into a least-recently-used queue. |
| US08171228B2 |
Garbage collection in a cache with reduced complexity
Garbage collection associated with a cache with reduced complexity. In an embodiment, a relative rank is computed for each cache item based on relative frequency of access and relative non-idle time of cache entry compared to other entries. Each item having a relative rank less than a threshold is considered a suitable candidate for replacement. Thus, when a new item is to be stored in a cache, an entry corresponding to an identified item is used for storing the new item. |
| US08171227B1 |
System and method for managing a flow based reply cache
A system and method determines when the entries of a reply cache, organized into microcaches each of which is allocated to a client connection, may be retired or released, thereby freeing up memory structures. A plurality of connection statistics are defined and tracked for each microcache and for the entries of the microcache. The connection statistics indicate the value of the microcache and its entries to the client. The connection statistics include a measure of the time since the last idempotent or non-idempotent request (TOLR) was received, and a count of the number of idempotent requests that have been received since the last non-idempotent request (RISLR). A microcache with a TOLR time and a RISLR count that exceed respective thresholds may be expired and removed from the reply cache. |
| US08171226B2 |
Method and apparatus for execution of a process
Techniques are provided for enabling execution of a process employing a cache Method steps can include obtaining a first probability of accessing a given artifact in a state Si, obtaining a second probability of using a predicate from a current state Sc in the state Si, determining a benefit of prefetching the given artifact using the predicate based on at least the first probability and the second probability, and whether and/or when a cache replacement should be conducted, based at least on the benefit determined. |
| US08171224B2 |
D-cache line use history based done bit based on successful prefetchable counter
A method of providing history based done logic for a D-cache includes receiving a D-cache line in an L2 cache; determining if the D-cache line is unprefetchable; aging the D-cache line without a delay if the D-cache line is prefetchable; and aging the D-cache line with a delay if the D-cache line is unprefetchable. |
| US08171223B2 |
Method and system to increase concurrency and control replication in a multi-core cache hierarchy
A directory of a private cache hierarchy is provided to maintain coherency between data stored in the cache hierarchy, where the directory is to enable concurrent cache-to-cache transfer of data to two private caches from another private cache. This directory can be implemented in a system having a multi-core processor. Other embodiments are described. |
| US08171220B2 |
Cache architecture with distributed state bits
Embodiments that that distribute replacement policy bits and operate the bits in cache memories, such as non-uniform cache access (NUCA) caches, are contemplated. An embodiment may comprise a computing device, such as a computer having multiple processors or multiple cores, which has cache memory elements coupled with the multiple processors or cores. The cache memory device may track usage of cache lines by using a number of bits. For example, a controller of the cache memory may manipulate bits as part of a pseudo least recently used (LRU) system. Some of the bits may be in a centralized area of the cache. Other bits of the pseudo LRU system may be distributed across the cache. Distributing the bits across the cache may enable the system to conserve additional power by turning off the distributed bits. |
| US08171217B2 |
Storage apparatus and data storage method using the same
A storage apparatus comprises a disk device and a disk adapter for controlling the disk device. The disk adapter controls the disk device and forms a data volume and a pool volume, creates a data block for parity data, compresses write data and the created parity data, and stores a number of compressed data blocks equal to or less than a predetermined number and stores compressed parity data that are within a predetermined size in storage areas in an actual volume, and stores the remaining compressed data blocks of a number greater than the predetermined number and compressed parity data that exceed the predetermined size in storage areas in the pool volume corresponding to a virtual volume. |
| US08171215B2 |
File server, file management system and file management method
When receiving a file access from the client, the file access program refers to the mapping table, and processes an access to files of on volumes of RAID groups. The file server analyzes the file access states, and groups the files depending on the access time period, defines the file migration pattern based on the grouping, migrates the files, and then carries out a power management operation like a spin-down/-up operation on the RAID groups based on the migration pattern. |
| US08171214B2 |
Storage subsystem, storage system, and method of controlling power supply to the storage subsystem
Provided is storage subsystem including: a storage unit containing multiple disk groups; and a control device for controlling the storage unit. The storage unit includes at least one redundant disk group composed of at least a first disk group and a second disk group for redundancy. The control device is configured to: put the first disk group into a power-on state; put the second disk group into a power-off state; read/write data stored in the first disk group; turns on power of the second disk group at a predetermined timing; write, in the second disk group, data that has been written in the first disk group while the second disk group has been in the power-off state; and put one of the first and second disk group into the power-on state and the other one of the first and second disk group into the power-off state after the writing. |
| US08171213B2 |
Information processing apparatus and method, and program
Disclosed herein is an information processing apparatus, including: setting means for setting, a maximum transfer size; calculation means for subtracting a second data amount from a first data amount to calculate a third data amount; boundary determination means for determining whether this transfer will involve a page boundary being extended across; buffer boundary determination means for determining whether this transfer will involve a buffer size being exceeded; transfer size determination means for determining whether or not the third data amount is equal to or less than the maximum transfer size; and determination means for determining a data amount of data to be transferred within limits of the third data amount, based on a first determination made by the boundary determination means, a second determination made by the buffer boundary determination means, and a third determination made by the transfer size determination means. |
| US08171211B2 |
Method and system for minimizing impact of refresh operations on volatile memory performance
A memory system is provided. The system includes a volatile memory, a refresh counter configured to monitor a number of advanced refreshes performed in the volatile memory, and a controller configured to check the refresh counter to determine whether a regularly scheduled refresh can be skipped in response to detecting a request for the regularly scheduled refresh. |
| US08171208B2 |
Memory system
A memory system includes a DRAM 20 that performs writing and readout in a unit equal to or smaller than a cluster, a NAND memory 10 that performs writing and readout in a page unit, and a management table group in which management information including storage locations of data stored in the DRAM 20 and the NAND memory 10 is stored. When a readout request is received from the outside, a data managing unit 120 notifies, when an unwritten logical address area is present in a storage area of the NAND memory to which a logical address area requested to be read out is mapped, fixed data stored in the DRAM 20 to the outside in association with the logical address area. |
| US08171206B2 |
Avoidance of self eviction caused by dynamic memory allocation in a flash memory storage device
The operating firmware of a portable flash memory storage device is stored in the relatively large file storage memory, which is non executable. It is logically parsed into overlays to fit into an executable memory. The overlays can be of differing sizes to organize function calls efficiently while minimizing dead space or unnecessarily separating functions that should be within one or a group of frequently accessed overlays. For an overlay having functions that require data allocation, the data allocation can cause eviction. This self eviction is avoided altogether or after initial runtime. |
| US08171205B2 |
Wrap-around sequence numbers for recovering from power-fall in non-volatile memory
Incrementing sequence numbers in the metadata of non-volatile memory is used in the event of a resume from power fail to determine which data in the memory is current and valid, and which data is not. To reduce the amount of metadata space consumed by these sequence numbers, the numbers are permitted to be small enough to wrap around when the maximum value is reached. Two different techniques are disclosed to keep this wrap around condition from causing ambiguity in the relative values of the sequence numbers. |
| US08171203B2 |
Faster write operations to nonvolatile memory using FSInfo sector manipulation
An embodiment of the present invention includes a digital equipment system having a host for sending write commands to write files having sector information and having a controller device responsive to the commands for writing and updating FSInfo sector information. The controller controls a nonvolatile memory system organized into blocks, each block including a plurality of sector locations for storing sector information, a particular free block, designated for storing FSInfo sector information. Upon updating of the FSInfo sector, the updated FSInfo sector information is written to a next free sector of the dedicated block thereby avoiding moving the sectors of the particular block to another block, hence, improving system performance. |
| US08171198B2 |
Image forming apparatus and control method thereof
An image forming apparatus and a control method thereof. The image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image processors which process an image to be formed on a printing medium corresponding to a plurality of colors, a processor which executes an interrupt routine with respect to the plurality of image processors, and a controller which generates an interrupt signal and transmits the interrupt signal to the processor if at least two the plurality of image processors generate interrupt requests so that the processor executes the interrupt routine. |
| US08171196B2 |
Serial bus system, node device and input/output card that can be connected to the node device
There is described a node device of a serial bus system, a bus system with a node device of this type, and an input/output card. In serial bus system, in which individual node devices can have only a limited address space, and in which a number of input/output cards can be connected in order to control and/or regulate an item of external peripheral equipment, limitations arise for the individual input/output cards with regard to the available address space. Normally, the input/output cards, which are connected to the node device, are required to divide the address space of the node device among each other. In order to rectify this problem, the invention provides that a node device of a serial bus system, which has slots for input/output cards, is additionally equipped with a splitter for duplicating a received bus signal and for injecting the duplicated bus signal into another data line, the additional data line serially connecting the node device to input/output cards connected via the slots. |
| US08171192B2 |
Hardware-assisted device configuration detection
A method and apparatus for detecting the configuration of a device in a processing system are described. In one embodiment, a page size parameter associated with a memory device is identified. Further, one or more configuration parameters associated with the memory device are also identified, the page size parameter and the configuration parameters enabling access to the memory device. Finally, a request to download application data from the memory device based on the page size parameter and the one or more configuration parameters is transmitted to the memory device. |
| US08171190B2 |
Direct image formation method and apparatus
Provided are a direct image formation method and apparatus in which a predetermined image file that is transmitted from a host computer is directly received and printed or transmitted. The direct image formation method includes setting a USB class of the direct image formation apparatus to a mass storage class (MSC) and connecting the direct image formation apparatus to the host device in an MSC connection mode; transmitting the image file from the host device to the direct image formation apparatus in the MSC connection mode; and converting the image file to data in a predetermined printing format and printing the data into which the image file is converted. |
| US08171189B2 |
Semiconductor apparatus
A semiconductor apparatus includes a clock input buffer, an asynchronous data input buffer, and a synchronous data input buffer. The clock input buffer is configured to buffer an external clocks in order to generate an internal clock. The asynchronous data input buffer is configured to buffer data input through a data pad and output the buffered data. The synchronous data input buffer is configured to be synchronous with the internal clock to buffer the buffered data. The semiconductor apparatus is arranged so that the length of a line for transferring the internal clock to the synchronous data input buffer and the length of a line for transferring the buffered data to the synchronous data input buffer are substantially equal to each other. |
| US08171187B2 |
System and method for arbitrating between memory access requests
A system having memory access capabilities, the system includes: (i) a dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) controller, adapted to determine a level of a voltage supply supplied to a first memory access requester and a frequency of a clock signal provided to the first memory access requester and to generate a DVFS indication that is indicative of the determination; (ii) a hardware access request determination module, adapted to determine a priority of memory access request issued by the first memory access requester in response to the DVFS indication; and (iii) a direct memory access arbitrator, adapted to arbitrate between memory access requests issued by the first memory access requester and another memory access requester in response to priorities associated with the memory access requests. |
| US08171183B2 |
Information processing apparatus and program and method for setting identification information
An information processing apparatus communicates within a system by using identification information for identifying a device includes, a first device in which a first identifier is uniquely set, a holding part that holds a second identifier settable arbitrarily for a device in the system, an acquiring part that acquires identification information corresponding to a second device connected in the system and is different from the first device, a determining part that determines whether the second identifier to be set for the first device is used in the system as the identification information based on the identification information corresponding to the second device acquired by the acquiring part and the second identifier held in the holding part, and a setting part that sets the second identifier as the identification information of the first device based on the determination by that the second identifier is not used in the system. |
| US08171176B2 |
Method for selective replication of physical devices on a virtual self-configuring zoning expander
Disclosed is a method and a SAS controller device that abstract access from one or more virtual machines operating on a host system to SAS physical devices connected to the SAS controller without a routing table for port-to-port messaging on the SAS controller. An embodiment may create a virtual expander for each physical port of the SAS controller and further create virtual ports within the virtual expanders to provide abstracted access to SAS physical devices for the virtual machines. The SAS physical devices may be replicated/cloned within the virtual ports. Each replicated/cloned SAS physical device may be assigned a unique SAS address for the SAS controller (i.e., unique for the SAS controller such that other replicates/clones on other virtual ports have a different SAS address). If a physical expander that supports zoning is connected to a SAS controller port, an embodiment may further selectively replicate/clone the SAS physical devices for a virtual port based on whether or not a SAS physical device is included in a zoning group associated with the virtual port. An embodiment may further abstract access to SAS physical devices through a virtual function that permits access to one virtual port per virtual expander in order to permit access for the virtual machine associated with the virtual function to more than one physical port of the SAS controller. |
| US08171175B2 |
Methods and systems using data rate driven protocol accelerator for mobile devices
By controlling whether operations are offloaded to a protocol stack hardware accelerator as a function of data rate, power consumption may be reduced, for example, when data rates result in fragmented or segmented data not suitable for processing by the stack hardware accelerator. |
| US08171172B2 |
Method, system and apparatus for selective application access and synchronization
A method and apparatus for synchronizing data between a mobile communication device and a remote application operating on an external computer. A first application is operable to communicate and synchronize with a remote application operating on an external computer. A second application is operable to communicate and synchronize with the remote application. The mobile communication device receives a user's identification of a preferred application selected from one of the first and second applications, and uses the preferred application to synchronize the mobile communication device with the remote application. |
| US08171165B2 |
File conversion system assigning split pieces to a plurality of devices and method used thereby
A file conversion system is capable of transmitting via a network a file provided by a file providing end in a format supported by a file receiving end to the file receiving end. The file conversion system includes a receiving module for receiving the file provided by the file providing end; a conversion module for converting the format of the file provided by the file providing end into a format supported by the file receiving end; a database module for recording a profile of the file receiving end, with the profile including the format supported by the file receiving end; and a transmission module for transmitting the file to the file receiving end via the network. If the format of the file is not supported by the file receiving end, the conversion module may, in accordance with the profile of the file receiving end, convert the format of the file into the format supported by the file receiving end so as to allow the transmission module to transmit the file to the file receiving end. |
| US08171159B2 |
Systems and methods for adaptive communication control
Computer program products, apparatus, and methods for processing digital messages to recipients at destination domains is provided. A plurality of profiles are established, each profile for handling digital to a specific domain or set of domains. A request to process a plurality of outbound digital messages is handled by, for each given digital message, processing the given digital message by (i) determining a destination domain for digital messages, (ii) reading a profile for the determined destination domain for the digital messages and (iii) based on at least one parameter set in the profile: (a) sending the given digital message to the determined destination domain in accordance with the profile when permitted by the at least one parameter set in the profile, or (b) not sending the digital message to the determined destination domain when required by the at least one parameter set in the profile. |
| US08171157B2 |
Distributing bandwidth across communication modalities
Embodiments are configured to provide communication environments to communicating participants using a number of modality control features, but are not so limited. In an embodiment, a system includes a communications manager to manage an amount of available communication bandwidth to a number of communication modalities that include an audio modality, a video modality, an application sharing modality, and/or a file transfer modality. In one embodiment, available bandwidth can be distributed by controlling an audio state, a video state, an application sharing state, and/or a file transfer state, including using first and second distribution ratios as part of allocating available bandwidth. |
| US08171156B2 |
Method and system for determining overall content values for content elements in a web network and for optimizing internet traffic flow through the web network
Disclosed is a method for optimizing internet traffic flow through a web network including the steps of collecting content data corresponding to the content elements, determining a revenue value for each content element, calculating an overall content value for each content element based on the corresponding revenue value and revenue generated from subsequent traffic flow of a user during a visit to the web network, and modifying the web network based on the overall content value and the content data, so as to maximize the value of the web network. Also disclosed is a system for determining overall content values for a plurality of content elements including an analytic server for receiving content data corresponding to the content elements, and a processor for determining a revenue value for each content element, and to calculate an overall content value for each content element based on the corresponding revenue value and revenue generated from subsequent traffic flow of a user during a visit to the web network. |
| US08171155B2 |
Download and data transfer gaming method
A download and data transfer gaming system utilizes a hybrid peer-to-peer, segmented file distribution protocol to vastly improve the download capabilities of a gaming system by improving the upload cost burdened by the download host. The system redistributes this cost to the download clients by allowing clients on the gaming system to upload pieces of a file to each other. This system is much more redundant by eliminating the possibility of a client missing a download broadcast. The system alleviates this possibility of missing packets and bad data integrity by using SHA-1 verification of the file pieces. The benefits of the improved bandwidth capabilities enable the download of much larger files, thus enhancing the game play experience. |
| US08171154B2 |
Method and system for low-latency transfer protocol
A method and system for providing computer-generated output and in particular graphical output. The system includes a network configured to carry digital information. The system includes a server in communication with the network, the server configured to execute an application and a cloud engine module. The application provides a graphical output. The output capturing and encoding engine module is further configured to intercept the graphical output from the application on the server. The output capturing and encoding engine module is further configured to convert the graphical output into at least one of: graphical commands and video codec data. The output capturing and encoding engine module is further configured to transmit the converted output over the network. The system includes a client in communication with the server over the network, the client configured to execute a graphics and video decoding and rendering engine module. The graphics and video decoding and rendering engine module is configured to, responsive to receiving the transmitted converted output, rendering the graphical output. The graphics and video decoding and rendering engine module is configured to intercept graphics and video decoding and rendering inputs at the client. The graphics and video decoding and rendering engine module is configured to transmit the intercepted user inputs to the output capturing and encoding engine module. |
| US08171153B2 |
Adaptive variable fidelity media distribution system and method
A layered media stream comprising media information layers of different priorities may be adaptively distributed by transmitting at least one of the media information layers to a client on a time-windowed basis. A client device obtains different media information layers during various time windows, and different portions of the media stream may be rendered using different combinations of layers obtained in each time window. In various embodiments, different layers may be obtained from different hosting devices using differing distribution models. |
| US08171151B2 |
Media foundation media processor
A system and method for a media processor separates the functions of topology creation and maintenance from the functions of processing data through a topology. The system includes a control layer including a topology generating element to generate a topology describing a set of input multimedia streams, one or more sources for the input multimedia streams, a sequence of operations to perform on the multimedia data, and a set of output multimedia streams, and a media processor to govern the passing of the multimedia data as described in the topology and govern the performance of the sequence of multimedia operations on the multimedia data to create the set of output multimedia streams. The core layer includes the input media streams, the sources for the input multimedia streams, one or more transforms to operate on the multimedia data, stream sinks, and media sinks to provide the set of output multimedia streams. |
| US08171147B1 |
System, method, and/or apparatus for establishing peer-to-peer communication
Embodiments of methods, apparatuses, devices and systems associated with peer-to-peer communications are disclosed. |
| US08171146B2 |
Utilization of media capabilities in a mixed environment
An apparatus and method for negotiating media capabilities is described. The method may comprise receiving an invite to establish a connection between a caller endpoint device and one of a plurality of callee endpoint devices of a shared line and identifying an initial common media capability between the caller endpoint device and the plurality of endpoint devices. Thereafter, the method may comprise negotiating a connection between the caller endpoint device and the callee endpoint device using the common media capability and determining if the caller endpoint device and the callee endpoint device have a common enhanced media capabilities. The connection may be re-negotiated using the enhanced media capability. |
| US08171145B2 |
System and method for two way communication and controlling content in a game
A method for two way communication and control of a game may include executing, by a host device in communication with a computer network, a game application within a web browser. A communication channel is established over the computer network and between the game application and a controller application running on an endpoint device. Data is sent over the communication channel for controlling and playing the game application within the game application. A system for two way communication and control of a game is also provided. |
| US08171143B2 |
Network device configuration
A network device initially has no configuration data and is permitted only to query a known network address. From this address a server verifies the connection and authorizes another server to download to the network device the necessary configuration to carry out its purpose. This configuration may not be amended and is not retained on power loss. Any updates are carried out by a complete reload of configuration data. |
| US08171139B2 |
Hierarchical load balancing
Popular object requests are handled using a front-end cache, and hashing is applied only to the requests in the stream that were not handled by the front-end cache. A cache (e.g., a web proxy cache) is placed in front of a Level 7 switch and services the popular requests from the cache based on the content of the request (e.g., based on the portion of an HTTP request following the domain name). The remaining requests are hashed and then routed to the back-end server. Requests that make it past the cache are still routed to the back-end server. A Level 4 switch is placed in front of a plurality of web proxy caches, each of which are in turn placed in front of a respective Level 7 switch, each of which are connected to a respective server farm, so that incoming web requests are handled on a round robin basis (or other SLB technique) before being sent to the cache. |
| US08171132B2 |
Provisioning grid services to maintain service level agreements
Provisioning grid resources for a set of grid services is provided. The service performance for the set of grid services is monitored. The set of grid services has a set of service level agreements. In response to monitoring service performance, a determination is made as to whether current allocations of grid resources is sufficient to maintain performance levels for the set of grid services to meet the set of service level objectives. In response to the current allocations being insufficient to maintain the performance levels, the current allocations of the grid resources are dynamically reallocated or provisioned for the set of grid services to maintain service levels for the set of grid services. |
| US08171130B2 |
Active probing for real-time diagnosis
Improved problem diagnosis techniques for use in accordance with computing systems, e.g., distributed computing systems, are disclosed. In one aspect of the invention, a technique for diagnosing a problem associated with a computing system comprises the following steps/operations. One or more probes are executed in accordance with at least a portion of a previously selected probe schedule. When a result of one or more of the probes of the previously selected probe schedule indicates, at least, a potential problem associated with the computing system, one or more probes which optimize at least one criterion are selected in real-time. The one or more selected probes are executed so as to diagnose the potential problem. |
| US08171129B2 |
Smart endpoint and smart monitoring system having the same
A smart endpoint and a smart monitoring system having the smart endpoint are provided. The smart endpoint includes a central processing unit (CPU), an interface module, a digital signal processing unit, and a memory module. The interface module is coupled to the CPU for receiving a plurality of heterogeneous monitoring signals and an identification code. The digital signal processing unit is coupled to the CPU for integrally considering the monitoring signals and the identification code to determine an abnormal event, and generate an abnormal event data thereby. The memory module is coupled to the CPU for recording the abnormal event data. As such, the present invention is adapted to determine an occurrence of an abnormal event, by which the passive monitoring can be upgraded to an active monitoring and analyzing, and thus achieving a smart monitoring. |
| US08171128B2 |
Communicating a newsfeed of media content based on a member's interactions in a social network environment
A system and method provides dynamically selected media content to someone using an electronic device in a social network environment. Items of media content are selected for the user based on his or her relationships with one or more other users. The user's relationships with other users are reflected in the selected media content and its format. An order is assigned to the items of media content, for example, based on their anticipated importance to the user, and the items of media content are displayed to the user in the assigned order. The user may change the order of the items of media content. The user's interactions with media content available in the social network environment are monitored, and those interactions are used to select additional items of media content for the user. |
| US08171127B2 |
Systems and methods for response monitoring
Systems and methods for response monitoring are described. A method of generating a measurement for use in calculating an end-user experience metric in a server-based computing environment includes, transmitting a message from a client of the server-based computing environment to an application executing in a user space provided by an operating system of the server, receiving a graphic response for execution by the client from the application, and determining an amount of time elapsed between the transmission of the message and the conclusion of the execution of the graphic response. |
| US08171121B2 |
Method, system, and apparatus for dynamic reconfiguration of resources
A dynamic reconfiguration to include on-line addition, deletion, and replacement of individual modules of to support dynamic partitioning of a system, interconnect (link) reconfiguration, memory RAS to allow migration and mirroring without OS intervention, dynamic memory reinterleaving, CPU and socket migration, and support for global shared memory across partitions is described. To facilitate the on-line addition or deletion, the firmware is able to quiesce and de-quiesce the domain of interest so that many system resources, such as routing tables and address decoders, can be updated in what essentially appears to be an atomic operation to the software layer above the firmware. |
| US08171115B2 |
Resource equalization for inter- and intra- data center operations
An exemplary component for managing requests for resources in a data center includes a service request module for receiving requests for resources from a plurality of services and a resource module to monitor resources in a data center and to match received requests to resources. Such a component optionally includes an application programming interface (API) that provides for sending information in response to an API call made by a service. Other methods, devices and systems are also disclosed. |
| US08171114B1 |
System using specific geographic area multi-level caches for caching application data
Disclosed in some examples is a method of caching by storing data in a first cache specific to a first geographic area and accessible only by a first application in the first geographic area; storing data in a second cache specific to a second geographic area and accessible by a plurality of applications in the second geographic area including the first application and a second application, the second geographic area being larger than and encompassing at least part of the first geographic area; responsive to a miss in the first cache for data, contacting the second cache and searching for the data in the second cache; and responsive to a hit for the data in the second cache, sending the data to a first application, wherein the data was placed in the second cache by a second application. |
| US08171111B1 |
Systems and methods for non-specific address routing
The present disclosure provides a system and method for online continuity. Online continuity can include a number of Internet or intranet access points via which one or more network addresses can be advertised. A client can be provided with availability of an application (e.g., a brand image application) via at least one of the Internet or intranet access points. |
| US08171109B2 |
Mobile bookmarks
A method and apparatus for updating bookmarks is described. In one embodiment, a server has a bookmark database and a bookmark synchronizer. The bookmark synchronizer is configured to receive a communication from a web browser of a client of a user, to collect a list of bookmarks of the web browser of the client, to compare the list of bookmarks with a list of bookmarks stored in the server, and to synchronize the list of bookmarks of the web browser of the client with the list of bookmarks stored in the server. |
| US08171108B2 |
System and method for providing remote forensics capability
A system and method for performing a forensic analysis of a subject computer having a non-volatile memory with a second computer is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes executing on the subject computer a first code segment configured to provide communications via a non-proprietary communication protocol such as the Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) protocol; establishing a connection between the second computer and the subject computer via the non-proprietary communication protocol. The non-proprietary communication protocol includes one or more write operations for writing data to a non-volatile memory in response to one or more write commands and the first code segment is configured to not write data to the non-volatile memory of the subject computer in response to receipt of the one or more write commands. The method may include performing a first forensic analysis of the subject computer via the connection. In addition, the method may further comprise establishing a secure connection, such via the Internet, between the second computer and a remote computer, wherein performing the first forensic analysis is initiated by the remote computer. A pre-defined forensic instruction set may be stored on the second computer and executed to perform the first forensic analysis. |
| US08171107B2 |
Method and apparatus for editing, filtering, ranking, and approving content
The system provides a method and apparatus for editing, filtering, ranking and approving content. In one embodiment, the system provides a browsing environment for children that routes all internet requests through a central server. A request to a blocked website is automatically forwarded to one of a plurality of editors who can then access the site and determine on a page or site basis as to whether the request is suitable for the browsing environment. The system includes a workflow management system that determines which of the plurality of editors will be assigned a link to review. Approved content is categorized by the age and gender of the users of the content. The approved content is also categorized as a resource or reference to assist in accomplishing homework assignments. Parents can receive updates and can manage the content remotely. |
| US08171106B2 |
Per file system usage of networks
A method, information processing system, and computer program product access data in a system. The system includes a plurality of Network Shared Disk servers and at least one set of Network Shared Disks. Each of the Network Shared Disks are served by at least one of the Network Shared Disk servers across a multiple networks. Configuration data that includes information indicating which of the networks is associated with each of the Network Shared Disks for the one node is analyzed. A first of the Network Shared Disks to be accessed is identified. One of the networks that is associated with the first Network Shared Disk is selected based on the configuration data. The first Network Shared Disk is accessed via the one network that was selected. |
| US08171101B2 |
Smart access to a dispersed data storage network
An improved system for accessing data within a distributed data storage network (“DDSN”) is disclosed. In a system implementing the disclosed invention, traffic is routed to individual slice servers within the DDSN in accordance with objective criteria as well as user-defined policies. In accordance with one aspect of the disclosed invention, when a data segment is written to a DDSN, the segment is divided into multiple data slices, which are simultaneously transmitted to different slice servers. In accordance with another aspect of the disclosed invention, when a data segment is read from a DDSN, a list of slice servers, each containing a data slice that could be used to reconstruct the requested data segment, is assembled, and sorted in accordance with a preference rating assigned to each of the slice servers. Sufficient data slices to reconstruct the data segment are then read in accordance with the preference ranking of the slice servers. |
| US08171098B1 |
Techniques for providing storage services using networked computerized devices having direct attached storage
A method provides a storage service, and is performed on a set of computerized devices. The method includes connecting the computerized devices to a computer network. The computerized devices include direct attached storage devices (e.g., SCSI disk drives). The method further includes configuring the computerized devices to behave as hosts which individually and logically couple to an array of storage devices through a shared bus, and performing a host IO operation among the computerized devices. The host IO operation involves accessing data from a particular computerized device through the computer network to the direct attached storage devices of the computerized devices in lieu of accessing the data from the particular computerized device through an actual shared bus to an actual array of storage devices. |
| US08171096B2 |
Electronic mail communication device
An electronic mail communication device may be provided with a receiving device that receives an electronic mail, a sequence map creation device, and an output device. The sequence map creation device may create a sequence map in which correspondent objects corresponding to the correspondents of a series of electronic mails relating to the electronic mail received by the receiving device are arranged along an x direction, and transmission objects indicating from whom and to whom each of the series of electronic mails was transmitted are arranged along a y direction in order of the date and time of communication. The output device may output the sequence map created by the sequence map creation device. |
| US08171093B2 |
Web to phone contact information messaging system
A method of transmitting contact information to an approved mobile communication device includes receiving an input representative of desired contact information located on a first web page and an input representative of the identity of a desired mobile communication device. The method also includes saving information representative of the desired contact information in a contact information database. The method also includes determining whether the desired mobile communication device is an approved device and transmitting to the desired mobile communication device information representative of a notification to send the information representative of the desired contact information. The method also includes receiving an input from the desired mobile communication device information representative of an acceptance to receive the information representative of the desired contact information, and transmitting to the desired mobile communication device information representative of the desired contact information. |
| US08171086B2 |
Automated recognition of individual awards via internal e-mail
A method, system, and computer program product for automatically recognizing employee achievements via enterprise e-mails is provided. In one embodiment, an enterprise e-mail server receives an e-mail from a sender within the enterprise. The enterprise e-mail server generates a recognition link to a dynamically generated web page, wherein the web page lists recognitions/awards information for the sender. The enterprise e-mail server also generates an icon link for an icon representing recognitions/awards received by the sender and appends the recognition link and the icon link into the e-mail. The e-mail with embedded web page and icon link is then relayed to the e-mail recipient. |
| US08171082B2 |
Information processing system, information processing method and computer readable medium
An information processing system includes: a room specifying unit that specifies a room; an equipment coordinate storing unit that stores a correspondence between the room and a placing location of an information processing equipment equipped in the room; a document specifying unit that specifies a paper document on the basis of an information image recited on the paper document; a coordinate information extracting unit that extracts coordinate information from the paper document; a document information extracting unit that extracts document information regarding the stored paper document; an equipment specifying unit that specifies the stored information processing equipment on the basis of room information specified by the room specifying unit and the coordinate information extracted by the coordinate information extracting unit; and an outputting unit that outputs the document information specified by the coordinate information extracting unit to the information processing equipment specified by the equipment specifying unit. |
| US08171076B2 |
System and method for providing presence information
A method and a system for providing presence information is disclosed which can incorporate non-presence-ready terminal nodes such as sensor node terminals and combine a plurality of pieces of presence information from a plurality of nodes, thereby providing presence information with improved reliability. The method includes creating circumstance presence information associated with a user in response to a change in value of sensor data transmitted from at least one sensor node terminal. For a presence server to deliver presence information, the method also includes delivering circumstance presence information created in relation to the user either in place of the presence information or in combination with the presence information. |
| US08171075B2 |
Generating hints for more optimal processing of requests for information within an environment in which resources are abstracted using a model
An information technology (IT) environment includes IT managed resources in which the resources are abstracted using a model. In response to determining that a request for information received from a client is non-optimal in terms of processing the request, a first hint can be constructed that indicates how future requests are to be formulated by the client so that they are more optimal in terms of processing the future requests. In response to determining that the information is internally structured non-optimally in terms of processing the request, a second hint can be constructed that indicates how the information is to be internally structured more optimally in terms of processing future requests. In response to determining that processing the request will be non-optimal, a third hint can be constructed relating to a characteristic that results in non-optimal processing of the request, and logged within a hint log for offline analysis. |
| US08171073B2 |
Computer system connected to a data communications network
A computer system connected to a data communications network, wherein the computer system is reliably protected against computer viruses, unauthorized access to internal data, and loss of data in the event of infection with computer viruses. The computer system has a first computer (1) and a second computer (2) that is independent of and redundant to the first computer. The two computers match themselves by comparing their work results. The receipt of data from the data communications network (6) is limited to the first computer, and the transmission of data to the data communications network is limited to the second computer. At least the initial processing of received data is limited to the first computer, and non-verified or non-verifiable data received by the first computer are stored in the second computer only in locked form, i.e., in non-processable form. |
| US08171066B2 |
Techniques for accessing remote files
Techniques for accessing remote files are presented. A local user, via a local client, requests access to a file. A local file system determines that the file is associated with a junction. The junction is resolved and an associated remote file system is contacted by the local file system to acquire results for the request. The local file system then delivers the results to the local user via the local client. |
| US08171064B2 |
Methods and systems for concurrently reading direct and indirect data blocks
Methods and systems for concurrently reading direct and indirect data blocks of a data object stored in a network storage server system. In one embodiment, upon receiving a request to read a data object, the storage server identifies a location of an indirect data-block of the data object and a total number of direct data-blocks associated with the data object. Using this information, the storage server concurrently reads, using a single read operation, both the indirect data-block and a specific number of data blocks that are contiguous with the location of the indirect data-block. The specific number is commensurate with the total number of direct-data blocks associated with the data object. In one embodiment, the storage server verifies whether the data object is represented using a contiguous-mode layout scheme before performing the concurrent single-read operation to read the data object. |
| US08171063B1 |
System and method for efficiently locating and processing data on a deduplication storage system
A system and method for efficiently locating and processing data on a deduplication storage system are provided. A logical volume is mapped to a deduplication storage area. The logical volume includes a collection of logical block locations and the deduplication storage area includes a collection of physical block locations. The collection of logical block locations is mapped to the collection of physical block locations. A filesystem organizes the logical volume by organizing the logical block locations into a collection of files. Reverse-mapping information is generated for a logical block location that associates the logical block location with at least one file. In response to receiving a logical block address of a logical block location, at least one file is returned. |
| US08171060B2 |
Storage system and method for operating storage system
By considering a device life and time needed for data migration, data stored in a storage apparatus is securely preserved until a retention term of each of the data. Multiple disk devices 40A to 40C that store a data file generated by a service server apparatus 30 are included. A migration manager 11 of a management server apparatus 10 acquires preservation period information that indicates a preservation period of the data file from the service server apparatus 30, and calculates a preservation term of the data file based on the preservation period information. The migration manager 11 of the management server apparatus 10 also acquires data amount information of the data file from the service server apparatus 30, and calculates a necessary time needed for migrating the data file to other disk devices A40A to 40C. When the preservation term comes later than an operation guarantee term recorded in advance for each of the disk devices 40A to 40C, the migration manager 11 of the management server apparatus 10 compares the end of the migration with the operation guarantee term, and determines the necessity of the migration. |
| US08171059B2 |
Data migration management apparatus and management method
A data migration management apparatus continuously monitors and stores the utilization statuses of a migration-source storage area and a migration-destination storage area, and uses the information to set up a data migration. An information management unit collects information related to the storage configuration and information related to performance from respective storage apparatuses, and stores the information in a storage unit. In a case where a data migration plan is to be set, a performance information provision unit provides, to a user computer, variations in the utilization statuses during a predetermined period for each of a migration-source volume and a migration-destination array group. |
| US08171057B2 |
Modeling party identities in computer storage systems
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for modeling party identities in computer storage systems. A federated identity fabric models identity data and relationships between portions of indentify data in computer storage systems in accordance with a uniform schema. The federated identity fabric can federate distributed identity and identity relationship data from computer storage systems within the variety of different computing environments. Code and metadata at computing environments associated with the federated identity fabric can interoperate to facilitate uniformly storing, accessing, modifying, deleting, and securing identity and identity relationship data within the federated identify fabric. Embodiments of the invention include utilizing an identity key table entry to locate party identity information and performing key transformations between different types of identity keys. |
| US08171054B1 |
Optimized fetching for customization object attributes
An attribute of a hierarchical class-based object is received. The attribute in a database is stored both in a first location in a first table at a first level of a hierarchy of database tables which table hierarchy is based at least in part on a class hierarchy associated with the hierarchical class-based object and in a second location in a second table at a second level of the table hierarchy which second level is higher than the first level. |
| US08171051B2 |
Quantum-based oblivious transfer and private data sampling protocols and systems for performing the same
Various embodiments of the present invention relate to oblivious transfer protocols and to system for performing oblivious transfer. Embodiments of the present invention include a private data sampling protocol that is designed to balance the competing privacy interest of a database user and a database owner. Protocol embodiments enable the database user to obtain a fixed size random sample of the available data held by the database owner without the database owner learning which bits of data were accessed. |
| US08171050B2 |
Method and apparatus for access, integration, and analysis of heterogeneous data sources via the manipulation of metadata objects
A computer-based method represents a subset of a dataset table of rows and columns. The method includes selecting a set of blocking variables corresponding to blocking columns of the dataset table. For each row in the dataset table, a tuple of values for the blocking columns uniquely identifies the row within the dataset table. The method also includes selecting a set of non-blocking variables that correspond to columns of the subset. The set of non-blocking variables does not intersect the set of blocking variables. The method also includes creating a block information structure that includes both the set of non-blocking variables and, for each blocking variable in the set of blocking variables, a set of values. |
| US08171049B2 |
System and method for information seeking in a multimedia collection
An apparatus and method facilitate combined query based searching with serendipitous browsing in a multimedia collection. A user selects objects to label from a local map, which may include representations of objects retrieved from the collection as being responsive to a text or image base query. The text and image portions of the object can be independently labeled. Unlabeled objects are scored and ranked based on the applied labels of labeled objects, which may take into account cross-media pseudo-relevance and user selectable (or default) parameters, such as a forgetting factor, which tends to place greater weight on more recently labeled objects, and a modality parameter, which laces greater weight on the modality (text, image, or hybrid) currently selected by the user. The local map is modified, based on the ranking, optionally after reranking of objects to improve the diversity of the displayed objects. |
| US08171048B2 |
Ranking documents based on a location sensitivity factor
Systems and methods improve search rankings for a search query by using location data associated with queries and documents related to the search query. In one aspect, a search query is received, a location score is determined, a topical score is determined, and an ordering of documents related to the search query is determined based, at least in part, on the location score and the topical score. |
| US08171047B2 |
Query execution and optimization utilizing a combining network in a parallel computer system
An apparatus and method for a database query optimizer utilizes a combining network to optimize a portion of a query in a parallel computer system with multiple nodes. The efficiency of the parallel computer system is increased by offloading collective operations on node data to the global combining network. The global combining network performs collective operations such as minimum, maximum, sum, and logical functions such as OR and XOR. |
| US08171045B2 |
Record based code structure
The compiled code of a computer program is stored in multiple pieces within a database. Each piece is optionally stored within a separate data record. Execution of the computer program includes using database queries to retrieve pieces of the compiled code for execution. The database and associated database management logic are used to provide numerous advantages in execution and management of the computer program. For example, in some embodiments, database queries are used to help facilitate program flow logic. |
| US08171042B2 |
Method and apparatus for searching metadata
Methods and apparatuses for searching metadata are described herein. In one embodiment, an example of a process for search metadata includes, but is not limited to, in response to a search query for metadata stored in one or more of metadata stores, the search query is partitioned into multiple search query segments. Thereafter, searches corresponding to the search query segments are performed, where each search is performed independently within the one or more metadata stores. Other methods and apparatuses are also described. |
| US08171039B2 |
String pattern analysis
A method of analyzing a string-pattern includes defining a minimum length (Lmin—1) of substrings (STR_A_B) to be considered; defining a maximum length (Lmax—1) of substrings (STR_A_B) to be considered; with a computer, searching the string-pattern for substrings (STR_A_B) with a length in an interval between the minimum length (Lmin—1) and the maximum length (Lmax—1); counting an occurrence (Occ_A_B) of each substring (STR_A_B) found with a length in the interval between the minimum length (Lmin—1) and the maximum length (Lmax—1); and pruning away a number of the substrings (STR_A_B) that meet one or more criteria. The criteria are selected from the group consisting of (1) being contained inside the maximum substring (STR_A_C) in a subset (SET_A) of substrings (STR_A_B), (2) being shorter than the maximum substring (STR_A_C), (3) occurring with a same frequency as the maximum substring (STR_A_C), and combinations thereof. |
| US08171038B2 |
System and method for managing legislative information
A method for managing legislative information. in operation, legislative information, including text comprising legislative bills, is collected via an electronic search of at least one website. The text of the bills is then parsed into predefined categories. The text thus parsed is stored in a database. A search, using one of the predefined categories as search criteria, is then performed to select a subset of the bills meeting the search criteria. Information, related to the subset of the bills, is then transmitted to a requesting entity via an electronic communication. |
| US08171036B2 |
Method and apparatus for processing data records in a given order upon receiving input data from a touchscreen
A method and computing device for managing calendar data records are provided, the computing device comprising a processor interconnected with a memory enabled to maintain the data records and with a touchscreen controlled to generate a representation of a subset of at least two of the data records within a first portion of the touchscreen. The touchscreen is further controlled to generate a representation of details of a first one of the data records in the subset in a second portion of the touchscreen, different from the first portion, when input data associated with the first portion is detected by the touchscreen. The touchscreen is further controlled to generate a representation of details of a next data record in the subset, in a given order, in the second portion, each time an input event is detected at a portion of the touchscreen associated with providing next data records. |
| US08171034B2 |
Methods and apparatus for serving relevant advertisements
The relevance of advertisements to a user's interests is improved. In one implementation, the content of a web page is analyzed to determine a list of one or more topics associated with that web page. An advertisement is considered to be relevant to that web page if it is associated with keywords belonging to the list of one or more topics. One or more of these relevant advertisements may be provided for rendering in conjunction with the web page or related web pages. |
| US08171033B2 |
Methods and systems for the determination of thresholds via weighted quantile analysis
Methods and systems for determination of thresholds for time-series data. Data is transformed by reducing outliers, dividing the time series data into discrete time intervals, and taking parts of the data corresponding to the range that the thresholds will bound. If data cycles are known, they may be applied to the data and the resulting sets are weighted. Thresholds are then derived from the weighted means and variances of the sets of weighted data. |
| US08171031B2 |
Index optimization for ranking using a linear model
Technologies are described herein for providing a more efficient approach to ranking search results. An illustrative technology reduces an amount of ranking data analyzed at query time. In the technology, a term is selected, at index time, from a master index. The term corresponds to a number of documents greater than a threshold. A set of documents that includes the term is selected based on the master index. A rank is determined for each document in the set of documents that contains the term. Each document in the set of documents that contains the term is assigned to a top document list or a bottom document list based on the rank. Predefined values of at least part of the rank are stored in the top document list for documents in the top document list and are not stored in the bottom document list for documents in the bottom document list. |
| US08171026B2 |
Method and vector analysis for a document
The invention provides a document representation method and a document analysis method including extraction of important sentences from a given document and/or determination of similarity between two documents.The inventive method detects terms that occur in the input document, segments the input document into document segments, each segment being an appropriately sized chunk and generates document segment vectors, each vector including as its element values according to occurrence frequencies of the terms occurring in the document segments. The method further calculates eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a square sum matrix in which a rank of the respective document segment vector is represented by R and selects from the eigenvectors a plural (L) of eigenvectors to be used for determining the importance. Then, the method calculates a weighted sum of the squared projections of the respective document segment vectors onto the respective selected eigenvectors and selects document segments having the significant importance based on the calculated weighted sum of the squared projections of the respective document segment vectors. |
| US08171023B2 |
De-serializing data objects on demand
The invention is directed to techniques for de-serializing data from a software system, such as an enterprise software system, upon request. For example, techniques are described for converting a data description language, such as the extensible markup language (XML), representation of data from an enterprise software system to an object when requested by a software application. A computing device connected to the enterprise software system loads multidimensional data via an XML data stream. The XML data is de-serialized to create objects as the objects are requested by software applications executing on the computing device. The remaining XML data may be stored on the computing device until the corresponding objects are requested by the software applications. |
| US08171022B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer program products for facilitating user interaction with customer relationship management, auction, and search engine software using conjoint analysis
Methods, systems, and computer program products for combining conjoint analysis with customer relationship management software, search engine software, and auction software are disclosed. According to one method, conjoint analysis is used to facilitate user interaction with a search engine. According to the method, search keywords are received as a user and treated as attributes by a conjoint analysis application. The conjoint analysis application presents the user with paired trade-off questions regarding the search keywords. Conjoint analysis is performed based on user responses to the questions. Based on the user's responses to the questions, relative importance weightings are computed for keywords. The keywords and the relative importance weightings are input to a search engine. The search is performed using the keywords. Results to be output to the user are selected based on occurrences of the keywords in the search results and the relative importance weightings. |
| US08171019B2 |
Method and system for processing query messages over a network
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system for processing query messages over a network. Specifically, a plurality of queries may be extracted from a plurality of query messages received from a plurality of users over a network. A number of queries, included in the plurality of queries, may be determined, and a current sequence number may be associated with the plurality of queries. A request message may be created including the plurality of queries, a first sequence number equal to the current sequence number and a first message count equal to the number of queries. The request message may be sent to a search engine and a response message may be received from the search engine. The response message may include a plurality of replies, a second sequence number, a second message count, a third sequence number and a third message count. A plurality of reply messages may be created from the plurality of replies and sent to the plurality of users over the network. |
| US08171016B2 |
System and method for using content features and metadata of digital images to find related audio accompaniment
A system (300), apparatus (200) and method (100) are provided to automatically play/suggest at least one audio accompaniment while a sequence of at least one digital image is being displayed such that the audio accompaniment matches the content of the particular sequence of images and matches any provided and/or generated image metadata. Search terms are derived from the images themselves as well as any metadata provided by the user and these search terms are then used to find audio accompaniment that either (1) contains these search terms or synonyms thereof in the image or associated text (e.g., song text) or (2) represents the sound normally associated with the images, such as rushing water sound for an image of a fast flowing brook. The invention accepts user input, locates appropriate audio accompaniment as search results and presents these results to the user either by playing the audio accompaniment while displaying the images or by suggesting a playlist to the user compiled from these results. |
| US08171010B2 |
Method and system for indexing information and providing results for a search including objects having predetermined attributes
A system and method for providing at least one search result responsive to receiving a search query comprising at least one search query term, includes receiving the search query; locating at least one record containing at least one search query term; displaying a text representation of each of the records containing at least one search query term; and displaying a representation of an object in relation with the text representation for each record that includes an object comprising at least one predetermined attribute. According to another embodiment of the invention, a method for indexing records in an index of an information network, includes the acts of: receiving a record; searching the record for an indication that an object comprising at least one specified attribute is to be displayed with the record; finding the indication; creating a representation of the object; storing the representation in association with the record to which it corresponds; and making an entry for the record in the index, said entry indicating the object to be displayed with the record. |
| US08171009B2 |
Method and system for performing a search on a network
A computer-implemented method and system for performing a trusted search is described. A credibility score is assigned to a Web site based on whether the Web site meets at least a portion of trust criteria. The Web site is stored in an index of trusted Web sites if the credibility score assigned to the Web site is within a predefined range of credibility scores. The Web site is displayed on a machine if the Web site is determined to contain information that is relevant to a search query. |
| US08171008B2 |
Data retrieval
To facilitate obtaining up-to-date data over a slow connection, reference search results are stored on a requesting side and on a responding side, and only changes to reference searches are transmitted. To achieve this, the requesting side indicates in a data request an applicable reference search or reference searches to be used, and the responding side retrieves up-to-date data, compares it with search results of corresponding applicable reference search(es) and sends only changes to the requesting side. |
| US08171000B2 |
Mounted filesystem integrity checking and salvage
A method and system for conducting an integrity check of system and user metadata when the metadata is mounted. A filesystem reviewer is embedded within software of a server node. A mutual exclusion lock is obtained on the selected metadata. An automated verification of the locked metadata is conducted while the filesystem is mounted. In addition, an automated salvage of the locked metadata may be conducted while the filesystem is mounted. The verification and/or salvage of the locked metadata can be applied to system, user, and/or a portion of the user metadata. |
| US08170997B2 |
Unbundled storage transaction services
Systems (and corresponding methods) that unbundle the kernel or storage engine of a database system are provided. The unbundling separates transactional aspects from storage aspects. The two components of the storage engine resulting from the unbundling are a transaction component (TC) and a data component (DC). Data storage access methods are implemented in the DC without the added complexity of dealing with transactions, which are handled separately in the TC. The interface supported by the DC is a logical interface, e.g., record oriented, in which the way that records are mapped to disk pages (or flash memory blocks, etc.) need not be exposed. The TC then deals with logical locking and logging, meaning that it need know nothing about the way pages are used in the DC. |
| US08170996B2 |
Storage subsystem
The data up to a point of time whereat failure has occurred will be restored at high speed at a remote site without imposing any burden on a host. The first storage system on the master side processes an I/O request from the host, and as a result of I/O processing to the second storage system on the remote side, transmits the update data. The second storage system retains data received from the first storage system as update log data. The host transmits a command for settling a state of an application to the first storage system as data, and the first storage system transmits the data to the second storage system. The host and the second storage system both retain an identifier corresponding to the command, and relate the identifier to the log data. Thereby, the host designates the identifier at any given time, whereby the second storage system restores the data at any given time. |
| US08170989B2 |
Method and system for document management and exchange
The present invention embodiments pertain to managing and exchanging documents. A descriptor is added to an original document, wherein the descriptor includes at least one document identifier representing a logical subject of the document. Modifications to a document being sent or received are identified based on comparing the descriptor of the sent or received document and the descriptor of the original document. The modifications are introduced into the original document to become a single master document of consolidated information relating to the same logical subject. |
| US08170986B2 |
Information processing device
An information processing device may be connected with an external memory and may be provided with a contents data storage device, an obtaining device, and an outputting device. The storage device may store an internet address and contents data downloaded therefrom. The obtaining device may obtain an internet address stored in the external memory. The outputting device may output, when the internet address obtained is identical to the internet address stored in the storage device, the contents data combined with the internet address to the external memory. Furthermore, the information processing device may be provided with an obtaining device, an internet communication device, and an outputting device. The obtaining device may obtain an internet address stored in the external memory. The communication device may download contents data from the obtained internet address. The outputting device may output the contents data downloaded by the internet communication device to the external memory. |
| US08170983B2 |
Managing data across a semantic data view and a presentation data view
Managing data across a semantic data view and a presentation data view may be provided. A semantic model may be represented in a semantic data view and a presentation model may be represented in a presentation data view. The presentation model may correspond to a graphical representation of the semantic model. In addition, a command may be received directed toward the semantic data view or the presentation data view. The semantic model and the presentation model may be operated upon according to the received command. Furthermore, the semantic model represented in the semantic data view and the presentation model represented in the presentation data view may be updated in response to operating on the semantic model and the presentation model according to the received command. The semantic model and the presentation model may be simultaneously maintained in a volatile memory in a computer. |
| US08170978B1 |
Systems and methods for rating online relationships
A computer-implemented method may include identifying a first communication between a child and a contact and categorizing content of the first communication to create a first categorization. The method may also include identifying a second communication between the child and the contact and categorizing content of the second communication to create a second categorization. The method may further include rating, based at least in part on the first and second categorizations, an online relationship of the child and the contact and providing the rating of the online relationship to a guardian of the contact. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed. |
| US08170976B2 |
Assessing student performance and providing instructional mentoring
A method, apparatus, and computer program product are present for performing a simulation. The simulation is executed. Simulation data is collected while executing the simulation to form collected simulation data. A number of events is generated by applying a first number of rules to the collected simulation data to form a number of generated events. A number of commands is generated as a reaction to the number of generated events by applying a second number of rules to the number of generated events to form a number of simulation commands. The number of simulation commands is sent to the simulation. |
| US08170975B1 |
Encoded software management rules having free logical variables for input pattern matching and output binding substitutions to supply information to remedies for problems detected using the rules
A rule stored in a tangible computer-readable memory is adapted to be programmatically applied by a computer to automatically detect occurrences of a particular problem in a deployment of a software application. The rule comprises a plurality of atomic gates and a plurality of operator gates. The atomic gates have predicates for detecting occurrences of a plurality of conditions in the software application deployment. The operator gates are configured to detect predefined logical combinations of outputs of the atomic gates to generate a rule output that indicates whether the problem is currently detected in the deployment. The rule contains a plurality of free logical variables which can be assigned values. The free logical variables are configured for use in input pattern matching and output binding substitutions to supply information to a remedy for the problem. Each substitution comprises an assignment of a value to a variable. |
| US08170974B2 |
Forecasting association rules across user engagement levels
A method of determining one or more association rules includes: specifying site-sequence values for users, wherein each user is identified with one of a plurality of engagement levels, and the site-sequence values indicate a sequence from a first site to a second site for at least one user identified with a corresponding engagement level; determining cumulative site-sequence values from the site-sequence values for combinations of pairs of sites and distinct engagement levels; determining likelihood values from the cumulative site-sequence values, wherein the likelihood values characterize probabilities for sequences between sites at distinct engagement levels; determining one or more association rules for pairs of sites from one or more corresponding likelihood values at one or more engagement levels, wherein each association rule indicates a sequential association between a corresponding pair of sites; determining one or more confidence values for the one or more association rules by calculating one or more variations of the likelihood values across the engagement levels; and saving one or more values for the one or more associations rules (e.g., likelihood values or confidence values). |
| US08170968B2 |
Recursive structure for diagnostic model
A recursive mapping structure for diagnostic models is provided. A parent diagnostic model includes a first input module, a first output module, a first monitor module coupled to the first input and first output modules, and a first propagation module coupled between the first input and first output modules. A child diagnostic model includes a second input module, a second output module, a second monitor module coupled to the second input and second output modules, and a second propagation module coupled between the second input and second output modules, wherein the second monitor module is coupled to the first monitor module. |
| US08170967B2 |
Knowledge base comprising executable stories
Systems and methods are provided for assisted decision-making. A knowledge base comprises a plurality of executable stories. A given story comprises a belief network containing at least one associated hypothesis and evidence associated with the at least one hypothesis. The system further comprises at least one decision algorithm having respective associated input formats. A translation interface is operative to convert a given story from the knowledge base into a decision network having a format associated with the at least one decision algorithm. |
| US08170962B2 |
Method and apparatus for an algorithm development environment for solving a class of real-life combinatorial optimization problems
The invention pertains to an algorithm development environment for solving a class of combinatorial optimization problems. Many practical real-life applications can be formulated as combinatorial optimization problems. Over the years, there have been algorithms proposed to solve these problems. The effort in customizing algorithms to fulfill a particular domain-specific application is still significant. Furthermore, conventional approaches towards codes generation and modification are tedious and thus inefficient. To address the need for rapid generation of algorithms that are efficient in solving a given class of real-life problems, embodiments provide a hierarchical tree structure for managing a procedure modules library. Based on the preferred management and object-oriented design concept, users configure and generate a genetic algorithm (GA) via an intuitive graphical user interface. The goal-seeking customization of the generated GA can be easily carried out for solving various optimization problems. This way, the efficiency of algorithm development is enhanced significantly. |
| US08170960B1 |
User behavior-based remotely-triggered automated actions
An action is triggered by receiving information related to a predicted destination of a user, accessing a library that maps user actions to destinations, determining that at least one of the destinations in the library corresponds with the predicted destination of the user and at least one of the destinations in the library, identifying a user action, within the library, that is associated with the destination determined to correspond with the predicted destination of the user, and triggering the user action. |
| US08170958B1 |
Internet reputation manager
A method and apparatus for providing an on-line reputation manager whereby review and/or ratings data associated with a given business and/or product is obtained from two or more Internet based business ratings/review system sources. The review and/or ratings data is aggregated, and/or processed, according to one or more aggregation/processing parameters. The aggregated, and/or processed, review and/or ratings data is then provided to an owner, manager, and/or agent of the given business. The review and/or ratings data is then monitored and updated periodically and/or on the occurrence of specified trigger events. |
| US08170957B2 |
System and method for managing digital interactions
A system for managing digital interactions comprising an identity module for creating an identity, wherein the identity includes a unique identifier associated with a first party and a plurality of proposed terms for a relationship with a second party; and a relationship module, in communication with the identity module, for receiving and evaluating the plurality of proposed terms, including accepting or rejecting the plurality of proposed terms and, if accepted, for allowing the first party to communicate with the second party in accordance with the plurality of proposed terms. |
| US08170956B1 |
Systems and methods for electronically managing content
Systems and methods are provided for electronically managing content. In one embodiment, information identifying content items found on a page is received from a client system through code embedded on the page. Systems and methods for associating advertisement data with content items are also disclosed. |
| US08170955B2 |
System and method for enforcing usage rights associated with digital content
A method, system and software for permitting use of digital works having rights associated therewith in a system having repositories configured to enable use of the digital work in accordance with the rights, including associating a transfer right with a digital work, the transfer right specifying that the digital work is transferred from a first repository to a second repository; transferring the digital work from the first repository to the second repository in accordance with the transfer right; and in response to the transferring, step updating transfer right information in respect of the digital work. |
| US08170953B1 |
Systems and method for screening payment transactions
Methods and systems for anti money laundering screening are provided. The method includes determining a risk score and a first validation code associated with the risk score, based on information related to a funds transfer transaction and independently calculating a second validation code and comparing with the first validation code. The method further includes including the risk score and the validation score in a payment authorization message. The receiving financial entity accepts or denies the incoming funds transfer based on the risk score included in the payment authorization message. |
| US08170948B2 |
Client account and information management system and method
An information repository and management system for data regarding a client base which integrates a plurality of information types including database records, word processor files, e-mail, other hyperlinked documents, web pages and web sites. Implemented as a database application on a web-enabled database server, sales and marketing team members may access the system through an intranet or remotely through an Internet. Portions of the database may be extracted and placed on a portable computing device for traveling purposes. The extracted database can be later synchronized with the central database upon return of a sales and marketing team member from a meeting or business trip. Links and expandable subforms are provided to web sites for stock quoting and client home pages, allowing sales team members to quickly gather information regarding a company's latest news announcements, stock performance, and financial status. Client relationship documents, such as meeting summaries, previous meeting briefing packages, and action item tracking sheets are organized and accessible through the system. |
| US08170930B2 |
System and method for automated notification
Systems and methods are provided which make use of outbound calling systems to automate notification campaigns. Automated campaigns using outbound calling systems can provide a number of significant advantages over the traditional notification campaign, potentially resulting in faster, more efficient, more accurate, and more cost-effective notification campaigns. |
| US08170927B2 |
Adaptive critical low level management
An adaptive critical low level management system is described. In some embodiments, the system includes a configuration module configured to receive a service level setting and a storage module configured to receive usage information for at least one inventory of at least one type of medical item. The system also includes a processor configured to adaptively determine a critical low level based on the usage information and the service level setting, and an analysis module configured to determine when the critical low level has been reached by the at least one inventory of the at least one type of medical item, and to produce an output indication that the critical low level has been reached. |
| US08170923B1 |
Services for offsetting the environmental impact of electronic transactions
The environmental impact of various transactions can be reduced or offset by determining the impact of various shipping and packaging options, and providing these options to customers. Customers then have the ability to select options that reduce the environmental impact of each transaction. A customer also can purchase environmental offsets to offset the determined impact. Customers can be provided with environmental impact information determined or tracked for each item viewed by the customer, such that each customer can be informed of the additional impact of each individual when making a selection. The selections and/or actions of a customer can be tracked such that environmentally friendly options and suggestions can be provided for subsequent transactions. |
| US08170920B1 |
Method of providing audio format professional information update service, via an electronic network
Disclosed is a method of providing continuing education for keeping professionals aware and informed of developments in easily accessed categorized topical areas of interest utilizing an electronic network (eg. the Internet), primarily as an audio format distribution means. The method can include a client providing attestation of access and listened-to-grasping of the information over the internet, the client making permanent library copies, and the client accessing information utilizing time and/or topic tags. |
| US08170916B1 |
Related-item tag suggestions
Tag suggestions enable a hosting entity such as a website to determine one or more tags to suggest to a user for association with a particular item within an electronic catalog. After this determination, the hosting entity may suggest the determined tags to the user. To determine these tags, the hosting entity may employ techniques to determine items related to the particular item. The hosting entity then suggests some or all of the tags associated with the related items. Additionally or alternatively, the hosting entity may determine certain metadata associated with the particular item. The entity then may suggest this metadata, or some related phrase or tag, to the user for association with the particular item. However the tag suggestions are determined, the hosting entity may rank the tag suggestions to determine which tags to present to the user or to determine an order in which to present the tags. |
| US08170915B2 |
Online store product availability
A technique for effecting electronic commerce using a data network is described. The data network includes a plurality of subsystems which, together, form an integrated system for receiving customer orders for selected items via a data network, fulfilling the customer orders, and delivering the ordered products to the customers. Moreover, according to a specific embodiment, the integrated nature of the system architecture of the present invention allows the on-line merchant to provide a guarantee to the customer that the ordered items will be available to be delivered to the customer at the specified delivery date, time, and location. |
| US08170914B2 |
Inventory control system for digital signage network having a plurality of screen zones associated with a plurality of displays
An inventory control system for a digital signage network is provided that uses a denormalized relational database to maintain a record of each of a plurality of screen zones for displays of the network. An inventory column in the database may be used to track scheduling assignments for each day of a calendar year. A screen zone may be given a collective duration limit that prevents assignment of media content items to that screen zone if the assignment would cause the limit to be exceeded for any of the days in the scheduling request. A screen zone may also be designated as overbookable to allow a scheduling assignment even if the limit is exceeded, or may be designated as partially bookable to allow the assignment of media content items for only those days specified in the request for which the limit would not be exceeded. |
| US08170913B1 |
Optimizing placement and delivery of advertisements
The efficient allocation of advertisements, also known as creatives, on one or more web sites is provided for while ensuring that guarantees to advertisers are honored. In one embodiment, a linear program solver allocates creatives to advertising slots according to an optimizing function designed to maximize revenue for the site. The linear program solver takes as input a set of creatives, creative performance data, constraints, and slot identifiers. The output of the linear program solver is an optimized schedule not violative of any of the input constraints. |
| US08170909B2 |
System and method for monitoring retail store performance
A system for monitoring the performance of at least one task associated with operation of a retail store. The system includes at least one monitoring device positioned and adapted to provide images of at least one location within the retail store, with each image showing at least one factor related to performance of the at least one task. A controller is adapted to obtain and store images from the at least one monitoring device. An interface is adapted to enable a user to selectively view stored images and to manually analyze the at least one factor shown in the viewed images to evaluate the performance of the at least one task. |
| US08170907B2 |
System for optimizing trade promotion and distribution spending in fragmented markets
A system for optimizing incentive-based spending parameters associated with goods provided by a manufacturer in fragmented markets includes a data collection component configured to aggregate data, and an analysis module, which applies regression analysis based on key segmentation variables. A segmentation module separates the aggregated data into final segments based on identified key segmentation variables. The analysis module applies regression analysis to each final segment to identify incentive-based spending parameters and generates response curves. A report generator provides a graphical output of the respective response curves. |
| US08170906B2 |
Method and apparatus for information surveying
A method and apparatus are presented with which to conduct information surveys. Contemporary methods of accessing and exploiting information resources, including search techniques and category browsing, have become less effective and efficient at these tasks due to the growing infoglut and the widening knowledge gap between the content, structure, and navigational paths of information resources on the one hand, and what users know and desire of these on the other. The information survey method and apparatus disclosed herein enables a user to survey information in order to rapidly discover the area of the information resource that is most useful to them, the survey niche, and evaluate the knowledge and information found there. |
| US08170904B1 |
Apparatus, method and system for comparative collaborative creative works evaluation
An apparatus, method, and system for a comparative, collaborative, creative works evaluator (3CWE). One of the benefits of 3CWE is that it provides a mechanism to rate and subsequently rank creative works and their authors. The benefits of ranking creative works and their authors are many, one of which is to provide audiences with guidance as to the quality and/or popularity of a given author or work. As such, the system provides and may act as a more accurate promotional vehicle in identifying and uncovering talent. This 3CWE system allows individuals without the standard resources to be recognized by an internationally-targeted market. By evaluating creative artists and works by interested participants, the artists and works' exposure is expanded. In one, non-limiting example, present, inventive aspect of the disclosure provides a system that pits creative works, and as a consequence, their authors, against one another for evaluation by an audience. |
| US08170903B2 |
System and method for weighting configuration item relationships supporting business critical impact analysis
A system and method for generating a business critical impact analysis report includes steps of: inserting a rank value field in each configuration item relationship type definition; inserting a rank value field in each single relationship between configuration items; determining default rank values for the rank value fields; assigning the default rank values to the single relationships and the relationship type definitions; receiving a user request to generate the business critical impact analysis report at a selected rank level of configuration items; and presenting the business critical impact analysis report to the user, displaying the configuration items and their relationships corresponding to the selected level. |
| US08170902B2 |
Methods and systems for compliance monitoring case management
A system for managing information of a case relating to possible lack of compliance of enterprise transactions with one or more predetermined compliance policies of an enterprise. An exceptions database stores information corresponding to exceptions indicative of a violation of an enterprise compliance policy. An input receives exceptions from a rules engine that determines a violation of an enterprise compliance policy based on information stored in one or more enterprise systems; the exceptions are stored in the exceptions database. A user interface is provided for assigning a case number to at least one exception, assigning an owner to the exceptions, collecting additional information relating to a case, and other functions. The system further provides a display of information relating to the exception, the entities involved in the exception, and the case to a user. |
| US08170894B2 |
Method of identifying innovations possessing business disrupting properties
The instant invention involves a method for determining the expected presence of disruptive business process innovations by performing various nonlinear dynamic processes and analysis with both expected data values and referenced data values. After processing the necessary data, the method allows for the prediction of said disruptive business processes innovations (i.e. innovations that have a game changing effect on the market or markets to which the innovation belongs). After determining the presence or non-presence of any disruptive business process innovations, the method comprises steps for providing advice to users of said method. Further, the instant invention encompasses variants of its method that are facilitated by the use of at least one computing machine. |
| US08170890B1 |
Method of inferring a health condition based on a prescription filled for a patient and blocking a subsequent sale of a drug contraindicated for the health condition
A system and method for inferring a possible pregnancy based on a first filled prescription and blocking the sale of a second prescription for a drug contraindicated for pregnancy is disclosed. First prescription information may be received and a possible pregnancy of the patient may be inferred. An association of the inferred possible pregnancy and the patient may be retained for a given length of time. When second prescription information is received, a check for the association may be made. If an association exists, the filling and the sale of the second prescription may be blocked. The block of the sale of the second prescription may be overridden. |
| US08170888B2 |
Method and system for assessing, quantifying, coding and communicating a patient's health and perioperative risk
A multi-dimensional system for assessing, coding, quantifying, displaying, integrating and communicating information relating to patient health and perioperative risk includes a mechanism for inputting patient information and providing an output relating to the patient health and perioperative risk. The output includes a score for the physical condition of the patient, a score for the degree of expected surgical risk and invasiveness, a score for other vital assessments of perioperative complexity, and alphanumeric codes for other factors that may require special preoperative preparation and planning. |
| US08170887B2 |
System and method for providing continuous, expert network care services from a remote location(s) to geographically dispersed healthcare locations
A system and method for providing continuous expert network critical care services from a remote location. A plurality of healthcare locations with associated patient monitoring instrumentation is connected over a network to a command center which is manned by intensivists 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The intensivists are prompted to provide critical care by a standardized series of guideline algorithms for treating a variety of critical care conditions. Intensivists monitor the progress of individual patients at remote intensive care units. A smart alarm system provides alarms to the intensivists to alert the intensivists to potential patient problems so that intervention can occur in a timely fashion. A data storage/data warehouse function analyzes individual patient information from a plurality of command centers and provides updated algorithms and critical care support to the command centers. |
| US08170886B2 |
Systems, methods, and apparatus to generate an energy consumption index
Systems, methods, and apparatus to generate an energy consumption index are disclosed. In one described example, a method to generate an energy consumption index is disclosed, the method including measuring resources consumed at a home associated with a first person and calculating a home energy value indicative of the resources consumed at the home and measuring resources consumed by the person while located outside the home and calculating an out of home energy value indicative of the resources consumed by the person while located outside the home. The example method further includes identifying goods purchased by the person and calculating a purchase energy value indicative of the resources associated with the purchased goods, and generating an energy consumption index associated with the person based on the home energy value, the out of home energy value, and the purchase energy value. |
| US08170884B2 |
Use of voice-to-remaining audio (VRA) in consumer applications
Systems provide an audio/visual output to each of a plurality of listeners in a manner that permits individualized audio adjustment, wherein audio comprises a first signal that is substantially voice and a second signal that is substantially other than voice. The systems may include a video device, a storage medium, and a transmitter that transmits the first and second signals to a plurality of personal listening devices. Each of the plurality of personal listening devices may include first and second receivers, first and second adjustment devices, an audio signal combining device, and one or more transducers, wherein the systems permit each of the plurality of listeners to adjust the first and second signals independently of other ones of the plurality of listeners in an audience. |
| US08170881B2 |
Distributed voice browser
The present invention can include a method of call processing using a distributed voice browser including allocating a plurality of service processors configured to interpret parsed voice markup language data and allocating a plurality of voice markup language parsers configured to retrieve and parse voice markup language data representing a telephony service. The plurality of service processors and the plurality of markup language parsers can be registered with one or more session managers. Accordingly, components of received telephony service requests can be distributed to the voice markup language parsers and the parsed voice markup language data can be distributed to the service processors. |
| US08170880B2 |
Systems and methods for monitoring speech data labelers
Systems and methods herein use an annotation guide to label utterances and speech data with a call type. A system practicing the method embodiment monitors labelers of speech data by presenting via a processor a test utterance to a labeler, receiving input from the labeler that selects a particular call type from a list of call types and determining via the processor if the labeler labeled the test utterance correctly. Based on the determining step, the system revises the annotation guide, retrains the labeler, and/or alters the test utterance. |
| US08170879B2 |
Periodic signal enhancement system
A signal enhancement system improves the understandability of speech or other audio signals. The system reinforces selected parts of the signal, may attenuate selected parts of the signal, and may increase SNR. The system includes delay logic, a partitioned adaptive filter, and signal reinforcement logic. The partitioned adaptive filter may track and enhance the fundamental frequency and harmonics in the input signal. The partitioned filter output signals may approximately reproduce the input signal, delayed by an integer multiple of the period of the fundamental frequency of the input signal. The reinforcement logic combines the input signal and the filtered signals to produce an enhanced output signal. |
| US08170878B2 |
Method and apparatus for automatically converting voice
The invention proposes a method and apparatus for significantly improving the quality of voice morphing and guaranteeing the similarity of converted voice. The invention sets several standard speakers in a TTS database, and selects the voices of different standard speakers for speech synthesis according to different roles, wherein the voice of the selected standard speaker is similar to the original role to a certain extent. Then the invention further performs voice morphing on the standard voice similar to the original voice to a certain extent, in order to accurately mimic the voice of the original speaker, so as to make the converted voice closer to the original voice features while guaranteeing the similarity. |
| US08170874B2 |
Apparatus and method for recognizing speech based on feature parameters of modified speech and playing back the modified speech
A speech recognition apparatus which improves the sound quality of speech output as a speech recognition result is provided. The speech recognition apparatus includes a recognition unit, which recognizes speech based on a recognition dictionary, and a registration unit, which registers a dictionary entry of a new recognition word in the recognition dictionary. The recognition unit includes a generation unit, which generates a dictionary entry including speech of the new recognition word item and feature parameters of the speech, and a modification unit, which makes a modification for improving the sound quality of the speech included in the dictionary entry generated by the generation unit. The recognition unit includes a speech output unit, which outputs speech which is included in a dictionary entry corresponding to the recognition result of input speech, and is modified by the modification unit. |
| US08170872B2 |
Incorporating user emotion in a chat transcript
Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to chat transcript generation for instant messaging and provide a method, system and computer program product for emotional state transcription for chat sessions. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for emotional state transcription for chat sessions can be provided. The method can include initializing a chat session in an instant messenger, engaging in an audio conversation through the instant messenger, collecting emotion meta-data for the audio conversation and mapping the emotion meta-data to emoticons, and combining a speech recognized form of the audio conversation with the emoticons and text from the chat session into a chat transcript. The method further can include computing a milleau for the chat session from the emotion meta-data and incorporating the milleau for the chat session in the transcript. |
| US08170870B2 |
Apparatus for and program of processing audio signal
In an audio signal processing apparatus, a generation section generates an audio signal representing a voice. A distribution section distributes the audio signal generated by the generation section to a first channel and a second channel, respectively. A delay section delays the audio signal of the first channel relative to the audio signal of the second channel for creating a phase difference between the audio signal of the first channel and the audio signal of the second channel such that the created phase difference has a duration corresponding to either an added value of a first duration which is approximately one half of a period of the audio signal generated by the generation section and a second duration which is set shorter than the first duration, or a difference value of the first duration and the second duration. An addition section adds the audio signal of the first channel and the audio signal of the second channel with one another, between which the phase difference is created by the delay section, and outputs the added audio signal which represents natural voice with various characteristics. |
| US08170868B2 |
Extracting lexical features for classifying native and non-native language usage style
A corpus is provided of language usage by non-native users of the language. Characteristics of the corpus are measured and used to create a language usage classifier for indicating non-native usage of the language. Once the language usage classifier is created, a natural language input may be entered, and the characteristics thereof measured. These characteristics are then compared with the indicators of non-native usage, thereby detecting non-native usage. The evaluation of non-native usage may be used as a versatile foundation to enhance a wide variety of tools and applications dealing with user interaction in languages other than their native language. |
| US08170866B2 |
System and method for increasing accuracy of searches based on communication network
Disclosed are systems, methods and computer-readable media for using a local communication network to generate a speech model. The method includes retrieving for an individual a list of numbers in a calling history, identifying a local neighborhood associated with each number in the calling history, truncating the local neighborhood associated with each number based on the at least one parameter, retrieving a local communication network associated with each number in the calling history and each phone number in the local neighborhood, and creating a language model for the individual based on the retrieved local communication network. The generated language model may be used for improved automatic speech recognition for audible searches as well as other modules in a spoken dialog system. |
| US08170861B2 |
Method for distributed hybrid emulation of manufacturing systems
Manufacturing facility process optimization includes monitoring communication signals within a facility device network, analyzing work station specific patterns in the communication signals, developing operational dependencies for work stations based upon the work station specific patterns, and predictively evaluating impacts to the work stations of the proposed configuration of the manufacturing facility process based upon the operational dependencies. |
| US08170859B1 |
Methods, apparatuses and computer program products for simulating arbitrary unmodified code
Arbitrary, unmodified code and/or software may be executed directly on a host processor operating in a virtualized mode using hardware virtualization support and performance counters. The arbitrary software may be run on the host processor until the host processor exits from the virtualized mode. An end execution time may be calculated in response to the host processor exiting from the virtualized mode. An event may then be handled based on an execution time at which the host processor exited from the virtualized mode and a time at which a scheduled event was to occur. |
| US08170856B2 |
Systems and methods for real-time advanced visualization for predicting the health, reliability and performance of an electrical power system
A system for real-time three-dimensional (3D) visualization of an electrical system is disclosed. The system includes a data acquisition component, a power analytics server and a client terminal. The data acquisition component acquires real-time data output from the electrical system. The power analytics server is comprised of a virtual system modeling engine, an analytics engine, a machine learning engine and a 3D visualization engine. The virtual system modeling engine generates predicted data output for the electrical system. The analytics engine monitors real-time data output and predicted data output of the electrical system. The machine learning engine stores and processes patterns observed from the real-time data output and the predicted data output to forecast an aspect of the electrical system. The 3D visualization engine renders the virtual system model and the forecasted aspect into a 3D visual model. |
| US08170855B2 |
System for simulating PET gantry
A system for simulating a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) gantry has a computer system having a bus system for receiving expansion cards, a mass data storage support system, the mass storage system being operable to store coincidence-event and tag packet data, and a data transfer simulation card for said bus system, wherein the data transfer simulation card is operable to simulate transfer timing of the stored coincidence-event and tag packet data. |
| US08170850B1 |
Graphical functions
A method, system and computer program product to define and utilize functions graphically is provided which may be used in the simulation of finite state machines. The functions may combine mathematical, logical, non-linear and comparative operations. The graphical elements of the function may be hidden for ease of display of various portions of a model. |
| US08170849B2 |
Spray nozzle configuration and modeling system
A spray injection analysis and nozzle configuration system is described having a user input unit that collects spray system input parameters and relays the collected parameters to a fluid performance matching unit and/or problem geometry unit for subsequent processing. The user inputs basic system parameters, including the desired spray fluid characteristics, to obtain suggested system configuration, including spray nozzle types and quantities. Accuracy of suggested spray nozzle type and configuration is increased via approximating the viscosity and/or surface tension parameters of the desired spray fluid with that of collected performance data. When a user already knows the desired spray nozzle type and associated system parameters, the user input unit routes this information to the problem geometry unit for creation of a problem geometry file, including calculation of the drop size distribution and spray velocity, and performance modeling via the fluid modeling unit. |
| US08170847B2 |
System and method for evaluating simulation model penetration
A system and method for viewing models and model variables within a sophisticated modeling environment is disclosed. The system provides varying levels of insight into a modeling infrastructure to help the user understand model and model variable dependencies, usage, distribution, and/or the like. (original) The method includes storing model and model variable data within a relational database system, receiving a request from a user interfacing with the system via a web interface, extracting search criteria and presentation preferences from the request, formulating and executing one or more queries on the database to retrieve the required data, formatting the data in accordance with the request, and retuning the data to the requesting user in the form of a web page. |
| US08170844B2 |
Estimation of probability of lambda failure through employment of lookup table
A method for estimating a probability of failure of a least-squares ambiguity decorrelation adjustment (LAMBDA) method is provided. The LAMBDA method is used for estimation of double difference carrier phase integer ambiguity. A plurality of condition sets are selected. Each condition set comprises a probability of failure (Pboot-fail) for a boot-strap method of estimation of the double difference carrier phase integer ambiguity, a number of space vehicles (Nsv), and a ratio test tolerance for the LAMBDA method. A plurality of Monte Carlo simulations are run on the plurality of condition sets to obtain a plurality of result sets. Each result set comprises a probability of lambda fail (Pλ-fail) and a probability of lambda reject (Pλ-reject) for one condition set of the plurality of condition sets. A lookup table is created with the plurality of result sets. A value of Pλ-fail for given values of Pλ-reject, Pboot-fail, and Nsv is estimated through employment of the lookup table. |
| US08170841B2 |
Predictive model validation
Models are generated using a variety of tools and features of a model generation platform. For example, in connection with a project in which a user generates a predictive model based on historical data about a system being modeled, the user is provided through a graphical user interface a structured sequence of model generation activities to be followed, the sequence including dimension reduction, model generation, model process validation, and model re-generation.In connection with a project in which a user generates a predictive model based on historical data about a system being modeled, the user is enabled to validate the model development process with cross-validation between at least two subsets of the historical data; the validated model development process is enabled to be reapplied. |
| US08170840B2 |
Pitch determination systems and methods for aerial roof estimation
User interface systems and methods for roof estimation are described. Example embodiments include a roof estimation system that provides a user interface configured to facilitate roof model generation based on one or more aerial images of a building roof. In one embodiment, roof model generation includes image registration, image lean correction, roof section pitch determination, wire frame model construction, and/or roof model review. The described user interface provides user interface controls that may be manipulated by an operator to perform at least some of the functions of roof model generation. In one embodiment, the user interface provides user interface controls that facilitate the determination of pitch of one or more sections of a building roof. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract, and it is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. |
| US08170839B2 |
Method of designing a tire tread
A tire design method is provided for a tire having a tire tread with a plurality of circumferential ribs separated by circumferential continuous grooves where at least two circumferential ribs are unlocked by at least one circumferential groove. The method may include modeling a lug in each of the at least two circumferential ribs to determine a circumferential shear stiffness and a circumferential shear stiffness per unit length for each rib. The tire design method may further include determining an ideal rib stiffness, an optimal rib stiffness, and a corresponding ideal number of lugs and an optimal number of lugs for each of the at least two circumferential ribs. In one embodiment, the tire design method includes modifying the tire design so the number of lugs in each rib is equal to the optimal number of lugs determined in the tire design method. |
| US08170833B2 |
Transforming metrology data from a semiconductor treatment system using multivariate analysis
Metrology data from a semiconductor treatment system is transformed using multivariate analysis. In particular, a set of metrology data measured or simulated for one or more substrates treated using the treatment system is obtained. One or more essential variables for the obtained set of metrology data is determined using multivariate analysis. A first metrology data measured or simulated for one or more substrates treated using the treatment system is obtained. The first obtained metrology data is not one of the metrology data in the set of metrology data earlier obtained. The first metrology data is transformed into a second metrology data using the one or more of the determined essential variables. |
| US08170831B2 |
Apparatus and method for measuring dimension of circular object
The invention provides an apparatus and a method for measuring a dimension of a circular object. First to third sensors arranged in a straight line are disposed above a track to respectively measure time instants when the circular object moves past the first to third sensors. The dimension of the circular object is calculated according to distances between the first and second sensors and between the second and third sensors. |
| US08170829B1 |
Tester bundle
An apparatus for testing multiple Small Form-Factor Pluggable Plus (SFP+) ports comprising: a first testing module; a second testing module; and a communications link coupled with the first and the second testing modules; wherein each of the testing modules includes: a SFP+ interface connectable to a port under test (PUT), a signal processing circuit including: a signal compensator configured to perform signal compensation on a signal received from the other testing module, and a signal modifier configured to: modify the compensated signal according to a set of predetermined modification parameters, and transmit the modified signal to the PUT. |
| US08170828B2 |
Test method using memory programmed with tests and protocol to communicate between device under test and tester
In an embodiment, a test method is implemented to test an integrated circuit that includes at least one processor. The method may include programming a memory to which the integrated circuit is coupled during testing with one or more test programs. The integrated circuit may be booted, and the processor may execute the test programs from the memory. In one embodiment, the memory may also store a control program that may manage the execution of the tests. In an embodiment, the control program may also implement a protocol to communicate with the ATE to perform the testing. The protocol may be implemented over a set of general purpose input/output (I/O) pins, for example. Using the protocol and test vectors on the ATE, the tests may be selected and executed, and test results may be reported. |
| US08170826B2 |
Calibration method for a position determination of a rear axle steering actuator
The present invention relates to a method for the calibration of a position determination system of a rear axle steering actuator for a motor vehicle. The rear axle steering actuator has an actuator element which can be driven by a rotary movement of a rotor to a translation movement and whose geometrical center position is determined by a reference measurement. The position determination system includes a linear sensor and a rotary sensor. During calibration, a piece of calibration information is generated which includes a piece of zero point information of the linear sensor and a piece of sector information. The measurement range of the rotary sensor is divided into at least two sectors. The sector information identifies that angle at which the angular position of the rotor lies when the actuator element is arranged in its geometrical center position. The calibration information is stored in the linear sensor. |
| US08170824B2 |
System and method for determining distance with precision in the presence of multipath interference
Various aspects of the present invention are shown and described, each of which has stand alone utility in a navigated medical environment. A receiver position calibration system and method facilitates calibration of a reference frame prior to each navigated procedure. A concept and application of confidence weights is introduced. Confidence weights can be applied to distance calculations to mitigate the effects of interference and increase the tolerance of the navigated medical system. Multi-path interference is minimized through the transmission of a signal having a pattern of unique frequencies and filtering of the distance calculations for each frequency to identify the ‘best’ distance in the presence of multi-path interference. A position determination method and system that transmits a signal having multiple frequency components permits positions to be identified with high resolution over a large area. |
| US08170812B2 |
Method and system for detecting deposit buildup within an ultrasonic flow meter
Methods and systems for detecting deposit buildup within an ultrasonic flow meter are disclosed. At least some of the illustrative embodiments are ultrasonic flow meters comprising a spool piece configured to couple within a flow of fluid, a first transducer pair mechanically mounted to the spool piece and configured to fluidly couple to the flow of fluids (wherein the first transducer pair comprises an upstream transducer and a downstream transducer in operational relationship to the upstream transducer and defines a first chord there between), and electronics electrically coupled to the first transducer pair. The electronics is configured to detect deposit buildup over an inner surface of the ultrasonic flow meter. |
| US08170807B2 |
Managing body composition
Among other things, at least two different independent providers of body composition management services are enabled to have online access through respective graphical user interfaces to body composition information and plans that are associated with respective clients of the providers and that are stored on the server. The graphical user interfaces are different for different independent providers. At least some of the information and plans associated with the clients of the different independent providers are stored in a common format in a common database maintained by the server. |
| US08170800B2 |
Method and system for monitoring a drilling operation
The present invention provides a computer-implemented software tool that is adapted to listen continuously to data streams from a drilling operation and to process the data to generate a situation description for a current drilling situation in a form useful for automated continuous matching with a set of past cases stored in a knowledge database. The invention implements a case-based reasoning (CBR) approach to match the current drilling situation as defined by the situation description with one or more stored past cases having a degree of similarity above a predetermined threshold level. Matching cases are displayed to the drilling engineer as symbols on a case “radar”, allowing the drilling engineer to retrieve and view the details of a past case and take appropriate action based on drilling advice provided within the past case. |
| US08170798B2 |
Navigation system and operation guidance display method for use in this navigation system
A navigation system according to the present invention includes a control device 1 equipped with an automatic operation management means 10 for, when acquiring an operation guidance display request which is generated by a user's manipulation of an input device 2, making a direct transition to a final operation screen which is required to judge the user's intention among operation screens which are developed to implement navigation, and for combining the above-mentioned final operation screen which is reduced and a corresponding operation guidance to display them on a display device 5. |
| US08170797B2 |
Method and apparatus for estimating behaviors of vehicle using GPS signals
A method and an apparatus for estimating behaviors of a vehicle are provided. At least two GPS antennas are located along a longitudinal axis of a vehicle so that speed vectors at the positions where the GPS antennas are located can be determined based on GPS signals received by the GPS antennas. The speed vectors are known to be estimated with high accuracy based on the GPS signals. The positions of the GPS antennas on the local coordinate system are estimated based on such highly accurate speed vectors, so that the estimated positions may also have high accuracy. Based on a line connecting these highly accurate positions of the GPS antennas, an inclination of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle is estimated. Use of the high-accuracy speed vectors enables high-accuracy estimation on the positions of the GPS antennas and the vehicle direction on the local coordinate system. |
| US08170796B2 |
Ins based GPS carrier phase cycle slip detection and repairing
An apparatus comprising a position system configured to determine a global positioning (GPS) change vector, and an inertial navigation system (INS) change vector. The position system is configured to determine a relative position between a first platform and a second platform based on the GPS change vector and the INS change vector, and the position system is configured to correct a GPS position calculation error based on the GPS change vector and the INS change vector. |
| US08170795B2 |
Navigation system with animated intersection view
A vehicle navigation system helps guide a driver to a destination by enhancing visualization of upcoming intersections. The navigation system stores animation data that depicts the intersection as it will appear to the driver. The animation data may be a sequence of images (e.g., digital camera images) taken at intervals before and after the intersection. The navigation system may show the images in synchronism with the progress of the vehicle to provide an animated display of the intersection for the driver. The animated display aids the driver with following a recommended navigation route to the destination. |
| US08170793B2 |
System and method for determining routing point placement for aiding in encoding and decoding a path
A method of encoding a shortened path definition of a path in a mapping system is described. In one embodiment, a shortened path definition includes only those routing points that are needed to eliminate valid alternate routes. |
| US08170791B1 |
Automated travel planning system
A list of places of interest geographically located near a travel route may be generated by accessing a routing database storing shape points capable of defining a travel route, determining a travel route from the shape points stored in the routing database, accessing a place of interest database including geographic centers, selecting from the places of interest database at least one geographic center that is geographically proximate to the travel route, and generating a list of places of interest associated with at least one of the selected geographic centers. |
| US08170789B2 |
Method for providing search area coverage information
A method for displaying search area coverage is provided. A searched area (414) is recorded by a moving entity (202, 302), the search area (420) having a width defined by the position of the search entity (202, 302) as it progresses through a search area (420). The search area (420) and the searched area (414) are then displayed on a display (116), thereby illustrating the search area remaining to be searched. Optionally, the width of the searched area (414) may be adjusted in accordance the altitude, speed, or visibility of the search entity (202, 302), and a pattern may be suggested for the search entity (202, 302) to ensure coverage of the search area (420). |
| US08170788B2 |
Method and apparatus for using an automated lane keeping system to maintain lateral vehicle spacing
A method and apparatus for piloting a vehicle is herein disclosed. The method entails first using a lane keeping system to detect objects in lanes adjacent to the lane currently occupied by the vehicle and then adjusting the position of the vehicle within the occupied lane-relative to a detected object. |
| US08170787B2 |
Vehicle collision avoidance system
A collision avoidance system for a machine is disclosed. The collision avoidance system has a first obstacle detection system. The first obstacle detection system is configured to detect a first obstacle and generate a corresponding first signal. Additionally, the collision avoidance system has an operator interface. The operator interface has a display configured to communicate visual information to an operator. In addition, the collision avoidance system has an interface module configured to detect a status of the machine and generate a corresponding second signal. The collision avoidance system also has a controller. The controller is in communication with the first obstacle detection system, the operator interface, and the interface module. The controller is configured to control the display to indicate a dangerous obstacle detection to the operator, based on the first and second signals. Additionally, the controller is configured to control the display to provide a dangerous obstacle warning to the operator, based on the first and second signals. |
| US08170781B2 |
Inverted wheel type moving body and method of controlling the same
An inverted wheel type moving body according to the present invention includes a right chassis 17 and a left chassis 19 rotationally supporting wheels, motors 34 and 36 rotationally driving a right driving wheel 18 and a left driving wheel 20, a body 12 rotatably supported on the right chassis 17 and the left chassis 19 through a right arm 14 and a left arm 16, lower joint motors 65 and 95 disposed in the right arm 14 and the left arm 16 and varying vehicle height, a travel control module 81 controlling the motors 34 and 36 so as to follow calculated accelerations, and a posture control module 82 controlling the lower joint motors 65 and 95 to lower the vehicle height and change a position of a center of mass of the body 12 with respect to an axle in a front-back direction in accordance with the accelerations when the accelerations exceeds a certain range. |
| US08170779B2 |
Abnormality diagnosis device for exhaust heat recovery equipment
An abnormality diagnosis device is for an exhaust heat recovery equipment including an exhaust heat absorption part absorbing exhaust heat from an engine, a heat release part releasing at least part of the heat absorbed by the absorption part to engine coolant, a circulation loop passing through the absorption part and the release part, the medium circulating around the loop, and an opening and closing valve disposed in the loop between the absorption part and the release part. The equipment closes the valve to stop circulation of the medium when coolant temperature is a preset temperature or above. The device includes an abnormality determination device for determining whether the valve is in an abnormal opening state based on a heat amount transmitted from exhaust heat to coolant through the equipment, when coolant temperature is the preset temperature or above and thereby the valve is closed if the valve is normal. |
| US08170777B2 |
Indicating system and method for determining an engine parameter
To reduce the complexity of an indicating system 6 on an internal combustion engine for determining a parameter, the invention provides that on the basis of the measured variable a computing unit 8 for the indicating system 6 computes crank angle information, and on the basis of the crank angle information thus computed and the measured variable determines an engine parameter. |
| US08170775B2 |
Fuel injection device for internal combustion engine
The device including: a fuel correction value calculating unit for calculating a correction value for a fuel injection quantity so that an actual air-fuel ratio becomes equal to a target air-fuel ratio; a fuel switching detecting unit for detecting that fuel switching has occurred; a fuel property estimating unit for setting a period, in which there is a possibility that a fuel property changes, as a property change period when the fuel switching is detected to calculate a fuel property correction value corresponding to another correction value for the fuel injection quantity based on the correction value within the property change period; and a property change judging unit for judging whether or not a change in the correction value is due to the change in the fuel property in a case where the correction value becomes out of a predetermined range even though the property change period is not set. |
| US08170770B2 |
Adaptive cruise control braking with deceleration monitoring
In one embodiment, a vehicle speed control device includes an electronic control unit (ECU). A forward vehicle sensor, electrically communicating with the ECU, generates a forward vehicle signal as a function of whether a forward vehicle is detected. The forward vehicle signal indicates a speed and a distance to the forward vehicle. A speed sensor, electrically communicating with the ECU, senses a driven vehicle speed. Control logic, electrically communicating with the ECU and the forward vehicle sensor, controls the driven vehicle speed as a function of a driven vehicle acceleration and the forward vehicle signal. The control logic sets a fault status as a function of the driven vehicle acceleration and the forward vehicle signal. |
| US08170769B2 |
Vehicle speed control system
A vehicle speed control system includes a road shape recognition unit which recognizes a road shape, a target speed setting unit which sets a target speed according to the road shape, a speed control unit which controls the host vehicle's speed according to the target speed, a parameter detecting unit which detects at least one of parameters representing the driver's steering rotation, a yaw rate of the host vehicle, and a lateral acceleration of the host vehicle, and a first acceleration determining unit which, after the speed control unit has decelerated, determines whether or not to accelerate the host vehicle according to reference parameters based on a road shape and the host vehicle's speed and parameters detected by the parameter detecting unit, wherein if the first acceleration determining unit has determined to accelerate, the target speed setting unit sets a target speed of the host vehicle according to a predetermined acceleration. |
| US08170765B2 |
Method for regulating the pressure in an electronically controlled brake system, and electronic brake system
An electronic brake system and a method for regulating the brake pressure in an electronically-controlled brake system of a motorcycle are provided. The method includes the step of actively building a brake pressure in a wheel brake circuit to prevent a motorcycle from moving. The method further includes the step of maintaining the brake pressure in the wheel brake circuit once (i) the motorcycle comes to a standstill or is at a standstill or is approximately at a standstill, and (ii) an activation condition is fulfilled. |
| US08170761B2 |
Method for real-time learning of actuator transfer characteristics
In a pressure control system having a solenoid-operated fluid valve that has an output hydraulic pressure which varies in accordance with a solenoid input signal, a dynamic learning block is configured to adjust the initial, default values for control points stored in a pressure-current (P-I) data table based on observed (measured) operating points that reflect the solenoid's actual transfer characteristic. A feed forward control block is configured to generate the solenoid input signal having a level based on the adjusted control points in the data table, which improves the accuracy of the solenoid input signal. An adjustment method uses a plurality of circular buffers each configured to store observed operating points falling within a respective range, and provides a mechanism to allow adjustment of the control points based on only partial data. |
| US08170760B2 |
Vehicle driving apparatus
A vehicle driving apparatus that can execute cranking of an internal combustion engine by transmitting a mechanical power from a rotor of a motor to an engine output shaft without executing an engaging/disengaging operation of a clutch. A driving apparatus of a hybrid vehicle includes a first speed change mechanism capable of receiving mechanical power from an engine output shaft by a first input shaft and transmitting the mechanical power to drive wheels, a second speed change mechanism capable of receiving the mechanical power from the engine output shaft and a rotor by a second input shaft engaged with the rotor and transmitting the mechanical power to the drive wheels, a first clutch capable of engaging the engine output shaft with the first input shaft, and a second clutch capable of engaging the engine output shaft with the second input shaft. |
| US08170759B2 |
Chassis system engine torque requests
An engine control system of a vehicle comprises a torque module and a chassis request evaluation module. The torque module controls a torque output of an engine based on a driver torque request and selectively increases the torque output based on a chassis torque request. The chassis request evaluation module selectively prevents the increase of the torque output based on at least one of a vehicle speed, a transmission state, and an accelerator pedal position. |
| US08170758B2 |
System and method for changing values stored in memory that relate to the operation of an automatic transmission
An automatic transmission may be coupled to an internal combustion engine. A shift selector may be coupled to the transmission and may have a plurality of user selectable inputs for controlling operation of the transmission that are electrically connected to a control circuit. The control circuit may include a memory having a value stored therein that relates to operation of the transmission. The memory may further include instructions stored therein that are executable by the control circuit to change the value stored in the memory to a different value upon detection of user selection of a predefined sequence of two or more of the plurality of user selectable inputs. |
| US08170756B2 |
Excavating system utilizing machine-to-machine communication
A method for enhancing productivity for an excavating operation is disclosed. The method includes establishing a machine-to-machine communication system for a fleet of machines, including at least two machines. The method also includes removing material during the excavating operation with at least a first machine of the fleet of machines. The method additionally includes operating a second machine of the fleet of machines in a mode involving contact between at least the first machine and the second machine. The method further includes employing the machine-to-machine communication system to effect controlled contact between at least the first machine and the second machine. |
| US08170755B2 |
Methods and systems for improved detection of minispare tires
A method of detecting a minispare tire in a vehicle having a vehicle control system. The method includes detecting a rotational velocity of each of a plurality of wheels of the vehicle; determining whether a minispare tire is mounted on the vehicle based on the rotational velocities detected at each of the plurality of wheels; adjusting the vehicle control system if a minispare tire is mounted on the vehicle; sensing a hydraulic pressure of a braking system of the vehicle; and suspending determination of whether a minispare tire is mounted on the vehicle if the hydraulic pressure exceeds a predetermined critical pressure level. |
| US08170751B2 |
Detection of driver intervention during a torque overlay operation in an electric power steering system
A method for controlling an assisted steering maneuver in an electric power steering (EPS) system includes modeling steering dynamics during a torque overlay operation to generate a dynamic steering model (DSM), measuring vehicle operating values, and detecting a driver intervention in the torque overlay operation based on the DSM and the vehicle operating values. The torque overlay operation is overridden when driver intervention is detected, allowing the driver to regain control of the steering maneuver. A vehicle includes a steering wheel, a steering assist mechanism, and an EPS system having an electronic control unit (ECU) adapted to determine a present intent of a driver of the vehicle to interrupt application of the TOC based on a vehicle operating value transmitted by the driver to the steering wheel. The ECU is operable for interrupting the torque overlay operation when the present intent of the driver is determined. |
| US08170750B2 |
Parametric remedial action strategy for an active front steer system
A vehicle parametric active front steering (AFS) system remedial action is described herein. AFS system modules inter-communicate via messages containing parameters. The AFS system detects a message error, determines an invalid parameter, and takes appropriate remedial action. An error is detected if an error condition is satisfied or if occurrence of incorrect messages reaches or exceeds a certain predetermined frequency. The AFS system takes the remedial action by setting default values of valid parameters corresponding to the invalid parameter. |
| US08170748B1 |
Vehicle information display system
An information display system for a vehicle includes an interior rearview mirror assembly disposed at the interior cabin of a vehicle and a video display screen disposed in the interior rearview mirror assembly. The video display screen is operable to display video images captured by a backup camera of the equipped vehicle for assisting the driver during a reversing maneuver. A transmitter is disposed at the interior rearview mirror assembly, and a graphical user interface generates instructions for operation of the transmitter. The video display screen is operable to selectively display video images captured by the backup camera and instructions from the graphical user interface. When the equipped vehicle is executing a reversing maneuver, the information display system displays the video images captured by the backup camera. The graphical user interface interactively operates with the user input for display of instructions for operation of the transmitter. |
| US08170746B2 |
Method for determining unstable driving states
A method for identifying unstable driving states is disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: (a) detecting whether the magnitude of a difference between a first value of a driving state variable that is detected by means of a first sensor, and a second value of the driving states variable that is calculated from measured values of at least one further sensor, increases over time, (b) filtering the difference by means of a delay element after it has been established that the difference has increased, (c) comparing the filters difference and the unfiltered difference, and (d) establishing the presence of an unstable driving states when the comparison shows that a deviation between the filtered difference and the unfiltered difference exceeds a predefined threshold value. The method enables an unstable driving state to be identified even when a driving states variable has an offset error which is of the desired size. |
| US08170743B2 |
Integrated diagnosis and prognosis system as part of the corporate value chain
An integrated diagnosis and prognosis system that collects vehicle information over the life of a vehicle and its development. The system provides the collected vehicle information to supplier management, product development management, service/dealership management, customer relations departments and production facilities, which use the information to take certain action for existing vehicles, fleets of vehicles or future vehicles to improve vehicle reliability and quality. |
| US08170741B2 |
Vehicle and controller for vehicle and method for detecting vehicle abnormality thereof
Early detection of an abnormality in a vehicle speed detection system. A continuously variable transmission (CVT) has an input shaft connected to an engine and an output shaft connected to a rear wheel. A change-gear ratio between the input and output shafts is electronically controlled. The vehicle speed detection system outputs a vehicle speed signal. An electronic control unit (ECU) detects an abnormality in the vehicle speed detection system based on at least one of a rotational speed of the engine, a rotational speed of the input shaft, and a rotational speed of the output shaft, as well as based on the vehicle speed signal outputted from the vehicle speed detection system. |
| US08170739B2 |
Path generation algorithm for automated lane centering and lane changing control system
A system for providing path generation for automated lane centering and/or lane changing purposes. The system includes a desired path generation processor that receives signals detecting the roadway on which the vehicle is traveling, a request for a lane change, vehicle state information and a steering angle of the vehicle. The system also includes a path prediction processor that predicts the vehicle path based on vehicle state information including vehicle longitudinal speed, vehicle lateral speed, vehicle yaw-rate and vehicle steering angle. The desired path information and the predicted path information are compared to generate an error signal that is sent to a lane change controller that provides a steering angle signal to turn the vehicle and reduce the error signal. The desired path generation processor can use a fifth order polynomial equation to determine the desired path of the vehicle based on the input signals. |
| US08170734B2 |
Marine vessel maneuvering supporting apparatus and marine vessel including the same
A marine vessel maneuvering supporting apparatus is used in a marine vessel which includes a propulsion system and a steering mechanism. The marine vessel maneuvering supporting apparatus includes an operational unit, operated by an operator, arranged to control movement and turning of a marine vessel, a target value computing unit having a plurality of computing modes and arranged to compute target values including a target propulsive force for the propulsion system and a target steering angle for the steering mechanism in accordance with an operational input from the operational unit, and a switching unit arranged to switch the computing modes of the target value computing unit. |
| US08170730B2 |
Control system for automatic flight in windshear conditions
A flight control system is configured for controlling the flight of an aircraft through windshear conditions. The system has means for measuring values of selected flight performance states of the aircraft and a control system for operating flight control devices on the aircraft. A windshear detection system located on the aircraft uses at least some of the measured values of the selected flight performance states to calculate a gust average during flight for comparison to pre-determined values in a table for determining whether windshear conditions exist. The control system then operates at least some of the flight control devices in response to an output of the windshear detection system. |
| US08170723B2 |
Determination and use of power system sensitivities
The present disclosure relates to power system sensitivities as computed from power flow parameters and control parameters of a Power Flow Control Device (PFC). To this end, control parameter variations are applied to or generated by a PFC, and comprise variations in a control input u, a control effort e (injected series voltage, inserted series reactance), or a control effect q (power flow, active power transfer, phase-shift, current). A power flow response measuring unit measures a variation of a power flow response such as current, active or apparent power, in a way sufficiently synchronized with the control parameter variation to allow establishing an unambiguous causal relationship or correspondence in the form of a power system sensitivity. The latter may be on-line adapted to continuously reflect an updated aspect of the power system behavior, and thus enable an improved, fast and reliable power flow control in power systems comprising a meshed power network with two parallel flow paths or corridors connecting two areas or sub-systems. |
| US08170720B2 |
HVAC controller with guided schedule programming
Controllers and methods are disclosed for aiding a user in programming a schedule of a programmable controller. In an illustrative embodiment, a guided programming routine can be activated by a user, which then guides a user through two or more screens that are designed to collect sufficient information from the user to generate and/or update at least some of the schedule parameters of the controller. |
| US08170717B2 |
Microsurgical robot system
A surgical robot that includes at least one robotic arm having multiple joints and at least six degrees of freedom, the robotic arm also including: a magnetic resonance (MR) compatible structural material; multiple MR-compatible joint motors; and multiple MR-compatible joint encoders. |
| US08170713B2 |
Method of selecting a product from a refrigerated glass front vending machine
An improved method and apparatus for selection of vendible products provides designated product reference areas at a refrigerated double glass front vending machine for making viewable product selections thereon by applying a light tap at its outer glass pane and sensing the tap location by three or more spaced apart resilient members each having its first portion attached at the inner glass pane. The resilient member's second portion suspends an inertia mass that reciprocates at a predetermined rate due to the inertia mass weight and the resiliency of the suspending member. A sensor senses the reciprocating movement in response to the light tap. The location of the tap is determined by measuring the arrival time of each predetermined signal produced by the first resonating alternation of its attached resiliently suspended inertia mass during the first rearward movement of the inner glass pane. |
| US08170709B2 |
Method for introducing a weft thread in a weaving machine
Method for introducing a weft thread in a weaving machine which comprises a device (10) for introducing a weft thread (3, 64), which method comprises adjusting a control parameter and adapting the number of insertions for determining the mean deviation of an insertion parameter. Weaving machine which comprises a device (10) for employing an abovementioned method. |
| US08170707B2 |
Failure detecting method, failure detecting apparatus, and semiconductor device manufacturing method
A method for inputting a foreign substance inspection map created by foreign substance inspection for a wafer surface after each processing process in a wafer processing process, inputting a die sort map created by a die sort test after the wafer processing process, setting region segments in the wafer, setting a region number for each segment, calculating foreign substance density of the region segments, based on the foreign substance inspection map, and plotting the foreign substance density, using the region numbers, to calculate a foreign substance inspection map waveform characteristic amount, calculating failure density in the region segments, based on the die sort map, and plotting the failure density, using the region numbers, to calculate a die sort map waveform characteristic amount, calculating similarity between the foreign substance inspection map waveform characteristic amount and the die sort map waveform characteristic amount, and identifying a processing process cause of failure occurrence. |
| US08170703B2 |
Method for controlling a plurality of production processes
A method for controlling a plurality of production processes performed on a plurality of production machines is described, wherein order data regarding the production processes to be performed are inputted in a control unit which generates control instructions for the production machines, wherein state data indicating the state of the individual production machines are taken into consideration when generating the control instructions. |
| US08170700B2 |
Portable sound reproducing system and method
A portable audio device suitable for reproducing MPEG encoded data includes a plurality of inputs, a non-removable data storage, a display, an audio output, at least one processor, and a battery. The plurality of inputs includes a forward input, a play control input, and a random input. The non-removable data storage stores compressed digitized audio data. The at least one processor is responsive to selection of at least one of the plurality of inputs to convert selected compressed digitized audio data stored in the non-removable data storage for reproduction by the audio output and to provide information to the display. |
| US08170699B2 |
Metering system and method of operation
A metering system for measuring the electrical power used to charge a vehicle is provided. The metering system includes an electrical meter operably coupled to a conductor connected to the vehicle and an electrical outlet. A controller receives signals from the meter to record the measured electrical consumption. The controller includes a plurality of communications devices for communicating with different communications carriers. In one embodiment, the controller selects one of the communications devices based on availability and a desired criterion. The selected communications device then transmits the measured electrical power consumption to a utility provider. In one embodiment, the metering system is mobile. |
| US08170695B2 |
Appliance incorporating load selectivity without employment of smart meters
Methods and a system are disclosed for one or more appliances including a controller for managing power consumption within a household. The controller is configured to receive and process a signal indicative of one or more energy parameters of an associated energy utility, including at least a peak demand period or an off-peak demand period. A generated serial number is obtained from an original serial number of the appliance or controller, which is configured for a signal to communicate to the appliance within a population and command the appliance to operate in an energy savings mode and a normal mode at various time periods. The generated serial number (GSN) is used to segregate a total population into segments to provide granularity in assigning DR activations and deactivations based upon the GSN. |
| US08170694B2 |
Network unit and programmable controller using the same
A network unit in a programmable controller of a building block mutually connects an information system network and a control system network. The network unit includes transfer analyzing units that judge to which of interface units received data received from the information system network and the control system network should be allocated. Moreover, received data that needs to be transferred is converted into predetermined data by conversion processing units included in the networks and output to the information system network or the control system network without being transmitted to a system bus. |
| US08170692B2 |
Implant tool for active fixation lead
An implant tool for use with an endocardial or other implantable lead having an extendable/retractable active fixation tip includes a housing, a shaft rotatably supported by the housing, and a shaft rotation mechanism for rotating the shaft through a predetermined angular travel. The shaft includes a lead attachment portion for selectively coupling a lead to the shaft such that the lead is rotatable with the shaft. The implant tool may include a control tab slidably supported by the housing, wherein longitudinal movement of the control tab actuates the shaft rotation mechanism. The shaft rotation mechanism may include a gear train, an electric motor, a double acting spring mechanism, or a retractable tape wound around the shaft. The gear train includes an input member coupled to the control tab and an output gear coupled to the shaft. The input member meshes with an input gear supported by the housing. |
| US08170689B2 |
Implantable cardiac defibrillation system with defibrillation electrode entrapment prevention and method
An implantable cardiac defibrillation device diminishes fibrosis of a defibrillation electrode. The device includes an implantable lead having a defibrillation electrode adapted for implant in one of the superior vena cava and right ventricle of a heart, a pulse generator adapted to be coupled to the defibrillation electrode that provides defibrillation energy to the defibrillation electrode, and a power supply that maintains a negative voltage on the defibrillation electrode in the absence of defibrillating energy being provided to the defibrillation electrode. |
| US08170685B2 |
Radiant therapeutic heating apparatus
A radiant therapeutic heating apparatus may include a radiant heat generating layer having a plane surface including an infrared radiator adapted to radiate heat evenly from its surface, a pair of flexible electrically insulating and radiation-permeable layers located adjacent and covering opposite sides of the layer, a thermal insulation layer disposed against and covering one of the electrically insulating layers, and a sealed radiation permeable envelope enclosing the heating apparatus. The flexible heat generating layer may include a fiberglass material impregnated with a resistive material, which material may provide a surface temperature, when current is conducted therethrough, of no greater than about 54 degrees Celsius. Current limiting thermostats may be provided to prevent energy and temperature spikes. A stiffening element may help protect the components, and may orient portions of a user's body (such as, e.g., but not limited to, the wrist for repetitive strain injuries) in a therapeutic position. The heating apparatus may be used on animals such as, e.g., but not limited to, mammals, including pets, humans, horses and/or other living beings and/or creatures. The apparatus may be oriented as a blanket, and may incorporate, e.g., a rheostat, high-low, analog, digital, or other power control switch. It may be used for warming kennels, for treating hypothermia, for relieving neck, shoulder and/or back pain. It may be used for pre- post- and during, operative care. It may be combined with other therapy such as, e.g., massage and/or vibration. |
| US08170683B2 |
Dermatome stimulation devices and methods
A nerve stimulation device includes a first waveform generator adapted to generate a first waveform having a first frequency capable of stimulating nerves within a dermatome, a second waveform generator adapted to generate a first carrier waveform having a second frequency capable of passing through tissue of a mammal, and a third waveform generator adapted to generate a second carrier waveform having a third frequency different than the second frequency and being capable of passing through the tissue of the mammal. The device includes a modulator electrically coupled to the first, second and third waveform generators and adapted to modulate the first waveform, the first carrier waveform, and the second carrier waveform to generate a modulated signal package capable of stimulating the nerves at different depths within the dermatome. The device also has an electrode electrically coupled to the modulator for applying the modulated waveform to the dermatomic region. |
| US08170682B2 |
Method and apparatus to provide safety checks for neural stimulation
The present application deals generally with the stimulation of neural tissue by electronic means and specifically with controlling the level of electrical stimulation in order to prevent damage to the neural tissue. Methods presented in the disclosure include detecting current leakage via electrode impedance measurement, electrode capacitance measurement, and testing the electrode response to test current pulse. Apparatus presented in the disclosure include circuitry and systems capable of performing the methods disclosed. |
| US08170680B2 |
Implantable multi-length RF antenna
A system and method for wirelessly transferring information electromagnetically at a specified first operating frequency range in a first medium and at a specified second operating frequency range in a second medium using an implantable multi-length antenna. The implantable multi-length antenna can be configured to appear electrically as a first electrical length in the first medium and as a different second electrical length in the second medium. In other examples, the first operating frequency range can be specified using the first electrical length and the second operating frequency range can be specified using the second electrical length. |
| US08170679B2 |
Spectral contrast enhancement in a cochlear implant speech processor
Psychophysical tests are administered to cochlear implant (CI) users to determine a spectral modulation transfer function (SMTF), smallest detectable spectral contrast as a function of spectral modulation frequency, for each individual CI user. The determined SMTF for individual CI user is compared against a SMTF of a normal hearing person to determine the specific enhancements needed. A profile of spectral enhancement achievable with variation of filter parameters, sigma and maximum that best fits the needed enhancements for the individual CI user is selected. Based on the corresponding sigma and maximum selected, a sound processing strategy is adjusted to provide customized spectral contrast enhancement for the individual CI user. The sound processing strategy implemented includes an outer hair cell model. |
| US08170674B2 |
Method of using spinal cord stimulation to treat gastrointestinal and/or eating disorders or conditions
The present invention involves a method and a system for using electrical stimulation to treat gastrointestinal and/or eating disorders. More particularly, the method comprises surgically implanting an electrical stimulation lead that is in communication with predetermined thoracic vertebral segments to cause spinal nervous tissue stimulation, thus treating a wide variety of gastrointestinal disorders. |
| US08170672B2 |
Elongated implant having an external energy coupling
Electrotherapeutic implant for stimulation of body tissue, comprising at least two electrode poles (14) which are connected to electric feeder lines, a demodulation unit (22), at least one electric feeder line (20), which is designed as an antenna and contacts the demodulation unit (22), wherein the implant (10) is fabricated from one piece, can be affixed (16) at the treatment site and is equipped with a biocompatible insulation, whereby the components of the implant (10) are designed so that a therapeutic energy which can be injected from the outside over the antenna (20) during the treatment is delivered to the therapeutic target region without intermediate storage. |
| US08170670B2 |
System and method for recovering from transient faults in an implantable medical device
A system and method is disclosed for system fault recovery by an implantable medical device which employs a global fault response. The system enables the device to consistently recover from transient faults while maintaining a history of the reason for the device fault. Upon detection of a fault, the primary controller of the device signals a reset controller which then issues a reset command. All sub-systems of the primary device controller are then reset together rather than resetting individual sub-systems independently to ensure deterministic behavior. |
| US08170667B2 |
Implantable cardiac monitor upgradeable to pacemaker or cardiac resynchronization device
An implantable cardiac monitor upgradeable to an implantable pacemaker or an implantable cardiac resynchronization device allows the use of a single implantable medical device for monitoring cardiac conditions and later, if needed, for cardiac pacing. The implantable medical device includes a circuit that can be configured, by programming through an external programmer, to either the implantable cardiac monitor or the implantable pacemaker. The implantable medical device is first configured to and used as the implantable cardiac monitor for acquisition of physiological data indicative of a need for a pacing therapy. If the pacing therapy is to follow, the implantable medical device is reconfigured from the implantable cardiac monitor to the implantable pacemaker, thus eliminating the need of using two implantable medical devices. |
| US08170665B2 |
Quantum dot labeled stem cells for use in providing pacemaker function
The present invention provides methods and compositions relating to the labeling of target cells with nanometer scale fluorescent semiconductors referred to as quantum dots (QDs). Specifically, a delivery system is disclosed based on the use of negatively charged QDs for delivery of a tracking fluorescent signal into the cytosol of target cells via a passive endocytosis-mediated delivery process. In a specific embodiment of the invention the target cell is a stem cell, preferably a mesenchymal stem cell (MSC). Such labeled MSCs provide a means for tracking the distribution and fate of MSCs that have been genetically engineered to express, for example, a hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (“HCN”) channel and administered to a subject to create a biological pacemaker. The invention is based on the discovery that MSCs can be tracked in vitro for up to at least 6 weeks. Additionally, QDs delivered in vivo can be tracked for up to at least 8 weeks, thereby permitting for the first time, the complete 3-D reconstruction of the locations of all MSCs following administration into a host. |
| US08170656B2 |
Wearable electromyography-based controllers for human-computer interface
A “Wearable Electromyography-Based Controller” includes a plurality of Electromyography (EMG) sensors and provides a wired or wireless human-computer interface (HCl) for interacting with computing systems and attached devices via electrical signals generated by specific movement of the user's muscles. Following initial automated self-calibration and positional localization processes, measurement and interpretation of muscle generated electrical signals is accomplished by sampling signals from the EMG sensors of the Wearable Electromyography-Based Controller. In operation, the Wearable Electromyography-Based Controller is donned by the user and placed into a coarsely approximate position on the surface of the user's skin. Automated cues or instructions are then provided to the user for fine-tuning placement of the Wearable Electromyography-Based Controller. Examples of Wearable Electromyography-Based Controllers include articles of manufacture, such as an armband, wristwatch, or article of clothing having a plurality of integrated EMG-based sensor nodes and associated electronics. |
| US08170655B2 |
Module and device for discerning therapeutic signals from noise in physiological data
A data acquisition module for use in monitoring a plurality of physiological signals is disclosed herein. The data acquisition module may include a first signal processing path for biopotential data, a second signal processing path for therapeutic event data, and a processing unit that receives and processes the data from the first and second signal processing paths. The data acquisition module may further compare identified likely therapeutic events in each of a plurality of psychological signals. |
| US08170652B2 |
Method and apparatus for predicting acute response to cardiac resynchronization therapy
A method and apparatus for predicting acute response to cardiac resynchronization therapy is disclosed. The method can comprise measuring a first interval during an intrinsic systolic cycle and measuring a second interval during a stimulated systolic cycle. The acute response can be predicted by comparing the percent change in duration between the first interval and the second interval against a pre-determined threshold value. The first and second time intervals can be measured using, for example, a surface ECG or, alternatively, an intracardiac electrogram. In one embodiment, the first interval can be the duration of an intrinsic QRS complex measured during a non-stimulated systolic cycle. Similarly, the second interval can be the duration of a stimulated QRS complex measured during a stimulated systolic cycle. |
| US08170646B2 |
Dynamic radiographic image obtaining method and apparatus
A method and apparatus for obtaining a dynamic radiographic image with enhanced resolution, in which an electrocardiogram of a subject is obtained, and five time phases are allocated to each cardiac beat period (1 second). The initial X-ray irradiation is performed at 1st time phase of 1st beat to obtain a radiographic image. Thereafter, X-ray irradiations are performed sequentially at 2nd time phase of 2nd beat, at 3rd time phase of 3rd beat, at 4th time phase of 4th beat, and at 5th time phase of 5th beat to obtain respective radiographic images. The five radiographic images obtained are combined at the time interval of 0.2 seconds to be displayed as a motion image. The time interval between the irradiations of the X-ray is 1.2 seconds, so that image signals corresponding to 1st to 5th time phases may be obtained with high resolution. |
| US08170645B2 |
Fiducial marker and protective cap
This document discusses, among other things, a fiducial marker kit. In one example, the kit includes a fiducial marker assembly that includes a bone screw base for receiving an imageable marker or locatable divot. A valved protective sleeve prevents debris from accumulating in a receptacle portion of the base, which may otherwise degrade the accuracy of patient registration in an image-guided surgical procedure. In one example, the valve automatically opens or closes upon insertion or removal of a screwdriver or other tool, or a shaft portion of the imageable marker or locatable divot. Various bone screw base and receptacle combinations are also discussed. |
| US08170644B2 |
Method for fast multi-slice mapping of myelin water fraction
Mapping of myelin water content in white matter may provide important information for early diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and the detection of white matter abnormality in other diseases. It is disclosed here that free induction decay (FID) of each voxel at multiple slice locations is acquired in the brain using an echo-planar spectroscopic imaging (EPSI) pulse sequence. The multi-slice EPSI acquisition is designed to have a short first echo time (˜2 ms) and echo-spacing (˜1 ms) in order to acquire multiple sampling points during the fast decay of the myelin water signal. Multi-compartment analysis is then applied to the FID in each pixel using a 3-pool model of white matter to obtain quantitative maps of the myelin water fraction. Using this technique, the MR data for whole brain mapping of the myelin water can be acquired in less than 10 minutes, making this technique feasible for routine clinical applications. |
| US08170643B2 |
System and method for irradiating a target with electromagnetic radiation to produce a heated region
A system and corresponding method for irradiating a target with electromagnetic radiation to produce a heated region. The system comprises a coupling device operable to couple electromagnetic radiation from a magnetic resonance imaging system. A plurality of energy radiator applicators are connected to the coupling device to receive electromagnetic radiation energy from the coupling device. Each of the radiator applicators is operable to emit a radio frequency heating signal using the electromagnetic radiation energy from the coupling device. A bolus filled with a dielectric fluid is positioned within the inner area of the MRI system. The bolus is operable to receive the radio frequency heating signals from the plurality of energy radiator applicators and direct the radio frequency heating signals into a section of the body to produce a heated region within the body. |
| US08170642B2 |
Method and system for lymph node detection using multiple MR sequences
A method and system for detecting lymph nodes in multiple complementary magnetic resonance (MR) sequences is disclosed. Anatomical landmarks, such as blood vessels, are extracted in a first MR sequence, such as an MR angiography (MRA) image. A search area is defined in at least one second MR sequence, such as a T1 weighted VIBE image, based on the anatomical landmarks extracted the first MR sequence. Lymph nodes are then detected in the search area of the second MR sequence. The lymph nodes can be detected by segmenting the search area into homogenous regions and determining whether each region is a lymph node using feature analysis. |
| US08170636B2 |
Optical sensor confidence algorithm
An implantable medical device system including an optical sensor monitors for the presence of overgrowth on the sensor by sensing light scattered by a measurement volume, the sensed light corresponding to a first wavelength, and deriving an overgrowth metric in response to the sensed light. The overgrowth metric is correlated to the presence of overgrowth on the sensor and is compared to a predetermined threshold. The presence of overgrowth on or near the sensor is detected in response to the overgrowth metric crossing the threshold. |
| US08170634B2 |
Polypod antenna
Embodiments of the present invention include antennas for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals. The antennas are configured to transmit a first electromagnetic signal at full power via a first set of radiating elements and to transmit the first electromagnetic signal at an attenuated power via a second set of radiating elements to decrease side lobes associated with the transmission of the first electromagnetic signal. The antennas are configured to receive a second electromagnetic signal having an associated first power level via the second set of radiating elements and to form an aggregated electromagnetic signal having a second power level that is a multiple of the first power level. The antennas are configured to attenuate the aggregated signal to form an attenuated electromagnetic signal having a third power level to facilitate uniform reception of the second electromagnetic signal and tapered transmission. |
| US08170632B2 |
Electronic device and operation method thereof
An electronic device and an operation method thereof are provided. The electronic device includes a fixing element, a first main body and a second main body. The fixing element has a first arc-shaped groove, which passes through the fixing element. The second main body has a second arc-shaped groove and a first straight groove, wherein the second arc-shaped groove and the first straight groove are interconnected. The first main body has a first protrusion which passes through the first arc-shaped groove and lodges in the first straight groove. While the first protrusion is slid for a first predetermined distance from one end of the first straight groove, the first arc-shaped groove and the second arc-shaped groove are overlapped, so that the first protrusion is slid along the first arc-shaped groove which overlaps the second arc-shaped groove for driving the first main body. |
| US08170631B2 |
Folding electronic device with continuous display
In general, in one aspect, the disclosure describes an apparatus that includes two panels pivotally connected together. The panels can pivot from an open arrangement where the two panels lay side by side to a closed arrangement where the two panels lay one on top of another. The apparatus also includes a flexible display connected to the two panels and having a portion that is mechanically free from the two panels. The apparatus further includes a cavity to receive at least a portion of the free portion of the display when the panels are pivoted into the closed arrangement. |
| US08170628B2 |
Telephone communication device
A telephone communication device having a sound generating portion, a sound receiving portion, a detecting portion for detecting a state of approach or contact of a region of a housing between sound output and input apertures of the sound generating and receiving portion, to or with the face of the user, a reference-state memory for storing a reference approach-contact state of the region detected in a standard position of the housing relative of the user's face, a state-change obtaining portion for obtaining a change of the state of approach or contact, with respect to the reference approach-contact state, an adjustment-amount determining portion for determining amounts of adjustment of the sound output level and sound input level according to the obtained change, and a control portion for adjusting the sound output level and sound input level according to the determined amounts of adjustment. |
| US08170627B2 |
Wireless communications system having reduced noise mode operation capability
A wireless communication system having a terminal unit operates in a reduced noise state during receipt of a wireless transmission from a control unit. The terminal unit includes terminal circuitry, a radio and noise management circuitry. The noise management circuitry partially or fully disables operation of the terminal circuitry during a receipt by the radio. Noise management circuitry may disable a terminal processor, disable interrupts, buffer interrupts and otherwise modify operation of the terminal circuitry to reduce generated radio noise that would otherwise interfere with receipt of data by the radio. The wireless communication system includes noise management circuitry located in a control unit that operates in conjunction with noise management circuitry in a first terminal unit and a second terminal unit to schedule transmissions from the control unit. These scheduled transmissions allow the terminal units to perform required processing functions outside of the reduced noise period. |
| US08170626B2 |
Portable electronic device and display control method employed in the same
Provided is a portable electronic device which can equalize deterioration of a display device and reduce a deterioration speed, even during a time when a user is performing input operation. When the user is continuously using (operating) keys other than call start and call end keys (14a, 14b), it can be estimated that the user is playing a game or editing on the portable telephone. Therefore, deterioration of a display device configuring a display section (30) is equalized and the deterioration speed is reduced by reducing luminance gradation of display of an area not related to the game and editing on the display section (30). |
| US08170624B1 |
Enhanced host sleep for WLAN devices
In a method and apparatus for controlling operation of a wireless device, a host assembly of the wireless device enters into a handshaking procedure with firmware of the wireless device to initiate entry into or exit from a host sleep mode. Before such entry or exit, the handshaking procedure may require the host assembly to send an initiation handshake signal to the firmware, and require the firmware to send a confirmation handshake signal back to the host assembly. Entry or exit may be delayed until after the confirmation signal is received. The confirmation signal may vary depending on the handshaking configuration and activation data, and the confirmation signal may vary depending on whether the wireless device is in a power save mode or not. |
| US08170623B2 |
Charging arrangement for electronic accessories
An arrangement for charging an electronic accessory (such as a wireless headset) using a docking station that obtains power from at least one of a power port and a data port of an attached electronic device (such as the pairing cellular phone). The docking station provides mechanical support and a convenient storage arrangement for the electronic accessory, as well as power conditioning. In another embodiment, the charging and storage functions for the electronic accessory are provided by a cigarette lighter plug employed to charge the electronic device. |
| US08170617B2 |
Extensions to adaptive beam-steering method
A radio frequency (RF) transmitter is coupled to and controlled by a processor to transmit data. A physical layer circuit is coupled to the RF transmitter to encode and decode between a digital signal and a modulated analog signal. The physical layer circuit comprises a high rate physical layer circuit (HRP) and a low rate physical layer circuit (LRP). In a first embodiment, the LRP circuit generates a LRP packet comprising an LRP transmit power control feedback. In a second embodiment, the LRP and HRP circuit generate a packet comprising a beam-forming phase and magnitude feedback information. In a third embodiment, the LRP and HRP circuit supports up to 64 independent transmit antenna elements. |
| US08170616B2 |
Operation method and apparatus of mobile communication terminal supporting dual mode
An operation method and apparatus of a mobile communication terminal supporting a dual mode are provided. The method includes determining if two Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards are inserted, searching for and registering with a cell of a first network supported by a first SIM card, and searching for and registering with a cell of a second network supported by a second SIM card during a non-paging duration of the first network. |
| US08170612B2 |
Communication apparatus
A communication device communicates with another communication device via an information managing device. The communication device includes a transmitter unit, a storage unit, and a control unit. The transmitter unit transmits presence information to the other communication device via the information managing device. The storage unit stores a program. If the communication device executes the program, the control unit judges whether the presence information currently registered needs to be changed based on executing the program. If the control unit judges that the presence information currently registered needs to be changed, the control unit changes the presence information based on executing the program. The control unit controls the transmitter unit to transmit the changed presence information as updated presence information to the other communication device via the information managing device. |
| US08170607B2 |
Communication system and method in a hybrid wired/wireless local area network
A method for communication is disclosed and includes performing by one or more processors in a first access point, receiving a first messaging protocol message from a first switch. The first messaging protocol message is also communicated from the first switch to at least a second switch. A second messaging protocol message may be communicated to the second switch and/or a second access point based on the receiving of the first messaging protocol message. Operation of the first switch, the second switch, the first access point, the second access point, and/or at least one of a plurality of access devices may be controlled utilizing the first messaging protocol message and/or at least the second messaging protocol message. The first messaging protocol message may be generated by the first switch. The first messaging protocol message and the second messaging protocol message may be an access point status message. |
| US08170606B2 |
Dynamic thermal control for wireless transceivers
Methods and apparatus for dynamic thermal management and control within, e.g., small form-factor wireless devices such as laptop computers or cellular “smartphones”. In one embodiment, a thermal management system monitors the temperature (or other relevant criteria) for one or more components, and implements different operating states within the wireless transceiver (e.g., Wi-Fi™ or WiMAX transceiver) so as to both reduce thermal output and minimize disruption to the wireless link and/or user experience. In another embodiment, a wireless client may communicate with other clients, and/or access points, so as to cooperatively provide more options for thermal management. In addition, methods and apparatus employing “high performance” (e.g., high power output or high data rate) radios within aggressively small industrial designs are also disclosed. |
| US08170605B2 |
Dual mode mobile terminal and data call processing method thereof
An improved dual mode mobile terminal and data call processing method of the dual mode mobile terminal is provided for enabling a modem chip that is not associated or embedded with an application to process a data call. A data call processing method for a dual mode mobile terminal includes a first control unit associated with an application and a first data protocol stack, a second control unit associated with a second data protocol stack, and an input unit for receiving an input for selecting one of the first and second control units to process a data call, wherein when the second control unit is selected through the input unit, the second control unit opens a socket to couple the second data protocol stack to the application and processes the data call using the application and the second data protocol stack that are coupled with each other via the socket. |
| US08170604B2 |
Method and system for managing communications for a multi-mode communications device
The invention concerns a method (200) and system (100) for managing communications for a multi-mode communications device (130). The method can include the steps of establishing (210) communications with at least a first wireless network (110) and advising (216) the first wireless network of the multi-mode nature of the multi-mode communications device. As such, the first wireless network can be made aware that the multi-mode communications device is capable of communicating with a second wireless network (120). |
| US08170600B2 |
Method and apparatus for allocating downlink power in wireless communication system
A method and apparatus of allocating downlink power in a radio access station system are disclosed. The method of allocating transmission power to a plurality of terminals in a radio access station system according to the present invention includes (A-1) calculating an allocation power for the respective terminals based on downlink quality information of the respective terminals; (A-2) calculating a minimum requirement power for the respective terminals based on the downlink quality information; and (A-3) allocating the transmission power by distributing part of excess power of a first terminal group having the allocation power higher than the minimum requirement power to the second terminal group having the allocation power lower than the minimum requirement power, and the part of excess power is a sum of insufficient power of the second terminal group. As a result, the loss of the quantity of service transmission of the radio access station is reduced and service areas can be expanded. |
| US08170597B2 |
Method and apparatus for jointly controlling transmit power in cognitive radio communication system
Provided is an apparatus and method for controlling power in a cognitive radio wireless communication system, the method comprising: performing channel scheduling and the first power control for at least one terminal; checking whether the at least one terminal exist within constraint area, and determining whether the at least one terminal within constraint area cause interference to incumbent system; and performing the secondary power control so that an allocating power may be less than the maximum tolerable interference. |
| US08170596B2 |
Secondary data transmission in a group communication transmission data stream
A system, method, and wireless communication device that allow the transmission of secondary data in a group-communication data stream between wireless communication devices across a wireless communication network. The wireless communication device selectively transmits at least group-directed voice communication data to other members of a communication group, such as a push-to-talk (PTT) group, in a communication channel having a limited bandwidth thereof, and can selectively transmit secondary data in the same communication channel. A group-communication server preferably receives the voice communication data and secondary data and selectively transmits at least the voice communication data to other member wireless communication devices of the communication group. In one embodiment, the wireless communication device reduces the data size of the voice communication data to a second data size that is less than the bandwidth of the communication channel such that secondary data can be transmitted within the communication channel. |
| US08170595B2 |
Hands-free mode for a half-duplex communications system
A half-duplex communication system is embodied in a push-to-talk cellular system such as a GPRS system. The system includes two or more terminals (1 A, 1 B, 1 C) one or more of which can operate in a hands-free mode. When in hands-free mode, a terminal (1 A) is offered the right-to-speak by a controller (11 A, 13 A, 15 A, 17 A) within the system without the need for a talk request from a user. This allows a hands-free user to participate safely in a communications session. |
| US08170593B2 |
Apparatus, method, and system for channel selection and allocation in mobile communications
A mobile communication system (100) includes a plurality of mobile stations (104, 105), a serving base station (101) and, associated with the base station, a channel selector (220, 309) for selecting and allocating downlink wireless traffic communication channels, the selector being operable: (i) to obtain an estimate of a ready time when a downlink wireless traffic signal including traffic data received from a source remote to the base station to be sent to at least one of the served mobile stations will be ready for sending; and (ii) to select and allocate for sending the downlink traffic signal a downlink traffic channel which is the first downlink traffic channel available following the ready time. |
| US08170591B2 |
Proximity-based mobile message delivery
Proximity-based mobile message delivery is described. In an embodiment, a first user stores a message intended for a second user on a first mobile terminal, while the first mobile terminal is located remote from a second mobile terminal of the second user. Subsequent to this, the first mobile terminal detects that it is now in proximity with the second mobile terminal, and this triggers the first mobile terminal to transmit the message to the second mobile terminal. In embodiments, authentication of the second mobile terminal can be performed before transmitting the message. In another embodiment, a mobile terminal comprises a short-range wireless transceiver that can detect that a further mobile terminal is in proximity, and trigger the transmission of a pre-stored message to the further mobile terminal. |
| US08170589B2 |
Mobile station and application server for providing a service to the mobile station and operation methods for the same
A mobile station, application server and wireless communication system are disclosed to provide for improved service related information distribution. The application server provides a service to a group of mobile stations, wherein the mobile stations comprise applications associated with the service. A communicating unit of the application server communicates with an application active on a mobile station and a determining unit determines another mobile station with an inactive application and the address of the other mobile station is provided to the mobile station. The mobile station comprises a communication section to receive the address of the other mobile station and comprises an SMS mailer causing an SMS message to be addressed to the other mobile station to start on the other mobile station the inactive application. |
| US08170587B2 |
Method for operating a cellular telecommunication network, and method for operating a personal cellular telecommunication device
For use in a cellular telecommunications network including a plurality of individually addressable Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) providing bidirectional signal coverage over a predefined geographical area, capable of transmitting Point-To-MultiPoint (PTMP) messages over a Point-To-MultiPoint Service (PTMPS) functionality, and capable of transmitting Point-To-Point (PTP) messages, streaming of a substantially continuous stream of mostly different content, at least some interactive display messages on at least one personal cellular telecommunications device prior to their automatic discarding irrespective of their having been displayed or not. |
| US08170586B2 |
Moving body communication system, moving body terminal, information providing apparatus, and information transmission method
A moving body terminal is basically provided with a position information acquiring section, a receiving section and a control section. The position information acquiring section is configured to acquire position information indicating a current position of the moving body terminal. The receiving section is configured to receive from an information providing apparatus simple map information which includes information transmission determining information indicating an information transmission unnecessary region of the simple map information where the position information of the moving body terminal is not required to be transmitted from the moving body terminal to the information providing apparatus. The control section is configured to prohibit a transmission of the position information to the information providing apparatus when the position information acquired by the position information acquiring section is inside the information transmission unnecessary region contained in the simple map information that was received. |
| US08170584B2 |
Providing an actionable event in an intercepted text message for a mobile device based on customized user information
A network device, method, and apparatus are directed towards intercepting a message, such as an SMS, EMS, MMS message, email message, or the like, from a source device directed towards a mobile device. The intercepted message's contents are analyzed. In addition, a mobile user profile is determined from characteristics of the mobile device and tracked usage of a mobile user of the mobile device. An actionable event may then be inserted into the intercepted message based, in part, on the analysis and the mobile user profile. The modified message is then provided to the mobile device, where the mobile user may select the actionable event to receive non-requested content. |
| US08170579B2 |
System and method for generating a location estimate using non-uniform grid points
The location of a wireless mobile device may be estimated using, at least in part, one or more pre-existing Network Measurement Reports (“NMRs”) which include calibration data for a number of locations within a geographic region. The calibration data for these locations is gathered and analyzed so that particular grid points within the geographic region can be determined and associated with a particular set or sets of calibration data from, for example, one or more NMRs. Received signal level measurements reported by a mobile device for which a location estimate is to be determined may be compared with the data associated with the various grid points to estimate the location of the mobile device. |
| US08170575B2 |
Method and a device in a wireless communication system
In a wireless communication system, a base station adaptively schedule CQI reports form mobile stations. By adaptively prioritizing the CQI report from the mobile station against the uplink traffic and control data, the CQI reporting rate avoids unnecessary overhead in the uplink while maintaining good performance. The CQI reports are requested in response to a calculated weighting factor which is based on channel coherence time that can be estimated by the base station. The adaptivity in the CQI reporting allows achieving an optimal tradeoff between uplink traffic data and downlink control feedback signaling. |
| US08170572B2 |
Methods and apparatus for supporting quality of service in communication systems
An access node, e.g., base station, determines a configuration of an end node, e.g., wireless terminal, intended to support a specific traffic flow and sends a configuration command to the wireless terminal. A base station may determine one or more parameters associated with classification, queue management, scheduling, and/or automatic repeat request, and then send a configuration command to the wireless terminal instructing it to implement a configuration operation. In some embodiments, a wireless terminal sets the value of an internal parameter to a value directly provided by the base station in a configuration command. In some embodiments, a wireless terminal determines and sets the value of an internal parameter as a function of information included in the configuration command from the base station. |
| US08170570B2 |
Fast retry of transmitting random access preamble using bitmap information
A fast retry of transmitting a random access preamble by determining an existence of a random access response during a random access procedure in an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (E-UMTS) evolved from Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) or a Long Term Evolution System (LTE). |
| US08170561B2 |
Method and system for performing a handoff in a wireless communication system
A system for maintaining wireless communication with a plurality of base stations in a communication network is disclosed. A portable terminal having a communication unit is configured to measure signal strength of a transmission signal for neighboring base stations in a frequency band being used by the communication unit, and create a first handoff candidate list in which one or more handoff candidates in a same frequency band are recorded. A handoff using the first handoff candidate list is performed by the portable terminal. Thereafter, the portable terminal measures signal strength of one or more base stations included in a second handoff candidate list. The result of the signal strength measurements are reported to the currently communicating base station, and a handoff is performed based on a response to the report at the portable terminal. |
| US08170560B2 |
Method and system for managing context of mobile station
A method for managing the context of the mobile station (MS) is applied in an MS handover process of a wireless access network. The function entity identification information of acting on the MS is carried in the context of the MS, and the MS addresses based on the function entity identification information and handovers to the target base station. By adding the identifications of various logic entities acting on the MS to the context information of the MS, the correct addressing of these logic entities is ensured during the handover. The different local policies of the source and destination ends are considered during conveying the context of the MS, in which the destination end may update certain context of the MS according to its own local policy during conveying; and the hierarchy of the context conveying of the MS during the handover is also considered. |
| US08170558B2 |
Method and system for performing a handoff in a wireless communication system, such as a hard handoff
A method for minimizing search time and disruption of current service on an originating frequency during a frequency search excursion to a target frequency as part of an inter-frequency hard handoff between cells on different RF CDMA channels. Disruption of service on the current frequency during the frequency search excursion to the target frequency is minimized by increasing the amount of power allocated to other symbols of two consecutive frames impacted by the search excursion as a function of the search excursion time. The mobile station tunes to a target frequency and collects chip samples, which are stored in a memory buffer. The mobile station returns to the originating frequency to process the collected samples. |
| US08170553B2 |
Cash card system interface module
A wireless device, for each of a plurality of wireless networks, establishes communications with each wireless network and transmits SIM card information to the wireless network. The plurality of wireless networks transmit SIM card authentication information requests to a cash card SIM server computer and, if a service agreement exists with an operator of the cash card SIM server, receives SIM card authentication challenge information. At least two of the wireless networks then authenticate the wireless device and prepare and transmit wireless service terms to the wireless device. The wireless device selects a servicing wireless network from the at least two wireless networks based upon the corresponding received wireless service terms and receives wireless service from the selected wireless network. The wireless network and cash card SIM server coordinate billing for such service and deduct appropriate amount(s) from the account of the SIM card. |
| US08170551B2 |
Plus code dialing in a mobile device
A mobile device include processes that allow the mobile device to make international calls using network-based plus code dialing even when the current network does not inherently support network-based plus code dialing. The mobile device obtains, via a set-up process, state information describing whether the network supports network-based plus code dialing. The mobile device transmits, in response to a request from a user and when the state information indicates the network supports network-based plus code dialing, a message to the network to initiate the international call based on a network-based plus code dialing scheme. The mobile device transmits, in response to the request from the user and when the state information indicates the network does not support network-based plus code dialing, a message to the network to initiate the international call using a handset-based plus code dialing scheme. |
| US08170550B2 |
Wireless mobile call location and delivery for non-geographic numbers using a wireline SSP+SCP/wireless HLR interface
A system and method is provided for establishing a call to a wireless directory number which is either a non-geographic directory number or a non-dialable directory number. A call is initiated from a wireline telephone to a geographic-based local access directory number. A signaling node associated with the dialed local access DN sends a location request that includes the local access DN to an HLR. The HLR obtains the wireless DN from an internal database in which the wireless DN is associated with the local access DN. The HLR utilizes the wireless DN to receive a temporary local directory number (TLDN) from visitor location register, associates the TLDN with the local access DN and forwards the TLDN to the signaling node, which relays the TLDN to the originating switching node. The call connection is then established directly from the originating switching node to a visited cellular switch using the TLDN. |
| US08170548B2 |
User equipment terminal and radio communication system
A user equipment terminal for selecting a standby cell based on a specified priority of cell selection includes a determining unit configured to receive a signal transmitted from a base station apparatus and determine whether priority information of cell selection is included in the signal; and a cell selecting unit configured to perform, based on the determination result by the determining unit, cell selection with a same priority for each cell, when the priority information is not included. |
| US08170543B1 |
Code domain power display
A method for displaying multiple orthogonal code layers on a display device wherein a first axis is indicative of the identity of the code channel of a signal and a second axis is indicative of a measured value of the code channel signal. The method includes displaying a bar for each of a plurality of base code channel signals, the bar having a position on the first axis corresponding to the base code index of the base code channel signal and a height with respect to the second axis corresponding to a measured value of the base code channel signal; and displaying a tie line for each group of base code channels in an active channel, the tie line being located intermediately to the ends of the bars. |
| US08170537B1 |
Playing local device information over a telephone connection
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for playing local device information over a telephone connection. In one aspect, a method includes establishing, by a first electronic client communication device, an audio connection between the first electronic client communication device and a remote second electronic client communication device, determining that a user has selected a control of the first electronic client communication device, selecting, with a computer system and in response to determining that the user selected the control, text data that is associated with the user or the first client communication device, translating, with the computer system, the text data into a speech signal, and playing the speech signal to the remote second client device over the audio connection by electronically inserting the speech signal into the audio connection. |
| US08170535B1 |
System and method for providing content to portable devices
The present disclosure introduces a system and method for distributing content. Content is stored on a server located on a vehicle prior to departure by the vehicle for a destination. A portable device is provided by a passenger on the vehicle. A communication link is established between the server and the portable device, and the content is transmitted to the portable device. |
| US08170531B2 |
Method for producing authentication information
A method in a mobile station for a communication system includes determining if a security module installed in a mobile station is able to produce authentication information for use in a predetermined authentication procedure with a communication system. If not, the method includes generating key material using the security module, and generating the authentication information based on at least the key material for use in the predetermined authentication procedure with the communication system. |
| US08170529B1 |
Supporting multiple authentication technologies of devices connecting to a wireless network
A method, system, and computer-readable media are provided for determining connection needs of a mobile device connecting to a wireless network. In one aspect, the computer-readable media provide a method that includes receiving a request from a mobile device to access a wireless network, and performing an authentication phase related to the mobile device attempting to access the wireless network. Furthermore, the method includes evaluating signaling behavior of the mobile device during the authentication phase to determine which access technology from a plurality of types of access technologies to use to connect the mobile device to the wireless network. Moreover, the method includes connecting the mobile device to the wireless network using the determined access technology. |
| US08170519B2 |
System and method for radio signal reconstruction using signal processor
A waveform reconstruction circuit receives an rf signal from an antenna, digitizes it, and then generates an undistorted reconstructed waveform. The reconstructed waveform can then be conventionally mixed and demodulated to extract useful signal information with enhanced receiver fidelity and sensitivity. |
| US08170514B2 |
Method for implementing continuous radio frequency (RF) alignment in advanced electronic warfare (EW) signal stimulation systems
A method for using a “B” channel of a dual channel measurement receiver as a transfer standard for power measurement, which may include, in an exemplary embodiment, correlating a measurement made with an “A” channel of the dual channel measurement receiver to a measurement made with an RF Power Meter on one RF signal source, so that readings from the “A” channel are aligned to the RF Power Meter; aligning the “B” Channel to the “A” Channel, once the “A” channel has been aligned to read the same as the RF Power Meter; and using the “B” Channel as a transfer standard to measure all remaining RF signal sources in the system. |
| US08170513B2 |
Data detection and demodulation for wireless communication systems
Techniques for detecting and demodulating data transmissions in wireless communication systems. In one aspect, a decision-directed detector detects for data transmissions in a received signal by utilizing received data symbols as well as received pilot symbols. The decision-directed detector may be designed to perform differential detection in the frequency domain or coherent detection in the time domain, and may be used with multi-carrier modulation (e.g., OFDM). In another aspect, an adaptive threshold is used to perform detection of received data transmissions. A threshold may be determined for each data transmission hypothesized to have been received. The threshold may be computed, for example, based on the signal plus noise energy of the hypothesized data transmission. |
| US08170510B2 |
Minimizing mutual coupling
Disclosed herein are techniques, systems, and methods relating to minimizing mutual coupling between a first antenna and a second antenna. |
| US08170508B2 |
Pre-distortion for a radio frequency power amplifier
Coefficients of a pre-distorter are determined for correction of distortion of a signal amplified by a radio frequency amplifier by sampling the signal at the input to the pre-distorter to generate a plurality of input samples and sampling the signal at the output of the amplifier to generate a plurality of output samples, each of the plurality of output samples corresponding to one of the plurality of input samples, calculating a figure of merit for one or more of said plurality of input samples on the basis of the one or more of said plurality of input samples, selectively updating a previously selected set of input samples with said one or more of said plurality of input samples on the basis of the calculated figure of merit, whereby to generate an updated selected set and determining the coefficients of the pre-distorter on the basis of the input samples in the updated selected set and the corresponding output samples. |
| US08170507B2 |
Predistortion methods and apparatus for transmitter linearization in a communication transceiver
Predistortion methods and apparatus for transmitter linearization in a communication transceiver are disclosed. An example apparatus to linearize a digitally controlled pre-power amplifier included in a transmitter of a communication transceiver disclosed herein comprises a predistorter to predistort an input signal to be processed by the digitally controlled pre-power amplifier, a coupling path within the communication transceiver to couple an output of the digitally controlled pre-power amplifier to an input of a receiver included in the communication transceiver without enabling an output power amplifier stage of a multi-stage power amplifier coupled to an output of the digitally controlled pre-power amplifier, wherein no additional hardware components are required to implement the coupling path within the communication transceiver, and a predistortion evaluator comprising a predistortion calibrator and a predistortion compensator to process data demodulated by the receiver to generate and update predistortion values for use by the predistorter. |
| US08170503B2 |
Apparatus and method for transmitting data and apparatus and method for receiving data
Provided are an apparatus and method for transmitting data and an apparatus and method for receiving data, in which beam forming is performed in consideration of the communication capabilities of antennas of stations that perform directional communication in a high-frequency band. The apparatus for transmitting data includes a communication-capability-determination module which determines the communication capability of a receiver (RX) antenna module of a receiving station based on communication-capability data transmitted by the receiving station; an antenna-control module which controls a transmitter (TX) antenna module according to a beam-forming mode determined based on the communication capability of the RX antenna module and the communication capability of the TX antenna module; and a communication module which transmits data through the TX antenna module, wherein the beam-forming mode determines whether to transmit a TX antenna weight vector (AWV) pattern, whether to receive a feedback response pattern and whether to transmit an RX AWV pattern. |
| US08170496B2 |
Transceiver with space hopping phased array antenna and methods for use therewith
A wireless transceiver includes at least one phased array antenna, that transmits an outbound RF signal containing outbound data to at least one remote transceiver and that receives an inbound RF signal containing inbound data from the at least one remote RF transceiver, wherein the at least one phased array antenna is configurable based on a control signal. An antenna configuration controller generates the control signal to configure the phased array antenna to hop among a plurality of radiation patterns based on a hopping sequence. At least one RF transceiver section generates the outbound RF signal based on the outbound data and that generates the inbound data based on the inbound RF signal. |
| US08170495B2 |
Collaborative pairing transceiver with space hopping phased array antenna and methods for use therewith
A wireless transceiver includes at least one phased array antenna, that transmits an outbound RF signal containing outbound data to a remote transceiver and that receives an inbound RF signal containing inbound data from the at least one remote RF transceiver, wherein the at least one phased array antenna is configurable based on a control signal. An antenna configuration controller generates the control signal to configure the phased array antenna to hop among a plurality of selected radiation patterns that are collaboratively selected by the wireless transceiver and the remote transceiver via a pairing procedure. At least one RF transceiver section generates the outbound RF signal based on the outbound data and that generates the inbound data based on the inbound RF signal. |
| US08170494B2 |
Synthesizer and modulator for a wireless transceiver
A transceiver including a transmit modulator and a receiver. The modulator may accept a channel selection input, a first modulation input, a second modulation input, and an amplitude input. During transmit time slots, the modulator may generate a modulated output having a carrier frequency selected by the channel selection input. The carrier frequency may be frequency modulated by the first modulation inputs, phase modulated by the second modulation input, and amplitude modulated by the amplitude input. During receive time slots, the modulator may generate a carrier frequency selected by the channel selection input and offset by the first modulation input. The modulator may alternate between providing modulated transmit signals during transmit time slots and providing a local oscillator for the receiver during receive time slots. |
| US08170493B2 |
Transmission device, and wireless communication apparatus using the same
A transmission device includes a transmitter for transmitting various signals to a reception device, a receiver for receiving a response signal emitted from the reception device in response to the transmission of the various signals from the transmitter to the reception device, a transmission/reception controller for performing control of the receiver and the transmitter, and a reception specifier for specifying the reception timing of the intermittent reception of the reception device when a response signal from the reception device has been received. The transmission/reception controller decides the timing at which the transmission of the various signals will begin, and how long the transmission will last, on the basis of the reception timing specified by the reception specifier. |
| US08170490B2 |
Method and apparatus for testing multiple data signal transceivers substantially simultaneously with common transceiver tester
A method and apparatus for testing multiple data signal transceivers substantially simultaneously with a common transceiver tester by analyzing previously captured data signal transmissions from some of the data signal transceivers while continuing to capture further data signal transmissions from additional ones of the data signal transceivers. |
| US08170488B2 |
Mitigation of internetwork interference
When a device in one wireless network receives interfering transmissions from an overlapping neighboring network, the neighboring network may be notified of the interference so that non-interfering schedules can be worked out. In one embodiment, the device receiving the interference may broadcast its own communications schedule. Device(s) in the interfering network may pick up that schedule, and pass it on to their controller, which can rearrange its own network schedule to be non-interfering. In another embodiment, the device receiving the interference may notify its own network controller with the pertinent information, and that controller may contact the controller of the interfering network to coordinate non-interfering schedules. |
| US08170487B2 |
Baseband transmitter self-jamming and intermodulation cancellation device
Some embodiments provide a method, system, and apparatus for interference cancellation at the baseband of a receiver. A wireless communication device, having a transmitter and receiver, is provided with an adaptive circuit that cancels interference caused by transmit signals (or other signals) leaked or bled onto the receiver at baseband to facilitate detection of a received signal of interest. Some implementations provide for a circuit that approximately reconstructs the second and third order components caused by the nonlinear response of the down-conversion chain of a receiver. This reconstructed signal is then subtracted from the composite received signal to obtain a received signal of interest. |
| US08170482B2 |
Method and apparatus for receiving a transmission at a receiver
An embodiment of the invention may include a method of receiving a transmission at a receiver. The method may include setting a receive window duration for receiving the transmission based on an elapsed time since last receiving a good transmission. The receive window duration may be a nonlinear function of the elapsed time. The method may further include opening a receive window to listen for the transmission for an amount of time equal to the set receive window duration. |
| US08170479B2 |
Apparatus and systems for electrically isolating multiple devices
Various embodiments of apparatus and systems are provided for electrically isolating two devices while transferring power and RF signals therebetween. An electrical isolation apparatus includes an isolation transformer communicatively coupled to a first device. The isolation transformer operates to electronically isolate the first device from the second device and transfer power from the first device to the second device. A decoupling device of the apparatus transfers radio frequency (RF) signals between the first device and the second device. |
| US08170473B2 |
System and method for identifying the path or devices on the path of a communication signal
A system and method of applying a known modification in the form of a distortion to a signal to enable a determination if a signal received by a first node is received directly from a second node or indirectly through a repeater. The repeater receives a primary signal and creates a secondary signal as a function of the primary signal and a known distortion, wherein the known distortion identifies the repeater. The primary signal is transmitted and injected with the secondary signal as the first signal to the primary receiver. |
| US08170472B2 |
Arrangement and a method in a telephony system
A mobile telephone is easy to carry around but has a small keypad and a small display. A normal deskphone has a big keypad and display and has a convenient handset, but is stationary. A stationary communications terminal is described which is connected to a mobile telephony network via a mobile telephone. The mobile and the stationary terminal have each a BLUETOOTH radio transceiver and are interconnected via a BLUETOOTH link. The stationary communications terminal lacks identity in the mobile network. A subscriber, owning the mobile, can call on the stationary communications terminal and can move to another network having another stationary terminal, on which he can make a call. Another subscriber with a mobile can call on the communications stationary terminal. To prevent misuse the subscribers take an authentication code for his respective mobile on the stationary terminal, and the authentication can be made valid for a predetermined period by taking a service code. |
| US08170470B2 |
On-channel repeater and on-channel repeating method
Provided are an on-channel repeater for repeating an output signal the same as an input signal on channel by removing feedback signals caused by low isolation of a transmission/reception antenna by converting a transmitted Radio Frequency (RF) signal into a signal of a predetermined band and subtracting a replica of the feedback signal from the converted signal, and by compensating for channel distortion of a reception signal by estimating an inverse of reception channel from a signal acquired by removing the feedback signal, and an on-channel repeating method. |
| US08170468B2 |
Method and system for presenting media content in a mobile vehicle communication system
A method of presenting channels to the user of a multi-channel wireless media service is provided. A user input is received in a mobile unit, wherein the user input has an associated category. At least one channel of the multi-channel wireless media service responsive to the user input is determined based upon a relationship of the channel to the associated category. Access to the channel is provided to the user. Alternative methods as well as systems and programs for accomplishing the method are provided. |
| US08170466B2 |
System and method for automated assessment of constrained constructed responses
A system and method for automated assessment of constrained constructed responses provides for automatic, e.g., programmatic, assessing of a test subject response to a constrained constructed response item or question. In one embodiment, paper test materials with test subject markings thereon are converted to electronic form. Test subject markings are further isolated, for example, by registration, sizing and removal of markings other than a graphic response. The subject markings are further compared with a baseline response, correctness deviation criteria and incorrectness deviation criteria (e.g., correctness, incorrectness, substantial correctness, substantial incorrectness, and so on) from which one or more of a score, further learning or other assessment results may be determined. Cluster analysis or other post-evaluation or post-assessment processing may also be conducted, or re-evaluation or re-assessment may also be conducted. |
| US08170462B2 |
Adjustable paper cassette
An adjustable paper cassette is provided that may be expanded and contracted by sliding movable frames relative to a base frame and then coupling fixing protrusions to desired fixing holes. Therefore, paper sheets having various sizes may be loaded in the paper cassette, and the size of an image forming apparatus with the paper cassette and the packing size of the image forming apparatus may be reduced without limitation on the size of the paper cassette. |
| US08170460B2 |
Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and printing medium
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming device, an adhesion processing device, an adhesion device, and a fixing device. The image forming device forms an image on a light-transmitting medium with image formation toner. The adhesion processing device sets whether or not to make the light-transmitting medium contact a light-reflecting medium for each of multiple areas of the image. The adhesion device adheres adhesive toner to an area of the light-transmitting medium. The fixing device aligns the light-reflecting medium with the light-transmitting medium such that the light-reflecting medium contacts a surface of the light-transmitting medium to which the adhesive toner adheres and fixes the light-reflecting medium to the light-transmitting medium. |
| US08170457B2 |
Fixing device and image forming apparatus
A disclosed cleaning device for removing adhering matter from a surface of a member subject to cleaning includes a belt-shaped film member arranged in a stretched configuration capable of being wound or endlessly move in a direction opposite to a surface movement direction of the member subject to cleaning while being in contact with the surface of the member subject to cleaning, and a cleaning blade configured to abut on the surface of the member subject to cleaning via the belt-shaped film member at a position where the belt-shaped film member is brought into contact with the member subject to cleaning. |
| US08170456B2 |
Method and system for improving image on paper registration in an image printing system
The present disclosure provides a method for improving image on paper registration in an image printing system. The method includes advancing a target media along a media path; placing a plurality of registration marks adjacent to a toner image on an image bearing surface moving in a process direction, wherein the toner image is configured to be transferred to the target media; detecting positions of the registration marks using one or more sensors adjacent the image bearing surface; determining a correction function using the positions of the registration marks to compensate for an error in a registration of the toner image and the target media; adjusting the advancement of the target media based on the correction function; and transferring the toner image to the target media. |
| US08170452B2 |
Developer supplying unit
A developer supplying unit of the present invention includes a first driving mechanism which transmits rotational driving to a drive shaft by rotating a first rotational shaft in a normal direction and a second driving mechanism which reciprocates a bottle holding member as a support member to support a toner replenishment unit between a first position within an apparatus main body and a second position being different from the first position by rotating the first rotational shaft in a reverse direction. |
| US08170451B2 |
Developing apparatus including guide for preventing packing and leaking of developer and image forming apparatus provided with the same
A housing of a developing apparatus is provided with a conveying member in a developer supplying and recovering portion, and with first and second agitating members rotating from the below to the above in portions opposed to each other in a developer agitating portion. A guide is provided in an inner bottom surface of the housing between the first and second agitating members. A discharge portion provided with a developer discharge port is provided on a downstream side of the developer agitating portion in a developer conveying direction of the first agitating member. A suitable amount of developer can be circulated while conveying a part of an excess amount of developer in a circulating conveying path to the discharge portion and discharging from the developer discharge port. Packing and leaking of the developer within the developing apparatus and breakage of the developing apparatus can be prevented and also a good image can be obtained even if high printing images are continuously provided. |
| US08170449B2 |
Image forming apparatus and process cartridge
An image forming apparatus including an image bearing member which has an electroconductive substrate, a photosensitive layer overlying the electroconductive substrate and a cross-linked resin surface layer overlying the photosensitive layer and bears a latent electrostatic image on the surface thereof, an application device to apply a solid lubricant to the image bearing member; a charging device to charge the surface of the image bearing member, an irradiation device to irradiate the surface of the image bearing member with light to form the latent electrostatic image thereon, a development device to develop the latent electrostatic with toner to obtain a developed image, a transfer device to transfer the developed image to a recording medium, and; a cleaning device to clean the surface of the image bearing member, wherein the cross-linked resin surface layer includes a cross-linked body of trimethylol propane triacrylate and particulates including silicon and an average diameter of agglomeration areas of the particulates containing silicon on the surface of the cross-linked resin surface layer is from 0.5 to 2.2 μm. |
| US08170446B2 |
Image-forming apparatus
An image-forming apparatus includes: image-holding members each holding an image and being rotatable around a rotation shaft; a frame member that partially defines a space for accommodating the image-holding members; a cover that opens and closes the space, an inner side of the cover having rotation shaft insertion holes; a supporting shaft that supports the cover so the cover is pivotable with respect to the frame member; and a positioning mechanism that positions the cover when the cover closes the space. The positioning mechanism includes at least two projections that project from either the frame member or the cover and are spaced apart in a direction of an axis of the supporting shaft such that lengths of perpendicular line segments from the two projections to the axis of the supporting shaft are different from each other. Projection insertion holes receive the corresponding projections when the cover is closed. |
| US08170444B2 |
Process cartridge and electrophotographic image forming apparatus
A process cartridge is detachably mountable to a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus including a positioning portion, a rotatable urging member taking an urging position for urging the cartridge to the positioning portion, and retracted and stand-by positions. The cartridge includes an electrophotographic photosensitive drum, a process device actable on the drum, a positionable portion, a displacing portion moving the urging member from the stand-by to the retracted position by contacting a portion-to-be-displaced disposed at a position remoter from the rotation axis of the urging portion than the urging portion when the cartridge advances along an axial direction of the drum in the main assembly, the displacing portion moving the urging member to the retracted position by contacting the urging member when the cartridge advances in the main assembly, and an urgable portion urgable by the urging portion when the cartridge is set in the main assembly. |
| US08170442B2 |
Developing cartridge and image forming apparatus
A developing cartridge includes a first frame including a first wall at one end thereof, a second frame including a pair of second walls facing with each other and a third wall that connects the pair of second walls, an opening that is formed by the first wall, the pair of second walls and the third wall, and a support that is interposed between the third wall and the first wall so as to support the first wall by the third wall. |
| US08170441B2 |
Cleaning blade for electrostatographic apparatus
A cleaning blade member including a polymer substrate and a fluorinated polyurethane ceramer coating surface layer. The polymer substrate may comprise polyurethane. The fluorinated polyurethane ceramer coating may comprise a fluorinated polyurethane silicate hybrid organic-inorganic network formed as a reaction product of a fluorinated polyurethane having terminal reactive alkoxysilane groups with a tetraalkoxysilane compound. The fluorinated polyurethane ceramer coating may be coated on the polymer substrate of the cleaning blade without any primer layer therebetween. Also described is an electrostatographic apparatus comprising a toner-contacting member and such a fluorinated ceramer coated cleaning blade for the toner-contacting member. The toner-contacting member may comprise an endless transport web. The fluorinated ceramer enhances the ability of particles to be released from the surface therefore reducing contamination generated due to particles attached to the surface. Coating of a cleaning blade made of polyurethane with such fluorinated ceramer resulted in improved cleaning performance. |
| US08170439B2 |
Voltage supplying unit of developing device and image forming apparatus having the same, and a method thereof
An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of developing devices, a voltage generating part to generate a developing voltage, first switching parts to supply the voltage generated in the voltage generating part to a predetermined developing device out of the plurality of developing devices, a second switching part to selectively supply the developing voltage generated in the voltage generating part to the first switching parts, and a controller to control the first switching parts and the second switching part. |
| US08170437B2 |
Operation display device and image forming apparatus equipped therewith
When displaying in the energy saving mode, an operation screen having operation buttons related to functions that can be used in the energy saving mode, control is carried out so that the operation buttons related to the functions that can be used in the energy saving mode are displayed in a form that is different from that of the operation buttons related to the functions that can be used only during the normal mode. For example, the operation buttons that can only be used in the normal mode are not displayed in the operation screen of the energy saving mode, or else, the operation buttons that can only be used in the normal mode and the operation buttons that can be used in the energy saving mode are displayed in different colors. |
| US08170436B2 |
Apparatuses useful for printing and methods of controlling a temperature of a surface in apparatuses useful for printing
Apparatuses useful for printing and methods of controlling a temperature of a surface in an apparatus useful for printing are disclosed. An exemplary embodiment of the apparatuses includes a first roll including a first outer surface and at least one first heating element for heating the first outer surface; a second roll including a second outer surface; a nip between the first outer surface and the second outer surface; a first temperature sensor for sensing a pre-nip temperature at a pre-nip location; and a first voltage modulator connected to each first heating element and the first temperature sensor. The first voltage modulator receives a temperature signal from the first temperature sensor indicative of the pre-nip temperature and modulates an AC voltage supplied to each first heating element to maintain each first heating element continuously ON at a power level ranging from partial power to full power to control the pre-nip temperature. |
| US08170425B2 |
Optical signal receiving circuit
To solve problematic trade-off between a bandwidth and a in-band deviation in an optical signal receiving circuit of a gigabit order that is required to have a wide dynamic range, the optical signal receiving circuit has a current-voltage conversion circuit that receives as an input a current signal outputted from a photoelectric conversion circuit for receiving and converting an optical signal into a current signal and converts it into a voltage signal, and realizes the wide dynamic range by providing the current-voltage conversion circuit with an AGC function and a phase compensation function by MOS transistors and a capacitance. Further, by providing the current-voltage conversion circuit with a second phase compensation function by a MOS transistor and a capacitance, it is made possible for the optical signal receiving circuit to reduce the in-band deviation at the time of minimum gain while securing the bandwidth at the time of maximum gain. |
| US08170421B2 |
Method and apparatus for clock recovery
A clock recovery method and apparatus is provided. The high-order demultiplexing-demapping unit (102) demultiplexes and demaps the high-order OTN frame (101) into N low-order ODTUjk frames (103), and transmits the N low-order ODTUjk frames (103) to the low-order demapping unit (104); the low-order demapping unit (104) respectively demaps the N ODTUjk frames (103) into N ODUj frames (105), and writes the ODUj frames from memory unit 1 (106) to memory unit n (108) into memory unit n+1 (109) to memory unit 2n (111) by using the clock signal whose gaps are uniformly distributed; and the ODUj frame clock generating unit (113) adjusts the read out clock in memory unit n+1 (109) to memory unit 2n (111), i.e. ODUj frame clock (114), according to the data volume stored in memory unit n+1 (109) to memory unit 2n (111). The embodiments of the invention effectively filter a great deal of jitter generated during the mapping and demapping process, and can recovery high quality clock signal from the high-order OTN frame (101), so as to meet the requirement of the OTN service on jitter. |
| US08170419B2 |
Image processing system and control method thereof
Provided are an image processing system and method thereof which communicates with an external image source device, the image processing system including: a display device which receives a modulated remote control signal modulated by a modulation method and demodulates the modulated remote control signal to generate a demodulated remote control signal and transmits the demodulated remote control signal; and a relay device which receives the demodulated remote control signal and modulates the demodulated remote control signal according to the modulation method to output an output remote control signal to the external image source device. |
| US08170414B2 |
Burst mode digital diagnostic and control for passive optical network receiving
Methods and systems for an optical line termination including instructions stored on a computer-readable medium, the instructions including a digital diagnostic table, and a plurality of entries within the diagnostic table, wherein a first entry is associated with a first optical network unit, the first entry including at least one setting for performing burst mode digital diagnostic processes using a first burst mode transmission received from the first optical network unit. |
| US08170412B2 |
Platform for stereoscopic image acquisition
There is disclosed a method and apparatus for acquiring stereoscopic images. A first camera may be mounted to a first convergence plate, the first convergence plate coupled to a first plate via a first XY slide and a first pivot displaced from the first XY slide. A distance between the first plate and a second plate may be adjusted to set an interocular distance between the first camera and a second camera. The first convergence plate may be rotated about the first pivot to set, at least in part, an angle of convergence between the first camera and the second camera. |
| US08170409B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling flash emission
In a method and apparatus for controlling flash emission, the brightness during pre-emission may be accurately measured even when operating an image sensor using a rolling shutter. When pre-emission of flash light is performed, partial exposure during the pre-emission when operating an image sensor using a rolling shutter may be prevented by synchronizing an exposure time of the image sensor to a pre-emission time. |
| US08170406B2 |
Automotive water heater
An automotive water heater having application to a windshield of an automobile, which is able to produce hot water that can be sprinkled on the windshield to melt accumulated snow and frost, in which a water heater is mainly structured from a laminated assembled heating unit side joined to a heat conducting surface of an exchange bed. Heat quantity produced by the heating unit forms a heat balance function, which transfers the heat to the exchange bed, and water flow paths are defined interior of the exchange bed. The face joining of the laminated heating units is used to facilitate maintenance of component members and allow changing of the number of heating units assembled to the exchange bed, thereby providing choice to accommodate different power requirements. |
| US08170399B2 |
Recording device and method
To enable a recording device recording a video/audio signal and information necessary for utilizing the video/audio signal to copy the video/audio signal with the converted bit rate, encoding format, etc., to another recording device when utilizing the video/audio signal by the another recording device, and to move only the information necessary for utilizing the video/audio signal between the recording device and the another recording device. A recording device comprises: an input portion that inputs a video/audio signal; a recording portion that records the video/audio signal and information necessary for utilizing the video/audio signal; and a converting portion that converts the recorded video/audio signal. The recording device, leaving the original video/audio signal, copies the video/audio signal whose bit rate, encoding format, etc., have been converted at the converting portion to another recording device and moves the information necessary for utilizing the video/audio signal to the another recording device. After the video/audio signal is utilized by the another recording device, only the information necessary for utilizing the video/audio signal is moved again from the another recording device to the recording device. |
| US08170389B1 |
Optical waveguide, and thermally-assisted magnetic recording head including the same
An optical waveguide includes a core and a clad. The core includes first to third propagation parts, and a coupling part that couples the first to third propagation parts together. The first propagation part has a first incidence end face on which part of incident light is incident, and a first emission part that emits first propagation light. The second propagation part has a second incidence end face on which another part of the incident light is incident, and a second emission part that emits second propagation light. In the coupling part, a first light wave resulting from the first propagation light and a second light wave resulting from the second propagation light occur, and the first and second light waves interfere with each other to generate third propagation light to be emitted from a third emission part. The third propagation part propagates the third propagation light. |
| US08170386B2 |
Optical pulse generating apparatus
Optical pulse compressor having a chirp unit including a normal dispersion fiber that provides a positive chirp to an input pulse and having a dispersion compensator including an anomalous fiber is provided. The nonlinear coefficient and the absolute value of the second-order group-velocity dispersion of the anomalous fiber that forms the dispersion compensator is set such that a soliton order becomes one or more, and the fiber length of the anomalous dispersion fiber is made to be equal to or smaller than a length required for optical soliton formation. |
| US08170385B2 |
Light coupler and manufacturing method thereof
The present invention provides a light coupler and a manufacturing method thereof. The light coupler of the invention includes a plurality of light input terminals, a plurality of light output terminals, a plurality of half mirrors, and an optical wave guide connecting the plurality of the light input terminals, the plurality of the light output terminals and the plurality of the half mirrors. The optical wave guide has kinked line shape and each of the plurality of half mirrors is placed at a respective corner of the kinked line shape. Especially, the kinked line shape includes a polygon network. |
| US08170382B2 |
Fiber-optic temperature sensor assembly
A fiber-optic temperature sensor assembly comprises a cap with an inner cavity. A sensor member is received in the inner cavity of the cap. The sensor member has light-transmitting properties adapted to change with temperature variations. An optical fiber has a first end received in the inner cavity of the cap, and a second end of the optical fiber being adapted to be connected to a processing unit for transmitting light signals between the sensor member and the processing unit. A pressing device is received in the cap and pressing against the sensor member such that the sensor member is in operational contact with the first end of the optical fiber for transmission of light therebetween during operation of the fiber-optic temperature sensor assembly. |
| US08170381B2 |
Optical modulator
In an optical modulator comprising substrate 1 having electro-optical effect, two optical waveguides 3a, 3b formed in the substrate, buffer layer 2 formed on the substrate, traveling-wave electrode 4 having center conductor 4a and ground conductors 4b, 4c above the buffer layer, and ridge sections formed with recessed sections 9a to 9c by carving at least a part of the substrate where an electrical field strength of high-frequency electrical signal propagating the traveling-wave electrode is strong, in which the ridge sections include center conductor ridge section 8a having the center conductor formed above and ground conductor ridge section 8b having the ground conductor formed above, and the center conductor ridge section has one of the two optical waveguides formed therein, the recessed sections are practically symmetrical to the center line between the two optical waveguides and the traveling-wave electrode is practically symmetrical to the center line of the center conductor. |
| US08170376B2 |
Super-resolution device and method
A super-resolution device and method for setting at least one of a plurality of pixels included in image data as target pixels, the image data including pixels arranged in a screen and pixel values representing brightness, an area including the target pixel and peripheral pixels as a target area, and an area for searching pixel value change patterns in the target pixel area; calculating a difference between a first change pattern and second change pattern; comparing a difference between the first and second change patterns; calculating a pixel value of a super-resolution image having a number of pixels larger than a number of pixels included in the image data on the basis of a decimal-accuracy-vector, an extrapolated vector, and pixel values obtained from the image data. |
| US08170375B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method for controlling the same
An image processing apparatus includes an input unit receiving an encoded image data stream; a decoding processor decoding the stream to obtain image data; a first storage storing the image data; a second storage storing the image data and having a storage area storing at least one picture whose size is the largest of image data to be decoded; a controller analyzing the stream and storing the image data in the first and second storages according to an analysis result; and an output unit reading and outputting the stored pictures in a display order. The controller sets storage areas in the first storage according to image size information, stores the image data in the storage areas, determines whether the image size changes according to the analysis result, and, when the image size changes, stores image data of a picture displayed immediately before the image size changes in the second storage. |
| US08170364B2 |
Image processing method, image processing device, and image processing program
An image processing method includes the steps of: obtaining image data formed by signals of a plurality of pixels expressing a color image; discriminating a photographic scene of an image from the image data; determining a gradation correction method based on a result of discriminating a photographic scene; determining a first gradation correction amount based on a result of discriminating a photographic scene; detecting a face area in an image of the image data and calculating a face detection reliability; determining a second gradation correction amount based on an average luminance of the face area; determining a third gradation correction amount by weighted averaging the first gradation correction amount and the second gradation correction amount based on the face detection reliability; and applying a gradation correction process to the image data by using the third gradation correction amount and the gradation method. |
| US08170363B2 |
Image processing apparatus for performing deblocking filtering process
According to the present invention, there is provided a image processing apparatus comprising: at least one memory which stores data of each of at least a first image and a second image having no dependence upon each other's data; a memory access unit which reads out the data from and writes the data in said memory; and a filtering processing unit which receives the data read out by said memory access unit, performs a deblocking filtering process on the received data, and supplies the processed data to said memory access unit, wherein said filtering processing unit alternately performs a deblocking filtering process on at least one block boundary of the first image, and a deblocking filtering process on at least one block boundary of the second image. |
| US08170357B2 |
Apparatus and method for generating coded block pattern for alpha channel image and alpha channel image encoding/decoding apparatus and method using the same
An apparatus and a method generate a coded block pattern (CBP) of an alpha channel image. An apparatus and a method encode or decode the alpha channel image using the method. The alpha channel image encoding apparatus includes a CBP generator generating a CBP of a first block corresponding to an encoding unit in the alpha channel image by allocating CBPs to a plurality of second blocks that includes the first block; and a bitstream generator generating a bitstream by encoding the CBP or the CBP and pixel values of the second blocks based on the CBP of each of second blocks. |
| US08170353B2 |
Information processing apparatus and control method thereof
The present invention provides an information processing apparatus and control method thereof and a storage medium that stores its control program capable of generating a code image with the optimum device in accordance with the amount and/or contents of the information to be encoded, and/or considering the load of the equipment. The information processing apparatus is electrically connected to an image processing apparatus, and includes: a deciding section for deciding on whether to generate a code image by encoding information or to issue a command for causing to generate the code image by encoding the information; and a processing section for generating, when the deciding section decides to generate, the code image by encoding the information and transmitting it to the image processing apparatus, and for transmitting, when the deciding section decides to issue, the command to the image processing apparatus. |
| US08170352B2 |
String searching facility
In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for scanning a data set for the presence of a target string. The data set may be received at a computing facility and cause a scanning program to execute. A first character pair in the data set may be identified where each character making up the first character pair is identified in a vector map. It may then be confirmed that the first character pair matches a positive indicated bitmask in a bitmap matrix, and verify that the position of the first character pair matches a position of a matching character pair in the target string. An action may be caused to be taken as a result of the verification. |
| US08170349B2 |
Graphical rating conversion
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to the processing of graphical rating images. |
| US08170347B2 |
ROI-based assessment of abnormality using transformation invariant features
A method and apparatus of comparing the results of medical imaging by, for example, PET scanning dispenses with the need for intensity normalization. The relationships between features extracted from relevant regions of interest in the image are studied. In one example, mean intensities in the principle brain lobes are compared to each other and a short image ID is constructed and used to derive population statistics and diagnosis. The population statistics are compared with ‘reference’ statistics in order to assess abnormality. Comparison by a number of methods is possible, and the invention further provides concerns a novel voting mechanism which derives abnormality scores for each region. |
| US08170344B2 |
Image storage device, image storage system, method of storing image data, and computer program product for image data storing
An image storage device includes a storing unit, a background recognizing unit, an attribute-information generating unit, and an image-data processing unit. The storing unit stores therein image data and first attribute information for each pixel. The background recognizing unit recognizes a background of the image. The attribute-information generating unit generates second attribute information for each pixel based on the background of the image recognized by the background recognizing unit. The image-data processing unit processes the image data based on the second attribute information generated by the attribute-information generating unit. |
| US08170339B2 |
Image processing apparatus and image processing method
For each image sensing device, an index in a sensed image is recognized, and layout information of the recognized index in a coordinate system based on an image sensing device that has acquired the sensed image is calculated. Index information including identification information unique to the index and the layout information of the index is managed. If recognition of a first index in a first sensed image acquired by a first image sensing device has failed, or the first index has erroneously been recognized, the index information of the first index is varied on the basis of the layout information of the first index calculated by the above process for a second sensed image acquired by a second image sensing device other than the first image sensing device. |
| US08170338B2 |
Information processing apparatus and method for correcting electronic information obtained from handwritten information
A disclosed information processing apparatus includes an image data obtaining unit configured to obtain image data generated by scanning a confirmation/correction form on a recording medium; a workflow definition obtaining unit configured to obtain a workflow definition of a workflow that includes a workflow step corresponding to the recording medium; a form definition obtaining unit configured to obtain a form definition of the confirmation/correction form corresponding to the workflow step based on the workflow definition; a field image extracting unit configured to extract a field image of a field of the confirmation/correction form from the image data based on the form definition; and a handwriting image extracting unit configured to remove a previous handwriting image and extract a current handwriting image from the field image if the field image contains both the previous handwriting image and the current handwriting image. |
| US08170333B2 |
Image processing systems employing image compression
A system for processing an image includes a an image data input port, a compressed image data output port or a compressed image data storage node, a non-transitory memory component storing a set of executable instructions, and a scalable tile processing device. The executable instructions cause the system to receive image data, partition the image data into tiles, transmit a tile to the scalable tile processing device, receive an encoded bit stream corresponding to the transmitted tile from the tile processing device, and output compressed image data including the encoded bit stream. The scalable tile processing device receives the tile including tile image data, wavelet transforms, quantizes, segments, and encodes the tile image data to generate a plurality of encoded code blocks, and transmits an encoded bit stream including the plurality of encoded code blocks to the system. |
| US08170332B2 |
Automatic red-eye object classification in digital images using a boosting-based framework
Automatic red-eye object classification in digital images using a boosting-based framework. In a first example embodiment, a method for classifying a candidate red-eye object in a digital photographic image includes several acts. First, a candidate red-eye object in a digital photographic image is selected. Next, a search scale set and a search region for the candidate red-eye object where an eye object may reside is determined. Then, the number of subwindows that satisfy an AdaBoost classifier is determined. This number is denoted as a vote. Next, the maximum size of the subwindows that satisfy the AdaBoost classifier is determined. Then, a normalized threshold is calculated by multiplying a predetermined constant threshold by the calculated maximum size. Next, the vote is compared with the normalized threshold. Finally, the candidate red-eye object is transformed into a true red-eye object if the vote is greater than the normalized threshold. |
| US08170331B2 |
Apparatus and method for pattern interpolation
Apparatus and method for pattern interpolation are disclosed. Horizontally interpolated green, red and blue pixel values, and vertically interpolated green, red and blue pixel values are generated according to the pixels received from a pattern color filter. Subsequently, a direction is selected for the green value interpolation according to the horizontally and vertically interpolated pixel values. |
| US08170330B2 |
Machine learning for tissue labeling segmentation
A method for directed machine learning includes receiving features including intensity data and location data of an image, condensing the intensity data and the location data into a feature vector, processing the feature vector by a plurality of classifiers, each classifier trained for a respective trained class among a plurality of classes, outputting, from each classifier, a probability of the feature vector belong to the respective trained class, and assigning the feature vector a label according to the probabilities of the classifiers, wherein the assignment produces a segmentation of the image. |
| US08170329B2 |
Position measuring system, position measuring method and computer readable medium
A position measuring system includes: an image capturing unit that captures reference points provided on an object, the reference points composed of at least four first reference points provided respectively at vertices of a polygon or at vertices and a barycenter of a polygon and at least one second reference point provided so as to have a specific positional relationship with respect to the first reference points; an identification unit that identifies images of the first reference points and the second reference point captured by the image capturing unit, on the basis of positional relationships between the images of the first reference points and the second reference point; and a calculation unit that calculates a three-dimensional position and three-axial angles of the object on the basis of positional relationships of the images of the first reference points identified by the identification unit. |
| US08170328B2 |
Image display method, apparatus, and program
Extracting a luminal or line-like three-dimensional structure from a three-dimensional image of a target object, then generating a projection image by projecting a portion of the entirety of the three-dimensional structure on a cross-sectional image of the target object intersecting the three-dimensional structure, the portion being a portion located within a range of a predetermined thickness from a cross-section represented by the cross-sectional image or a portion located within a range of a predetermined distance from a position where the three-dimensional structure is intersecting the cross-sectional image, and displaying the generated projection image. |
| US08170319B2 |
Motion detection by direct imaging during radiotherapy
An apparatus, method, system, and means to detect motion of a subject by direct imaging on a treatment plane during a radiotherapy treatment, the method includes delivering a radiotherapy treatment beam to a volume of interest of the subject during a treatment time, acquiring image data during the treatment time associated with the delivery of the radiotherapy treatment beam by a direct imaging of a projection of the treatment volume of interest, providing a real-time display of the acquired image data, determining the occurrence of a motion in the volume of interest during the treatment time, determining the motion exceeds a pre-determined threshold, and outputting an indication the determined motion exceeds the pre-determined threshold during the treatment time. |
| US08170315B2 |
Localized and highly constrained image reconstruction method
An image reconstruction method includes reconstructing a composite image of a subject using a conventional reconstruction method. The composite image employs the best information available regarding the subject of the scan and this information is used to constrain the reconstruction of a highly undersampled image frames or improve the SNR of image frames. A blurred and normalized weighting image is produced from image frame data, and this normalized weighting image is multiplied by the composite image. |
| US08170310B2 |
Automatic outcome analysis using radiological images
Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a system for analyzing a treatment of a patent including: an interactive image editor for allowing a user to interact with a first set image data corresponding to a pre-treatment radiological study of a patient, the first set of image data including an untreated clinical area of interest, such that the user is capable of interacting with the first set of image data to form a target outcome image for the clinical area of interest; a criterion determination module for allowing the user to determine a target outcome criterion; processing module for performing a comparison by comparing the first set of image data with a second set of image data corresponding to a post-treatment radiological study of the patient, the second set of image data including a treated clinical area of interest; and a criterion evaluation module for automatically evaluating the comparison to determine a post-treatment effect. In an embodiment, the criterion evaluation module is further for evaluating automatically a treatment effectiveness evaluation based on an extent to which the post-treatment effect satisfies the target outcome criterion. |
| US08170305B2 |
Quantitative tract-of-interest metrics for white matter integrity based on diffusion tensor MRI data
The exemplary embodiments of this invention relate at least in part to a method, apparatus and system to characterize white matter, such as for detecting a presence of a white matter impairment. An exemplary method to characterize white matter includes identifying at least one tract of interest (TOI) in the brain of a subject of interest, the tract of interest having a set of streamtubes representing white matter fibers; determining a set of quantitative tractography metrics associated with the tract of interest, the set of quantitative tractography metrics having a plurality of members; and comparing at least one member of the determined set of quantitative tractography metrics to a corresponding member of a reference set of quantitative tractography metrics, or comparison of one TOI in a single subject or group of subjects and other TOI in the same subject(s). |
| US08170303B2 |
Automatic cardiac view classification of echocardiography
A method for view classification includes providing a frame of an object of interest, detecting a region of interest within the object of interest for each of a plurality of detectors (e.g., binary classifiers), wherein each binary classifier corresponds to a different view, performing a global view classification using a multiview classifier for each view, outputting a classification for each view, fusing outputs of the multiview classifiers, and determining and outputting a classification of the frame based on a fused output of the multiview classifiers. |
| US08170301B2 |
Apparatus for inputting biometrical feature
A biometrical feature inputting apparatus includes a 1-dimensional or quasi 1-dimensional image sensor. When a finger and the image sensor are relatively slid, a finger sliding guide keeps a finger and an effective pixel unit of the image sensor to a constant distance without any contact between them. An image processing section sequentially generates partial images by imaging emission light that is scattered inside the finger and then emitted from a skin surface of the finger by the image sensor during the relative motion of the finger and the image sensor and link the partial images to an image. |
| US08170299B2 |
Image output method, image output device, and image output program
Provided is an image output method of outputting predetermined image data from plural pieces of image data, the method including: acquiring a group including plural pieces of image data which are similar to each other; detecting a face turning angle with respect to a face image plane included in an image indicated by each image data belonging to the same group and a face rotation angle indicating a rotation angle in the face image plane; and outputting image data, in which the face turning angle and the face rotation angle are smaller than those of other image data, among the image data belonging to the same group. |
| US08170298B2 |
Method for detecting facial expression and repairing smile face of portrait photo
A method for detecting a facial expression and repairing a smile face of a portrait photo includes the steps of: detecting a location and a range of a mouth region in an inputted portrait photo; capturing a patch in the mouth region and a predetermined peripheral range thereof; executing a comparison process to a smile state or a stiff state of the mouth region in the patch by a mouth state classifier; executing a calculation process to a repaired region of the mouth region when the mouth region is determined to be in the stiff state, in order to calculate a location of a plurality of feature points in the repaired region of the mouth region; and executing an image warping process to the location of the feature points and adjacent pixels thereof, for generating a portrait photo showing a smile state. |
| US08170290B2 |
Method for checking an imprint and imprint checking device
A method for checking an imprint reads an imprint, forms a data code from the imprint, and compares the data code with a predetermined number of check data codes of a stored data set. During a search for the data code in the data set, the method decides whether the data code is to be classified as acceptable or unacceptably faulty. |
| US08170287B2 |
Real-time self collision and obstacle avoidance
A system, method, and computer program product for avoiding collision of a body segment with unconnected structures in an articulated system are described. A virtual surface is constructed surrounding an actual surface of the body segment. Distances between the body segment and unconnected structures are monitored. Responding to an unconnected structure penetrating the virtual surface, a redirected joint motion that prevents the unconnected structure from penetrating deeper into the virtual surface is determined. The body segment is redirected based on the redirected joint motion to avoid colliding with the unconnected structure. |
| US08170282B1 |
Technique for ship/wake detection
An automated ship detection technique includes accessing data associated with an image of a portion of Earth. The data includes reflectance values. A first portion of pixels within the image are masked with a cloud and land mask based on spectral flatness of the reflectance values associated with the pixels. A given pixel selected from the first portion of pixels is unmasked when a threshold number of localized pixels surrounding the given pixel are not masked by the cloud and land mask. A spatial variability image is generated based on spatial derivatives of the reflectance values of the pixels which remain unmasked by the cloud and land mask. The spatial variability image is thresholded to identify one or more regions within the image as possible ship detection regions. |
| US08170281B2 |
Detecting and tracking objects in images
According to one disclosed method, coordinates in a multi-dimensional space are determined for an image point characterizing a particular object. An equation describing a model in the space is provided. The model is characteristic of a set of training images of one or more other objects. The coordinates are applied to the equation to determine a distance between the image point and the model. Based on the determined distance, a determination is made as to whether the particular object matches the one or more other objects. A set of training images may be received. A multi-dimensional space (e.g., eigenspace) may be determined based on the set of training images. A set of training points may be generated by projecting the set of training images into the multi-dimensional space. An equation describing a model in the multi-dimensional space that is characteristic of the set of training points may be determined. |
| US08170280B2 |
Integrated systems and methods for video-based object modeling, recognition, and tracking
The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for modeling, recognizing, and tracking object images in video files. In one embodiment, a video file, which includes a plurality of frames, is received. An image of an object is extracted from a particular frame in the video file, and a subsequent image is also extracted from a subsequent frame. A similarity value is then calculated between the extracted images from the particular frame and subsequent frame. If the calculated similarity value exceeds a predetermined similarity threshold, the extracted object images are assigned to an object group. The object group is used to generate an object model associated with images in the group, wherein the model is comprised of image features extracted from optimal object images in the object group. Optimal images from the group are also used for comparison to other object models for purposes of identifying images. |
| US08170272B1 |
Method for classifying vessels using features extracted from overhead imagery
Methods for processing overhead imagery of a vessel include the step of determining an initial classification and classification probability based on the vessel length and length-to-width ratio. Next, mutually exclusive deck features can be extracted from the image. For several embodiments, the extracted deck features that can be spherical tanks, hatches and containers that are stored on deck. The initial classification probability is then weighted using the results of the deck feature extraction step to yield a posterior classification probability for the ship image. If the posterior classification probability is above a predetermined value, the image is assigned a posterior classification. If the posterior probability is below the predetermined value, the vessel image is classified as unknown, and the gross tonnage of the vessel is calculated using the length and width of the vessel. |
| US08170267B2 |
Speaker
A speaker is disclosed. A speaker includes a fixing part (500) fastened to a base frame; a motion part moved (400) with respect to the fixing part by an electromagnetic force; a vibration plate (200) that vibrates in communication with the motion part; and a guide member (800) provided between the motion part (400) and the vibration plate (200). Therefore, according to the present invention, a speaker capable of reproducing a high quality sound and high power with a slim design may be embodied. |
| US08170265B2 |
Front facing electronic slave speaker
An example vehicle instrument panel includes a speaker for producing alert and warning sounds. A membrane prevents water from intruding into the speaker assembly and instrument panel. The membrane is spaced apart from the speaker and over an open end of the speaker housing. Sound energy from the speaker travels through an open space against the membrane. The membrane possesses acoustic properties to receive and pass on the sound energy. |
| US08170264B2 |
Electronic device
An electronic device suitable for disposing on a resonating surface is provided. The electronic device has a housing and a resonating speaker. The housing is disposed on the resonating surface. The resonating speaker is assembled onto a bottom of the housing and the resonating speaker contacts the resonating surface. |
| US08170260B2 |
System for determining the position of sound sources
A system determines the position of a sound source with a microphone in a fixed coordinate system. The microphone measures audio signals that are analyzed and processed to determine the position of the sound source in the fixed coordinate system. The system may adjust the direction of the microphone in the fixed coordinate system based on the processed audio signals and the position of the sound source. The microphone direction may be identified through an optical source that may be adjusted based on the processed audio signals and the position of the sound source. |
| US08170259B2 |
Electronic device disposing structure
An electronic device disposing structure includes a stand having a position limiting area, a sound receiving channel on the stand and including a sound inlet hole at a distal surface of the stand, a sound outlet hole at a bottom surface of the position limiting area, and a passage portion for interconnecting the sound inlet and outlet holes, and a sound emitting channel on the stand and including a sound outlet hole at the distal surface of the stand, a sound inlet hole at the bottom surface of the position limiting area, and a passage portion for interconnecting the sound outlet and inlet holes. The electronic device disposing structure combines a portable electronic device into the position limiting area, such that a microphone and a speaker respond to sound receiving and emitting channels respectively to achieve a hand-free effect and a sound amplification without requiring a circuit design. |
| US08170257B2 |
Apparatus for reducing background and wind noise to a microphone
An apparatus for reducing background and wind noise to a microphone contained in a microphone casing comprises a clamshell enclosure. The clamshell enclosure has a top piece and a bottom piece held together by a hinge or a plastic membrane, wherein the clamshell enclosure is designed to encapsulate the microphone casing containing the microphone. The clamshell enclosure contains foam materials inside the clamshell enclosure, or the clamshell enclosure itself is made out of foam materials such as polyurethane, wherein the foam materials contribute to reduction of background and wind noises to the microphone. The clamshell enclosure may optionally incorporate one or more channels as electrical cord pathways between the microphone casing encapsulated in the clamshell enclosure and another object (e.g. electronic device, earphones, and etc.). |
| US08170253B1 |
Listening device cap
An assistive listening device cap attaches to a headpiece of a cochlear implant behind-the-ear (BTE) unit, an other BTE unit, an earhook, or an external component unit to supplement or replace components thereof. The cap may receive signals from sources outside the BTE unit(s), earhook, and/or external component unit. The cap communicates with the BTE unit(s), earhook, and/or external component unit using direct, wired, or wireless technology. |
| US08170251B2 |
Battery compartment comprising several gripping arms and hearing equipped device therewith
A battery compartment for a hearing apparatus and in particular for a hearing device is to be designed to be more compact. To this end, provision is made for a battery compartment with at least two gripping arms, which has an arm section on its one end and a gripping section on its other free end in each instance and for a sliding element which engages with the arm section of the gripping arms. In a first sliding position of the sliding element, the gripping arms assume an open position in order to insert a battery between the gripping sections and a closed position in a second sliding position in order to fix the battery, in which closed position the gripping sections are moved toward one another. |
| US08170246B2 |
Apparatus and method for reproducing surround wave field using wave field synthesis
Provided are an apparatus and a method for reproducing a surround wave field using wave field synthesis. The apparatus includes an audio signal analyzer for analyzing a received multi-channel audio signal to check the number of audio signal channels, and extracting a sound source signal for each checked channel from the multi-channel audio signal; a wave field synthesis renderer for localizing the extracted sound source signal for each channel at a virtual sound image outside a narrow space using wave field synthesis so that the extracted sound source signal is suitable for the number of the checked audio signal channels; and an audio reproducer for reproducing the localized virtual sound source signal. |
| US08170245B2 |
Virtual multichannel speaker system
A virtual multichannel sound system is presented to improve audio reproduction by statically or dynamically conforming signal processing to specific speaker characteristics and/or arrangements. According to one such aspect, one or more dynamic signal processing algorithms driving two or more speakers are altered in response to the relative physical characteristics or arrangements of these speakers, where parameter information for these algorithms is either factory set, user input, or automatically supplied to the processor. Examples of such relative speaker differences include speaker spacing or alignment, speaker or enclosure compliance, and enclosure configuration. Another aspect is to alter the processing algorithms in response to common speaker characteristics for certain conditions of input signals. An example of this aspect is to alter the signal processing to improve bass response as a function of bass content in the signals being presented to the speakers and speaker size as well as relative speaker position. |
| US08170243B2 |
Audio output apparatus and vibrator
An audio output apparatus is provided. The audio output apparatus includes: a vibration member, a vibrator, a vibrator positioning unit, and a vibrator-depth positioning unit. The vibration member vibrates to output a sound. The vibrator is in contact with the vibration member and detachably attached thereto to allow the vibration member to vibrate in response to an input audio signal. The vibrator positioning unit controls a contact position between the vibrator and the vibration member. The vibrator-depth positioning unit adjusts a position of the vibrator in the direction of being pressed against the vibration member and brought into contact with the vibration member. |
| US08170240B2 |
Audio device
An audio device has controls for setting parameters. In the audio device, a selection mode setting part sets a selection mode in which a parameter to be stored is selected. A position acquisition part acquires positions of the controls and locks setting states of the parameters that are set by the controls, when the selection mode is set by the selection mode setting part. A parameter selection part detects one or more control operated by a user among the controls and selects each parameter corresponding to each operated control among the controls as a parameter to be stored, after the setting states of the parameters are locked by the position acquisition part. A reset part returns positions of the controls to the positions acquired by the position acquisition part and memorizes a selection status of each parameter which indicates whether each parameter is selected or not, when the selection mode is completed. |
| US08170237B2 |
Programmable microphone
A semiconductor die with an integrated electronic circuit, configured so as to be mounted in a housing with a capacitive transducer e.g. a microphone. A first circuit is configured to receive an input signal from the transducer at an input node and to provide an output signal at a pad of the semiconductor die. The integrated electronic circuit comprises an active switch device with a control input, coupled to a pad of the semiconductor die, to operatively engage or disengage a second circuit interconnected with the first circuit so as to operate the integrated electronic circuit in a mode selected by the control input. That is, a programmable or controllable transducer. The second circuit is interconnected with the first circuit so as to be separate from the input node. Thereby less noise is induced, a more precise control of the circuit is obtainable and more advanced control options are possible. |
| US08170233B2 |
Loudspeaker array system
The invention is a multi-channel loudspeaker system that provides a compact loudspeaker configuration and filter design methodology that operates in the digital signal processing domain. Further, the loudspeaker system can be designed to include drivers of various physical dimensions and can achieve prescribed constant directivity over a large area in both the vertical and horizontal planes. |
| US08170232B2 |
Vehicle-mounted device
The present invention is equipped with a USB interface 7 for being connected to a portable music player that is an external device, a browser button 27, a rotary encoder button 26, a back button 28, CPU 31 for acquiring a content list CL from the portable music player, RAM 33 for storing the content list CL acquired by the CPU 31, and a LED processing section 42 for changing how the rotary encoder button 26 illuminates to encourage the next operation at a time when the browse button 27 is operated. Accordingly, when searching pieces of music content stored in the portable music player that is an external device, one can unknowingly understand how to operate, thereby providing good operability even for searching pieces of music content of the external portable music player. |
| US08170228B2 |
Methods and devices for hearing damage notification and intervention II
Methods of monitoring sound pressure level are provided. A method of monitoring sound pressure level includes: measuring a first sound pressure level in the ear canal; measuring a second sound pressure level out of the ear canal; calculating a first sound pressure level dose using the first sound pressure level, where if the first sound pressure level is below a permissible sound level a recovery function is used to calculate the first sound pressure level dose; and calculating a second sound pressure level dose using the second sound pressure level. |
| US08170226B2 |
Acoustic echo cancellation and adaptive filters
In one embodiment, a two-way telecommunication device may perform acoustic echo cancellation on incoming signals. An audio decoding module may produce an audio render signal. An audio capture interface may receive an audio capture signal. A short length adaptive filter may determine a time delay between the audio render signal and the audio capture signal by adaptively predicting a sub-band of the audio capture signal using a corresponding sub-band of the audio render signal. |
| US08170219B2 |
Size adjustable device and method
One or more embodiments may provide for a size adjustable earphone that may include a foldable sleeve attached to an earphone housing. A first end of the foldable sleeve may embrace the earphone housing, where an opposite second end of the foldable sleeve may be adapted to be folded. The foldable sleeve may be adapted to be kept in a first unfolded position, providing the earphone housing including the foldable sleeve with a first diametrical size, and in a second folded position, providing the earphone housing including the foldable sleeve with a second diametrical size. The second diametrical size may be larger than the first diametrical size. |
| US08170218B2 |
Multi-channel audio treatment system and method
A multi-channel audio treatment method ensuring compatibility of a multi-channel signal and a stereo signal which includes: producing a left-hand downmix channel dwnMxL(t) and a right-hand downmix channel dwnMxR(t); producing a left-hand difference channel deltaL(t), said left-hand difference channel being the difference between the left-hand channel of the stereo signal eStL(t) and the left-hand downmix channel dwnMxL(t); producing a right-hand difference channel deltaR(t), said right-hand difference channel being the difference between the right-hand channel of the stereo signal eStR(t) and the right-hand downmix channel dwnMxR(t); and adding the right hand difference channel deltaR(t) and the left hand difference channel deltaL(t) into the multi-channel signal. |
| US08170216B2 |
Techniques for validating and sharing secrets
Techniques for validating and sharing secrets are presented. A secret is divided into a plurality of parts. Each part is represented by a unique value. Each value is distributed to a unique user that shares in the secret. The secret is recreated when each user presents each user's unique value. Each unique value is then used to recreate its corresponding part of the key and when all parts are present and validated, the secret is reproduced. |
| US08170215B2 |
Key management method for home network and home network device and system using the same
A method of managing a home network key in a home network environment, which has a key management server for managing the home network key and a plurality of home network devices, includes: allowing a home network device to generate device unique information and to transmit the device unique information to the key management server; allowing the key management server to generate a parameter for generating the home network key by using the device unique information and to transmit the parameter to the home network device; and allowing the home network device to generate the home network key by using the parameter. The generated home network key being independent of the device unique information. |
| US08170212B2 |
Device, system, and method of establishing secure wireless communication
Device, system, and method of establishing secure wireless communication. A system includes at least one wireless communication device having a sensor to measure one or more parameters of a physical event shared between that device and another wireless communication device, and a processor to translate the one or more measured parameters into a secret data sequence known only to the devices sharing the event. A first of the wireless communication devices sharing the event is to combine a communication key with the secret data sequence, thereby to generate an encoded message for distribution over a wireless link accessible by the devices, and a second of the wireless communication devices sharing the event is to decode said encoded message using the secret data sequence, thereby to obtain the communication key. The wireless communication devices may then connect using the secret communication key as a basis for secure communication. |
| US08170209B2 |
Extensible disc player
The present invention provides an extensible disc player that is upgradeable to play new content types. The player's capability can be extended by downloading an appropriate decoder from a web server via the Internet. In this way, the player can play back contents that it does not originally support. If the content type is unknown, the player will check whether the disc contains a URL for linking to a web site containing an appropriate decoder. If the disc contains the URL, the player will access the web site to download the appropriate decoder. In a similar manner, the capability of a recorder can also be expanded by downloading appropriate encoders from the Internet. |
| US08170204B2 |
Method and system for extending advanced encryption standard (AES) operations for enhanced security
In a wireless communication system, a method and system for extending Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) operations for enhanced security are provided. In an AES encryption operation, an initial state may be modified by XORing with an initial modifier before a first processing round and a final state may be modified by XORing with a final modifier after a final processing round. The output of a MixColumns function performed during AES decryption operation rounds may be modified by XORing with a corresponding round modifier. In an AES decryption operation, an initial state may be modified by XORing with a decoded final modifier before a first processing round and a final state may be modified by XORing with a decoded initial modifier after a final processing round. The input of an InvMixColumns function performed during AES decryption operation rounds may be modified by XORing with a corresponding decoded round modifier. |
| US08170203B2 |
Message authentication code with elliptic polynomial hopping
The message authentication code with elliptic polynomial hopping provides methods for the generation of message authentication codes (MACs) utilizing elliptic curves, which are based on the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem. The elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem is well known to be a computationally “difficult” or “hard” problem, thus providing enhanced security for the MACs. Different elliptic polynomials are used for different blocks of the same plaintext, each elliptic polynomial for each message block being selected at random using an initial secret key and a random number generator. |
| US08170202B2 |
Method, terminal device and communication system for programming a button of a communication terminal device
There is described a method, a terminal device, and a communication system for programming a button of a communication terminal device whereby a user input on the communication terminal device activates an application on a data processing device associated with the communication terminal device. The activated application triggers the display of button programming information for selection for a respective button programming. The selection of one of the displayed button programming information messages on the data processing device triggers the assignment of the associated button programming to the button on the communication terminal device. |
| US08170201B2 |
Power feeding system for telephone terminal in LAN
Terminals are connected via cables in a star-shaped fashion with respect to a HUB in a LAN. Each of the cables includes therein signal lines and power feed lines. The HUB includes therein a power feed section. The power feed section and the power feed lines of each cable are connected to measure a value of current which flows in the power feed lines. If it is judged based on the measured current value that the terminal connected to the corresponding cable is a telephone terminal, the power feeding to the corresponding power feed lines is continued. On the other hand, if the terminal is judged to be a terminal other than the telephone terminal, the power feeding is stopped. |
| US08170200B1 |
Method and apparatus for percussive noise reduction in a conference
A conferencing unit reduces or eliminates percussive noise in audio that it outputs to a far-end. The unit filters near-end audio into a plurality of bands and calculates instantaneous energies for each band. The energies in first and second ranges of the bands are summed, and a difference between the two sums is compared to a threshold value to determine whether speech is present in the near-end audio received. The first range is preferably a mid-band range of frequencies of 300 to 600-Hz, while the second range is preferably an outer-band range of 100-Hz to 300-Hz and 600-Hz to 14-kHz. Based on the determination, the conferencing unit adjusts an output level of the near-end audio to reduce or eliminate any percussive noise in output audio while there is not a substantial amount of speech in the near-end audio. |
| US08170197B2 |
System and method for providing automated call center post-call processing
A system and method for providing a message-based communications infrastructure for automated call center post-call processing is described. Verbal speech utterances in a stream of recorded user messages are identified. The recorded user messages are parsed from a call with a user into a call center. The stream of recorded user messages are stored into a database maintained by the call center. The call is processed through an agent. One or more of the user messages is presented to the agent. Commands on the user messages are executed responsive to the agent. |
| US08170190B2 |
Method and system for managing telephone number allocation
A system and method in accordance with exemplary embodiments may include receiving, from a customer, limitation data associated with managing telephone number allocation, determining a limitation threshold based on at least the limitation data, allocating one or more telephone numbers to a customer based on at least the limitation threshold, and providing the one or more telephone numbers to a customer. |
| US08170188B2 |
Method and arrangement for providing a communication in a communication system
First information and second information is stored in the communication system for a callback after a first communication terminal attempts a call to a second communication terminal in which the connection is not established. The first information allows the second communication terminal to display the attempted call so that a callback to the first communication terminal can be executed on the part of the second communication terminal. The second information includes a charge type for the callback correlating at least to the attempted call. |
| US08170187B2 |
Method and apparatus for communicating with one of plural devices associated with a single telephone number during a disaster and disaster recovery
A system for (and a method of) selectively establishing communication with one of plural devices associated with a single telephone number during a disaster or disaster recovery period. In a preferred embodiment, the system includes two wireless connection units, each connected between a respective private branch exchange (PBX) network and a public switched telephone network. Each wireless connection unit preferably serves as a gateway between its respective PBX network and one or more remote communication devices. The wireless connection units replicate each others databases. In the event of a disaster that destroys or renders one of the wireless connect/PBX networks inoperable, telephone calls destined for the inoperable network are seamlessly routed to the operable wireless connect/PBX network. Since the operable wireless connection unit contains information for both networks, inbound, outbound and extension to extension calls for each network can be handled despite the disaster. |
| US08170185B2 |
Authentication system and method
A method of authorising a user of a first packet-based communication network to access a second packet-based communication network. The method comprises: receiving an authorization request from a user terminal of the user at a first network element of the first packet-based communication network, the authorization request comprising a first user identity; responsive to the authorization request, transmitting a request to create a second user identity from the first network element to a second network element of the second packet-based communication network; the second network element creating the second user identity for use in the second packet-based communication network, the second user identity being derivable from the first user identity according to a predetermined rule; and storing the second user identity in the second packet-based communication network for use with subsequent communication events over the second packet-based communication network. |
| US08170178B2 |
Radiation image capturing system, radiation image capturing method and program
The radiation image capturing system includes a plurality of image capturing apparatus of different specifications for capturing a radiation image of a subject, plural processors for controlling respective image capturing apparatus, a processor selector for selecting one processor from processors based on supplied capture information, an image capturing condition setting unit for setting the image capturing conditions to be appropriate for an image capturing apparatus selected from among the plurality of image capturing apparatus, and an image capturing condition changer for, when the image capturing apparatus is changed, changing the image capturing conditions to be appropriate for the changed image capturing apparatus. The processor controls the changed image capturing apparatus according to the changed image capturing conditions. |
| US08170174B1 |
Simplified jet pump riser brace clamp
An embodiment of the present invention takes the form of an apparatus or system that may reduce the level of vibration experienced by an inlet riser or other similar object within a reactor pressure vessel. An embodiment of the present invention may eliminate the need for welding the riser brace to the inlet riser. An embodiment of the present invention provides at least one riser brace clamp that generally clamps the riser brace to the inlet riser. After installation, the riser brace clamp may lower the amplitude of, and/or change the frequency of, the vibration experienced by the inlet riser. |
| US08170172B2 |
Target bodies and uses thereof in the production of radioisotope materials
A system and method are provided for reclaiming an enriched radioisotope starting material (14) from a target body (12). The system and method enable reclaiming the starting material in a relatively short time (e.g., several hours) after the target body's bombardment with energetic particles, greatly simplifying the target body's chemical processing, as well as reducing the cost of such processing (e.g., reducing the need for costly long-term storage). Specifically, a chemical protective layer (16) is disposed between a radioisotope starting material (14) and a base material (18) of the target body (12). After the target body is irradiated with a suitable source (e.g., particle accelerator), then the irradiated radioisotope starting material and be removed without removing the base material due to the protection provided by the chemical protective layer. The system and method also enable the operator to obtain three different radioisotopes in a single bombardment of the target body, further reducing cost of radioisotope production. |
| US08170168B2 |
Clock data recovery circuit
A simple circuit that supports high and low data rates is provided. The circuit includes: a detection circuit 11 for detecting whether D1≠D2 or D1≠D3, assuming that logical values of an input data signal DATAIN sampled at timings t1, t2, and t3 (t2 |
| US08170162B2 |
Inter-carrier interference removal device and reception device using the same
An inter-carrier interface removal device can improve estimation accuracy of inter-carrier interference caused by Doppler shift in a received multi-carrier signal moving at a high speed, and a reception characteristic of the multi-carrier signal after removing the inter-carrier interference. The inter-carrier interference removal device includes a channel estimation unit estimating a channel frequency characteristic according to a carrier signal, an equalization unit equalizing the carrier signal with the channel frequency characteristic and outputs tentative carrier data, a reliability value calculation unit calculating a reliability value according to the channel frequency characteristic, a weighting unit weighting the tentative carrier data with the reliability value, an ICI component estimation unit estimating an ICI component according to the weighted tentative carrier data and the estimated channel frequency characteristic, and an ICI removal calculation unit removing the ICI component from the carrier signal. |
| US08170160B1 |
Multi-symbol phase offset estimation
Receivers typically detect the presence of a pilot tone, transmitted as part of an RF signal, and use the pilot tone as a reference to detect symbols in the received RF signal. However, improper synchronization between the transmitter and the receiver units can result in timing offset and carrier frequency offset in the digitized received RF signal, impair the orthogonality between OFDM sub-carriers, and cause inter-carrier interference. Phase offsets caused by carrier frequency offset and timing offset can also degrade receiver performance. Functionality can be incorporated to estimate the phase offset over multiple symbols. Estimating the phase offset over multiple symbols in the received RF signal can lower the error rate. Correcting the phase offset in the received RF signal can ensure accurate sampling of the received signal, accurate channel estimates, and accurate decoding of the digitized received signal. This can minimize receiver performance degradation. |
| US08170155B2 |
Method and apparatus for channel quality measurements
A method and apparatus are provided for measuring channel quality over which has been transmitted a sequence of symbols produced by encoding and constellation mapping a source data element sequence. The method includes receiving a sequence of received symbols over the channel whose quality is to be measured. The sequence of received symbols is de-mapped based on a first channel quality indicator previously transmitted to a transmitter of the sequence of symbols. The method also includes decoding the de-mapped symbols to produce a decoded output sequence. In some embodiments, the decoding may be based on the first channel quality indicator. The method also includes re-encoding the decoded output sequence to produce a re-encoded output sequence. The method also includes correlating the de-mapped symbols with the re-encoded output sequence to produce a second channel quality indicator. The second channel quality indicator is transmitted to the transmitter to adaptively select a type of mapping based on the second channel quality indicator. In some embodiments, the transmitter may adaptively select a type of encoding based on the second channel quality indicator. |
| US08170154B2 |
Chip blanking and processing in SCDMA to mitigate impulse and burst noise and/or distortion
A system for mitigating impairment in a communication system includes a delay block, a signal level block, a moving average window block, an impulse noise detection block, and a combiner. The delay block receives and delays each chip of a plurality of chips in a spreading interval. The signal level block determines a signal level of each chip of the plurality of chips in the spreading interval. The moving average window block determines a composite signal level for a chip window corresponding to the chip. The impulse noise detection block receives the signal level, receives the composite signal level, and produces an erasure indication for each chip of the plurality of chips of the corresponding chip window. The combiner erases chips of the plurality of chips of the spreading interval based upon the erasure indication. |
| US08170152B2 |
Method and apparatus for multiple signal identification and finding the basis functions of the received signal
A method is disclosed to detect a broad class of signals in Gaussian noise using higher order statistics. The method detects a number of different signal types. The signals may be in the base-band or the pass-band, single-carrier or multi-carrier, frequency hopping or non-hopping, broad-pulse or narrow-pulse etc. In a typical setting this method provides an error rate of 3% at a signal to noise ratio of 0 dB. This method gives the time frequency detection ratio which may be used to determine if the detected signal falls in Class Single-Carrier of Class Multi-Carrier. Additionally, this method may be used for a number of different applications such as multiple signal identification, finding the basis functions of the received signal. |
| US08170151B2 |
FSK receiver
A receiver includes a band-pass filter that limits a passband of an IF (Intermediate Frequency) signal, an FSK detector that detects the IF signal passing through the band-pass filter to generate a detection signal, and a control block that controls a modulation sensitivity of the FSK detector and a pass bandwidth of the band-pass filter, in which the control block controls the modulation sensitivity of the FSK detector according to the pass bandwidth of the band-pass filter. |
| US08170148B2 |
Demodulation circuit, digital microwave system and demodulation method
A demodulation circuit, a digital microwave system including the demodulation circuit, and a signal demodulation method are provided. The demodulation circuit includes a first circuit, a second circuit, a third circuit, and a fourth circuit connected in turn. The fourth circuit includes a pulse counting unit and a data decision unit connected in turn. The signal demodulation method includes: performing bandpass filtering on input signals; increasing gains of the bandpass filtered signals; extracting pulse signals are extracted from the gain-increased signals; counting the extracted pulse signals; filtering the pulse signals having counting values falling outside of a predetermined range, and outputting the filtered pulse signals. |
| US08170145B2 |
Receiver
A receiver employing an OFDM system which uses a frequency band that is constituted by a plurality of subchannels, and receiving a signal added a phase rotation which is made to respectively differ for each transmission antennas of transmitter and transmitted from the transmission antennas, having a virtual subchannel quality estimating portion which estimates the quality of a propagation path in the case of same phase rotation is added to signal transmitted from transmitter, each group configured with a plurality of consecutive subcarriers. |