| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08170321B2 |
System and method for contour tracking in cardiac phase contrast flow MR images
A method for tracking a contour in cardiac phase contrast flow magnetic resonance (MR) images includes estimating a global translation of a contour in a reference image in a time sequence of cardiac phase contrast flow MR images to a contour in a current image in the time sequence of images by finding a 2-dimensional translation vector that maximizes a similarity function of the contour in the reference image and the current image calculated over a bounding rectangle containing the contour in the reference image, estimating an affine transformation of the contour in the reference image to the contour in the current image, and performing a constrained local deformation of the contour in the current image. |
| US08170318B2 |
Filter bank for ultrasound image enhancement
Image enhancement is provided in ultrasound imaging. A filter bank is used to process the data. The data may be processed in parallel. Each filter outputs data representing a same location, but with a kernel path (e.g., line, curved line, area, curved surface, or volume) different than for the other filters. For example, three filters filter along respective orthogonal planes. The filters may use preselected or data independent paths. The output of the filter bank is determined from the outputs of the filters in the bank, such as by selecting the maximum value. This bank-based filtering may enhance data associated with anatomical surfaces or contours and/or may reduce speckle. The parallel operation of the filters may allow for more rapid processing and/or processing a greater amount of data as compared to using a single filter. |
| US08170317B2 |
Automatic iso-centering for rotational angiography
An automated and semi-automated determination of an optimal table position for rotational angiography is provided which is performed on the basis of the determination of a translation vector pointing from a point of gravity of the object of interest to an iso-center of the examination apparatus. This may reduce the amount of X-ray and contrast agent dose for the iso-centering procedure and may not depend on the user's skills. |
| US08170316B2 |
Tomographic imaging with a stripe-like shaped sensor
Tomographic imaging using an imaging sensor that has a stripe-like shape is disclosed where a stripe sensor is mechanically scanned over a sample at different angles. For a single stripe detector imaging, linear motion and angular rotation are required. Single stripe sensor imaging may be performed using an elongated inductive coil detector. By utilizing an array of parallel stripe sensors that can be individually addressed, two-dimensional imaging can be performed with rotation only, eliminating the requirement for linear motion, e.g. with parallel coils array. Imaging with a stripe-type sensor of particular width and thickness (where width is much larger than thickness) is resolution limited only by the thickness (smaller parameter) of the sensor. Multiple sensor families can be produced where this imaging technique may be beneficial such as magneto-resistive, inductive, SQUID, and Hall effect sensors, and particularly in the field of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). |
| US08170314B2 |
Image processing device and image processing program storage medium
An image processing device has: an image acquisition section that acquires a plurality of photographic images obtained by photographing the same subject at different photography times; and a part identification section that identifies a portion where a predetermined part among parts that form the subject in the photographic images appears. The device further has: a first processing section that applies first matching processing, which matches two images by transforming one or both of the two images, to two of the plurality of photographic images; and a second processing section that applies second matching processing, which matches two images by transforming one or both of the two images and whose application range of the amount of transformation required for matching is different from that of the first matching processing, to the portion identified by the part identification section in the two of the plurality of photographic images. |
| US08170313B2 |
System and method for detecting status of imaging device
A system for detecting a status of an imaging device for use with a surgical navigation system is provided. The system can comprise a source of at least one image and a mask module that generates a mask array for each received image. The system can also include a background check module that determines a content of the image defined by the mask array and a radiation status module that determines a status of the imaging device based on the content of the image. |
| US08170309B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method thereof
A position specifying unit specifies three diagnostic positions corresponding to respective vertexes of a reference triangle on a myocardial boundary in a diagnostic image, a calculating unit matches three training positions with the three diagnostic positions for each of a plurality of training images and compares the diagnostic image with training myocardial area boundary data to obtain a similarity, and an output unit outputs training myocardial area boundary data having the highest similarity. |
| US08170308B2 |
Error adaptive functional imaging
A method for use in functional medical imaging includes adaptively partitioning functional imaging data as a function of a spatially varying error model. The functional image data is partitioned according to an optimization strategy. The data may be visualized or used to plan a course of treatment. In one implementation, the image data is partitioned so as to vary its spatial resolution. In another, the number of clusters is varied based on the error model. |
| US08170307B2 |
Automated wall motion quantification in aortic dissections
A computer implemented method of processing MRI images to determine one or more characteristics of an anatomical feature that includes obtaining one or more first MRI images of the anatomical feature; identifying a boundary of an anatomical feature in the MRI images; and using the identified boundary to mask one or more corresponding second MRI images of the anatomical feature to isolate the anatomical feature within the second MRI images. |
| US08170296B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program
An image processing apparatus includes a face-image storage unit storing a face image of a predetermined face as a registered face image; a color storage unit storing face-color information, which is information regarding a face color of the registered face image; a detector detecting a face image in an input image; a correcting unit correcting face-color information of the face image detected in the input image; and a comparator comparing the face image detected in the input image with the registered face image and obtaining a registered face image that is most similar to the detected face image as a comparison result. The correcting unit corrects face-color information of a face image detected in a next input image on the basis of the face-color information of the registered face image serving as the comparison result, which is stored in the color storage unit. |
| US08170286B2 |
Image processing apparatus, image processing method and image processing system
An image processing apparatus includes an input portion for entering an image signal from a camera, an exposure timing determination portion for determining exposure timing of the camera according to an object to be detected, an output portion for outputting a signal to the camera to expose it according to the exposure timing and for outputting a signal to an illumination controller to vary the state of the illumination system installed on a vehicle according to the exposure timing, and an image analysis portion for analyzing the image signal captured by the camera according to the exposure timing and outputting the results of the analysis to another controller via the output portion. |
| US08170285B2 |
Systems and methods of vehicle image processing
An image processing system and the like capable of recognizing a lane mark in a road image with high accuracy are provided even if a light illumination state on a road surface is partially different. According to the image processing system (100) mounted on a vehicle (10), a color component (Rij, Gij, Bij) of the first pixel (Pij) included in an area (Aij) set in the road image is corrected with reference to a color component (Rik, Gik, Bik) of a second pixel (Pik) in view of a fact that it is highly probable that the color component of the second pixel included in the area along with the first pixel is affected by a shadow or light on the road surface. This reduces the effect of the shadow or light on the road surface and the actual color of a road surface portion corresponding to the first pixel can be sufficiently reflected in the color components (Rij, Gij, Bij) of the first pixel (Pij) and consequently in a feature value (Qij). Therefore, a lane mark (M) and its edge (E) are recognized in the road image on the basis of the feature value (Qij) of each pixel (Pij) in the road image. |
| US08170284B2 |
Apparatus and method for displaying image of view in front of vehicle
An apparatus and a method for displaying an image of a view in front of a vehicle, each of which detects edges in a monochrome image obtained by a camera, which is mounted on the vehicle and photographs a view in front of the vehicle, to generate an edge image indicative of the detected edges only, determines an object forming an area surrounded with edges in the edge image; and assigns a color to the determined object for each edge-surrounded area of the edge image in order to make an estimated color image. |
| US08170283B2 |
Video surveillance system configured to analyze complex behaviors using alternating layers of clustering and sequencing
Techniques are disclosed for a video surveillance system to learn to recognize complex behaviors by analyzing pixel data using alternating layers of clustering and sequencing. A video surveillance system may be configured to observe a scene (as depicted in a sequence of video frames) and, over time, develop hierarchies of concepts including classes of objects, actions and behaviors. That is, the video surveillance system may develop models at progressively more complex levels of abstraction used to identify what events and behaviors are common and which are unusual. When the models have matured, the video surveillance system issues alerts on unusual events. |
| US08170277B2 |
Automatic tracking apparatus and automatic tracking method
An automatic tracking apparatus is provided, which is capable of solving a failure occurred in an automatic tracking operation in connection with a zooming operation, and capable of tracking an object in a stable manner, while a zooming-up operation, or a zooming-down operation is carried out in a high speed.The automatic tracking apparatus is equipped with: a first object detecting unit 52 for detecting an object from an image photographed by a camera and inputted; a first zooming control unit 53 for changing zooming magnification of the camera in such a case that a dimension of the detected object is smaller than a predetermined dimension on the image; a second object detecting unit 55 for detecting the object from an image again photographed by the camera after the zooming magnification has been changed; a template matching unit 56 for comparing the object detected by the second object detecting unit with the image photographed by the camera so as to specify a position of the object and to track the object on the image; and a second zooming control unit 57 for controlling the zooming magnification of the camera in such a manner that a dimension of the object to be tracked becomes a predetermined dimension on an image which is photographed by the camera. |
| US08170274B2 |
Method and apparatus for hiding data for halftone images
We propose methods for generating a halftone image, in which each pixel takes one of two tone values. The generated image contains hidden data, which is present at data storage pixels chosen using a pseudo-random number generator. In a first case, the data is hidden within an existing halftone image by reversing the tone value at certain of the data storage pixels, and at pixels neighbouring the data storage pixels. In a second case, the halftone image is generated from a grey-scale image, and data is hidden during this conversion process. |
| US08170263B2 |
Rigging system for line array speakers
The invention provides a system for enabling the assembly and suspension of a plurality of loudspeakers in a line array where the splay angle between the adjacent speakers can be adjusted and rigidly maintained. The line array system utilizes rigging frames that allow for the coupling and supporting of the loudspeakers through the use of adjustable hinge bars. The rigging frames and adjustable hinge bars together form and rigidly maintain the splay angles between adjacent loudspeakers and correspondingly the curvature of the line array speaker assembly. |
| US08170256B2 |
Microphone assembly for minimizing acoustic feedback from a loudspeaker
A microphone assembly for desktop communication systems utilizes a directional microphones in a desktop conferencing system without exposing the microphone to unfavorable mechanical or acoustic influence. The microphones is built into the front portion of the base of the system, in a mechanically controlled and robust way. The microphone assembly maximizes microphone sensitivity in the direction of a near end user while simultaneously minimizing microphone sensitivity in the direction of the loudspeaker. |
| US08170255B2 |
Enclosure for acoustic insulation of an apparatus contained within said enclosure
An enclosure with a substantial rectangular configuration, adapted to contain an apparatus sensitive to acoustic vibrations, the enclosure comprising walls and acoustic damping material located within the wall, wherein the acoustic damping material comprises at least one absorbing body of acoustic energy absorbing material located adjacent to a rib of the enclosure.The acoustic vibrations most disturbing the processes in the apparatus within the enclosure are caused by standing acoustic waves within the enclosure with frequencies in the range between 50 Hz and 1000 Hz. These acoustic waves are efficiently damped by the provision of a block of acoustic absorbing material adjacent to one of the ribs of the enclosure, to such an extent that the need for thick walls of the enclosure is substantially obviated, leading to a less voluminous enclosure. |
| US08170254B2 |
Low profile loudspeaker
A loudspeaker includes a toroidal shaped housing and at least one driver positioned within the housing. The driver is mounted within an arcuate enclosure such that a forward portion of the driver transmits sound beyond the enclosure and the rearward portion of the driver is substantially confined within the enclosure. |
| US08170252B2 |
Dual percutaneous anchors bone conduction device
A bone conduction device for enhancing the hearing of a recipient, comprising: a sound input element configured to receive an acoustic sound signal; an electronics module configured generate an electrical signal representing the acoustic sound signal; a transducer configured to generate mechanical forces representing the electrical signal for deliver to the recipient's skull; and dual percutaneous anchors coupled to the transducer and configured to receive and transmit the mechanical forces. |
| US08170250B2 |
One-size-fits-most hearing aid
A hearing-aid device comprising a housing and circuitry module, wherein the circuitry module comprises a battery, a microphone, and a receiver, and the circuit module is inserted in the hearing aid housing. The hearing aid device further comprises a retractable battery sleeve, wherein a battery slot is exposed when the battery sleeve is retracted, and a battery can be inserted into the battery slot from either side of the battery slot with either polarity. The hearing aid housing may comprise an ear-tip, wherein a microphone is mounted in the hearing aid housing near the ear-tip and the microphone receives sounds through at least one sound inlet located on a side surface of the hearing aid housing. The ear-tip additionally comprises three flanges decreasing in size toward the flange closest to the ear canal, and the hearing aid can be inserted into the ear canal in any orientation. |
| US08170249B2 |
Hearing aid having two receivers each amplifying a different frequency range
A hearing aid having two physically separate receivers, one for outputting low frequency (LF) acoustic sounds and another for outputting high frequency (HF) acoustic sounds. The LF receiver's output port is connected to a tube in which the HF receiver is inserted. The LF acoustic sounds either flow around the HF receiver, which include standoffs to space the HF receiver away from the inner tube wall, or through a channel in the HF receiver. At the output of the HF receiver, the LF and HF acoustic sounds are combined to form an acoustic signal that is transmitted to the ear canal. The LF receiver can be optimized for compliance, distortion, resonance frequency, and output. Its orientation is selected for reducing the overall size of the hearing aid. The HF receiver is smaller and placed far away from any microphone(s), reducing feedback effects, and may have a cylindrical or rectangular shape. |
| US08170248B2 |
Feedback compensation in a sound processing device
There is disclosed a sound processing device (300) configured to apply a frequency shift to at least one frequency component of a received sound signal and to amplify at least part of the received sound signal. The processing device (300) is also adapted to generate an estimated feedback signal for combination with the received sound signal via a phase inverting feedback canceller (314). Associated methods (400, 600) of processing a sound signal are also disclosed. |
| US08170242B2 |
Actuator systems for oral-based appliances
Actuator systems for oral-based appliances utilizing transducers which are attached, adhered, or otherwise embedded into or upon a dental or oral appliance to form a hearing aid assembly. Such oral appliances may be a custom-made device which receives incoming sounds and transmits the processed sounds via a vibrating transducer element. The transducer element may utilize electromagnetic or piezoelectric transducer mechanisms and may be positioned directly along the dentition or along an oral appliance housing in various configurations. |
| US08170241B2 |
Mobile tele-presence system with a microphone system
A remote controlled robot system that includes a robot and a remote control station. The robot includes a binaural microphone system that is coupled to a speaker system of the remote control station. The binaural microphone system may include a pair of microphones located at opposite sides of a robot head. The location of the microphones roughly coincides with the location of ears on a human body. Such microphone location creates a mobile robot that more effectively simulates the tele-presence of an operator of the system. The robot may include two different microphone systems and the ability to switch between systems. For example, the robot may also include a zoom camera system and a directional microphone. The directional microphone may be utilized to capture sound from a direction that corresponds to an object zoomed upon by the camera system. |
| US08170239B2 |
Virtual recording studio
A virtual recording studio is formed based on information from a number of different locations. One instrument may be located locally, and other instruments may be located remotely, for example accessible over the Internet. The remote instruments may be combined with outputs from other instruments, to create a virtual recording studio where parts of it are available over the Internet. An electronic music component may also be used. The remote and local capture information may also include cameras that capture video information or still image information and combines those parts together, either with each other, or with another part. |
| US08170236B2 |
Pitch detection apparatus and method
Band-pass filter suppresses frequency components of a sound signal that are lower than a low-side cutoff frequency and that are higher than a high-side cutoff frequency. Pitch detection section detects a pitch of the sound signal having been processed by the band-pass filter. Target setting section variably sets a low-side target value lower than the pitch detected by the pitch detection section and a high-side target value higher than the detected pitch. Filter control section causes the low-side cutoff frequency to approach the low-side target value over time and causes the high-side cutoff frequency to approach the high-side target value over time. In this way, a pass band of the band-pass filter can be smoothly variably controlled in accordance with pitch change of the sound signal that is an object of pitch detection. |
| US08170235B2 |
Hearing apparatus with unsymmetrical tone balance unit and corresponding control method
For hearing apparatus and especially for hearing devices a tone balance unit is to be able to be used even under difficult general conditions. Therefore a hearing apparatus with a signal processing device, through which signals are able to be processed in a number of frequency channels, and a control device for controlling the level of the individual frequency channels are provided. The setting device features an unsymmetrical tone balance unit related to a predetermined frequency with which at least one lower and at least one upper channel of the number of frequency channels related to a predetermined frequency is able to be simultaneously unsymmetrically adjusted relative to the predetermined frequency. Thus for example a tone balance unit can also be used with a low feedback limit in the upper frequency range. |
| US08170223B2 |
Constant-beamwidth loudspeaker array
A loudspeaker is provided for receiving an incoming electrical signal and transmitting an acoustical signal that is directional and has a substantially constant beamwidth over a wide frequency range. The loudspeaker may include a curved mounting plate that has curvature over a range of angles. The loudspeaker may include an array of speaker drivers coupled to the mounting plate. Each speaker driver may be driven by an electrical signal having a respective amplitude that is a function of the speaker driver's respective location on the mounting plate. The function may be a Legendre function. Alternatively, the loudspeaker may include a flat mounting plate. In this case, the respective electrical signal driving each speaker may have a phase delay that virtually positions the speaker onto a curved surface. |
| US08170220B2 |
Image sensing apparatus with selectably combinable microphone signals to obtain desired directivity
Provided is an image sensing apparatus in which directivity can be changed in accordance with the position of the shooter. The image sensing apparatus includes a video shooting unit, at least four microphones placed around the video shooting unit, and an audio signal processing unit adapted to synthesize audio signals from two microphones among the at least four microphones, thereby outputting a synthesized audio signal from a specific direction of the video shooting unit. The apparatus further includes a selecting unit adapted to select the position of a shooter. The audio signal processing unit includes a directivity changeover unit adapted to change over directivity by changing a combination of the two microphones in accordance with a selection output signal the said selecting unit. |
| US08170217B2 |
Audio signal processing apparatus
An audio signal processing apparatus is provided. The audio signal processing apparatus comprises a clock generator, a processing module, an amplifying module and an output module. The clock generator is used for generating a clock signal. The processing module is coupled to the clock generator for processing the clock signal and generating a processing signal. The amplifying module is coupled to the processing module for amplifying the processing signal and generating an amplifying signal. The output module is coupled to the amplifying module for outputting the amplifying signal. |
| US08170211B2 |
Hub device for a network comprising quantum cryptographic connections and node module for said hub device
The invention relates to a node device (21) for a network (20) comprising quantum cryptographic connections (1) provided with quantum channels (4) and public channels (5), comprising quantum optics means (11) for connecting to the respective quantum channels, for generating secrets or keys by means of quantum cryptography, comprising means (13) for managing symmetrical secrets or keys, cryptography means (14) for generating cryptograms, and driver means (15) connected thereto for transmission via a public channel, wherein the means (15) for managing symmetrical secrets or keys and the cryptography and driver means (14; 15) are combined in a common node module (24) as central components (13, 14, 15) for a plurality of quantum channel connections, while the quantum optics means (11) are provided separately in decentral modules (23) for the plurality of quantum channel connections. |
| US08170210B2 |
Device for and a method of processing data stream
A device (2300) for processing a data stream (1800), wherein the device (2300) comprises a splitting unit (2305) for splitting adjacent frames (1902) of a partially decrypted data stream (1900), the partially decrypted data stream (1900) comprising decrypted frame boundary portions (1901) between adjacent frames (1902), at the frame boundary portions (1901), a replication unit (2306) for replicating split frames (1902) a number of times in accordance with a predetermined replication rate and a connecting unit (2307) for connecting the replicated split frames (1902). |
| US08170206B2 |
Enciphering apparatus and method, deciphering apparatus and method as well as information processing apparatus and method
The invention provides an enciphering apparatus and method, a deciphering apparatus and method and an information processing apparatus and method by which illegal copying can be prevented with certainty. Data enciphered by a 1394 interface of a DVD player is transmitted to a personal computer and a magneto-optical disk apparatus through a 1394 bus. In the magneto-optical disk apparatus with which a change to a function is open to a user, the received data is deciphered by a 1394 interface. In contrast, in the personal computer with which a change to a function is open to a user, the enciphered data is deciphered using a time variable key by a 1394 interface, and a result of the decipherment is further deciphered using a session key by an application section. |
| US08170205B2 |
Processor apparatus
The control unit includes a CPU which generates an access signal for performing writing or reading on the external memory, encryption/decryption means which, when the access signal is used for writing, encrypts an address designated by the CPU to generate a write address and encrypts write data contained in the access signal to generate write encrypted data, and which, when the access signal is used for reading, encrypts an address designated by the CPU to generate a read address and decrypts the encrypted data read from the external memory to generate plaintext data, and external control means which writes the write encrypted data in a position designated by the write address generated by the encryption/decryption means and which reads the encrypted data from a position designated by the read address generated by the encryption/decryption means and supplies the same to the encryption/decryption means for its decryption. |
| US08170199B2 |
Echo canceller
In a speech communication device capable of bidirectional communication, a clock deviation between the speaker side (the receiving side) and the microphone side (the transmitting side) is detected, and based on the above deviation, either a first frequency signal (speaker signal (reference signal)) or a second frequency signal (microphone signal) is frequency-shifted in the frequency domain, and therefore, an influence caused by the clock deviation can simply be corrected without an increased processing amount, and thus, an echo can be suppressed effectively. |
| US08170195B2 |
Methods and systems for verifying typed objects or segments of a telephonic communication between a customer and a contact center
A computer readable medium for controlling a computer is provided. The computer readable medium comprises a plurality of code segments for controlling a computer. A code segment receives a telephonic communication comprised of voice data and event data. A code segment receives computer application data comprising data associated with at least one computer application in use during the telephonic communication. A code segment analyzes the telephonic communication by translating the received voice data into a text format, the text format defining a plurality of components. At least one component of the text data and communication event data occurring during a time interval is classified into one of a plurality of object types, and the computer application data during the time interval is compared to the object type of the classified components. |
| US08170193B2 |
Spatial sound conference system and method
The spatial sound conference system enables participants in a teleconference to distinguish between speakers even during periods of interruption and overtalk, identify speakers based on spatial location cues, understand low volume speech, and block out background noise using spatial sound information. Spatial sound information may be captured using microphones positioned at the ear locations of a dummy head at a conference table, or spatial sound information may be added to a participant's monaural audio signal using head-related transfer functions. Head-related transfer functions simulate the frequency response of audio signals across the head from one ear to the other ear to create a spatial location for a sound. Spatial sound is transmitted across a communication channel, such as ISDN, and reproduced using spatially disposed loudspeakers positioned at the ears of a participant. By inserting a spatial sound component in a teleconference, a speaker other than the loudest speaker may be heard during periods of interruption and overtalk. Additionally, speakers may be more readily identified when they have a spatial sound position, and the perception of background noise is reduced. |
| US08170192B2 |
Personalized conference call system and method
An enhancement for an electronic calendar provides a single call-in number and, preferably a pass code established for a user/participant in any and all conference call(s) in which use of the invention is authorized by an owner/caller initiating a conference call. The call-in number accesses the computer corresponding to the user/participant and is redirected to the conference call using information which is stored in memory separate from the electronic calendar and thus not accessible therefrom. |
| US08170191B2 |
Method and system for handling audio signals of conference
A new system and method particularly useful in handling the audio of a “large” conference is disclosed. The system and method initially defines certain conferees as panel members, which can provide audio to and receive audio from the conference, and audience members, which only passively receive audio from the conference. In one aspect, an audience member can request to participate in the conference. By making an appropriate request, the audience member can, if system resources are adequate, participate fully as a panel member and may supply audio to the conference for at least some portion of time. Alternatively, the audience member can supply information other than audio data to the conference, such as voting data or other data allowing the audience member to participate in the conference as more than a merely passive listening participant. |
| US08170189B2 |
Cross-platform message notification
Systems, methods, and machine-readable media are disclosed to provide notification of receipt of a communication across multiple platforms of potential diverse types. Cross-platform message notification can comprise receiving a request to initiate a communication from an initiating end device. The request may identify a single intended recipient device. A plurality of possible recipient devices can be identified for the request to initiate a communication based on user profile information from a user of the initiating end device. The request to initiate a communication can be forwarded to each of the plurality of possible recipient devices at substantially a same time. The initiating end device can be connected to one of the plurality of possible recipient devices based on a response from at least one of the possible recipient devices. |
| US08170184B2 |
Systems and methods for recording resource association in a recording environment
Included are embodiments for channel mapping. At least one embodiment of a system includes an initiating component configured to initiate a communication with a communications device, the communications device being coupled to a first extension. Some embodiments include a receiving component configured to receive recording data from a plurality of extensions at a plurality of recording resources, the plurality of extensions including the first extension and at least one other extension. Similarly, some embodiments include a first determining component configured to determine a channel that received the initiated communication. |
| US08170182B2 |
Enhanced call tracing
Methods, devices, and systems are provided for employing an efficient call tracing algorithm. Messages may be filtered according to an initial filter criteria, then messages that meet the initial filter criteria are analyzed to develop a secondary filter criteria. The first and/or second filter criteria can then be applied to subsequently transmitted messages for a predetermined amount of time, most likely relating to the length of the call which met the first filter criteria. |
| US08170181B1 |
Compact multifunction 5-terminal type compatible telephone line tester
A compact multifunction 5-terminal type compatible telephone line tester has batteries fitted in its frontal access shaft that fits into a to be tested connector between tightly arrayed protectors assembled in a cross connect box. A light powered by the battery is integrated at the tester front face in between the connection pins. The protector removed from the to be tested connector may be inserted in a terminal that laterally extends from the tester. An electric circuit tests and indicates the protector condition and switches the light on upon manual pushing of a switch. The electric circuitry is powered by the batteries. A mechanical switch is actuated by the protector housing while the protector is connected to the terminal for automated protector through connection to the to be tested connector. Lateral terminals and a jack connector on the back side provide access to the connector. |
| US08170176B2 |
X-ray CT system, a recording medium that stores control program for the same and a method of determining an image result in case of capturing CT images
An imaging-condition setting part that sets a plurality of CT-image imaging conditions, including an electric amount for driving and controlling an X-ray tube during CT imaging, based on a scout image that has been imaged by irradiating X-rays from the X-ray tube, to a subject on a top board, that has been stopped at least one of said first position and said second position; and a calculating part that judges whether there are any detection elements that are expected to detect an X-ray dosage exceeding a predetermined value and outputs the judgment result when the X-ray tube is stopped at least one of the first position and the second position relative to the subject on the top board and X-rays are irradiated from the X-ray tube through driving and controlling based on the electric amount. |
| US08170173B2 |
Passive emergency feedwater system
A power module assembly includes a reactor vessel containing a reactor core surrounded by a primary coolant. A containment vessel is adapted to be submerged in a containment cooling pool and to prohibit a release of the primary coolant outside of the containment vessel. A secondary cooling system is configured to remove heat generated by the reactor core. The heat is removed by circulating liquid from the containment cooling pool through the primary coolant. |
| US08170169B2 |
Serializer deserializer circuits
A phase lockedcircuit comprising a phase detector for comparing an incoming serial data signal with a feedback clock signal and generating a digital phase detector output signal representing a phase difference between the incoming data signal and the feedback clock signal; a dual path filter for receiving the phase detector output signal, the dual path filter including a first path for generating a digital proportional output signal that is proportional to the phase detector output signal and a second path having an integral digital filter for generating a digital integral output signal that is proportional to an integral of the phase detector output signal; and a digitally controlled oscillator for receiving the proportional output signal and the integral output signal as tuning inputs and generating in dependence thereon an output clock signal from which the feedback clock signal is obtained. The circuit can be implemented in a receive path of a serializer/deserializer. |
| US08170167B1 |
System and method for reducing electromagnetic interference and ground bounce in an information communication system by controlling phase of clock signals among a plurality of information communication devices
A communication system including a plurality of communication devices configured to operate according to a plurality of communication clock signals, respectively, wherein the plurality of communication clock signals are based on a common reference clock signal. The communication system further includes a phase-locked loop configured to generate an output signal in response to the common reference clock signal, wherein the output signal is in phase lock with the common reference clock signal; a signal division controller configured to generate a divider reset signal in response to a binary select signal; and a divider configured to generate one of the plurality of communication clock signals by performing frequency division of the output signal, wherein the divider reset signal controls a start time of the frequency division. |
| US08170161B2 |
Hybrid switched-phased diversity system and method
A receiver system and method are provided, wherein the system includes a plurality of antenna elements, and a receiver device configured to emit an output based upon the received signal. The receiver device communicates a control signal that corresponds to a determined signal quality of the received signal. The receiver system also includes a switch system adapted to switch among the plurality of antenna elements in a plurality of modes, wherein the switch system includes a first switch device and a second switch device. Further, the system includes a controller that receives the control signal, wherein the controller commands the switch system to operate in a first mode utilizing the first switch device when the determined signal quality is above a threshold value, and the controller commands the switch system to operate in a second mode utilizing the second switch device when the determined signal quality is below a threshold value. |
| US08170159B2 |
Preamble noise cancellation circuit
A preamble noise cancellation circuit according to an aspect of the invention may include: a coupler dividing an input signal; a preamble noise detection unit subtracting a predetermined reference preamble signal from a received preamble signal output from the coupler to detect preamble noise included in the received preamble signal; and a noise cancellation unit subtracting the preamble noise detected by the preamble noise detection unit from the received preamble signal output from the coupler. |
| US08170157B2 |
Low jitter communication system
The communication system having a transmitter and a receiver, wherein the transmitter and the receiver are coupled by a clock channel and a data channel, wherein the clock channel is shorter than the data channel and wherein the receiver comprises a delay circuit for extracting a jitter signal from a clock channel signal, delaying the extracted jitter signal, and generating a receiver clock signal for the receiver by the delayed jitter signal. |
| US08170153B2 |
Method for deciding position of mapping symbols, and device and method for modulating binary signal
Disclosed is a binary signal modulator for minimizing deterioration of receiving performance caused by phase error. The binary signal modulator receives binary signals, and converts the binary signals into complex symbols according to a predetermined mapping relation. Here, the mapping relation is generated when a plurality of mapping symbols are arranged on a plurality of trajectories so that the distance between the mapping symbols is greater than or equal to a predetermined distance and the phase between the mapping symbols is greater than or equal to a predetermined angle from among the trajectories starting from a plurality of points on the complex plane, and a distance between the trajectories is greater than or equal to the minimum distance from among the distances between the points. |
| US08170147B2 |
Apparatus for cancelling DC offset and method thereof
An apparatus and method for canceling a DC offset efficiently removes the DC offset by calculating the DC offset after acquiring synchronization in a terminal receiver used for an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing system. The apparatus for canceling the DC offset includes an adding/averaging unit (130), an accumulator (140), a synchronization determiner (150), and a pulse density modulation signal generator (160). The adding and averaging the added input data signals over one frame. The accumulator (140) outputs a DC offset control value by successively accumulating the DX offsets calculated from the adding and averaging unit. The synchronization determiner (150) determines whether to output the DC offset control value provided by the accumulator (140) based on synchronization information. The pulse density modulation signal generator (160) generates a digital pulse density modulation signal based on a representative value provided by the synchronization determiner (150). |
| US08170137B2 |
Method and system for transmitting data from a medium access control device via a physical layer to an antenna
The invention relates to a method and a system for transmitting data from a medium access control device (2) via a digital interface (IF1) to a physical layer (4) and to an antenna (5), wherein the physical layer (4) comprises a base band (4) with a base band controller (7) and a data processing pipeline (3) comprising a plurality of functional blocks (FB1 . . . 13), comprising the steps of: detecting an end of a frame of payload data, which leaves the antenna (5), at a predetermined point (P1 to P3) within the data processing pipeline (3), especially at the end of the data processing pipeline (3), thereupon, starting a timer (T1) for delaying a de-assertion of an activity signal (PHY_ACTIVE) of the physical layer (4), and after expiration of the timer (T1), de-asserting the activity signal (PHY_ACTIVE). |
| US08170135B2 |
Methods and apparatus for emitter detection
A method is provided for coordinating detection of emitted signals by a receiver with transmission of signals by a transmitter, wherein the receiver and the transmitter are located on the same platform. The receiver scans a surrounding environment to detect emitted signals in multiple frequency ranges while the transmitter transmits signals in a predetermined frequency range. The receiver may employ dwells which may be defined as receiver configurations. A dwell, when executed, may be used to detect signals in a certain frequency range. If a frequency range of the dwell conflicts with the frequency range of transmitter signals, which may result in interference of transmitter signals with detection of emitted signals, execution of the dwell may be delayed. If the frequency range of the dwell is such that transmitter signals do not interfere with execution of the dwell, the dwell can be executed. |
| US08170134B2 |
Transmitter and a method for duplicating same
The present invention is intended to realize a transmitter whose internal signal processing function can be duplicated without having to add any hardware components. The transmitter converts an input signal into an output signal using a plurality of calculation steps, comprising a backward calculation means for executing the plurality of calculation steps in reverse direction. |
| US08170126B2 |
Reference signal structure for OFDM based transmissions
A method for transmitting a plurality of sequences across a plurality of bands of a wireless spectrum is described in which a first sequence is produced using a set of reference signal sequences, wherein the set of reference signal sequences comprises at least CAZAC sequences and near-CAZAC sequences. A second sequence is also produced. The first sequence is transmitted in a first band of the wireless spectrum, and the second sequence is transmitted in a second band of the wireless spectrum. The first and the second sequences are transmitted concurrently by a same user equipment. |
| US08170123B1 |
Media acceleration for virtual computing services
Streaming media is problematic for thin clients using remoting protocols like RDP that were never designed to handle the volume of data associated with multimedia. The result is large demands on the host computer and thin client CPU and excessive bandwidth on the network, which results in a poor display quality. A process running on a host computer detects an existing multimedia acceleration channel to a thin client and also identifies unaccelerated media streams like Adobe Flash. The unaccelerated content is automatically re-encoded using a codec format supported by the thin client acceleration channel. This results in a significant improvement in the quality of the streaming media displayed on the thin client and overall reductions in host CPU load, network bandwidth and thin client CPU load. No additional software is required on the thin clients to support new media types including Adobe Flash. |
| US08170121B2 |
H.264/AVC based approach to scalable video compression
A scalable video compression method and apparatus for encoding an input frame sequence having temporally sequential frames includes partitioning each of the frames of the input frame sequence into a top field and a bottom field to form a base layer sequence of fields and an enhancement layer sequence of fields. The base layer sequence and the enhancement layer sequence each comprise temporally alternating top and bottom fields of the partitioned frames of the input frame sequence. The base layer sequence and the enhancement layer sequence are encoded, wherein at least one field of the enhancement layer sequence is encoded in dependence upon at least one of the fields of the base layer sequence. |
| US08170119B2 |
Apparatus and method for playing content based on the last-watched-point of series content
An apparatus and method are provided for playing content by searching for information on the last-watched-point with respect to the content that a user watched previously, with only a selection of a file name of selected content when playing series content. The apparatus includes an information-extracting unit which extracts a series title and a program title with respect to specific content based on an electronic program guide of the series content, a control unit which generates a file name based on the extracted series title and program title, an item-generating unit which generates a content item based on the extracted series title and program title, and the generated file name, and a retrieval unit which, if the specific content is to be played, extracts a last-watched-point value by searching for information on a play point corresponding to the file name. |
| US08170118B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method and recording medium
Encoding parameters of picture and higher layers of importance to a number of applications, and encoding parameters of slice and lower layers of no importance to all applications are converted into auxiliary packets inserted respectively into a V-blanking area and an H-blanking area of a video-data signal output by a history-information-multiplexing apparatus employed in a video-decoding system. On the other hand, a video-encoding system extracts back the auxiliary packets superposed on the V-blanking area and the H-blanking area from an input base-band video signal. As a result, a technique of superposing information on data can be changed in accordance with the importance of the information and required information can be fetched with ease. |
| US08170117B2 |
Digital broadcast receiving apparatus, digital broadcast receiving method, and storage medium
Intra-frame prediction coding data of a channel that the viewer is not viewing is stored. When the viewer has switched channels to be viewed, the stored intra-frame prediction coding data is output during a period before intra-frame prediction coding data of the newly selected channel is received. |
| US08170114B2 |
Method of decoding a macroblock based on a macroblock level of the macroblock
In one embodiment, the method includes obtaining a first reference frame picture list and a second reference frame picture list including multiple reference frame pictures respectively. A reference frame picture index is determined based on display order information for the multiple reference frame pictures. The method further includes obtaining first motion vector information and second motion vector information for the macroblock and obtaining a first reference field picture index and a second reference field picture index associated with the macroblock. A first reference frame picture and a second reference frame picture are determined. The method further includes selecting first and second reference field pictures for the macroblock. The macroblock is decoded based on the first and second motion vector information and the selected first and second reference field pictures. |
| US08170113B2 |
Encoder, data file, encoding method, computer readable medium and computer data signal
An encoder includes a prediction unit and a code generation unit. The prediction unit predicts target data and judges whether prediction is right or wrong. When the prediction unit judges that consecutive predictions for respective target data are wrong, the code generation unit generates coded data including symbols corresponding to the respective target data for which the consecutive wrong predictions are made, using a code representing number of the consecutive predictions judged as wrong. |
| US08170111B2 |
Moving picture encoding apparatus
Data of both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 is generated simultaneously with a small circuit scale and a small power consumption. A moving picture encoding apparatus for encoding a moving picture through motion-compensated inter-frame prediction has: a MPEG-2 encoding unit including a motion vector estimator, a frame memory, a forward prediction circuit, a bidirectional prediction circuit, a prediction selection circuit, an intra-frame encoding circuit and a local decoding circuit; a MPEG-4 encoding unit including a frame extraction circuit for extracting a predetermined MPEG-2 frame and a transcoder for encoding the extracted frame; a motion vector calculator calculating a motion vector to be used for MPEG-4 prediction from a motion vector to be used for MPEG-2 prediction; and a prediction mode controller controlling the prediction mode of the MPEG-2 encoding unit in such that the MPEG-2 prediction mode becomes coincident with the MPEG-4 prediction mode. |
| US08170110B2 |
Method and apparatus for zoom motion estimation
In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, the present invention provides method and apparatus for motion compensated prediction. Apart from translational motion, zoom motion is taken into account by sampling an interpolated frame with one or more selected sampling rates to generate one or more zoom reference frames; matching a frame with the zoom reference frames; and determining one or more motion data. |
| US08170108B2 |
Method and apparatus for decoding/encoding a video signal
The present invention provides a video signal decoding method including the steps of checking whether to perform luminance compensation of a current block, performing the luminance compensation on the current block, and performing motion compensation by considering the luminance compensation, wherein a prediction value for the luminance compensation is obtained from a neighbor block neighbor to the current block. |
| US08170107B2 |
Flexible reduced bandwidth compressed video decoder
A method of decoding a video bitstream is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) buffering the video bitstream in a main memory, the video bitstream comprising a first residual block based on a first motion compensated block, the first motion compensated block having been generated by a subpixel motion compensation using an N-tap interpolation on a plurality of first reference samples, (B) copying a first subset of the first reference samples from the main memory to an internal memory, (C) generating a first decode block using the subpixel motion compensation with an M-tap interpolation on the first subset in the internal memory, and (D) reconstructing a first original block by adding the first residual block to the first decode block. |
| US08170106B2 |
Video displaying apparatus and video displaying method
Apparatus including: a unit detecting a motion vector, among plural number of fields included in motion pictures, or fields, produced from the plural number of fields; a unit for converting the motion pictures into light-emission data for sub-fields; a unit for reconstructing the light-emission data for sub-fields, via calculating using the motion vector; and a unit for displaying the picture using the light-emission data outputted from the sub-field reconstruction unit, wherein the sub-field reconstruction unit selects the motion vector ending at a reconstruction target pixel of other one (1) field, among the motion vectors detected by the motion vector detection unit, and calculates a position vector, by multiplying a predetermined function onto this, and thereby reconstructing light-emission data for one (1) sub-field of the reconstruction target pixel, using the light-emission data for sub-fields corresponding to the one (1) sub-fields within the pixel, which is indicated by the position vector. |
| US08170103B2 |
Moving picture coding method and moving picture decoding method
A moving picture coding apparatus 1 includes a counter unit 102 which counts the number of pictures following an intra coded picture; and a motion estimation unit 101 which compares respectively only reference pictures which are the intra coded picture or the following pictures, selected from among a reference picture Ref1, a reference picture Ref2 and a reference picture Ref3 stored in memories 408˜410, with a picture signal Vin, and determines the reference picture whose inter picture differential value is smallest. |
| US08170100B2 |
Video-information encoding method and video-information decoding method
A video-information encoding apparatus and decoding apparatus with a guarantee of a fixed processing time. By limiting the amount of data to be input into/output from a CABAC encoding unit and decoding unit on a unit-of-encoding basis, such as one picture, slice, macroblock or block, and by encoding uncompressed video data, it is possible to provide a video-information encoding apparatus and decoding apparatus with a guarantee of a fixed processing time. Thereby, an apparatus with a guarantee of the processing time can be mounted. |
| US08170097B2 |
Extension to the AVC standard to support the encoding and storage of high resolution digital still pictures in series with video
A codec configured to operate in a sequential mode extends the current AVC standard in order to provide support for coding high resolution still image pictures within the AVC coding of a lower resolution video. The sequential mode codec is configured according to the modified AVC standard. The codec is capable of capturing an AVC video stream while concurrently capturing high resolution still images at random intervals relative to the video stream. Each captured high resolution still image is embedded within the video stream. The video stream including the embedded high resolution still images is encoded as a single layer bit stream. Each embedded high resolution still image signals or forces the start of a new GOP in the coded video sequence. The AVC standard is extended to include new syntax for the sequence parameter sets. In one embodiment, a modified sequence parameter set defines a new profile that signals the presence of a high resolution still image in sequence with AVC video. |
| US08170096B1 |
System and method for optimized encoding and transmission of a plurality of substantially similar video fragments
A system and method for stitching separately encoded MPEG video fragments, each representing a different rectangular area of the screen together into one single full-screen MPEG encoded video fragment. |
| US08170095B2 |
Faster image processing
Methods, medium, and machines associated with image processing performance are disclosed. Image data may be copied from input memory to main memory before performing CPU intensive operations, and efficiently copied from memory thereafter. CPU intensive operations may include decryption, decompression, image enhancement, or reformatting. Real time compression may be achieved by sub-sampling each frame. A separate plane compression aspect may provide for distinguishing between regions of an image, separating and/or masking the original image into multiple image planes, and compressing each separated image plane with a compression method that is optimal for its characteristics. |
| US08170092B2 |
Odd-even interleaving while changing the operating mode in a digital video broadcasting (DVB) standard
A data processing apparatus to map input data symbols to be communicated onto sub-carrier signals of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM) symbols. The number of sub-carrier signals available from each of the OFDM symbols being variable between OFDM symbols and the input data symbols include first sets of data symbols and second sets of input data symbols. The data processing apparatus includes a controller, an address generator, and an interleaver memory. The controller is configured, when operating in accordance with an even interleaving process to read out a first set of the input data symbols from the interleaver memory on to the sub-carrier signals of an even OFDM symbol using read addresses generated by the address generator, and to write in a second set of the input data symbols into the interleaver memory using the addresses generated by the address generator. |
| US08170091B2 |
1K mode interleaver in a digital video broadcasting (DVB) standard
A data processor maps input symbols to be communicated onto a predetermined number of sub-carrier signals of an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM) symbol. The data processor includes an interleaver memory which reads-in the predetermined number of data symbols for mapping onto the OFDM sub-carrier signals. The interleaver memory reads-out the data symbols on to the OFDM sub-carriers to effect the mapping, the read-out being in a different order than the read-in, the order being determined from a set of addresses, with the effect that the data symbols are interleaved on to the sub-carrier signals. The set of addresses are generated from an address generator which comprises a linear feedback shift register and a permutation circuit. |
| US08170087B2 |
Correlation coprocessor
Apparatus and method for providing correlation in a CDMA receiver. A Generic Correlation Coprocessor comprises one or more correlation blocks. Each correlation block comprises a correlation input buffer coupled to one or more correlators. The correlators are coupled to an interpolator input buffer and to a correlator output buffer. One or more interpolators are coupled to the interpolation input buffer and to the correlation output buffer. The correlators correlate the received signal with PN codes to produce a correlated signal. The correlated signal is stored in the correlator output buffer and/or the interpolation input buffer, and provided from the interpolation input buffer to the one or more interpolators. The one or more interpolators interpolate the correlated signal to produce an interpolated signal. The interpolated signal is stored in the correlator output buffer. Signals are provided from the correlator output buffer to other receiver processing systems. |
| US08170084B2 |
Quick detection of signaling in a wireless communication system
Quick frequency tracking (QFT), quick time tracking (QTT), and non-causal pilot filtering (NCP) are used to detect sporadically transmitted signaling, e.g., paging indicators. For QFT, multiple hypothesized frequency errors are applied to an input signal to obtain multiple rotated signals. The energies of the rotated signals are computed. The hypothesized frequency error with the largest energy is provided as a frequency error estimate. For QTT, coherent accumulation is performed on the input signal for a first set of time offsets, e.g., early, on-time, and late. Interpolation, energy computation, and non-coherent accumulation are then performed to obtain a timing error estimate with higher time resolution. For NCP, pilot symbols are filtered with a non-causal filter to obtain pilot estimates for one antenna for non-STTD and for two antennas for STTD. The frequency and timing error estimates and the pilot estimates are used to detect the signaling. |
| US08170082B2 |
Cross-talk mitigation in global navigation satellite systems
Embodiments related to cross-talk mitigation are described and depicted. |
| US08170078B2 |
Laser system
A method and apparatus may comprise a line narrowed pulsed excimer or molecular fluorine gas discharge laser system which may comprise a seed laser oscillator producing an output comprising a laser output light beam of pulses which may comprise a first gas discharge excimer or molecular fluorine laser chamber; a line narrowing module within a first oscillator cavity; a laser amplification stage containing an amplifying gain medium in a second gas discharge excimer or molecular fluorine laser chamber receiving the output of the seed laser oscillator and amplifying the output of the seed laser oscillator to form a laser system output comprising a laser output light beam of pulses, which may comprise a ring power amplification stage. |
| US08170076B2 |
GaN laser element
In a GaN-based laser device having a GaN-based semiconductor stacked-layered structure including a light emitting layer, the semiconductor stacked-layered structure includes a ridge stripe structure causing a stripe-shaped waveguide, and has side surfaces opposite to each other to sandwich the stripe-shaped waveguide in its width direction therebetween. At least part of at least one of the side surfaces is processed to prevent the stripe-shaped waveguide from functioning as a Fabry-Perot resonator in the width direction. |
| US08170075B1 |
Method and apparatus for driving laser diodes
Apparatus and method for driving laser diodes with electrical power in pulsed operation. Pulsed power, for example using pulse-width modulation, is applied through an inductor in one or more parallel regulator circuits having little or no output capacitance to provide a high-efficiency laser-diode-driver power supply. Some embodiments that use two or more parallel regulator circuits in the laser-diode driver, drive each from a different phase of a clock signal. Some embodiments provide a first DC-to-DC converter has a relatively high-voltage input (e.g., about 275 volts, 0.75 amps) and an intermediate output of, e.g., 11 to 15 volts, 15 to 11 amps used to charge a storage capacitor, and a second DC-to-DC converter diode driver having one or more parallel circuits (each having, e.g., a PWM switching-mode controller and its respective switch, inductor, and diode) to turn on, regulate, and turn off a constant laser-diode current through one or more laser diodes. |
| US08170070B2 |
Method and circuit for interleaving, serializing and deserializing camera and keypad data
A system for interleaving high speed data and slower data that is serialized and delivered to a microprocessor. The typical source of the high speed data is a camera and the source of the slower data is a keyboard. The high speed data and the slower data, illustratively, are interfaced with a micro-processor in a parallel fashion. The present invention mirrors the parallel interface to the microprocessor, and mirrors the parallel interface to the sources of the high speed (camera) and slower (keypad) data. The present system formats parallel data from the sources and passes that data in serial form, typically with a clock, on a flexible cable that joins two sections of many cell phones or other hand held devices. |
| US08170064B2 |
Method and apparatus for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing communication
A method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving a digital signal using an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication system are provided. In this method, subcarriers are split into a plurality of subcarrier groups according to available frequency bandwidths and are respectively transmitted in a transmitting portion and the subcarrier groups are combined and are restored to the original signal in a receiving portion. Therefore, wireless resources may be used efficiently by combining with cognitive radio technology. |
| US08170062B2 |
Packetized interface for coupling agents
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a fabric on a first semiconductor die to communicate with at least one agent on the die according to an on-chip protocol and a packetization layer coupled to the fabric to receive command and data information from the fabric on multiple links and to packetize the information into a packet for transmission from the die to another die via an in-package packetized link. Other embodiments are described and claimed. |
| US08170059B2 |
System and method for mobile multimedia messages
Systems and methods are provided for processing forward link only (FLO) messages. A device for processing forward link only (FLO) wireless messages comprises receiving a FLO message and processing the FLO message including a header, an 8-bit FLO information block field, a 7-bit FLO count, an RF channel identifier, a transmit mode indicator, an outer code rate, and a stream identifier. |
| US08170058B2 |
Communications device, communications method, and storage medium
A communications device is provided which receives data frames in FIR communications mode even if the device has failed to normally receive a connect frame in SIR communications mode.A communications device according to the invention includes an incoming frame processing section for receiving an SNRM frame and UI frames in different frame formats. The SNRM frame contains a setting for a connection for data communications. The UI frames contain data. The communications device also includes a reception processing section and connect command notification sections. The reception processing section renders a light reception section stand by for reception of the UI frames in FIR communications mode. The connect command notification sections generate a connect command for output to an upper layer. The connect command enables establishing of the same connection when a data frame is received from another communications device as when a connect frame was received from the other communications device. |
| US08170057B2 |
Communication-processing apparatus and its method
A transmitter and a receiver each have an apparatus for carrying out retransmission processing at a TCP layer and an apparatus for carrying out encrypted-data communication at an IPSec layer. The apparatus operating at the IPSec layer has a buffer for storing encrypted data transmitted by the transmitter. When a request for retransmission of data is received from the receiver, in spite of an operation carried out at an IP layer, information available at the TCP layer is obtained and data corresponding to the encrypted data stored in the buffer is returned to the receiver in response to the request. |
| US08170052B2 |
Method of operating a network node of a network, a network node, a network system, a computer-readable medium, and a program element
A method of operating a network node of a network, a network node, a network system, a computer-readable medium, and a program element A method (300) of operating a network node (101-104) of a network system (100), comprising the steps of generating (305) a signal to be transmitted, selecting (310) one of a plurality of communication channels (105-108) of the network system (100) for transmitting the signal, and, in case that the selected channel (105-108) is not ready for transmitting the signal, selecting (345) another one of the plurality of communication channels (105-108) for transmitting the signal. |
| US08170049B2 |
Method of random access and a method of transporting information in broadband wireless access system
A method of performing random access in a broadband wireless access system is disclosed. The method includes performing first random access through at least one of a plurality of random access channels, receiving information about the number of access-failed channels among the plurality of random access channels from a base station, when the first random access fails, and performing second random access according to a probability value calculated based on the received information. The present invention increases utilization of random access channels and can effectively schedule an uplink bandwidth, thereby providing an efficient ranging method. |
| US08170048B1 |
Dynamic spectrum allocation and access for user device
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, in which access allocations to a spectrum band and transmit rights to the access allocations are defined. Real-time auction bids for the transmit rights to the access allocations to the spectrum band are sent from a participating device, and the participating device iteratively increments the bids until a maximum bid is reached or a transmit right is awarded to the participating device. |
| US08170047B2 |
Data transmission with efficient slot and block formats in a wireless communication system
Techniques for transmitting data and training sequence efficiently using new slot and block formats are described. A transmitter processes (e.g., encodes, interleaves, and partitions) a data block to obtain multiple output blocks. For each output block, the transmitter generates multiple bursts having a training sequence that is shared by these bursts. The transmitter sends the multiple bursts for each output block in multiple time slots, e.g., consecutive time slots in one frame. The multiple bursts for each output block may (1) include one or more short training sequences, (2) omit guard periods between adjacent bursts, (3) include a first tail bit field at the start of the first burst and a second tail bit field at the end of the last burst, (4) include at least one stealing flag field, or (5) have any combination of the above. |
| US08170045B2 |
Class-based bandwidth partitioning
Class-based bandwidth partitioning of a sequence of packets of varying packet classes is performed, such as, but not limited to determining whether or not to admit a packet to a queue based on a probability corresponding to a class of packets associated with the packet, with this probability being based on measured arrival traffic and a fair share based on the length of the queue. Data path processing is performed on each packet to determine whether to admit or drop the packet, and to record the measured received traffic. Control path processing is periodically performed to update these probabilities based on determined arrival rates and fair shares for each class of packets. In this manner, a relatively small amount of processing and resources are required to partition bandwidth for a scalable number of classes of packets. |
| US08170044B2 |
Pipeline method and system for switching packets
A switching device comprising one or more processors coupled to a media access control (MAC) interface and a memory structure for switching packets rapidly between one or more source devices and one or more destination devices. Packets are pipelined through a series of first processing segments to perform a plurality of first sub-operations involving the initial processing of packets received from source devices to be buffered in the memory structure. Packets are pipelined through a series of second processing segments to perform a plurality of second sub-operations involved in retrieving packets from the memory structure and preparing packets for transmission. Packets are pipelined through a series of third processing segments to perform a plurality of third sub-operations involved in scheduling transmission of packets to the MAC interface for transmission to one or more destination devices. |
| US08170042B2 |
Transmit-side scaler and method for processing outgoing information packets using thread-based queues
Embodiments of a transmit-side scaler and method for processing outgoing information packets using thread-based queues are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed. In some embodiments, a process ID stored in a token area may be compared with a process ID of an application that generated an outgoing information packet to obtain a transmit queue. The token area may be updated with a process ID stored in an active threads table when the process ID stored in the token area does not match the process ID of the application. |
| US08170036B1 |
Systems and methods of voice chat
Systems and methods of exchanging voice chat information are provided. Voice chat information is received and the received voice chat information is placed into one or more packets. A control channel is selected and the one or more packets are transmitted over the selected control channel. The voice chat information can be transmitted in short messaging service (SMS) packets over the control channel. Moreover, voice chat information is exchanged between first and second communication stations by way of a SMS gateway, and media and signaling information are exchanged between the first and second communication stations independent on the SMS gateway. |
| US08170035B2 |
Data frame processing
A method and apparatus for bridging network protocols is disclosed. In one embodiment, a data frame is received and stored in a dual-port memory queue by hardware logic. An embedded processor is notified of the data frame once a programmable number of bytes of the data frame have been received and stored. Once notified, the embedded processor may then undertake to read the data frame from the memory queue while the hardware logic is still writing to the memory queue. In one embodiment, the processor may then translate the data frame's protocol and begin transmitting it out over a network connection, all while the data frame's payload is still being received. |
| US08170033B1 |
Virtual private local area network service (VPLS) flush mechanism for BGP-based VPLS networks
A network device includes a control unit configured to execute an extended layer three (L3) routing protocol within a control plane of the network device. The extended L3 routing protocol is extended to process a routing protocol control message having a set of layer two (L2) identifiers of customer devices attached to an autonomous system (AS) and an indicator that specifies a Route Target associated with a Virtual Private Local Area Network Service (VPLS) domain within the AS. The routing protocol control message conforms to a message type of the L3 routing protocol to initiate a flush of the set of L2 identifiers. |
| US08170031B2 |
High performance scheduling methods and apparatus for leveraging diversity in relay-enabled wireless networks
Apparatus and methods are described for scheduling transmission resources in a relay-enabled orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) wireless communications system. Schedulers are described which address the problem of determining the optimal transmission schedule across two hops in the presence of finite user buffers with methods that provide approximate solutions with worst-case performance guarantees and average-case performance that is close to the optimal. The solutions formulate the diversity scheduling problem as an integer program. The weights used in the formulation incorporate the various diversity gains. The integer program is relaxed to a linear program and solved. The resulting fractional solutions are then rounded to integral values. In the process, if buffer or channel feasibility is violated, such violations are addressed through appropriate mechanisms that provide performance guarantees. The relay hop fractional variables are rounded to integral values first. Then the access hop flow is updated based on the rounded relay hop flow. Finally, the access hop variables are rounded to integral values to provide the resulting flow schedule. |
| US08170029B2 |
Intermittent communication system, base station apparatus and mobile station apparatus
In an intermittent communication system where an intermittent communication can be made between a base station and a mobile station, a transmitting unit of the mobile station transmits a request to start a normal communication after stopping an intermittent communication at timing different from the intermittent communication if a handover is determined to be required. A transiting unit transits from the intermittent communication to the normal communication after the transmitting unit transmits the request. A handover performing unit performs a handover upon completion of transition to the normal communication by the transiting unit. |
| US08170027B2 |
Apparatus and method for supporting higher data rates on links with variable frame sizes
Methods and apparatus for communicating IP datagrams efficiently within communication links employing variable frame sizes bundles IP datagrams into data payloads. The number of datagrams that can fit within a current frame size is determined, a bundle header indicating that the bundle header is associated with a bundled IP datagram is generated that includes information for unpacking bundled IP datagrams. The bundle header is joined to one or more IP datagrams to form a data payload that is communicated as a frame payload without indicating in a frame header that the frame includes bundled IP datagrams. Information in the bundle header enables a receiver processor to extract the IP datagrams from the frame payload without requiring modifications to the frame header. A bundle header may precede each IP datagram, or one bundle header may include a map IP datagrams in the frame payload. |
| US08170017B2 |
Reliable, high-throughput, high-performance transport and routing mechanism for arbitrary data flows
The present invention leverages an existing content delivery network infrastructure to provide a system that enhances performance for any application that uses the Internet Protocol (IP) as its underlying transport mechanism. An overlay network comprises a set of edge nodes, intermediate nodes, and gateway nodes. This network provides optimized routing of IP packets. Internet application users can use the overlay to obtain improved performance during normal network conditions, to obtain or maintain good performance where normal default BGP routing would otherwise force the user over congested or poorly performing paths, or to enable the user to maintain communications to a target server application even during network outages. |
| US08170013B2 |
Automatic compensation of a delay of a synchronization signal in a packet switching network
The present invention relates to a sending device able to send packets in a network comprising at least two stations, the said device comprising means for extracting image pips on the basis of a synchronization signal, initializing an image counter on the basis of the image pips, initializing a counter every “m” zero-crossings of the image counter, the counter being regulated by a clock produced by the image counter, sampling the counter every period Tsmp, where Tsmp emanates from a time base synchronized on all the stations of the said network; and sending packets containing the samples of the counter in the network. According to the invention, it comprises means for receiving packets containing samples sent by a station of the network as echo to the samples and when samples are received for: evaluating a duration of propagation of samples over an outward-return trip between the said device and the said station; determining a phase shift value Δφ on the basis of the duration of propagation; sending the phase shift value Δφ in the network. |
| US08170010B2 |
Multiple interface mobile node with simultaneous home- and foreign network connection
The invention relates to a method for node management in a packet-switched network, wherein a first node acts as a proxy for a second node, both nodes having network-layer addresses and link-layer addresses, the network-layer addresses at the network layer and the link-layer addresses at the link layer being used for communication in the packet-switched network. The method comprises the following steps performed by the first node: The first node receives from the second node a request to receive and forward packets addressed to the second node's network-layer address, whereby the same network-layer address is associated with the first node and the second node, and the first node and the second node have distinct link-layer addresses. The first node advertises to nodes attached to the packet-switched network the first node's link-layer address as a destination address for the second node's network-layer address, while the second node does not advertise. The first node receives in response to advertising, packets destined to the second node's network-layer address having the first node's link-layer address; and forwards packets addressed to the second node's network-layer address to the second node using its link-layer address. |
| US08170008B2 |
Method and apparatus for accessing communication data relevant to a target entity identified by a number string
Service resource items for use in call setup in a telephone system are held on servers that are connected to a computer network which is logically distinct from the telephone system infrastructure; this computer network may, for example, make use of the Internet. Each service item is locatable on the network at a corresponding URI and is associated with a particular telephone number. A mapping is provided between telephone numbers and the URIs of associated service resource items. When it is desired to access a service resource item associated with a particular telephone number, this mapping is used to retrieve the corresponding URI which is then used to access the desired service resource item. |
| US08170003B2 |
Content recommendation system and method, and communication terminal device
A content recommendation system includes first and second communication devices which are connected to each other and in which content recommendation information is transmitted and received between both devices. The first communication device includes a storage section for storing pieces of content recommendation information to be transmitted, a selecting section for selecting a piece of content recommendation information to be transmitted from the storage section, and a transmitting section for transmitting the selected piece of content recommendation information. The second communication device includes a receiving section for receiving the piece of content recommendation information transmitted from the first communication device, and a storage section for storing the received piece of content recommendation information. |
| US08170001B2 |
Technique for synchronizing network access modules in a mobile communication device
A technique for synchronizing different network access modules in a mobile communication device is provided. A device embodiment (100) comprises a first network access module (102) having a first radio technology, or RAT, interface (114) and being clocked at a first clock frequency and a second network access module (104) having a second RAT interface (130) and being clocked at a second clock frequency, wherein the first clock frequency is different from the second clock frequency. A method implementation of this technique comprises the steps of generating a clock signal having the first clock frequency, outputting the clock signal for use as a first reference clock signal in the first network access module (102), converting the clock signal to the second clock frequency, and outputting the converted clock signal for is use a second reference clock signal in the second network access module (104). |
| US08170000B2 |
Method and apparatus for automatic frequency correction in a multimode device
A method and apparatus for synchronizing a system clock with a serving cell (102) associated with a first radio access technology and monitoring an adjacent cell (104) associated with a second radio access technology is provided. A communication device (100) includes a first synchronization device (205) capable of synchronization with the serving cell (102) and a second synchronization device (206) capable of independently synchronizing with the adjacent cell (104). The first synchronization device (205) and second synchronization device (206) include independent frequency correction modules (207,208). Thus, the second frequency synchronization device (206) may be corrected per the adjacent cell (104) while the first synchronization device (205) remains synchronized with the serving cell (102). Thus, the same corrected system clock may be used between two radio access technologies. |
| US08169999B2 |
Method and system for preserving content timing across femtocell interfaces via timestamp insertion
Aspects of a method and system for preserving content timing across femtocell interfaces via timestamp insertion are provided. In this regard, a femtocell may receive a first time-stamped packet via a first interface and transcode the time-stamped packet. The femtocell may buffer the transcoded packet based on a time-stamp recovered from the packet and may transmit the buffered transcoded packet via a second interface. One of the first interface and the second interface may utilize the Internet Protocol. One of the first interface and the second interface may be a non-cellular interface and the other interface may be a cellular interface. The femtocell may be operable to generate a timestamp corresponding to a time instant at which a time-stamped packet arrived via the first interface or the second interface. The timestamp may be referenced to a clock within a cellular enabled communication devices communicatively coupled to the femtocell. |
| US08169998B2 |
Method and system for an AD HOC wireless network with master control of network parameters
Aspects of a system for an ad hoc wireless network with master control of network parameters may include one or more circuits that enable generation of a beacon frame at a supervisory WLAN station wherein the generated beacon frame contains a supervisory role indication. The supervisory role indication enables the supervisory WLAN station to establish timing synchronization and network parameters that are utilized by a plurality of WLAN stations utilized for communicating within a wireless network. Aspects of the system may also include a WLAN station that enables communication via a wireless local area network by utilizing a timestamp value and network parameter values retrieved from a received beacon frame based on the presence of a supervisory role indication within the received beacon frame. |
| US08169996B2 |
Synchronized beacon for network having multiple radios
A network having multiple radios transmits a beacon signal from several radios substantially simultaneously. One embodiment includes a network having a communications backbone that connects several radio transceivers. Another embodiment includes a single station having multiple radio transceivers, which may or may not have directional antennas. Various methods for synchronizing the beacon signals may be used, including transmitting a heartbeat signal along the network so that the beacon signals are broadcast substantially simultaneously. |
| US08169994B2 |
System and method for frequency division multiple access communications
A method and system for wireless frequency division multiple access communications in the uplink and/or downlink directions, having an improved pilot insertion scheme for single carrier based communications is provided. A first time duration for transmission of a data payload block (7) is established, and the transmission is processed using a first frequency domain or a time domain. A second time duration for transmission of at least one pilot block (70) is established, and the transmission is processed using a second frequency domain or the time domain, the second time duration (70) is not greater than the first time duration (7). |
| US08169991B2 |
Interference mitigation in mobile units having location transmitters
A mobile device for data communications has a radio circuit for data communications with a wireless network access point and a radio tag for transmitting location-identifying radio signals. The radio circuit and the radio tag are co-located on a circuit board or are commonly powered. The operation of the radio circuit and the radio tag are segregated in time to avoid interference. Standard wireless network interface protocol functions are exploited to identify time intervals in which the radio circuit is inactive for data communications. These time intervals are used to operate the radio tag to transmit the location-identifying radio signals. |
| US08169990B2 |
Packetized audio data operations in a wireless local area network device
A wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiving integrated circuit includes a WLAN interface, an input buffer, an input buffer controller, and a processor. The WLAN transceiving integrated circuit may also include an output buffer, an output buffer controller, a transcoder, and/or an audio Coder-Decoder (CODEC). The WLAN transceiving integrated circuit is installed in a WLAN device that services voice communications. The input buffer receives packetized audio data from the WLAN interface. When the input buffer satisfies a buffer vacancy threshold, the processor and the input buffer controller cooperatively operate to fill at least a portion of the input buffer with packetized audio data. The processor copies packetized audio data from the input buffer and fills the input buffer with the copied packetized audio data to maintain an audio pattern in the input buffer. The input buffer controller fills the input buffer when the processor is available and after copying/filling is no longer effective. The processor operates to maintain the audio pattern when additional packetized audio data is received by the WLAN interface. These operations are also performed for the output buffer, which receives packetized audio data from the transcoder and writes the packetized audio data to the WLAN interface. |
| US08169987B2 |
Managed access point protocol
Methods, apparatuses and systems facilitating deployment and configuration of managed access points in hierarchical wireless network systems. An embodiment of the invention facilitates deployment and configuration of conventional, substantially autonomous access points operating in connection with a central management node, such as a server or appliance. In another embodiment, the present invention facilitates deployment and configuration of light-weight access points in a hierarchical wireless network system. In one embodiment, the present invention also provides a streamlined encryption key exchange protocol adapted to hierarchical wireless network system architectures. |
| US08169985B2 |
Coordinated beacon period (BP) merging for distributed wireless networks
The application describes a method to merge two wireless networks in which each terminal gets a beacon slot within the beacon period. In order to merge two networks, the beacon slots have to be time-coordinated such that the beacon slots of the first network are completed before the beacon slots of the second network begin. The method includes transmitting a beacon frame having a beacon period switch information element which instructs the neighboring terminals in the first network of the need to merge, provides clock synchronization information; provides the time of the merge; and informs the neighboring terminals which beacon slot to occupy in the beacon period of the merged network. In order to deal with hidden terminals, the information needs to be forwarded terminal-to-terminal within each network. |
| US08169983B2 |
Transcoder architecture for land mobile radio systems
A transcoder architecture and method for transcoding in land mobile radio (LMR) systems are provided. The LMR system includes a first communication site configured to communicate using a first LMR communication protocol and a second communication site configured to communicate using a second LMR communication protocol. The LMR system further includes a transcoder configured to receive LMR content from the first communication site communicated using the first LMR communication protocol and digitally convert the LMR content to the second LMR communication protocol to be communicated to the second communication site. |
| US08169975B2 |
Method for reserving propagation time by estimating channel environment in wireless personal area network
Provided is a method for reserving a propagation time by estimating a channel environment in a wireless personal area network. The method includes the steps of: a) measuring a propagation range to the reception station upon starting data transaction with the reception station; b) measuring an average Strength Signal (ARSS) for determining a final transfer speed upon checking a transfer speed corresponding to the propagation range to the measured reception station based on a pre-defined table; c) determining a final transfer speed based on the transfer speed corresponding to the propagation range to the reception station according to a result that the measured ARSS is compared with Upper Bound RSS (URSS) and Lower Bound RSS (LRSS); and d) reserving a next propagation time according to the determined final transfer speed. |
| US08169973B2 |
Power efficient enhanced uplink transmission
A method and arrangement in a mobile terminal such as a UE for selecting a transport format for an uplink transmission to a base station, wherein the selector selects a transport format from a set of transport formats which are generated based upon parameters of a radio connection established with the base station. Upon establishing a radio connection, the base station sends parameters to the UE describing a radio bearer configuration. The UE generates a set of transport formats based upon the radio bearer parameters. A classifier then classifies each of the transport formats in the set as either power-efficient or power-inefficient. When a grant is received from the base station, the UE derives a set of allowed transport formats. A transport format selector then selects a transport format that is both power-efficient and allowed. |
| US08169967B2 |
Method for performing handover by considering quality of service in broadband mobile communication system and system for providing the same
A system and method for performing a handover of a mobile station (MS) by considering Quality of Service (QoS) in a broadband mobile communication system. The method can include the steps of: receiving information about one or more neighbor base stations and reception strengths for the neighbor base stations from a Serving Radio Access System (RAS) currently communicating with the MS; extracting a value of a specific field from the received information about the neighbor base stations; combining the extracted value of the specific field with the reception strengths to thereby obtain combined values, and selecting a maximum value among the combined values; and transmitting a handover (handoff) request message to a base station corresponding to the selected maximum value. The system includes an MS that analyzes information about neighbor stations received in a Mobile Neighbor Base-station Advertisement (MOB_NBR_ADV) message to select a target RAS. |
| US08169964B2 |
Adaptive scheme for lowering uplink control overhead
The present invention is related to methods, apparatuses, systems and computer software for determining an amount of physical resources for downlink transmission, and allocating uplink physical resources for transmission of data-non-associated control signaling based at least on the amount of physical resources for downlink transmission. The amount of physical resources for downlink transmission comprises an amount of downlink control signaling. The present invention further relates to a framework for mapping the dedicated uplink control channels directly to single physical resource blocks. The framework is able to efficiently shift physical resources to and from the uplink control channel for ACK/NACK reports, in a data-non-associated control signaling scheme and on a per subframe basis. The present invention is also concerned with scheduler, for example an eNodeB scheduler, which uses its scheduling history and knowledge of user equipment capabilities to increase utilization of uplink resources. |
| US08169963B2 |
Allocation of signal-to-noise ratio margin in multi-carrier systems
Allocation of different signal-to-noise margins to different carriers in a multi-carrier system is described. A preferred embodiment comprises assigning signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) margins to carriers in a multi-carrier system, comprises assigning a first SNR margin to a first data service based upon a first service characteristic, assigning a second SNR margin to a second data service based upon a second service characteristic, transmitting data associated with the first data service using the first signal-to-noise margin, and transmitting data associated with the second data service using the second signal-to-noise margin. |
| US08169956B2 |
Mapping uplink acknowledgement transmission based on downlink virtual resource blocks
An acknowledgment (ACK) mapping automation that reduces overhead for a wireless communication systems such as UTRAN-LTE, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe Spécial Mobile), High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), or any packet-switched system, by providing a mapping of uplink (UL) location (i.e., modulation location in time, frequency and code) based upon a downlink (DL) allocations. Aspects address dynamic and persistent scheduling of user equipment (EU) with a selected combination of implicit and explicit mapping. |
| US08169952B2 |
Method and system for selective application of cellular-PBX integration service
A method and system for selectively applying a cellular-PBX integration service. When a radio access network (RAN) receives a call request seeking to set up a call for a cellular wireless communication device (WCD) that is operating in the coverage area of the RAN, a determination is made as to whether the WCD is currently checked-into a cellular-PBX integration service. A service control point (SCP), for instance, may make the determination. If the determination is that the WCD is currently checked-in, then the call is set up to an IP PBX server that services the WCD, and the IP PBX server may then handle the call as it would handle a call placed to any IP PBX extension. Further, differential billing can be applied, charging an enterprise billing-account for the call if the WCD is checked-in, and charging a WCD billing-account for the call if the WCD is not checked-in. |
| US08169949B1 |
Audio/video/media handoff split and re-providing
Ways for facilitating a method of controlling a media session that includes audio and video data are provide. One variation of the method includes establishing a wireless communications link between a source device and a target wireless device, receiving from the source device a media stream that includes audio information and video information, communicating a first portion of the audio information and video information to the target device, receiving an indication of a desire to receive a different portion of one or more of audio information and video information (the different portion being different from the first portion), and communicating to the target device, a modified portion of the media stream that is consistent with the indication. |
| US08169947B2 |
Method and apparatus for data-centric multiplexing
An apparatus and method for data centric multiplexing in a wireless communication system with a plurality of channels comprising assigning a first resource to a first of the plurality of channels; assigning a second resource to a second of the plurality of channels wherein the second resource is not the first resource; assigning a third resource to a third of the plurality of channels wherein the third resource is not the first or the second resource; and assigning a fourth resource to a fourth of the plurality of channels by puncturing at least one of the first, second or third resources and skipping the rest of unpunctured first, second or third resources. |
| US08169946B2 |
Aircraft communications system with hard handoff and associated methods
A communications system for an aircraft carrying at least some personnel having personal electronic devices (PEDs) for wireless data communications outside the aircraft includes a ground-based communications network comprising spaced apart base stations, and an access point in the aircraft for providing a WLAN for data communications with the PEDs. An air-to-ground transceiver in the aircraft cooperates with the access point for data communications with the ground-based communications network. First and second base stations define respective first and second adjacent coverage areas, and include respective first and second hard handoff controllers. The respective first and second hard handoff controllers implement a hard handoff of a data communications channel with the air-to-ground transceiver as the aircraft moves from the first coverage area to the second adjacent coverage area. |
| US08169945B2 |
Maintaining network connectivity
A network device may select between two or more network connections based on a determination of whether the network device can access general Internet resources via an available, higher-preference network without providing additional (e.g., OSI Model Layer Seven) login credentials. In one example, a network device includes a first network interface configured to maintain a connection to a first network gateway, a second network interface configured to connect to a second, different network gateway upon determining that the second network gateway is both available and preferable over the first network gateway, and means for determining whether a remote network resource is currently accessible via the second network gateway. When the remote network resource is accessible via the second network gateway, the second network interface maintains the connection to the second network gateway. |
| US08169941B2 |
QoS scheduling methods for WLANs with heterogenous applications
A wireless system (100) includes at least one power-save wireless station (PS STA)(102). A method of wireless includes allocating deterministic time intervals (206,207) to the PS-STAs. |
| US08169939B2 |
Mobile computation device and data packet reception method thereof
The present invention provides a mobile computation device and a data packet reception method thereof. The mobile computation device comprising a network communication module and a mobile computation unit, wherein the mobile computation device has a power supply for supplying power to the network communication module when the mobile computation device is in a power-off status, so that the network communication module receives a data packet from a network when the mobile computation device is in a power-off status. The method comprises sending an instruction of initiating downloading of communication content upon the reception of the data packet from the network, powering on relevant hardware necessary for the downloading of the communication content, initializing the relevant hardware and starting software corresponding to the downloading of the communication content, and downloading communication content needed to be downloaded from the network to a local harddisk. The present invention enables real time reception of communication service, fast power-on and automatic power-off of the device and reduction in power consumption. |
| US08169934B2 |
System and method for peer-to-peer staging of a mobile device
A system comprising a first mobile device and a second mobile device. The first mobile device includes a memory and an output arrangement. The memory stores a staging profile. The staging profile is used to configure at least a portion of the first mobile device. The second mobile device includes an input arrangement. The input arrangement obtains the staging profile from the output arrangement. At least a portion of the second mobile device is configured using the staging profile. |
| US08169932B2 |
QoS degradation point estimation method, QoS degradation point estimation device, and program
A QoS degradation point estimation device includes a flow set decision unit, a flow quality information collection unit, a path information collection unit, a flow link table management unit, and a QoS degradation point estimation unit. Before generating a flow link table associating QoS of a flow through a network with a link the flow passes through, the flow set decision unit preferentially selects a flow passing through almost ½ of the links of the network as a flow to be registered in the table. The flow quality information collection unit collects information of the QoS of the flow. The path information collection unit collects path information of the network. The flow link table management unit generates the table based on the information of the QoS and the path information. The QoS degradation point estimation unit estimates a QoS degradation link based on the table. |
| US08169929B2 |
Mobile communication method, mobile communication system, and radio base station
A mobile communication method includes: causing a cell under control of a radio base station to determine an initial granted value when an uplink user data transmission channel is set up between a mobile station and the cell under the control of the radio base station; causing a radio network controller to notify the mobile station of the initial granted value determined by the cell under the control of the radio base station; and causing the mobile station to transmit uplink user data via the uplink user data transmission channel at a transmission rate corresponding to the initial granted value after the uplink user data transmission channel is set up, and the cell under the control of the radio base station sets the initial granted value to be equal to the granted value used in transmitting only a single data unit on the uplink user data transmission channel. |
| US08169922B2 |
Diagnosing problems associated with route groups in a network
A system and method directed to diagnosing a problem associated with a route group in a network are disclosed. A problem associated with a route group is diagnosed by comparing inventory information associated with a route group to current route information associated with a router, where the router is associated with the route group. The process followed for diagnosing a problem associated with a route group depends on whether there is a mismatch between the inventory route information and the current route information. |
| US08169921B2 |
Methods and apparatus to monitor border gateway protocol sessions
Example methods and apparatus to monitor border gateway protocol sessions are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes detecting a failure of a first border gateway protocol (BGP) session and initiating a session-down timer in response to detecting the failure. The example method also includes generating a sustained-down alarm when a threshold time value of the session-down timer is exceeded before the first BGP session is re-established. |
| US08169920B2 |
Management interface and tool for benchmarking optical network topologies
A management tool facilitating benchmarking of optical network topologies. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving an identification of an optical network element, including network address information of the optical network element; receiving an identification of one or more optical network traffic generators, including access information of the optical network generators; and automatically accessing the identified optical network element, and one or more traffic generators in connection with execution of one or more tests on the optical network element. |
| US08169918B2 |
Received information monitor adaptive to multiple monitoring modes in a communication device
An apparatus for monitoring of received information in a communication device comprises a first buffer having a plurality of storage elements adapted to store respective portions of the received information, a second buffer coupled to the first buffer and having a plurality of storage elements corresponding to respective ones of the storage elements of the first buffer, and controller circuitry coupled to the buffers and operative to detect a message sequence comprising a plurality of the portions of the received information. The second buffer stores a previously-detected message sequence loaded from the first buffer into the second buffer under control of the controller circuitry. The controller circuitry in detecting a current message sequence is configurable in at least first and second different monitoring modes each associated with a different message format. The monitoring mode of the controller circuitry may be adaptively configured based at least in part on a detected message sequence. |
| US08169917B2 |
Tandem connection monitoring method in MPLS network
Disclosed herein are a Tandem Connection Monitoring (TCM) method in an MPLS network and a data structure of a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) OAM packet for TCM. When data are provided to users through an LSP path comprising multiple network provider in an MPLS network, the method makes it possible to independently measure LSP performance at a user level, a service provider level, and a network provider level, detect quality degradation of ingress signals by measuring performance of a preceding network, and newly measure the performance quality at the current network regardless of the performance quality of the preceding network. |
| US08169915B1 |
Method and apparatus for network load balancing using indirection RAM during classification
An apparatus and a method for load balancing across multiple routes using an indirection table and hash function during a process of packet classification are disclosed. A network device such as a router includes a memory, a hash component, and a result memory. The memory is referred to as an indirection random access memory (“RAM”), is capable of storing information regarding number of paths from source devices to destination devices. The memory, in one embodiment, provides a base index value and a range number indicating the number of paths associated with the base index value. The hash component generates a hash index in response to the base index value and the range number. Upon generation of hash index, the result memory identifies a classification result in response to the hash index. |
| US08169912B2 |
System for dynamic bandwidth adjustment and trading among peers
A system is disclosed, that provides dynamic bandwidth sharing among a plurality of client nodes, which share network link resources in a communication network. Upon receipt of a bandwidth adjustment request from a requesting client node, the system adjusts bandwidth when network link capacity meets the bandwidth adjustment request, or when total amount of bandwidth offered to trade by any peers of the requesting client node meets the bandwidth adjustment request. |
| US08169911B2 |
Method for transmitting a data stream with anticipation of acknowledgments, correspondence input device and computer-readable storage medium
Data of a stream to be stimulated is transmitted from a sender device to a receiver device through a network segment. An input device of the network segment determines a starting packet in transit (packets transmitted but not yet acknowledged by the receiver device), selects, as a function of a consumption of a target bandwidth for the stream, packets of the stream following the starting packet, temporarily stores selected packets received from the sender device, transmits to the sender device an anticipated positive acknowledgement message for each selected packet on behalf of the receiver device, transmits the selected packets to the receiver device, and discards stored selected packets corresponding to positive acknowledgements of transmitted selected packets. |
| US08169910B1 |
Network traffic analysis using a flow table
A device may receive a data unit at a line interface of a network device, convey the data unit to a first component in the line interface, update a flow table in the first component based on the data unit, send a message to a second component in the network device, the message describing the update to the flow table, and forward the data unit from the first component to another line interface in the network device. |
| US08169909B2 |
Optimization of a transfer layer protocol connection
In the preferred embodiments, it is first determined whether or not a TCP connection from a sending device to a receiving device in the wireless communications network is in a slow start phase. If the TCP connection is in a slow start phase, then the data to be sent in the TCP connection that is allocated a priority that is higher than the priority allocated to other data to be sent by the sending device. The sending device may be a mobile terminal, a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), a device in a WiMAX environment or other network device, and the method of the preferred embodiments may be implemented by software installed and executed on the network device. |
| US08169907B1 |
Method and system for delivering a multi-user packet
A method, system, and computer readable media are provided for transmitting multi-user packets in an evolution data only (EVDO) network. Upon receipt of the data rate control requests of access terminals in the network, an access node can group particular access terminals into groups of shared data rate control access terminals. The access node will generate and later send a multi-user packet based on the requested data rate control of a group of shared data rate control access terminals. The transmission of the multi-user packet shall be accomplished at the requested data rate control of the group of shared data rate control access terminals. |
| US08169906B2 |
Controlling ATM traffic using bandwidth allocation technology
A method and system for managing asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) traffic in a computer system is disclosed. The computer system is used in sending, receiving, or sending and receiving a plurality of ATM flows. Each ATM flow has a plurality of ATM cells, a minimum ATM bandwidth guarantee, and a maximum ATM bandwidth. The method and system include determining whether excess bandwidth exists for the ATM flows. The method and system also include gracefully increasing a portion of the ATM cells transmitted for each ATM flow during periods of excess bandwidth. The portion of the ATM cells transmitted is not more than the maximum ATM bandwidth limit. If an ATM flow presents a sufficient offered load, the portion of the ATM cells transmitted in the flow is not less than a minimum ATM bandwidth guarantee. |
| US08169905B2 |
Packet communication method and receiving-side apparatus
A packet communication method according to the present invention includes the steps of: starting, at a predetermined sublayer of a receiving-side apparatus, a reordering timer, when receiving a second packet before receiving a first packet in a case where a sequence number of the first packet is smaller than a sequence number of the second packet; and transmitting, at the predetermined sublayer of the receiving-side apparatus, a retransmission request for the first packet, when not receiving the first packet until the reordering timer expires. |
| US08169901B1 |
Method and apparatus for controlling access to a media port
The present invention is directed to protecting media packet processors from rogue or malicious data packet flows. According to the present invention, feedback obtained from components of a media packet processor having information regarding media stream flows is used to adjust a counter or token bucket controlling the admission of such flows. More specifically, feedback is used to adjust a counter value such that the count value is decremented, or the operation of the counter in incrementing the count value according to a periodic schedule is suppressed, if a dropped packet is detected. Accordingly, the present invention may utilize the predictable quality of media stream flows, and information from components such as jitter buffers and CODECs, in order to tailor bounds on the flow of ingress traffic to a media packet processor. |
| US08169896B2 |
Connectivity fault management traffic indication extension
A method in a Maintenance Association Endpoint, MEP, for controlling traffic between a first network element and a second network element connected by a working Traffic Engineering Service Instance, TESI, and a protection TESI. The first network element sets a Traffic field in a Connectivity Check Message, CCM, sent to the second network element. The Traffic field may be set by utilizing a reserved bit within a Flags field of the CCM. The Traffic field indicates which TESI is being utilized to transport the traffic. The second network element takes action to control the traffic based upon a value of the Traffic field in the received CCM. When the Traffic field value in the received CCM does not match the Traffic field value in CCMs sent from the second network element for a predefined period of time, the second network element moves the traffic from its current TESI to the other TESI. |
| US08169892B2 |
HARQ failure indication over IUB-interface
The specification and drawings present a new method, system, apparatus and software product for improving the performance of an uplink communication utilizing a hybrid automatic repeat protocol (HARQ) by an HARQ failure indication over Iub-interface (e.g., from a node B to a radio network controller, RNC) in mobile communication networks including a number of HARQ retransmissions before said failure occurred. |
| US08169889B2 |
Transmit diversity and spatial spreading for an OFDM-based multi-antenna communication system
A multi-antenna transmitting entity transmits data to a single- or multi-antenna receiving entity using (1) a steered mode to direct the data transmission toward the receiving entity or (2) a pseudo-random transmit steering (PRTS) mode to randomize the effective channels observed by the data transmission across the subbands. The PRTS mode may be used to achieve transmit diversity or spatial spreading. For transmit diversity, the transmitting entity uses different pseudo-random steering vectors across the subbands but the same steering vector across a packet for each subband. The receiving entity does not need to have knowledge of the pseudo-random steering vectors or perform any special processing. For spatial spreading, the transmitting entity uses different pseudo-random steering vectors across the subbands and different steering vectors across the packet for each subband. Only the transmitting and receiving entities know the steering vectors used for data transmission. |
| US08169886B2 |
Code division multiple access based contingency transmission
Systems (100) and methods (500) for method for providing a redundant or distinct transmission feature to a communication system (100). The methods involve (508) detecting if there is a communication system fault. If a communication system fault is detected (508:YES), then (512) a plurality of modified transmit signals are generated by combining a transmit signal with a plurality of complex weights (W1, W2, W3). The modified transmit signals are then (514) transmitted from a plurality of antenna elements (106a, 106b, 106c) of the communication system to an object of interest (108). If a communication systems fault is detected (508:NO), then (526) a plurality of redundant or distinct transmit signals are generated by combining the transmit signal with a plurality of first orthogonal or approximately orthogonal numerical sequences. The redundant or distinct transmit signals can then be (528) synchronously transmitted from the antenna elements. |
| US08169881B2 |
Thermally assisted recording head having recessed waveguide with near field transducer and methods of making same
According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a near field transducer comprising a conductive metal film having a main body and a ridge extending from the main body and an optical waveguide for illumination of the near field transducer, a light guiding core layer of the optical waveguide being spaced from the near field transducer by less than about 100 nanometers and greater than 0 nanometers. In another embodiment, a method includes forming a near field transducer structure and removing a portion of the near field transducer structure. The method also includes forming a cladding layer adjacent a remaining portion of the near field transducer structure, wherein a portion of the cladding layer extends along the remaining portion of the near field transducer structure and forming a core layer above the cladding layer. Other apparatuses and methods are also included in the invention. |
| US08169880B2 |
Optical pickup having radially arranged lenses in a low profile construction
An optical pickup includes a first source which emits a first beam with a first wavelength; a second source which emits a second beam with a wavelength shorter than the first wavelength; a first collimate lens which collimates the first beam; a second collimate lens which collimates the second beam; a first objective lens which converges the first collimated beam onto an optical disc; and a second objective lens which converges the second collimated beam onto the disc. The first and second objective lenses are arranged in the disc radial direction. The second objective lens is arranged closer to the side of the disc outer circumference than the first objective lens. The first collimate lens is arranged on the right-hand side when the second objective lens is viewed from the first objective lens. The second collimate lens is arranged on the left-hand side when the first objective lens is viewed from the second objective lens. The gap between the first collimate lens and the first objective lens is larger than the gap between the second collimate lens and the second objective lens. |
| US08169878B2 |
Optical pickup apparatus, objective optical element and optical information recording reproducing apparatus
An optical pickup apparatus according to the present invention includes: a first light source for emitting a first light flux; a second light source for emitting a second light flux; a third light source for emitting a third light flux; and an objective optical element. The objective optical element has an optical surface including at least two areas provided with optical path difference providing structures. The objective optical element converges the first to third light fluxes each passing through the predetermined areas on the objective optical element onto respective information recording surfaces of the first to third optical disks. The optical pickup apparatus provides a wavelength dependency of a spherical aberration so as to correct a change in a spherical aberration due to a refractive index change with a temperature change of the objective optical element. |
| US08169875B2 |
Optical pickup device and method of manufacture therefor
An optical pickup device includes a holder which holds an LD and a light-receiving element and an optical pickup case on which the holder is adhesively fixed via an ultraviolet cure adhesive, and is provided with a through hole on a bonding surface of the holder in order to reduce shrinkage when ultraviolet light is irradiated and to form a blind portion on which the ultraviolet light is not irradiated from a specific direction for adhesively fixing with high position accuracy. |
| US08169871B2 |
Hybrid laser diode drivers that include a state machine
Provided herein are hybrid laser diode drivers (LDDs) that drive a laser diode in response to receiving enable signals from a controller. In accordance with specific embodiments, a hybrid LDD includes a read channel to selectively output a read current, one or more write channel each to selectively output a write current, and an oscillator channel to selectively output an oscillator current. Additionally, in specific embodiments the hybrid LDD includes a state machine that receives the enable signals from the controller, and based on the enable signals, controls timing of the currents output by the read, write and oscillator channels. |
| US08169870B2 |
Recording/reproducing device and method using pulse sequences, and information recording medium
A recording/reproducing device includes a laser and a laser drive carried by a pickup having a drive for movement. A control controls the drives to irradiate the recording medium with laser pulse sequences forming recording marks having recording mark lengths between a predetermined and maximum lengths, a top section, a last section including a cooling period, and an intermediate period. Heat of mark front edges is controlled by recording parameters for top sections that are classified according to recording mark lengths and recording parameters of the first through the maximum recording mark lengths are classified into a same group. Heat of mark rear edges is controlled by cooling start positions for cooling periods classified according to recording mark lengths. Cooling start positions for a second predetermined mark length through the maximum mark length are classified into a same group. The second mark length is longer than the first mark length. |
| US08169865B2 |
Information storage medium and method and apparatus for recording and/or reproducing pointing information
An information storage medium includes areas of disk-related information having disk-related information to record or reproduce data with respect to the information storage medium, wherein the disk-related information includes common disk-related information and changeable parameter information, and the areas of the disk-related information are arranged according to information about the changeable parameter information. |
| US08169857B2 |
Electronic timepiece
An electronic timepiece having a function for receiving satellite signals transmitted from positioning information satellites, including a satellite signal reception unit that receives the satellite signals, a satellite capturing unit that executes a process of capturing the positioning information satellites within a capture time based on the satellite signals received by the satellite signal reception unit, a time adjustment information generating unit that acquires satellite information from the satellite signal sent from the positioning information satellite captured by the satellite capturing unit, and generates time adjustment information based on the satellite information, a time information adjustment unit that adjusts internal time information based on the time adjustment information, a time information display unit that displays the internal time information, and a time limit setting unit that variably sets a time limit for the time adjustment information generating unit to generate the time adjustment information based on the number of positioning information satellites captured by the satellite capturing unit and a reception level of the satellite signals transmitted from the positioning information satellites. |
| US08169856B2 |
Time synchronization in cluster systems
Techniques are described herein for synchronizing cluster time. According to one technique, a master node is appointed in a cluster. Other “slave” nodes periodically synchronize their clocks with the master node. To synchronize its clock with the master node, a slave node sends a timestamped message to the master node, which also timestamps the message and sends the message back to the slave node, which then timestamps the message again. Based on the timestamps, the slave node is able to determine the difference between the master node's clock's time and slave node's clock's time, compensating for the message travel time between master node and slave node. Depending on various circumstances, and based on the determined difference, the slave node adjusts its clock so that the time indicated by the slave node's clock at least begins to approach more closely the time indicated by the master node's clock. |
| US08169852B2 |
Memory control circuit, control method, and storage medium
A circuit configured to change a mode of a plurality of memory devices having a power saving mode includes a command queue configured to hold memory access, and a cancellation unit configured to cancel the power saving mode of target devices of the memory access held up to a predetermined stage of the command queue. |
| US08169849B2 |
Memory system and method with serial and parallel modes
Methods and systems are provided that allow the method of access to one or more memory banks to be performed using serial access, or using parallel access. In serial mode, each link operates as an independent serial link. In contrast, during serial mode, the links operate in common as a parallel link. Where input and output controls are received independently for each link for serial mode, a single set of input and output controls is used in common by all of the links during parallel mode. |
| US08169845B2 |
Apparatus and methods for sense amplifiers
Some embodiments include apparatus and methods having a sense amplifier unit, a supply node to receive a supply voltage, and a line coupled to a memory cell of a device. The sense amplifier unit includes a circuit path coupled between the supply node and the line to carry a current having a value based on a value of information stored in the memory cell; and a second circuit including a second circuit path coupled between the supply node and the line to charge the line during the memory operation. Additional embodiments are disclosed. |
| US08169835B2 |
Charge trapping memory cell having bandgap engineered tunneling structure with oxynitride isolation layer
A band gap engineered, charge trapping memory cell includes a charge storage structure including a trapping layer. a blocking layer, and a dielectric tunneling structure including a thin tunneling layer, a thin bandgap offset layer and a thin isolation layer comprising silicon oxynitride. The memory cell is manufactured using low thermal budget processes. |
| US08169833B2 |
Partitioning process to improve memory cell retention
Subject matter disclosed herein relates to improving memory cell retention for non-volatile flash memory. |
| US08169832B2 |
Methods of erase verification for a flash memory device
Methods and apparatus are disclosed, such as those involving a flash memory device that includes a memory block. The memory block includes a plurality of data lines extending substantially parallel to one another, and a plurality of memory cells. One such method includes erasing the memory cells; and performing erase verification on the memory cells. The erase verification includes determining one memory cell by one memory cell whether the individual memory cells coupled to one of the data lines have been erased. The method can also include performing a re-erase operation that selectively re-erases unerased memory cells based at least partly on the result of the erase verification. |
| US08169831B2 |
High speed sense amplifier array and method for non-volatile memory
Sensing circuits for sensing a conduction current of a memory cell among a group of non-volatile memory cells being sensed in parallel and providing the result thereof to a data bus are presented. A precharge circuit is coupled to a node for charging the node to an initial voltage. An intermediate circuit is also coupled to the node and connectable to the memory cell, whereby current from the precharge circuit can be supplied to the memory cell. The circuit also includes a comparator circuit to perform a determination the conduction current by a rate of discharge at the node; a data latch coupled to the comparator circuit to hold the result of said determination; and a transfer gate coupled to the data latch to supply a result latched therein to the data bus independently of the node. This arrangement improves sensing performance and can help to eliminate noise on the analog sensing path during sensing and reduce switching current. |
| US08169828B2 |
Semiconductor memory cell, method for manufacturing the same and method for operating the same
A semiconductor memory cell, and method of manufacturing a semiconductor memory cell and an method of operating a semiconductor memory cell. A method of operating may include programming a semiconductor memory cell by applying a preset programming voltage to a common source and/or an N-well region, grounding and/or floating a control gate, and/or grounding a word line and/or a bit line. A method of operating may include erasing a semiconductor memory cell by floating and/or grounding a word line, applying a preset erase voltage to a control gate, and/or grounding an N-well, a bit line and/or a common source. A method of operating may include reading a semiconductor memory cell by grounding and/or floating a control gate, applying a preset read voltage to an N-well and/or a common source, grounding a word line, and/or applying a preset drain voltage to a bit line. |
| US08169827B2 |
NAND flash memory string apparatus and methods of operation thereof
A NAND string, its operation, and manufacture is described herein. The NAND string includes one or more memory cells, a first selection transistor coupled to the memory cells, and a second selection transistor coupled between the memory cell and the first selection transistor, wherein the second selection transistor has a process defined threshold voltage. |
| US08169826B2 |
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device comprises: a plurality of first memory strings; a first select transistor having one end thereof connected to one end of the first memory strings; a first line commonly connected to the other end of a plurality of the first select transistors; a switch circuit having one end thereof connected to the first line; and a second line commonly connected to the other end of a plurality of the switch circuits. The switch circuit controls electrical connection between the second line and the first line. |
| US08169825B1 |
Reliable data storage in analog memory cells subjected to long retention periods
A method for data storage in a non-volatile memory includes storing data in the non-volatile memory using a first storage configuration while the non-volatile memory is supplied with electrical power. After storing the data, an indication is accepted, indicating that shut-off of the electrical power is imminent. Responsively to the indication and before the shut-off, at least some of the data is re-programmed in the non-volatile memory using a second storage configuration. |
| US08169817B2 |
Magnetoresistive device and magnetic random access memory
A magnetoresistive device includes: a magnetic recording layer including a first magnetic layer having perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, and a second magnetic layer having in-plane magnetic anisotropy and being exchange-coupled to the first magnetic layer, Curie temperature of the second magnetic layer being lower than Curie temperature of the first magnetic layer, and the magnetic recording layer having a magnetization direction perpendicular to a film plane; a magnetic reference layer having a magnetization direction which is perpendicular to a film plane and is invariable; and a nonmagnetic layer provided between the magnetic recording layer and the magnetic reference layer. The magnetization direction of the magnetic recording layer is changeable by spin-polarized electrons caused by flowing current between the magnetic recording layer and the magnetic reference layer in a direction perpendicular to the film plane. |
| US08169816B2 |
Fabrication methods of partial cladded write line to enhance write margin for magnetic random access memory
A cladding structure for a conductive line used to switch a free layer in a MTJ is disclosed and includes two cladding sidewalls on two sides of the conductive line, a top cladding portion on a side of the conductive line facing away from the MTJ, and a highly conductive, non-magnetic spacing control layer formed between the MTJ and conductive line. The spacing control layer has a thickness of 0.02 to 0.12 microns to maintain the distance separating free layer and conductive line between 0.03 and 0.15 microns. The spacing control layer is aligned parallel to the conductive line and contacts a plurality of MTJ elements in a row of MRAM cells. Half-select error problems are avoided while maintaining high write efficiency. A spacing control layer may be formed between a word line and a bottom electrode in a top pinned layer or dual pinned layer configuration. |
| US08169813B2 |
Method for evaluating SRAM memory cell and computer readable recording medium which records evaluation program of SRAM memory cell
A method for evaluating an SRAM memory cell in which the time required for designing the SRAM memory cell can be shortened by evaluating static noise margin in a shortened time. A recording medium which records an evaluation program is also provided. The coordinate conversion which rotates the coordinate axis by 45 degrees is applied to the input/output characteristic data of a first inverter of the SRAM memory cell, and the first proximity curve function is specified by fitting the input/output characteristic data of the first inverter to the proximity curve. The coordinate conversion which rotates the coordinate axis by 45 degrees is applied to the input/output characteristic data of a second inverter of the SRAM memory cell, and the second proximity curve function is specified by fitting the input/output characteristic data of the second inverter to the proximity curve. A third proximity curve function which is a function generated by mirror-inverting the second proximity curve function with respect to the Y axis is specified, and a static noise margin is specified based on an extremal value of a difference curve function which is the difference between the first proximity curve function and the third proximity curve function. |
| US08169812B2 |
Memory architecture with a current controller and reduced power requirements
Disclosed is a memory architecture comprising at least one memory bit cell and at least one read bit line whose voltage is controlled and changed by a current from a current controller. Each memory bit cell has a storage mechanism, a controlled current source, and a read switch. The controlled current source in each memory bit cell is electrically connected to the read bit line through the read switch. The current from the current controller that controls and changes the read bit line voltage flows through the controlled current source in the memory bit cell. The value of this current is determined by a function of a difference between the voltage on the storage mechanism in the memory bit cell and a reference voltage from a reference voltage input to the current controller. In some versions an indicator is provided for indicating when to stop the current in the controlled current source that controls a voltage change on one of the read bit lines. The indicator has an on and an off condition and a switch is provided for stopping the current in the controlled current source when the indicator is activated in the on condition. The current in the controlled current source is stopped when the voltage change on the read bit line is greater than a predetermined threshold. |
| US08169807B2 |
Content addressable memory device having match line equalizer circuit
In a content addressable memory device, before search operations in two TCAM cells connected to first and second match lines, respectively, a memory controller connects the first match line to a power source and connects the second match line to a ground, and then connects the first and second match lines to each other so as that electric potentials of the first and second match lines are the same as each other. |
| US08169806B2 |
Power converter system with pulsed power transfer
Electronic devices such as portable electronic devices are provided. Power converters are provided that convert alternating-current power into direct-current power for powering the electronic devices. A power converter may rectify an alternating current line signal to produce a rectified alternating current signal having peaks and valleys. The power converter may have a capacitor and transformer coupled across the rectifier circuit. Power regulation switching circuitry in the power converter or the electronic device may regulate how much power is delivered to the electronic device. Relatively more power may be delivered during the peaks in the rectified signal than during the valleys. Pulsed power delivery may be controlled using control resources in the power converter, in the electronic device, or in both the power converter and electronic device. |
| US08169802B2 |
Switch controller of a converter with a soft start signal generator comprising a plurality of current sources
Disclosed are a switch controller, a switch control method, a converter using the same, and a driving method thereof. A first voltage is generated by using a voltage that is input to an input terminal, and a soft start signal is generated by using the first voltage during a soft start duration. A switching operation is controlled by using the soft start signal during the soft start duration. |
| US08169790B2 |
Electromagnetic bandgap structure and printed circuit board
An electromagnetic bandgap structure and a printed circuit board having the electromagnetic bandgap that intercepts the transfer of a signal ranging a frequency band are disclosed. The electromagnetic bandgap structure includes a metal layer; a dielectric layer, stacked on the metal layer; at least two metal plates, stacked on the same planar surface of the dielectric layer; and a stitching via, connecting the adjacent metal plates. The stitching via passes through the dielectric layer, and a part of the stitching via is placed on the same planar surface of the metal layer. With the present invention, the electromagnetic bandgap can decrease the noise of a particular frequency by having a compact size and a low bandgap frequency. |
| US08169788B2 |
Printed board and printed-board-receiving structure
A printed board to be loaded into a printed-board-receiving structure having a backboard and a guide rail, the backboard having a connector plug-in connectable to a connector on the printed board, the guide rail guiding the printed board toward the backboard and having a groove including a sloping portion, the printed board includes a sloping portion forming a projection at an end of the printed board, the projection being fittable and slidable along the groove in the guide rail. |
| US08169787B2 |
Terminal structure of an electronic component
The invention relates to a terminal structure of an electronic component, such as a tuner, in which a printed circuit board 1 on which electronic components including a pin header 2 having a plurality of pin terminals, and a case frame 3 housing the printed circuit board and having a notch opening exposing the pin terminals are provided. A guide hole 23 that penetrates from the upper surface of the pin header 2 to its lower surface in contact with the printed circuit board, and a guide axis 33—insertable into the guide hole 23—provided in a press portion 32 are provided, such that the pin header is held between the press portion 32 provided in the case frame 3 and the printed circuit board, enabling the pin header, even a slim, compact one, having a plurality of pin terminals to be fixed accurately to a predetermined position on the board with a predetermined posture. |
| US08169786B2 |
Ruggedized housing and components for a handled device
There is provided a housing for a rugged handheld device, which includes: a main housing including: a main circuit board space sealed from an exterior environment, for supporting a main circuit board; and a compartment space for supporting a removable compartment for holding a device component for operation of the handheld device, such as a docking connector board, a display assembly, a keyboard assembly, where the compartment space is sealed from the external environment by a removable compartment cover for sealing the compartment space from the exterior environment, independently from the sealing of the main circuit board space and/or the device component placed into the compartment space. |
| US08169785B2 |
Electronic device and component
According to one embodiment, an electronic device includes: a device main body, a first engage portion; an operation element; and a disengage mechanism. The device main body includes component container detachably housing a component. The first engage portion is provided to the device main body and facing inside the component container, and when the component is housed in the component container, engaged with a second engage portion provided to the component. The operation element is provided on a rear wall of the device main body, the rear wall being a side wall of the device main body provided at a further side of the device main body and extended in a width direction of the device main body. The disengage mechanism moves the first engage portion in accordance with an operation of the operation element to disengage the first engage portion and the second engage portion from each other. |
| US08169783B2 |
Latch assembly for a pluggable electronic module
A latch assembly for a pluggable electronic module matable with a receptacle assembly includes a lever actuatable between a latched position and an unlatched position, a yoke assembly operatively coupled to the lever, and a latch element coupled to the latch end of the yoke assembly. The yoke assembly has a latch end rotatable between a latched position and an unlatched position. The latch element is movable between an engaged position and an unengaged position as the latch end is rotated between the latched and unlatched positions, respectively. The latch element is configured to engage the receptacle assembly to lock the pluggable electronic module within the receptacle assembly when the latch element is in the engaged position. |
| US08169778B2 |
EMI shielding scheme using sandwiched sheet metal
A peripheral card EMI shielding scheme which comprises a sandwich of three layers. The first layer comprises a chassis rear wall (e.g., constructed of sheet metal). The next layer, which in certain embodiments is the middle of the sandwich, comprises a relatively thin plate (e.g., 0.15 mm+/−0.1 mm) with spring arms. The third layer comprises a sheet metal plate (in certain embodiments, the third layer has a similar thickness to the rear wall). The thick sheet metal plate completely covers the thin plate, except for areas where the spring arms protrude. The three plates are staked together by a method similar to an extrude-and-roll process (e.g., where one piece is fastened to another without the need for additional hardware or welding). |
| US08169775B2 |
Cooling device for a circuit breaker and circuit breaker comprising such device
A cooling device for a circuit breaker which comprises a case having a front wall, a rear wall, an upper wall, a lower wall, two flanks, and a first series of side-by-side terminals and a second series of side-by-side terminals that protrude outside from the case for the connection of the circuit breaker with an electrical circuit. The cooling device includes at least one first body made of a thermal conducting material and which has a central portion suitable for being positioned transversally along and facing the first series of terminals so as to absorb heat generated at the first series of terminals, and a first end portion and a second end portion that protrude from the central portion and are configured so as to receive the heat absorbed by the central portion and to diffuse it outside the cooling device itself.teh |
| US08169772B2 |
Precision laser adjustable thin film capacitors
Disclosed are apparatus and methodology for providing a precision laser adjustable (e.g., trimmable) thin film capacitor array. A plurality of individual capacitors are formed on a common substrate and connected together in parallel by way of fusible links. The individual capacitors are provided as laddered capacitance value capacitors such that a plurality of lower valued capacitors corresponding to the lower steps of the ladder, and lesser numbers of capacitors, including a single capacitor, for successive steps of the ladder, are provided. Precision capacitance values can be achieved by either of fusing or ablating selected of the fusible links so as to remove the selected subcomponents from the parallel connection. In-situ live-trimming of selected fusible links may be performed after placement of the capacitor array on a hosting printed circuit board. |
| US08169767B2 |
Boron nitride agglomerated powder and devices comprising the powder
Novel boron nitride agglomerated powders are provided having controlled density and fracture strength features. In addition methods for producing same are provided. One method calls for providing a feedstock powder including boron nitride agglomerates, and heat treating the feedstock powder to form a heat treated boron nitride agglomerated powder. In one embodiment the feedstock powder has a controlled crystal size. In another, the feedstock powder is derived from a bulk source. Devices, such as microelectronic devices and printed circuit boards, which include boron nitride agglomerates with controlled fracture strength features are also disclosed. |
| US08169766B2 |
Shaft current control brush ring assembly
A shaft current control brush ring assembly includes a cup and a brush ring assembly secured within the cup. The cup is secured to a motor faceplate, within a recess formed in the faceplate by interference fit, or by means of a clamp attached to the faceplate. A slinger can be associated with the brush ring assembly. |
| US08169760B2 |
Signal and power supply integrated ESD protection device
An integrated circuit, design structures and methods of forming the integrated circuit which includes a signal pad ESD coupled to an I/O signal pad and a power supply ESD coupled to a source VDD. The signal pad ESD and the power supply ESD are integrated in a single ESD structure. |
| US08169759B2 |
Circuit and methods to protect input buffer
Apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed that operate to boost an electrical potential of a control terminal of a transistor from a signal on an input terminal of the transistor to render a channel in the transistor more conductive. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed. |
| US08169758B2 |
Path sharing high-voltage ESD protection using distributed low-voltage clamps
Integrated circuit (20) comprising several different voltage rails (V5 to V1) and an on-chip ESD protection circuit. The ESD protection circuit comprises at least one group (21, 22, 23) of ESD clamp devices (C1-C4). The ESD clamp devices (C1-C4) are arranged in a ladder-configuration. This ladder-configuration is characterized in that there is one of the ESD clamp devices interposed between each of the power rails (V5 to V1) and the respective power rail having a next lower voltage. Due to this arrangement an ESD current path is defined between each one of the power rails and the power rail having the next lower voltage. The ESD clamp devices (C1-C4) are off under normal power operation of the integrated circuit (20). |
| US08169756B2 |
Fault current limiting
An alternating current system 10 has a primary circuit 11 which forms a primary winding 18 on a core 16. A secondary winding 24 is connected with a current source 26 or, alternatively, with an impedance 60. The core 16 is threaded by a superconducting coil 20 having a current source 22. In normal use, current in the coil 20 provides a DC bias level of flux in the core 16, and the source 26 is varied to maintain substantially constant flux, thereby minimising losses in the primary circuit 11. In fault conditions, current in the coil 20 is reduced or removed to increase voltage losses across the coil 18, thereby limiting fault current. The impedance 60 can also be switched into circuit, creating further current limiting by virtue of the transformer effect of the windings 18, 24. |
| US08169753B2 |
Current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) read sensor with ferromagnetic amorphous buffer and polycrystalline seed layers
A current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) or giant magnetoresistance (GMR) read sensor with ferromagnetic amorphous buffer and polycrystalline seed layers is disclosed for reducing a read gap, in order to perform magnetic recording at higher linear densities. The ferromagnetic amorphous buffer and polycrystalline seed layers couples to a ferromagnetic lower shield, thus acting as part of the ferromagnetic lower shield and defining the upper surface of the ferromagnetic polycrystalline seed layer as the lower bound of the read gap. In addition, a CPP TMR or GMR read sensor with nonmagnetic and ferromagnetic cap layers is also disclosed for reducing the read gap, in order to perform magnetic recording at even higher linear densities. The ferromagnetic cap layer couples to a ferromagnetic upper shield, thus acting as part of the ferromagnetic upper shield and defining the lower surface of the ferromagnetic cap layer as the upper bound of the read gap. |
| US08169748B2 |
Damping member for a moveable flex circuit
Method and apparatus for attenuating resonances in a flex circuit which interconnects a stationary element and a moveable element, such as a connector and a head stack assembly (HSA) in a data storage device. An intermediary portion of the flex circuit forms a dynamic loop between the stationary element and the moveable element. A damper member is attached to the flex circuit so as to continuously extend adjacent the stationary element and along less than an overall extent of the dynamic loop. The damper member attenuates resonances excited in the flex circuit during movement of the moveable element. |
| US08169743B2 |
Minimizing slider vibration effects on a magnetic transducer
Minimizing slider vibration effects on a magnetic transducer coupled to a slider are described herein. In one embodiment, a method is described for minimizing slider vibration effects on a magnetic transducer coupled to the slider. A mass component of the slider is adjusted such that at least one pitch nodal line and/or at least one roll nodal line of the slider approximately coincide with an intersection point, and the magnetic transducer is positioned to approximately coincide with the intersection point. |
| US08169742B2 |
Magnetic recording medium, magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus, method for manufacturing magnetic recording medium, and method for checking magnetic recording medium
A magnetic recording medium is provided, which has recording layers having concavo-convex patterns formed on both sides of a substrate and can easily distinguish one face from the other face. A magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus having the magnetic recording medium is also provided. The magnetic recording medium includes a substrate, a first recording layer formed in a first concavo-convex pattern on a side of a first face, and a second recording layer formed in a second concavo-convex pattern on a side of a second face. The magnetic recording medium also includes a distinction element which can distinguish the first face from the second face. At least part of the distinction element is disposed in a non-recording area adjacent to at least one of an inner part and an outer part of a recording area in a radial direction. |
| US08169740B2 |
Thin-film magnetic head structure and thin-film magnetic head
A thin-film magnetic head including a main magnetic pole layer having a magnetic pole end part on a side of a medium-opposing surface opposing a recording medium; a write shield layer opposing the magnetic pole end part to form a recording gap layer on the medium-opposing surface side; a thin-film coil wound about the write shield layer or the main magnetic pole layer; and a base insulating layer formed with a magnetic pole forming depression, including a very narrow groove defining a form of the magnetic pole end part and a main depression integrally extending from an end part of the very narrow groove remote from the medium-opposing surface. A stepped part is formed at a boundary between a bottom face of the main depression and a bottom face of the very narrow groove. The main magnetic pole layer is the only magnetically functional layer in the depression. |
| US08169736B2 |
Method and apparatus to position a head module comprising servo elements and a plurality of data elements
A method to position a head module, where the head module comprises at least one servo element and a plurality of data elements, where the servo element and each of the plurality of data elements can detect a servo signal, wherein the method includes moving a sequential information storage medium having a servo band encoded therein across the head module and detecting the servo band using the at least one servo element or any one of the plurality of data elements. |
| US08169731B2 |
Near-field light transducer comprising propagation edge with predetermined curvature radius
Provided is a near-field light transducer with a propagation edge in which the generation of defects is suppressed. The transducer is formed of a Ag alloy and comprises an edge, the edge comprising a portion to be coupled with a light in a surface plasmon mode, the edge extending from the portion to a near-field light generating end surface, and the edge being configured to propagate surface plasmon excited by the light. Further, a curvature radius of the rounded edge is set in the range from 6.25 nm to 20 nm. In the edge and its vicinity, the generation of defects such as cracking and chipping is suppressed. Thereby improved are a propagation efficiency of surface plasmon and a light use efficiency of the transducer. The Ag alloy preferably contains at least one element selected from a group of Pd, Au, Cu, Ru, Rh and Ir. |
| US08169725B2 |
Hard disk drive and method for managing scratches on a disk of the hard disk drive
A method for managing scratches on a disk of a hard disk drive is disclosed. By dividing the disk into a plurality of evaluation groups, testing each evaluation group for defects, calculating line equations based on the detected defects and determining whether the defects of the evaluation groups appreciably conform to their respective line equations, scratch fill operations may be appropriately performed using the line equations. |
| US08169724B2 |
Objective lens adapter
High-precision observation is made possible while allowing contact between a distal end of an objective lens and an optical element without damaging the distal end of the objective lens and the optical element even when attaching to and detaching from the distal end of the objective lens. Provided is an objective lens adapter including a fixed member that is fixed to a lens tube of an objective lens, a distal-end member including an optical element that is made to be placed in contact with the distal-end surface of the objective lens, and an elastic member that is disposed between the distal-end member and the fixed member and that urges the optical element in a direction that causes the optical element to contact the distal-end surface of the objective lens. |
| US08169719B2 |
Image capture lens and image capture apparatus
An image capture lens includes, in following order from an object side, a first lens made of glass which has a meniscus shape with a convex surface facing the object side and has positive refractive power, an aperture stop, a second lens made of glass which has a meniscus shape with a convex surface facing an image side and has negative refractive power, and a third lens made of resin which has a convex surface facing the object side and has positive refractive power. The image capture lens satisfies following conditional formulae (1) and (2): f2/f<−3.5, and (1) f3/f>3.5, (2) where f: focal length of the entire lens system; f2: focal length of the second lens; and f3: focal length of the third lens. |
| US08169716B2 |
Optical apparatus with structure for liquid invariant performance
A phase-adjusting element configured to provide substantially liquid-invariant extended depth of field for an associated optical lens. One example of a lens incorporating the phase-adjusting element includes the lens having surface with a modulated relief defining a plurality of regions including a first region and a second region, the first region having a depth relative to the second region, and a plurality of nanostructures formed in the first region. The depth of the first region and a spacing between adjacent nanostructures of the plurality of nanostructures is selected to provide a selected average index of refraction of the first region, and the spacing between adjacent nanostructures of the plurality of nanostructures is sufficiently small that the first region does not substantially diffract visible light. |
| US08169711B2 |
Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus having the same
A zoom lens comprises a first lens unit having a positive refractive power, a second lens unit having a negative refractive power, a third lens unit having a positive refractive power, and a rear group including at least one lens unit, in order from an object side to an image side. Each of the lens units is configured to move so that a total lens length at a wide-angle end is longer than that at a telephoto end to perform a zoom operation. A movement amount M1 of the first lens unit at the wide-angle end and the telephoto end with respect to an imaging surface, a focal length f1 of the first lens unit, and focal lengths fw and ft of a whole system at the wide-angle end and the telephoto end are appropriately set. |
| US08169707B2 |
Sheet-like optical member, resin composition for optical sheet, optical sheet and method for producing the same
A sheet-like optical member being difficult to damage a shape of a lens part. The sheet-like optical member includes: a substrate; and a lens part, which is formed on the substrate, is made of an active energy ray-curable resin, and has a plurality of unit prisms. The maximum logarithmic attenuation rate ΔE of the lens part measured by a rigid body pendulum method is 0.4 or less. |
| US08169705B2 |
Dense homogeneous fluoride films for DUV elements and method of preparing same
The invention is directed to optical elements that are coated with dense homogeneous fluoride films and to a method of making such coated elements. The coatings materials are a high (“H”) refractive index fluoride material and a low (“L”) refractive index material that are co-evaporated to form a coating layer of a L-H coating material (a co-deposited coating of L and H materials). Lanthanide metal fluorides (for example, neodymium, lanthanum, dysprosium, yttrium and gadolinium, and combinations thereof) are preferred metal fluorides for use as the high refractive index materials with lanthanum fluoride (LaF3) and gadolinium fluoride (GdF3) being particularly preferred. Aluminum fluoride (AlF3) and alkaline earth metal fluorides (fluorides of calcium, magnesium, barium and strontium) are the preferred low refractive index materials, with magnesium fluoride (MgF2) being a preferred alkaline earth metal fluoride. |
| US08169701B2 |
Diffusing screen
Various embodiments related to a rear projection display screen configured to reduce an intensity of light at a viewing angle at which the light is less likely to be viewed by a user are disclosed. One disclosed embodiment provides a diffusing screen comprising a sheet-like structure transparent to one or more wavelengths of light. The sheet-like structure has a viewing surface and comprises a diffusing pattern configured to create destructive interference of a selected wavelength of light traveling in a direction normal to a plane of the viewing surface of the screen. |
| US08169692B2 |
Waveguide parametric device and method
A waveguide parametric device including a multi-mode waveguide having orientation layers formed in a propagation direction of a signal beam and a pump beam propagating down the waveguide. The orientation layers are oppositely oriented to provide non-linear coupling between the pump beam and the signal beam and have a periodicity that provides quasi-phase matching for a fundamental propagation mode, where the waveguide has a size to accommodate multi-mode wave propagation. |
| US08169690B2 |
Color display devices
The present invention is directed to color display devices. The color display devices comprise display cells which is capable of displaying multiple color states. The display device may also comprise black matrix layers or a brightness enhancement structure on the viewing side. The present invention is directed to a display device comprising a plurality of display cells, wherein each of said display cells is sandwiched between a first layer comprising a common electrode and a second layer comprising a plurality of driving electrodes and at least one of the driving electrodes is a designated electrode, and said display device further comprises blocking layers on its viewing side and said blocking layers are located in positions corresponding to the designated electrodes. |
| US08169688B2 |
System and method of reducing color shift in a display
A system and method of reducing color shift in a display includes an interferometric modulator display configured to reflect light from at least one light source and through at least one converging optical element in an optical path from the light source to a viewer via the display. In one embodiment, the converging optical element comprises a diffractive optical element. |
| US08169683B2 |
Optical signal generation with D/A converters and optical clock pulse stream
An apparatus includes an optical train pulse generator for generating continuous optical pulses each having a narrow width; a clock source having a high frequency for triggering the generator and operable as a sampling clock; a digital-to-analog converter DAC for converting an input signal from a digital signal processor, the DAC responsive to the sampling clock; a data modulator responsive to an amplified output from the DAC to modulate the continuous optical pulses from the train pulse generator; and a filter for removing higher frequency harmonics from the modulated continuous optical pulses out of the data modulator. |
| US08169681B2 |
Thin-film coatings, electro-optic elements and assemblies incorporating these elements
Electro-optic elements are becoming commonplace in a number of vehicular and architectural applications. Various electro-optic element configurations provide variable transmittance and or variable reflectance for windows and mirrors. The present invention relates to various thin-film coatings, electro-optic elements and assemblies incorporating these elements. |
| US08169679B2 |
MEMS anchors
The invention relates to an improved apparatus and method for the design and manufacture of MEMS anchoring structures for light modulators in order to address the stresses of beams mounted on them. |
| US08169676B2 |
Holographic storage system with multiple reference beams
An apparatus for reading from and/or writing to holographic storage media is described, and more specifically an apparatus for reading from and/or writing to holographic storage media with two or more reference beams that overlap inside the holographic storage medium for reading and/or writing a single hologram. The two or more reference beams are mutually incoherent during reading and/or writing. |
| US08169671B2 |
Lighting unit, image reading apparatus and image forming apparatus using the same
A lighting unit, includes: a light source section wherein a plurality of light-emitting sources are arranged in a direction perpendicular to a direction of each light-emitting optical axis of each light-emitting source and linearly at predetermined intervals; and a reflecting section which reflects light emitted toward a direction along a document mounting surface from the light source section arranged along the document mounting surface toward an irradiated region of the document mounting surface, the reflecting section having: a first reflecting surface disposed closer to the light source section than to the irradiated region; and a second reflecting surface disposed more distant from the light source section than from the irradiated region. |
| US08169667B2 |
Performing halftoning by plurality of halftoning mechanisms
A controller is to receive a halftoning job having a number of pages. The controller is to divide each page into a number of sections. A number of halftoning mechanisms correspond in number to the number of sections into which each page is to be divided. Each halftoning mechanism is to perform halftoning on a different section of each page. At any given time, no halftoning mechanism is to perform halftoning on a same page on which any other halftoning mechanism is to currently perform halftoning. |
| US08169664B2 |
Image processing apparatus and method for quantizing pixel of interest by error diffusion method
A quantizing unit, error detector, error diffusion matrix, and adder quantize a pixel of interest of an input image by an error diffusion method. A calculation unit and gain adjuster calculate a value to be added to the pixel of interest with reference to quantized pixels. The adder adds the calculated value to the pixel of interest. A control unit controls the calculation of the gain adjuster. |
| US08169660B2 |
System and method for multiple printer calibration using embedded image calibration data
Disclosed is a system and method for calibrating multiple printers, and particularly color printers, in a networked environment using data embedded in select color patches in target sheets generated by each printer, which embedded data allows automated processing of the target sheets and association of appropriate target sheet data with the correct printer. The embedded data preferably includes an identification of which of multiple printers a particular target sheet corresponds to, along with data about the target sheet itself. |
| US08169659B2 |
Systems and methods for reducing a trade-off between image quality and marking speed
To reduce the trade-off between image quality and marking speed, high-resolution data for an image is evaluated, and an output value is created based on the evaluation of the high-resolution data. The output value has a larger output spacing than the high-resolution data, and approximates an edge of a solid defined by the high-resolution data, but within an output area defined by the larger output spacing. |
| US08169656B2 |
Image processing devices and methods for resizing an original image therefor
The present invention provides an image processing device for processing an original image having a first number of horizontal lines parallel to one another. Each of the first number of horizontal lines includes a second number of pixels. The image processing device has a processing unit and a storage unit. The processing unit resizes the original image to an output image with a scaling factor, the output image having a plurality of target pixels. The storage unit stores a gray scale of each pixel in at least one of the first number of horizontal lines. The processing unit has a first calculating unit, a selecting unit, and a second calculating unit. The first calculating unit calculates a maximum number of horizontal lines which the storage unit is able to store at once, based on the second number of pixels, the maximum number being less than the first number. The selecting unit selects a resizing method to resize the original image based on the scaling factor and the maximum number of horizontal lines. The second calculating unit calculates a gray scale of the target pixel in the output image with the selected method. |
| US08169654B2 |
Sequencing and reproducing sets of text and graphics across a collection of printable areas
A method of sequencing and reproducing sets of text and graphics across a collection of printable areas and a computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method. The method providing the user the ability to select many variables for the printing of labels for tabs. The method and computer readable medium providing for the creation of divider insert tab labels for the tabs of a set of divider inserts thereby identifying the divided contents. The method and computer printable medium provide for printing of the divider insert tab labels in an order that they are assembled into a binder. |
| US08169653B2 |
Configuring gaming voucher layouts in gaming machines
Systems and methods for configuring gaming voucher layouts are described herein. In one embodiment the method includes receiving, in a gaming machine, a gaming voucher layout defining a print layout for a gaming voucher. The method can also include loading the gaming voucher layout into a printer, where the printer is part of the gaming machine. |
| US08169652B2 |
Album creating system, album creating method and creating program with image layout characteristics
A layout information generating apparatus is provided, for automatically selecting an original image appropriate to be laid out in a template based on information on an output device. The layout information generating apparatus according to the present invention includes: a low-capacity image receiving section for receiving a low-capacity image obtained by reducing the capacity of an original image from an orderer apparatus; an output characteristic information acquiring section for acquiring output characteristic information indicative of the output characteristic of an output device for outputting an image created by an image creating apparatus; an image selecting section for selecting a low-capacity image to be laid out among the low-capacity images based on the output characteristic information; a layout information generating section for generating layout information of the low-capacity image; and a layout information transmitting section for transmitting the layout information to the output device and causing the output device to lay out an original image provided from an orderer and output the same. |
| US08169651B2 |
Data processing apparatus for recognizing and processing content recorded on a recording medium
A data processing apparatus scans a web page image printed on paper, recognizes the character array for a URL included in the image, acquires data for the web page in the image through the Internet, identifies the positions of entry spaces in the web page, recognizes the content entered by hand on the paper, and stores this content in RAM. The data processing apparatus prompts the user to select whether to perform a verification print for verifying the recognized content and prints the recognized content when the user indicates such a desire. Further, the data processing apparatus prompts the user to select whether to transmit the content to the server and transmits the content stored in RAM when the user indicates such a desire. |
| US08169649B2 |
Mobile device methods for enabling pervasive wireless digital media
Mobile device methods for enabling pervasive wireless digital media communication. A wireless digital media ecosystem may include a mobile Information apparatus such as a smart phone, an internet or information Pad, and may further include other wireless devices such as televisions, media players, media output controllers, printers, projectors, and another information apparatus. This disclosure teaches adding a wireless communication unit to the mobile information apparatus for digital media access, sharing, and transferring with the wireless communication unit. The mobile information apparatus may further perform wireless discovery and may establish a wireless connection to one or more wireless output devices such as the television. Authentication using security keys may be added for digital security. Digital content may be encoded and compressed at the mobile information apparatus prior to transferring to the one or more wireless output devices over the established wireless connection. |
| US08169637B2 |
Device management system
The serial number of a first printer in which a network board is installed before power supply of the first printer is turned is stored in the network board. The network board determines whether or not the current serial number of the first printer in which the network board is currently installed and the serial number of a second printer in which the network board is installed before the power supply of the first printer is turned ON are identical. If the two serial numbers are determined to be not identical, the network board transmits the model name of the first printer to a management server. When the management server receives the model name of the first printer, the management server transmits the configuration file associates with the model name of the first printer to the network board. |
| US08169626B2 |
Using buffers to support uncertainties in marking engine execution
A printing system includes at least one marking engine and a paper path which carries sheets of print media to the marking engine from an upstream direction and carries sheets of print media which have been marked by the marking engine in a downstream direction. A buffer system includes a sheet buffer in the paper path downstream of the marking engine and optionally includes another sheet buffer in the paper path upstream of the marking engine. The buffer system allows variability in the residence time of the marking engine to be accommodated by varying the residence time of sheets in the downstream buffer. |
| US08169625B2 |
Handling unhandled raster operations in a document conversion
The conversion of a document of a first format that supports a set of raster operations into a document of a second format that does not support one or more unhandled raster operations of the set of raster operations is disclosed. For example, one disclosed embodiment comprises locating a region in the document of the first format that contains an unhandled raster operation, rasterizing the region in the document of the first format that contains the unhandled raster operation to form a rasterized region, and incorporating the rasterized region into the document of the second format. |
| US08169624B2 |
Transmissive dimension measuring device
There is provided a transmissive dimension measuring device in which a user can intuitively and easily adjust optical axes of a projector and an optical receiver, and in which a suitable action can be immediately taken when contamination is attached to a light projecting surface of the projector and a light receiving surface of the optical receiver. An incident light position display unit provided on the optical receiver expresses a light projecting spot in a pseudo manner by making an LED corresponding to an incident light position turn on, the light projecting spot being incident on the optical receiver arranged with a predetermined interval to the projector which projects light. The incident light position display unit is provided on an upper surface side opposite to a bottom surface that is a surface on which the optical receiver is installed on a base. |
| US08169620B1 |
Sub-pixel spatial resolution wavefront phase imaging
A phase imaging method for an optical wavefront acquires a plurality of phase images of the optical wavefront using a phase imager. Each phase image is unique and is shifted with respect to another of the phase images by a known/controlled amount that is less than the size of the phase imager's pixels. The phase images are then combined to generate a single high-spatial resolution phase image of the optical wavefront. |
| US08169619B2 |
Detector element matrix for an optical position measuring instrument
A detector element array for an optical position measuring instrument, by way of such array a fringe pattern resulting in a detector plane can be converted into electrical scanning signals. The detector element array includes a plurality of light-sensitive detector elements disposed in matrix-like fashion in rows and columns. The plurality of light-sensitive detector elements include a first detector element in a first column of the columns, a second detector element in the first column that is adjacent to the first detector element and a third detector element in a second column of the columns that is adjacent to the first column, wherein the third detector element is diagonally adjacent to the first detector element. The detector element array includes a first switch that selectively directly connects the first detector element with the second detector element and a second switch that selectively directly connects the first detector element with the third detector element. The detector element array includes a memory element associated with the first detector element, wherein memory element information is stored in the memory element that indicates which of the second and third detector elements is connected to the first detector element in an established scanning configuration, wherein no more than the first and second switches are associated with the memory element. |
| US08169618B2 |
Optical structure measuring apparatus and optical probe thereof
In an embodiment of the present invention, an OCT probe is configured by including: a thin and long substantially cylindrical sheath whose distal end is closed; an n-reflecting surface body, as an irradiating device, which has n reflecting surfaces (with n being an integer of three or more) and which is provided in a distal end portion of the sheath; a torque transmitting coil, as a rotating device, which is provided along the longitudinal axis of the sheath and which transmits rotational torque for rotating each of the reflection surfaces of the n-reflecting surface body about the longitudinal axis of the sheath; and n fibers (1) to (n), as an n-channel waveguide device, which are provided and fixed in the sheath in a side by side relationship with the torque transmitting coil. |
| US08169614B2 |
Recording apparatus
A recording apparatus includes a colorimeter that obtains color measurement data from a recording surface of a recording material, a colorimeter holder that holds the colorimeter, a colorimeter carriage that reciprocates the colorimeter holder on a retainer member that holds the recording material during color measurement, and a link mechanism that links the colorimeter holder and the colorimeter carriage. The colorimeter holder is linked by the link mechanism rotatably by a predetermined angle around a first axis along the reciprocating direction on the retainer member, and rotatably by a predetermined angle around a second axis along the surface of the recording material held by the retainer member and perpendicular to the reciprocating direction. |
| US08169611B2 |
Terahertz-infrared ellipsometer system, and method of use
The present invention relates to ellipsometer and polarimeter systems, and more particularly is an ellipsometer or polarimeter or the like system which operates in a frequency range between 300 GHz or lower and extending to higher than at least 1 Tera-hertz (THz), and preferably through the Infra-red (IR) range up to, and higher than 100 THz, including: a source such as a backward wave oscillator; a Smith-Purcell cell; a free electron laser, or an FTIR source and a solid state device; and a detector such as a Golay cell; a bolometer or a solid state detector; and preferably including at least one odd-bounce polarization state image rotating system, and optionally including a polarizer, at least one compensator and/or modulator, in addition to an analyzer. |
| US08169606B2 |
Appearance inspection apparatus
An appearance inspection apparatus analyzes a difference in detection characteristics of detection signals obtained by detectors to flexibly meet various inspection purposes without changing a circuit or software. The apparatus includes a signal synthesizing section that synthesizes detection signals from the detectors in accordance with a set condition. An input operating section sets a synthesizing condition of the detection signal by the signal synthesizing section, and an information display section displays a synthesizing map structured based on a synthesized signal which is synthesized by the signal synthesizing section in accordance with a condition set by the input operating section. |
| US08169605B2 |
Apparatus and method for inspecting liquid crystal display
A method of inspecting a liquid crystal display panel includes providing a liquid crystal display panel to be inspected, turning on a backlight unit that is disposed under the liquid crystal display panel to emit light toward the liquid crystal panel, driving the liquid crystal display panel by applying test signals to the liquid crystal display panel on a predetermined period, detecting defects by taking an image of the liquid crystal display panel on a period shorter than the driving period of the liquid crystal display panel, and detecting defects created in the liquid crystal display panel, which blink in accordance with a period of the test signals of the liquid crystal display panel. |
| US08169604B2 |
Parameter detection system
The present invention refers to a parameter detection system for detecting in a non-mechanical manner at least one parameter of an object (1) to be examined. The parameter detection system includes a mounting device (2) for holding the object, and a mobile unit (14) which is freely movable and adapted for indicating a position on the object. A sensing means is provided for sensing the position on the object indicated by the mobile unit and for outputting corresponding detection signals indicative of the sensed position. A calculation means (13) is provided for calculating the at least one parameter from the position on object based on the detection signals. |
| US08169601B2 |
Photoluminescent heat-shrinkable films
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a multilayer heat-shrinkable styrene-based film that makes it possible, even when the film is transparent, to confirm that the film is correctly applied on a drink bottle and the like as a label. The present invention provides a heat-shrinkable styrene-based film having at least one layer containing a styrene-based resin containing a copolymer b1 of 98 to 40% by weight vinyl aromatic hydrocarbon and 2 to 60% by weight aliphatic unsaturated carboxylic acid ester, and/or a block copolymer b2 of 70 to 85% by weight vinyl aromatic hydrocarbon and 15 to 30% by weight conjugated diene hydrocarbon, and a fluorescent brightening agent in an amount of 100 to 2,000 weight ppm with respect to the total weight of the styrene-based resin. The present invention also provides a heat-shrinkable film having a three-layer structure containing front and back layers and a core layer, wherein the above-mentioned copolymer b1 and/or copolymer b2 forms the core layer. |
| US08169598B2 |
Rangefinder
A rangefinder. A main body includes a first end and a second end opposite to the first end. The second end includes at least one guide bar. A receiving lens is connected to the first end of the main body. A first adjusting wheel and a second adjusting wheel are rotatably connected to the second end of the main body. A movable board is movably fit on the guide bar of the second end of the main body and is disposed between the first and second adjusting wheels. A receiving member is connected to the movable board, receiving light beams received by the receiving lens. The movable board is moved by rotation of the first and second adjusting wheels, driving the receiving member to move on an optical axis. |
| US08169594B2 |
Illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus
An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus can include at least one transmission filter which has a different transmittance at least at two positions and which is arranged between a pupil plane and a field plane). The transmittance distribution can be determined such that it has field dependent correcting effects on the ellipticity. In some embodiments the telecentricity and/or the irradiance uniformity is not affected by this correction. |
| US08169593B2 |
Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method
A system and method use a substrate with a pattern of individual, indiscrete alignment marks, i.e., the marks are separate and distinct from each other, and each mark is not divided into component parts. The pattern of marks is distributed over an area of the substrate, and the method also comprises the steps of providing a beam of radiation using an illumination system and an array of individually controllable elements to impart the beam with a pattern in its cross-section, providing a projection system to project the patterned beam onto the substrate, and providing a movement system to effect relative movement between the substrate and the projection system. A detection system, able to detect the alignment marks individually, is also provided, and the method includes using the detection system to detect the marks to determine a relative position of the substrate to the projection system, using the movement system to position the substrate relative to the projection system, and using the projection system to project the patterned beam of radiation onto a target portion of the substrate. The pattern comprises one or more rows of simple alignment marks, such as spots and short linear marks. |
| US08169592B2 |
Exposure apparatus and method for producing device
An exposure apparatus includes an optical element via which a patterned beam is projected onto a substrate through exposure liquid filled in a space between the optical element and the substrate. The apparatus also includes a member having a surface and movable to a position at which the surface of the member faces the optical element. The apparatus also includes a cleaning system which cleans the surface of the member. |
| US08169591B2 |
Exposure apparatus, exposure method, and method for producing device
An exposure apparatus is provided with a projection optical system, and the projection optical system includes a first optical element disposed most closely to an image plane of the projection optical system. The exposure apparatus includes a first liquid immersion mechanism which forms a first liquid immersion area of a first liquid between the first optical element and an upper surface of a transparent member provided on a side of the image plane of the projection optical system, and an observation unit which observes a state of the first liquid immersion area. It is possible to grasp the state of the liquid immersion area of the liquid, thereby executing optimum liquid immersion exposure. |
| US08169590B2 |
Exposure apparatus and device fabrication method
An exposure apparatus is provided which can supply and collect a liquid in a prescribed state, and that can suppress degradation of a pattern image projected onto a substrate. The exposure apparatus is provided with a nozzle member (70) having a supply outlet (12) that supplies a liquid (LQ) and a collection inlet (22) that collects a liquid (LQ), and a vibration isolating mechanism (60) that supports the nozzle member (70) and vibrationally isolates the nozzle member (70) from a lower side step part (7) of a main column (1). |
| US08169589B2 |
Adaptive focusing using liquid crystal zone plates in electro-optical readers
Working range and beam cross-section are adjusted in an electro-optical reader for reading indicia by applying voltages to electrodes in one or more liquid crystal zone plates in which the index of refraction is changed in different regions of each zone plate. |
| US08169588B2 |
Liquid crystal display device and method for manufacturing the same
A flexible and highly reliable liquid crystal display device which is not easily damaged even if subjected to external pressure is provided. A method for manufacturing, with high yield, a flexible and highly reliable liquid crystal display device which is not easily damaged even if subjected to external pressure is also provided. A liquid crystal display device including a first structure body including a first fibrous body and a first organic resin, a second structure body including a second fibrous body and a second organic resin, a liquid crystal interposed between the first and second structure bodies, and a seal member for fixing the first and second structure bodies and for enclosing the liquid crystal. The first and second fibrous bodies are impregnated with the first and second organic resins, respectively, and the first structure body and the second structure body are in contact with each other. |
| US08169585B2 |
Liquid crystal panel having photo spacers for unimpeded display
An exemplary liquid crystal panel (3) includes a first substrate (31), a second substrate (32) parallel to the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer (33) sandwiched between the first and second substrates. The first substrate includes first photo spacers (37) and a first alignment film (301) formed on the first photo spacers. The second substrate includes a light-shield film (36), second photo spacers (38) formed above the light-shield film, and a second alignment film (302) formed on the second photo spacers. The first and the second photo spacers are covered by the light-shield film, and alignment defect areas of the first alignment film and the second alignment film are also covered by the light-shield film. |
| US08169579B2 |
Liquid crystal display
A liquid crystal display (LCD) has pixels with large effective aperture ratios. The LCD includes: a first insulating film formed over the gate line and the common electrode; a data line formed over the first insulating film, the data line crossing over the gate line, the data line being bent in a zigzag manner; a second insulating film formed over the data line; a pixel electrode formed over the second insulating film and comprising a plurality of subpixel electrodes substantially parallel to the data line, the pixel electrode comprising a connecting electrode interconnecting the subpixel electrodes; a shielding electrode formed over the second insulating film to overlie the data line; and a liquid crystal layer. |
| US08169577B2 |
Thin-film transistor photosensor, liquid crystal display panel and method of forming dielectric layer having F-SiOC: H compound
A thin-film transistor photosensor and a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel respectively utilize a dielectric layer having F—SiOC: H compound and a bump structure having F—SiOC: H compound so as to form a thin-film transistor photosensor having lower resistor-capacitor loading (RC loading) and an LCD panel having low-dielectric F—SiOC: H compound respectively. In addition, a method of forming a dielectric layer having F—SiOC: H compound utilizes gases including trimethyl silane, carbon tetrafluoride, argon, and oxygen for thin-film deposition process so as to form a low-k F—SiOC: H compound dielectric layer. |
| US08169575B2 |
Method of manufacturing liquid crystal display
A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display includes providing a first display panel, providing a second display panel, disposing liquid crystals and an alignment additive between the first display panel and the second display panel, applying a gradually increasing pre-tilting voltage to the first display panel and the second display panel, and hardening the alignment additive. |
| US08169573B2 |
Liquid crystal display device using a phase-difference film and in-plane switching mode liquid crystal display device using a phase-difference film
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device is provided. The LCD device includes an LCD panel having a first liquid crystal layer therein; a first polarizing sheet; and a first phase-difference compensation portion disposed adjacent a first surface of the LCD panel between the LCD panel and the first polarizing sheet. The first phase-difference compensation portion includes a plurality of phase-difference films having at least second and third liquid crystal layers with tilt angles that are different. |
| US08169572B2 |
Display apparatus and electronic apparatus
A display apparatus includes: at least one pixel section including a display cell that has a pixel electrode and a light-receiving cell that has a light-receiving element; and a shielding electric conductor configured to electrically shield the pixel electrode on the side of the display cell from the light-receiving element. The shielding electric conductor is formed between the pixel electrode and the light-receiving element and has a fixed potential. |
| US08169570B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device having a non-rectangular display panel includes an active area which is defined by a peripheral shield layer. A plurality of pixels are formed in the active area in a matrix and typically each pixel includes a plurality of sub-pixels to display respective different colors. The pixels include a first pixel arranged in the peripheral region of the active area and a second pixel arranged at an inner region. A part of the first pixel located in a peripheral region of the active area is covered with the peripheral shield layer. The thickness of the color filter layer arranged in the first pixel where the peripheral shield layer overlaps with the first pixel is smaller than that of a same color filter arranged in the second pixel having a larger effective display area than that of the first pixel area. |
| US08169569B2 |
Method of making liquid crystal display and liquid crystal display thereof
A liquid crystal display includes a first insulating substrate, a data insulating layer disposed on a data wire of the first insulating substrate, and a color filter layer, an organic film layer, and a light shielding layer disposed on the data insulating layer. The organic film layer is positioned on the color filter layer, and the light shielding layer is positioned on the organic film layer in the screen display area. The color filter layer and the light shielding layer contact each other in the peripheral area. |
| US08169565B2 |
Mounting mechanism for fixing computer mainframe
A mounting mechanism for fixing a computer mainframe includes a retaining base and an article; the retaining base includes a first plate, a second plate and an extensible screw; the retaining base is coupled to the article; the first plate is disposed with at least one hanging tab; the lower end of the first plate is coupled to the second plate, and the hanging tab is positioned above the second plate in order to couple to a computer mainframe with a different width conveniently; the hanging tab may be extended in a hanging hole of the computer mainframe corresponding thereto; a bolt of the extensible screw may be extended out of a hole of the second plate to engage with a screw hole of the computer mainframe corresponding thereto thereby allowing the computer mainframe to be coupled to or detached from the mounting mechanism easily without using tools. |
| US08169561B2 |
Pixel structures with repairable capacitor structures
A pixel structure including an active device, a pixel electrode connected with the active device, a bottom electrode disposed under the pixel electrode, upper electrodes disposed between the pixel electrode and the bottom electrode and connected with the pixel electrode, a first dielectric layer disposed between the bottom electrode and the upper electrodes and a second dielectric layer disposed between the upper electrodes and the pixel electrode is provided. The total area of the upper electrodes overlapping with the bottom electrode is A, and the overlapping portion of the pixel electrode and each upper electrode includes a contact region and a reserved region having total area B. The dielectric constant and thickness of the first dielectric layer is ∈1 and d1; and for second dielectric layer ∈2 and d2, wherein 0.5<(∈1·d2·A)/(∈2·d1·B)<1.5. |
| US08169560B2 |
Liquid crystal display and method of manufacturing the same
A liquid crystal display with good reliability is provided. A pixel substrate 11 and a facing substrate 12 facing each other, a liquid crystal layer 14 sandwiched between the above-described substrates and changing an alignment direction in a region of display pixels in response to applied voltages, a seal layer 15 including an UV curable material, and arranged so as to surround the region of display pixels, thereby sealing the liquid crystal layer between the above-described substrates, TFT devices and a BM layer 17 both arranged on the pixel substrate 11, and a CF layer 20 for color display arranged on the pixel substrate 11 or the facing substrate 12 are included, and the seal layer 15 are seamlessly and continuously formed so as to overlap a part of the BM layer 17. |
| US08169557B2 |
Display substrate for liquid crystal display panel
A display substrate includes a first pixel part including a first switching element, a second pixel part including a second switching element, a third pixel part including a third switching element, a first pixel electrode, a second pixel electrode and a third pixel electrode. The third pixel part is adjacent to the first pixel part. The first pixel electrode is electrically connected to the first switching element, and is formed on the first and second pixel part. The second pixel electrode is electrically connected to the second switching element, and is formed on a portion of the second pixel part. The third pixel electrode is electrically connected to the third switching element, and is formed on the first and third pixel parts. Therefore, an opening ratio is increased, thereby improving an image display quality. |
| US08169556B2 |
Liquid crystal display and method for driving same
Disclosed is an LCD comprising a plurality of data lines extending in a first direction, a plurality of gate lines extending in a second direction defining with the plurality of data lines a plurality of pixel areas arranged in a matrix configuration and supplying a gate signal to at least two rows of the pixel areas simultaneously. Thin film transistors are connected to the plurality of gate lines and the plurality of data lines. Also disclosed is a driving method for an LCD including a thin film transistor substrate including pixel areas arranged in a matrix form with a gate line extending in a first direction and a data line extending in a second direction, along with a backlight providing the TFT substrate with light of three primary colors. In the method, the three primary colors are sequentially provided in one frame period and at least two rows of pixel areas and simultaneously provided with a common gate signal. |
| US08169551B2 |
Method and apparatus for adjusting center frequency of filter
The present invention provides a method for adjusting a center frequency of a filter utilized for extracting information carried via a target channel. The method includes: detecting adjacent channel interference (ACI) for the target channel to generate a channel interference information; and adjusting the center frequency of the filter for the target channel according to the channel interference information. |
| US08169549B2 |
Receiver
This receiver includes a receiver body having an antenna connection portion connected with an antenna, a control portion controlling the receiver body, a first internal power source provided on the receiver body for supplying power to the control portion and a second internal power source provided on the receiver body to be electrically insulated from the first internal power source for supplying power to the antenna. |
| US08169545B2 |
Display control apparatus and method for superimposing an object on a moving image
A display control apparatus for superimposing an object on a moving image composed of a plurality of frames and outputting the moving image with the object superimposed to a monitor, comprises: an acquiring unit configured to acquire a plurality of candidate regions as candidates for superimposing the object on each of the plurality of frames constituting the moving image; an analyzing unit configured to, in each of the plurality of candidate regions acquired by the acquiring unit, analyze each of the plurality of frames and acquire a parameter showing an importance of each of the plurality of frames in each of the plurality of candidate regions; a determining unit configured to determine a superimposing region for superimposing the object based on the parameters; and a superimposing unit configured to superimpose the object on the superimposing region determined by the determining unit. |
| US08169536B2 |
Optical imaging device, and lens control method and apparatus
The invention provides an optical imaging device, which includes: an input unit, adapted to receive lens category information that is inputted; a storage unit, adapted to store at least one lens control model; and a control unit, adapted to select, according to the lens category information that is inputted from the input unit, a corresponding lens control model from the storage unit, and to apply to a lens a control signal which control signal corresponds to a current status of the lens. The invention also provides a lens control method and apparatus. The optical imaging device of the invention can control and adjust various categories of lenses, thus effectively avoiding the problem of iris hunting. |
| US08169535B2 |
Interchangeable lens, camera body and camera system
An interchangeable lens mountable to a camera body includes an optical system operable to collect light from a subject to form a subject image, a diaphragm operable to adjust an amount of light of the subject image to be collected by the optical system, a driving unit operable to drive the diaphragm based upon an aperture value within a predetermined range, a storage unit operable to store speed information relating to a speed at which the driving unit can be set to drive the diaphragm, and a transmitting unit operable to transmit the speed information stored in the storage unit to the camera body. The speed information is provided for each of a plurality of aperture value ranges which are obtained by dividing the predetermined range of the aperture value, and relates to the speed indicating a settable rate of change in the light amount which changes as the driving unit drives the diaphragm. |
| US08169534B2 |
Volumetric imaging using “virtual” lenslets
A system constructs an image using virtual lenslets. |
| US08169533B2 |
Zoom lens system and image pickup apparatus including the same
A zoom lens system having a high zoom ratio and excellently correcting various aberrations over an entire zoom range between a wide angle end and a telephoto end to obtain high optical performance in the entire zoom range, includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens unit having a positive refractive power, a second lens unit having a negative refractive power, a third lens unit, and a fourth lens unit. The fourth lens unit includes a front subunit and a rear subunit, the rear subunit being constituted by two negative lenses and at least three positive lenses. The rear subunit includes a first rear-subunit and a second rear-subunit. Each of the first rear-subunit and the second rear-subunit includes a negative lens and at least one positive lens. Lens materials are suitably set for the first rear-subunit and the rear second-subunit. |
| US08169530B2 |
Camera having an autofocusing system
An autofocus camera having a face recognition function, includes a photographing optical system including a focusing lens group; an image pickup device; an autofocusing system which performs a focus search process, and further performs a focusing operation in which the focusing lens group is moved to an in-focus position that is detected by the focus search process; a switch which activates the autofocusing system; a face recognition device for recognizing a face image based on object images; and a controller which makes the autofocusing system set the focus detection area on a face recognition area at which the face image is recognized and makes the autofocusing system perform the focus search process and the focusing operation on the focus detection area regardless of whether the switch is turned ON when the face recognition device recognizes the face image. |
| US08169523B2 |
Solid-state imaging device and electronic apparatus
A solid-state imaging device includes: a photoelectric conversion portion; a floating diffusion region; a transfer gate electrode made of an n-type semiconductor; a sidewall made of an n-type semiconductor formed on the photoelectric conversion portion side of the transfer gate electrode through an insulating film; and a sidewall made of an insulating layer formed on the floating diffusion region side of the transfer gate electrode. |
| US08169522B2 |
Imaging devices, systems and methods
An imaging device comprises a semiconductor substrate including an array of pixel cells. Each pixel cell comprising an individually addressable pixel circuit for accumulating charge resulting from radiation incident on a pixel detector. The pixel circuit and the pixel detector can either be implemented on a single substrate, or on two substrates bonded together. The charge storage device can be a transistor, for example one of a pair of FET transistors connected as a cascade amplification stage. An imaging plane can be made up of one imaging device or a plurality of imaging devices tiled to form a mosaic. The imaging devices may be configured as a slot for certain applications, the slit or slot being scanned over the imaging plane. Control electronics can include addressing logic for addressing individual pixel circuits for reading accumulated charge from the pixel circuits. Imaging optimization can be achieved by determining maximum and minimum charge values for pixels for display, assigning extreme grey scale or color values to the maximum and minimum charge values and allocating grey scale or color values to an individual pixel according to a sliding scale between the extreme values. Scattered radiation can be detected and discarded by comparing the detected pixel value to a threshold value related to a minimum detected charge value expected for directly incident radiation and discarding detected pixel values less than said threshold value. |
| US08169521B2 |
Image sampling method and image processing method thereof
An image sampling method for an image sensor is provided herein. The image sensor includes a plurality of pixel elements in the intersections of a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns. During either one of the odd field period or the even field period, the pixel elements in the intersections of the odd rows and the odd columns and the pixel elements in the intersection of the even rows and the even columns are sampled. During the other field period, the pixel elements in the intersections of the even rows and the odd columns and the pixel elements in the intersection of the odd rows and the even columns are sampled. The image processing method utilizes the pixel data in a specific block sampled from the pixel elements during one of the odd and the even field periods to interpolate a specific pixel in the specific block. |
| US08169517B2 |
Image sensor ADC and CDS per column with oversampling
A solid state imager converts analog pixel values to digital form on an arrayed per-column basis. An N-bit counter supplies an N-bit DAC to produce an analog ramp output with a level that varies corresponding to the contents of the counter. A latch/counter or equivalent is associated with each respective column. A clock supplies clock signal(s) to the counter elements. When the analog ramp equals the pixel value for that column, the latch/counter latches the value. The black level can be pre-set in the latch/counter or can be subtracted separately to reduce fixed pattern noise. The pixels can be oversampled for some number of times, e.g., n=16, to reduce the thermal noise of the sensors. Also, two or more pixels sharing a common sense node may be binned together, and two (or more) pixels having different integration times may be combined to obtain an output signal with enhanced dynamic range. |
| US08169516B2 |
Electo-optical color imaging systems having strong lateral chromatic aberration compensated by digital image processing
A spatially-varying sharpening filter and a color registration module compensate for significant lateral color in poorly corrected optics. In one aspect, a color imaging system includes image-forming optics, a sensor array and a processing module. The processing module includes a color registration module and a spatially-varying sharpening filter. The image-forming optics suffers from lateral chromatic aberration. The sensor array captures color pixels of the chromatically aberrated optical image. The spatially-varying sharpening filter sharpens the image (e.g., reduces the blurring caused by lateral color), and the color registration module realigns different color channels of the image. |
| US08169512B2 |
Video signal processing circuit, imaging device and video signal processing method
A digital still camera includes an amplification circuit, a timing generator, sample hold circuits, a differential amplifier, an analog/digital conversion circuit and a control unit. The generator generates a first-pulse signal and a second-pulse signal at different timings. The circuits sample analog video signals outputted from the amplification circuit at timings when the first-pulse signal and second-pulse signal, respectively, are provided and hold levels of the analog video signals. The amplifier acquires a difference between the levels of the analog video signals. The circuit obtains a digital video signal corresponding to the analog video signal on the basis of the difference. The unit changes the timings to provide the first- and second-pulse signals to the first- and second-sample hold circuits, respectively, and a bias current depending on the driving period. |
| US08169506B2 |
Image storage apparatus having continuous-shooting function
An image storage apparatus comprises an image capture unit configured to sequentially capture images of a subject, a storage unit including storage areas to store the images of the subject captured by the image capture unit, a storage controller configured to overwrite a storage area which is permitted to be overwritten with an image of the subject captured by the image capture unit, a life setting unit configured to set a life of the storage area which is overwritten by the storage controller, a life controller configured to change gradually the life of the storage area set by the life setting unit, a determination unit configured to determine whether the life of the storage area changed by the life controller expires or not, and a permission unit configured to permit to overwrite a storage area when the determination unit determines that the life of the storage area expires. |
| US08169503B2 |
Image pickup apparatus and control method for selecting a flicker control method
It is determined whether or not flicker has occurred in an image signal obtained on the basis of an output signal of an image pickup element. If it is determined that flicker has occurred, a flicker correction method is selected according to a gain value set in the image signal. |
| US08169502B2 |
Video camera
An image sensor has an imaging surface irradiated with an optical image of an object scene, and repeatedly generates an object scene image. A CPU repeatedly determines whether or not a specific variation exceeding a reference is generated in the object scene captured by the image sensor, in parallel with a generating process of the object scene image by the image sensor. When a determination result is updated from a negative result to an affirmative result, the CPU waits for an elapse of a designated period, then, determines presence or absence of a generation of a flicker, and executes a flicker countermeasure process, as needed. |
| US08169501B2 |
Output apparatus, output method and program
There is provided an output apparatus which is capable of outputting a moving image in such a manner as to enable an observer to easily judge whether a quick movement made by a suspicious individual is an abnormal behavior. The output apparatus includes a moving image obtaining section that obtains a moving image, an output section that outputs the moving image obtained by the moving image obtaining section, a condition storing section that stores thereon a condition to be satisfied by an object which is required to be extracted from a moving image, and an output control section that, when an object satisfying the condition is extracted from the moving image obtained by the moving image obtaining section, controls the moving image obtained by the moving image obtaining section in terms of a play back state in which the moving image is to be played back, and causes the output section to output the controlled moving image. |
| US08169496B2 |
Image processing system and image acquisition method
An image processing system includes an illumination unit and an illumination control unit configured to adjust light emitted from the illumination unit so as to illuminate a limited area in a space, the system generates a timing signal for controlling emission/non-emission of light from the illumination unit, captures a first image of an imaging area including the limited area or part of the limited area based on the timing signal, the first image being taken from a position different from the illumination unit when the illumination unit emits light, captures a second image of the imaging area based on the timing signal, the second image being taken from the position when the illumination unit emits no light, and acquires a third image which is a difference image between the first image and the second image. |
| US08169484B2 |
Photography-specific digital camera apparatus and methods useful in conjunction therewith
A multi-mode digital photography method including generating an output image of a location L at a specific time t which is identified as a function of a user-selected photography task. the method including generating an output image of a particular scene which is built up from a plurality of images thereof, as another function of a user-selected photography task. |
| US08169479B2 |
Device for scanning acquisition of a digital image with passive stabilization
Device for scanning acquisition of a digital image by means of a photosensitive linear detector (11). The device is able to undergo movements perpendicular to the scanning direction. The device also includes two other photosensitive linear detectors (12, 13). The three photosensitive linear detectors being placed so that the detection is carried out substantially along a U. |
| US08169478B2 |
Method and apparatus for calibrating a mark verifier
A method for calibrating a mark quality verifier assembly wherein the assembly includes a camera including a camera field of view (FOV) and a processor for running software programs that are stored in a memory that is accessible to the processor, the method comprising the steps of providing a calibration program in the memory that is accessible by the processor, providing a calibration code on a surface of a calibration tool wherein the calibration code includes calibration information, positioning the calibration tool adjacent the camera so that the calibration code is within the FOV, obtaining at least one image of the calibration code via the camera, using information in the calibration code to determine that a verifier calibration process should be performed and commencing the calibration program when the calibration code indicates that a calibration process should be performed. |
| US08169477B2 |
Digital video borescope for drilled shaft inspection
Visual inspection of an interior surface of a borehole. A housing adapted to be lowered in the borehole supports a portable camera for generating images of a portion of the interior surface of the borehole and a light source for illuminating an area adjacent the camera. A monitor receives signals from the camera and, in response thereto, displays the images generated by the camera. A viewing envelope positioned adjacent the camera defines a viewing area adjacent the camera, particularly for use in visually inspecting slurry-filled boreholes. |
| US08169476B2 |
In-cylinder imaging system using high-speed imaging device and high intensity light source for capturing images in combustion chamber
An in-cylinder imaging apparatus is provided for an internal combustion engine defining a combustion chamber. The in-cylinder imaging apparatus includes a high-speed imaging device such as a high-speed digital camera. A borescope is provided in communication with the combustion chamber and is operable to communicate images of the combustion chamber to the high-speed imaging device. A high intensity light source, for example, a xenon light source, is operable to substantially illuminate the combustion chamber. The high-speed imaging device and borescope are in axial alignment with respect to each other and are mounted with respect to the internal combustion engine. A method of imaging the combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine during engine operation employing the disclosed in-cylinder imaging apparatus is also provided. |
| US08169469B2 |
Information processing device, information processing method and computer readable medium
An information processing device that is connected to a projecting device that projects an annotation image input from an external terminal onto a projection region including an object, and is connected to an image capturing device that captures an image of the projection region. The information processing device obtains image data to be input to and output from the projecting device and the image capturing device through a communication with the external terminal. The information processing device includes: a memory that stores a database including CAD data to be used for designing the object, and the attribute information of the CAD data; an acquiring unit that acquires the identification information of the object; an identifying unit that identifies the CAD data of the object included in the database, based on the acquired identification information of the object; and a controller that associates the data of an image captured by the image capturing device with the CAD data of the object identified by the identifying unit, and causes the memory to store the data of the captured image associated with the CAD data, so that the data of the captured image can be viewed based on the attribute information of the CAD data of the object identified by the identifying unit. |
| US08169468B2 |
Augmented stereoscopic visualization for a surgical robot
A robotic surgical system positions and holds an endoscope. A visible imaging system is coupled to the endoscope. The visible imaging system captures a visible image of tissue. An alternate imaging system is also coupled to the endoscope. The alternate imaging system captures a fluorescence image of at least a portion of the tissue. A stereoscopic video display system is coupled to the visible imaging system and to the alternate imaging system. The stereoscopic video display system outputs a real-time stereoscopic image comprising a three-dimensional presentation of a blend of a fluorescence image associated with the captured fluorescence image, and the visible image. |
| US08169467B2 |
System, method, and computer program product for increasing an LCD display vertical blanking interval
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for enhancing a viewing experience when display content is viewed utilizing stereo glasses. In use, display content is received for being outputted utilizing a display. Further, a duration of a vertical blanking interval associated with the display content is increased for enhancing a viewing experience when the display content is viewed utilizing the stereo glasses. |
| US08169465B2 |
3D video processor and 3D video processing method
A 3D video processor that outputs a left-eye image and a right-eye image to be superimposed on main video includes: a left-eye object processing unit that outputs the left-eye image; a right-eye object processing unit that outputs the right-eye image; and an image output control unit that controls the left-eye object processing unit and the right-eye object processing unit so that the left-eye image and the right-eye image are synchronously outputted. The left-eye object processing unit determines whether or not image output preparation of the left-eye image is completed. The right-eye object processing unit determines whether or not image output preparation of the right-eye image is completed. The image output control unit instructs to skip the output of both the left-eye image and the right-eye image, when the image output preparation of one of the left-eye image and the right-eye image is not completed. |
| US08169462B2 |
Mobile communication device capable of storing video chatting log and operating method thereof
A mobile communication device including a radio communication unit configured to establish a video telephony call between a first user of the mobile communication device and at least a second user of another communication device, a display unit configured to display a first image data of the first user and a second image data of the second user on the mobile communication device, and to display a chatting window on the mobile communication device when a video chatting service is selected such that the first and second users can perform a chatting operation in the chatting window, in which the first and second image data are transmitted/received through the video telephony call, a control unit configured to link chatting data displayed in the chatting window with at least one of the first image data of the first user and the second image data of the second user, and a memory unit configured to store the linked chatting data as a video chatting log. |
| US08169457B2 |
Light source apparatus, optical-beam scanning apparatus, and image forming apparatus
A light source apparatus includes a circuit board on which a light source unit including a vertical-cavity surface-emitting light source and a package that houses the vertical-cavity surface-emitting light source is mounted, an optical element holder that holds a plurality of optical elements including at least a coupling lens, and an intermediate holder that is arranged between the circuit board and the optical element holder. The intermediate holder is joined to the circuit board to cover an area of the circuit board on which the light source unit is mounted to thereby make contact with the package such that the vertical-cavity surface-emitting light source is positioned and fixed and joined to the optical element holder to thereby position the optical elements to the vertical-cavity surface-emitting light source. |
| US08169456B2 |
Print head and image forming apparatus employing the same
Disclosed are a print head and an image forming apparatus employing the same. The print head, which irradiates light to multiple locations of a photosensitive medium to form pixels of electrostatic latent image, includes an array of light sources corresponding to the pixels, a distributed Bragg reflector disposed adjacent the surface of the light source array from which the light source array output light, and a light focusing unit which focuses the light that have passed through the distributed Bragg reflector onto the locations of photosensitive medium. |
| US08169453B2 |
Thermally conductive, electrically isolated peel member assembly
A thermal printer having reduced electrical charge built at point of separation of a donor web and a receiver web, includes at least one thermal printhead and at least one platen roller with a nip is formed between the at least one thermal printhead and the at least one platen roller through which the donor web and the receiver web are drawn. A heat sink is attached to the at least one thermal printhead and a peel member is located downstream of the nip. The peel member is substantially electrically isolated from ground. |
| US08169452B2 |
Thermal head and printer
A thermal head has a heat storage layer bonded onto a surface of the substrate, a heating resistor provided on the heat storage layer, and a pair of electrode portions connected to the heating resistor. The heating resistor has a heating portion which does not overlap the pair of electrode portions. A hollow portion is provided in a region of at least one of the surface of the substrate and a surface of the heat storage layer, the region being opposed to the heating resistor. A center line of the hollow portion is shifted with respect to a center line of a heating portion of the heating resistor. |
| US08169451B2 |
Content transmission apparatus and content display system
A content transmission apparatus includes a communication module configured to carry out wireless communication with a partner apparatus, a detection module configured to detect a motion of the content transmission apparatus, and a transmission control module configured to control the communication module to transmit content to the partner apparatus and to transmit correction information corresponding to the motion of the content transmission apparatus detected by the detection module during transmission of the content to the partner apparatus. |
| US08169450B2 |
System and method for ambient-light adaptive intensity control for an electronic display
The techniques of the present invention relate to automatically controlling display intensity. The present invention includes a calibration step in which the display intensity settings are correlated to the ambient light intensity conditions. The present invention also includes an automatic adjustment step in which the ambient light intensity is measured and the display intensity is automatically adjusted according to a correlation defined in the calibration step. |
| US08169446B2 |
Reflection property control layer and display device
A display device includes: a reflection property control layer which is disposed in the front face of a display screen, whereby reflection properties are switched for each predetermined region; and a control unit configured to switch the reflection properties of the reflection property control layer depending on an input image, with the control means detecting a gloss region from the input image, and switching the reflection properties of a predetermined region according to the relevant detection result. |
| US08169445B2 |
Methods and systems for full-color three-dimensional image display
Methods and systems for displaying full-color three-dimensional imagery are provided. A first color set, having a first color spectrum, is defined to include a first set of LEDs. The first color set is assigned to a first color-coded image perspective. A second color set, having a second color spectrum, is defined to include a second set of LEDs. The second color set is assigned to a second color-coded image perspective. The full-color three-dimensional imagery is caused by activating, alternatively, at least two LEDs of the first color set or the second color set and one LED of a remaining color set and displaying the three-dimensional image based on the first image perspective and the second image perspective. |
| US08169438B1 |
Temporally coherent hair deformation
In various embodiments, deformations caused by kinematic or reference objects to secondary objects such as hair or fur may be computed in parallel using a temporally coherent deformation technique. A single or uniform direction for a deformation may be determined from which the deformation of the secondary object will occur with respect to a reference object. The uniform direction for the deformation may be determined rather than allowing the direction of the deformation to vary along a dimension of the secondary object. The magnitude of the deformation may be determined to vary along the dimension of the secondary object in response to the penetration depth or the measure of how far inside the secondary object finds itself within the reference object. |
| US08169437B1 |
Distributed tessellation topology generator
A system and method for dividing three-dimensional patches into tasks for processing receives control points defining a three dimensional patch and determines if a number of vertices of the three dimensional patch is greater than a maximum value. When the number of vertices is not greater than the maximum value, the three dimensional patch is output as a single task. When the number of vertices is greater than the maximum value, the three dimensional patch is divided into multiple tasks that each include a number of vertices that is not greater than the maximum value and the multiple tasks are output. |
| US08169436B2 |
Methods and systems for remoting three dimensional graphics
Methods and systems for providing three dimensional graphics to remote computing machines and appliances that include an agent executing on a local computing machine to intercept a plurality of graphics commands generated by a three dimensional application executing on a local computing machine. A first portion of the plurality of graphics commands are encoded by the agent using a first codec, while a second portion of the plurality of graphics commands are encoded by the agent using a second codec. The agent creates a frame comprising the first portion and the second portion of the plurality of graphics commands, compresses the frame, and transmits the frame to a remote computing machine. |
| US08169434B2 |
Octree construction on graphics processing units
An octree GPU construction system and method for constructing a complete octree data structure on a graphics processing unit (GPU). Embodiments of the octree GPU construction system and method first defines a complete octree data structure as forming a complete partition of the 3-D space and including a vertex, edge, face, and node arrays, and neighborhood information. Embodiments of the octree GPU construction system and method input a point cloud and construct a node array. Next, neighboring nodes are computed for each of the nodes in the node arrays by using at least two pre-computed look-up tables (such as a parent look-up table and a child look-up table). Embodiments of the octree GPU construction system and method then use the neighboring nodes and neighborhood information to compute a vertex array, edge array, and face array are computed by determining owner information and self-ownership information based on the neighboring nodes. |
| US08169430B2 |
Display system with low drop-out voltage regulator
A display system is disclosed in the present invention, which includes a low drop-out voltage regulator (LDO) for receiving an input voltage and providing a stable output voltage. The low drop-out voltage regulator includes a regulating circuit, a first switch, a current source circuit and an inverting circuit. The regulating circuit has a regulating circuit input, a regulating circuit output and a regulating circuit control terminal. The first switch selectively forms short or open circuit in accordance with ON/OFF states thereof. The current source circuit provides a fixed current to the control terminal and the output of the regulating circuit. The inverting circuit has an inverting circuit input coupled to the regulating circuit output and an inverting circuit output terminal coupled to the regulating circuit control terminal, the inverting circuit inverting the output voltage from the regulating circuit output. The regulating circuit control terminal adjusts the output voltage in accordance with a control voltage received thereof. |
| US08169429B2 |
Driving power-supply circuit
The object of the present invention is reducing power consumption of a driving power supply circuit. In the case where the driving voltage Vi is higher than the reference voltage ViH, The signal S3P, S3N of the differential amplifier 30P, 30N become level “L” concurrently, and the signal S4P, S4N of the output circuit 40P, 40N become level “H”. Subsequently, the NMOS 62 becomes on-state and decreases the driving voltage Vi of the node N6. At the above stage, the control signal CP becomes level “L”, then the operation of the constant current circuit 20P is halted. |
| US08169427B2 |
Display module
A display module includes a substrate, wherein the substrate has a plurality of pixels, a signal line that supplies a data signal to a pixel, a current supply line that supplies electric current to the pixel, and a data driving circuit that supplies a data signal to the data line thereon. The plurality of pixels delimit a display area of the substrate and the pixel includes an emitting device, and a first thin transistor connected to the signal line that supplies the data signal. |
| US08169426B2 |
Method and apparatus for sensing, measurement or characterization of display elements integrated with the display drive scheme, and system and applications using the same
Methods and systems for electrical sensing, measurement and characterization of display elements are described. An embodiment includes integrating the electrical sensing, measurement and characterization with the display drive scheme. This embodiment allows for measurement of DC or operational hysteresis voltages and/or response times of interferometric modulator MEMS devices, for example, to be fully integrated with the display driver IC and/or the display drive scheme. Another embodiment allows these measurements to be performed and used without resulting in display artifacts visible to a human user. Another embodiment allows the measurement circuitry to be integrated with the display driver IC and/or the display drive scheme re-using several existing circuitry components and features, thus allowing for integration of the measurement method and its use relatively easily. |
| US08169423B2 |
Electronic writing instrument, computer system, electronic writing method and computer readable medium
The electronic writing instrument is provided with: a writing unit that writes down on a medium where a code indicating identity information and location information of the medium is formed; an emitting unit that emits light to the medium; a photoelectric conversion unit that includes photoelectric conversion element receiving a reflected light from the medium by the light emitted by the emitting unit and outputting an electronic signal after converting the reflected light by photoelectric conversion; a receiving unit that receives a user operation; and a condition changing unit that changes at least any one of an emitting condition of the emitting unit to the medium and an output condition of the photoelectric conversion unit when the receiving unit receives an operation. |
| US08169422B2 |
Fingernail stylus for PDA use
A finger stylus for attachment to a fingernail for manipulation of a handheld device such as a PDA that can include a base with an adhesive on a lower surface for attaching the stylus to a fingernail and an elongated part coupled to an upper surface where the elongated part points outward at an angle from the base. The finger stylus of the present invention can be a disposable device that can be of plastic or rubber. |
| US08169421B2 |
Apparatus and method for detecting a touch-sensor pad gesture
An apparatus and method for distinguishing a particular gesture from among multiple gestures, performed by a conductive object on the sensing device, using fewer than three time intervals. The apparatus may include a sensing device to detect a presence of a conductive object, and a processing device, coupled to the sensing device, to distinguish the multiple gestures. The method may include distinguishing between a tap gesture, a double tap gesture, a drag gesture, and a motion gesture. |
| US08169418B2 |
Displays for electronic devices that detect and respond to the size and/or angular orientation of user input objects
An electronic device includes a touch-sensitive display screen including an array of electromagnetic radiation detectors. The array of electromagnetic radiation detectors is configured to generate an image signal that represents an image of a user input object that is closely spaced to the display, and to generate a touch signal in response to the display screen being touched by the user input object. The electronic device further includes a controller circuit that is configured to display a plurality of keys forming a keyboard and to display characters on the keys. The controller identifies from the image signal a size and/or an angular orientation of the user input object relative to the display screen. The controller identifies a user's selection among characters indicated on the keyboard keys in response to the identified size and/or the angular orientation of the user input object and in response to the touch signal, and outputs character data corresponding to the identified user selected character. |
| US08169416B2 |
Capacitive touch screen
The present invention provides a capacitive touch screen (1) which includes a substrate (10), a first electrode plate (20), an elastic spacer (30), a second electrode plate (40) and a transparent panel (50). The substrate (10) is made of a plate having a rim (11). The first electrode plate (20) is placed on the rim (11) of the substrate (10). The elastic spacer (30) is interposed between the first electrode plate (20) and second electrode plate (40). One of the first and second electrode plates comprises four or more electrode plates arranged along the rim (11) of the substrate (10). When a pressure is applied to the transparent panel (50), a distance (d) between the first and second electrode plate changes. Thereby, capacitances are varied at sensing points (S) corresponding to locations of the four or more electrode plates, and a touch location and a touch pressure are determined by variation rates of the measured capacitances. |
| US08169412B2 |
Display apparatus and display method capable of adjusting position of image associated with application program by specifying commands indicative of screen size and display position
A display apparatus and a display method are provided capable of displaying an image in a desirably adjusted state upon execution of an application program. In the display apparatus, a command for display position is inputted to the touch panel and according to such an input, a determining section determines an application program, and display adjusting section adjusts a display position of an image appearing upon execution of the application program so that the image appears at a desired display position on a liquid crystal panel. |
| US08169411B2 |
Touch screen device and operating method thereof
A touch screen device and an operating method thereof are provided. More specifically, a touch screen device is provided which allows a user to selectively restrict input through a touch screen. The touch screen device includes a screen that includes a display configured to display images thereon and a detector configured to detect a touch on the display and convert the touch into an electrical signal, and a controller configured to cause images to be displayed on the display and receive and process signals from the detector. Further, a user may determine whether the controller is operated according to the signal input into the detector. The determination may be made either by a switch separately installed on an earphone or by inputting a signal into the detector by a user. |
| US08169409B2 |
Method of managing a language information for a text input and method of inputting a text and a mobile terminal
A text input for a messaging application is performed on the basis of the language stored respective to the input or the selected contact item in the memory. |
| US08169408B2 |
Display for multi-function key pad and electronic device having the same
Disclosed are a display for a multi-function key pad and an electronic device having the display that have both input and output functions. The display for the multi-function key pad includes an electrophoretic display panel provided with a plurality of display regions arranged in a matrix form with having a non-display region as a boundary, a circuit board provided on the display panel and including a plurality of openings formed on regions corresponding to the display regions and a plurality of keys formed on regions that are outer circumference edges of the openings and correspond to the non-display region, and a pad provided on the circuit board and including a plurality of transparent windows formed on regions corresponding to the openings and a plurality of pressing units formed on regions that are outer circumference edges of the transparent windows and correspond to the keys. |
| US08169406B2 |
Motion-sensitive wand controller for a game
A wireless input device for playing an interactive motion-sensitive game using a wireless-compatible game console in which a virtual play environment is represented through one or more computer-animated visual, aural or tactile effects is provided wherein game play is conducted by moving, shaking, twisting, waiving or pointing the input device in a particular manner. The input device can include motion-sensitive circuitry and/or command circuitry for generating control signals and/or an effects generator and associated control circuitry to enable the input device to selectively generate at least one visual, aural or tactile effect comprising sound, lighting or vibration. The input device can include a wireless transceiver for providing two-way wireless communication with the wireless-compatible game console. |
| US08169404B1 |
Method and device for planary sensory detection
A method and system (500) for generating an approximately planar sensory field (199) and confirming a presence of an object (310) in the field is provided. The system can include at least one paired receiver (121/122) and at least one transmitter (130) in a front and back orientation of a touchless sensing unit (110). The method can include detecting a movement of the object within a sensory space (176/177), estimating a phase angle of the movement; and evaluating whether the phase angle is within a predetermined range (197), and if so, confirming a presence of the object within the approximately planar sensory field. |
| US08169400B2 |
Drive apparatus for bistable displayer and method thereof
A drive apparatus for a bistable displayer and a method thereof are provided for driving a bistable displayer with a plurality of pixels. The drive apparatus includes an initialization unit, a receiving unit and a display drive unit. The initialization unit is for generating at least one initial potential level to all pixels to perform initialization. The receiving unit is for receiving a plurality of gray levels. The display drive unit generates a waveform signal based on every gray level. The pulse width of the waveform signal relates to the value of the gray level. The waveform signal is then transmitted to a corresponding pixel to drive the pixel to be displayed. |
| US08169399B2 |
Display device
A display device includes: a first insulating substrate; a main pixel which is formed on the first insulating substrate and comprises a plurality of sub-pixels and a single sensing electrode; a second insulating substrate which faces the first insulating substrate; a sensing spacer formed on the second insulating substrate which faces the sensing electrode; and a contact electrode formed on the sensing spacer. |
| US08169389B2 |
Converting three-component to four-component image
A method of converting a three-or-more-color-component image input signal to an image output signal includes acquiring an input signal having a plurality of pixel signals, each pixel signal having three, or more, color components; determining a residual difference for each color component of each pixel signal; determining a limit value of the residual differences; calculating a common scale factor for each of the color components based upon the limit value; and applying the common scale factor to the image input signal to produce the image output signal. |
| US08169388B2 |
Color correction apparatus
A display system provides a display assembly having a display screen. LEDs are presorted into a plurality of groups, each group of LEDs having substantially the same color that is different than the color of another group. LEDs are selected from one of the groups. The selected LEDs are mounted in the display assembly to illuminate the display screen. A non-electronic color adjuster is mounted in the light path from the selected LEDs to shift the light color to a predetermined color. |
| US08169385B2 |
Image display device
In an image display device, a transistor formed in each pixel circuit is an N-channel transistor. Each pixel circuit further comprises an enable switch disposed in a current path supplying electric current to a light-emitting element and a supplementary capacitor for controlling changes in voltage of a terminal of a holding capacitor at one end opposite another terminal connected with writing switch. The light-emitting element is connected between the source of a driver transistor for supplying a current to the light-emitting element and a low-voltage side power line, an enable switch is connected between the drain of the driver transistor and a high-voltage side power line, and supplementary capacitor is connected between the drain of driver transistor and a predetermined power line. |
| US08169378B2 |
System and method for stabilizing an electronic array
A system for stabilizing an electronic array includes at least one component having a notch and at least one stabilizing bar. The stabilizing bar comprises a first pair of contact points. The at least one stabilizing bar is positioned upon the at least one component such that the first pair of points deform against the at least one component below the notch. |
| US08169372B1 |
Electrolytic fluid antenna
An antenna comprising: a first current probe comprising a core of ferromagnetic material having an aperture therein; a pump comprising a nozzle, wherein the pump is configured to pump a free-standing stream of electrolytic fluid out the nozzle and through the aperture such that the stream and the current probe are magnetically coupled; and a first transceiver operatively coupled to the current probe. |
| US08169369B2 |
Method and device for generating a location signal
A frequency generation unit (FGU) in a communication device includes a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), an adjustable filter having a capacitive element for wideband operation, a current source with variable gain, and chirp generation control circuitry (CGC) that is used to generate location signals. The FGU receives, from a reference device, at least one location signal control parameter that defines linear frequency slope characteristics for a location signal. The CGC configures, based on the at least one location signal control parameter, the gain and a polarity of the current source to generate a first current during a first time period for charging the capacitive element to generate a control signal that is coupled to the VCO to generate a first part of the location signal having the defined linear frequency slope characteristics, wherein the first part of the location signal is transmitted using a transceiver of the communication device. |
| US08169368B2 |
Method, apparatus and computer program for updating antenna beam angles of a directional antenna of wireless device
Antenna beam angles of one or more directional antennas of a wireless device are updated to communicate with a plurality of other wireless devices. Each one of the antenna beam angles is associated with one of the plurality of other wireless devices. At least one angle correction is determined to update the antenna beam angle associated with at least one first wireless device among the plurality of other wireless devices. The antenna beam angle associated with at least one second wireless device is first updated using the determined at least one angle correction of the antenna beam angle associated with the first wireless device. |
| US08169363B2 |
Antenna device and radar apparatus
An antenna device includes an antenna substrate and a feed line substrate. The antenna substrate includes subarray antennas, feeding interfaces and a back surface. The subarray antennas are arranged parallel with an interval on a plane. Each subarray antenna includes antenna elements and first feed lines. The first feed lines feed signals from the feeding interface on back surface to the antenna elements. The feed line substrate is attached along back surface and includes second feed lines, first and second mode transformers. Each second feed line has one and other ends portions. Other end portion has wider width than one end portion. Each first mode transformer is located in one end portion and connected to the feeding interface. Each second mode transformer is located in other end portion. One end portions are arranged in a line with interval, and other end portions are alternately arranged across one end portions. |
| US08169359B2 |
Pulse doppler radar device
A judging and controlling part 110 comprises an operation mode judging unit 111, a pulse width selecting unit 112, and a band limiting width selecting unit 113, wherein the operation mode judging unit 111 receives a signal of a gear state from a predetermined controlling device in a vehicle, and then judges the operation mode thereof. Based on a result of the judgment at the operation mode judging unit 111, the pulse width selecting unit 112 and the band limiting width selecting unit 113 control a wide band impulse generating part 120 and a band width limiting part 150, respectively. |
| US08169357B2 |
Transmission scheduling for ADS-B ground systems
System and methods for reducing redundant messages broadcast in an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system. For a given target, a controller determines the relevant customers that should receive information about the target, identifies all of the ground stations that can be satisfactorily heard by the relevant customers, and then identifies a smaller subset of ground stations by selecting only those ground stations that are needed to reach all of the relevant customers. ADS-B messages are then broadcast to the relevant customers using only the smaller subset of ground stations. |
| US08169356B2 |
Anti-mask motion sensor
A motion sensing method and apparatus includes a housing enclosing a microwave motion sensor including an antenna, and a security system. The antenna may be a patch antenna which includes microwave radiating elements for transmitting and receiving a microwave signal for sensing motion. A reflector is attached to the housing and positioned above the antenna for downward shaping of the microwave signal. The microwave radiating elements together with the reflector provide a radiation pattern where a main beam is transmitted in a direction orthogonal to a surface of the antenna and a sided lobe is transmitted downward in amplitude below the microwave motion sensor. An alarm circuit indicates when the microwave sensor detects motion in armed mode, and a masking circuit indicates when the microwave sensor detects motion in a mask zone when the security system is unarmed. A second sensor may be positioned beneath the microwave motion sensor. |
| US08169354B2 |
Apparatus and methods thereof for reducing energy consumption for PWM controlled integrated circuits in vehicles
An apparatus, protocol and methods for reducing vehicle energy consumption and for precise electronic event control, by implementing full CPU off-loading, using pulse-width modulation (PWM) with analog feedback diagnosis enabling real-time operation. Accordingly, analog feedback is used for external integrated circuits (IC) controlled by a PWM output, for processes to be analyzed. The apparatus includes a microprocessor that integrates an autonomous PWM module and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) group manager, each including register modules for enabling analog-to-digital signal conversion comparisons of PWM feedback data, and generating of an interrupt commands when required. |
| US08169352B2 |
Jitter insensitive sigma-delta modulator
A sigma-delta modulator for forming a digital output signal representative of a voltage level of an input signal, the sigma delta modulator having a node arranged to receive a current flow that is representative of the voltage level of the input signal and on whose voltage the digital output signal is dependent, the sigma-delta modulator comprising a plurality of capacitive elements for smoothing the current flow, each capacitive element being connected at one end to the node and at its other end to a respective switch unit and a plurality of switch units, each switch unit being arranged to connect the respective one of the capacitive elements to either a first voltage level or a second voltage level in dependence on the voltage at the node so as to provide feedback that affects the voltage at the node. |
| US08169347B2 |
Parallel-to-serial converter and parallel data output device
A parallel data output device includes a first latch circuit that latches and outputs one of at least two data signals input in parallel in accordance with a first clock signal; a second latch circuit that latches and outputs another of the at least two data signals in accordance with a second clock signal; and a phase set circuit that shifts at least one of a phase of the first clock signal and a phase of the second clock signal based on the phase of the first clock signal and the phase of the second clock signal. |
| US08169343B2 |
Method and system for saving and retrieving spatial related information
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for storing, referencing, retrieving, and graphically displaying spatial and non-spatial related information of a mobile computing device, such as a laptop computer or a cellular telephone. The spatial-related information may be obtained by using positioning tracking systems such as a global positioning system, whereas the non-spatial related information may include communication activities associated with the mobile computing device, such as phone calls, e-mails, text messages, pages, etc. The present invention also provides methods and apparatus of sharing event information between mobile communication devices as well as related navigational information for traveling to an event from a real-time position of a mobile communication device. |
| US08169341B2 |
Vehicle park assist system and method for parking a vehicle using such system
A park assist system for parking a vehicle in a target parking space includes a sensing system. The sensing system determines whether there is a sufficient slot length in a target parking space too small to complete a parking maneuver in a single maneuver, but large enough to complete a parking maneuver in more than one maneuver. During each of the more than one parking maneuvers, the driver is prompted to execute a calculated steering trajectory. |
| US08169337B2 |
Downhole communications module
A communication module for use in wellbore logging operations. The module is attachable around a wireline, slickline, tubing or coiled tubing having a logging tool on its end. The module includes a drive means for transporting it down the line, a controller for controlling its operation, and communications for communicating with the logging tool. Communication between the module and the logging tool includes the transfer of data and operational instructions. |
| US08169333B2 |
Motion detector for animals
A motion detector, in particular suitable for animals, comprising at least one motion element, wherein an element movable within a predetermined area is located, which brings about an electrical connection in at least one position, wherein the movable element is a magnetic element, which can move along a path of travel formed by a cavity in the motion element, and wherein, near the path of travel, at least one magnetically sensitive switching element is placed, which can be influenced by the magnetic element. |
| US08169330B2 |
System and method for air sampling in controlled environments
A system and method for sampling air in a controlled environment that includes two or more air sampling devices at different locations within the controlled environment. A controller is provided at a location outside of the controlled environment and in separate air flow communication with each of the two or more air sampling devices via separate first vacuum tubes, the controller having a manifold configured to separately control a rate of air flow from the two or more air sampling devices to the controller via each of the separate first vacuum tubes and to selectively direct the air flow from each of the separate first vacuum tubes to one or more second vacuum tubes. A vacuum source is provided at a location outside the controlled environment and in air flow communication with the controller via the one or more second vacuum tubes, the vacuum source providing suction and being controlled by the controller to generate the air flow through each of the first vacuum tubes. And, a flow switch for each of the two or more air sampling devices is provided at a location between a corresponding air sampling device and the vacuum source, each of the flow switches being configured to separately measure and control the rate of air flow through a corresponding first vacuum tube. An alarm is automatically activated at a location inside the controlled environment by one or more of the flow switches when the rate of air flow measured at one or more of the flow switches deviates from a desired value by a predetermined amount. |
| US08169329B2 |
Fluid detecting mattress cover and monitoring system
Apparatus, systems, and methods are described for detecting moisture on a mattress cover. Conductive leads affixed to the mattress cover are configured in loop patterns, and adjacent conductive loops are positioned equidistant to one another to provide equal sensitivity to moisture at any location on the mattress cover. A quick-release connector allows the conductive leads to be quickly connected to an electrical monitoring circuit. The continuity of each conductive lead is periodically checked using a test signal. Moisture is detected by applying a different voltage level to adjacent conductive leads and measuring the current flowing between the leads. When moisture or a broken conductive lead is detected, an alarm signal is communicated to an attendant. The alarm signal is repeated at periodic intervals until the electrical monitoring circuit detects that the alarm condition has been corrected. The attendant's response time is recorded for future performance evaluations. |
| US08169328B2 |
Proximity monitoring and locating system
A combined proximity monitoring and locating system including a wearable unit, a proximity detector, and a control subsystem. The proximity detector includes a receiver for receiving the wearable unit transmitter signal, a processing subsystem configured to signal an alert if the wearable unit transmitter signal strength is below a pre-established minimum, and a tracking subsystem configured to assist in locating the wearable unit based on the signal strength of the wearable unit transmitter signal. A control subsystem is responsive to an indication that the alert has been signaled. The control subsystem includes an RF transmitter configured to transmit a transponder activation signal, and an RF antenna network for relaying the transponder activation signal to a receiver of the portable unit to activate the transponder thereof. A tracking unit includes a receiver configured to receive the transponder signal of the wearable unit to locate the wearable unit. |
| US08169327B2 |
Information sharing hygiene apparatus
A method and apparatus are disclosed which involve an improved way to coerce use of a soap dispenser (or other hygiene device). A soap dispenser according to at least one embodiment, includes a teaching or entertaining device that is fun and informative that is triggered when the soap dispenser is utilized. The soap dispenser may also be utilized as an advertising tool. |
| US08169324B2 |
System for tracking objects
A system is provided of tracking objects loaded into a receptacle, where the receptacle defines a chamber having an open side for receiving the objects and has a perimeter about the open side. The system comprises a radio frequency identification antenna spaced from the receptacle and attached to the perimeter about the open side, and a radio frequency identification reader attached to the receptacle for receiving a signal from the antenna. The system further comprises a control unit attached to the receptacle communicating with the reader for processing the signal from the antenna. |
| US08169319B2 |
Virtual group maintenance and security
A method of providing security and maintenance of a group of devices using a group of tags. Each of the tags is attached to a device and includes a radio frequency transceiver for intercommunicating using ultra-wide band signals. Using the intercommunication, distance between two of the tags is determined and an alarm is triggered when the distance is greater than a previously defined threshold distance. The distance is preferably determined by measuring a round trip delay time between the transmission of a transmitted signal to the other tag and reception of a response signal in response to the transmitted signal from the other tag. The distance is preferably determined by measuring a time delay between transmitting a unicast ultra-wide band message and receiving a unicast response message. The intercommunication preferably uses ultra-wide band signals which relay information regarding completeness of the group between the tags of the group. A configuration mechanism is typically used for configuring the group. Upon completing the configuration, the configuration mechanism, e.g. reader or monitor, may be removed and the tags maintain the group and provide security by the intercommunication between the tags. The tags are preferably synchronized to transmit and receive solely during a previously determined periodic sequence of time intervals. |
| US08169318B2 |
Radio frequency identification tag with tamper detection capability
An RFID tag includes a substrate having a top surface and a bottom surface. An RFID integrated circuit is disposed on the top surface of the substrate. A first electrically conductive region is associated with the top surface of the substrate and electrically coupled to the RFID integrated circuit. A second electrically conductive region is associated with the bottom surface of the substrate and electrically coupled to the first conductive region, the first and second conductive regions forming an RFID antenna. The RFID integrated circuit, first conductive region and second conductive region together provide an RFID function. An attachment layer is associated with the bottom surface of the substrate for attaching the tag to a surface. An adhesion modifying layer modifies the adhesion of the second conductive region such that the second conductive region is disrupted if the tag is tampered or removed from the surface. |
| US08169307B2 |
Vehicle rear-view mirror
To provide a vehicle rear-view mirror equipped with a display device, configured so that: a warning indication is easy to see from the driver and is hard to see from following vehicles and vehicles on the adjacent lanes; and when no warning is indicated, no discontinuities occur in the rear-area image reflected in the mirror and the warning symbol is unnoticeable. A mirror element 18 is configured by forming a semi-transmissive reflective film 24 or 56 formed of a dielectric multilayer film on the back or front surface of a transparent glass substrate 22. A dark color mask member 26 is arranged on the back surface of the mirror element 18. An opening 26a is formed on the mask member 26. A light-orienting tube 28 is arranged in such a manner that it protrudes in the backward direction of the mask member 26 so as to surround the opening 26a. The tube axis 28a of the light-orienting tube 28 is inclined in the direction toward the driver's viewpoint. An indication mask 32, a light diffusion plate 34 and an LED 36 are arranged as an indication light-emitting portion 30 by depositing them in this order on a rear end-side opening 28b of the light-orienting tube 28. |
| US08169305B2 |
Vehicle warning device
A warning device (610) includes a horn A (630) for generating a first horn sound having a volume level satisfying the legal standard and a horn B (632) for generating a second horn sound satisfying at least one of a condition that it has a volume level equal to or lower than that of the first horn sound and a condition that it is of a type different from that of the first horn sound. |
| US08169301B2 |
RFID tag information communicating apparatus
This disclosure discloses an RFID tag information communicating apparatus, comprising an apparatus antenna device; a command transmission portion that generates and transmits a command signal for reading information from an RFID circuit element; an information acquisition portion that attempts a reception of a reply signal transmitted from said RFID circuit element in response to said command signal; and an electrostatic-safe communication control portion that controls at least said command transmission portion and repeatedly transmit a plurality of times said command signal to said RFID circuit element so that information substantially unaffected by static electricity is acquired by said information acquisition portion. |
| US08169300B2 |
Logical floor determination for a wireless device using weighted AP received signal strengths
An apparatus configured to acquire received signal strength intensities (RSSIs) for a wireless device from a plurality of access points (APs) located on a plurality logical floors. The apparatus is configured to determine which logical floor the wireless device is on by analyzing the RSSIs. The RSSIs for each floor are adjusted with an adjustment value and are selectively weighted with at least two different weight values, and the adjusted and weighted RSSIs for each floor are each summed. The floor with highest sum of adjusted or weighted RSSIs is determined to be the floor the wireless device is on. |
| US08169296B1 |
Switch matrix
A switch matrix module (600) includes programmable stub breakers (508-512, 514-518) which can break off the bus and isolate unused portion of the switch matrix. Using three-way stub breakers (508-512, 514-518) at the matrix front-ends that can either completely isolate a middle matrix or cut off stubs left or right of the destination and source matrices, allows for the formation of very large matrices which have improved operational performance. |
| US08169292B2 |
High voltage fuse with universal fuse terminal
A high voltage fuse which includes at least one fuse terminal located at a distal end of the fuse housing. One face of the fuse terminal includes an elongated groove and an opposite face includes at least two elongated grooves. An aperture extends through the fuse terminal from the first face to the second face. The first face is adapted for use with an eyebolt connector component to attach a single conductor to be in direct contact with the fuse terminal. The second face is adapted for use with a parallel groove connector clamping component to attach a pair of conductors in direct contact with the fuse terminal. Alternatively, the grooves on the first and second faces may be provided on a single face of the fuse terminal. The fuse terminal may also serve the function of a spade connector. Thus, the fuse terminal provides improved versatility to allow a variety of connectors to be used therewith. |
| US08169286B2 |
Coil unit, method of manufacturing the same, and electronic instrument
A coil unit includes a planar coil, a printed circuit board that includes a planar coil placement section that receives the planar coil, a protective sheet that is provided on a transmission side of the planar coil and protects the planar coil, and a magnetic sheet that is provided on a non-transmission side of the planar coil. The planar coil is placed in the planar coil placement section and is electrically connected to the printed circuit board. The planar coil placement section has a shape that corresponds to an external shape of the planar coil. |
| US08169285B2 |
Semiconductor device with integrated coils
A semiconductor device with a number of integrated coils is disclosed. In one embodiment, a first coil portion and a second coil portion are at least in part overlapping each other. Another embodiment provides a process for manufacturing a semiconductor device having at least the processes of generating a first coil portion, generating a second coil portion, wherein at least a part of the first coil portion and a part of the second coil portion are overlapping each other. |
| US08169276B2 |
Vertical transmission line structure that includes bump elements for flip-chip mounting
A vertical transmission structure for high frequency transmission lines includes a conductive axial core and a conductive structure surrounding the conductive axial core. The vertical transmission structure is applied to a high-frequency flip chip package for reducing the possibility of underfill from coming in contact with the conductive axial core. |
| US08169275B2 |
Circuit board with jumper structure
A circuit board with jumper structure is disclosed. The circuit board includes a substrate, a ground layer, a first signal transmission line, and a second signal transmission line. The ground layer is formed on a second plane of the substrate. The first signal transmission line is formed on a first plane of the substrate, and coupled to a first signal end and a second signal end. A first signal transmitted on the first signal transmission line in a combination method of a microstrip line to co-planar waveguide transition and a co-planar waveguide to microstrip line transition. The second signal transmission line is formed on the second plane of the substrate, and coupled to a third signal end and a fourth signal end. A second signal is transmitted on the second signal transmission line in the co-planar waveguide transmission. |
| US08169272B2 |
Multi-phase pulse modulation polar transmitter and method of generating a pulse modulated envelope signal carrying modulated RF signal
A multi-phase pulse-modulated polar transmitter and a method of generating a pulse-modulated envelope signal carrying modulated RF signal. Multi-phase pulse modulation technique or similar multi-phase pulse modulation techniques are employed in conjunction with a plurality of power amplifiers to enhance the bandwidth of the transmitter and to reduce out-of-band emissions and noises while easily synchronizing the phase and envelope of the input signal. |
| US08169271B2 |
Interference resistant local oscillator
With some embodiments, a VCO (voltage controlled oscillator) operates at an integer multiple (N) above a desired transmission frequency. In accordance with one embodiment, a chip is provided with a VCO to generate a signal and a frequency dividing circuit to provide a reduced frequency version of the signal to a transmit mixer. The transmit mixer is followed by a power amplifier that is on the same die as the VCO. The power amplifier is to generate an OFDM output transmission. |
| US08169268B2 |
Oscillation circuit and semiconductor device having the same
An oscillation circuit, and a semiconductor device incorporating same, include: an oscillation unit with a plurality of inverters and configured to perform signal transmission between first and second nodes of the inverters such that each of the inverters performs an oscillation operation to generate clock signals having different phases when a control signal is activated, and latch a clock signal of the second node and cut off the signal transmission between the first and second nodes to stop the oscillation operations of the inverters when the control signal is deactivated; and a control unit to activate the control signal when an oscillation enable signal is activated, and deactivate the control signal using one of a clock signal output from an inverter connected to the second node and clock signals of which the phases lag that of a clock signal of the first node, when the oscillation enable signal is deactivated. |
| US08169260B2 |
Amplifier circuit utilizing characteristic correction and smooth curvilinear correction
An amplifier circuit performs a characteristic correction process and a smooth curvilinear process on an input signal before being subjected to amplification. The characteristic correction process is a frequency characteristic process, which is performed on the input signal so as to produce a processed signal (Vp). Either the input signal or the processed signal, or the mixture of these signals is subjected to the smooth curvilinear process whose start point is designated by a state variation of amplification (VxTyp). Alternatively it is subjected to a gain decrement process instead of the smooth curvilinear process when the state variation of amplification is less than a default value (VxTHD). Thus, it is possible to prevent clipping from occurring in the amplified output signal while maintaining an adequate power. |
| US08169256B2 |
Bandgap reference circuit with an output insensitive to offset voltage
A circuit includes an operational amplifier including a first input and a second input. A first resistor has a first end coupled to the first input. A first bipolar transistor includes a first emitter coupled to a second end of the first resistor, and a first base. A second bipolar transistor includes a second emitter coupled to the second input, and a second base. A third bipolar transistor includes a third emitter coupled to the first base, a first collector, and a third base connected to the first collector. A fourth bipolar transistor includes a fourth emitter coupled to the second base, a second collector, and a fourth base connected to the second collector. A second resistor is coupled to the first input, wherein the second resistor is parallel to the first resistor and the first bipolar transistor. |
| US08169255B2 |
Offset cancellation current mirror and operating method thereof
The present invention discloses an offset cancellation current mirror and method thereof. The offset cancellation current minor comprises a first current mirror, a second current minor, switches and resistors. The first current minor comprises two transistors and a capacitance, the capacitance is used to store an electrical potential difference when the switches are turned on in ways of connecting the first current mirror with the resistor. When the switches is turned off in ways of disconnecting the first current mirror with the resistor and connecting the first current mirror with the second current minor, the electrical potential difference stored in the capacitance is used to correct the difference of the two transistors due to manufacture process. |
| US08169250B2 |
Signal level conversion circuit
A signal level conversion circuit includes three or more level shift circuits to output internal output signals upon receiving input signals, respectively. Each of the level shift circuits is formed of a common electrical element and an electrical element connected to the common electrical element. A voltage higher than that supplied to the common electrical element is supplied to the electrical element. A buffer circuit having an input tolerant function is provided in each of the common electrical elements. The internal output signals are set at lower level than the input signals by the buffer circuits, and the internal output signal outputted from one of the level shift circuits is further outputted via other level shift circuits. |
| US08169248B2 |
Signal processing circuit and signal processing method
A signal processing circuit includes: a phase modulating path arranged to adjust a phase component of an input signal to generate an adjusted phase component such that a phase difference of the input signal falls within a target phase difference range; and an amplitude modulating path arranged to exchange a sign of an amplitude component of the input signal corresponding to the phase component to generate an adjusted amplitude component when the phase modulating path adjusts the phase component. |
| US08169247B2 |
Multiphase clock generation circuit
The multiphase clock generation circuit includes a variable slew rate circuit and a phase interpolation circuit. In the variable slew rate circuit, the slew rate varies according to a first control signal. Two reference clocks having a phase difference of 90° from each other are supplied to the phase interpolation circuit via the variable slew rate circuit. The phase interpolation circuit interpolates the two reference clocks having a phase difference of 90° from each other according to a second control signal to thereby generate an output clock having an intermediate phase. |
| US08169245B2 |
Duty transition control in pulse width modulation signaling
A pulse width modulation (PWM) signal generator generates a PWM signal with an adjustable PWM duty based on a programmable or otherwise adjustable value. In response to a change or update to this value, the PWM signal generator initiates a duty transition process that generates a series of groups of PWM cycles that gradually transition from the original duty to the new duty. Each group includes a corresponding set of a predetermined number of PWM cycles that is repeated one or more times over a predetermined duration for the group. Each set has a certain proportion of PWM cycles having the new duty to PWM cycles having the original duty, whereby the proportion increases for each successive group of the series. This gradual transition in the PWM signal from the original duty to the new duty effectively provides an effective higher duty resolution for the PWM signal generator during the duty transition. |
| US08169244B2 |
Crossing input signal modulator
The invention relates to a pulse width modulator, more particularly to a cross-coupled pulse width modulator. A crossing input signal modulator according to the present invention comprises: a positive path block which includes a first integrator for performing the first-order integration of feedback signals in first input and output signals and then transmitting the first-order integrated signals to a second integrator, and a second integrator for performing the second-order integration of a signal from the first integrator and a second input signal and then transmitting the second-order integrated signals; and a negative path block which includes a third integrator for performing the first-order integration of feedback signals in the second input and output signals and integration of a signal from the third integrator and the first input signal and then transmitting the second-order integrated signals. This configuration allows cross-coupling of the inputs from two integrators to generate an accurate differential pulse width modulation (PWM) single, and enables optimization of the IC implementation by adopting a feedback system that features a simplified implementation and minimal application area. |
| US08169240B2 |
Driver circuit of display device
A driver circuit includes a mode control unit and a plurality of source drivers to drive a display panel including pixel cells on each scan line. Each source driver has M driving channels, and two subsets of the driving channels are respectively in a first mode and a second mode according to a preset mode sequence. The 1st through Nth driving channels of each of first source drivers and the Mth through (M−N+1)th driving channels of each of second source drivers respectively drive the pixel cells during a first scan period and a second scan period, wherein M≧N. The modes of the Mth through 1st driving channels of the second source drivers are respectively altered to match the modes of the 1st through Mth driving channels of the first source drivers by the mode control unit. |
| US08169239B2 |
Driver circuit of display device
A driver circuit includes a mode control unit and a plurality of source drivers to drive a display panel including N pixel cells on each scan line. Each source driver has M driving channels, and a first subset of the driving channels and a second subset of the driving channels are respectively in a first mode and a second mode according to a preset mode sequence, wherein M≧N. The 1st through Nth driving channels of a first source driver and the Mth through (M−N+1)th driving channels of a second source driver respectively drive the 1st through Nth pixel cells during a first scan period and a second scan period. The modes of the Mth through 1st driving channels of the second source driver are respectively altered to match the modes of the 1st through Mth driving channels of the first source driver by the mode control unit. |
| US08169236B2 |
Frequency detection mechanism for a clock generation circuit
A frequency detection mechanism for a clock generation unit on an integrated circuit includes a clock generation unit and a detection unit. The clock generation unit may generate an output clock signal at a predetermined frequency that corresponds to a frequency multiple of a reference clock signal provided as an input to the clock generation unit. The detection unit may determine whether the output clock signal is at the predetermined frequency. As such, the detection unit includes a first counter that may generate a first count value based upon the reference clock signal and a second counter that may generate a second count value based upon the output clock signal. The detection unit also includes comparison logic that may perform a plurality of multiplication operations on the first and second count values and generate a final result that indicates whether the output clock signal is at the predetermined frequency. |
| US08169231B2 |
Systems, methods, and apparatus for qubit state readout
A superconducting readout system includes a computation qubit; a measurement device to measure a state of the computation qubit; and a latch qubit that mediates communicative coupling between the computation qubit and the measurement device. The latch qubit includes a qubit loop that includes at least two superconducting inductors coupled in series with each other; a compound Josephson junction that interrupts the qubit loop that includes at least two Josephson junctions coupled in series with each other in the compound Josephson junction and coupled in parallel with each other with respect to the qubit loop; and a first clock signal input structure to couple clock signals to the compound Josephson junction. |
| US08169228B2 |
Chip testing circuit
A chip testing circuit is disclosed. The chip testing circuit uses a judging circuit to switch the connection of the data compressing circuit between data compressing base units which compresses 4 XIOs, so as to obtain testing data by one single interface circuit and to increase the testing throughput. |
| US08169225B2 |
System and method for on-chip jitter injection
High Speed I/O interfaces such as DVI, S-ATA or PCI-Express require expensive test equipment. Loop-back tests are widely used as one alternative, but lack coverage of timing-related defects. A system and method for on-chip jitter injection using a variable delay with controllable amplitude and high accuracy is provided that improves the coverage of loop-back tests. |
| US08169224B2 |
Power switch with an overcurrent protection device
A power circuit includes a power transistor for feeding a load current to a load, a measuring transistor for coupling out a measurement current dependent on the load current, at least two coupling transistors for dividing the measurement current into an internal measurement current and into an external measurement current, wherein the external measurement current can be fed to an external evaluation circuit, and the internal measurement current is fed to an internal evaluation circuit for evaluation. A third coupling transistor can be coupled to the measuring transistor if a measuring device determines a non-coupled state, and the third coupling transistor can be decoupled from the measuring transistor if the measuring device determines a coupled state. The measuring device determines the coupled state if the external evaluation device is coupled to the power circuit, and the measuring device determines a non-coupled state if the external evaluation device is not coupled to the power circuit. |
| US08169220B2 |
Flattened gradient coil for MRI systems
A gradient coil and an insert gradient coil for a magnetic resonance imaging system include a primary coil. The primary coil includes an upper primary coil portion and a lower primary coil portion, the lower primary coil portion being less curved in cross-section than the upper primary coil portion. The gradient coil also includes a shielding coil disposed outside of the primary coil. The shielding coil includes an upper shielding coil portion and a lower shielding coil portion, the lower shielding coil portion being less curved in cross-section than the upper shielding coil portion. |
| US08169218B2 |
Methods and apparatus for non-contrast enhanced pulmonary magnetic resonance imaging
In one aspect, a method of inducing nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals from a region of an object having at least a portion of at least one pulmonary vein using at least one coil adapted to emit electromagnetic signals to induce an NMR effect is provided. The method comprises operating the at least one coil to provide at least one imaging sequence at an effective off-resonance frequency adapted to cause NMR signals to be emitted from the at least one pulmonary vein, and detecting at least some of the NMR signals to obtain NMR data corresponding to the at least one pulmonary vein. |
| US08169216B2 |
System and method for synthesizing crossing ADC distributions via reassembly of multiple k-spaces
A method for synthesizing crossing ADC distributions via reassembly of multiple k-spaces is disclosed. The method includes the steps of scanning a test object having a plurality of anisotropic structures to acquire a first set of DTI data using gradient directions; rotating the gradient directions by an angle α; repeating the step of scanning the test object to acquire a second set of DTI data; creating a composite data set from the first and second sets of data; and applying an inverse Fourier transform to the composite data set. |
| US08169214B2 |
Angular position sensor
An angular position sensor and method that relies on a stationary circular array of Hall sensors and a rotatable circular array of magnets arranged about a common axis. A periodic and simultaneous reading of all of the Hall sensor outputs is used to determine angular velocity. |
| US08169212B2 |
Calibrating signals by time adjustment
A signal processing device having an adjustment unit for adjusting a time duration of each of a plurality of signals individually in accordance with an amplitude of the respective signal to thereby generate calibrated signals, and a combining unit for combining the calibrated signals. |
| US08169210B2 |
Contactless system and method for electrostatic sensing with a high spatial resolution
In the illustrated embodiment of the invention a scanning system is provided for scanning a chargeable surface for latent image detection. The chargeable surface is charged to a first potential, and a scanner probe is charged to a second potential within a predetermined potential difference from the first potential. The scanner probe is oscillated at a selected frequency and reads or measures the oscillation current that is induced from the oscillation and detects any latent images or other electrostatic distributions on the chargeable surface. A processor processes the probe measurements for determining the potential of a latent image on the chargeable surface based on the scanner probe readings. |
| US08169208B2 |
Output current detection of a voltage regulator
For output current detection of a voltage regulator, the currents in a high-side transistor and a low-side transistor of the voltage regulator are sensed and summarized to a summed current to flow through a setting resistor. The voltage variation on the setting resistor is monitored to provide a feedback signal for feedback control in the voltage regulator. This detection scheme removes the current sensing resistor from the charging current path of the voltage regulator to prevent efficiency loss on it, and is much less sensitive to noise interference because greater voltage variation is available by using a greater setting resistor. |
| US08169200B2 |
Power converter with power switch operable in controlled current mode
A power converter and method of controlling a power switch therein to improve power conversion efficiency at low output current. In one embodiment, the power converter includes a first power switch coupled to a source of electrical power and a second power switch coupled to the first power switch and to an output terminal of the power converter. The power converter also includes a controller configured to alternately enable conduction of the first and the second power switches with a duty cycle in response to an output characteristic of the power converter. The controller is configured to control a level of current in the first power switch when the second power switch is substantially disabled to conduct. |
| US08169199B2 |
Power supply with overvoltage protection by zero current stagnation detection
It is determined that a periodic zero current stagnation state is reached to correct a voltage command of a smoothing capacitor downward by a predetermined voltage when a state where a current (reactor current) flowing through a coil in a dead time when switching elements are both off immediately after the switching element (upper arm) is turned off from on stagnates at a value of 0 occurs at switching periods of the switching elements. This can prevent a voltage of the smoothing capacitor from becoming unexpectedly higher than the voltage command in the current stagnation state, prevent the smoothing capacitor from being damaged by an overvoltage and prevent excessive torque from being output from motors. |
| US08169198B2 |
Anti-ring asynchronous boost converter and anti-ring method for an asynchronous boost converter
The phase node voltage or the PWM signal in an asynchronous boost converter is monitored to detect a phase node voltage ringing. When a phase node voltage ringing is detected, a detection signal is asserted to establish a bypass path to bypass the inductor of the converter. A charge bypass circuit is shunt to the inductor, and controlled by the detection signal to establish the bypass path. Due to the bypass path, the phase node voltage is maintained at a constant, and the phase node voltage radiation and input/output noise are eliminated. |
| US08169196B2 |
Charging device
A method performed by a charging device may include detecting a presence of an external device connected to a secondary side of the charging device and setting a switch on a primary side of the charging device to an off state when a presence of an external device is not detected. |
| US08169195B1 |
Method and apparatus for using a battery terminal temperature differential during charging of the battery
A first input receives an indication as to a temperature of a positive terminal from a first temperature probe. A second input receives an indication as to a temperature of a negative terminal from a second temperature probe. A monitor takes an action when a temperature differential that represents a difference in temperature between the positive and negative terminals at a single point in time exceeds a predetermined differential magnitude. |
| US08169193B2 |
Charge injection discharge circuit
A circuit for dissipating injected parasitic charge includes a circuit stage, a pulse generating circuit and a switch. The circuit stage has an input node and an output node that injects a parasitic charge when switched OFF to the output node. The pulse generating circuit can generate a pulsed signal having an input for receiving a control signal. The control signal indicates the circuit stage is switching OFF, and has an output for outputting a pulsed signal in response to the control signal at the input. The pulsed signal can have a predetermined duration. The switch can be configured to be actuated by the pulsed signal output by the pulse generating circuit, and has a terminal connected to the output node of the circuit stage and a terminal connected to circuit to substantially dissipate the injected parasitic charge. |
| US08169188B2 |
Battery pack with built in communication port
A system and method for providing a communication port integral with a battery pack assembly is disclosed. The system provides a pathway between an external unit and a host unit via a printed circuit board of the battery pack. The battery pack can include communication ports mounted on the printed circuit board for interfacing with external units. The printed circuit board further includes a substrate(s) formed with a predetermined wiring pattern electrically and/or mechanically joined to the CPU of the host unit, as well as the battery cell(s). |
| US08169185B2 |
System and method for inductive charging of portable devices
A system and method for variable power transfer in an inductive charging or power system. In accordance with an embodiment the system comprises a pad or similar base unit that contains a primary, which creates an alternating magnetic field. A receiver comprises a means for receiving the energy from the alternating magnetic field from the pad and transferring it to a mobile device, battery, or other device. In accordance with various embodiments, additional features can be incorporated into the system to provide greater power transfer efficiency, and to allow the system to be easily modified for applications that have different power requirements. These include variations in the material used to manufacture the primary and/or the receiver coils; modified circuit designs to be used on the primary and/or receiver side; and additional circuits and components that perform specialized tasks, such as mobile device or battery identification, and automatic voltage or power-setting for different devices or batteries. |
| US08169184B2 |
Self-adaptable recharger
A self-adaptable recharger includes a control circuit connected to a power-supply circuit, a current-sampling circuit and a pulse-based recharge circuit. The control circuit includes a microprocessor. The pulse-based recharge circuit includes parallel recharge branches each under control of a pin of the microprocessor. The microprocessor receives voltage-related and current-related signals from each of the recharge branches and compares the same with basic data stored therein to determine the types of batteries. The microprocessor calculates time-related changes in the voltage-related and current-related signals and a voltage difference between positive and zero pulses to determine the recharge status and correct recharging curves accordingly. The microprocessor determines the highest recharge voltage, a positive slope of voltage, a zero gain of voltage, a negative gain of voltage and a capacity gain to determine an energy level in each of the batteries and stops the recharge when the battery is full. |
| US08169183B2 |
Electric power supply system and vehicle
An electric automobile has a battery and also has a travel motor and a vehicle interior load device which operate using electric power from the battery. In response to a request for a start of electric power supply to the vehicle interior load device with the automobile being at a standstill, the electric automobile determines, based on the charged state of the battery, whether electric power from the battery can be supplied to the vehicle interior load device. When determining that the electric power from the battery cannot be supplied to the vehicle interior load device, the electric automobile makes a request to an electric power supply device to supply electric power to the vehicle interior load device. In response to the request, the electric power supply device electrically connects to the vehicle interior load device and starts supply of electric power to the vehicle interior load device. |
| US08169180B2 |
Motor controller of air conditioner
The present invention relates to a motor controller of an air conditioner, including a converter for converting a commercial AC power into a DC power, an inverter including a plurality of switching elements, the inverter receiving the DC power, converting the DC power into an AC power through a switching operation and driving a three-phase motor, a gate driver for controlling the switching operation of the switching elements, and a plurality of voltage drop units connected between the converter and the gate driver, the voltage drop units dropping the DC power and supplying driving voltages for an operation of the switching elements. Accordingly, circuit elements within a controller can be protected. |
| US08169178B2 |
Detection of the angular position of the rotor of a brush motor without using sensors
A method of detecting an angular position of a rotor of a motor includes detecting switching ripple peaks and armature current disturbance peaks using a peak detector configured to generate a square wave having edges coinciding with detected peaks. The method further includes filtering the square wave in a time domain by generating an integration ramp, toward a set value, of an estimated ripple frequency for an interval of time based on the estimated ripple frequency. An enablement range is established to reset the integration ramp by setting a threshold below and above the set value and a time window centered on an end time of each period of the estimated ripple frequency. The method further includes resetting the integration ramp, and updating the estimated ripple frequency based upon a period determined by a time of the resetting, if an edge of the square wave is within the time window. |
| US08169173B2 |
Method for controlling a vehicle drive unit
A method for controlling a vehicle drive unit, the vehicle drive unit having at least two individual motors. A total actual torque is continuously compared with an allowable total torque, the total actual torque being calculated from individual actual torque values of the at least two individual motors, and the allowable total torque being calculated from the allowable individual torque values of the at least two individual motors, and an error response being initiated if the comparison establishes that the total actual torque is greater than the allowable total torque. |
| US08169166B2 |
Low-injection energy continous linear electron accelerator
This invention relates to continuous standing-wave linear electron accelerator (9) comprising a low-energy electron source (10), for example, within a range of 10-20 keV, an accelerating structure (1 or 1′) for accelerating low initial energy electrons to required values; at least, one high-frequency power supply (11) for the said accelerating structure (1 or 1′); a power supply (13) for said electron source (10) and high-frequency power supply (11); a receiving antenna (14), which is arranged in accelerating unit of accelerating structure (1 or 1′) and is used for emitting of high-frequency signal for controlling the amplitude and phase of accelerating field. Low-energy electron beam is directed to the first unit of accelerating structure (1 or 1′) contained successively accelerating units (2, 3, 4i). The first of them is embodied in the form of a bunch resonator (2), the second unit is embodied in the form of a buster resonator (3), and successive units (4i) are used for increasing the electron energy. Also the following is proposed: selection of geometrical parameters of accelerating units, the versions of their arrangement in the said accelerating structure and the use of power supply modes by different high-frequency power sources such as magnetrons, externally excitable klystrons or klystrons operating in a self-oscillating mode with accelerating structure in a feedback circuit. |
| US08169162B2 |
Abnormal discharge suppressing device for vacuum apparatus
The present invention is directed to an apparatus for suppressing abnormal electrical discharge used for vacuum equipment which supplies power from a high-frequency power source to a plasma reaction chamber and executes a film formation process, provided with a power controller for controlling the high-frequency power source based on a deviation between a power command value and a power feedback value, and a cutoff controller for cutting off the power supply from the high-frequency power source to the plasma reaction chamber, based on a detection of the abnormal electrical discharge within the plasma reaction chamber. The cutoff controller exercises a first handling cutoff control and a second handling cutoff control, each having a different cutoff time. The first handling cutoff allows ions to remain in the plasma reaction chamber, and exercises the cutoff control over the high-frequency power source within a time duration which allows an arcing element to disappear. On the other hand, the second handling cutoff control exercises cutoff control over the high-frequency power source within a time range which allows abnormal arc ions to disappear. Accordingly, it is possible to supply power to plasma stably. |
| US08169157B2 |
Passive current balance driving apparatus
A passive current balance driving apparatus including first and second drivers is provided. The first driver includes a first balance-capacitor having a first terminal coupled to a first terminal of an AC signal source and a second terminal providing a first balance AC-voltage; and a first rectification unit rectifying the first balance AC-voltage to output a first DC-voltage to drive a first LED string with multi-LEDs connected in series. The second driver includes a second balance-capacitor having a first terminal coupled to a first terminal of the AC signal source and a second terminal providing a second balance AC-voltage; and a second rectification unit rectifying the second balance AC-voltage to output a second DC-voltage to drive a second LED string with multi-LEDs connected in series. The capacitive reactances of these two balance-capacitors are the same and respectively greater than the total internal resistances of the first and second LED strings. |
| US08169155B2 |
Method of driving light source, light source driving apparatus for performing the method, and display apparatus having the light source apparatus
A method of driving a light source includes adjusting a number of duty adjustments of driving signals driving light sources based on a dimming control signal and adjusting each duty ratio of each of the driving signals provided to each of the light sources in accordance with the adjusted number of the duty adjustments. |
| US08169153B2 |
Circuit arrangement and method for igniting a high-pressure discharge lamp
A circuit arrangement for a high-pressure discharge lamp, having a main combustion chamber with first and second main electrodes and an auxiliary combustion chamber including: an inverter having first and second electronic switches and first and second output terminals; a drive circuit for the electronic switches; and an auxiliary starting circuit. The auxiliary starting circuit has input terminals coupled to the output terminals of the inverter; a first output terminal for the first main electrode; a second output terminal for the second main electrode; and an auxiliary electrode arranged on the side of the first output terminal for inducing an auxiliary starting voltage in the auxiliary combustion chamber. The auxiliary starting circuit includes a cascade circuit formed by the auxiliary electrode and the second output terminal of the auxiliary starting circuit, which provides a voltage for starting the high-pressure discharge lamp. |
| US08169143B2 |
Plasma display panel having electron emitting material
A plasma display panel (200) of the present invention includes a first panel (1) and a second panel (8). A discharge space (14) is formed between the first panel (1) and the second panel (8). In the plasma display panel (200), an electron emitting material (20) is disposed to face the discharge space (14). The electron emitting material (20) contains Sn, an alkali metal, O (oxygen), and at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ca, Sr, and Ba. |
| US08169141B2 |
Method and apparatus for generating phosphor film with textured surface
An optical device deploring a phosphor layer having a textured surface to improve output of visual light is disclosed. A light emitting device includes a solid state light emitter and a phosphor layer. The solid state light emitter, for example, is configured to convert electrical energy to optical light. The phosphor layer includes a first surface and a second surface, wherein the first surface, for example, is the top surface while the second surface is the bottom surface. The phosphor layer is disposed over the solid state light emitter for generating luminous light in response to the optical light. The first surface of the phosphor layer, in one embodiment, is configured to include a texture, which has similarly shaped uniform configurations, capable of reducing total internal reflection. |
| US08169139B2 |
Light emitting element and display device using the same
An object of the invention is to provide a highly reliable light emitting element with low drive voltage and longer life than a conventional light emitting element, and a display device using the light emitting element. A light emitting element according to the invention comprises a plurality of layers which is interposed between a pair of electrodes, in which at least one of the plurality of layers is formed of a layer containing a light emitting material, and the layer containing a light emitting material is interposed between a layer containing an oxide semiconductor and/or metal oxide and a material having a higher hole transporting property than an electron transporting property, and a layer containing an oxide semiconductor and/or metal oxide, a material having a higher electron transporting property than a hole transporting property and a material which can donate electrons to the material having a higher electron transporting property than a hole transporting property. |
| US08169136B2 |
Light emitting device with translucent ceramic plate
A light emitting device comprising a light emitting component that emits light with a first peak wavelength, and at least one sintered ceramic plate over the light emitting component is described. The at least one sintered ceramic plate is capable of absorbing at least a portion of the light emitted from said light emitting component and emitting light of a second peak wavelength, and has a total light transmittance at the second peak wavelength of greater than about 40%. A method for improving the luminance intensity of a light emitting device comprising providing a light emitting component and positioning at least one translucent sintered ceramic plate described above over the light emitting component is also disclosed. |
| US08169135B2 |
Semiconductor lighting device with wavelength conversion on back-transferred light path
A semiconductor lighting device includes a semiconductor light emitter packaged on a reflective substrate to emit a first light and a remote wavelength conversion layer on a back-transferred light path to convert the back-transferred first light into a forward second light. A filter is disposed on a light emitting forward path with a space to the semiconductor light emitter to reflect back at least a portion of the first light. A diffusive member may be positioned outside of the filter to diffuse the forward passing light before it exits from the semiconductor lighting device. As a second aspect of this invention, a solid state lighting device includes a short wavelength semiconductor emitter; a long wavelength semiconductor emitter with wavelength in reddish orange range; a filter on a light emitting forward path to reflect back a portion of short wavelength first light; and a wavelength conversion component on a back-transferred light path. The device produces a mixture of warm white light in a correlated color temperature from 2700˜3500 K and color rendering index at least 85 for any indoor lighting application. |
| US08169134B2 |
Field emission device
A field emission device includes: a first substrate on which a gate electrode line, a cathode line, and an electron emission source are formed; a second substrate disposed to face the first substrate, and on which an anode and a phosphor layer are formed; and a side frame surrounding an area between the first substrate and the second substrate, and forming a sealed internal space, wherein the first substrate and the second substrate respectively comprise a first protrusion part and a second protrusion part that protrude outside the side frame in the same direction, wherein a rear terminal part for applying a voltage to the gate electrode line and the cathode line is formed on the first protrusion part, wherein an anode terminal for applying a voltage to the anode is formed on the second protrusion part. |
| US08169130B2 |
Planar or substantially planar luminous structure
A flat or substantially flat luminous structure including two walls having main faces facing one another and defining an internal space, a light source placed in the internal space and a power supply for the light source, and at least one substantially transparent part or an overall transparent part forming at least one light well. The structure is capable of illuminating via at least one luminous region of at least one of the main faces, an element having a reflective surface that reflects visible light, placed facing at least one part of the luminous region. The element is switchable and the reflective surface is capable of becoming a substantially transparent surface or an overall transparent surface over at least one area, and vice versa. |
| US08169129B2 |
Metal laminated body, LED-mounted substrate, and white film
The present invention provides a white film comprising a thermoplastic resin composition containing 25-100 parts by mass of an inorganic filler based on 100 parts by mass of a thermoplastic resin, wherein the average reflectance at a wavelength of 400-800 nm is 70% or more, the average linear expansion coefficient in the machine direction and the transverse direction is 35×10−6/° C. or less, and the decreasing rate in reflectance at a wavelength of 470 nm after thermal treatment at 200° C. for 4 hours is 10% or less; and the invention provides a metal laminated body. These exhibit high thermal resistance, high reflectance within visual light range, and small decrease in reflectance under a high heat load environment, but also be applicable for a large sized printed circuit boards for mounting LEDs. |
| US08169128B2 |
LED package having recess in heat conducting part
The invention provides an LED package including an LED chip. In the LED package, a heat conducting part of folded sheet metals has a recess formed thereon to seat the LED chip therein. A package body houses the heat conducting part and directs light generated from the LED chip upward. Also, a transparent encapsulant is provided to at least the recess of the heat conducting part. Leads are partially housed by the package body to supply power to the LED chip. According to the invention, the sheet metals are folded to form the heat conducting part, and the recess is formed on the heat conducting part to seat the LED chip therein. This improves reflection efficiency and simplifies an overall process. |
| US08169127B2 |
Flexural vibration element and electronic component
A flexural vibration element includes: a plurality of vibrating arms provided in parallel with each other; a connecting part connecting the vibrating arms; and one central supporting arm extending between the vibrating arms from the connecting part in parallel with the vibrating arms at equal distance from the arms. In the flexural vibration element, the connecting part has a groove formed on each of front and rear surfaces thereof, and the groove is provided in an area of the connecting part in which compressive stress and tensile stress due to flexural vibration of the vibrating arms alternately occur at a vibrating arm side and an opposite side of the vibrating arm side, in a width direction of the vibrating arms. |
| US08169126B2 |
Low frequency oscillator, the omni-directional type low frequency underwater acoustic transducer using the same and the cylindrical radiation type low frequency underwater acoustic transducer using the same
A low frequency oscillator includes a plurality of drum-shaped oscillators. Each of the drum-shaped oscillators is constructed so that a pair of disk-shaped flexural vibrators is attached on both open ends of a conductive cylinder so as to be arranged face to face. And a conductive elongated coupling member is fixed to adjacent the drum-shaped oscillators at a central portion thereof so as to electrically connect between adjacent the disk-shaped flexural vibrators and thereby coupling the drum-shaped oscillators along a central axis thereof. |
| US08169124B2 |
Physical/biochemical sensor using piezoelectric microcantilever and manufacturing method thereof
The present invention discloses a physical/biochemical sensor using a multisized piezoelectric microcantilever resonator array which enables to quantitatively and simultaneously analyze a mass loading effect and a surface stress change effect and a manufacturing method thereof. In the physical/biochemical sensor using the multisized piezoelectric microcantilever resonator array, a plurality of piezoelectric micro-cantilever resonators having different sizes is arrayed so as to quantitatively and discriminately analyze a surface stress change as well as a sensor surface mass change induced by an adsorbed sensing-target material occurring in a sensing process. Thus, the mass loading effect and the surface stress change effect can be quantitatively and simultaneously analyzed. |
| US08169120B2 |
Stator for AC motor
A stator of an alternating current (AC) motor is disclosed. The stator includes a stator core having a divided structure including and an outer stator core fitted around the inner stator core while being connected to an inner circumference of the inner stator core. The inner stator core has a rotor insertion hole formed at the inner circumference of the inner stator core and a plurality of tooth members arranged in a circumferential direction at an outer circumference of the inner stator core. Since the coils are wound directly on the tooth members through intervals between the neighboring tooth members at the outer circumference of the inner stator core, manufacturing of the stator is facilitated. In addition, since insertion of the coils into the slots is not performed through gaps formed on an inner side of the inner stator core where the rotor insertion hole is formed, the gaps may be minimized. As a result, the performance of the AC motor is improved. |
| US08169117B2 |
Brushless motor for fluid pump and fluid pump using the motor
The present invention provides a brushless motor for a fluid pump that allows implementing a fluid pump that overcomes problems of durability and reduction of energy efficiency due to DC motors in the related art and provides excellent operational characteristics, by ensuring a space allowing fluid to flow between a stator and a rotor, and ensuring and maintaining excellent driving characteristics of a motor, and a fluid pump using the brushless motor. |
| US08169109B2 |
Electrical machine with dual radial airgaps
A switched reluctance machine has an array of poles attached to a stationary holding member to form a stator. The stator has no back-iron. The machine has two arrays of rotor poles, positioned on either side of the stator poles, and circumferentially aligned with each other. When a pair of rotor poles is aligned with a stator pole, a small airgap is formed at each end of the stator pole, across which flux can be driven to produce torque in a rotary arrangement or force in a linear arrangement. When the poles are in the unaligned position, the phase inductance is very low. |
| US08169108B2 |
Capacitive isolator
An integrated circuit provides high voltage isolation capabilities. The circuit includes a first area containing a first group of functional circuitry located in a substrate of the integrated circuit. This circuit also includes a second area containing a second group of functional circuitry also contained within the substrate of the integrated circuit. Capacitive isolation circuitry located in the conductive layers in the integrated circuit provide a high voltage isolation link between the first group of functional circuitry and the second group of functional circuitry. The capacitive isolation circuitry distributes a first portion of the high voltage isolation signal across the first group of capacitors in the capacitive isolation circuitry and distributes a second portion of the high voltage isolation circuitry across the second group of capacitors in the capacitive isolation circuitry. |
| US08169106B2 |
Energy management system and control method using the same, for determining an operation mode of a high voltage direct current system
The present disclosure relates to an energy management system (EMS) and a method using the same, wherein the EMS comprises, a communication module receiving a channel information of a high voltage direct current (HVDC) system via a network; a circuit realization unit obtaining a connection information among constituent elements symbolizing the constituent elements among each node in electrical symbols by sequentially following pre-set nodes of the HVDC system, and forming the HVDC system by connecting the symbolized constituent elements using electrical lines by using the channel information of HVDC system received by the communication module; a system analyzing unit analyzing an operation mode of the HVDC system through the connection information among the constituent elements of the HVDC system obtained by the circuit realization unit; and a controller managing and controlling the HVDC system by giving an energy management command in response to the operation mode analyzed by the system analyzing unit. |
| US08169104B2 |
Control system for a battery powered vehicle
A control system for a battery powered vehicle of the kind which is provided with an electric power source and at least one switch means, such as a contactor, which is operable to connect the output of the power source to a high power electrical item fitted to the vehicle, such as an electric drive motor, in which the control system is operable to set the vehicle in one of at least 3 different operating modes comprising a first mode in which the vehicle is immobilized and the contactor is held in an open position to isolate the battery from the electrical item, a second mode in which the vehicle is not immobilized and the contactor is held in a closed position to connect the battery to the electrical item, and a third mode in which the vehicle is immobilized but the contactor remains in an closed position to connect the battery to the electrical item. |
| US08169101B2 |
Renewable energy electric generating system
A system, apparatus and method for generating electricity from renewable geothermal, wind, and solar energy sources includes a heat balancer for supplementing and regulating the heat energy fed to a turbine generator; a hydrogen-fired boiler for supplying supplementary heat; and an injection manifold for metering controlled amounts of superheated combustible gas into the working fluids to optimize efficiency.Wind or solar power may be converted to hydrogen in an electrolysis unit to produce hydrogen. A phase separator unit that operates by cavitation of the geothermal fluids removes gases from the source fluid. A pollution prevention trap may be used to remove solids and other unneeded constituents of the geothermal fluids to be stored or processed in a solution mining unit for reuse or sale. Spent geothermal and working fluids may be processed and injected into the geothermal strata to aid in maintaining its temperature or in solution mining of elements in the lithosphere. |
| US08169099B2 |
Deep offshore floating wind turbine and method of deep offshore floating wind turbine assembly, transportation, installation and operation
A deep off-shore floating wind turbine apparatus and methods of manufacturing, operating, maintaining, protecting and conveying the wind turbine apparatus. The wind turbine includes a rotor converting a motion of air into a movement of the rotor, a hub housing equipment that transforms the movement of the rotor into a useful form of energy, and a tower supporting the hub on one end. The wind turbine further includes a base floating substantially at water surface and movable with respect to the underlying solid surface. The tower is connected to the floating base on the second end. The wind turbine also includes a tilting mechanism tilting the wind turbine into a substantially horizontal orientation and bringing it back into an upright position, as well as a rotating mechanism operable to control azimuth orientation of the wind turbine. |
| US08169098B2 |
Wind turbine and operating same
A method for operating a wind turbine erected in a body of water, comprising: measuring vibrations of the wind turbine during operation; identifying at least one periodic component of said measured vibrations, wherein said periodic component is associated with interaction of said body of water and said wind turbine; and, operating at least one controller of said wind turbine so that water-induced vibrations are reduced. |
| US08169097B2 |
Method for operating a wind energy installation
A method for the operation of a wind power plant (10), wherein in particular the wind power plant (10) will be or is switched off after a shutdown signal is triggered by a safety shutdown device (20) that is logically superordinate to an operating control system. The wind power plant (10) is released for operation by means of an operating device (41) that is spatially separated from the wind power plant (10) after a safety shutdown. An energy supply system with at least one wind power plant (10) and safety chain on a wind power plant are also described. |
| US08169096B2 |
Power generator and motor device
The fluid power generator is provided. The fluid power generator includes: a rotating member that rotates by fluid force; a generator motor that is mechanically linked with the rotating member and that is configured to function both as a generator and as a motor; a rotation speed meter that measures a rotation speed of the generator motor; and a controller that controls the generator motor, wherein the controller has a control mode to keep the rotation of the rotating member irrespective of a variation in flow rate of the fluid. |
| US08169094B2 |
Generating system using solar energy and wind power
A generating system includes a first generating device (1) and a second generating device (2). The first generating device includes a housing (11), a solar cell panel (12), a storage unit (13), a heat conduction layer (16), a heating chamber (14) and a plurality of water pipes (15). The second generating device includes an impeller (21), a propeller shaft (22) and a generator (23). Thus, the first generating device can receive the solar energy to produce an electric power, and the second generating device is driven by the wind power and the water power to generate an electrical energy so that the generating system can use the natural resources to produce an electrical energy at the day and the night so as to enhance the generating efficiency of the generating system. |
| US08169093B2 |
Method and apparatus for extracting energy from wind and wave motion
A method and apparatus for extracting energy from wind and wave motion using a common floating platform comprising a ship hull (10) which is moored in an offshore location and which supports wind turbines (27) for extracting energy from wind and wave energy extraction devices (12) positioned at least at one side of the hull (10) for extracting energy from wave motion relative to the hull (10). The method and apparatus may also use water current energy extraction devices. The hull (10) may also support a desalination plant (45) which uses the energy generated from the wind, wave and water current energy extraction devices. |
| US08169092B2 |
Cogeneration system
In a cogeneration system having a generator adapted to be connectable to an AC power feed line between a commercial power network and an electrical load, an internal combustion engine for driving the generator such that exhaust heat of the engine is supplied to a thermal load and an actuator that opens and closes a throttle valve of the engine, there are provided a power demand detector that detects power demand of the electrical load, a thermal demand detector that detects thermal demand of the thermal load. The operation of the actuator is controlled in response to the detected power demand so as to increase or decrease the engine, and ignition timing of the engine is controlled in a retard direction in response to the detected thermal demand. |
| US08169079B2 |
Copper interconnection structures and semiconductor devices
A copper interconnection structure includes an insulating layer, an interconnection body including copper in an opening provided on the insulating layer and a barrier layer including a metal element and copper, formed between the insulating layer and the interconnection body. An atomic concentration of the metal element in the barrier layer is accumulated toward an outer surface of the barrier layer facing the insulating layer, and an atomic concentration of copper in the barrier layer is accumulated toward an inner surface of the barrier layer facing the interconnection body. The inner surface of the barrier layer comprises copper surface orientation of {111} and {200}, and an intensity of X-ray diffraction peak from the inner surface of the barrier layer is stronger for the {111} peak than for the {200} peak. |
| US08169077B2 |
Dielectric interconnect structures and methods for forming the same
Dielectric interconnect structures and methods for forming the same are provided. Specifically, the present invention provides a dielectric interconnect structure having a noble metal layer (e.g., Ru, Ir, Rh, Pt, RuTa, and alloys of Ru, Ir, Rh, Pt, and RuTa) that is formed directly on a modified dielectric surface. In a typical embodiment, the modified dielectric surface is created by treating an exposed dielectric layer of the interconnect structure with a gaseous ion plasma (e.g., Ar, He, Ne, Xe, N2, H2, NH3, and N2H2). Under the present invention, the noble metal layer could be formed directly on an optional glue layer that is maintained only on vertical surfaces of any trench or via formed in the exposed dielectric layer. In addition, the noble metal layer may or may not be provided along an interface between the via and an internal metal layer. |
| US08169068B2 |
IO cell with multiple IO ports and related techniques for layout area saving
An IO cell with multiple IO ports and related techniques are provided. The IO cell has a plurality of IO ports for transmitting signal of a same IO pin, and each IO port corresponds to a predetermined region for containing an IO pad, wherein at least one of the plural predetermined regions of the plural IO ports partially overlaps with active circuit layout region of the IO cell. In a chip, if a given IO cell has a predetermined region of an IO port overlapping an IO pad location of another adjacent IO cell, then a predetermined region of another IO port is selected for implementing an IO pad of the given IO cell, such that the IO cells can be arranged more compactly for chip layout area saving. |
| US08169066B2 |
Semiconductor package
Provided is a semiconductor package including a first package and a second package. The first package includes a first substrate having a first front side and a first back side opposing the first front side. The first package further includes a first semiconductor chip on the first front side and an external connection member on the first semiconductor chip. The external connection member may be configured to electrically connect the first semiconductor chip to an external device. The second package includes a second substrate having a second back side facing the first back side of the first substrate and a second front surface opposing the second back side. The second package includes a second semiconductor chip on the second front side. The semiconductor package further includes an internal connection member between the first back side and the second back side to electrically connect the first package to the second package. |
| US08169061B2 |
Stacked chip package structure with leadframe having bus bar
The present invention provides a chip-stacked package structure with leadframe having bus bar, comprising: a leadframe composed of a plurality of inner leads arranged in rows facing each other, a plurality of outer leads, and a die pad, wherein the die pad is provided between the plurality of inner leads and is vertically distant from the plurality of inner leads; a chip-stacked structure formed with a plurality of chips that stacked together and set on the die pad, the plurality of chips and the plurality of inner leads being electrically connected with each other; and an encapsulant covering over the chip-stacked package structure and the leadframe, in which the leadframe comprises at least a bus bar, which is provided between the plurality of inner leads arranged in rows facing each other and the die pad. |
| US08169058B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of stacking die on leadframe electrically connected by conductive pillars
A semiconductor device has a first semiconductor die mounted to a first contact pad on a leadframe or substrate with bumps. A conductive pillar is formed over a second semiconductor die. The second die is mounted over the first die by electrically connecting the conductive pillar to a second contact pad on the substrate with bumps. The second die is larger than the first die. An encapsulant is deposited over the first and second die. Alternatively, the conductive pillars are formed over the substrate around the first die. A heat sink is formed over the second die, and a thermal interface material is formed between the first and second die. An underfill material is deposited under the first semiconductor die. A shielding layer is formed between the first and second die. An interconnect structure can be formed over the second contact pad of the substrate. |
| US08169055B2 |
Chip guard ring including a through-substrate via
At least one through-substrate via is formed around the periphery of a semiconductor chip or a semiconductor chiplet included in a semiconductor chip. The at least one through-substrate via may be a single through-substrate via that laterally surrounds the semiconductor chip or the semiconductor chiplet, or may comprise a plurality of through-substrate vias that surrounds the periphery with at least one gap among the through-substrate vias. A stack of back-end-of-line (BEOL) metal structures that laterally surrounds the semiconductor chip or the semiconductor chiplet are formed directly on the substrate contact vias and electrically connected to the at least one through-substrate via. A metallic layer is formed on the backside of the semiconductor substrate including the at least one through-substrate via. The conductive structure including the metallic layer, the at least one through-substrate via, and the stack of the BEOL metal structures function as an electrical ground built into the semiconductor chip. |
| US08169051B2 |
Semiconductor device including capacitor element and method of manufacturing the same
A semiconductor device includes a substrate, an insulating film formed over the substrate, first and second conductive plugs formed in the insulating film, a capacitor element, and a wiring. The capacitor element includes a lower electrode, a dielectric film, and an upper electrode. The lower electrode is connected to an end of the first plug and formed on the insulating film, and includes a first barrier film. The dielectric film is formed on upper and side surfaces of the lower electrode. The upper electrode is formed on the dielectric film, and includes a second barrier metal film being wider than the lower electrode. The wiring is connected to an end of the second plug and formed on the insulating film, and includes a first layer and a second layer formed on the first layer. The first and second layers include the first and second barrier metal films, respectively. |
| US08169050B2 |
BEOL wiring structures that include an on-chip inductor and an on-chip capacitor, and design structures for a radiofrequency integrated circuit
Back-end-of-line (BEOL) wiring structures that include an on-chip inductor and an on-chip capacitor, as well as design structures for a radiofrequency integrated circuit. The on-chip inductor and an on-chip capacitor, which are fabricated as conductive features in different metallization levels, are vertically aligned with each other. The on-chip capacitor, which is located between the on-chip inductor and the substrate, may serve as a Faraday shield for the on-chip inductor. Optionally, the BEOL wiring structure may include an optional Faraday shield located vertically either between the on-chip capacitor and the on-chip inductor, or between the on-chip capacitor and the top surface of the substrate. The BEOL wiring structure may include at least one floating electrode capable of being selectively coupled with the electrodes of the on-chip capacitor to permit tuning, during circuit operation, of a resonance frequency of an LC resonator that further includes the on-chip inductor. |
| US08169049B2 |
Semiconductor device with fuse portion
A semiconductor device includes: a plurality of NAND memory dies each including: a first wiring layer formed in the NAND memory die; a second wiring layer formed in the NAND memory die; a first insulation layer formed between the first wiring layer and the second wiring layer; and a first interlayer connector formed in the first insulation layer, a controller configured to control the NAND memory dies; a package housing the NAND memory dies and the controller; a connecting portion electrically connecting an inner side of the package and an outer side of the package; a first connecting wire; and a second connecting wire, wherein a resistance value per unit length of the first interlayer connector is larger than a resistance value per unit length of the first wiring layer, and wherein the first interlayer connector is cut off when a first current flows through the first interlayer connector. |
| US08169047B2 |
Semiconductor device comprising a schottky barrier diode
The present invention aims to enhance the reliability of a semiconductor device equipped with a Schottky barrier diode within the same chip, and its manufacturing technology. The semiconductor device includes an n-type n-well region formed over a p-type semiconductor substrate, an n-type cathode region formed in part thereof and higher in impurity concentration than the n-well region, a p-type guard ring region formed so as to surround the n-type cathode region, an anode conductor film formed so as to integrally cover the n-type cathode region and the p-type guard ring region and to be electrically coupled thereto, n-type cathode conduction regions formed outside the p-type guard ring region with each separation portion left therebetween, and a cathode conductor film formed so as to cover the n-type cathode conduction regions and to be electrically coupled thereto. The anode conductor film and the n-type cathode region are Schottky-coupled to each other. |
| US08169043B2 |
Optical seneor package structure and manufactueing method thereof
An optical sensor package structure includes a substrate, a metal plate, an optical sensing chip, a plurality of bonding wires and a lens module. The substrate includes a top surface, a bottom surface and a hole penetrating the top surface and the bottom surface. The metal plate covers the hole from the bottom surface of the substrate. The optical sensing chip is received in the hole and mounted on the metal plate. The bonding wires interconnect the optical sensing chip and the top surface of substrate. The lens module is covering on the hole and mounting on the top surface of the substrate to enclose the optical sensing chip and the bonding wires. Because the optical sensing chip is received in the hole of the substrate, the height of the optical sensor package structure can be reduced to adapt to a compact size electrical device. |
| US08169042B2 |
Integrated microphone
A method of forming a microphone having a variable capacitance first deposits high temperature deposition material on a die. The high temperature material ultimately forms structure that contributes to the variable capacitance. The method then forms circuitry on the die after depositing the deposition material. The circuitry is configured to detect the variable capacitance. |
| US08169041B2 |
MEMS package and method for the production thereof
A micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) package is described herein. The package includes a carrier substrate having a top side, a MEMS chip mounted on the top side of the carrier substrate, and at least one chip component on or above the top side of the carrier substrate or embedded in the carrier substrate. The package also includes a thin metallic shielding layer covering the MEMS chip and the chip component and forming a seal with the top side of the carrier substrate. |
| US08169039B2 |
Semiconductor device
A disclosed semiconductor device includes an MOS transistor having an N-type low-concentration drain region, a source region, an ohmic drain region, a P-type channel region, an ohmic channel region, a gate isolation film, and a gate electrode. The N-type low-concentration drain region includes two low-concentration drain layers in which the N-type impurity concentration of the upper layer is higher than that of the lower layer; the P-type channel region includes two channel layers in which the P-type impurity concentration of the upper layer is lower than that of the lower layer; and the gate electrode is formed on the P-type channel region and the N-type low-concentration drain region and disposed to be separated from the ohmic drain region when viewed from the top. |
| US08169038B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
A semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same are disclosed. The method includes forming ion impurity regions of a first conductivity type by forming a trench in a semiconductor substrate and implanting impurity ions into a lower portion of the trench at different depths; forming an oxide region in the substrate adjacent to one end of the trench; forming a device isolation film filling the trench; forming a high voltage well in the substrate and a second conductivity type body in the high voltage well; forming a gate on the semiconductor substrate partially overlapping the device isolation film; forming second well in the semiconductor substrate at one side of the device isolation film overlapping the ion diffusion regions and the oxide region; and forming source regions in the body and a drain region in the second well. |
| US08169036B2 |
Semiconductor integrated circuit device
A semiconductor integrated circuit device having a control signal system for avoiding failure to check an indefinite signal propagation prevention circuit, for facilitating a check included in an automated tool, and for facilitating a power shutdown control inside a chip. In the semiconductor integrated circuit device, power shutdown priorities are provided by independent power domains (Area A to Area I). A method for preventing a power domain having a lower priority from being turned OFF when a circuit having a high priority is turned ON is also provided. |
| US08169035B2 |
Semiconductor device
A semiconductor device, including: a semiconductor substrate; a plurality of unit cells connected in parallel with each other, each unit cell including a plurality of electric field effect transistors formed on the semiconductor substrate; a plurality of gate bus wirings each configured to connect each of the gate electrodes of the transistors constituting the unit cell; a plurality of gate pad electrodes having a multi-layered structure of conductive layers, each of the gate pad electrodes connected to the gate bus wiring; and a resistive element configured to connect adjacent gate pad electrodes and formed along at least one side of an outer peripheral portion of the gate pad electrode, and formed of at least one conductive layer of the conductive layers constituting the gate pad electrode. |
| US08169032B2 |
Gate stacks and semiconductor constructions
The invention includes methods of forming PMOS transistors and NMOS transistors. The NMOS transistors can be formed to have a thin silicon-containing material between a pair of metal nitride materials, while the PMOS transistors are formed to have the metal nitride materials directly against one another. The invention also includes constructions which contain an NMOS transistor gate stack having a thin silicon-containing material between a pair of metal nitride materials. The silicon-containing material can, for example, consist of silicon, conductively-doped silicon, or silicon oxide; and can have a thickness of less than or equal to about 30 angstroms. |
| US08169029B2 |
High voltage device with constant current source and manufacturing method thereof
A high voltage device with constant current source and the manufacturing method thereof. The device includes a P type silicon substrate (1), an oxide layer (6), a drain metal (2), a source metal (3), a gate metal (4), a P+substrate contact region (51), a N+drain region (52), an N+source region (53), an N−channel region (54) connecting the said N+drain region (52) and N+source region (53), and an N−drain region (92) enveloping the said N+drain region (52); the drain metal (2) fills drain through hole (82) and connects the N+drain region (52); the source metal (3) fills source through hole (83), and connects the N+source region (53) and P+substrate contact region (51); the source metal (3) and gate metal (4) are electrically connected by connecting metal (34). The manufacturing method includes steps of forming N+drain region, N+source region, N−drain region, P+substrate contact region, N−drain region and metal layer. |
| US08169025B2 |
Strained CMOS device, circuit and method of fabrication
A semiconductor device and fabrication method include a strained semiconductor layer having a strain in one axis. A long fin and a short fin are formed in the semiconductor layer such that the long fin has a strained length along the one axis. An n-type transistor is formed on the long fin, and a p-type transistor is formed on the at least one short fin. The strain in the n-type transistor improves performance. |
| US08169024B2 |
Method of forming extremely thin semiconductor on insulator (ETSOI) device without ion implantation
A method of fabricating a semiconductor device is provided in which the channel of the device is present in an extremely thin silicon on insulator (ETSOI) layer, i.e., a silicon containing layer having a thickness of less than 10.0 nm. In one embodiment, the method may begin with providing a substrate having at least a first semiconductor layer overlying a dielectric layer, wherein the first semiconductor layer has a thickness of less than 10.0 nm. A gate structure is formed directly on the first semiconductor layer. A in-situ doped semiconductor material is formed on the first semiconductor layer adjacent to the gate structure. The dopant from the in-situ doped semiconductor material is then diffused into the first semiconductor layer to form extension regions. The method is also applicable to finFET structures. |
| US08169023B2 |
Power semiconductor device
An impurity concentration profile in a vertical direction of a p type base contact layer of a power semiconductor device has a two-stage configuration. In other word, the impurity concentration profile is highest at an upper face of the p type base contact layer, has a local minimum value at a position other than the upper face and a lower face of the base contact layer, and has a local maximum value at a position lower than the position of the local minimum value. |
| US08169021B2 |
Trench gate semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
A trench gate semiconductor device including: a semiconductor layer having a first conductivity type; a first diffusion region having a second conductivity type having a planar structure on the semiconductor layer; a second diffusion region having the first conductivity type positioned selectively on the first diffusion region; a gate electrode provided via a gate insulation film in each first trench facing the second diffusion region and penetrating through the first diffusion region to reach the semiconductor layer; a first semiconductor region of the second conductivity type provided at a position, in the semiconductor layer, apart in a lateral direction from the first diffusion region; a second semiconductor region of the second conductivity type provided at a position, in the first diffusion region, between the adjacent first trenches; and a main electrode in contact with the semiconductor layer and the second diffusion region. |
| US08169018B2 |
Non-volatile memory device
A non-volatile memory device includes a semiconductor layer including a cell region and a peripheral region, a cell region gate structure disposed in the cell region of the semiconductor layer, and wherein the cell region gate structure includes a tunneling insulating layer and a first blocking insulating layer, a second blocking insulating layer, and a third blocking insulating layer. The no-volatile memory device further includes a peripheral region gate structure formed in the peripheral region of the semiconductor layer. The peripheral region gate structure includes a first peripheral region insulating layer including a same material as a material included in the tunneling insulating layer and a second peripheral region insulating layer including a same material as a material included in the third blocking insulating layer. |
| US08169012B2 |
Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the semiconductor device
A semiconductor device and a method of fabricating a semiconductor device provide high quality cylindrical capacitors. The semiconductor device includes a substrate defining a cell region and a peripheral circuit region, a plurality of capacitors in the cell region, and supports for supporting lower electrodes of the capacitors. The lower electrodes are disposed in a plurality of rows each extending in a first direction. A dielectric layer is disposed on the lower electrodes, and an upper electrode is disposed on the dielectric layer. The supports are in the form of stripes extending longitudinally in the first direction and spaced from each other along a second direction. Each of the supports engages the lower electrodes of a respective plurality of adjacent rows of the lower electrodes. Each one of the supports is also disposed at a different level in the device from the support that is adjacent thereto in the second direction. |
| US08169009B2 |
Semiconductor device
A semiconductor device includes N fins made of semiconductor regions aligned in parallel with each other in the top view plain, a gate electrode formed on both side surfaces of each of the N fins to cross the fins, source/drain layers formed in each of the N fins by sandwiching the gate electrode, a first wiring connected to one of the source/drain layers via a first contact formed in each of M fins, and a second wiring connected to the other one of the source/drain layers via a second contact formed in each of K fins. |
| US08169007B2 |
Asymmetric junction field effect transistor
A junction field effect transistor (JFET) in a semiconductor substrate includes a source region, a drain region, a channel region, an upper gate region, and a lower gate region. The lower gate region is electrically connected to the upper gate region. The upper and lower gate regions control the current flow through the channel region. By performing an ion implantation step that extends the thickness of the source region to a depth greater than the thickness of the drain region, an asymmetric JFET is formed. The extension of depth of the source region relative to the depth of the drain region reduces the length for minority charge carriers to travel through the channel region, reduces the on-resistance of the JFET, and increases the on-current of the JFET, thereby enhancing the overall performance of the JFET without decreasing the allowable Vds or dramatically increasing Voff/Vpinch. |
| US08169006B2 |
Bio-sensor chip for detecting target material
Provided is a bio-sensor chip. The bio-sensor chip includes a sensing part, a board circuit part, a channel part, and a cover. In the sensing part, a target material and a detection material interact with each other to detect the target material. The board circuit part is electrically connected to the sensing part. The channel part provides a solution material containing the target material into the sensing part. The cover is coupled to the board circuit part to cover the channel part and the sensing part. |
| US08169005B2 |
High voltage GaN transistors
A multiple field plate transistor includes an active region, with a source, a drain, and a gate. A first spacer layer is over the active region between the source and the gate and a second spacer layer over the active region between the drain and the gate. A first field plate on the first spacer layer is connected to the gate. A second field plate on the second spacer layer is connected to the gate. A third spacer layer is on the first spacer layer, the second spacer layer, the first field plate, the gate, and the second field plate, with a third field plate on the third spacer layer and connected to the source. The transistor exhibits a blocking voltage of at least 600 Volts while supporting a current of at least 2 Amps with an on resistance of no more than 5.0 mΩ-cm2, of at least 600 Volts while supporting a current of at least 3 Amps with an on resistance of no more than 5.3 mΩ-cm2, of at least 900 Volts while supporting a current of at least 2 Amps with an on resistance of no more than 6.6 mΩ-cm2, or a blocking voltage of at least 900 Volts while supporting a current of at least 3 Amps with an on resistance of no more than 7.0 mΩ-cm2. |
| US08169004B2 |
Compound semiconductor epitaxial substrate and process for producing the same
A compound semiconductor epitaxial substrate and a process for producing the same are provided. The compound semiconductor epitaxial substrate comprises a single crystal substrate, a lattice mismatch compound semiconductor layer and a stress compensation layer, wherein the lattice mismatch compound semiconductor layer and the stress compensation layer are disposed on the identical surface side of the single crystal substrate, there is no occurrence of lattice relaxation in the lattice mismatch compound semiconductor layer, as well as the stress compensation layer, and Ls representing the lattice constant of the single crystal substrate, Lm representing the lattice constant of the lattice mismatch compound semiconductor layer, and Lc representing the lattice constant of the stress compensation layer satisfy the formula (1a) or (1b). Lm Lm>Ls>Lc (2a) |
| US08169000B2 |
Lateral transient voltage suppressor with ultra low capacitance
A lateral transient voltage suppressor with ultra low capacitance is disclosed. The suppressor comprises a first conductivity type substrate and at least one diode cascade structure arranged in the first conductivity type substrate. The cascade structure further comprises at least one second conductivity type lightly doped well and at least one first conductivity type lightly doped well, wherein there are two heavily doped areas arranged in the second conductivity type lightly doped well and the first conductivity type lightly doped well. The cascade structure neighbors a second conductivity type well, wherein there are three heavily doped areas arranged in the second conductivity type well. The suppressor further comprises a plurality of deep isolation trenches arranged in the first conductivity type substrate and having a depth greater than depths of the second conductivity type lightly doped well, the second conductivity type well and the first conductivity type lightly doped well. Each doped well is isolated by trenches. |
| US08168996B2 |
Semiconductor light emitting device
An excellent light emitting element capable of improving problems caused by a material having high light-reflectivity and susceptible to electromigration, especially Al used for the electrode. FIG. 2A depicts semiconductor light emitting element having a first and second electrodes 20 and 30 disposed at a same surface side respectively on a first and second conductive type semiconductor layer 11 and 13. In the electrode disposing surface, the first electrode 20 comprises a first base part 23 and a first extended part 24 extending from the first base part, and a plurality of separated external connecting parts 31 of the second electrode 30 arranged side by side in extending direction of the first extended part. |
| US08168992B2 |
Light-emitting diode backlight module
A light-emitting diode backlight module includes a base and a light source disposed on the base. The light source comprises a substrate, a heat sink and an LED chip. The base has a heat conductor. The heat sink of the light source is coupled between the substrate of the light source and the heat conductor of the base. The heat sink has a first part which is adjacent a first side of the substrate and a second part which is adjacent a second side of the substrate. The heat sink is in contact with the heat conductor. The LED chip is disposed on the first part of the heat sink and emits light laterally. |
| US08168987B2 |
Semiconductor light emitting device
The embodiment discloses a semiconductor light emitting device. The semiconductor light emitting device includes a first conductive semiconductor layer; a first electrode layer below the first conductive semiconductor layer; a semiconductor layer at an outer peripheral portion of the first conductive semiconductor layer; an active layer on the first conductive semiconductor layer; a second conductive semiconductor layer on the active layer; and a second electrode layer on the second conductive semiconductor layer. |
| US08168985B2 |
Semiconductor module including a switch and non-central diode
A semiconductor module having one or more silicon carbide diode elements mounted on a switching element is provided in which the temperature rise is reduced by properly disposing each of the diode elements on the switching element, to thereby provide a thermal dissipation path for the respective diode elements. The respective diode elements are arranged on a non-central portion of the switching element, to facilitate dissipation of the heat produced by each of the diode elements, whereby the temperature rise in the semiconductor module is reduced. |
| US08168980B2 |
Active matrix substrate, display device, television receiver, manufacturing method of active matrix substrate, forming method of gate insulating film
In an active matrix substrate of the present invention, a gate insulating film for covering a gate electrode of each transistor has a thin portion, having a reduced film thickness, which is provided on a part overlapped on the gate electrode, and the thin portion is formed by using the gate electrode, on which the thin portion is overlapped, as a mask, and each transistor has a first drain electrode section and a second drain electrode section which are respectively provided on both sides of a source electrode, and the thin portion has two edges opposite to each other, and the first drain electrode section is overlapped on the one edge, and the second drain electrode section is overlapped on the other edge. This makes it possible to provide an active matrix substrate which realizes high display quality while suppressing unevenness of parasitic capacitances (particularly, Cgd) of TFTs in the active matrix substrate whose each TFT has a thin portion in its gate insulating film. |
| US08168976B2 |
Display panel and method for manufacturing the same
A display panel includes a substrate having a display area and a blank area. The blank area includes at least one of a non-metal line region and a metal-line region. The non-metal line region includes a plurality of insulating patterns and a first conductive pattern layer formed on the substrate. The insulating patterns are isolated from each other by the first conductive pattern layer. The metal-line region includes an insulating multilayer formed on the substrate and a conductive pattern layer formed on the insulating multilayer. Several isolated zones are formed by the conductive pattern layer on the surface of the insulating multilayer. |
| US08168974B2 |
Field effect transistor
A novel field-effect transistor is provided which employs an amorphous oxide. In an embodiment of the present invention, the transistor comprises an amorphous oxide layer containing electron carrier at a concentration less than 1×10−18/cm3, and the gate-insulating layer is comprised of a first layer being in contact with the amorphous oxide and a second layer different from the first layer. |
| US08168968B2 |
Thin film transistor and organic light emitting display device using the same
There is provided a thin film transistor exhibiting stable reliability and electrical characteristics by forming an active layer by adding material having a large difference of electronegativity from oxygen like Hf and an atomic radius similar to that of Zn or SN to an oxide semiconductor made of ZnSnO to adjust concentration of carrier and to enhance reliability of the oxide semiconductor, and an organic light emitting display device having the same. |
| US08168962B2 |
Method and apparatus for uniformly implanting a wafer with an ion beam
Initially, an ion beam is formed as an elongated shape incident on a wafer, where the shape has a length along a first axis longer than a diameter of the wafer, and a width along a second axis shorter than the diameter of the wafer. Then, a center of the wafer is moved along a scan path intersecting the ion beam at a movement velocity, and the wafer is rotated around at a rotation velocity simultaneously. During the simultaneous movement and rotation, the wafer is totally overlapped with the ion beam along the first axis when the wafer intersects with the ion beam, and the rotation velocity is at most a few times of the movement velocity. Both the movement velocity and the rotation velocity can be a constant or have a velocity profile relative to a position of the ion beam across the wafer. |
| US08168961B2 |
Charged particle beam masking for laser ablation micromachining
An improved method for substrate micromachining. Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide improved methods for the utilization of charged particle beam masking and laser ablation. A combination of the advantages of charged particle beam mask fabrication and ultra short pulse laser ablation are used to significantly reduce substrate processing time and improve lateral resolution and aspect ratio of features machined by laser ablation to preferably smaller than the diffraction limit of the machining laser. |
| US08168956B2 |
Scanning transmission electron microscope and method of aberration correction therefor
A scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) and method of aberration correction have autocorrelation function calculation means, aberration coefficient calculation means, and feedback control. At least two images are obtained by varying a value at which one of the electron optical means is set. The at least two images are autocorrelated. Iso-intensity lines are fit to aberration functions. Aberration coefficients are obtained based on aberration functions. The feedback controls the electron optical column. |
| US08168954B2 |
Radiation image detector
A radiation image detector includes a radiation-image-detector main body and a vacuum container. The radiation-image-detector main body generates charges by irradiation with an electromagnetic wave for recording that carries a radiation image and records the radiation image by accumulating the charges. The vacuum container is sealed to store the radiation-image-detector main body in a vacuum. |
| US08168953B2 |
Method, apparatus and computer program for measuring the dose, dose rate or composition of radiation
A method and an apparatus for measuring the dose, the dose rate and/or the composition of radiation is disclosed. In the method, a detector means is exposed to a radiation environment, the detector means comprising an array of radiation sensing detector elements. The detector means is switched in a sensitive state for the duration of a sensitive time period, and during said sensitive time period, an interaction pattern generated by individual radiation quanta interacting with one or more of the detector elements is recorded. The duration of the sensitive time period can be precisely adapted to the intensity of the radiation that has to be recorded. The interaction pattern is analyzed to distinguish individual radiation quanta received during the sensitive time period, and a radiation category is assigned to each of the distinguished radiation quanta based on its corresponding interaction pattern. A dose, a dose rate and/or a composition of radiation is then computed from the detected and categorized radiation quanta. Weight factors are attributed to each radiation category to take into account the individual degree of damage which the corresponding category can inflict in the irradiated materials. |
| US08168951B2 |
Charged particle beam apparatus
A charged particle beam apparatus having an aberration correction capability at high acceleration voltages. The charged particle beam apparatus comprises a charged particle beam source; an extraction electrode to extract charged particles from the charged particle beam source; a charged particle beam gun including a means for converging a charged particle beam; an acceleration means for accelerating a charged particle beam emitted from the charged particle beam gun; and an aberration correction means disposed between the charged particle beam gun and the acceleration means, in which an aberration enough to cancel out an aberration of a charged particle beam on the specimen surface is provided to an extraction electrical potential or an equivalent beam at the initial acceleration stage. |
| US08168948B2 |
Method of machining a work piece with a focused particle beam
The invention relates to a method for producing high-quality samples for e.g. TEM inspection. When thinning samples with e.g. a Focused Ion Beam apparatus (FIB), the sample often oxidizes when taken from the FIB due to the exposure to air. This results in low-quality samples, that may be unfit for further analysis. By forming a passivation layer, preferably a hydrogen passivation layer, on the sample in situ, that is: before taking the sample from the FIB, high quality TEM samples can be produced. |
| US08168947B2 |
Electrostatic latent image evaluation device, electrostatic latent image evaluation method, electrophotographic photoreceptor, and image forming device
An electrostatic latent image evaluation device includes an optical scanner configured to irradiate laser light of a wavelength of 400 nm-800 nm on a photoreceptor sample, and form an electrostatic latent image, an electron gun configured to irradiate a charged particle beam to the photoreceptor sample having the electrostatic latent image, and surface electric charge distribution or surface electric potential distribution, a detector configured to detect an electron emitted from the photoreceptor sample by the irradiation of the charged particle beam, and an electrostatic latent image evaluation section configured to calculate sizes of a plurality of electrostatic latent images formed by the laser light each having different exposure energy density according to a detection signal detected by the detector, and evaluate the electrostatic latent image according to a change in the calculated sizes. |
| US08168946B2 |
Charged particle separation apparatus and charged particle bombardment apparatus
A charged particle separation apparatus that separates ionized gas clusters is disclosed. The charged particle separation apparatus includes an electric field applying part including two electrodes across which electric voltage is applied in order to generate electric field between the two electrodes thereby deflecting a trajectory of the ionized gas cluster, the electrodes including one of an opening and a void; and a plate opening that allows the ionized gas cluster whose trajectory is deflected by the electric field applying part to go therethrough. |
| US08168943B2 |
Data-dependent selection of dissociation type in a mass spectrometer
Methods and apparatus for data-dependent mass spectrometric MS/MS or MSn analysis are disclosed. The methods may include determination of the charge state of an ion species of interest, followed by automated selection of a dissociation type (e.g., CAD, ETD, or ETD followed by a non-dissociative charge reduction or collisional activation) based at least partially on the determined charge state. The ion species of interest is then dissociated in accordance with the selected dissociation type, and an MS/MS or MSn spectrum of the resultant product ions may be acquired. |
| US08168940B2 |
Optical transmission module, electronic device and method for manufacturing optical transmission module
A light transmission module includes a light transmission path for transmitting light, an optical element including a light emitting and receiving surface for optically coupling with the light transmitted by the light transmission path, and being formed with a light emitting and receiving point having a function of photoelectric conversion and an electrode pad on the light emitting and receiving surface. The light transmission module further includes a substrate mounted with the optical element and an electrical wiring and an electrical connecting member for electrically connecting the electrode pad and the electrical wiring. The substrate includes a wiring exposed surface where the electrical wiring is exposed. The electrical connecting member is made of solidified object of a liquid conductive material arranged to contact the electrical wiring, which is exposed at the wiring exposed surface, and the electrode pad. |
| US08168939B2 |
Method and system for a light source assembly supporting direct coupling to an integrated circuit
Methods and systems for a light source assembly supporting direct coupling to a photonically enabled complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) chip are disclosed. The assembly may include a laser, a microlens, a turning mirror, reciprocal and/or non-reciprocal polarization rotators, and an optical bench. The laser may generate an optical signal that may be focused utilizing the microlens. The optical signal may be reflected at an angle defined by the turning mirror, and may be transmitted out of the light source assembly to one or more grating couplers in the chip. The laser may include a feedback insensitive laser. The light source assembly may include two electro-thermal interfaces between the optical bench, the laser, and a lid affixed to the optical bench. The turning mirror may be integrated in a lid affixed to the optical bench or may be integrated in the optical bench. |
| US08168938B2 |
Method of manufacturing an optical member having stacked high and low refractive index layers
A method of making an optical member including high refractive index layers and low refractive index layers, which are each relatively thin as compared with an optical length, and disposed alternately in the lateral direction with respect to an optical axis. Each width of the high refractive index layers and the low refractive index layers is equal to or smaller than the wavelength order of incident light. |
| US08168937B2 |
Optical head for reading an image of an object
An optical head that can be easily assembled is for reading an image of an object and includes a housing, a diffuser, a light source module and a light sensing module. The diffuser is connected to the housing. The light source module has a substrate and a first light source mounted on a front side of the substrate. The front side of the substrate is fixed to an external surface of the diffuser. The first light source provides an initial light ray incident to the diffuser. The diffuser processes the initial light ray into uniform light for output. The light sensing module fixed in the housing senses reflected light, which is generated from the uniform light reflected by the object. |
| US08168934B2 |
Integrated circuit comprising an array of single photon avalanche diodes
Integrated circuit (1) comprising: an array of single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs), a plurality of read-out circuits, each SPADs being coupled to one read-out circuit, wherein at least some of the read-out circuits comprise time-to-digital converters (TDC) and/or a digital asynchronous counter, wherein a plurality of SPADs are coupled to one single read-out circuit. The read-out circuit may comprise a transformer for decoupling the SPAD from other parts of said read-out circuit. |
| US08168932B2 |
Semiconductor image sensor module, method for manufacturing the same as well as camera and method for manufacturing the same
A semiconductor image sensor module and a method for manufacturing thereof as well as a camera and a method for manufacturing thereof are provided in which a semiconductor image sensor chip and an image signal processing chip are connected with a minimum parasitic resistance and parasitic capacity and efficient heat dissipation of the image signal processing chip and shielding of light are simultaneously obtained. A semiconductor image sensor module 1 at least includes a semiconductor image sensor chip 2 having a transistor forming region on a first main surface of a semiconductor substrate and having a photoelectric conversion region with a light incident surface formed on a second main surface on the side opposite to the first main surface and an image signal processing chip 3 for processing image signals formed in the semiconductor image sensor chip 2, wherein a plurality of bump electrodes 15a are formed on a first main surface, a plurality of bump electrodes 15b are formed on the image signal processing chip 3, both the chips 2 and 3 are formed to be laminated through heat dissipating means 4 and the plurality of bump electrodes 15a of the semiconductor image sensor chip 2 and the plurality of bump electrodes 15b on the image signal processing chip 3 are electrically connected. |
| US08168929B2 |
Non-powered, aero-assisted pre-stage for ballistic rockets and aero-assisted flight vehicles
A non-powered pre-stage (10) with a commensurably large wing area is used to launch a variety of single-stage and multiple-stage space vehicles (20), such as conventional ballistic rockets and prospective spaceplanes, from conventional runways. This method of launch eliminates need in dedicated ground launch structures and/or dedicated long runways. The vehicle to be launched (20) is mated to this non-powered aero-assisted pre-stage (NAP) (10), with their flight directions aligned, using a lock-and-release mechanism (30). The resulting stack takes off like a conventional airplane using the propulsion of the vehicle and aerodynamic lift of the NAP. After the desired trajectory of the vehicle is achieved, the vehicle is separated from the NAP and continues its ascent. The NAP returns back to the surface for reuse or disposal. Thus, a wide variety of conventional airfields can be used for launch of ballistic and aero-assisted flight vehicles. |
| US08168928B2 |
Cooking apparatus
A cooking apparatus is provided. The cooking apparatus includes a cooking cavity, an upper space formed above the cooking cavity, lateral side spaces formed to at opposite lateral sides of the cooking cavity, a rear space formed behind the cooking cavity, and a lower space formed below the cooking cavity. A fan provided in the rear space generates a cooling flow that cools components housed in the rear space. A cooling flow path extends from the rear space and into the upper space and lateral side spaces. Flow from the upper space enters the door to cool the door and is exhausted through a lower portion of the door. Flow from the lateral side spaces, which includes an exhaust flow from the cooking cavity, is guided to the lower space and exhausted. In this manner, the cooking apparatus can be completely cooled and cooking odors and heat appropriately exhausted by the cooling fan positioned in the rear space. |
| US08168924B2 |
Overheat protection control component for liquid heating vessel
The invention provides an overheat protection control component for a liquid heating vessel which includes a control body (1); a single-integrated dual-actuation thermally sensitive bimetallic actuator (2) is provided on the upper face of the control body (1), wherein the single-integrated dual-actuation thermally sensitive bimetallic actuator (2) is two integrated and relatively independent actuating units which are formed on a piece of bimetallic strip, and the outer kick limb (3) of either said actuating unit will produce an actuating movement downwards when an overheat state occurs; two groups of switch contacts (6) are also provided on the control body (1), wherein either group of switch contacts (6) cooperate with the outer kick limb (3) of a corresponding actuating unit, and the outer kick limb (3), when producing a downward actuating movement, will open a corresponding group of switch contacts (6) and cut off the power supply of the heater for the liquid heating vessel. |
| US08168922B2 |
Self-shielded flux cored electrode
A cored electrode to form a high manganese metal deposition that includes at least about 4 weight percent manganese and at least about 10 weight percent chromium which is useful in joining dissimilar metals and/or for depositing buffer layers on carbon steel and/or low alloy steels. |
| US08168915B1 |
Cutting torch splatter and glare guard
A cutting torch splatter and glare guard includes a collar that is structured for releasable engagement with a cutting torch. The collar has first and second collar portions that are biased towards a first position for engagement with the cutting torch and movable against the bias towards a second position for disengagement with the cutting torch. A guard plate coupled to the collar and structured to block splatter and cutting debris emanating from a cutting surface. A plurality of shield plates is pivotably attached to the guard plate so as to pivot info and out of an orientation extending generally perpendicular downwardly relative to the guard plate. |
| US08168912B1 |
Electrode for shaped film cooling hole
An electrode used to form a film cooling hole in an air cooled turbine airfoil using the electrode discharge machining process. The electrode includes a number of film hole forming projections each having a metering hole forming section and a diffusion forming section. The diffusion forming section has a trapezoidal shape in which two sidewalls have both an outward expansion and are slanted outward to form a convergent diffusion or slanted inward to form a divergent diffusion. |
| US08168908B2 |
Capacitive touch switch
A capacitive touch switch for an operator control panel of an electrical domestic appliance includes a panel, a sensor area disposed in the panel, a printed circuit board disposed at a distance behind the panel, and a capacitive sensor element which is disposed between the panel and the printed circuit board, is in electrically conductive contact with the printed circuit board and is associated with the sensor area in the panel at a distance from the sensor area. The sensor area is formed by a plate of metal material, and a non-conductive insulating body is disposed between the plate and the capacitive sensor element. |
| US08168906B2 |
Support member, keyswitch, and keyboard
A support member for supporting a key cap, a keyswitch and a keyboard with the support structure are disclosed. The support member includes a first subunit and a second subunit. The first subunit includes a first arm which includes a first pivoting part at one end. The second subunit includes a third pivoting part connected to the first pivoting part temporarily. Therein, a second arm and a third arm are bended to extend from two ends of the third pivoting part respectively. There is a second position structure at an end of the second arm, and there is a third position structure at an end of the third arm. The second position structure and the third position structure can be connected to two first position structures on a base plate respectively. The distance between the second position structure and the position fixing structure is longer than that between the two first position structures. |
| US08168905B2 |
Lighting keyboard
A lighting keyboard includes a keyboard unit, and a combined circuit and lighting unit. The keyboard unit has a keyboard base, press keys mounted on the keyboard base, and an elastic layer disposed between the press keys and the keyboard base, and having elastic members disposed beneath the press keys. The combined circuit and lighting unit includes a membrane circuit substrate underlying the keyboard base, a first light-blocking layer disposed on top of the membrane circuit substrate, a first reflecting layer underlying the membrane circuit substrate, a backlighting module, and a second light-blocking layer. The backlighting module underlies the first reflecting layer, and cooperates with the first light-blocking layer, the membrane circuit substrate, and the first reflecting layer to define a light passage. The second light-blocking layer underlies the backlighting module. Light generated from the backlighting module is transmitted toward the press keys through the light passage. |
| US08168899B2 |
Engine starter switch device
A coil bobbin to which an immobilizer coil is mounted, coil connecting terminals to which ends of the coil are connected, a fixed contact, a terminal for the fixed contact and connector terminals are integrally formed by resin molding into a coil bobbin integrated type insulator. Then, the coil connecting terminals, the terminal for the fixed contact, and the connector terminals are respectively soldered to a wiring board. All of them are incorporated in a body. In this manner, stress exerted on the soldered areas between the coil connecting terminals and the wiring board can be moderated to the substantially same extent as stress exerted on the soldered areas between the terminal for the fixed contact and the connector terminals, and the wiring board. |
| US08168898B2 |
Method of optimizing the behavior of a force-measuring device, and force-measuring device
A method serves to optimize the behavior of an electronic force-measuring device, in particular a balance that comprises a measuring transducer through which a measuring signal is formed which is representative of a load applied to the force-measuring device, which measuring signal is delivered to a signal-processing unit that is supported by at least one processor and at least one memory storage unit and serves to process digital signals. First characteristic traits for the condition of the force-measuring device are determined, the first characteristic traits being the result of internal and/or external factors affecting the force-measuring device, and/or second characteristic traits for the force-measuring device are determined from the analysis of at least one signal profile of the measuring signal, whereupon the condition of the force-measuring device is determined on the basis of the first and/or second characteristic traits, and the further processing of the measuring signal and/or the operation of the force-measuring device is controlled accordingly. Based on the condition of the force-measuring device that was determined, the processing or evaluation of the signal as well as the use of optimizing measures that serve to determine, e.g., optimized correction parameters such as drift parameters or filter parameters can be advantageously controlled. |
| US08168897B2 |
Weighing conveyor for transporting shock sensitive products at a variable feed rate
A conveyor for shock-sensitive products includes a conveyor member with at least one intermediate storage region adapted to receive a predetermined number of the products placed thereon when the conveyor is a static condition for temporary intermediate storage. A force measuring member determines the weight force of the products in the intermediate storage region. A control member, adapted to increase and decrease the rate of feed of the shock-sensitive products in the conveyor member, processes the weight force detected by the force measuring member as an input parameter, and increases or reduces the rate of feed of the products toward and away from the intermediate storage region as a function of the weight force. |
| US08168896B2 |
Electronic housing
An electronic housing, which includes at least two housing parts, has at least one housing base, a housing cover, and at least one electronic connection in the form of a printed circuit board between electronic substrates disposed in the housing interior and components positioned outside the housing, with the electronic connection being fixed on the housing base. The housing cover has a filling port for a casting compound, and the filling port is closed by a label. A method for the production of such an electronic housing and the use thereof for transmission control of a motor vehicle, are also provided. |
| US08168894B2 |
Light emitting diode (LED) circuit board with multi-directional electrical connection
The present invention provides a light emitting diode (LED) circuit board with a multi-directional electrical connection. The board includes a board body with a surface and an assembly plane as well as four sides and corresponding corners, and a plurality of positive and negative electric contacts, separately arranged onto the surface of the board body nearby four sides, and also arranged at intervals. The circuit of the LED circuit board is simplified, helping to facilitate multi-directional electrical connection and expansion, and to improve significantly the paving efficiency of the LED circuit board with better practicability and industrial benefits. |
| US08168883B2 |
Adjustable solar powerer
An adjustable solar powerer having photovoltaic cells made of either silicon, polycrystalline or single-crystalline located on a stabilizing base converts solar power or artificial light into electric energy. This solar powerer is made up of unilateral flat and movable elements, each having unilaterally installed photovoltaic cells, these elements being connected with each other by a yoke and catch at one end, the yoke and pivot being connected to a tripod. |
| US08168882B2 |
Integrated thin-film solar cell and method of manufacturing the same
Provided are an integrated thin-film solar cell and a method of manufacturing the same. The method comprises forming and patterning a conductive material to be adjacently spaced a predetermined distance apart from each other on a substrate; forming a solar cell (semiconductor) layer on the resultant substrate; obliquely depositing a first transparent conductive material on the solar cell layer; etching the solar cell layer using the first transparent conductive material as a mask; and obliquely depositing a second transparent conductive material on the resultant substrate, and electrically connecting the conductive material with the first transparent conductive material. |
| US08168879B2 |
Solar thermoelectric conversion
Systems and methods utilizing solar-electrical generators are discussed. Solar-electrical generators are disclosed having a radiation-capture structure and one or more thermoelectric converters. Heat produced in a capture structure via impingement of solar radiation can maintain a portion of a thermoelectric converter at a high temperature, while the use of a low temperature at another portion allows electricity generation. Thus, unlike photovoltaic cells which are generally primarily concerned with optical radiation management, solar thermoelectrics converters are generally concerned with a variety of mechanisms for heat management. Generators can include any number of features including selective radiation surfaces, low emissivity surfaces, flat panel configurations, evacuated environments, and other concepts that can act to provide thermal concentration. Designs utilizing one or more optical concentrators are also disclosed. |
| US08168874B2 |
Drumstick gripping aid
The present invention is directed to a drumstick gripping aid. In one embodiment, the drumstick gripping aid includes a first strap having two loops and a second strap having one loop interconnected thereto. The first strap is adapted to fit about at least two fingers of a user while the second strap is adapted to fit about an outer circumference of a drumstick. In another embodiment, a drumstick gripping aid includes a single strap having two loops. In one variation, a first loop is adapted to fit about one finger of a user while a second loop is adapted to fit about an outer circumference of a drumstick. In another variation, the first loop and the second loop are adapted to fit about at least two fingers of a user, the drumstick gripping aid fixedly attached to a drumstick. |
| US08168872B1 |
System for controlling the tension and travel of a saxophone player's fingers
A saxophone having a body, a neck including a plurality of keys mounted thereon, each of said keys including an actuating surface and a bell including a valve protector, the improvement comprising a system for controlling the tension and travel of a saxophone player's fingers of both hands with a right hand device and a left hand device. The right hand device has an anchorage assembly mounted to the valve protector and a travel stopper elongated portion integrally extending from the anchorage assembly and kept at a substantially parallel and spaced apart relationship with respect to an actuating surface's plurality of keys thereby limiting the extension movement of a user's fingers as he or she actuates the keys. The left hand device includes an elongate stopper member with anchorage assemblies at its ends. The left hand device is rotatably mounted to facilitate its storage in storage cases. |
| US08168870B1 |
Inbred corn line NPDI4014
Basically, this invention provides for an inbred corn line designated NPDI4014, methods for producing a corn plant by crossing plants of the inbred line NPDI4014 with plants of another corn plant. The invention relates to the various parts of inbred NPDI4014 including culturable cells. This invention also relates to methods for introducing transgenic transgenes into inbred corn line NPDI4014 and plants produced by said methods. |
| US08168867B1 |
Soybean variety XB38W09
According to the invention, there is provided a novel soybean variety designated XB38W09. This invention thus relates to the seeds of soybean variety XB38W09, to the plants of soybean XB38W09 to plant parts of soybean variety XB38W09 and to methods for producing a soybean plant produced by crossing plants of the soybean variety XB38W09 with another soybean plant, using XB38W09 as either the male or the female parent. |